lulu hadn’t experienced the many years during her absence that cillian had. still, it felt like it had been much longer than a few months away, both for the change she saw in hoenn and its people, including her brother, and the change she saw in herself.[break][break]

she had not felt so distant from cillian in a long time. however, memories that appeared from the interdream zone had kept her in reawakened mourning. she did her best to ignore it. she was so busy that it was becoming easier.[break][break]

a few strokes on a keyboard and a program was up, detecting busy frequencies in the area. she went to work attacking the league’s airspace.[break][break]

”it always feels strange here.” in hoenn.[break][break]

it wasn’t much of an answer. however, before she could draw out of her work to answer him properly, another voice piped up. it was small and young and bright, and excited about something.[break][break]

”cil!”[break][break]

their surroundings began to change off to the left. terribly familiar walls stood in mist where the rails of the ship should have been.[break][break]

lulu’s fingers froze. no. not here. not now.[break][break]

”cil?”[break][break]

wandering around the deck that now bore a bizarre resemblance to their lavish childhood home was a tiny saoirse quinn, with some metallic contraption in her hands. she did not seem to notice them.

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn [break][break]
- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
- 50 MP for participation in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
total: 60 MP[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"][break]

her brother’s sentiment was echoed in her head, but she couldn’t speak, still frozen at the keyboard. how she wished she could have simply disappeared into the shadows at that moment.[break][break]

”cillian?” saoirse’s little voice continued. the excitement in her tone was fading as she realized her brother had not come home yet. deflated, her young memory left down an invisible hall, across the ocean and into the dark horizon.[break][break]

however, it was not over. a strange wind blew past them like time. a few days, maybe a week.[break][break]

”i had something to show you.”[break][break]

pink mist swirled in front of cillian, forming into a window he would find familiar, for it had been in his bedroom. on the other side was saoirse, staring right through the glass, and through him as though he wasn’t there. she was talking to herself.[break][break]

”why’d you leave?” tears fell down her face. ”where’d you go?”[break][break]

saoirse had rarely ever cried or been loud as a child, but her small voice cracked, and then shouted, ”i’ll find you! then you’ll see! i’m just like you!” a scientist.[break][break]

”gods, fuck!”[break][break]

lulu stood, eyes wild with rage reawakened that she did not know what to do with. she merely stared at cillian, shaking while she attempted to piece together words that failed her for the moment.[break][break]

meanwhile, the window fell away, and so did the young saoirse.

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn [break][break]
- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
total: 70 MP[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"][break]

the radio buzzed over splashing waves, but the job at hand was forgotten. all sounds of war faded, as did everyone else on the ship, until it was just the two of them.[break][break]

”why are you laughing?” she glared. how dare he?[break][break]

her face was beet red, ears hot despite the cold ocean wind. she was grateful at least for the dark cover of night.[break][break]

”never told me what?” 

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn [break][break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
total: 80 MP[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"][break]

”what?”[break][break]

the realization took a moment. their parents had lied to her. they had let her believe he could be dead. it was the first real pain she could recall feeling.[break][break]

”what scandal?”[break][break]

before he could answer, a lifelike gun dropped at cillian’s feet onto the deck. other thumps could be heard by the bodies of lulu and Rowan Wrynn –or visions of them–slumping into pools of blood nearby. nested within his sister’s memory, cillian’s nightmare had found its way into the interdream zone.[break][break]

young saoirse reappeared to witness the carnage. rather than look through cillian, this time she appeared to stare into the deepest, darkest shadow of his soul.[break][break]

”cillian?” fear and confusion tinged her twelve year old voice.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn [break][break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
total: 90 MP[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"][break]

young saoirse’s gaze trailed down to the bodies and she let out a terrible scream. it was loud like thunder, shaking the ship in waves of a sudden storm brought on by her terror alone.[break][break]

lulu jumped to action, releasing her porygon-z from its pokeball.[break][break]

”dreamweaver!”[break][break]

the deck glowed pink, lighting up the mist. it distorted as the z-move pulled on young saoirse like gravity, stretching until she spaghettified into its vortex. her scream and all its stormy effects faded with her.[break][break]

the bodies of cillian’s remained on the deck, however.[break][break]

”it is as real as you make it.”[break][break]

lulu turned to face her brother, hurt and anger burning in her eyes.[break][break]

”we are not the same. i see that now.”

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn [break][break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
+ 10 MP for incorporating INTERDREAM MIST (forgot earlier)[break]
+ 10 MP use a z-move in your thread.[break]
total: 120 MP[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-porygon-z"][break]

”wouldn’t you? otherwise you wouldn’t be so scared of yourself! where did this come from then?” she gestured to the bodies and the blood. her own corpse looked no older than she did at that moment.[break][break]

”you would do anything he told you to.”[break][break]

it was easy enough to guess who she meant. she stared defiantly back at him, daring to raise her chin the way he did sometimes.[break][break]

”that is how we are different.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn [break][break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
total: 130 MP[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-porygon-z"][break]

the anger in his tone caused her confidence to waver. she had never felt threatened by the shadow miasma until now.[break][break]

”i didn’t run—“ she insisted, the lie tasting old and sour.[break][break]

the longer he spoke, the deeper her heart sank, until they arrived at a truth she had suspected all along, but it still cut deep. if she did run, he would kill her—or at least try to. blood did not mean she was exempt.[break][break]

she was quiet for a long moment, taking it in.[break][break]

”nothing?” she finally asked. ”you had so much going for you, cillian. that’s such bullshit. you had so many options.” she knew because she had admired from the shadow of his accomplishments. still, the scandal remained a mystery to her.[break][break]

as emotions swelled, she began preparing for an emergency exit. the heavy-duty laptop she’d been working on was set on a ledge closer to him. ”i taught you how to do this a long time ago. i’m sure you can figure it out.”[break][break]

she stepped back then and reached for pokeballs, swapping a hiding marshadow and her porygon-z for an alakazam. as she placed a hand onto its shoulder, she gave her brother a few parting words.[break][break]

”if you kill him, you’ll have to kill me too.” the defiance still flickered in her eyes, not fully extinguished. ”good luck at war.”[break][break]

with that, the two teleported away.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Cillian Quinn [break][break]
+ 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
+ 300 MP for losing mission (since they did not complete tasks).[break]
+ 100 MP for completing a RT Mission.[break]
total: 550 MP[break][break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-alakazam"][break]