[Kariya comes on the Vine. She's clearly at the Pagoda, where she's been staying for the past weeks. She doesn't look very well. That is, she looks worse than usual. Her condition doesn't allow her much sleep to begin with, and for the past days, she's been getting less.]

Hello. Has anyone else been having--dreams?

[She sees herself, over and over, killing--not only Tokiomi, the man she longs to kill, but other people, too. Some of them are people she's met in the Gardens. She sees herself expelling the worms from her body, turning them into monsters, sending them to attack. She could do that. It would be so easy. Just to lash out, to strike back, to have and show some power...

...but the people here are kind. She doesn't want to harm them. She won't.]

I can't seem to sleep very well. Doctor, or anyone, do you know of some medicine or magic that might help? Thank you. I hope no one else has had any trouble. I hope you've all been well.

[With the singing, the woman in the well, and the nightmares, it's obvious that the Gardens are keying up for something to happen. But what? It's hard to say, but it can't be good. After all, it never is, is it?]

[Maybe you're on edge. Maybe you aren't. It doesn't matter, because either way, when you venture outside at night, there's a strange, otherworldly-sounding keening to be heard in the distance. It doesn't matter where you go; once it begins, it doesn't stop, no matter how hard you try to escape it. Did you think whatever is happening would be so easy to avoid?]

[Whether you expected it or not, the sound follows you, growing louder and louder as more time passes. Eerie wailing and unsettling moaning comes from one side, then another. Something crashes through the branches overhead, or maybe the foliage underfoot, and occasionally there's a whistling of air when that something swoops through the starry sky above. Gradually, the sounds begin to close in, cackling laughter occasionally heard among the other cries.]

[What do you do?]

( ooc notes )