Entwined Destinies: The red string across time

Story time

Kubo helped Coraline with her gardening for a while. He was fascinated by the flowers he's never seen before, the tulips, poppies and roses were lovely to look at, he wished he could bring back some for his grandfather when he wakes up.

"So" Coraline began. "I think, uhh I think we're dreaming. Because I remember going to bed last night and then falling down a dark abyss, I closed my eyes shut. And when I opened them again here I was, in my garden" she explained.

"I think we're dreaming too. Because one moment I was at home asleep, the next thing I know I was in that tunnel, then here I am talking to you"

"What do you think will happen when we wake up?"

"I don't know. We'll just go back home I guess" Kubo responded.

"So we're sharing a dream, how is this possible?"

"My magic must be doing this" Kubo said simply. "Grandfather said my powers are still developing, so anything is possible. This is new though, I didn't think I could enter other people's dreams"

"Magic? What are you some sort of wizard?" Coraline blinked in surprise.

"Not exactly, I'm um...I guess I'm a demi-god. My mother was the moon king's daughter, and my father was a powerful samurai" Kubo explained.

"Oh, wow" Coraline breathes. "I have a demi-god in my head" she then chuckled. "And we're tied together by some string of fate or whatever, heh"

Kubo chuckles and rubs the back of his neck "Yeah"

Coraline planted another tulip. "Well, since we're dreaming, and time works differently in the real world than in the dream world, how about you tell me more about yourself? What's your story?"

Kubo smiled. He loved telling stories, and here was someone who wanted to hear his story, someone new who had never heard it before. Coraline was a fresh audience he could dazzle with his tales.

"Sure, I- Oh, wait…" His face fell. "I need my paper and my shamisen… I can't tell my stories without them."

She gave him a friendly nudge with her elbow. "Come on, you're magic and this is all a dream. You can do anything you want!"

Kubo smiled slightly. "Good point. Maybe if I just think about it, it'll come to me"

He closed his eye, picturing his shamisen clearly in his mind. When he opened it again, it was there in his hands, looking exactly as it did in real life. He grinned, and closed his eye again. Once again the thing he was thinking of appeared; the plectrum he needed to strum the strings, and a stack of colorful origami paper on the ground.

Coraline cheered and clapped her hands, already impressed. "Awesome! See? I knew you could do it!"

Kubo grinned at her praise. Then he composed himself, face turning serious as he raised the plectrum over his head. He was about to begin the story.

"If you must blink," he said in his most powerful, dramatic voice. "Do it now!"

He brought the plectrum down, striking a powerful chord on the shamisen's three strings.

"Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear," Kubo went on, continuing his long memorized opening speech. "No matter how unusual it may seem. And please be warned; if you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you, even for an instant..." He paused, building suspense. "Then our hero will surely perish."

By now Coraline's eyes were big and bright with excitement. Her hands were balled into fists and she was bouncing slightly in place, waiting eagerly for something magical to happen.

So Kubo began to play, and the paper on top of the stack came to life. It was story time.