she could see the awareness begin to return in the girl’s eyes. at her pain, she feigned a look of confusion, but there was genuine pity in her eyes.[break][break]

”you’re on a dock, in dewford. you were sleepwalking.” she thought it was a lie, not having witnessed that it was indeed how it had all started.[break][break]

”you look okay. you must have been dreaming.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Eris Halla [break]
mission: pied pipers (dd)[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-porygon-z"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-hypno"][break]

there was a what? she wondered, but with time, she would know for sure–whether eris shared or not.[break][break]

”must have been some dream.” she gave a small, reassuring smile. ”you’re just tired, still waking up. it'll fade.”[break][break]

a moment of silence passed as she considered her next move. typically, she left her victims at the scene of the crime. unable to bring herself to abandon the girl in the wetlands, however, she asked, ”can i walk you home?”

[attr="class","ooc"] Eris Halla [break]
mission: pied pipers (dd)[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-porygon-z"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-hypno"][break]

the honest concern on her face twisted with perplexity. sleepwalking could be such a strange behavior. still, eris somehow did not seem fully awake. generally, lulu had experienced the opposite problem when stealing dreams. [break][break]

the chill tousled her dark hair and she turned to see the unmistakable silhouette of a deity – oen of sinnoh’s lake guardians. she watched in awe as it got closer, to rest on the girl’s head.[break][break]

”hello, mesprit,” lulu greeted carefully, motionless as she watched the deity’s every move. it seemed protective of eris. had it seen what she’d done? surely not, for it would have attacked by now.[break][break]

”i mean her no harm. i’m an old friend.” all true, more or less. trying her best to exude a sense of ease despite stirred anxiety, her eyes fell back to the tired face of her victim. ”she’s lost, i believe. i’m not sure where to lead her back to–but perhaps you know?”[break][break]

her eyes returned to mesprit’s discerning gold stare.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Eris Halla [break]
mission: pied pipers (dd)[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-porygon-z"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-hypno"][break]

she watched as the lake guardian lowered eris, feeling a strangeness come over her. it was a profound emptiness she had not felt before, that was neither terrible, nor pleasant. she simply felt nothing at all.[break][break]

”you're doing this." her eyes fell back on the mesprit with no fear, and similarly, all guilt and sympathy had run dry.[break][break]

”you seem angry. are you going to attack me, or are you doing that already?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Eris Halla [break]
mission: pied pipers (dd)[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-porygon-z"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-hypno"][break]

the emptiness was an all-consuming sensation, an almost out-of-body experience that left her quiet and disinterested in carrying on with the interaction at all. her gaze slid away, drifting out over the water, attention gone with all her guilt and motivation.[break][break]

i don’t care anymore. nothing matters. she felt it ring like a sacred truth in the hollowness of her being.[break][break]

and then, that nothingness cracked, to reveal everything all at once, still there and rushing out like freezing water to shock and drown.[break][break]

the weight in her chest physically pulled her downward. she was light-headed, her breath hitched, and she couldn’t catch it, and she was left in a panic until she managed to teleport away via alakazam.[break][break]

it was nothing short of torture – but eris’s dream was hers now. it was mission accomplished, and with a very interesting new development.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Eris Halla [break]
mission: pied pipers (dd)[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-porygon-z"]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-hypno"][break]