Land of Tears and Envy
Act I

The brilliant glow of gold irradiating off of Prospit's cities greeted the golden battle ship as it came down to dock in one it's spacious harbors. The Heroes had finally reached the new session, the void session. John's face lit up, just as a young boy's would upon opening his eyes on Christmas morning. "Has it really been three years already?" John asked as he reached over and scratched Jade's canine ears. They were lying in a pile of Squiddles. Jade, resting her head on John's stomach, rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. "Mmmhmm… five more minutes…" she drowsily mumbled, burying her face in John's chest and hiding from the beams of light emanating from Prospit. In the distance, they could hear a growing uproar from the crowd of Carapacians gathering outside. John laughed and pulled Jade to her feet, "C'mon, we even have company!" he said, his eyes focused on the multitude. Jade let out a surprised "woof" as he did this, and she turned and shared the window with John. Looking out upon the familiar people, she asked, "They're all here for us?" John shrugged. "Maybe it's not every day a battle ship docks in their harbors…" she nodded in agreement. John opened the door to the halls of the ship for Jade, "Ladies first." He said with a smile. Jade shook her head and blushed, "Stop playing around, and let's go!" They walked down the halls, navigating the corridors and eventually making their way to the deck. The gleams of light shining down onto the ship from the golden city made the pair cover their eyes. Soon, the exclamations and vigor of the crowd reached them and they looked over the edge at the audience the ship landing had created. Along with the attention of Jade and John the crowd attracted the attention of a certain cyan-eyed girl exploring Prospit.

With no intact dream tower, she found herself roaming the city more, and meeting more of the people. With the maid having survived, the citizens of Prospit were overjoyed at the prospect of meeting one of such renowned royalty. As was true for all sessions, the dream selves held a very special place in the culture of the respective peoples, and in the affection of their hearts. Still, at the time, she did not feel driven to stay put. Her bedroom was destroyed, and had bounded several hundred yards away when the tower exploded. There was another tower, of course, but she couldn't possibly bring herself to live there… not after…

…

She'd at least feel compelled to see what was going on in the normally inactive dock.

The city was still as beautiful as Jade had remembered it. John took her hand in his and pointed to all the buildings that caught his attention, "WE HAVE TO GO THERE, AND THERE, AND THERE! OH, AND THERE TOO!" Overwhelmed by the beauty and magnificence of the golden city of Prospit, the city he had never seen for himself, John began to get side-tracked by his desire to see all the things. Jade, rather awe-struck herself, was certainly not short on answers to his questions. She was reminded of how she used to dream of showing John around the city when he finally woke up. Thinking back on this, she avowed to herself, "I missed my last chance to share all of this with him… I'm definitely not going to miss this one too!" They had come so far. There was no way they would be beaten now. She was unable to protect it last time; She remembered the helpless feeling about her as she watched her friends murdered and the city destroyed. But she was able to save him, and that's what mattered.

Although, it was different in some ways... The people themselves seemed very similar to how she remembered, the buildings were the same, save for a few of the larger structures, and the mood was the same, but… She looked over at John and saw the beaming smile on his face. She felt herself smiling even more broadly as she watched him. He had that effect on people.

"Good evening, heroes!" a shout emerged from the crowd. Jane, dressed in the rich, bright gold garb of a Prospit dreamer, waved to John and Jade as they descended from the battleship and landed onto the ground before the crowd. John was quickly surrounded by a group of the Prospitians, who, having seen him manipulating wind, were quite eager to see him further perform his abilities. John was more than happy to comply, and began to display his powers over the breeze. Before Jade could follow him, she was pulled into a conversation with the young woman. "You're…Jane, right?" Jade inquired, albeit somewhat shrewdly. She supposed this was kind of obvious, given her knowledge on the matter. Nevertheless, Jane nodded in agreement with some level of surprise and smiled, revealing her buck teeth. Jade returned the same toothy grin and they giggled at their likeness. Jade and Jane proceeded to adjust their glasses, and were once again surprised by their synchronization. "I'm Jade, by the way!" she said with a smile and tweaked her ears. "Nice to make your acquaintance, Jade!" with that, however, she looked at Jade with a look of puzzlement on her face. She was trying not to stare, but she couldn't help but look at Jade's ears and scratch her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't help but notice you have… dog ears?" Jade reached up and covered them with her hands, "Oh, these? They're nothing!" she said with a nervous chuckle. Jane seemed unconvinced. "It's a long story." She offered. Jade, trying to change the subject, moved the focus back onto Jane, "So, where are you staying on Prospit, Jane?" Her question was met with a nervous smile and a finger pointing in the direction of a broken tower. "What happened to your tower?" she said turning back towards Jane. "Oh… it kind of… blew up." She said followed by her own nervous chuckle. "It's not important. Let's talk more about you and your trip here, must have had quiet the adventure!" she added.

Jade looked back towards John. He was performing breathtaking spectacles using his powers and entertaining the locals, "He'll be fine alone for a little while." She muttered under her breath. With that she turned back to her newfound friend, Jane, and they began chatting. Hobbies, adventures …baking recipes and boys... boys, this topic didn't carry over well with either of them. Jade looked over to John and lowered her ears, then turned back to Jane. Jane was rubbing her arms and shuffling her feet, "There is one boy I like, but… I… don't think he likes me back… I don't even think he notices my affection…" Jade moved forward and embraced Jane, "What makes you say that? I'm sure he notices you!" she looked back at John as he performed tricks for his audience, "Maybe he just gets a little… distracted…" These words comforted Jane greatly, but something was still bothering her. She sighed, "I still don't have the necessary confidence to tell him how I feel… Things are… well, complicated with him. I really don't know how to read him either." A silence fell over the girls for a moment, only to be broken by the joyful cries of John's captivated audience.

"I can give you a hand with getting him to notice you!" Jade said, beaming with eagerness to help her new friend. Jane literally jumped for glee and took Jade's hands in her own, "Oh, thank you so much!" On that note, she added, "Speaking of which, I might as well introduce you both to him and the others." Jade turned to John, who was now carrying people on his back as he flew, "John, we have to go! C'mon, silly!" following this with a bark, she made a quick movement with her hands to her mouth and blushed. Jane looked confused, "Did you just… bark?" Jade smiled nervously and shrugged her shoulders. Just in time to break the awkward moment, John snuck up behind Jade and gave her a hug, wrapping his arms around her waist. Jade smiled and blushed as she reached behind and pulled John's hood over his face. He laughed, then scratched Jade's ears, "So who's your friend?" John looked over at Jane who greeted him with a nod and a smile. "Oh John, meet Jane, Jane, Meet John!" Jade said, escaping John's embrace and wrapping her arm behind his neck. Jane blinked and looked at John, "You seem so familiar…" before Jade could reply, John went back to scratching Jade's ears. "Again with the ears…?"John smiled in response. "So where are we going now?" he said with a bucktoothed smile. Jade and John looked at Jane who exclaimed, "We're going to LOMAX!"

Perplexed, John inquired, "Whats LOMAX?" Jade shrugged and looked at Jane. "It's where my friend Jake lives, after he entered the medium!" John nodded, "But what's LOMAX stand for…?" Jane scratched her head, "Uhh… Land of… something and Xenon? Beats me!"

With that the trio took one of Prospit's interplanetary transit shuttles and made their way to LOMAX and Jane's close friend Jake English.