The New Winds

(OOC: In Yume-do during sleepy time)

There was a haze over the surroundings, but not around Yotsuo who walked with intention and clarity not common among visitors to the realm. He was following a compass that he created from baku. It pointed towards Mai which made finding her easier. He knew she should not be far away since they were entering Yume-do from a similar place on Ningen-do.

Eventually he spots her.

She appears to be sitting on a beach, feeling the waves gently lap against her feet. She does not notice the terrible storm behind her. It hungers for her.

Moving next to her, footprints in the sand, he kneels down. He looks at her, then out to the storm. Closing his eyes and concentrating, the storm seemed to get more violent for a moment. That was only a temporary thing, for the storm was being rent apart into the baku that made it up. They quickly reformed into a sunny day over a tropical landscape. He'd never seen a real one though, so it looked like a tropical landscape from Chikushudo, complete with oversized trees and otherworldly animals.

When he was finished reshaping the landscape, he reached down and took her hand. "Mai-san. Will you walk with me?"

The moment he touched her hand he was pulling their dreams together, and creating a clarity for her that she likely never had in a dream.

"Oh. Kuni-san." Mai blushed. "Sorry. I was not expecting you." She looks around. It looked like home. But not home at the same time. "Welcome to the Mantis Isles... sorta."

"I... made some changes," he says with a smile. "There was a storm and I thought this would be better. It's actually what some parts of Chikushudo look like."

"We're actually dreaming right now, in Yume-do. I wanted to come here to make sure you were safe. And to show you that sleeping doesn't have to feel like a curse."

"Well, a storm is not so bad. We Mantis are children of the storm." Mai smiles. Obviously, she thought it was a good sign that Yotsuo misunderstood.

She bows. "But thank you for checking up on me. It means a lot." Sure. She had a bit of a crush on the Kuni. But beyond that, it was nice to have someone who knew what they were doing to help her with this craziness. She looks around. "So, this is Yume-do? Well, please, show me around. You know more of the land than me."

He continues holding her hand, clearly not caring too much about propriety or etiquette in a world that he has learned to shape with his mind over the years.

He begins leading her into the tropical landscape. "There is no real, showing around in Yume-do. It's more like... experiencing what the baku show you, or if you become skilled at it, reforming it to what you want. It is vast, and everyone that sleeps makes their way here. We were only a few feet from each other when we fell asleep, but I had to walk much farther to get to you, because the spirit wanders on it's way here. But because there is so much space, there is room to do things like this..."

He closes his eyes and focuses once more. As he does, the and animals before them start to break down, bend and bulge, altering their shapes and merging together into the shape of a house. Given the origin of the Mantis from the Crab, aesthetically it likely looked relatively similar to what a mantis house might... but it was much sturdier, built with far more stone and thick wood rather than lighter woods and bamboo that the Mantis likely use in abundance.

"When he opens his eyes, a good sized building that looks just like his home in Kuni lands is present. "This is home for me. Where I grew up and where I return to after traveling."

Mai was thrilled to be holding his hand. "So, this is your house? Is it the same as Ningen-do? Or same, but different like the isles were?"

"It is the same as I remember it. Memory isn't perfect, so what we make here is not perfect either, but this is how it looks when I think about it." He nods at that. "There is a lot that you can do here in Yume-do that you can't back in our world. It is a very malleable place with that has very real sensations even if they are not physical. There are very few dangers here, especially if you don't go looking for them. You are more likely to find yourself in danger by walking down a busy street in Ningen-do."

"Fascinating. Where's your favorite place to visit?"

"I really love spending time in Chikushudo, but when I'm here in Yume-do I prefer to get creative and make things that I can't see anywhere else," he says with a smile. "For example, what is your favorite color?"

Mai thinks. "Orange. Like the orange of the sunrise."

With a small bit of effort he wills a nearby bird into an orange dog. Not like the normal orange you might see on a tiger, but like a tropical fruit color. "Like that. You can't see things like this outside of paintings or your imagination. Yume-do can be very much like a painter's canvas, but more vivid and ephemeral. It just takes practice and effort," he says with a smile, as the dog comes over acting friendly and lovable.

"Incredible. Could you teach me to do such things?"

"I can. For right now though, I think it's more important to show you that there is nothing that is impossible in a dream or Yume-do in general. Almost everyone has had some sort of crazy dream that would be something that is completely impossible in the real world. Just to show you the extent of how fantastic this place can be," he says with a chuckle.

With that, the house and trees began to fade away, leaving them on a grassy plain. And in moments he looked up and point to... a dragon! It was soaring overhead for a few moments before coming down to land near them. It was massive, had vibrant green scales and, and seemed to have a very pleasant and friendly demeanor even though it didn't speak. When it moved it's neck down close to the pair, the Kuni looked to her. "Let's go for a ride. Climb on."

Mai climbs on. "This is amazing." She laughs. "I guess I have been saying that a lot. Well, it makes sense. You're amazing, Kuni-san."

Climbing on behind the mantis girl, he chuckles. "Well, anyone can learn to do all of this with practice. I've just had more than most. And learning such things at a young age like I did... it becomes a very natural thing."

He pats the side of the dragon's neck and they take off. The plains below fade away as the go ever higher into the sky of Yume-do. He easily causes the dream to keep them held fast to the dragon no matter how they turned, or how fast they flew, the wind flowing through their hair. "But Yume-do is one of the few places I get to share my experiences with others. Most of the time I leave people's dreams to them, giving them privacy and personal time. I just... with everything that's been going on with you I wanted to make sure you had someone with you here as well."

Mai nods. "Yeah. This... I needed this. It's weird and kinda scary to think a tsukai wants me. This is a pleasant distraction." Mai holds her hands to out from her side feeling the wind. "Can I fly here?"

"You can, and I have, but it's one of the things that takes practice to do it yourself rather than having the baku do it for you based on your emotions. But I tend to prefer riding dragons or large birds. It's always been more fun for me that way." He was definitely enjoying himself in this situation. Perhaps having someone else from Ningen-do along made it a bit more fun for him as well. Mostly he did all this stuff alone.

"OH. Why is that? Maybe it's because we're sea people, I prefer to ride things that can't think for themselves."