lulu grinned. rigged. “hm.”

in the bathroom, she glanced at herself briefly in the mirror. the happiness on her face was almost startling to see for herself. theo offered moments of such pleasant moments of respite when they were so scarce otherwise. 

he hadn’t been drunk? she looked back towards him and laughed.

”almost? really? that sounds like a challenge for next time, then.”

she stood there and crossed her arms to keep warm, not needing to shed any clothes. she'd left what little had made it to the beach in the sand, perhaps by accident, or maybe this was a developing habit.

THEO BECKETT

☉

what's left of his clothes is quickly discarded into the laundry basket under the sink.

"i would've been drunk."

his hand passes through the falling water, confirming that it is indeed ready.

"but i got distracted."

his lips pull into a grin as he looks back at her before offering her his hand.

Lulu Flint
mission!

☉

she admired him unabashedly. the muscle. the scars. her attraction to theo had been complex, but since that first night, she had learned that she gravitated to him in a very primal, physical sense. that craving had only grown, especially when work forced them apart for periods of time longer than she'd liked.

when he reached out, she smiled again at his grin and took his hand, following him into the water.

”distracted, eh?” the look on her face turned a touch more sultry as she leaned into him. ”i’m sorry. i couldn’t help myself.”

THEO BECKETT

☉

warm water falls over them, flowing across scars and sand before dragging the latter down towards the drain.

he relishes the warmth of her touch, her presence, and finds himself leaning into her as well.

"i couldn't either."

the same way she admires him, he admires her, unabashed in the way he runs his hands along her shoulders and down her chest.

a thought surfaces and it's one that makes him chuckle.

"i'm still not sure how we survived the swim."

Lulu Flint
mission!

☉

she sighed under his caress and the warmth of the water, and gave a soft hum of pleasure. her own hands wandered down the sides of his hips.

”i was a sharpedo in my past life,” she explained. ”i’ve dreamt about it.” back when she’d had dreams.

”but you...” her eyes lowered to his chest, and she reached for soap to wash him. ”of course you survived, with this... capable physique...”

the soap smoothed over his skin, and she rubbed it into suds, grinning.

THEO BECKETT

☉

hungry and powerful like a sharpedo.

"i can see it."

but he'd much rather believe it's from his training. cardio and fishie wrestling must attribute to something.

he hums as well, leaning into her touch as soap lathers across his chest. he reaches for soap as well, lathering it between his hands before reaching for her shoulders once again.

"capable," he chuckles. that's one way to describe it.

soap-covered hands smooth down her body.

"you think i could've been a sharpedo, too?"

Lulu Flint
mission!

☉

she smiled more, recalling the memory of sabine prying her mouth open with gentle fingers to prove her teeth were still normal. that had been cute, although everything that had followed had been awful. she’d gone to the kitchen to find darkrai hovering over a comatose djall.

the reason for one of theo’s scars.

capable. ”mhm.” her grin briefly pinched higher, before fading to something more blissful and at ease under his touch.

”hmm...” she looked back up at him as she considered. ”maybe.” but maybe not. theo had too much of that inexplicable peacefulness about him to have come from something with such sharp teeth.

”maybe we're both sharpedos in another world somewhere. that’s what dreams are, i think, anyways. just visions into other places, and different times...” 

THEO BECKETT

☉

maybe not so much sharpedo but more hippowdon: strong, powerful, but otherwise calm and indifferent unless provoked.

now at her waist, he lowers to the floor, kneeling while his hands glide along familiar curves.

"what did you use to dream of?"

before darkrai. before the never-ending nights.

Lulu Flint
mission!

☉

what had she dreamt about? no one had ever asked. much of it was still shockingly vivid in her sleepless mind.

“i used to dream all the time,” she recalled.

theo's familiar hands over muscle were soothing, appreciated, but her eyes were soon far-off as she began to share with him things she’d never shared with anyone before.

”it was always lonely. usually it felt like i was the only person in the world, and it was so dark that i couldn’t see.” briefly, she wondered if perhaps darkrai had played a part in her dreams long before she’d met it in the ‘real world’. ”sometimes, though, i would see other people—but they wouldn’t have faces. they were usually just... blank.” the few exceptions had been those whom she hated the very most. ”it was strange.”

her hand ran idly through his hair, and she was quiet for a beat before she continued.

”there was this nightmare that i had over and over for a while, right before darkrai. instead of dark, everything was bright white. i would be walking in the snow for a long time, and eventually, i’d get to a cliff. there would be this giant red eye, waiting for me at the edge, glaring... and i would just… combust. burn up, in flames, into nothing.” the way in which she'd wake from those dreams had been horrific. feeling the skin frying off of her bones, and gasping for air as her lungs singed...

she returned, blinking, and finding herself oddly disturbed at the memories of such forgotten darkness she’d left behind. or had she?

after having witnessed the dreams of others, her own had seemed bizarrely abstract; however, she now maintained that the possibilities of worlds were truly endless. perhaps she had merely gravitated to those in which she’d survived far longer than she should have, only to live in the lonesome agony her heart here felt she truly deserved.

”maybe it's better that i don't sleep anymore.”

but if she could control the dreams, or at least the places she could go? that would be a different story.

THEO BECKETT

☉

soap falls and spreads according to the will of his hands. he appreciates the way she plays with his hair; it's what keeps him there even after he's done lathering.

he listens intently, nodding at every interval, and eventually rises back up to meet her gaze.

"i told you once that i didn't dream. or that my dreams were sparse," he takes a step, allowing her into the water. "that had been a lie. i do dream, and often it's the same one where i'd be standing in the middle of the ocean. the tides would push and pull but they'd never once threaten. it's like i'm an observer rather than physically there, if that makes sense."

it's a dream void of anything. no feelings, no worries, nothing. something akin to peace, perhaps.

"if you could sleep, i'd like to share that dream with you."

that and many others.

Lulu Flint
mission!

☉

everyone dreamed. lulu could sense it, like a hunger. rather than take offense, she only wondered why he’d lied. her eyes searched his briefly with the smallest, knowing smile.

”hm... like some sort of astral projection? i kind of feel like that in other people’s nightmares, i think.” all except for Chu-e Choi ’s, which had felt utterly real despite all of its horrific bizarreness. 

she squatted down to finish the lower half of him, letting the water roll down and warm the back of her shoulders. she was quiet for a moment as she worked.

”maybe you can share it with me. maybe i don’t have to be asleep.”

as she ran soapy hands down his calves, her gaze lingered on the scar djall had left on him. 

”are you familiar with musharna?”

THEO BECKETT

☉

"a little. i believe it's known as the drowsing pokemon."

her soapy hands run over the disturbed flesh of his calf. every now and then he feels it sting, feels the heat of the FIRE FANG from houndoom's ever-burning powers.

it's only then that a thought occurs to him. he reflects, quick to come to an observation.

"its mist reminds me of the one at the soiree."

Lulu Flint
mission!

☉

”that’s right,” she nodded, hands soon gliding back up his skin as she rose again, rinsing the last of the soap from herself before stepping out of the water for him.

the soiree. ”exactly. musharna’s line is able to produce the dream mist—but it exists elsewhere. i don’t think what it reveals to us are only the workings of our minds. they might really be happening somewhere, at some point in time. the interdream zone that dr. holo was referring, i believe, might be a place where pieces of the multiverse collide, somehow.”

different places, different times. perhaps there was no permanent result of their interactions, or, maybe dreams affected them in ways they couldn’t yet perceive.

THEO BECKETT

☉