Grass. Katherine never felt it in a long time--even if it was in the dream.
"Come on, no lazing off, Cat. You're not an actual cat.. yet, so I beg you to lift yourself." Anatoly ordered. Katherine opened her eyes, her hair forming a jail cell in front of her eyes. "Unf, Anatoly..? Where are we..?" she asked, pushing herself up, feeling the authentic feel of tiredness. She adjusted her eyes, before sitting upstraight in the grass. It seems she landed safely in a patch of grass in what seems to be a park.
Though, what caught her eyes wasn't the park, nor Anatoly's creepy smile, but it was the city behind him. She had remembered it from her 'past dream', Retrovva. Though it was somewhat different. Her sitting body and Anatoly was standing up an anomalous hill, which looked more like a bump after she stayed for long enough there. Meanwhile, the buildings around her were there, but broken and floating, pieces of debris and cracks present, while static in the air. It was a blissful, chaotic sight for her to see.
"A-Anatoly? What's going on here?" she asked, quickly standing up to him. Anatoly winced a bit at the lightning fast movement the woman had, but he was used to it, just like he said before. "Our 'act' is going to end, princess. Quickly, before the audience leaves, we must go to the backstage! We don't want to get knocked over by the curtains, correct?" Anatoly said, and riddled her. Well, it was more like a vague statement that made her confused--but it did the job the same.
"W-Well--where is this backstage!?" she said, getting anxious with her surroundings. Through the corner of her eye, she saw the cake shop from yesterday. Anatoly had let go of Katherine, his hand reaching up to her head as he patted it. He soon walked down the bumpy streets, passing through the floating boulders. "H-Hey! Wait!" Katherine shouted, running quickly (and carefully) around the obstacles and to Anatoly. Anatoly however, jumped and passed through each of them like a walk in the park. The ground beneath them grumbled, just like how Katherine's stomach did, when she first saw the cake shops.
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"Don't worry, that's just a slight bump. Come on, the backstage is over here." Anatoly instructed, his finger pointed at a clock tower, just past the playground where Katherine first.. appeared in. "That's where I first woke up here!" she said, hurrying over, almost slipping on an ice puddle. "Yep, and that's where I first used my flashbang. Kid needed some entertainment, so I had to, haha!" he said, still walking. Soon, Katherine caught up with the man.
"So, after we go to the backstage.. will we wake up?" Katherine asked. "Think of it as a theatre, Cat. We don't go until the audience goes first. During that, I'll answer the rest of your questions--and meet you up with Shokoh and Keiser." he said, his head turned to her, as she caught up with him. "Who are they?" she asked again, feeling the snow pile up below her shoes. Maybe she could clean it up in the 'backstage'? Though, her thought was cut short by Anatoly's answer; "Same as ours, consciences that are drived into this world through the sheer amount of will. But, I think I haven't told you that imaginary figures could also be implemented as well. That explains the presence of the things you have seen, the cracks in the sky--but that's just small talk." he explained.
Katherine immediately noticed where they were going. She wondered if that clock tower that served as a backstage was as elusive as her apartment--was it bigger on the inside? Will it teleport her to somewhere else? Or is it just as it is? She wondered. "So crazy things like nightmares can happen?" she asked. "..that is correct, but it hasn't happened for a long time, usually if it wasn't the dystopian fantasy saga of Retrovva--it was the holy war that roared for Keiser's fantasy world. Or Shokoh's science-y neon blazing city! I love it, but we can only talk after the acts are over, for a couple of minutes. Never knew those imagos had great personality! You'll love 'em too." he said, his hand reaching for the handle.
Katherine wanted to open his mouth to ask another question, but stayed for another time.