It's even cold when you dream;

[marsmakeup]

When Rei wakes up, it's not a real awakening. She can just tell that she's stepped from her usual sleep into a dream. It also helps that she steps from her bed dressed in her Senshi uniform, bright red heels contrasting sharply with the stark white of a snow field laid out before her. She shivers. How familiar. She tends to dream about the Arctic; it's a sticking point in her mind, especially when she's uncomfortable. Probably something to do with her death; that kind of thing leaves a mark on your psyche.

She takes a few more steps out into the whiteness. Usually she wakes up recalling nothing more than being cold, but this is different. More solid. More real than it has been before. So she walks out into the empty field of snow and ice, wind rustling past her with biting cold.

"Why can't I dream about something nice for a change?" Rei asks aloud, turning around to look back--and instead of the cold arctic, there's a sandy beach, sunshine beating down and water lapping upwards in the ever-rolling tide. She looks back. Snow and cold.

"Dreams are weird."

Comments

[waterfell]

It's Mercury. From the blue hair to the uniform, especially those boots, it's unmistakable.

But it's wrong. The eyes are dark. The posture is too strong, cold like the arctic side she stands on, cold like the Dark Kingdom side she stands on. The uniform has dark markings and a chain around her waist. She wears a bracer on one wrist, black.

"Sailor Mars!" she calls out with a smile that doesn't reach those hard eyes, where only her lips turn upward. With an affected sweetness in her voice, she says the worst thing she can think of while she stands here:

"Won't you visit my home?"

[marsmakeup]

"Ami-chan?" That voice is certainly familiar. Harder though. Colder. She turns back towards the cold and the ice, her brow furrowing in concentration.

". . .You don't live here." How confusing. But then again, this is a dream, isn't it? She smiles and reaches towards her friend, her other hand, gesturing back at the welcoming sun, sand, and water.

"Come over here and sit with me."

[waterfell]

And in those simple words and that simple offer, Mars has turned everything around on her. She keeps her face carefully pulled into that serious frown, but her eyes flicker to the warmth and the sunshine, to the inviting water instead of the forbidding ice.

"This is where I chose to belong," she says finally.

[marsmakeup]

"Don't be silly," Rei is relaxed, even if this dream is strange to her. And Ami is acting weird. But that's why it's a dream! Weird things happen. She takes a few steps out onto the ice, arms out towards her.

"It's too cold out here."

[waterfell]

"I've become used to it."

Suddenly she finds herself echoing the old, old rationalization. And yet it's also true. After these years, she's become used to the darkness, to the cold. She's even found glimmers of warmth inside it, that she hardly dared think about lest they prove too fragile.

And there's the part of her that wants to force the senshi to come to her, force them to go out of their way.

"So, let's have that friendly visit here." There's still something unnatural about the voice that makes the words too flippant for a girl who'd done anything for her friends.

[marsmakeup]

"If you really want to. . ." Rei crosses her arms and steps further into the ice, shivering. She doesn't care for the cold all that much and it's not fun, having to deal with it. She rolls a shoulder, steps up to Ami.

"This is going to be an interesting dream to talk about tomorrow. I wonder what you'll say then." She smiles, teasing her (supposed) dream!Ami.

[waterfell]

For a second, she thinks of deceiving Rei. Of taking the comfort and warmth of the senshi she thinks of as ignorant, by pretending to be one of them again.

How pathetic.

It's because Rei actually walked into the ice, she tells herself, and the very act of thinking of her as Rei again is telling. And she tries to tell herself it's meaningless, but ... doesn't any snow and ice start to melt when the fire comes closer?

"I was telling you the truth before," she says instead. "This is where I belong. You'll understand when you wake up." When you wake up, and 'Ami' has no idea what to make of the weird dream where she insists on rejecting the senshi ties.

"Until then, don't lump me together with that useless girl."

[drinkandforget]

Lethe has never been there. The cold chills her to the bone, used to the desert climate of her river. She rubs her hands against her arms to warm them. The chafing doesn't help, much. Her eyes go longingly to the beachside.

Her head snaps up when she realizes the red uniform is the uniform of a sailor senshi. How...?

How are there so many senshi on one distant planet, still free and still safe? It doesn't make sense, to the memories of destruction and war left behind through betrayal.

"Who are you?" The words slip from her mouth. She knows by the uniform: this is one of the ones who surround Sailor Moon, the one who will come to bring battle and suffering again some day.

[repudiate]

[ ... Welp, it's sure cold in here. That's practically the first thing Ange notices when she finds herself in the dream either way. Thigh high stockings with a skirt are not really suited for Artic weather, after all, but even so her expression remains a near lineface, keeping up her usual pokerface even in the cold.

When she spots the other girl and hears her speak up though, she just lets out a sigh. ]

You can say that again. Although, if you want a recommendation, I'd say we at least go over to the warmer side first.

[marsmakeup]

Rei laughs, tucking her arms in around her. The tiny skirt and heels definitely aren't cold-weather gear either!

"Sounds like a good idea." She steps out onto the warm sand with a grin, glancing at the newest addition to her dreamscape.

"Who are you?"

[repudiate]

My name is Ange. Ange Ushiromiya.

[ With a casual stride she walks over to the warmer side too, brushing some hair out of her face that had been waving around in the icy wind. ]

I'd say sorry for invading your dream like this, but I can't really help it either. It seems to be some sort of trend for me lately to enter other people's dreams and not even out of my own will.

[marsmakeup]

"Oh. Yes, that's what she said. Different worlds, different dreams. Does that mean you're a real person and not just part of my mind?" Rei shifts her feet, then kicks her heels off. Not the best shoes for sand.

[repudiate]

'She'..? [ A blink. Did this girl already talk to someone in this dream before her? ]

And yeah, I like to consider myself pretty real. I have a life outside of this dream, so yeah, don't worry. I'm not just your imaginary friend, you could probably think up better ones to start with.

[marsmakeup]

"Someone who looked like a friend of mine, but wasn't. She said she was from a different world," Rei replies, looking pensive for a moment.

"I suppose that's also the case with you, neh? The different world part, anyhow."

[repudiate]

... Yeah. Everyone here.. is from different worlds.

[ She gets awfully pensive though at what she hears from Rei, opting to just stare into the distance for a few moments before actually talking on. ]

It's happened to me though too, actually. Sometimes you meet people here who look like the people you used to know, but who changed in some way.

[promotedpawn]

Nice dreams are overrated. So are dreams that aren't weird.

[Primo's voice replies casually to the girl's words as he observes the plain and white landscape. Attracted to another dream, isn't he? He's not bothered by the cold, he would have to acknowledge the coldness for him to feel it and he refuses to. It has been a while since the last time he was attracted to a dream, he had started to think that it was over but it seems that wasn't the case.

He sighs and looks at the girl, the face's familiar, one seen in many worlds during his endless searches for his friends. But he doesn't know her, nor this one neither any other version of her. He can easily recall from which worlds he has seen her, though, that uniform is so similar to Usagi's senshi uniform...]

[marsmakeup]

"I prefer the nice ones," Rei replies, letting her feet dig into the warm sand of her dream beach. She turns her head to look at the new arrival, watching him from across the strange border between ice and sand.

"Welcome to my dream, whoever you are."

[promotedpawn]

Thanks, it's a curious dream. Hot and cold, does it have any special significance?

[He asks, slightly amused for a moment as he taps the snowed ground with a foot, still standing at the colder side of the dream.]

I should introduce myself first, though. You can call me Primo, that should suffice.

[marsmakeup]

"Only that I don't care much for the cold and wanted something warmer." The girl laughs, tucks her hands behind her.

"Please, call me Rei. It's nice to meet you, Primo-san."

[promotedpawn]

That's not what I would call a "special significance". But it's still a good reason for it. There are worse things to dream with than the north pole and the beach.

[He chuckles lightly.]

It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Rei-san... But is it safe to give out your name while dressed like that? Even if it's a dream, one never knows who may be watching.

[marsmakeup]

"I'm not too worried. It's a dream. No one here comes from my world, so far. Thanks for the concern, though." She laughs and shakes her head.

"And it's a dream, they're not supposed to make sense, really."

[promotedpawn]

One never knows. Even if no one you meet here come from your world, even if they are just dreams, they may come to affect your reality as well. In more ways than one. As far as I know, you'll be remembering those dreams even when you wake up, never forgetting them like other dreams. It's possible you even end contacting others you meet through those dreams without having to be asleep or in the same world.

[He smiles and nods, though.]

But you're right. Just because you're dressed like that it doesn't mean anything, other than you dream with being Sailor Mars. Everyone has aspirations and wishes like those.

[No, he didn't slip that accidentally. It was on purpose. It means nothing, though. Since she has already met Ami, it's not hard to imagine one could have heard about the other senshi even if Ami parted ways with them, right?]

[gardeningaia]

"Just because they're weird, doesn't mean they can't be nice." Straddling beach and arctic, this dream is quite a strange one, and Aerith purses her lips. "But you know, I'm liking the beach view better. Brr!"

[marsmakeup]

"I do too. I don't really care for the cold." Rei sits on the sand, shoes off now, and her toes wiggling in the sand.

"But it comes up a lot in my dreams, sometimes."

[gardeningaia]

"Hm... they say if something comes up a lot in your dreams, you might be worried about it." Rather than sit in the sand, Aerith approaches the water, her dress ghosting above the surface of the shallows. "That's not it, right? ...Maybe it means you need to sleep with more blankets."