Dreams of Hope

Dreams of Hope
Date of Scene:	19 October 2012
Location:	Fluorgis, Shard Seekers HQ - Boys's Dorm
Synopsis:	It's the morning after Reize's nightmare. What happens next?
Cast of Characters:	Reize Seatlan, Lily, Riku, Shiki Misaki, Lenn

---

Reize Seatlan has posed:
It's slowly approaching moning. The sun is rising at the cit of Fluorgis. The oasis city of Fluorgis is the stronghold for the Shard Seekers.

In the boy's dorm of the Shard Seekers HQ, Reize's room is that of a minimalist. His gear, for the most part, are removed save for his shirt and his headband is at the side. Currently in beed, snoozing, is none other than Reize himself.

ZZzzzZzz....

An arm is curled along something... or rather, someone as he remains in his slumber.

Lily has posed:
That something would be Lily, in her white (does she ever wear other colors?) Nightgown, of course. What brought her here is hard to say, but she's curled up next to Reize in a very childlike manner, apparently sound asleep herself. There's a stronger than normal shimmer from the gem on her forehead. One normally wouldn't want it shining in their eyes when trying to sleep... but the faint green one from whatever it is that's stuffed in her arms matches it pulse for pulse.

She's not only sound asleep but for the most part? Doesn't seem to be breathing whatsoever. Odd.

Lenn has posed:
It's getting late.

As such, Lenn's getting concerned for Reize. Thus, there's a soft knock, before the door opens, slowly... And... Reize is already sleeping with Lily?

Lenn stumbles back a step. Oh, my...

Reize Seatlan has posed:
ZzZzZz....

And the boy is slowly starting to flutter awake. He grumbles for a few moments, wonderng how long did he sleep. A hand rests along his forehead. However, as he pulls himself up, he feels a weight on his arm.

"...Eh?" He looks forward to see Lenn, "Oi! Uhh, what are you doing so ea--..." And he sees her expression, "...Huh?" Then, he turns to see why his arm has some weight on it.

... !!!!

"Gah!" The boy yelps and he pulls his arm out....and of course, he falls off of the bed with a thud. "Ooof!"

Lily has posed:
"--hwuh?!" With all that rocking and tumbling and CRASHING, of course Lily wakes up. With a bit of a start, really. She all but leaps from the bed, somehow bouncing several feet in the air with a tiny gust-- only to come crashing back down again, curling around the green glow as if afraid to let it shine into the room.

On her side, blinking with eyes wide, she makes a few flustered noises, because... she's looking straight at where Reize JUST was, but all she can see is Lenn over there in the doorway. "...noooooo he can't be gone again!"

Lenn has posed:
Lenn shakes her head. "No... he... fell." She points to the floor. "He... and you.... sleeping... with each other?" She looks almost crushed.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Grumble.

Reize is pulling himself onto the bed, rolling up before eyeing Lily, "Ngghh... Lily, how did you get in my room?" The boy rubs his forehead, looking rather confused at Lily.

Then, he looks at Lenn, "..I was sleeping earlier. Needed to rest for the night." He scratches his head, a bit uncertain as to why she has the crushed look. Though, part of him can't help but to feel bad for some reason.

Lily has posed:
Not only is Reize looking confusedly at Lily, but Lily, having crawled uncertainly - but in a quick hurry over to the edge of the bed - is also looking down with relief at Reize, although hunched over oddly to still squeeze the source of that faint green glow away from the room. "Oh... oh... phew..."

She looks up at Lenn, noting the disastrous change in mood but quizzical over just why. "D-don't be sad! It's okay now..." Her voice warms up and she smiles proudly at Lenn!

"... I stopped the stupid darkness, so Reize can sleep!"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"...Sleep better...?"

Then, it finally hit the boy. For those moments, the confused look took a turn for the worst with a more somber look in his eyes. His eyes furrow while he looks over towards the ground.

"...I remember it now. I was having nightmares.."

The expression turns very somber, "...It was of everyone..." He rests a hand on his forehead, "..A voice had told me that everyone would betray me..." He looks up towards Lenn, "You had struck me with your staff and left... Riku started beating me up, Shiki, and then Lily... and then Ivo stabbed me..." He frowns. "Then I fell."

"A voice told me that it was not a dream, but an omen--but that's when I heard a song that helped me sleep."
He glances back towards Lily, "Was that you..?"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
And predictably enough, here comes Shiki in her PJs, clutching Mr. Mew like a normal plushie.

"uuuuuuugh what's all the noise about"

HASN'T ANYONE HEARD OF BEAUTY SLEEP

Lily has posed:
"Mmmhm!" Lily's proud smile does NOT go away as she looks over the edge of the bed again. "I'm so glad it worked... it's all... um... something's wrong with the thing you got back... couldn't you feel it?" Lily sounds REALLY WORRIED that nobody could. As if, well, ANYONE should have been able to tell.

She's still supported by knees and elbows, body curled around the faint green glow and looking OVER the bed's side down at Reize - fabric of her nightgown swaying loosely about - when Shiki peeks in.

"I... I fell asleep too, after stuffing the darkness away..." Her voice quiets down quite a bit though. "But it won't go away. It's still there....?!"

Well, at least she doesn't seem to have any clue whatsoever why Lenn would have been so crushed, but when Shiki comes in she gives the girl that worried look as if this whole thing is a bit of a disaster...

Lenn has posed:
Lenn nods, "I... I wouldn't do that. I COULDN'T do that, because..." She trails off. "Reasons."

She shakes her head. "Did something happen to you, down there?"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki Misaki stares from the doorway.

She takes in roughly one percent of what Lily said, which is probably the word 'asleep'.

Very slowly, she looks at the three people in the room.

"Schenanigans," she declares, firmly. "Always with the schenanigans."

She waves it off. "Don't worry about it, Lenn, this is just another wacky thing."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"My thing...?" The boy looks a Lily briefly, then he looks over towards the green pendant. His eyes widen to see the pendant. The young boy looks over towards the glow that Lily has been curled around. He reaches his hand to reach for the cord to pull it up.

...That is when he is able to see its true manifestation.

The pendant is corrupted. While it still gave a green glow, the black, poisonous aura emanated from it.

"...Ngh." His eyes furrow, "...That thief corrupted it." He shakes his head. But when Shiki comes in to wave it off, he then yelps at her comment, "Oi! I had no idea hat I was doing! And my head hurted after that..."

Riku has posed:
"I see you've been busy, Seatlan." is a voice that comes beyond the doorway, just as the forementioned comment from Shiki starts to settle. Someone has apparently been taking sneaky lessons and has just shown up without warning or announcement.

Lily has posed:
And now Riku's showing up. Lily blinks up at the platinum-haired young man, but seems too mystified by this sudden admission of Shiki's and puzzling why Shiki's just up and talking about this while Lenn was acting very differently... all while Reize studies the pendant. She shifts around to sit on the bedside, grabbing Reize's nearest hand while she's at it. "Don't sleep with that thing nearby anymore! You were tossing about... it... it was really scary at first!"

But when Lenn says a certain auspicious thing, Lily blinks and gazes up at her, hands clapping together. "You do?"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki Misaki just looks at Riku bleary-eyed. She's got, it must be mentioned, the worst case of bed hair, and she's just sort of looking at him like 'oh god not another variable in this conversation, please'.

"OK, so," she says, doing her best. "Basically we got the pendant back (this is good news, I didn't hear about this), but that stinky guy did something nasty to it and it's making you have nightmares, but maybe Lenn can fix it? And Lily fell asleep next to him in a certainly justifiable and platonic way because she was trying to fix it because she can... uh... hey, hang on, I'm gonna go find my player pin, lemme do that and come back."

Off she goes!

Reize Seatlan has posed:
 !!!!

The boy's eyes shift towards Riku, who makes his presence known despite no actual warning. Locked onto Riku, the boy waves a hand his way, "Ooiii! Riku!" His legs are still in the covers as he is back on the bed. Of course, considering Lily is still up on it as well.

"It's good to see you!" He holds the pendant up, "Good news! I---

But then, Shiki summarizes the situation of everything that happened. Before Reize can lift a finger and say something, Shiki already left to retrieve her pin.

"...Uh..."

A glance is given towards Lenn. As she mentions about perhap trying to be able to fix it, Reize smiles, "If you could, that would be helpful."

Riku has posed:
Riku smiles at Shiki, getting out of her way and taking up her spot leaning against the doorway.

"Let me get this straight. You spent all week with Priel, lost in a forgotten ruin. You eventually got your pendant back, plus enough treasure to put your clan on the map-- only to have it stolen out from under you and now the pendant is broken." his mouth twitches at the corner as he looks at Reize, and there is a moment of doubt that vanishes as he starts to snicker, shoulders shaking as he tries to contain his building laughter.

"Well, that beat my week. I only got you a firing mechanism. It's on the crafting table. Oh-- and hey, a sack full of puppies-- which I suppose I'll have to do something about now."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Oh my GOSH it's a good thing Shiki missed that 'enough treasure to put us on the map' thing. She doesn't want more reasons to hatefearhorrible Priel. More than she already does.

It's a good thing this is a Disney game, too, or she'd be thinking some very rude words right now!

In any case, she's trundling in with her good old black skull pin in hand, with a somewhat boneless motion because she's still not awake yet. Hold pin, use Scan.

"OK, huh. This ... huh. Looks like that ugly geezer's just sat in there. Sat around mumbling about something."

"Oh yeah, those puppies are everywhere, man."

Smash cut to like, a dozen puppies all over the garden. Some are yawning.

Lenn has posed:
Lenn nods, "I cast magic by imbuing crystals. So.. I'd say I do know a few things. I can't guarantee I'll be able to fix it, but I can try, right?

Lily has posed:
"What's a puppy?" Lily's sitting on the edge of the bed now... but before she can think more on what a puppy is by the sound of its name, there's Shiki with her pin. The mage in a nightgown blinks up at her, ponderously. "Sat in? he's not in it is he?!" Lily WHIRLS around to stare at Reize's pendant like it's some kind of enemy, then gesticulates wildly and worriedly at Lenn. "Try, try, he can't stay anywhere near here!"

Riku has posed:
Riku shrugs. "Well, I couldn't just leave them in the bag," although he does sound a smidge sheepish about the whole thing, rubbing the back of his neck. He moves a step into the room, a little startled by Lily's outburst which he regards with some mild uneasiness, leaning against the wall with a strangely serious expression as he turns his gaze onto Reize's pendant.

His brow furrows slightly, as if puzzled. "Reize, do you mind if I take a look?" he looks to Lenn, saying. "I'll give it to you right afterwards, Lenn. I just want to see this for myself."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki Misaki glances over to Lenn.

"Player pin. Second most important thing I own. Probably most important if you don't count Mr. Mew... Reaper's game proof of participation. Lets me scan around for evil things, read peoples' thoughts... stuff... design's pretty cool too..."

Lenn has posed:
Lenn hmms. "Really. You mind if I study it, sometime, too? If I can figure out a little of how it works, then maybe... I have an idea...

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Yeah, but I'm not going to do it to /you/ guys. You're my friends, that's an invasion of privacy," Shiki replies to Riku. She hmms.

"Alright, sure, but be /really/ careful with it, OK? Don't take it out of the house or anything. I feel kinda itchy if I get seperated from it."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
The comment regarding the treasure being stolen under him earns a lowered, defeated look from Reize.

"Kick me while I am down, why don't you?" Comical tears roll along his eyes. Stupid Priel. Stupid treasure. Bah.

Nevertheless, Reize looks towards his friend when he mentions about the mechanism, "ReallY?! Wow! You're the greatest, Riku!" The boy has a brighter smile, his antenna hair flips up proudly.

"Oh! A bag of puppies! ...How did you manage to get that?" He scratches his head.

However, the longer he holds onto that pendant...

~ They will betray you.... especially the silver haired boy...!! ~

Reize visibly tenses. Like, everything tenses about him. A hand rests over towards his forehead, sweat suddenly coming out. "Nngghh..." As his eyes drift towards Riku, and then Lenn, Reize offers her a smile. When he looks at Riku, the boy, although shakily, hands the pendant towards Riku.

Lily has posed:
"Read... minds?" Lily seems confused by this notion. What could that possibly mean? She looks rapidly between the folk here, only twitching a little as the mention of Priel is made. It's still hard to accept what Ivo said-- that she shouldn't flip out and so on. Especially now, with what happened to Reize... "Nnnnnh... Priel better never show up again..."

But then quite unexpectedly, she tenses as well and LEANS over towards Reize as if watching for something.... worriedly. ".. I still feel that wrongness..."

Riku has posed:
Riku doesn't snatch the pendant out of Reize's hand even though he wants to. He continues to smile, just slightly, and makes no suspicious move as he extends his hand to take it out of his hand. The smile jerks at one corner as he touches the crystal, wrapping his fingers around it as he pulls it out of the younger boy's hand. A voice in the back of his mind-- pauses mid-tirade and.. tries, a little tenatively.. a different tact.

~They know. They all know. Did you really think you were fooling anybody?~

Seriously? That's all you've got?

Apparently this flickering fragment of Scarm isn't used to being talked back to. It-- doesn't recover well.

~You've doomed them all. Your friends. Your world. Your--~

You're boring me. Goodbye.

Apparently digging into the darkest recesses of the soul and pulling up juicy bits is not as easy as it used to be in the olden times. These kids now with their angst and their jaded dispositions. It's enough to make a cursed fragment of despair and madness weep.

Riku closes his hand around the pendant, applying steady pressure. The voice fades, it's raging and scorned cries becoming muffled and indistinct. A faint heat mirage shimmers around him for a fraction of a second, then he relaxes his grip. He leans more heavily against the wall, putting a foot up against it as he idly tosses the artifact to Lenn. "Thanks."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Reize is breathing a bit harder. He winces, a hand resting over his face. That is not good. His body visibly shudders from the feeling. Though, there is something that lingered.

He could hear like a little voice trapped through that corruption.

As Riku has his hands on it, that manifestation, as he brings the pressure against the pendant to essentally numb the essence away.

Past the darkness hidden inside the pendant, Riku gets a glimpse into the pendant. Something else.

~ It is a young boy in red, no older than fourteen, looking lost in a dark space. It's none other than the Eternally Lost Boy Within that dark space, the young man sees several orbs light up through the darkness, brightening up the area. ~

~ A hand reaches out to touch the glowing orb. ~

~ "I wished to get back to Midgar... it took nearly a few weeks, but we made it.." ~

That voice belonged to a familiar bartender. The next voice is one that's unfamiliar.

~ "Please, I wish someone would help me find my mother..." ~


But that glimpse fades away as he tosses the pendant to Lenn.

Lenn has posed:
Lenn catches the pendant, and hmms, at it. "I wonder..." She closes her eyes and concentrates, trying to infuse it with some of her healing magics, and her burgeoning affection for the young adventurer, making a little glow, before returning it to Reize.

Lily has posed:
Lily blinks once at Riku, but doesn't say anything at this touch and... something odd that happens. She just watches the thing change hands apprehensively, and slides over to right behind Reize to rather solidly hug him from behind.

Or well, more than just hug. It's a vaguely uncomfortably tight squeeeeeze-hug.

Riku has posed:
Riku looks thoughtfully at the ceiling as he crosses his arms, mulling over the strange flickering images and voices. He glances in Reize's direction, smiling faintly as Lenn hands over the artifact again. "The new hookshot should almost be finished. Try not to lose this one before you leave the city, huh Reize?"

He chuckles, making a gesture towards the bed and Lily. "You also might want to consider not trying to save someone so hard you misplace yourself for a week. Your ribs might not survive."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
 !!!

Reize is given a solid, squeezing hug. His eyes widen as he yelps, "Gah!" He calms, looking at Lily before patting her on the head.

It takes a great effort of contribution to erase the darkness that has lingered in the pendant. Lily managed to stave off the worse of it, preventing it from growing. Riku's efforts managed to dull the dark nature enough to miniscule its effective power.

Through the heart of the elf, her healing magic, combined with her growing feelings for the one who wears it, has its effects on it.

It starts to glow, pulsating with a bright glow.

Reize, originally unable to sense the magic, takes a hold of the pendant. Placing it around his neck, Reize can now feel the magical essence.

"I am with my friends now... Knight's Vow #14: Even a small star shines in darkness."

The darkness subsides until it evaporates in entirety.

It feels nice, feeling connected with his pendant once more.

> Reize has regained a mysterious pendant.
> Reize has regained a Pendant's Power.

Afterwards..

Reize continues to pat Lily on the head, then he looks at both Lenn and Riku, "Thank you, the both of you." Regarding the hookshot, Reize gives a sheepish laugh. "Hopefully! I'll keep that by my side! ...I will definitely keep that in mind."

The boy smiles.

They wouldn't betray him.

They are his friends.

Riku has posed:
Riku says, "Don't just play X-com. play the hell out of it. Even if it is 'Shoot Bad Guy you kick down doors, and you brandish weapons and you shoot many, many bad guys.""