Rinley, Scheherazade and Dinazad sounds like a great combo. Sessily is having a grand time. She's got Totem clasped across her back so he doesn't get too much in the way and she's spinning and dancing delightedly through the party store, practicing her moves while you browse the aisles. She's really a lovely sight, her straw hair's bouncing up and down like a windy wheat field, and she's got on a red dress with thick puffy shoulders that spins up above her ankles when she twirls. She's going to need lots more sparkles for the show, and also she's kind of bumped into you and the aisles a few times (fortunately, everything that has spilled so far has been securely fastened, so you've only had to put the things back on the shelves). 

So, a bit awkward, but also a fun friend time full of a happy heart that's bursting to the brim with effort. That's really beautiful. What does it feel like to you, anyway, when someone is putting their whole heart into something and you get those Rinley feels about it? 

[Indeed, one storytime point.]

Oh and I'll leave it to Dulcinea (on or off camera) to tell you exactly what gift you find to her taste, I'm sure it will be great.

*****

Jasper, Shokyou gives you kind of a funny look. She's been giving you lots of funny looks since you came by. She's obviously enchanted with you, but also kind of confused about why a deity would come to earth without, like, studying up for it. Mostly you just think she's giving you funny looks. This does appear to be making her less reverential than she was before though.

"You know, you act like you've never been here before" she says between bites of multi-colored crunchy Os. "Like, this is cereal not ramen. And, I think any kid would know that. Sure, you eat them both out of a bowl, I guess, but you eat cereal with a spoon and ramen with chopsticks, so they're, like, totally different!" She punctuates this with a demonstration of eating ramen with her spoon. "Also, my name's Shokyou, you don't need to call me 'Awakened One' or 'Your Holyness' or 'The Redeemer' or any of those things you've said, really. Just Shokyou is good."

She gives you a friendly smile, which she immediately shatters with a big yawn that she only covers up about halfway through, making you want to yawn in response. "So, big show day, right? I was thinking Alice in Wonderland, do you want to be in the show with me?"

[Jasper, I think you're building towards a shared reaction here, but not quite yet. Also, if you want, you could ask Shokyou about Jade Irinka, they knew each other, though you might not know that.]

*****
[Dulcinea is spending 4 will on this, I am told]

Dulcinea. You've nearly got your nightmare invention done, and this will absolutely and certainly cause you to get a working nightmare rift going, probably without any complications whatsoever! Let's see. The key principle here, which you will be able to extract from this wish state and apply easily hereafter is the principle of entropy. No, not the guy that sometimes rides around town on a motor cycle, that's Principal Entropy, this is the principle of entropy. Anyway, what's important here is that all nightmares have a natural cycle and degradation that they undergo. As they do so, energy from the nightmare balances out with the dream state and settles the sleeper's mind or forces them into a sudden awakening. To properly stabilize the portal, you need to align its energy output with the nightmare's natural entropy. If dream takes an energy dip and your device doesn't, you'll end up injecting extra nightmare due to the imbalance and sudden nightmare injections [i]can[/i] be explosive in their consequences.

So, you've got the energy modulation controller all set up and your adaptive suit is functional! This is going to lead to the best dance routine! 

Also, there are two things you should be aware of as a result of this research and your prior research. 
Thing 1: The way the Outside storms are targeting people recently? Same energy modulations that you just figured out for nightmare structures. This is, if not your fault directly, at least an extremely unlikely coincidence that you are, by several miles, the best equipped person to address. I'm sorry, but it's totes your problem.

Thing 2: There's an odd little fluctuation in the nightmare energy. It's not large and it won't affect your devices right now, but there's no mistaking this. Energy is leeching out unexpectedly [i]somewhere else[/i]. There's another portal to the nightmare realm that you didn't make somewhere in Fortitude. 

Well, anyway, those two things are problems for future you, not current you. Current you has a dance contest to absolutely crush beneath the sole of your adaptive suit's extremely sexy boots. 

You should probably emote about your theory here and then tell us what's coming next now that it's working.

[Dulcy, this is the motherload of quest things. First off, you just took an out of genre science, faith, sorcery! action. That's 1 XP and grab another point of Blue (In Over Your Head) Issue. 

Second, you advanced your science chibi quest, 1 XP

Third, apparently talking about your engine compared to Shokyou's is worth a quest XP for hidden library, so boom check that one off!

And fourth, I just handed you responsibility for the Outside Stirs, which is worth a whopping 3 XP for that quest unless you hard reject that in your response (in which case I'd say this didn't count since nobody else is actually forcing it on you).]

*****

Mila, the Fortitude explosives and pyrotechnics club is out here in force (this club may or may not exist outside of this wish, but as far as you're concerned, it is completely normal that Fortitude has this). The rep who approaches you has a bright pink mohawk to complement her pink kitty-cat ear headphones (currently lowered around her neck) and her leather jacket, which is black, not pink. 

"Hey, name's Aila Foleiu, saw you kind of standing around glancing at our stuff. Can we help you out? You look like you're dressed for a show, one of the backup dancers maybe? They send you to give us an order? We've got a ton of stuff. Sparklers, rockets, two for ones and multicolor whatever you're looking for. It's pretty sweet, seriously."

She seems pretty up for doing business. You're still a bit thrown from before though, feeling a bit down. What's your approach here?

[No XP yet, but you're pretty set up to be suspicious or in need of aid.]