Sixth.

[azumods]

NIGHTMARE. Riley has been largely absent for the past day; he's needed the time, he's said, to try to sort out what should be done about Darkrai and Cresselia. Whether they can be contacted from a safe distance; whether there's something he can do to ensure that there's no risk to the rest of you. You fall asleep on Friday night. You don't remember deciding to fall asleep on Friday night; perhaps you were in the middle of doing something. Perhaps you were keeping watch over the rest of the group, perhaps you were talking to someone, perhaps you were unable to drift off and sitting up poring over notes or books by flashlight. Perhaps you were already well asleep by the time it happens. Either way, Friday night begins to slip into what's technically Saturday, and that's when you drop off. And you are, quite literally, falling. The sensation is a strong one, somehing that disorients you almost immediately, the sort of thing that happens in dreams only to be accompanied by a hypnic jerk that wakes you up safely in your bed, only that moment of awakening never comes. The landing isn't a hard one, however, wherever you've ended up; it's one you're aware of, but not one that hurts you in any way, there's no physical pain. There's only you, and the ground, and the absolute darkness surrounding you. You should get up. Get your bearings. The darkness won't last long, but what it reveals to you when it breaks might not be as welcome as you might think it is...

Comments

GROUP ONE.

[azumods]

[As the darkness recedes, the first thing you'll notice is the grass beneath your feet as you stand up; the area you're in is surprisingly calm, it looks to be a meadow of some sort. In front of you is the gentle slope of a hill, likewise grassy and soft-seeming; you're aware of a few others around you, but they seem less urgent in your mind than seeing what's beyond the crest of that hill.]

GROUP TWO.

[azumods]

[As your mind attempts to cut through the darkness, eventually something will come into focus; it's something familiar to you, a place you recognize, a place you and those you love know to be safe. You're standing alone in a room you know, all of your partners and friends from Sinnoh outside of your awareness for now - for now, you're in a place you find familiar, and something in you knows that just a room away there's someone you care about. It hits you that it's been a while since you've checked on them; you should go check on them.]

GROUP THREE.

[azumods]

[The darkness draws back slowly; it takes a while for something to come into focus, but after a while something will - for all of you, Ignis included. It's the interior of a building, the sort usually associated with a village of some sort, all stone walls and modest wooden furniture, and low lighting provided from a small, dying fire in the hearth. You're aware of a few of the others here with you; there's a large wooden door set into the wall in front of you. You might want to see what's outside.]

GROUP FOUR.

[azumods]

[As the darkness pulls away from the edges of your vision, you'll find yourself separated from your group, standing alone somewhere that's both familiar and not at the same time - you recognize the area as somewhere you know from home, but it isn't quite the way you remember it. There are subtle differences, things that make this place feel not like yours anymore, though it's difficult to say at first glance what's wrong with it. You can hear people speaking, however; perhaps you might want to see what's happening.]

[discutio]

What-

[Blink. Blink blink. Ignis took off his sunglasses, rubbed at eyes that were now bright green, and...actually looked at the others.]

...Something's wrong.

[thunderwolf]

[Well.

This is...fine...

Once he's on his feet, Eustace makes it his priority to investigate the unfamiliar territory he's somehow ended up in. He glances around, taking note of the others before advancing toward the top of the hill. What sort of view is beyond it?]

[enjoymyatelier]

[Ah, Kayneth's study. It's nice to be back here, and perhaps there's something tugging at the back of his mind that he shouldn't just... you know... be in his danged study, but eh. It's nice. It's comforting. He's home, and he should probably head out and see what Sola-Ui's up to.

This is probably going to be a pleasant experience!]

[takestheblame]

[There aren't that many places Kiryu is attached to. Only recently he got one -- his home, with Haruka. His bedroom looks the same as usual, and for a moment all he can think is in Haruka. He wants to see her.

Which is why he exits the bedroom. Haruka should be in the kitchen, still trying to get a handle on how to make breakfast. She was always enthusiastic about that, he should help her with that]

[anythingforyou]

[Camilla's just kind of running her hands through her hair for a moment here, but she turns when Ignis...speaks...up...]

...Something is very wrong indeed. What on earth just happened to us?

[Camilla just...kind of looks around the room, looking between the door and Ignis with definite apprehension. What the hell?]

[semistableman]

[Bucky is already wide-eyed and nervous, because he doesn't remember falling asleep, and that sort of thing just doesn't happen to him. Ignis just cements it completely.]

What the hell is happening?

[gekkaju]

[Atsushi has had plenty of falling dreams before, but this one feels so real that he thinks he should be waking up by now...except he's not.

Maybe he really is falling?

He doesn't have much opportunity to think of how or why, only enough time to feel a cold spike of fear just before he hits the ground. Thankfully not a hard enough fall to be particularly painful despite what the falling would have suggested. He groans, realizing he's standing before he had made to actually get up just as the darkness fades and reveals...

It's the river. Where he met Dazai...but it feels wrong. He feels like he, perhaps, shouldn't actually be here right now at all.

The voices snap him out of his reverie and he starts forward towards the speaking before he can stop himself, along the edge of the water in the direction of the bridge.]

Daz-...guys? Where are you?

[Maybe he'll find Dazai in the river again...wouldn't that be something.]

[azumods]

[Sola-Ui's room isn't far off from the study - is it usually this close? Maybe, maybe not, but the fact of that matter is that's where it is - and she is in fact in there! She's still in bed at the moment, still asleep; she's...currently hugging a pillow, it's sort of cute, really.

It's been a while since you've seen her, hasn't it?]

[azumods]

[That sounds like a nice idea.

Of course, you'll notice something seems a bit off when it comes to that sort of thing; someone making breakfast, especially someone who's enthusiastic...

They usually make more noise than this, don't they?]

[discutio]

I don't...know.

[Okay, so that was Camilla. He looked a little disoriented by the visual equivalent of 'three strangers and Noctis', but was trying to catch up.]

[eudaimonikos]

[Welcome! Everything is fine.

Michael's standing in the doorway of his office, like he's been a thousand times. But there's nobody waiting on the couch to be invited inside, and something feels...wrong.

He designed this entire reality personally, down to each individual blade of grass. It should not feel this unfamiliar. He's sure that if he stopped to investigate, he could determine what the problem is - is the shade of green on that wall off by a few values? Maybe the plants in his window are missing a couple of leaves. It's not an obvious bug; he'd have to really look.

But there's voices outside. That seems more pressing. Michael's building is one of the more central, prominent ones in town, facing right onto the cobblestone square with the big fountain. He's careful as he opens the front door to peer outside. Something is wrong, and if the neighborhood is genuinely malfunctioning for once, things could very easily start to slip out of control.]

[anythingforyou]

[Take your time as far as she's concerned, Ignis, good lord. It takes a few moments for Camilla to speak up again, just kind of looking around the room again, but...]

...It likely isn't safe to stay in here. Should one of us try to see what's outside?

[greydients]

[There's always been something welcoming about the aged corridors of the Millenium Falcon, and Rey feels herself relaxing as the main lounge comes into her view. It feels like so long since she's been here, and even though their circumstances aren't the best...the most important people in the universe to her are currently located on this ship.

That reminds her - Finn had been tending to Rose after the battle on Crait, hadn't he? She should probably go and see them, make sure everything is alright. If she remembers correctly, Leia suggested they move into one of the more private rooms, with a bunk she can rest on. Maybe Poe is with them!]

[discutio]

[Another voice, another person confirmed; not that he needed to guess, considering Bucky was hard not to identify.]

We need to stay calm. [...he said, looking like someone pulled the floor out from under him.] Whatever's happened, panic will do us no favors.

[azumods]

[This place is incredibly simple and straightforward, enough so to make something fairly obvious, fairly quickly. The stone walls, the simple furniture, the fire dying in the hearth... There's not much else to it. Nowhere to hide, no secrets.

There's nothing for you here. Just the door.

You in particular can hear something, Camilla. It's surprising no one else can, given that to you, it's a very obvious and familiar sound, if a bit distant. The beating of wings, a familiar call.

A wyvern, maybe.]

[niceoppai]

Guess we better...

[Chelsea gulps and goes to tug open the door a crack. What...]

[hyruglyphics]

[ Most of the rooms Zelda is most familiar with are long, long since destroyed. A hundred years passed with only minimal awareness of what happened outside of her struggle for the princess, and so there is a nagging sensation at the back of her mind that her little laboratory and study that she kept up the ramparts from her bedchambers at the castle shouldn't and can't be considered anywhere near safe anymore.

To be honest, other than the wilds of Hyrule, the stars under her, not many places in Hyrule can be thought of as "safe" - and as such where she comes to be is somewhere that she's only really been to once, at least in its current form - that is, a guest bedroom in Impa's house. But the smell more than anything is familiar. Incense and other trappings that feel quintessentially like the woman Zelda knew when she was a hundred years younger and had re-met in the present. But more than that, she knows that just down the stairs is--

... Well, needless to say, she's going to head right for the stairs. ]

[enjoymyatelier]

[oh no, she is cute.

...but yeah. It has been a while, hasn't it? It's definitely sort of hazy, but man, it's nice to see her after... all this time. However long.

...admittedly he doesn't think waking her up will go particularly well, but he does have an idea... and the idea is to make sure her covers are up a little more for maximum comfy.]

[azumods]

[Once you're up on top of the hill, you'll look down and see something that's both somehow strikingly familiar and possibly terrifying at the same time.

You're looking down at the place most important to you, but it doesn't look the way it should. It seems that something has happened to it - whether that something is a fire, destruction of some sort, or even just the place lying broken and abandoned, it's the worst possible thing you can think of.

There's something else off about all this as well, a feeling that comes with it... but take a moment to get a good look at what's going on here.]

[takestheblame]

[It's indeed strange. She'd already come to greet him, to tell him what she had learned recently, anything. Call him Uncle Kaz and remind him things are okay. Why hasn't she said anything yet?]

Haruka?

[Getting closer to the kitchen!]

[anythingforyou]

[Camilla seems to jump a bit for a moment, when she hears those ever familiar wing flaps--they're interesting, to say the least, because they have such different sounds from the likes of kinshi and pegasi; it's the cry that seals the deal for her, and causes her to move with a start.

We aren't alone. That has to be a wyvern, but...

[Either way, Camilla finds herself getting up and staring to rush to the door, with a soft 'excuse me' to Chelsea, as she goes to see what's outside.

She knows better than to assume it's her own, perhaps, because it could be an enemy. Either way, she needed to see it.]