[ She slips into a dreamstate before she can really recognize what's happening or why, and before her is a library that doesn't look like the one in [setting].
The windows pour in moonlight and Nozomi looks unsure as she takes in the scenery. ]
[The whispers in the moonlit library are very loud. They are dark and mean-spirited as they pour out of sealed pages in the background, murmuring not only forbidden secrets but insults. The moonlight pouring through one side of the labyrinthine library looks more like the wavering, distorted shafts of light beaming down through open water.
Cantarella, dressed in white, silently snakes a hand out and tugs at Nozomi's sleeve. She doesn't say a word.]
[Nozomi's hand slips into hers, and for the briefest moment, it might seem like she's holding something smaller and softer, as if there was a flicker of someone closer to her age beside her, as if Cantarella is this dream was superimposed over dozens and dozens of other versions of herself.
Meek. Drip. Disgraceful. Drip. Disobedient. Drip.
Nozomi's thought ghosts through her own mind without her really knowing where it's coming from or why, and she tugs her around the corner of a massive, towering shelf. I have to get her out of here, too.]
For a moment, the shelf seems to shift, gaining the metallic shine of an operating table, the scent of a hospital room, clean and sterile. A blink later and it's nothing but a trick of the senses and the moonlight that permeates the library.
I can't stay here. This place is unsettling and unkind- she doesn't want Cantarella to be hurt by staying too long. ]
[It's incredible how even a building bathed in moonlight can feel overrun with shadow. There's a darkness just out of reach but constantly encroaching, knocking at the windows and seeping along the floor.
Hearing thoughts that aren't her own but just familiar enough not to be denied has Cantarella swimming in them, trying to block out the noise and the insidious whispers. If there are any cracks, any at all, something could get in.
She finally breaks the silence, but not the spell.] Shhh. They're coming. [Don't listen. Nothing gets in.]
[ Whatever is outside changes tactics from knocking to scratching, to pounding like they're trying to figure out how to get in. Whatever it is, they aren't safe to be around. ]
What are they?
[ She hasn't been able to pinpoint the reason for the extra thoughts. Is it safe here?
It's been so long since she's been able to feel safe anywhere. ]
Whispers...darkness. The abyss seeks any opening it can crawl into and pry apart.
[It might, however slowly, become clear that parts of this dreamscape are not new phenomena, even if they are undoubtedly influenced by their presence here. This already feels like a young girl's nightmares, cast in realistic and threatening relief. There would always be whispers. There would always be shadows.
The only thing you can do is keep each other safe.
No matter where I go, I suppose it will always find a way to call out to me.
[But Nozomi is not part of this tainted legacy, Cantarella thinks, even as she gently pulls the girl closer to her, letting her hide behind her shadow.]
[She can't argue that. Even if she hears a little doubt there... Cantarella is a stronger woman than she is. If this is what she chose, it's the same thing- just like Nozomi's mother chose what to do, what she was willing to go through.]
[Water drips and drips and drips, and the whispers become both more enticing and more sinister, drawing them in even as their voices have more teeth. Cantarella holds her hand up to the moonlight, so there's still a pool of it guiding them in the dark room.
Would she want to remain by my side, or would the risks swallow her whole?]
There's nowhere she can really go, is there? Every direction is full of danger.
Maybe that wouldn't have stopped her before, but she's only human. The things that whisper are scary and even if they whisper sweetly, she won't leave Cantarella's side.
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W3: Monday
The windows pour in moonlight and Nozomi looks unsure as she takes in the scenery. ]
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Cantarella, dressed in white, silently snakes a hand out and tugs at Nozomi's sleeve. She doesn't say a word.]
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Nozomi stays silent, but when Cantarella reaches for her sleeve, she takes her hand instead.
I'm not alone right now. ]
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Meek. Drip. Disgraceful. Drip. Disobedient. Drip.
Nozomi's thought ghosts through her own mind without her really knowing where it's coming from or why, and she tugs her around the corner of a massive, towering shelf. I have to get her out of here, too.]
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For a moment, the shelf seems to shift, gaining the metallic shine of an operating table, the scent of a hospital room, clean and sterile. A blink later and it's nothing but a trick of the senses and the moonlight that permeates the library.
I can't stay here. This place is unsettling and unkind- she doesn't want Cantarella to be hurt by staying too long. ]
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Hearing thoughts that aren't her own but just familiar enough not to be denied has Cantarella swimming in them, trying to block out the noise and the insidious whispers. If there are any cracks, any at all, something could get in.
She finally breaks the silence, but not the spell.] Shhh. They're coming. [Don't listen. Nothing gets in.]
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What are they?
[ She hasn't been able to pinpoint the reason for the extra thoughts. Is it safe here?
It's been so long since she's been able to feel safe anywhere. ]
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[It might, however slowly, become clear that parts of this dreamscape are not new phenomena, even if they are undoubtedly influenced by their presence here. This already feels like a young girl's nightmares, cast in realistic and threatening relief. There would always be whispers. There would always be shadows.
The only thing you can do is keep each other safe.
That's all there is down here.]
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You tried to take him away from us...
One blow at a time.
Until she dies. Those words are familiar and chilling. Nozomi tenses up and draws herself closer to Cantarella.
Please don't-... ]
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[But Nozomi is not part of this tainted legacy, Cantarella thinks, even as she gently pulls the girl closer to her, letting her hide behind her shadow.]
There is no out, only deeper.
[You can always walk away.]
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She stays close to Cantarella, quietly desperate to be saved from whatever experience they're both going through.
But... Cantarella has been nothing but kind to her. She can't understand why this is what they're seeing.]
You don't deserve something like this.
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After all, someone else might not endure it the same. [And if she can, why shouldn't she?
But hiding away forever is no way for you to live, either.]
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You're really strong.
[It's a kindness to endure this.]
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[Water drips and drips and drips, and the whispers become both more enticing and more sinister, drawing them in even as their voices have more teeth. Cantarella holds her hand up to the moonlight, so there's still a pool of it guiding them in the dark room.
Would she want to remain by my side, or would the risks swallow her whole?]
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There's nowhere she can really go, is there? Every direction is full of danger.
Maybe that wouldn't have stopped her before, but she's only human. The things that whisper are scary and even if they whisper sweetly, she won't leave Cantarella's side.
Could I stay? Is she wanted? ]