⚔ // once upon a dream

[discutio]

[You all know the drill by now. Ignis and Camilla have taken over the nearest kitchen, and there's going to be food in the Pokemon Center soon enough; a warm and comforting vegetable curry. Highwind's even out now, welcoming any and all who might need a large cloud bird to hug after everything that was.]

[It's been a long night. Everyone needs a good meal and a long rest, and luckily one of those things is being seen to immediately.]

Comments

[takestheblame]

[Kiryu hangs around the Pokecenter, hugging Daigo rather tightly. It's extremely unusual, seeing this grown, tough and fearsome man, giving his panda a rather sincere hug. The rest of the team are around him, waiting for their turn, except Skorupi, who is clinging to Kiryu's head. Kiryu has never been someone to give such overt displays of affection, so they know something rather unusual must have happened.

Kiryu himself is surprised he's doing this. He guesses he's trying to ascertain this is reality. Daigo sure feels warm, fuzzy and real. That fills him with relief.

Once he's done making sure he's awake and not about to walk into another nightmare, he walks around, approaching people and asking]

Are you okay? I'm aware the nightmares could be rather traumatizing.

[To say the least]

[eudaimonikos]

Mine actually wasn't that bad.

[Knowing Michael, he's probably lying at least a little. But only a little.]

I figured out it wasn't real pretty fast, so after that it didn't matter as much. The first time I met it was worse. How about you?

[takestheblame]

...it was rather bad. Darkrai messed with some things I'd rather not to experience again for as long as I live.

[He's not afraid of admitting that part, although he's hesitating about specifying]

I'd have tried to fight him, if we hadn't been on a mission to get him on our side.

[eudaimonikos]

I'm actually a little surprised more people didn't try to fight him. He made Aya cry.

[Which is evidently the criteria for being a monster around here.]

I don't think he really understood that it was wrong.

[takestheblame]

He said to me it was necessary. I don't believe that at all.

[It just seems so excessive to try to make a point through nightmares involved loved ones being hurt!]

[eudaimonikos]

Yeah, he was saying that a lot.

[Michael thinks on it for a moment.]

He isn't wrong, that knowing what people fear tells you things about them. But no, I don't think it was necessary.

[takestheblame]

Was that what he did to you, these same nightmares? Back when you first stayed at that inn?

[He doesn't envy you went through these nightmares twice, that's for sure]

[discutio]

I'm...actually feeling reasonably well, thank you. Are you managing alright, Kiryu?

[takestheblame]

...I had better days. Darkrai was messing with some stuff he shouldn't have. We're lucky it's not hostile towards us.

[It'd be horrible, not being able to ever have a good night of sleep every again]

[discutio]

It was certainly a...less than ideal method of communication. I'm just glad it turned out well.

[takestheblame]

It wasn't a repeat of what you had seen that time you stayed at the inn, was it?

[He kind of hopes it was, because that'd be easier to take in stride, instead of having to deal with a completely new nightmare]

[discutio]

Oh...no, actually. This time it was a vision of our hometown devoid of spirit.

[...]

I'm not quite sure which nightmare was worse.

[takestheblame]

[An entire town? And that was comparable to whatever nightmare he had recently? Huh. It may have been a very important person to Ignis]

Those I was with and I saw visions of our loved ones suffering. [He really doesn't want to say 'dead', because he took it rather hard] I can only guess this time yours was like that too. Hope you'll forget what you saw.

[hyruglyphics]

[ Is she okay. That's a question? Zelda mulls it over a moment, she herself sort of centering herself by way of looking through her own notes (grown much, much extensively since having access to the Canalave library) with Miphanus floating over her shoulder...

She bites her lip and shakes her head. ]

I shall be, in time.

[takestheblame]

Still haunting you? You seemed to be taking it rather hard, during the fleeting moment I saw you.

[He wouldn't be surprised if those moments stick with all of them for a long while]

[hyruglyphics]

[ For a moment, her eyes flicker away a little before she exhales and... ]

... Yes. Yes, I suppose that-- is something which shall linger with me.

[takestheblame]

...Ignis said something to me: no matter how difficult they become from here out, every nightmare must end with the dawn.

Keep carrying that with you if you feel the need to, but don't forget things aren't hopeless.

[He's borrowing what Ignis said, because Ignis' way of saying this idea was much more empathetic than Kiryu would phrase this, even if Kiryu would have as much empathy as Ignis]

[hyruglyphics]

[ She actually laughs a little bit at that. It's not that mirthful, but she does shuffle a little bit as she mulls that over ]

Oh, I know- I've seen that firsthand, you know.

[ It's just... mmm. ]

[takestheblame]

Have you?

[That's good, then she knows it's not impossible for things to get better! Kiryu is a bit curious how it was like, but he's not sure if asking would be good]

[thunderwolf]

"Rather"'s an understatement.

[At least Eustace is being honest about his nightmare fucking with him on a pretty big level. He's exhausted from the ordeal, but...]

I'm managing, though. You doing okay?

[He'll return the question. It was hard to miss that Kiryu seemed to have taken his pretty hard in their meeting with Darkrai.]

[takestheblame]

Right now I'm doing better. I had to take a moment to calm down some time ago.

[Which he feels kind of embarrassed about now]

I'll get over it.

[thunderwolf]

I don't blame you.

[He'll make that clear. Honestly, he's sure nobody would. He's in full agreement that a lot of that was unnecessary. It was very difficult to go through those nightmares.]

The best we can take out what we had to go through is that it didn't end up being pointless.

[Even if it was unnecessary...at least something good came from it.]

[takestheblame]

Easier said than done, you know.

[It's not that Kiryu is incapable of doing such a thing, it's more like he needs something to focus on to distract himself. Until then he won't stop thinking about it]

[thunderwolf]

...Yeah, I know. What we saw... [He squeezes the cup of coffee in his hands, thinking back to the Grandcypher in ruins.] That's not going to go away anytime soon, even if it wasn't real.

[It's taking a lot of willpower to not dwell on that image.]

But I'm not about to let myself get stuck in my head again- especially on a dream. Can't afford to.

[takestheblame]

Have you gone through something like that before?

[The contents of the nightmare? Kiryu knows Eustace wasn't the most expressive guy ever, but he's taking this rather well -- outwardly. That's something Kiryu can respect]