02:20

Nigh time found Pia asleep, but hardly resting. The blond Scandinavian was moving in her sleep. She had already kicked her blanket out of the bed, along with her pillow. Even in the land of dreams, Pia was not at easy. Half formed words in her own language found their way out of her throat.

02:21

Pia had always had trouble with her sleep, even from an early age. Screwed up sleep patterns, nightmares and sleepwalking had caused her parents considerable worry. As she grew older, the problems had abated, but never truly gone away.

Here at Shokushu, she had plenty of reason not to sleep to easy. And tonight, it appeared that her central nervous system had had enough. Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was the various psionic forces she had been subjected to that had caused it. It was hard to tell.

02.22

Pia sat up. Her body was moving, but her conciousness was not engaged. She rose, and for a while, just stood there.

02:25

Pia moved to the door. She opened it, and stepped into the corridor outside. Closing the door behind her, she began moving down the corridor. She moved slowly, but without pausing. Sometimes she would mumble something.
At one point, she stopped outside a door, and tried opening it, finding it locked. She then moved to the next, and the next, with the same results. At this point, she stopped her wandering.
"Licorice.", she stated out aloud.

Her hair was tied up in a braid, but with a few strands escaping. She was wearing a pink and blueish two piece P.J. It seemed her subconscious had run out of ideas, and now she was just standing there, arms hanging down, swaying slightly.

(OOC: I have never tried making an open thread before, and I have had very few commons threads, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Feel free to jump in if you want to )

Susan had never been a particularly deep sleeper even before she'd come here. Now, after her experiences with the islands other residents, her body was alert for any unusual disturbance. While the school's soundproofing had stopped her from ever hearing a monster creeping around or having its way with one of the other students, the sound of someone trying to open her door had caused her to snap awake. For a few moments, she just sat in her bed, clad only in a tight white tank top and matching panties, as her brain caught up with her body.

When the sound didn't repeat, her first thought was to go back to sleep; if it was a monster, they'd apparently given up. She quickly pushed that thought aside; what if it had been another student trying to find somewhere to escape a monster? She hadn't been awake enough to tell if the attempt had been a casual or panicked one, after all.

If so, it's probably too late to help. Not that you'd be able to do much against one of those things, anyway, the more rational part of her mind said. She told it to shut up. Even so, I have to try. Brushing some stray hair that had escaped from her braid out of her eyes, she padded barefoot across the room, unlocked the door, and opened it a crack.

Nothing. No sounds of a struggle, no weird creature trying to force the door open, nothing at all. So what was...?

"Licorice."

The sound of another girl's voice interrupted Susan's thought. Licorice?!? What the hell? Are things going to get weird again? She dismissed the fleeting thought that it might be a trap as she opened the door further. 'Help!' or 'Hello?' or the like would make sense as part of a trap, but 'Licorice'? That made no sense at all.

Leaving her room, she saw a blonde girl in pajamas just standing in the middle of the hallway, swaying slightly. "Um, hello? Are you alright?" she asked as she approached the girl. If she didn't get any reaction, she'd try putting a hand on the girl's shoulder and hoping she didn't scare her too much.

(Thanks for joining )

Pia did not seem to react to the approach of Susan at first, but the touch of her hand upon Pia's shoulder and the sound of her voice seemed to cause some reaction.
She did not wake up right away, however. It seemed her parasomnia still had the rest of her in it's grip.
She shook her head a little, and started muttering.
"Nei, nei, nei..nei.."
Her eyelids were actually parted, but her eyes were just barely visible beneath her glasses, and appeared unfocused. Still shaking her head, she turned halfway towards Susan.
She made a serious of sounds, not words but little "mmmmmm..." noises, biting her lower lip as she did so. She placed her hand on Susan's, and gripped it hard.

The girl still seemed to be completely out of it, apparently sleep-walking. Susan wasn't sure how to wake her up without hurting her, but there was a more important problem to deal with first. Out here, they were probably too tempting a target for any monster that might pass by to ignore. There was also the chance of a prefect catching them out after curfew, but that was unlikely at this late hour.

The girl was mumbling something unintelligible and had taken a firm grip on Susan's hand. "Uh... Right... Let's get you inside before someone finds us." Shifting to get a better grip on the blonde, Susan began to lead her to her room.

Pia made few gestures into the air, and made some more half-muffled noises. She did not protest or struggle as she was led to Susan's room, but her steps were uncertain and unsteady. She tuned her head back and forth as if looking for something, but her eyes were still glazed.
She was like a zombie, eyes open but still unseeing, her brain not comprehending the world around her and her mind oblivious to reality.
Whatever was happening inside Pia's blond head was happening somewhere deep, beyond even the parts of her brain that dealt with regular dreams.

She did allow herself to be led, though, even leaning a bit on Susan for support. She pulled air through her nostrils. "Mmmm.. Licorice?"

Susan managed to get the girl into her room and to close and lock the door behind them without too much difficulty. Good thing the room never held all the people it could, she thought as she led the girl to one of the spare beds. I just hope she isn't still looking for licorice when she wakes up. I have no idea where to find any.

Now what? Should I try to wake her? Or lie her on the bed and hope she starts sleeping normally? While she tried to decide which was the better idea, she went to her closet to get a spare pillow and sheets. Whichever way she chose, the girl would probably be better off staying here for the rest of the night.

At first Pia simply stood still, with her head slightly to one side, saying nothing, seemingly unaware that Susan was even there.

Yet something was happening behind her blue, vacant eyes. Slowly, she turned towards Susan. If it had not been for the fact that her eyes was completely unfocused, it would appear that she was studying her rescuer diligently.

As if suddenly reaching a decision, she started moving. Walking silently up behind Susan, she wrapped her arms around the slightly taller girl, and rested her head against her neck. As she leant up, she made a few mumbling noises, now sounding perhaps a little more at ease.
One of her hands rose upwards, and touched a strand of Susan's long hair.

"Ah-ha. Liquorice."

Susan let out a cry of surprise as the other girl hugged her from behind. Normally, she'd welcome this without reserve, but in this case...

I don't think she's even aware of what she's doing. I can't take advantage of her... not like one of the monsters. I've got to...

The feel of the girl's body against hers weakened her resolve somewhat. I guess I can wait a bit and see what happens. It's not like either of us is doing anything yet.

That changed quickly as the blonde touched Susan's hair. "Ah-ha. Liquorice."

Okay. Time to do something before I get my hair eaten. Taking one of the girl's hands in hers, she pinched the skin on the back, hopefully hard enough to wake her up.

It seemed to take a few seconds for the pain to register. Pia was leaning heavily on Susan, toying with the strand of hair, and even nibbling on her neck with her lips. Then the pain seemed to penetrate her brain.
Pia struggled a little, and waved her hand as if to fend off an unseen assailant, apparently failing to realize the pain came from Susan. Instead she struck futilely into the air in front of them.

"Ahh..mmm... owie!"

Normally, the brain of a sleepwalker is a bit of an anomaly. While sleepwalking, one is neither concious or dreaming in the conventional sense, but the rest of the brain is still active. Now the sting of pain were reving up Pia's higher brain functions as well. Pia was waking up.
This caused her to loose her balance, keeling over to one side, while instinctively holding on to Susan.

Pia made a yelp of surprise, having no idea where she was or what she was doing.

As the blonde fell off balance, she pulled Susan over with her. Susan managed to twist somewhat so that they landed on her bed with the other girl on top. This way, the worst the girl would suffer would be some embarrassment at her position.

"Finally awake?" she asked at the girl's startled yelp. She'd roll over to face her when the girl lifted herself up to look around, which Susan expected would be pretty soon. In the meantime, it was probably time to start explaining the situation. "You were sleepwalking. I thought you'd be safer in my room than standing in the middle of the hall."

The room itself was larger than most dorm rooms since, judging from the furniture, it was supposed to have four students in it. Other than the bed that they were on, however, only one of the beds was made up, and even that one was unoccupied.

Pia had gone from asleep to flooded with adrenaline in less than a second. Partially beacuse of the fall and her disorientation, but even when safe in her room, it was not unusual for her to wake with a scream. While she had never been directly attacked while asleep, it was something she feared, and sometimes, even the tiniest nocturnal sound would cause her to panic.

This time a friendly voice was there, and that made a world of difference. Pia's hearth beat hard in her chest, but even in her confused state, she realized she was safe.
Girl, different room. Sleepwalking. Safe?
Pia's mind tried to take stock of the situation.

Pia looked at the girl in front of her. It was not someone she knew. Pia blushed a bit. She was quite grateful that this girl had taken her in, to be wandering around here at night was not safe, Pia knew. She also felt kind of embarassed.

"T-thank you!", she blurted out. "Thanks a lot. It was very.. you were very kind to take care of me. I am very grateful."
"My name is Pia.", she continued, feeling that it was appropriate to introduce herself. "I-I hope I did not cause any problems or did anything too stupid."

Susan smiled up at her. "I'm Susan. And don't worry about it. After some of what I've learnt about this place, I wouldn't leave anyone outside like that, especially someone as cute as you. As for doing anything too stupid..." Let's not bring up the licorice thing. All things considered, it wasn't as dumb as it sounds. "...I don't think so. You did seem to be getting a bit... affectionate right before I woke you." She blushed lightly as she continued, "I... didn't mind it at all, but I wasn't... didn't know if you... if you'd be... doing something like that if you were awake."

Affectionate? Uh-oh! I didn't..

Pia's cheeks went from blushing to tomato in a few seconds, and she instinctively reached to cover her face with her hands. Even though her mind did not remeber anything, her body perhaps did. Or at least she imagined so, suddenly it was like she could feel the afterglow of a warm body against hers, smooth hair on her fingers.

"Uh, I am so sorry.. I would never pressume..uh."It did not help at all that Susan was just the kind of woman Pia found attractive. A bit taller than herself, long, luxurious dark hair. She looked though, but not unkind at all. And she had that exotic look that Pia found very nice. And she had called Pia cute, something that would on its own cause her to be embarassed. Pia was not used to compliments.

Luckily, she did not seem to be offended by Pia's advances. Even if she was still blushing, Pia could not help but laugh a little. The situation was kind of absurd, really.

"I hope I was not too.. grabby", Pia said. "I mean, you rescuing me and all, and then I try to molest you. Not proper behaviour for a damsel in distress at all."
"You make a great knight in shiny armor, though.", she added.

Susan laughed lightly at Pia's comments. "It's okay. I don't think you could get too grabby for me," she said with a wink. "And I'd think any knight would be quite happy to accept if the damsel they'd just rescued decided to reward them rather... enthusiastically." She grinned sheepishly before adding, "Even if the knight has yet to win against one of the monsters threatening the kingdom." Her lips remained slightly parted after she finished talking in an invitation to the other girl. She wanted to continue the encounter now they were both awake, and she thought Pia did too, but she'd let the blonde make the next move just in case she'd read the signs wrong.

Pia's pulse had just calmed down from the little panic attack she had suffered upon waking up. Now it was picking up again, her heart trembling inside her breast.

Pia glanced down, nervously toying with her braid.

Pia was not terribly astute when it came to other people, and she had too little experience when it came to the games of flirtation. But she did recognize the invitation, she had even opened up for it.

Now she found herself unsure what to do. Perhaps it would be better if she backed up, did not get herself involved? There was so many issues..
But she did not want to back up! Susan was.. nice. She liked her, and she liked her hitting on her.

Pia looked back up at Susan, smiling, a bit shy perhaps, but not unwilling. This would probably be a good time to say something, but Pia did not find anything to say. Instead she placed her hand very lightly upon Susan's.