Surprised by the sudden appearance of the man in the boat, Tori jumped back on her seat, causing the boat to rock violently for a moment before sliding back into stability with surprising speed. He looked something like a fantasy supervillain, or maybe a murderer. In any case, Tori disliked him almost instantly; his harsh tone of voice only sealed her opinion of him. She was about to yell at him for showing up without any warning at all and cutting off their introductions before they had even started, but she was caught off-guard by his strict way of speaking. Yeah, just caught off-guard. Not scared. [i]Definitely[/i] not scared.

Tori shrunk back in place indignantly, eyes downcast but legs swinging as quickly as ever.

The boat floated on, and Tori urged it with her mind to go faster, until at last their small band of misfits arrived at what looked like a luxurious Asian palace, like what Tori saw on TV. Despite the bloated dark presence of the weird crocodile man in the boat with them, Tori just had to lean over the edge and stare at the place with eyes as wide as saucers. Just when she thought the dream was becoming a nightmare, it went back to being something otherworldly and awe-inspiring. Tori let a grin back onto her face, and she watched as the palace came ever closer.

As they approached the new sight, Tori's fire of excitement was slowly diminished once more by the man's cold instructions. Suddenly she didn't feel as enthusiastic. Something about the man's tone of voice just sounded like a natural needle that popped helium balloons. Still, Tori knew better than to disobey him; her parents had always taught her to respect her elders. As she climbed out of the boat, she wondered if that rule applied to strange crocodile guys who had weird names like "Master Yoru." Were the kids being kidnapped? Master Yoru hadn't done anything bad to them, though, aside from yelling at them in a really unpleasant way. Tori decided to follow him for now, and maybe kick him in a bad place and run away later if he really was a kidnapper. That's what you do when you get kidnapped, right? 

Heart beating quickly, Tori skipped along, having no problem keeping up, but not wanting to stay too close to Yoru, either. As she walked, she looked behind her shoulder at one of the girls who was standing farther off from the group; Tori didn't want her to feel left out, so she tried to meet her eyes and wave at her before turning back to the head of the party.

Entering the bathhouse was like an explosion. Amazed by the sudden burst of activity, Tori almost ran ahead and stared around at everyone crowding up the place, but quickly remembered Master Croc Villain's orders and shot her head down. She thought she'd seen giant frogs and ladies who might have looked a bit strange; she wasn't sure, but none of them sounded happy now. Tori could almost feel them glaring; she pulled her lips tight and tried to focus on the wooden planks on the ground.

She wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed when Yoru got fixed the quiet and hurried them into some kind of elevator. She wanted to explore and meet all the creatures in the building, but maybe that wouldn't be so nice if they didn't like her, and that seemed pretty probable. Maybe she could look around later, if the dream let her. 

In any case, Tori didn't regret getting into the lift, as the second floor was breathtaking, a giant work of art. Hastily, the girl rolled down her socks and tugged them off, then proceeded to spare a few seconds childishly running around in small circles on the carpet; it was soft and tickled her toes, just as good carpets are supposed to do. She grinned down at her bare feet before looking around at everyone, ignoring Yoru's constantly oppressive aura, and opening her mouth to say something in a quick "Th--" before remembering, once more, Yoru's orders to "not say a word." Frustrated, Tori resorted to letting out a long cross between a wheeze and a random animal impression and drawing shapes with her toes, trying to meet everyone's gazes to see if they were as hyped as she was.