01 [Tiffany finds herself in Tokyo. How or why? She's not really sure. She's pretty sure she's dream walking, but she's also pretty sure she's not tall and red and has four arms. It's strange, really, but almost the good kind of strange. A liberating kind of strange. And a kind of strange that hasn't had her running into a cat in a hat or a giant black bird thus far.] 01 [Maybe she should stumble into Tokyo more often.] 01 [Regardless, she finds herself drawn - yeah, that's a good word for it, drawn - to what looks like a high school with a low hanging fog surrounding it. The area is completely dead, except for. Well. The girl falling off the roof.] 01 [CRACKVERSE GO] 06* Tiffany looks around the area for a moment, wrapping her arms around herself. She looks a bit confused and doesn't quite seem to recognize the area. It feels kind of cold. She then notices the school building and her eyes go wide for a moment. She runs towards it, but without being able to teleport there, it's doubtful she can reach it in time. Still she tries. 01 [Tiffany finds she gets there much faster than she expected - almost like she can teleport? But she's not Kali - just in time for the girl to land at her feet in a heap of gray uniform and brown hair and blood.] 06* Tiffany tries not to scream, or partly does but it catches in her throat, but she kneels beside the girl to look her over and inspect the girl, at a loss. 01 [Tiffany flips her over, and she can see a girl about her age with blank, gray eyes, dark brown hair, and blood - so much blood - with a knife clutched in one hand. She might be breathing, she might not; it's hard to tell when a soft, hoarse voice behind her says, "Move away."] 06* Tiffany watches her for a moment, a bit stunned and not ready to move. "Y- you're hurt...I..." She's still somewhat in shock from the fall. Some parts of her have registered this as a dream but her waking part of her brain is still holding her a bit hostage. (retcon. Misread) 06* Tiffany watches the girl for a moment, a bit stunned and not ready to move. "S-she's hurt...I..." She's still somewhat in shock from the fall. Some parts of her have registered this as a dream but her waking part of her brain is still holding her a bit hostage. She turns her head around to look at the source of the voice. Something of her protective instinct is ready to get out of the way 06* Tiffany at a moment's notice though. 01 [Tiffany turns her head and sees... the same girl. Same brown hair, same uniform, similar knife in one hand. She's also covered with blood and even has the same scar on her throat. The only real difference is her gray eyes are alert and wary as she approaches. She follows up with: "Please."] 06* Tiffany scrambles up to her feet, her hands actually going for the knife and grabbing it from the fallen girl's hands before she turns to the girl, her eyes narrowing. She's controlling her breathing pretty well, though it is a little obvious she's trying to keep herself from panting. She steps away a little but points the knife at the girl. "You're...you're not real. What do you want from her?" 06* Katie blinks at Tiffany once, and she stops, keeping the knife down at her side. "To kill her." 06* Tiffany tilts her head towards her. She's still somewhat at the ready with the knife but...this may actually be what's supposed to happen. She squints slightly as she looks at the standing girl. "Why?" 06* Katie smiles faintly, her eyes moving to the crumpled girl now. "So I'll be the real one." 06* Tiffany looks at Katie confused for a moment. She's not the real one. Neither is the one on the ground. This is probably supposed to happen anyways. But she manages to bite her lip. "Aren't you you regardless?" She then frowns suddenly and gestures with the knife. "Stay away from her. You're not taking anyone else." 06* Katie seems to decide that now is the time to ignore Tiffany, as she starts moving forward again. 06* Tiffany steps in front of her and brandishes the knife, glaring at her. "Who are you working for? Tell me!" 06* Katie glares at Tiffany now, looking her directly in the eye for the first time. "Nobody. *Move*." She doesn't raise her voice, but she manages more force just the same. 06* Tiffany glares right back in her eyes. "Bullshit. You want her dead! You want to replace her! I won't let that happen!" 06* Katie 's eyes widen, and she takes a step back. "No." 06* Tiffany rubs her head and whispers to herself. "I never thought I'd wish that damned cat were here..." She then turns back to Katie, pressing her lips tightly together, reaffirming her grip on the knife. "No? Then tell me what the hell is going on." Out of the corner of her eye, she's keeping a glance out for the Raven. He should be here about now. 06* Katie doesn't seem to notice quite what Tiffany's saying, instead shaking her head and continuing to back away. "No. No no no." And the area grows dark and Tiffany feels increasingly closed in, all light gradually dimming away. "I'm real," Katie says, suddenly desperate and terrified instead of determined. 06* Tiffany frowns a little bit and her stance loosens up a little bit. She's still watching Katie for if she tries to lunge at her, but she doesn't look as if she's about ready to strike at her any more. She even steps a bit off to the side so she's not blocking her any more. She does glance at the closing doom for a moment. 06* Katie takes one shuddering breath, then another... then asks, "What do you want? You- who are you- what do you want?" 06* Tiffany frowns a bit. "Just the truth...I...I don't know why I'm here." She holds onto her arm slightly and looks down towards Katie's feet. "I'm Tiffany." 06* Katie looks down, too, briefly, then snaps her attention up to Tiffany. The darkness seems to recede, just a little bit. "Katie. You are...?" 06* Tiffany blinks slightly and looks up at Katie. "I-I told you. I'm Tiffany. I..." She looks at the ground to see if she can see the body but not too long that she takes her eyes off Katie. "Who is *she* then?" 06* Katie seems to shrink in on herself. "Not me," she says, but this time her statement is weak. "I think. I think, sometimes, I don't know." 06* Tiffany looks at Katie for a moment and reaches out to her. "I'm sorry...I..." She frowns at Katie. "It's...hard to know what's real and what isn't real in here..." 06* Katie stares at Tiffany's hand. "Here?" 06* Tiffany looks at Katie for a moment, then tries to find the words for a moment. "I...um...you're dreaming. This is a dream." She frowns slightly. "I think. Though you're here. And I'm here. I don't know." 06* Tiffany looks around at the unfamiliar buildings. "I've never been *here* here before. Where *is* here?" 06* Katie furrows her brow, thinking about that. "Sakuragaoka." She looks at Tiffany. "You're not Japanese." 06* Tiffany shakes her head and looks at Katie. "No. I'm from Connecticut." 06* Tiffany then looks around. "Japan. I'm in Japan?" 06* Katie shrugs. 01 Or a dream of Japan. You said. 06* Tiffany nods. "Sometimes people dream of real places. Sometimes not. I'm at Sakuragoaka, I guess." She sighs slightly and lets out a breath. "So you believe me..." 06* Katie takes a breath and closes her eyes, and the area around the girls dissolves, turning into a sunny clearing, surrounded by cherry blossom trees in full bloom. And then she opens her eyes and looks around. 01 It's plausible. Am I dreaming you? 06* Tiffany blinks a little as the area changes, and glances around. "You learn fast." She then turns back to her for a moment and tilts her head. "Maybe? Why would you dream me?" 06* Katie smiles a touch. "No idea." 01 Maybe I met you before. Could be. You ever been to Connecticut? 06* Tiffany looks over herself for a moment. "Normally, I don't look like this though." 01 What do you normally look like? 06* Tiffany smiles faintly. "Red skin, four arms, lots of swords. Honestly it's a bit of a relief not to have to go through that." 06* Katie raises an eyebrow. "Seriously?" 06* Tiffany laughs. "No." She pauses for a moment. "Well...actually in my dreams, seriously. But not *really* really, no." She pauses for another moment. "My dreams are weird..." 06* Katie snort-laughs. "Everyone's dreams are weird." She looks at the knife in her bloodied hand and sighs, dropping it to the ground. 06* Tiffany frowns as she drops the knife. "Do your dreams often have you killing people who look like you?" 06* Katie looks at Tiffany for a moment, then turns and walks towards the trees. "Sometimes I'm killed. Or trapped. Or replaced. Or me but not me. Or..." She pauses, then says, "Yes, often." 06* Tiffany walks with her for a moment and gives a bit of a half-smile. "You're not the only one..." She frowns. "Only I usually *know* it's me." Could be why I'm here 06* Katie looks at Tiffany curiously. "Why?" Hard to say. Usually I can control it better. 01 You go into other people's dreams. Are you Arcana? 06* Tiffany looks up at the trees. "The place you made is *very* pretty...I--" She blinks and looks at Katie for a moment. "Arcana? You mean like tarot?" 06* Katie nods, her expression guarded. 06* Tiffany looks at Katie and then shakes her head. "No. You're pretty sharp though." She sighs. "Sometimes I wish some of the others in my group were..." 06* Tiffany glances at Katie. "What's an Arcana?" 06* Katie tilts her head. "If you're not, what *are* you?" 06* Tiffany smiles at Katie's question. "I'll tell you if you tell me?" 06* Katie smiles faintly. "Sure." 01 No lying. I can tell. 06* Tiffany snorts. "How?" 06* Katie smiles. She doesn't seem keen on explaining. 06* Tiffany rolls her eyes. "Well you're not a mind reader. Otherwise you'd already know." 01 You aren't one either. 06* Tiffany folds her arms. "Plus you didn't seem to know whether I was lying about the red skin thing or not. I think you're bluffing." 06* Katie ignores Tiffany, but maybe not, as she holds up a hand and a tarot card appears in it: the Rider-Waite Page of Swords. She flips it between two fingers, then hands it to Tiffany with a bow. 06* Tiffany looks at the card, taking it cautiously and giving a curious look to Katie, then back to the card. She turns it over in her hands, inspecting it carefully. "Page of Swords. Insight. Perception. Detection of Falsehoods. Cute on that last one." 01 You did your homework. 06* Tiffany smiles and hands the card back to her. "More of a hobby. But what's this about?" 06* Katie takes it back. "It's about answering your question. That's me." 06* Tiffany looks suspiciously at Katie for a moment. There's more to that then she's letting on, but she doesn't press it. Instead she closes her eyes a bit and gestures to herself. "And to answer your question, I've never actually heard of Arcana before, whatever it is. I'm a Walker." 06* Katie tilts her head. "A Walker?" 06* Tiffany smiles at Katie. "Same deal?" 06* Katie snorts faintly. "I can guess, but fine." She flips the card between her fingers. "I have the... soul..." she's clearly trying to find the right word, "of the Page of Swords. There's one for each card. In theory." 01 But the Page is me. Although sometimes I think I'm almost reversed, but I'm pretty sure that is - was - *her*. 06* Katie practically spits out that last word, her expression darkening for a moment. 06* Tiffany chuckles. "If you could have fully guessed, you wouldn't have asked." She frowns as she hears that. "I'm sorry. I...I can imagine what "reversed" means..." 06* Katie shakes her head. "They're not... not all Reversed were bad." She takes a breath. "No worse than upright, anyway. Not really." 06* Tiffany shakes her head. "To answer your question, yes, I go inside other people's dreams. Or I can, rather. I'm in control of myself right now..." She turns her hand slightly as she looks at it. "And...I'll remember most of this when I wake up. Hard to know if you will or not too." She frowns. "Not all dreams are so pleasant though..." 06* Katie nods. So...uh...what exactly does an Arcana do? 06* Katie shrugs, looking up at the trees. "Well, we all have... powers. Magic. Something like that. It's based on our card. And we... remember... sometimes." 01 What did we do? 06* Tiffany watches her as she watches the trees. She seems to be pretty curious. 06* Katie sighs. "We fought each other. Some of us abused our power. And eventually, we saved everyone. More or less." 06* Tiffany nods slightly. She seems to be pondering it a little. "So...you don't have to save everyone anymore?" 01 No. Not... I mean... the prophecy's over, but... 06* Katie frowns slightly. "It never feels quite over, no matter how long." 06* Katie looks at Tiffany. "Why?" 06* Tiffany frowns and glances off to the side. "I was going to say you were lucky. But I guess not so much, huh?" 06* Katie snorts. 01 If I were lucky, I'd be dead. 06* Tiffany smiles faintly at that. "Me too." 06* Katie frowns. "Why do you say that?" 06* Tiffany tugs at her sleeves slightly, not fully looking at Katie. "You ever try?" 01 To kill myself? Yeah. 06* Katie shakes her head, looking away. "I thought about it," she says, softly. "Sometimes. But we- I couldn't afford to do that." 01 Plenty of people looking to do it for me, anyway. Can you afford to do it now? 01 No. It's selfish. 06* Tiffany tugs at her other sleeve. "Depends." 06* Tiffany looks back at her. "But you're right. It's not the time now." 06* Katie shakes her head. "Probably not the time later." 01 Killing yourself... that's a very selfish thing. Unless everyone hates you and wishes you were dead, but you probably wouldn't want to do that if they did. 06* Tiffany smirks slightly. "It'd just mean they win, right? Isn't it more selfish to be that stubborn?" 01 What, in that case? No. If they wanted you dead, you wouldn't be the sort of person who would roll over and die just to do everyone a favor. 01 [Pause!]