imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

[Trainer NEMESIS is fast asleep!]

[Munna is like 50 pounds, it starts thrashing that weight around a lot more when flown up a tree as its trainer(?) is manhandled by some other kid. In fact, if it can’t slip free it will wriggle until it can get off a good psybeam shot at the braviary, leggo]

[Well. The Braviary does sure squawk and drop this thing.]

[But from tree height that may not be. Great. It also spreads its wings and opens its mouth, like it's feeling threatened. So also there is that.]

Please, Nem?

[His hands hover, a little helpless - reach out to feel for a pulse.]

[Good, it should feel threatened!!! Munna is strong and fearsome and falls a good way down before remembering that it can float. Which it does, while Hurricane confirms that Nem does have a pulse, slow and steady as her breathing. She stirs at the touch, but not enough to wake because sleeping in Pokemon is OP

Flipping off the braviary Munna goes rushing back towards the humans, not so quickly that Hurricane couldn't move out of the way or otherwise react, but quickly enough that he'll probably want to, honestly why is this thing so big. It kind of sounds angry and worried, as if questioning his motives]

[Nope, nope, nope.]

[This thing was laying on her face and now she won't wake up. He's scrambling to his feet, spreading his arms and planting himself in its path, trying to block it from doing - whatever it was doing to her.]

Stay away from her!

[It--pauses, floating at eye level, considering him for a few beats. Then, slowly, it emits a cloud of pink mist from the darker spot in the middle of its forehead]

[He jerks back a little, instinctively - waves at the air in front of him to try and dispel the... gas?? What is this??]

[But he doesn't move from blocking Nemesis.]

[The cloud wavers but doesn't quite disperse. Instead a vision comes up within it: looks like the sky, with cement stretching in front--the side of a building, perhaps looking up from below while rising. Or perhaps not, as eventually it does straighten out to where up is up and down is down, and Hurricane is sat beside the viewer, laughing.

The mist goes darker and the scenes change--Hurricane's face staring up bloody and glassy-eyed, body limp and broken. A million shards of broken sea glass, slowly fading into darkness. A friendly comment and when the viewer turns to look there's no one, as if nothing was ever there.]

[Muun, the pokemon says, as if asking a question--as if seeking confirmation]

I - what?

But how... how did you...?

[The pokemon floats closer, glances towards where Nemesis is still sleeping, and kinda hopes he has a pokedex or something, its vocab is kinda limited]

[Please hold while he fumbles out his phone and checks - reads, understanding clicking into place.]

...were those her dreams?

[The Braviary has finally gotten it together to flap its way back down - sets itself on the ground beside him, protectively close.]

Muuna, muun.

[It ignores the bird in the sort of way that calls attention to how much attention it is not giving it! Wow! Look how little of a threat you are! And then it Yawns, wide, beady eyes focused straight at Hurricane. Him, it knows. Surely he should be just as delicious as the one whose nightmares he shows up in so much]

[Behind them both, Nemesis finally begins to stir, making noises much closer to intelligible]

[Annnd he's out.]

[Ker-thunk, straight to the ground, despite the Brvaiary attempting to catch him before he hits.]

[This is what happens when you don't sleep, you end up knocked out under a bush in the tall grass]

...What's goin' on?

[Nemesis pushes herself to sitting, wiping at her eyes. Something seems off but she's not quite sure what it is just yet. At some point she'll notice the bird and pink horrorterror hovering around Hurricane but not quite yet]

[The Braviary nudges at the boy who's out cold on the ground - nudges again, more insistent, when he doesn't stir.]

[Muuna makes a helpful little bleat, and hovers closer to Hurricane's head, bobbing with anticipation.

Nemesis follows them, slowly scooting over to where Hurricane is and reaching for his wrist before correcting, reaching for his nose instead]

[The good news is, he's breathing.]

[The bad news is, with magic involved, it probably doesn't take him long to fall straight into a nightmare. Oops.]

[Not really bad news for Munna, which hovers close to get a good whiff of the dream--closer, to suck it straight from his nose.

At least, until Nemesis bats it away so that she can hover close. She shakes his shoulders, firm]

Hurricane. Hurricane...

[Probably not yet? How many rounds does sleep last in Pokemon again??]

[The Braviary is edging in closer to get in on that hovering action, though.]

[Up to seven. Sadly, Nem is not trained in Wake-Up Slap, so her attempts mostly just bring some color to his cheeks.]

D-do something!

[Maybe the braviary knows some useful moves? Who knows. For its part, the munna is nomming up that good good nightmare, and--well, if she wants something done, why not? It lets out some ominously dark dream mist around them]

[An image swims up out of the dark cloud. She might recognize the place; she's seen it before, in a dream.]

[There's a small window, and the gleaming surfaces of a kitchen, beyond it. On the other side, where the viewer is, there's nothing. Nothing that goes on and on and on, forever. Nothing that can't be escaped.]

[Nemesis is standing in the kitchen. There's cake in the fridge, and she's in the process of leaning down to pull the plate out. She doesn't look toward the opening into the nothing-place, even though the viewer is screaming.]

[The cries are not quite comprehensible. Maybe that's because they're broken up by sobs - or maybe it's because they're a feeling of intent than words themselves, as is so often the case with dream dialogue. But the intent is crushingly, painfully clear: please, please, please, just look. Please just hear me.]

[...the Braviary makes a distressed sound, somewhere in its throat. It has no moves that will help with this.]

[Oh.

Nemesis has no idea what to do either. She does remember this dream--and it must be a dream, cake is not what happened when she was in the kitchen of the house.

She doesn't know why the vision is appearing over their heads. She doesn't know what to do to knock him out of it, or wake him up. She doesn't know how she can make her dream self just look.

Munna gobbles the nightmare up almost as quickly as he can dream it, its little limbs twitching. Unlike the others, it at least appreciates Hurricane's imagination]

[The Nemesis that's in the dark cloud doesn't look.]

[She leans against the counter and eats her cake.]

[It's such a casual pose, so completely at odds with the desperation of the pleas, that the discrepancy is jarring. The viewer is slamming his hands against the invisible barrier that separates them, now. The knuckles are bruised, and then split, and then bleeding - but if he pounds hard enough, maybe she'll hear. Please please please, why can't she hear?]

Stop it—that’s enough.

[She waves at the smoke to dispel it, chopping through the vision of herself as if that would change anything about it; shakes him harder as if this time it’ll finally wake him up, or at least shake him out of the dream.]

[In the smoke, disturbed by the passing of her hand, dream Nemesis has finished her cake. She sets the plate on the counter and brushes crumbs from her hands. Then she pauses. She looks around, brow furrowed like she's misplaced something, or like there's something she's forgotten.]

[The viewer's focus is trained on her as though she's the only thing in the world. His hands are pressed against that invisible barrier, bloodied and shaking. "Nem," he says, barely a whisper. That word, at least, is clear.]

[Nemesis turns to leave.]

[It's like the action cuts the strings holding the viewer up. He collapses to his knees, just watching now - watching as her steps carry her toward the door. The only sound is the soft hitching of the viewer's breath.]

[She doesn't look back, not even once.]

[...at real Nemesis' feet, Hurricane has started to stir.]

[Munna doesn't have any lips to lick, but from the gleam of its eyes it's appreciated this absolute delicacy of a nightmare, gobbling up every last memory of it from Hurricane's mind.

Nemesis is not so lucky, still staring at where her dream version disappeared even as the dream mist begins to dissipate.

Eventually Hurricane has moved enough to break through her spell and she goes to her knees to check on him]

H-hey, you back with us?