(With final score of 14, Aventurine won two points ahead of Sunday. Dw, you'll get a little bit of some chicken time)

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Mhm, I'm just gonna do some exploring on my own, that's all. I'll let you know when I get to Miss Himeko."

March was returning to reality to see if the items she'd bought were waiting for her while y/n intended to do some more exploring.

After hearing that Moment of Oasis had a beach, she told March she'd take the opportunity to put that swimsuit she'd bought to good use since the chances of her using it during a trailblazing mission were... slim.

Y/n watched on, waving with a small smile as March headed off while she remained standing where she was. After a long moment, she lowered her hand with a small sigh.

Now... onto the next task at hand.
Figuring out how to get to a Moment of Stars.

Y/n didn't want to lie to March, but she figured it'd be easier to explain wanting to go to a Moment of Oasis for its beach rather than wanting to go to a Moment of Stars for its bustling nightlife filled with bars and casinos — none of which were quite y/n's scene. March KNEW that those types of places weren't y/n's thing, and the h/c haired woman didn't really feel like dealing with the 💩 storm that would follow if she was honest about her reason behind her visit to Moment of Oasis.

Perhaps she should've considered changing first...

She glanced down at the dress she still wore and shrugged, "Eh, this will do, I suppose. Now... how to get there. Maybe I could go find that Gallagher guy and go request some directions."

Y/n wandered off, deciding to go to Golden Hour first. She could get there easily, and hopefully get some directions if she happened to run into Caelus. That dude always seemed to know his way around no matter how long he'd been on a new planet.

But...

'Perhaps I took a wrong turn...'

As she'd been walking, her surroundings had begun to blur and darken as she spaced out during her stroll. One moment, she was making her way towards to the glimmering lights of Oti Mall, and the next...

Her footsteps halted as she took a moment to regard her surroundings. The long, oddly cramped, hotels halls of what reminded her of The Reverie surrounded her but something wasn't right.

She certainly wasn't awake, she would've awoken in that bath if she was, so why was she here?

Y/n brushed off her confusion, continuing to walk as she ventured around this odd version of the hotel. There were cracks in the floors, with what looked like memory bubbles clamoring to leak from them.

Some halls were twisted, rotating and whirling about — making them ineffective for safe passage. And there were all kinds of weird things wandering about for some reason.

Weird dog cop things... little imp babies on the dice things y/n didn't know the name of, TVs with faces, flying birds with masks, giant gorillas with bottles of SoulGlad!

"Where the hell am I?!" y/n demanded.

She made haste in hurrying down the hall, finding herself in the hotel lobby where more of those monsters were hanging around doing nothing. They looked at her as she was rushing down the stairs, all frazzled and 💩, halting their idling about.

Y/n, on the other hand, stumbled to a halt at the base of the stairs and stared at the monsters.

"I'll just... go..." she mumbled, slowly turning away to creep off. One of the dog things howled and she broke into a sprint, rushing back up the stairs with the monsters right on her heels.

She ran through the halls screaming with the monsters right on her tail, trying to open doors and failing as each one was locked tight. She just kept running, but she was running out of hallway to run on as a dead end neared.

And the last turn available to her was behind the horde of things chasing her, good grief! Practically slamming into the door at the end of the hall, y/n threw it open and rushed in with no hesitation, slamming it behind her and fumbling to lock it.

After succeeding in doing so, slumping against the door in exhaustion, she glanced behind her.

Huh.

Instantly, she felt nauseous and shut her eyes to just block it all out for a moment. What kind of sick joke was this, huh?

'It's not real, y/n, it's not real. It's not real.' she reminded her self, taking deep breaths before opening her eyes once more.

It smelled real, it felt real, it looked real.
Every single detail down to the sickening smell of death in the air. But she knew it wasn't real.

Y/n hadn't seen the inside of a Borisin ship in ages, but she could recognize one when she saw it. Especially this one. This one, she never truly forgot even when her memories were hazy.

She dreamed of it often, not even knowing why.
But she certainly recalled the reason behind the bitter taste the mere sight of it left in her mouth.

Y/n glanced back at where the door had been and found a bloody wall instead, immediately tearing her gaze away to look around the holding cell.

She didn't look at the corners, or by her feet. She knew exactly what would be there if she allowed her gaze to wander, so she looked towards the cell door which was wide open.

A cruel facade of hope that just led straight to a trap. Y/n hated the memories that this place evoked, even more so the fear which clung to her bones as she stared at that open cell door.

She wanted to leave.
So why couldn't she just walk out?

'Oh please, you know the answer to that question.' y/n thought bitterly, 'There are some things you're holding on to, and it's going to stick with you until you do something about it.'

Dan Heng did warn y/n about going into the Dreamscape in her current condition and she said she was perfectly fine with dealing with the consequences.

Well. This was one of them.
Y/n inhaled deeply, then exhaled.

"I've just gotta step out of this cell. How hard could it possibly be, huh?" she laughed to herself, taking a few steps forward, "There's nothing here, I just have to leave!"

She took one step out the door and instantly found herself right back where she started.

Y/n stood there, absolutely flabbergasted, before trying again. And again. And again. And once more. Each time, she found herself right back in the interior of the cell when she was certain that she'd stepped out a moment before.

"Oh come on!" she shouted, "What even is this?!"

A couple more tries left y/n slumped against the wall as she tried to think. She tried walking backwards, jumping out, and even considered just punching her own head off to wake back up.

She decided not to go with the last one, something about this place just wasn't right and she doubted flatlining herself would make it better.

Y/n inhaled, then exhaled.
'This was a long time ago, y/n. It's been years.'
She got up and shut her eyes.
'It's not real, it's not real, it's not—'

All of a sudden, there was a caw.
E/c eyes landed on a crow of some kind, the bird perched on her knee and staring at her.

Huh... when had it gotten th—OW, SON OF A!

The damn thing BIT her on the nose and practically yanked it. Y/n just went along with the yank to avoid any more pain with a, "HEY, LET GO YOU DUMB—!"

Something above her sliced through the air where she'd been a moment ago and she turned head, gawking at the sight of some kind of weird blade thing. It had eyes... OH GOD IT HAD EYES!

She scrambled away from the wall to the far side of the cell, the crow fluttering on after her to sit on her head instead.

Two comically small clawed hands emerged from a mass of darkness on the bloody wall, a pair of not-so comical and very sharp blades attached to the arms which emerged as well. Next was a face with too many damn eyes and one single one locked onto her as the thing made this weird, inhuman noise that was far too strange to be that of an animal.

"What the hell is that?!" y/n demanded but received no answer as the creature lunged from the wall.

She kicked it in the chin, or what she assumed was a chin, and it veered straight into the roof where its head got stuck. Y/n ran past it, careful to avoid its lashing tail and funny little legs as it struggled to free itself, and was met with a body in the corner that she'd been trying to avoid looking at.

"Captain..."

"No! No, shut up!"

The corpse moved, lifting a shaky hand and reaching out to y/n who took a step back, "What... are we going to do...? Give us the order..."

Y/n pinched herself, pinching always works.
It didn't work. Caelus, that 🍆, he lied!

She frantically patted her face but felt something warm and wet. Confused, she looked at her hands. Damn it, why the hell was there blood now?

'I thought it was over. I thought I'd escaped all this, that maybe I could be free if I left it all behind for a bit...' y/n thought, tears gathering in her eyes, 'Damn it all...' "AH— YOU SON OF A ♀ 🐶!"

The raven had done that weird biting thing again, this time to her hand. It effectively snapped her out of whatever was going on, drawing her attention back to it as it cawed angrily while flapping its wings.

Y/n glanced at the thing as it finally freed itself from the roof, looking around before facing y/n again. Huh. It kinda looked like a dragon. Just... on cocaine.

"I can't get out, I start right back where I start each time I try to leave." y/n told the crow, "Just leave me here, I literally can't die. I'll probably kill this thing before it can kill me."

The crow stared at her for a moment, clearly contemplating something and let out a startled caw when y/n snatched it up and darted out the way when that weird Cocaine Dragon thing lunged at them again.

This time, she was a little slow and one of the blades along its wing almost sliced her just below the eye.

Y/n stumbled across the room, struggling to hold onto the crow as it wiggled about, "Hold still, you little—OWWW!!!" it wiggled free and pecked her in both the damn eyes!

"What the hell man, stop!!" she shouted and let out a shriek when it latched onto her hair and began dragging her along. She hit the cell door, started stumbling along... huh, she had way more room to stumble than she remembered.

Wait... she was out.

She was out!

"I'm out!" y/n exclaimed, "You're telling me I just had to pluck my eyes out and I'd be fine?! OW OW OW!!! WATCH IT!"

Y/n hit another wall as the crow continued dragging her, but her eyes were beginning to adjust as she recovered from the ruthless pecks.

Upon realizing she could see, the crow let go of her hair and cawed as it flew on ahead. Y/n decided not to look back as she could hear the creature screeching behind her, following the crow through the claustrophobic 🍑 halls of what looked like the hotel again!

Y/n and the crow kept hurrying about, finally coming to a halt at... a dead end. The h/c haired trailblazer stared at the wall, then looked at the crow.

"I'll kill you." a frantic caw "This is a dead end!!!"

The crow fluttered around, cawing in a panic as y/n tried to snatch it up while shouting curses at it. A shriek from the creature interrupted them as it emerged from around the corner and blocked their escape.

Y/n, who had grabbed the crow and was about to strangle it, let go of the bird and immediately put her fists up to defend herself as the crow hid in her hair.

The creature let out a haunting, roaring-screaming noise as it flew down the hall, straight towards y/n and the bird. She checked it in the chin again and it let out a shrill scream, but it looped its tail around her and held her upside down.

The crow cawed angrily, the noise giving y/n even more of a headache than she already had as the trailblazer glared into the single eye of the creature which snarled at her.

"Your breath 🚚ing stinks—" it yanked her around, slamming her head against the wall a couple of times. Y/n was sure this was a dream, but she was sure she also felt her brain hit the side of her skull.

She was in a daze when the Cocaine Dragon held her up in front of it again, her vision fading in and out as something dripped from her head. Through her blurry gaze, y/n could see this weird fluid dripping onto the floors. It wasn't blood, looked more like... let's not talk about it.

"Ugh... what is it with everything always trying to kill me? Don't you bastards get it?" y/n grabbed ahold of one of the creature's weird face tusks, glaring at it with a burning gaze.

"I don't 🚚ing DIE!"

She slammed her face against it, right in its ugly face eye and it dropped her with another screech, not before she kicked it for good measure.

Y/n hit the ground head first, not good considering she already sustained some pretty bad head injuries.

She kind of just laid on the ground as her head ached and pounded from the multiple impacts against the wall, the crow landing beside her head and cawing at her.

For a dream, her head was killing her...

Oh, she was getting a bit of a puddle. Not good, was she leaking spine fluid maybe? Who knows.

"Sorry... just give me a minute..." y/n murmured, trying to push herself back to her feet. She was moving a little slow, the weird Cocaine Dragon having already recovered as it prepared to strike again.

It didn't get the chance, as there was a flash of green. A pair of pale hands with long nails emerged from the glow, enveloping y/n and blocking her from the creature's sight. There was a flash, and the smell of wheat... then her and the bird were gone.

No evidence of them having ever been there.
Only a patch of flourishing grass and flowers.

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Aventurine stared at y/n with slightly raised brows, his expression somewhat concerned — a change from his usual relaxed look, "Woah. What happened to you?"

Y/n blinked, giving her head a careful touch and wincing a little, "Ah... I don't wanna talk about it."

Miraculously, her injuries from the Cocaine Dragon's attack were gone when she came to. Once again, she was back in the Dreamscape.

She found herself at Moment of Stars, oddly convenient but she wasn't complaining. Her little crow friend flew off in a hurry while y/n a moment to just... gather herself.

What the hell was that Cocaine Dragon?
Why did it give her a concussion?
Why did that crow help her?

...well it didn't help her. It just pecked her a couple of times, y/n did all the work with saucing up the Cocaine Dragon. But then again, the crow did help her out of her little memory torture chamber.

Now, y/n found herself adjusting her dress which was a little ripped up from her sprinting about and kicking Cocaine Dragons. Her face burned with embarrassment because she KNEW people were looking.

Hell, you'd look too if some frazzled woman walked into a bar barefoot in a ripped up dress with messed up hair and a whole thousand yard stare.

Aventurine gestured to the seat beside him, "I won't ask, then. Take a seat, you look like you could use a breather."

"Ah— no, I'm not here to talk." y/n shook her head frantically, "I wanna know how the hell you know what I am and what you are!"

"Well what are you?"

"Huh?"

Aventurine smiled innocently, "You're a what?"

"I... that I'm, uh..." y/n couldn't really find the words

"Go on, it's not that uncommon."

"Erm..."

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Well it is."

"And why is that?"

"The Xianzhou Fleet isn't in good terms with Yaoshi." y/n admitted, "And me being an Emanator of that sick 🚚 doesn't do me any favors."

"Oh so you were an Emanator of Abundance?" Aventurine chimed, "Huh. I figured you were an Emanator of the Hunt, but I guess this works too." "HUH?!"

Wait— but he— when...

"You didn't know that I was... you know, that?!" y/n demanded and Aventurine pursed his lips with a shrug.

"Well I knew you were an Emanator, and narrowed it down to the Hunt or the Destruction considering what chatter I heard about the Luofu mess, but I didn't know for sure." Aventurine admitted before giving y/n a little look of curiosity, "My oh my, now I get why you were so embarrassed about it."

"Shush!"

"Oh, my bad."

Y/n rubbed her face, groaning quietly before shaking her head, "Okay, well... why exactly do you care that I'm an Emanator? I can't see how you have anything to gain from it. I hardly have any control over what I can do."

"Do we really have to get straight into all that? I figured you'd prefer a chat and a drink beforehand. You look like you need it," the man remarked to which y/n gave him a little side eye, "Right. Not a talker. Alright, I suppose we could get down to business."

(Short chapter, I wrote what I could before I got on the plane but the rest is in a notebook. Somewhere)

(I'm on translating duty while we're overseas but I'll try to get more chapters out between now and before my exam weeks hit 💪🏽)