70. [DREAM/DREAM/DREAM/DREAM]

[foolishwren]

[So while the rest of Johto alternately panics, cries, or rushes around trying to capture as many of the soulstealing insects as possible, there are dozens of souls floating around in that dream limbo, drifting in and out of each other's slumbering thoughts and visions. Whether it's nightmarish flashbacks or just those dreams where you're at school

Comments

/copypastas from another tag since Nanao's seeing the same scenario for the moment!

[foolishwren]

[When Nanao reaches the doorway, it would seem that progress has reached a halt at the top of the stairs. The girl is throwing quite the tantrum, kicking and pulling away from her mother, face scrunched up unhappily. It's a scene that could probably be taken from the life of ANY frustrated parent dealing with a child who doesn't want to go somewhere, but the words they're saying ... seem to speak otherwise.]

[The mother's wheedling tone remains.]

Do what Mommy tells you, now. I just want you to lend me a teeny bit of your power! That's all.

No!

[The little girl breaks away from her mother's grip and tumbles backwards against the floor, although she draws herself up into a sitting position almost immediately, her face tear-streaked.]

I don't want to do it!

[Possibly surprisingly, the woman makes no attempt to grab her daughter again. Instead, she stands at a safe distance away, hands raised. The cloying quality of her voice is at an all-time high now as she speaks, appealingly.]

It will make everyone happy... and it's for your own good, too!

[The girl looks a little confused, but certainly not unhappy about not being grabbed for again. She sniffs and wipes at her face with one sleeve, looking up at the woman hopefully.]

Oh, but Mommy... I... I just want to be with you!

that's cool!

[used_glare]

{Nanao is getting some real Bad Vibrations from this situation, and while she wants - like nothing else - to interfere, she forces herself to stay still and watch the situation unfold}

{What that woman is saying, though... Wheedling, needling, it sends icicles of dread curling around the base of her spine, and she takes another tiny step forward.}

{The girl - so oddly familiar - and her actions, her words send alarm bells ringing in Nanao's head (that's not how a child should act, there's something so badly wrong with this, stockholm syndrome?), and she takes another involuntary step forward, hand reaching for the girl - and a floorboard creaks under her foot.}

:D

[foolishwren]

[Right on the money. Nothing about this situation is right, or okay. It might not be obvious to the little girl, but to anyone ELSE watching... it's pretty obvious that this woman does not have her child's best interests in mind.]

[The little girl carries on, her tone pleading.]

Just two of us... Please understand...

[The woman pauses, regarding her daughter slowly... as though something, some miraculous possibility is occurring to her. When she speaks again, it's in the tone of someone who has seen the light. ... But there's something almost mocking about it. In fact, that mocking note has been in almost everything this woman has said. The little girl is either too young to recognize it, or maybe she's just so used to it that she doesn't care.]

Oh yes, I see! ... Maybe Mommy has been wrong.

[A tentative smile blooms across the little girl's face. A hopeful one.]

Mommy...

[... And then the board creaks-- the girl stiffens slightly-- as though worried that if she reacts to it, she might be alerting her mother to its presence... but oddly, the woman doesn't seem to have noticed at all...]

/bounces

[used_glare]

{At creak of the board, she stills again - but the lack of reaction from that woman was confusing.}

{Nanao looks away, biting her lip - this poor girl, what on earth had this ...woman done to her?!}

{This was actually painful to watch. This woman, this... creature - how could she manipulate her own child like this?! It made her heart ache - and suddenly, Nanao was very glad that she'd never known her mother.}

Re: /bounces

[foolishwren]

[Not all mothers are monsters... but this one is. Even now, there's something strange about the way she looks, about the way she's smiling... something inhuman. It's impossible to put a finger on specifically, but it's there. And somehow, the angles in the house seem to be slowly... warping...]

Why didn't I see it before? there's no reason to wait...

Herein lies the mother's womb... containing the power to create life!

I could have done it all myself!

[She speaks with the air of someone realizing they had been taking the long way to work when it turns out there was a quick, direct route that could get you there within five minutes.]

[But at long last, the little girl seems to realize that something is wrong... that maybe Mommy hadn't understood her quite like she thought she had a minute ago. Her voice, already small, takes on a frightened quiver.]

... M-mommy...?

[used_glare]

{Okay, now this is just getting too bizarre - and grimdark horrible. Nanao decloaks with a word, and steps in front of Alessa. She's probably a little smaller, but her intent is clear.}

I won't let you hurt her!

[foolishwren]

[Alessa gasps-- but the mother, oddly enough, doesn't seem that... surprised by Nanao's sudden appearance. Instead she just looks down at the second little girl, mouth curling into a cruel smile.]

Children, children... always thinking of themselves...

You can't save her, poppet.

What's been done is done... and nothing can erase that.

Not even time.

Stop...

[The voice comes from behind Nanao... but it's not the voice of the little girl. Instead, it's one that's just a little more familiar...]

[used_glare]

{Nanao doesn't look behind herself, but instead shifts her feet slightly, bringing her hands up.}

Really? I'm quite good with spells, I think you'll see. {And her hands start glowing a bright pure white light}

And this is just a dream - this dimension is my playground. {Is she bluffing? Who knows - but she certainly looks serious enough.}

[foolishwren]

[The smile remains exactly the same. And the woman... she doesn't seem intimidated at all.]

I'm afraid someone has terribly misinformed you, little one.

This is not a dream.

It is a memory.

And it's mine.

L-leave her alone, you bitch...

[The sounds of someone getting to her feet can be heard behind Nanao. Sounds of someone a lot bigger than little Alessa.]

[used_glare]

It isn't yours. You don't control this. You aren't familiar to me. {And the light starts crackling, little bolts of lighting flying from her fingertips}

{The sound startles her a little, and the light flares painfully bright for a moment.}

Ah?!

[foolishwren]

You're the stranger in this, little one...

You don't belong here.

[The woman's voice is simpering, mocking. ... But there's something wrong with her face. Something very, very wrong. It looks... longer? Warped, somehow... like her mouth is just... sliding down, melting down into a puddle at the bottom of her chin...]

[A set of hands suddenly clamps down on Nanao's shoulders.]

Get out!

Get out, before she comes!

[used_glare]

{That melting face doesn't look good at all, and Nanao tries to take a step back, but those hands grab her, and she yelps, letting loose a bolt of white lightning just to the left of what was that woman.}

B-but where!?!

[foolishwren]

Anywhere!

The room! Go!

[The hands spin Nanao around and give her a hard shove towards the room she had been in a moment before. As they do so, she'll finally see who the speaker is...]

[It's the girl. But she's no longer small-- she's much taller, a young woman now instead of a little child. She's still dressed in that indigo school coat, but underneath, instead of a shirt, there's bandages binding her chest and stomach. Blood-and-pus-stained bandages.]

[... And her face... it somehow looks familiar...]

GO!

[There's a horrible, guttural sound behind them-- the woman (or what was ONCE a woman...) didn't even seem to notice the lightning bolt. She's growing taller...]

[used_glare]

B-But! {Nanao is so confused, but she obeys without thinking, bolting back into the room. She doesn't close the door right away, instead looking back at the girl, and something clicks.}

Come with me, please. I won't leave you behind.

[foolishwren]

[The girl merely shakes her head. And then throws a hand out, expression intensifying. The door swings shut, hopefully not taking any of Nanao's fingers with it in the process.]

[But before it can slam shut, she'll likely get a good view of the towering beast that 'Mother' has become...]



[And it makes a horrible sound.]

[used_glare]

{Nanao luckily doesn't lose any of her fingers, but she does let loose a whimper of fear at the mere glimpse of that creature.}

H-Hollows I can handle, but th-that thing is..!