”it’s alright.” a slightly younger lulu might have been much more critical in the way she looked at him. ”it just means one day, i may get an opportunity to do it myself.”[break][break]
glass not having emptied much yet, she still didn’t protest when he poured her more. why not.[break][break]
while he did so, a houndoom’s nails clicked across the hall, restless red eyes staring down it through the dark and then disappearing into another room.[break][break]
lulu watched, abandoning the topic to reveal an interesting new development.[break][break]
”my dogs aren’t sleeping anymore.”[break][break]
she’d been having dream snacks at work. test subjects. she’d yet to notice that, in fact, none of her own pokémon were sleeping—not a single one.

[attr="class","ooc"]THEO BECKETT [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"i hope you do."[break][break]

and he hopes she does what she did not the last time.[break][break]

taking a sip of his tequila, he watches the houndoom approach. the phantom pain in his leg burns slightly, serving as a reminder of the bite.[break][break]

"oh."[break][break]

he dismisses the pain as quickly.[break][break]

"because of darkrai?"

[attr="class","ooc"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-naganadel"]

it was a mutually held sentiment, evident by the mild curl of a soft smile.[break][break]
"i’d assume so, yes,” she then answered.[break][break]
she took a heavier sip, wondering if anything else might change over time. she would be surprised to find out that she was now in possession of not three, but roughly two hundred pokémon suffering from incurable insomnia.[break][break]
she wondered if maybe theo would eventually stop sleeping at some point.[break][break]
”you know, i had been trying harder recently to convince it to take us to the dream world.” darkrai. ”but lately i’ve considered, maybe that’s not actually where it's from.” maybe its dimension was much more sinister. maybe it was like the parallel universe to the dream world, like sea!hoenn was to theirs. nature loved dichotomy.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]THEO BECKETT [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

if he eventually stops sleeping, he would not complain.[break][break]

he considers her words for a moment before adding his own thoughts.[break][break]

"it would have to coexist with cresselia in the dream world which seems like a difficult thing to do."[break][break]

a pause.[break][break]

"perhaps it has its own world, one that mirrors ours or the dream world. perhaps both the dream and nightmare worlds mirror ours."

[attr="class","ooc"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-naganadel"]

"right."[break][break]

while one person's nightmare could be another person's dream, it presumably didn't always work out that way. dreams of all kinds could be so abstract, and seem so personalized. she couldn't fathom how the two worlds could possibly mesh.[break][break]

"i do think it has its own world, though darkrai seems set on keeping it a secret." perhaps that was for the best.[break][break]

"i also believe dreams, at least some of them, may be real. glimpses into other worlds, and other possibilities." which meant that through them, perhaps, other places could be reached. new communications could be made.[break][break]

"exploring the interdream zone could be worthwhile; but we don't have cresselia, of course."[break][break]

her glass swirled one more time, as she arrived at the point, "i'm building a machine, meant to function as an artificial version of its world." it would be her greatest hack yet. "with luck, perhaps it will even attract cresselia itself."

[attr="class","ooc"]THEO BECKETT [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"it would not surprise me."[break][break]

it makes sense, actually, for a mythical being like darkrai to have a world of its own, one that mirrors cresselia's. it ties into her next theory of some dreams being real.[break][break]

"or, dreams could be glimpses into cresselia's world, nightmares into darkrai's."[break][break]

he offers his own thoughts.[break][break]

"do you know when your machine will be completed?"

[attr="class","ooc"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-naganadel"]

she figured at the very least it was that. still, more worlds than they’d had access to before. she hardly expected others to buy into her wilder theories.[break][break]

”could be.”[break][break]

if she could replicate the dream world, perhaps it would even lend them a better understanding of the workings of the cloud.[break][break]

”soon i hope. once it’s built, i’ll need to collect dreams for it to run on.”

[attr="class","ooc"]THEO BECKETT [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"i'm sure some of our personnel would be willing to contribute."[break][break]

collecting dreams would not be a problem. if not from their own personnel, then they could always go out and steal dreams. that sounds like something darkrai would enjoy doing.[break][break]

speaking of...[break][break]

"how does darkrai feel about your machine?"

[attr="class","ooc"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-naganadel"]

"they already have." at least to her dream studies. perhaps not the machine or the database itself, but each person who had laid themselves across that table had contributed to this project in some way.[break][break]

how did darkrai feel?[break][break]

"darkrai hasn't said anything." a moment, and she shrugged. "though i imagine that may change should it have any objections." perhaps it would act as motivation to use the words she knew it was capable of using.

[attr="class","ooc"]THEO BECKETT [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"well, i hope it doesn't."[break][break]

because he's grown used to having darkrai around even if he isn't actively interacting with it most of the time. actually, he pretty much doesn't, so maybe it's darkrai's practicality that he appreciates.[break][break]

the thought is pushed aside as he sips at his tequila.[break][break]

"is there anything else on your mind tonight?"

[attr="class","ooc"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-naganadel"]

or perhaps it would, and they would finally have some sort of breakthrough. a small part of her hoped it might be the catalyst for such a thing, finally.[break][break]

his next question was less easy, even though she'd been waiting on him, sitting there pondering for some time. she gazed at him, and then, something shifted. her air of confidence faded, evident by the sudden picking at a cuticle. fidgeting was something she'd long left behind, only recently resurfacing.[break][break]

before giving an answer, she took a bigger gulp of tequila.[break][break]

"i don't know. i guess i just wanted to take some time off to spend with you." because it was the holidays, and somewhere deep down, remnants of a person still held onto sentimentality, even if she wouldn't admit it outright.[break][break]

such vulnerability was terrifying.

[attr="class","ooc"]THEO BECKETT [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"oh."[break][break]

add it the list of things that have surprised him tonight. his pause is only momentary before he nods.[break][break]

"we can do that. yes, let's. is there something you want to do in particular?"[break][break]

the thought of celebrating the holidays never occurred to him because he had never done it before. it has always been work, work, and more work.[break][break]

"we could travel."

[attr="class","ooc"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-naganadel"]

what she’d meant was the night. take a few hours off, when she’d normally be so immersed in her work. the idea of a vacation had not occurred to her.[break][break]

her eyes lit up a little, though. now that the world wasn’t under thread of meteno, taking some actual time off felt doable in a way that it had not previously.[break][break]

”we could. no barrier.” to think, there’d been a time that hoenn had been questioning if they might ever see the rest of the world again. ”where would we go?”

[attr="class","ooc"]THEO BECKETT [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]