she’d barely glanced at novina’s bracelet since arriving. instead, she observed the frustrated woman who’d invited her there more closely. though her face was vague, there was a pleased look in her eye despite the lack of findings.[break][break]

it was in her surprising action that ameena had proven far more valuable traits about herself.[break][break]

when prompted, lulu’s gaze fell to the piece of jewelry, and she approached for a closer look. ”not to us, maybe.” though she wondered, briefly, about its monetary value, and trade in the megalopolan city.[break][break]

”we’ve witnessed more, to ask great new questions. that in itself is valuable, no?” she took a step back from the energy reader.[break][break]

”but you said you learned almost nothing. that can’t be true.”[break][break]

her gaze was on ameena again, expecting her colleague to keep talking; to recount and report anything gleaned from her terrible experience; to share her perspective and confusion, if nothing else.[break][break]

a black case sat off to the side which she’d brought along, its content yet to be revealed.[break][break]

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

regidrago’s summoning was only further evidence of the tera crystal’s power and value, worth exploring deeper still.[break][break]

lulu nodded at ameena’s observation, and turned towards the case she’d brought, speaking as she raised it onto a table, ”megalopolan notes found under route 119 suggest the crystal is new to at least some them – but it may have previously been in their world at some point. one in particular read that the crystal reminded them of ‘stories of the blinding one’.”[break][break]

who or what ‘the blinding one’ was, however, she was unsure.[break][break]

she continued, “they created a spaceship in that cave, presumably in the same way as the one we were kept on recently. cylora had discovered it could be powered by space-time distortions. however, when one occurred, the ship powered up and disappeared shortly after.” as had been mentioned in the november HNN article.[break][break]

”it’s worth further investigating what the megalopolans know about the relationship between the two phenomena. learning more about the tera crystal will almost certainly lead to breakthroughs in our dream research, among other things.”[break][break]

on the table, the case popped open, and from it lulu removed a jagged piece of megalopolan metal. it was entirely unremarkable at a glance, and when inspected, it would reveal nothing special.[break][break]

nonetheless, she slid it over towards her colleague.[break][break]

“this is a piece of spaceship we were on. i’ve yet to look very closely at it – you’re welcome to do so – but what’s most noteworthy, i think, is that unlike the one under route 119, it still exists. it traveled across dimensions.” she looked at ameena, excitement brewing in her eyes. ”it’s stable.”[break][break]

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

”we may be able to,” lulu nodded. ”i’d say with the tera crystals, the sky’s the limit. or, hell, maybe there are no limits.”[break][break]

it was dangerous in the hands of any one person who did not know its power, and perhaps even more so in the hands of someone who did. but the world was learning, the crystal was abundant, eating away at the earth beneath them, and they would not be alone in such a discovery.[break][break]

”about this particular piece of scrap metal? only you and i. but it makes me wonder, what else may have fully materialized into our world already, beyond just the paradox pokemon?”[break][break]

she pondered ameena’s question a moment, staring at the crumb of spaceship on the table, before deciding, ”we should go deep into the interdream zone, and see what we can create.”[break][break]

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

she nodded. the clock was ticking, and there was no telling what discoveries had already been made on the other side.[break][break]

”then we’ll leave tomorrow. we should investigate this aggressively.”[break][break]

as exciting as the possibility of real creation within the interdream zone was, the implications were dangerous. amidst the excitement, there was a look of concern in her gaze too.[break][break]

”it’s imperative that we develop a method of differentiating between beings from our world and those that come from the interdream zone. who’s to say there aren’t paradox people among us?”[break][break]

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