RP:A Stranger's Name
Summary: Two strangers cross paths within their overlapping dreams, both of which dream of a place that they have long left behind.
In a realm where the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred, and even the most distant star-crossed lovers can reunite again, Kanna dreams of a familiar place in an unfamiliar way. She is on the larger of the two isles she will one day rule, dressed in the ceremonial robes shown in paintings of the crown queens of Ikari. ‘I have to purify the lakes.’ Kanna’s movements in this realm are dictated by that one thought as she glides forward. Her form is covered in layers of thin silk kimonos, alternating in soft pastels. The topmost robe is covered in painted rose and violet hydrangeas against a pale blue sky with gentle white clouds. On her head, a hydrangea crown with golden bells jingles with a haunting melody as the bard moves. Instead of an audience, Kanna glides through an aisle of mirrors that reflect her visage. For a moment, she pauses, looking at the way her chestnut fringe peeks out beneath the crown over her painted face. It was always this color, wasn’t it…? Kanna turns her head away from her reflections and towards the edge of the lake, where her dragon-zither lays open, awaiting her touch. The Queen kneels before the musical instrument and holds her hands over the strings, but she does not play. “I can’t do this…” She says softly. Kanna tries to touch the koto, but it crumbles to ash at her feet, and the lake takes on a blood red tone to match the darkening skies above. When Kanna stands, the standing mirrors shift to turn her way, all reflecting a ruined kimono covered in blood and gore from the bodies piled at her feet. Frustrated by the version of her that looks back out at her, Kanna rips the hydrangea crown off and throws it back out into the field. Her hair comes loose from the force, turning back into its unnatural silver color as it tumbles down around her form. “Somebody...!" Kanna feebly calls out, covering her painted face as she lowers herself to the ground.
Hiroto Tetsu’s dreams were never something he gave much thought to. Dreams were just dreams- he had no reason to believe otherwise, so when he found himself idly wandering the lands he grew up in he didn’t think that much about it either. It was vague and peaceful, no hidden meanings or deeper connection to anything, just an idle trip down memory lane. Eventually, however, Tetsu wanders from his side of the dream into another, the converging dreams between the two strangers joining for just a moment to allow him to step inside a place that did not look dissimilar from his own. It was still Ikari, the local flora and fauna were the same, just slightly different colors than what he remembered… Trees were in different places, the buildings were wrong. As these differences begin to creep on his mind, make him feel suspicious, he hears Kanna’s voice cry out and he cannot stop himself from instinctively rushing to see if he can be of help. He enters the field, the shiny glint of an object in the weeds catching his attention before green eyes spot Kanna atop a mountain of corpses. The sight gives the man pause, and he freezes, wary of some trick she might be pulling. “Hello…?” Tetsu hesitantly calls out, “What’s going on here?” ‘Are you the victim or the perpetrator?’ is what he really wants to ask, but he’s unsure what to think. He’s forgotten he’s only dreaming and he's on edge.
As Kanna wallows in the nightmare of her own making, a voice cuts through. The woman lifts her head, looking at the stranger. Her eyes drift down the sword at his hip and in her mind, it becomes clear that this man has been sent to make her pay for her crimes. How many assassins had she put down already. She decides this is where she dies. “I will not run from my punishments… Even though I never wanted this, even though it was never my choice, the blood is still on my hands.” She is both victim and perpetrator, guilty yet innocent. The pile of bodies shifts, and the bard is sent sliding down the pile of corpses with a startled cry as something awakens within. The red lake turns a sickly green, and a clawed hand reaches out from the mountain. Kanna looks back from her prone position on the ground, holding her hands over her head as if that might protect her. “Whether I’m killed by you or by it, that might be the only choice I’m allowed to make…” The woman is spiraling into a nightmare and quickly, though the resignation in her voice suggests that this might not be her first. ‘Turn back. This does not concern you.’ Whether the sentiment is said aloud or not, it rings out to Tetsu the same. Leave the duressed criminal to her fate, or intervene and risk the creature's wrath.
Tetsu might be confused but he understands negative energy when he sees it, and this place was full of it. Removing the talisman from around his neck he wraps it around his wrist and holds it aloft, chanting the words “Nakunatta Bakemono.” Over and over, a sphere of light strong enough to pierce the darkness of Kanna’s nightmares growing around his body. After several utterances of the holy prayer Tetsu steps forward, unshaken by the torments of Kanna’s dreams. “I’m not here to kill you… I d’even know who you are… But you -are- screwing up the balance here with all your negative energy.” He flicks the Celestial Bronze talisman and it rings out loud and clear, the sound carrying with it the purifying energies of his blessing. Green eyes slowly drag over to spy the hand reaching out of the water, a slight raise of his brow in reaction to it. “...And I certainly don’t take orders from any spooky lake monsters.” He looks back over to Kanna. “Miss, if I were you I’d step back; This might get ugly…”
Kanna shuts her eyes as Tetsu reaches up, but opens them again as she is met not with the cold iron of a blade, but of a spoken intention to protect. “The balance…?” She whispers, unsure of what he means. Abovehead, the sky grows alight with spots of lightning that do not fade, instead remaining there as if to illuminate the dark lakeside. The talisman rings out, and Kanna feels dream self rising up. The creature of the lake appears repelled by the blessing energy, its hand receding into the waters for a moment. “You spoke my language.” The reality dawns on Kanna during the moment of peace, and she accepts his order to move away. Then, like a whale breaches the ocean, the great lake’s monster reaches out again, decimating the pile of the dead in its way as though it were a pile of freshly fallen snow. Its claws are large enough that each of the three talons aims for Tetsu’s head, midsection, and legs. The bardess cries out for the stranger, as she is sure that he will be destroyed, just like all other flickers of good things that come into her life. In her mind, the creature of the lake is unbeatable, but deep down, she holds on hope that the stranger can prevail.
Tetsu allows himself to get distracted for a moment when Kanna speaks, “Your language?” He responds, trying to unravel the mystery that was this woman he had just encountered. These inner musings, however, quickly evaporated in the wake of the monster that crests the surface of the lake, Tetsu’s viridescent gaze snapping back in time to catch the creature lunging in for an attack. Reflexively the foxkin’s quartet of silver tails swirl as he creates an illusion. A double of Tetsu appears simultaneously as he hops backwards out of the way, sacrificing the false twin to the monster as he turns and rushes towards Kanna. Stuffing his charm into his pocket he bends down and scoops the bardess up into his arms bridal style, leaving the nightmare lake creature to play with the illusion for a while. “Sorry, Miss,” he says, cutting back through the foliage where he came from, unknowingly crossing the barrier back into his own dreamscape, “But I’m going to assume you don’t want to hang out with the creepy lake monster.”
“Oh…!” Kanna offers no resistance as the stranger lifts her without blinking twice at the gore that covers her clothing. The sensation of being carried is an unusual one, even if it is just in a dream, and so Kanna reflexively throws her arms around his neck to ensure she won’t fall. The double and the monster of the lake soon disappear as they cross the threshold, and Kanna’s robes change. The ichor and foul smell are left behind in the illusions of Kanna’s nightmare, and the crown of the royals returns atop her head. The painted make-up of the royals is restored from its tear-streaked state, though less exaggerated and highlighting the cornflower blue of the queen’s eyes. Darkness turns to daylight, and something else changes too. Kanna was not old enough to memorize the layout of the larger of the two isles as infrequently as she visited, but there’s a different air about the place. “You saved me…” Kanna says when they finally slow down, though not in Common, but in the shared language of the isles. “Are you an Ascendi?”
Tetsu glances behind them as the scene starts to change, the subtle differences between nightmare to dream making him realize that this was perhaps not real at all. A fabrication of his fantasies perhaps, and although he knew he wasn’t the type to dream about rescuing pretty ladies somehow right now it didn’t seem to matter. They approach a brook leading down into a lake, a clearing of freshly cut trees surrounding the bend here as he slowly comes to a halt. Instead of responding to Kanna with words at first, he raises his eyebrow at her and sets her on her feet. “I wasn’t just going to leave you behind.” He states in their shared native tongue, purposefully underselling his deed to save himself the embarrassment. He turns away to watch the brook flow slowly down into the valley, a hand fishing around inside his pocket to fumble for his wooden pipe, though he forgets to light it before placing it in his mouth to serve as a distraction. “At any rate you seem fine. Not a scratch on you.” Green eyes peer down from over his shoulder as he looks her over to make certain he was correct.
The bardess puts her face into her kimono sleeves, and when she rises again, the painted make-up is gone, replaced with a soft freckled face that betrays her age. A smile graces her face when he replies in her tongue, her nightmares now forgotten as though it happened years ago. She is the constellation of the Witches Broom personified as she steps forward to marvel at the scenery. Kanna looks around the natural enclave in wonder, her eyes lighting up. “I know this place. The winter solstice is held here, and you pray to Selene to thaw the waters when spring comes. The queen plays a song to encourage Her to return, and it keeps the lake purified until the next solstice.” A memory plays on Kanna’s mind, but she was too young to remember it fully, so the only thing that manifests is a flurry of snowflakes across the temperate waters that turn to stray dandelion seeds within the blink of an eye. Kanna steps forward and balances on a stone jutting out of the brook, her hyacinth robes trailing behind her like faerie wings. She moves from stone to stone until she’s in front of the foxkin man, her eyes glittering up at him, her curiosity as intense as his desire to end the conversation. “If you’re not an Ascendi, then are you a knight?”
Tetsu’s pipe hangs lazily in his mouth as he watches Kanna explore the location, explaining uses for this place that he had never personally heard of. When he had cut these trees down to build a tiny shine he didn’t anticipate that people would be using it 100 years later. Even now their small connection to this place was lost on him but as Kanna finally comes to a stop before him he cannot hide the amused smirk that plays at his lips when she asks if he’s a knight. He pulls the pipe from his mouth to fidget in his hand, a long thoughtful ‘hmm’ before he gives her an answer. “Not exactly. I’m not employed by a lord or shogunate or anything like that… But I’m not too bad with a sword I guess.” He gestures to the katana and wakizashi tucked in his sash. His smirk fades. He wasn’t sure why he was being so forthcoming with a stranger, but somehow in this dreamscape it made sense to do. “So, we're just gonna forget that you were covered in blood a moment ago?” His viridescent gaze slowly drifts back in the direction of Kanna’s nightmare. “Do you know what that thing was?”
Kanna's expression falls as the stranger steers the conversation back on course. Turning her back to him, the bard laces her fingers together behind her back. "Whether the blood stains my clothes or my soul, it's all the same to me. Just like it ruins silk, it ruins your heart whether you wanted to spill the blood or not. That creature is the thing that made me spill blood on it's behalf, that's all." She adds those two words as nonchalantly as one speaks of the weather. As she remembers the night she was forced into this path, the flora around them changes. Foxglove trees morph and sprout thorns until roses begin to bloom around and above the woman, their petals the same delicate blue as her eyes and the summer skies above them. The roses tremble in time with her shoulders, creating a delicate rain of petals around them. Kanna turns to face the man again, a sad smile on her face. "I've always been destined to go to Perdere, though, so I suppose I'm just as much of a monster as it."
Tetsu stops playing with his pipe long enough to light it, the smoke rising in the air to form a hazy cloud all around them with tinted purple and blue, swirling like the aurora borealis of the northern skies. He waits until she is finished talking until he responds, his tone just as nonchalant as the one Kanna had offered him. The foxkin parts his lips to speak, his gaze looking beyond her, into the grove of trees. “Well, I reckon you live long enough you’re bound to get your hands dirty one way or another, that's the way of this world. I think it takes a little more than that to get you into Perdere… Unless you did something really bad.” His face sets sternly, like he’s about to scold Kanna for her acts or behavior. “Did you do something really bad, Miss?” His gaze burns into her, daring her to lie to him right to his face.
"Hmm… are you my conscience, then?" Slowly, the disruption of dreams begins to take hold of Kanna, inching her ever so closer to the realization that she is in a dream, but the man before her is not. Before that realization strikes, though, Kanna leans into the man, stepping up on her toes to lightly cup his face with one hand. She can feel the roughness of stubble beneath her hands and the acrid smoke from his pipe. "You shouldn't ask questions you don't want to hear the answer to. Whether I've been bad or not depends on whether you ask the dead or the victims they left behind in the world of the living." That sadistic twinge in Kanna from her time as a ghoul flares for a moment before she suddenly pulls away, holding both hands to her chest as though she touched fire. "But that's not true at all, because I know it was wrong regardless. I've told you my crimes, now tell me yours in exchange, o stranger."
Tetsu stares down at her for a long moment, his deadpan expression doing its work to conceal whatever the foxkin might be thinking or feeling. He doesn’t even move away from her touch, though the hardness in his eyes increases at the negligible action. To prolong his silence and to drag out his answer, he simply hits his pipe once more, green eyes never leaving Kanna’s. Yet again, Tetsu gives a long, disproving ‘hmm’ before he finally removes the pipe from his mouth to speak. “Miss,” he begins with a sigh, “It’s not up to me to judge your actions; Only the gods can do that. And that goes for you too.” He seemed annoyed that she’d ask about his own crimes, though whether this was because he was offended by the mere implication or simply because she was prying was unknown. “It’s like you say, don’t ask about things that are better left unanswered. If you know what you did was wrong and you try to change… well… That’s good enough.” His viridescent gaze finally slips from Kanna’s own as he turns for the brook yet again to watch the water gently trickling downhill. “The dead might feel differently but that is their prerogative. It’s best not to think too long about that either.”
Kanna juts out her lower lip in a pout as her request is denied, but her cheeks betray her in a flush as his deep eyes refuse to break contact with hers. “What a curious man you are.” She says, turning away from him. She extends her hands upwards, beckoning the roses of the sky to come to her so that she may free the foxglove trees from their thorns. “I do try not to think about it, but I suppose it cannot be helped.” Kanna spins on her heel to face him again, her arms full of flowers, their blue petals turning purple at the edges as though they were blushing. “You remind me of someone, but I can’t remember who... I think I’d like to see you again.” Tetsu can’t help but snort out a laugh when Kanna calls him a curious man, returning the pipe to his mouth to produce another cloud of smoke, this time pink and mint green and thick like the plume of a smudge stick. He turns to face her at the same moment she pins on her heel, green eyes locking onto her yet again, colorful fog floating around his head. “I can assure you, Miss, you and I have never met before.” Tetsu lowers the pipe from his mouth and for the first time in this encounter he gives her a genuine smile. “And I doubt we shall ever meet again.” He offers Kanna a polite bow and turns to slowly walk away, following the brook upstream higher into the hills, his silver tails gently swaying behind him. He's not walking fast, Kanna could easily follow after him.
Kanna starts to move after him, to learn about the stranger who came to her rescue, but then the roots take hold of her feet, forcing her to stay behind. ‘I’m dreaming.’ She realizes. A tear rolls down her face as the memories of Ikari and the rest of what transpired here start to slip away from her and the softness of the bed she lays in replaces the warmth of the summer sun and the roses in her arms. “Wait! I never asked you your name…!” She calls out after him, but if he answers her, it is too late. The bard awakens, one arm outstretched and the outburst that broke the silence of the night still fresh on her lips, leaving her with only the faded recollection of wanting to know a stranger’s name.