Seungwan opens her eyes, half-expecting herself to wake up in her bedroom but sees the spikes of limestone staring over her and she rolls her eyes at her own optimism. She rubs the sleep from her eyes and rolls her head to the side, looking over towards the small hole in the cave. The dinosaur is gone. 

Or at least, it seems that way. Seungwan picks up her sword, gripping it tightly before her as she slowly makes her way to the opening with quiet footsteps and bated breath. She feels her heart race the closer she gets and gulps visibly, poking her sword out of the hole as if it would wound an invisible dinosaur. It's clearly not invisible, nor even there when Seungwan retracts the sword and pokes her head out, seeing nothing and hearing nothing.

It's daytime now, or there's light at least--she doesn't know if this place she's in really has a sun, or if it's another figment of her dreams again. Hesitantly, Seungwan leaves the cave and begins to explore the area. The trees are still, their vines hang as if they weren't strange nightmare-induced mutations, and the roots are not just implanted firmly in the ground, but there is a noticeable lack of them as if they've run away somewhere.

Serves them right, Seungwan thinks haughtily and walks further through the trees, still gripping tightly to her sword--just in case. 

She doesn't have to walk for long when she hears a branch crunch somewhere and she in a breath, hiding behind a tree trunk as footsteps sound and seem to grow louder. Strangely enough, it sounds like human feet, and Seungwan slowly peeks her head around the tree to see a little girl in a white dress picking at some flowers.

Where'd they even come from, Seungwan wonders, recalling the wet and bare grass she fell on last night. 

"Hello?" Seungwan calls out, stepping out of the shadows and lowering her sword. The girl squeaks, gasping at her presence and swivels around, dropping the flowers in surprise.

Seungwan squints a little, eyes not used to the brightness when she takes in the sight; somehow, she's stumbled into a meadow, where the sun shines bright upon beautiful flowers and dry, warm grass where an Asian girl no older than twelve stares at her in shock. She approaches the girl and narrows her eyes, before gasping out, "J-Joohyun?"

The girl steps back and mutters, "How do you know my name?"

"You're--You're here." Seungwan can't believe it and tries not to reach out to pull the girl in for a hug. "Granted you're like ten, but--"

"I'm eleven, grandma," little Joohyun snarks and Seungwan chuckles. Even as a child she has attitude, Seungwan muses with a smile and thinks of how ironic it is to be called a grandma by Joohyun when she's been teased by Yeri and Joy with that same word for years.

Her smile then drops as she thinks of where she is. "You shouldn't be here, Joohyun. It's not safe."

Joohyun a brow at her and starts picking at the flowers again, apparently seeing Seungwan as not that much of a threat. Seungwan doesn't know if she should be offended by that thought. "Why are you here then?"

"Well, I thought I could use some sun," Seungwan quips but Joohyun regards her with a weighted stare and she wonders if that wasn't really the answer she was looking for. "Your parents will be worried about you, unnie--I mean, Joohyun-ah."

The little girl squints a little at her slip-up and says, "What about your parents?"

"Are you ever going to answer a question without throwing it back at me?" Seungwan shoots back, sitting down in the grass a few paces away from her, playing with the stems of the flowers.

"No," Joohyun answers bluntly, causing Seungwan to grin. Joohyun eyes her with an unsettled frown. "You smile too much."

Amused, Seungwan leans back on her hands, enjoying the warmth of the sun. "Do you like it?"

"No." Seungwan spots the clenching in the girl's jaw. What a liar, Seungwan thinks to herself.

Seungwan's smile doesn't waver, in fact, it extends and brightens as a soft gust of wind arrives, pushing quietly against nature. "Those flowers are very pretty," Seungwan points to the bunch in Joohyun's hand and stands up, plucking one off the ground as she goes. Joohyun doesn't say anything as Seungwan approaches her slowly. She flinches when Seungwan raises her hand but the Candian flashes another smile and holds up a placating palm as she carefully places the flower between Joohyun's ear and some strands of hair. "They suit you, very much Joohyun-ah."

"How do you know my name?" Joohyun repeats her question but doesn't take a step back this time. 

"Because I..." the words die on when she takes a close look at the little girl and sees a scar going diagonal across the girl's eye, down to her cheek. "Wh-What happened?" She tries to across the line but Joohyun startles and slaps her hand away.

"It's nothing," Joohyun says and leans down to pick at the flowers again. 

"Who did that to you?" Seungwan demands softly, watching her carefully.

"Nobody," Joohyun mutters as the flower in her ear drops to the flower. 

"Was it the stegosaurus?"

Joohyun picks up the flower and looks up at her. "What's a...Stengawalrus?" She struggles with the unfamiliar jargon and Seungwan has to bite her lip to not call her cute. If she knew Joohyun at all, calling her something like that on a first meeting probably wouldn't go well.

"A dinosaur," Seungwan answers and picks up the flower from her palm, sliding it back into place at her ear.

Joohyun shakes her head softly, mindful not to disrupt the flower in her hair. "No, it wasn't her."

"'Her'?" 

Joohyun gives her a grunt of confirmation, sitting down in the grass with folded legs. "Sooyoung. But I call her 'Joy' because she it all up."

Seungwan cackles at Joohyun's explanation and descends to sit cross-legged opposite her. "I have a friend called 'Joy' too," little Joohyun regards her with sceptical yet excited eyes so child-like and innocent. "She's also like that. But she's a friend, either way. Is... Your Joy a friend, too?" No way, Seungwan thinks. That ing beast? A friend? No, she's just making conversation with little Joohyun, there's no way--

"She's one of my best friends," Joohyun says and Seungwan feels her face fall. 

"Huh?" She utters dumbly. "Say what now?"

Joohyun nods firmly, playing with the flower petals. "She protects me from the big bad."

"Who's the 'big bad'?" Jeez, Seungwan feels like she just got transported into the world of a picture book.

"Dwyne," Joohyun whispers as if saying the name is forbidden. 

"Well, what's his deal?" Seungwan feels oddly invested in this new world and all these characters.

Joohyun shakes her head and frowns. "Dwyne's a girl."

"Oh, sounds like a guy's name," Seungwan mutters mostly to herself.

"She's super evil," Joohyun elucidates, gripping the roots of the grass tightly. "She destroyed my home. Killed everyone...Killed My parents."

Seungwan's gaze softens at her words and she reaches over to hold the girl's hand but the smaller girl flinches out of her grasp and Seungwan is quick to apologise. "Sorry--I'm sorr