was it her mind playing tricks? maybe, maybe not. but one thing was almost certainly true: she was dreaming.[break][break]

”yes,” she was there from the prison. the prison did exist – or was it just another trick of minds through way of the crystal? did it even matter what was real anymore, now that it all flowed together?[break][break]

”i’m fine.” i think. more or less.[break][break]

she pulled away to look at their surroundings again. the megalopolan she’d met eyes with had lost interest, walking away with their children in an act of utter abnormality.[break][break]

”i think so… but not ours. dreams are made from memories and desires.” the pieces began to fall together. ”i’ll bet this dream belongs to the guards. it's what they all want: to return home.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Naomi Sato

he went to the desk, and she finished off her share of poison as she listened to his self-deprecation and praise. her eyes lingered on kaleidoscope reflections until he was finished.[break][break]

”you thought you were free outside these bars?”[break][break]

she thought back to that terrible mirage island with its blood-drenched sand. back to her brother’s scornful laugh, as she’d tried to stand up to him.[break][break]

she thought of the hole where she’d hidden for months in the tundra, before returning to hoenn, for there could be no gone for good above ground, and she’d had to come up for air eventually. had to tend to things.[break][break]

she knew the weight of her chain. could hear it drag behind her as she approached him, and it screeched like demons in her wake, unforgettable.[break][break]

beside the desk, she squatted down so as to not tower, and tried to look him dead in the eye.[break][break]

this man did not know her.[break][break]

”i’m not wise.” her mistakes piled up like the bodies in kanto. ”it’s why my power left me.” and what power had it been but that of darkness, shared with the devil they’d sold their souls to?[break][break]

”i am far uglier than you could possibly know.”[break][break]

after another moment, she rose again, and her eyes fell away with her steps and her chains. she lowered to the floor, slumping down with her back against the wall.[break][break]

what could he do?[break][break]

”take the cot and get some sleep, please — and when we find ourselves in hell tomorrow, let me burn, because i can take it, and you promised you wouldn’t leave.”[break][break]

what other escape did he have but death?[break][break]

”i’ll keep thinking.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Shred Zeppelin

a drink for punishment with her superior. worded like that, she regretted her impulsive response. oh, how very far she’d fallen.[break][break]

at the mention of her home, she shook her head with a tight smile, ”no.” she absolutely had tequila at her home, but that would not be their destination. a beat passed, before another idea popped into her head. ”i know the perfect place, actually.”[break][break]

it was owned by rocket’s upper brass, and a place she felt at least mostly safe in.[break][break]

as the powerful, mysterious message entered their minds, she knew the simulation would end. instead of warning him, she watched, hoping to see some kind of fear on his face at the staircase disappearing beneath them.[break][break]

when they returned to the submarine, instead of asking him what he’d learned, she only replied simply, ”of course.”[break][break]

she turned to leave, then, imagining head scientist amor would reach out about said punishment if he truly meant it. with luck, he’d forget.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Amor Rose [break]

hanging out with amor and that deoxys, now erebus, was not exactly her idea of a very pleasant time, but she smiled and nodded nonetheless. they were going to space together, after all, sharing the same space for a week.[break][break]

still, she asked, ”why me? that’s why i want you to come along. you know deoxys – and i’ve not had a good history with it. i didn’t always get along with its last avatar.” and that was putting it lightly.[break][break]

while amor considered going again and again, it was not something she’d thought about. five trips to the well-guarded moon was enough for a while. she wanted to see what else was out there. their universe was changing far too rapidly to try the same thing so many times.[break][break]

when he brought up leaving, it was far sooner than she’d predicted. the coffee still sat before him, and her too, not even cool enough to drink yet.[break][break]

”uh… right. sure.” good, maybe? she’d have the afternoon to do something else important – but most likely, she would spend at least the next hour worrying with a bottle of tequila.[break][break]

she nodded, getting up. ”i’ll show you out, then.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Amor Rose

the anxiety, the fear, the pressure was all crushing. as the fusion of giratina and necrozma got closer still, she remembered another nightmare of being eaten by a dragon.[break][break]

and yet, she couldn’t move, except to slowly lower to the ground, rooted there by a different kind of gravity. she still saw it: that planet, so close to their eternatus vessel.[break][break]

unable to theorize or utter her confusion aloud, she only stared in shock. it was only when their pokemon knocked the creature back that she was able to get to her feet, dropping much of what she’d collected and taking off to create some distance. she recalled her other pokemon behind her, and released an alakazam just ahead.[break][break]

holding out a hand for the brother, she’d offer to teleport them back to the rift.[break][break]

"come on!"[break][break]

lessen the load and escape

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn [break]

”hardly bored.” there was far too much to do, and she worked all hours. ”just not my fires to put out anymore.” that responsibility fell on the new head scientists, and even on the heroes of hoenn.[break][break]

about eternatus and megalopolans, she shook her head. ”i’m not entirely sure, to be honest with you. i know that there are megalopolan ship remains inside of eternatus: the quastor lucis it was called. i’ve guessed that perhaps they were eaten on their voyage to us – or somewhere else entirely. they were on a search for a power source.”[break][break]

she shrugged. ultimately, it was speculation.[break][break]

”as for what to do about it, i’m not sure about that either, unfortunately. we don’t know where exactly it is, or if it’s even in this universe. but for now, we’ve been mining it.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]ameena abadi

though she’d not been able to reach it during those harrowing moments beneath Greyson Connors , she did have an alakazam on-hand.[break][break]

”teleport,” she responded dully, reaching for its ball. when the fox appeared before them, its wise eyes held unanswered concern. she only requested, ”the lighthouse, please.”[break][break]

she put a hand on her brother’s arm, and they were whisked away in a bright flash.[break][break]

they appeared on cement beneath the open sky, and the ocean far below, past the railing. she looked over it and pulled out a cigarette, offering him one.[break][break]

”i miss it here. i come back sometimes – less lately." there had been so much to do. "no one ever notices, though.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn

she eyed back at the heliolisk through the door’s window. what a smart lizard. she hated smart lizards.[break][break]

ignoring the muffled tune about a clock that played from the phone it held, she looked past, leaning to see if she could spot the person who’d remained there. it was perfect, actually, that the place was near-empty. [break][break]

when the lock turned, the heliolisk was met with a tight, satisfied smile that had something unfriendly about it. the heels of her boots thumped lightly against the floor past it, back to exam room 3.

her smile was much more convincing, then.[break][break]

”hello. doctor mckenna-settentrione, i hope? so sorry i’m late – didn’t anticipate the traffic.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Aubre McKenna-Settentrione [break]

her eyes opened to bright lights. it was a place of neon, vaguely reminiscent of another world recently linked to their own – but this was not the anemic, broken city of lesser megalopolis. this place was thriving.[break][break]

the realization quickly dawned on her that she’d had company before. a cellmate, who was nowhere around.[break][break]

”shred!?” she called out, trying to remember how she’d gotten there, and what had happened to him.[break][break]

and the chain. it was gone too.[break][break]

she began to wander through the disorienting city. at first sight of a megalopolan, her first instinct was to duck behind a building to observe. as she did, she noticed the sign above them that read… it read nothing. it looked scattered and out of focus.[break][break]

she took another cautious step back as megalopolan eyes spotted her too from across the street – but even at their distance, she could somehow know that they were not that bright violet, nor did they hold the crazed suffering of others she’d seen before.[break][break]

distracted, she bumped into someone behind her and spun, gasping.[break][break] 

”nomi!” she wrapped arms around her impulsively, and then lingered, trying to decide if she was real. ”are you hurt?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]mission: prison pastimes (mm)[break]
Naomi Sato

’don’t worry about me.’[break][break]

when she finished dressing, she didn’t face him at first, only listened and tried to process his words through the chaos. where his had run cold and empty, the voices in her own mind were many and screaming.[break][break]

none of them had the motivational words he probably needed this time. maybe the last words had been wrong. maybe they'd spurred him to do what he'd done in the pit.[break][break]

’numb’…[break][break]

”if you say so,” she responded dully, turning to pick up the mochi and hand some of it to him. the first bite was disgustingly sweet as it had been before.[break][break]

”you need to stop putting yourself in harm’s way for me. i'm fine. i can take it. you’re…” with a glance at his wounds, she shook her head. ”i’m not worth sacrificing yourself for.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Shred Zeppelin

continued from here.[break][break]

once back behind bars, she turned away from the center of the room, shivering as she peeled off wet clothes and changed into fresh ones. if he decided to be bold and peek, she wouldn’t notice through her thousand yard stare. her rage still roared through the gaping, toothy face of the dragon across her abdomen – an infamous symbol in the criminal underbelly of galar.[break][break]

her attention was divided to the cell next to them, which she was now sure held Naomi Sato and Greyson Connors . she didn't dare to reach out to her and reveal their closeness, for fear of violence ensuing just out of her reach. she only hoped her protege, her sister would ignore her.[break][break]

“you must be cold,” she said to shred.[break][break]

the mochi that was slid into the cell was left alone for the time being. she had no appetite.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Shred Zeppelin

once the floor was cleaned, she looked around desperately for her beaten family through the dark – but she was no Zev Harcourt . even when she’d been one with the shadows, she’d been blind within them.[break][break]

”cillian! te–!” before she could utter the names of Tempest Quinn and Naomi Sato , to be sure they'd lived, the toxic chain tightened around her neck, choking her. in a flash far brighter than the dungeon pit of their present circumstance, she saw Greyson Connors ’s face.[break][break]

and he was there, somewhere in the dark, she knew. like the demons at wedgehurst prison that had tried to kill her before, what felt like a lifetime ago.[break][break]

as the sprinklers turned on and stung her skin, she didn’t shed the thin uniform. it was the only shield she had. she merely stood there in shock, splaying her fingers to let the blood of a warden's victim run off her hands, until the water stopped and they were being herded away again.[break][break]

"i don't know why you did that," she told Shred Zeppelin quietly once she'd located him, offering a hand and support if he needed it. she suspected she knew, though.[break][break]

the hallway was strange and she was not sure how long they continued down it. something was not right. her eyes passed from pulsing tubes to the strange designs, trying her best to decide if she'd ever seen them before.[break][break]

she was quiet, not yet betraying her relationships once immediate danger had passed. for a long time, she had held such secrets close. it was safer that way.[break][break]

when offered fresh clothes, she took them with her back to the cell, hoping the choice might provide the slightest bit more privacy.[break][break]

to be continued in markov chain...

[attr="class","ooc"]

tldr:[break]

∙ starts to call out for family but is choked by toxic chain[break]
∙ offers support for shred if needed[break]
∙ suspicious about the surreal nature of the hallway[break]
∙ not naked, takes clothes back to cell in ugly ward[break]