01 [Day: Friday/Saturday, September 17/18. Time: Midnight.] 01 [Kali and Susano-O awaken in the Haven. It looks like it did the last time they saw it. The hat lies where Kali left it.] 01 [Mini Start.] 06* Kali wakes up and yawns, stretching all of her arms overhead. She's a lot taller in her dream form so it takes a lot of stretching. She peers around the Haven and notices the hat and takes an inventory on whether she sees Susano-O yet or not. 06* Susano-o comes to, and looks about. He spots Kali, and nods a greeting. "Hi. You made it." 06* Kali smiles slightly, showing some teeth in her grin. "Yeah. Hey Ja--err, Susano-o." She rubs her head. "Ugh, that still takes some getting used to." 06* Kali stands up and looks at the hat again. "Should we take the cat with us?" 06* Susano-o nods, and smiles back, lightly. "Yeah. It is sorta weird. But I'm kinda getting used to it. It helps when everyone looks so different." He looks at the hat. "Would he mind?" 06* Kali looks at the hat. "The Walrus? No. The Kid? Hard to say..." 06* Susano-o nods. "We know the way. And we're just visiting. Maybe we shouldn't spook him." Could ask the Walrus. If he's not listening in already... Isn't he always in here? His hat is. Whether he's actively listening in all the time or not, I don't know. But do we really need him to come along? I think we could just go. We just promised to visit, right? 06* Kali ponders that for a little while. Then nods. "Alright. Just thought it'd be interesting for a friend to meet a friend. Let's go then." If we tried to summon him out there, we'd probably be able to get him. It's happened before. 06* Susano-o heads for the door. 06* Kali heads for the door as well and concentrates on the forest. 06* Susano-o will hold the door for her, and thinks of the same. 06* Kali looks at Susano-o for a bit and gives him a bit of a look-over before smiling slightly and stepping through. 06* Susano-o feels slightly odd at that, but then follows her into the misty exit. 01 [Kali and Susano-O walk into the gray mist and end up in a familiar forest, packed with excessively tall trees and falling leaves. For once there's no problem seeing, as the sky literally glows from above with a rainbow of swirling colors.] 01 [Also above, you hear a couple of children chatting in hushed tones, although you can't make out what they're saying.] 06* Kali looks up at the sky and notices all the colors of the rainbow, narrowing her vision. "Well, that's new." 06* Susano-o looks up at it, eyes wide. "And beautiful." 06* Kali gets a faint smile. "Yes, yes it is." She turns to look at Susano-o. "Do we just walk in or do you want me to investigate the branches up above?" I think we can talk to him from here. 06* Susano-o looks up. "Do you hear more than just him, though...?" 01 [Now that you're trying to listen for it, you do hear what's probably Carlos' voice, and what sounds like a girl's - no confusion there, unlike with him - definitely a female child.] 06* Kali nods slightly and peers upward. "Yup." She gives a slight grin and crouches down, then blurs a bit, teleporting herself up to one of the closest branches 10 meters up that can support her weight so she can hear better. If she can't hear from there, she does it a second time to get higher but pauses there. 06* Susano-o blinks, and looks up after her, and the colors up above. 01 [Kali teleports up! From this vantage she can see that they're sitting higher up, one blending in with the trees, the other... not. The girl (she thinks) stands out against the trees and the glow in sparkling deep blue like the midnight sky, her bare feet swinging back and forth below the branch. She can't see much more from there, though.] 01 ["Look at that one!" she says, still hushed, and Carlos goes, "Woooow. Oh, look, there's a whole bunch of them!" And he points.] 06* Kali nods and crouches down low again, redistributing her weight so not to shake the branch much when she moves. She grins and blurs again, reappearing on a branch below Carlos. She reaches up and touches his foot. "Tag, you're it!" 06* Susano-o watches this from below, shading his eyes a little with one hand. 01 [Carlos yelps but maintains his balance. He looks down at Kali and beams. "You came back!" The girl also looks down, her eyes wide - she's a pretty child with dark, literally black eyes and hair, and pale skin. She, like Carlos, is slightly translucent.] 06* Kali regrips the branch, clutching it with her hands (all 4 of them) and feet, her neck crained up to look up grinning at Carlos. She's keeping all her weight low as to not upset the branch. "Of course we did. We made a promise, didn't we?" 06* Susano-o waves up at them with his other hand, in case they'll see. 01 ["Uh huh!" Carlos says with a grin and a nod. "Is- is she-?" the girl starts nervously, but seems unable to finish whatever she was trying to say.] 06* Kali blurs again and ports back down, branch for branch and ends up appearing just next to Javy, above the ground, landing gingerly on her feet. 06* Susano-o looks over at her, slightly surprised, and looks up again. "Will you come down to talk?" 01 [After about five minutes of conversation, the leaves above rustle as Carlos hops down to land nimbly, sending leaves everywhere. "You came, too!" he says happily when he sees Susano-O.] 06* Susano-o nods, and smiles down at him, almost in spite of himself. "Like she said, we promised." 06* Kali nods and puts her hands on her hips. "It's okay. Your friend can come down too. We'd all like to play." 01 ["Oh, um... she's still nervous. She's kind of scared." Pause, then he announces, "Her name is Sophie, though!" He's clearly proud of knowing how this whole name thing works.] Sophie? 06* Susano-o looks up. "We're really not scary, though." 01 ["Uh huh. That's what she said when I asked her. We traded names."] Is she? It's okay. We only look scary...well, *I* only look scary. 06* Susano-o looks at her, confused. "I'm not scary." 06* Kali looks over at Susano-o and raps him on the helmet lightly with upper lefty. "That's what I said, silly." 01 [He nudges some leaves, turning them over with his toe. "No, but most things can look scary a little bit."] 06* Susano-o blinks, and nods once, mostly mollified. "But we're really not scary. You know that." 01 ["Yeah, that's what I told her! But I think she's still scared." He looks up into the trees, then says, "I'm gonna go talk to her again." And he's off, scampering up.] 06* Susano-o watches him go off and up again. "He's pretty fast." 06* Kali nods and sighs a little, blowing out her breath and shaking her head from side to side. "I wish I could be that good at it..." 06* Susano-o looks over at her. "So you're good at climbing?" 01 [A few more minutes pass before Carlos returns. "She's coming!" he calls as he bounces down the branches to land on the lowest one.] 06* Kali smiles at Javy, then gestures vaguely with her hands. "I'm okay at it." 06* Kali looks up at the super tall trees, then waves at Carlos, responding to Javy. "Takes a lot of falling down though." So out there, too? Wow. So you practiced a lot? 06* Susano-o waves at him, too. 01 [Carlos waves back!] 06* Kali blinks slightly, then looks at Susano-o. "You thought it was Ka--oh. Um..." She turns away from Javy, ignoring the question and watches above the trees, waiting for Sophie to join them. 01 ["Whatcha talking about?" Carlos asks.] You do have more hands here. But that's cool, climbing. 06* Kali smiles and calls up to Carlos. "Climbing!" 06* Susano-o looks at Carlos, and repeats, "Climbing trees." 06* Kali blinks at Susano-o, glancing at him at their simultaneous answer, then she covers her gut and her mouth in a fit of giggles. 01 ["Oh, okay! Do you guys wanna climb with me? Sophie doesn't climb that much, she kinda floats."] 06* Susano-o smiles, and rubs the shoulder of his armor at the overlap. "I could, but I think all of you are better than me." 06* Kali grins and nudges Susano-o with two elbows. "I think it's all the armor. Falls down like a lead plate." 01 [And speak of the devil, there's Sophie now, floating slowly down to the ground, midnight blue dress dotted with sparkles like stars or brilliant gemstones. Her hair, incidentally, also sparkles the same sort of way. She lands on the same branch as Carlos. "Hi," she says nervously.] But I can't take it off. I mean... I don't think I can. 06* Susano-o looks up at her, and speaks softly. "Hi. Sophie, right?" He shades his eyes again. 06* Kali smiles at Sophie brightly. She looks infinitely less scary than Kali normally does. Almost as if she's channeling Tiffany. "Hi." She tilts her head to look at Sophie now. "I love your hair." 01 [Sophie nods, then reaches back to pull some hair in front of her face so she can look at it. She does that for a few seconds before smiling, also nervously, at Kali. "Thanks."] 01 [Carlos smiles encouragingly at Sophie, now swinging his feet back and forth.] 06* Kali looks at Carlos for a moment, sizing him up for a moment. "When did you meet her?" 01 ["Oh, um... a little while ago. Before you got here, a couple of times?" He looks at Sophie for confirmation, and she nods.] 06* Kali smiles at Sophie. "It's a pretty name. Did someone else give it to you or did you choose it for yourself?" 01 [Sophie blushes, and she plays with the ends of the hair that she already has in front of her face.] 06* Susano-o tries, "Have you been here long before you met Carlos?" 01 ["I, um... not here?" she tries.] 01 ["It's okay," says Carlos, then he looks at Kali and Susano-O. "She's not from the forest. She's from the sky."] The sky? Like... the sky above the forest? 01 [Sophie shrugs, still hair playing. "Sometimes, I think?"] 06* Kali blinks slightly then looks at Sophie, having a hard time hiding a bit of her awe. "The sky? Really?" 01 [And she's blushing again, trying to shrink in on herself. Carlos beams, though. "Yeah, isn't it neat! I think she was lonely, so she visited me and we were watching what was going on up there."] 06* Susano-o looks between the two of them curiously. "What's going on up there?" 01 ["There's lots of lights and flying things and stuff!" Sophie nods and says, "The, um... wisps and things... it's really busy right now, so."] 06* Kali smiles a bit. "Can we watch too? I..." She frowns a little bit. "That's right. I haven't figured out a way to carry Susano-o with me when I move..." She looks a bit disappointed at that and glances between Sophie and Carlos right now. 06* Susano-o looks up, trying to see a path. "I can fly. Some. If there's a clear way up." 06* Kali blinks at Susano-o a bit, eyes wide. "You *can*?" 01 [Sophie smiles shyly at Susano-O.] 06* Susano-o nods, and waves a hand loopily in front of his chest. "It's like... I can do some things, as long as I don't try to do other things while I'm doing them." 06* Kali peers at Susano-o, trying to make sense of his wording of things. Once she thinks she gets it, she nods, then smiles. "Can you stay up for a while though? I'm not sure about those upper branches...." 06* Kali perks up instantly and smiles widely at Susano-o. It actually looks a bit disturbing. "Hey! Maybe you can fly with Sophie! She might like that!" 06* Susano-o thinks for a beat, and looks from Kali to Sophie. "I could try. You're probably better than me, though." 01 [Sophie has brightened at the idea of Susano-O flying with her. "It's lots of fun," she says, for the first time with conviction.] 06* Susano-o nods, slightly unsure. "Is it okay with you?" he asks Carlos. "You can't, right?" 01 [Carlos shakes his head.] 01 ["But that's okay," he adds quickly. "I can climb up."] 06* Kali barks out a slight laugh. "Well you're both better than me. My way of flying is falling." 01 [Sophie cringes. "Falling hurts at the bottom."] Yeah. It does. I don't know if I shift at the bottom if it would still hurt. I don't think I want to experiment with it. 06* Susano-o looks at her, and nods. "Yeah. That's not the kind of chance to take." 01 ["You should, um, float. Before you hit the ground. I mean."] 06* Kali looks at Sophie for a moment, and then after brief consideration shakes her head. "Can't." 01 [She blushes a little bit. "Oh."] But you still want to go up, right? 06* Kali nods briefly to Susano-o, then smiles. "Can do that. Shown it before." 06* Kali crouches down again and blurs, porting up to a higher branch just to remind him. 06* Susano-o nods, watching. "No, I know. Just, whether we want to do it." He looks at Sophie. "So, should we go up?" 01 [Carlos beams and jumps to his feet on the branch, then starts scampering up after Kali. Sophie, meanwhile, looks at Susano-O shyly. "Okay." She stands, too, stepping off of the branch and hovering in the air.] 06* Susano-o waves to her. "Go ahead, I'll try to follow you." 06* Kali grins and waits for Carlos to catch her, then just before he does, blurs up to a higher branch. "Can't catch me!" 01 [Sophie nods and starts flying up to the top of the trees, taking it slow and steady. Meanwhile, Carlos yells, "Hey! That's cheating!" But it doesn't stop him from scrambling up the trees, trying to catch Kali.] 06* Susano-o concentrates for a couple of beats, and then follows along behind her, trying to watch carefully where he's going. 01 [Susano-O takes it slow and follows Sophie, who navigates her way through the branches fairly easily. She's done this before, after all.] 06* Kali grins and calls out to Carlos. "You want me to climb legit then? I'm bigger than you! *That's* not fair!" She ports again, this time to a slightly different tree. 06* Susano-o hasn't, but he doesn't find it that hard to follow. He doesn't look at the others, either, since then he might crash into things. 01 ["Not my fault!" Carlos calls back, running over one of the branches to jump to Kali's tree.] 06* Kali grins and tries to climb this one higher, legit. She's not as fast as Carlos, probably, but she does look pretty practiced at it. The 4 arms are definitely helping, so long as she has control over them. 01 [Carlos keeps up, grinning, but he doesn't quite catch her yet.] 01 [Meanwhile, not far below, Sophie hesitantly asks Susano-O as they fly, "What's your name?"] Oh. I didn't say? Sorry. I'm Susano-o. 01 [She smiles down at him, nervously. "It's, um, a nice name."] 06* Kali gets up to the higher branches and stops, too nervous to continue up to the thinner ones. She sits on the branch and starts looking up at the sky. 06* Susano-o smiles back, still keeping an eye out for branches. "Thanks. Yours is, too. I never met a Sophie before." 01 [Carlos pops up next to Kali, sitting next to her, also looking up. Above are swirling motes of colored lights, dragons and phoenixes that look like they're made out of fire and lightning, and glittering trails following insects and birds. It's incredibly complex and, yes, very pretty.] 01 ["Oh, um. Thanks." She plays with a lock of hair as she keeps floating up. Almost to the top now! "A friend gave it to me."] 06* Susano-o keeps following her, getting ready to see it. "So they know what they're doing. That's good." 01 ["Um, yeah." And then they're at the top, Sophie looking up to the sky. "Isn't it pretty?" Carlos asks once the flyers get there.] 06* Kali smiles and nudges Carlos gently. "You're still it, though. You forgot to tag me." 01 ["Oh!" And Carlos pokes Kali in the nudging arm. "Tag!" he declares.] 06* Kali then looks up, peering at the mixture fo colors and motes in the sky. She doesn't notice the tag and seems somewhat awestruck at the sight above. "It's very pretty." 06* Susano-o nods, flying into the empty space. "Yeah. It really is." He just peers up, quiet, trying to take it in. 06* Kali squints her eyes for a second and looks away for a bit. Too busy. She looks down at the forest below for a moment to see just how far it looks like they've climbed, holding on to try and stem off any vertigo. 01 [Sophie smiles quietly.] 01 [Mini End!]