Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk?

She mumbled to herself, her feet scuffing up dust as she slowly made her way across the dismal landscape.

"Why IS a raven like a writing desk????"

She stopped, all of a sudden, turning around in a circle three times; much like a dog. She then plopped herself down on the ground, sitting with her legs all tangled up and her chin on one of her knees. Her eye twitch, her face set in some sort of warped attempt at deep concentration. This was gonna bug the fuck outta her aaaaaall day. And night. And day. And... You get the picture.

".. Maybe because both are covered in a sheet of blackness."

An anonymous, distorted voice had spoken these words, with no one in sight anywhere. Then again, everything in the Darkness Lands was black... The only thing that even slightly illuminated this grim area was a torch burning with a grayish flame... It did not provide the sufficient light needed, however.. It barely produced anything that looked like a light.

This disembodied voice fell silent after speaking those words, just as the lands had been beforehand. After a few moments of the ominous silence, 2 slits appeared before the Hatter, then another slit, splitting open into a mischievous, yet somewhat malevolent grin. Soon after, an entire body began to faze in from nothingness, revealing to whom the voice came from. It was a girl in odd attire.. Just as odd as the Hatter, herself, in fact... Only more grim. Around the girl's neck was a cloak of sorts, it seemed, but not made out of any known material...

"... Maybe you should tell me how an owl is like a dream...?"

Her eyes gleamed for a moment, as one would notice her pupils as slender as a snake's. Though the gleam from her eyes had no color thanks to the light-less area, it could definitely be told that they were releasing some form of illumination, even if it were gray.

Of course, because of Hatter's Night Vision, her sight was perfect in even this light. In fact, she could probably see in the pitch black... Now, since she wasn't paying attention, she practically lept out of her skin, flailing like mad.

"BETTER QUESTION. WHO THE HELL ARE YOU???????!"

Random-lady was random. Like one of Hatter's illusions. Visions. Whatever you wanted to call them. And she didn't like it; not one bit.

Seems as though this hatted wonder could see her.. It was inferred that her vision was clear in pitch darkness, just as Friday's was. How unfun...

"... I am Friday Malfortuna the Thirteenth... But please, call me Friday..."

Friday crossed her arms, fazing out from in front of her and reappearing on the side of her.

"... Now, tell me... Who are you?"

Friday lowered her head, the cloak around her neck starting to flare up a bit. This person was rather eccentric and vivid in contrast to Friday's personality... Maybe this could be fun.

Hatter's head whipped around, her eyes wide and following this 'Friday' like she were some sort of horrid monster that was gonna jump up and eat her... Which is exactly what Hatter thought of this Cheshire-Cat-ish Friday.

"Sayomi!Hayata!But...BetterknownasHATTER."

Her words were frantic, almost impossible to decipher. Her eye twitched, and she scooted back a couple bum-steps, to keep this Friday person directly infront of her, and in her line of sight. She didn't want to lose her for a minute... Or she might hurt the poor Hatter!

Friday started to chuckle mischievously, closing her eyes. She faded out from her position, then fazed back in closer than she was before, staring directly at Hatter.

"... Sayomi... Hatter, huh? I see... Hmhmhmhm... You look rather mad for a Hatter..."

Friday fazed out once more, then fazed back in, sitting next to Hatter.

".. You seem rather insecure... Jumpy... Are you tired? You should take a rest... besides..."

Friday started to float off of the ground, then smoothly floated across Hatter's line of vision... Slowly, with a sort of dismal elegance to it.

"... I'm just a little bit hungry...."

She fazed out only partially, leaving her eyes and a devilish smile on her face, looking at Hatter.

Each time Friday disappeared, then reappeared, Hatter let out a squeak of surprise, and tried to scramble away.

"Nononononono! STOP SCARING HATTER!"

She screeched, gathering shadows around her (which was much too easy) and collected them to form a gun of sorts. The darkness started to condense as bullets for each chamber as she leveled the gun at where Friday had last appeared.

"HATTER'S WARNING FRIDAY! STOP IT!"

Her hand was shaky, and her aim wavered a tad, but her eyes were still wide as she went into a sort of hyper mode... Her heartbeat accelerated, a special sort of adrenaline pumping through her... The darkness became her senses of touch, taste, smell, sight... Everything. Anything within that darkness, she knew about. No ifs ands or buts about it.

Unbeknown to the Hatter would be where Friday would appear next... For she wasn't just disappearing and reappearing, or even breaking apart her molecules or anything of the sort... She was literally flickering herself in and out of this realm and the Dream Realm. However, once Friday appeared again, it would be right next to the Hatter, once more, sitting quietly.

"... Ha. I'm scaring you, huh? You know... I can calm you down. Firing blindly is never good... In fact, make sure you don't lose your grip on that gun you have..."

Friday waved her finger ever so slightly through the air, causing a tiny surge of pure Bad Luck to shoot into the Hatter's hand. This would send a sort of random pain to her hand and stiffening of her fingers, which should cause her to drop the gun. This would only be for a moment before her hand normalized, that is.

"... Tell me now, Hatter... What are your dreams like..?"

Friday was famished... she hadn't eaten in quite a while, and to sustain her existence, she needed to eat the dreams or nightmares of others... How unlucky it is to die of starvation... Friday did not intend on having that.

Hatter flinched as a random tendril of phantom pain shot into her hand... But she didn't drop her gun. Her wrist just automatically twitched, swinging the gun away from Friday. The disjointed voice was getting a little less frightening now, and more... Soothing? What was this?

"My... Dreams? The waking ones, or the sleeping ones? Or the planning, and hoping ones?"

Her eyes weren't as wide, and her shoulder slowly relaxed, lowering her arm with the loaded shadow-gun. How strange...

Friday turned her head slightly to look at the Hatter, seeming to be in a little bit of pain. The starvation was getting to her... The last dream she ate was of Sheng's, and that was over a month ago... She couldn't sustain herself much longer.

"... All of your dreams... What are they like...? I'm famished.."

She didn't even have enough energy for aggressive pursuit of her food, which she did MOST times to get her dreams and nightmares... She didn't even feel like inducing a nightmare.. putting the Hatter to sleep.. Nothing.

".. I need to eat.. soon..."

"You eat... Dreams? What about illusions? Waking dreams? Hatter sees things all the time... Like there! There's a creepy shadow-man right at your shoulder! Watchout!He'sgonnaeatyourarm!"

At the end, her voice was shrill, and she backed up in a panic, her eyes focused on something that only she could see. She was all panicked, her gun forgotten in her terror.

Friday smiled, her eyes gleaming for a moment. She had made direct eye contact with the Hatter purposely, as to see into her mind. Friday could see what she was seeing... The shadow man. A hallucination, obviously... But at the same time, a dream. Friday immediately grabbed the shadow man and consumed him whole, feeling a bit better than before. She smirked.

"... Yes... An illusion... Just a dream that you see without being asleep... Hallucinations, dreams... who is to decide that they are different...? They are one and the same... I come from a realm where delusions like yours would be revered as delicacies... For I am a Baku. I need dreams and nightmares to sustain myself, just as I assume you need... Meat?"

Friday hadn't seen someone who was obviously criminally insane... No one she knew had delusions... Thus, Friday did not want to be hostile to this person... Not at all.

Hatter's eye twitched. Oh, yes, this Friday was most certainly like most of her illusions. They tried to scare her, or... Eat stuff. Yes, they've tried to eat her, but eachother, too. But somehow, Hatter didn't think this one was a bad illusion. Or maybe she wasn't in her head at all...

"Are you real? Or are you like those mean looking dogs over there?"

Slobbering hellhound-like illusions prowled at the edges of Hatter's vision, but this was common. Her eyes were constantly twitching, focusing on things that no other could see... Except, this Friday could see them now, too. The crazy-smile goblins, and swooping bat-like creatures, and fluttering fluffy bat-things. The neon-color trolls that would pop in from time to time, all red eyes, pale skin and eccentric haired. Worse of all were the Shades... Hooded men that leered from the shadows...

So much was going on in that little mind of Hatter's. New illusions were popping up out of no where. If this lady ate dreams, it was certain that she would never go hungry with Hatter's illusions. There was no cure for this utter absurdity that cluttered the vision and mind of Hatter.

Friday's smile of malicious intent grew wide, and her eyes narrowed further. It was a smorgasbord.

"... Me...? Oh, I am very real... Though, who is to determine what is real or not? I become real when on this plane of existence... It is the law of this universe. Ha... Not that I abide by it."

The cloak around Friday's neck began to flare up... It stretched out throughout the area, threatening to consume them all... And it did. Somehow, the cloak led to Friday's stomach, devouring each and every one of the Hatter's illusions.. Oh, how delicious they were...

"... Girl.. You and I are going to be very, very close..."

She licked her lips, the cloak returning to its original size. For the first time in a while, Friday had a contented stomach...

"Close? Like friends? Buddies? Chums? Hatter's never had anyone like that... They think she's too strange..."

She frowned, beginning to spin randomly on the spot, watching crystal-like flowers that morphed into more of the fuzzy bat-things fall from above her head. The sky was twisting in a kaleidoscope of colours, even though in reality it was a deep black. Kitten-like things, fluffy at first, grew fangs, leaping and snarling viscously at the fuzzy-bat things. One of them grew in size, then nudged Friday's leg, obviously unaware that the woman could devour the illusion in the instant. Hatter was in a good mood, so the colors were bright, though not bright enough to hurt the Hatter's sensitive eyes. Everything had a sort of hazy glow, shifting in an out of focus constantly. A quiet, off tune was hummed from Hatter's lips, her eyes closing as she laid back, stretching with disjointed movements. Hatter was indeed happy.

Friday wasn't fond of such colors... She was much happier with the pitch blackness of the Darkness Lands. Therefore, she would have to lessen her depth into Hatter's mind, only so much that she saw the illusions. As the kitten thing nudged her, she smiled, a black cat crossing its path ominously. The cat seemed to appear from literally nowhere. In one swift motion, the black cat devoured the other, feeding Friday even still. It then dissipated.

"... Yes, whatever you want to call it... Hm... But now that I have a sufficient way to eat for an eternity... my other fun can begin without any problem... Let's have a little fun with people... I want to see just how much bad luck befalls them.. Heh heh heh heh. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Friday' started to faze out slightly, but soon became solid once more. Hatter seemed distracted, regardless...

"... Hatter... Are you experienced in combat of any sort...?"

Hatter didn't seem to notice, as she nudged one of the fuzzy-bats with her finger, her gaze unfocused.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat...
"How I wonder where you're at.
"Up above the world so high,
"Like a tea-tray in the sky...
"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat,
"How I wonder where you're at..."

She laughed, but it died into a choked chuckle. Her illusions suddenly disappeared, and she snapped her attention back to Friday.

"Eh? What'd ya say?"

Friday narrowed her eyes, fazing out and appearing behind Hatter with her arms loosely wrapped around her neck, whispering in her ear.

"... Are you experienced in combat in any way...?"

Naturally, Friday had an idea. She couldn't particularly assess the power of Hatter, but there wasn't anything notable at the moment. She would need Hatter to at least be able to... Defend herself despite the shaky hand that held that pistol. If she couldn't even hit Friday... There would be little hope in Vescrutia, let alone the Dusk...

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeah, Hatter can fight."

Hatter grinned, her neck muscles twitching. She didn't like people touching her. Shadows coiled in Hatter's hand, swirling about until Hatter made up her mind.

"Why? Hatter's friend doesn't want to hurt her now, does she? Hatter wouldn't like that... Oh, no she wouldn't...."

Friday sneered slightly, closing her eyes.

"... Of course not. I like you.. I need you..."

Friday pulled her arms, which fazed through Hatter's neck, and thus caused Friday to stand alone. She circled Hatter once, then stood in front of her, taking note of her shadows.

"... I need to know... Because I want you to live.. By any means necessary."

"Oh, okay. Hatter likes that."

The shadows formed a couple throwing-knife-sized blades, which hovered around her. A scythe then rested itself in her hand, swirling with the shadows still. And, for extra measure, her signature gun formed itself in her left hand. Yay for ambidexterity~!

"Hatter can defend herself... Easily!"

Friday snickered to herself, her eyes gleaming for a moment.

"... Weaponry and shadows, it seems, hm...? This will be fun... Watch out, though... You may only see me in your dreams... So come at me."

Friday took off the cloak from around her neck, which was the Dream Robe, and let it hover beside her, slightly bending to her shape behind her.

Hatter peered closely at the hovering form, lucid for once in her life. She twirled the gun in her once, and as soon as it settled in her palm, Hatter leveled and fired off a single shot of her condensed shadows in a mere instant.

Mind you... As soon as that was done, her eyes started to lose focus again, her pupils dilating... Seems as though the Hatter had lost her head again~!

Moving in a jerky fashion, she crouched, then spun a quick 360 with her scythe, throwing out a slicing wave of shadows. Directly after that, she jumped up, spinning another 360, but on a vertical scale.. She repeated this a number of times, until she looked almost like a gyroscope, wildly spinning to send off slicing condensed shadows every which way. These shadows, if even touched, would begin to eat away at one's sanity, showing them illusions of every sort, designed to instill the most primal sort of fear in the enemy... A complete and utter sensory deprivation ought to do it. It wouldn't actually hurt them, and Hatter was pretty sure that she could fix any damage done... She didn't want to hurt her new friend, after all.

Friday could easily see the shadows coming at her.. They were different from the darkness of the area, and Friday could decipher different types of darkness because of her.. Well. Lifestyle. As the Hatter aimed her gun at Friday, she snapped her fingers, the area around her distorting in some sort of way. Once the gun was fired, after reaching a certain point, the bullet would slow down significantly. Friday skillfully leapt up on top of the Dream Robe, which had taken her shape, and snapped again, the distortion ceasing and the bullet returning to its normal speed. It would fly directly into the Dream Robe's portal, constantly open on one side to the Dream Realm.

As the shadow waves came at her, the Dream Robe would quickly change its shape back into its original form, which resembled a 'flying carpet' of sorts. Friday hovered above the immediate area standing atop her Dream Robe, then pointed her hand at Hatter in a snapping formation... or so it seemed.

"... Don't step on a crack, or you'll break your back..."

Friday smirked, snapping her fingers when Hatter jumped into the air, and instantly the ground was filled with nothing but very tiny, intersecting cracks. They were too small to merely step in between. Friday's eyes gleamed for a moment.

Hatter, in her only half-lucid state, thought Friday meant that literally. She probably did. In any case, Hatter didn't touch down the next time. She slammed her scythe into the ground, holding herself up in a handstand of sorts, her palms pressed against the handle of the scythe, the blade of it digging into the... ground of sorts. Somehow, it had found a spot that didn't have any cracks, and was digging in.

"W-woooah..."

Hatter was swaying precariously now, but that didn't stop her from grinning, using only one hand to balance herself now as she pushed herself up with that one arm. She motioned forwards with her free one, and the daggers zoomed forward from all sorts of angles, toward Friday. They were zipping around, controlled by the shadows, controlled in turn by Sayomi. These weren't just projectiles of a normal sort.

Humming again, Hatter laughed as she became more and more easily balanced atop her scythe. This was sorta fun!!