Oneiromancy Is The Loneliest Number (Thel)

As Thel settles in to rest and drifts off at last, his consciousness remains. He knows his eyes to be closed, his body leaden with sleep, but the room around him is as clear as it was the moment he faded off to sleep. Turning over, he looks down at himself. Morty sits cross-legged nearby, in a resting posture. As with his dreams, Thel can will himself places. Nearing a wall, and the cleanse tags begin to glow. He can no more leave this space then others can enter it.

A crawling opaque purple fog rolls from under the blankets in the nest, thickening as it spreads under the base of each candle. Morty's brow visibly furrows, and there is a deep nasal inhale, and a firm exhale with a gesture from one of his hands. The candles flutter, the oddity staved away.

On closer inspection, it spills from Patience's hair, and smokes free of her breast, where her heart lay.

"Not all doors are meant to be opened. Not all memories revisited.". Morty states without opening his eyes. "If I had known she carried such a burden I would have asked that she leave. Your dreams won't come in the presence of this.". His voice was far away.

"Insecurities, her deepest fears, past traumas. All the stuff of nightmares. Unburied and made fresh... she won't wake from it till the ritual ends. It may come to be the longest night of her life.". He clasped his hands, again setting the stuff billowing away from him as it rose higher, one at a time the candles billowing out. The fog swallowing the gym leader entirely as the last of the lights guttered out. He was gone.

Solid blackness removed all sense of depth, Patience's labored breathing was Thel's only companion, until that too just... stopped.

The world brightens again slowly at first. Ambience giving way to colors and shapes. Piped hallways with grating covered metal floors. The smell of burning metal assaults her nose, and as gravity sets back in, Patience clings to the railing. It all seems so surreal.

She had wanted to help... someone? That was why she was here. Her hands laced together, electric blue nails in view bringing her some measure of peace. She could do this. It was important to her. More important then anything. She had to, to get better. To be safe and happy, just like she had always wanted.

Releasing her Salandit, Wellbeing, she tried to organize her thoughts before pressing on.

Behind, a vault door, just slightly ajar, far too heavy to move. She might escape if only she were strong enough to budge it, or smaller. A few steps forward and this dimly lit underground world of steel lurches downward at odd angles, bending in places with no sense or reason to it.

Wellbeing perches on her shoulder, his body warm. "I promised to take care of you Patience, no matter what.". He encourages softly as she picks her way along. When they reach the bottom of the first descent, the space becomes hazy ahead. The vague outlines of trees and bushes, two figures a sharp contrast.

The Master. No, not anymore! A flicker of indignity burned in her. She didn't belong to anyone like that anymore!

The other was her, as she once was. This was the moment when that woman seized everything she was, and began to mangle it.

The perspective in the dream space shifts, pain driving into Patience's soft underbelly and her back as a pair of mandibles crushes her against a tree. "You'll see. Being trained, being strong, it'll become everything. She'll make you strong enough to be respected. Fix the parts of you that are too weak to serve her purposes and make you into everything she needs." Wellbeing bristles nearby, coming to your aid.

The Trainer is nowhere in sight now... you recall running. Then trying to fight... an undercurrent of helplessness. What was... but the desire to break free of it. To take care of yourself, to pull through. Hope.

(Initiative for Wellbeing)

"You say that like the weak get a choice." The Vikavolt drones. "Look at you. Hardly more than a snack... wasting your days hunting, and hiding from your betters. Not anymore. You've been found. Conscripted. Owned. Her purpose will be your purpose." The pressure the jaws are putting on Patience's tiny body is an incredible strain, her head swims.

(You go first.)

The pressure abates as the insect tumbles end over end from the force of the strike. It snaps its mandibles angrily. "YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK IS WORTH FIGHTING OVER HERE?". Those jaws snap wide, and it charges wellbeing down, aiming for a clean strike at the Salandit's neck. To Patience's surprise the slight body slips through the jaws of death, which cleaves a tree cleanly in two. (Guillotine Misses.)

As nimbly as wellbeing had avoided the crushing jaws of defeat, it dispatched the doubts that Patience was not worth someone else caring for her. That she was property because she lacked the strength to be anything else.

Wellbeing offered a small claw, leaning in and low, watching the Joltik on the tree with a warm smile. "No one stands on their own forever. If you're tired, come with me. We'll get you fed well so you can recover right."

What was a sinister forest, the gnashing jaws of a predator and the threats of submission and torture gave way to munching on roasted berries atop flattened sweet grasses, looking up through a sun-dappled canopy. Wellbeing looking out for her, making sure she eats and rests enough. Plays, takes measures to reduce her own stress. Seeks out others.

The pleasantries die away when the human returns, a Pokeball from seemingly nowhere impacting the little bug, chains binding her little form as she thrashes and struggles. A soft chime signifying the loss of her freedom.

The scene again delves into the stuff of nightmares, the Joltik numb to the world but very much aware of the pressure and movement in her body. The woman leans over her, sharp tools in hand, wires and gears by the wayside, pinned to the table by her legs.

Joy throws the door to the lab wide, Wellbeing perched on her shoulder, face drawn up in worry and uncertainty. "It's going to be alright Patience, we can find someone to fix this... Joy and I, we'll get you help. You're going to be okay, you just have to hold on a little longer."

Patience's tormentor doesn't respond to words, continuing to cut into the little creature's body, inserting wires and parts.

(You go first.)