I followed Traum downstairs, to a small room in the furthest corner of the house. "Welcome to the conspiracy, friend!" he said sarcastically.
The room was bare except for some filing cabinets and a table that took up most of the floor space. Traum affected a jovial voice "Here's Mimpi, Dormi, Alvas and Sono."
"You're the injured one?" The tallest of the Hypno, Sono, asked. His voice was guttural.
"He sure is!" Traum said, still faux enthused. "Wanna see? It's gross."
"Leave him alone Traum." Sono said with weary irritation, "Don't you have someone else to bother?"
"Nah, I thought I'd give them a night off. Let them get some work done. You, know, be a happy little helper."
"I apologize for Traum, he's a bit uncouth sometimes."
"Oh, so not being happy in my servitude makes me the crazy one, does it?"
"We just get a bit bored by the same complaints night after night, is all. It gets, you know, tiring." This time Alvas spoke. He was sitting with his back to the door, and only now bothered to look up at us. He had a particularly skinny face and his mane looked unkempt.
"We hear you're the real deal, from a tribe and everything." This was Dormi. She sounded like she was trying to avert an argument. "Oh, I'm so sorry. He'll come round."
It took me a second to realize she'd read my mind. I had been thinking about Lazlo.
"Hey, hey, he's a tribal, remember, they don't just do mind reading. Don't give him the wrong idea." Traum laughed meanly.
Dormi looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry. We've given up with all those traditions."
"She means she had no idea. " Traum spat. "Poor Dormi, with the humans all her life."
I wasn't sure what to say. There was a noise from under the table. A short, skinny Hypno crawled out. She had hunched shoulders and was holding a handful of marker pens. Her skin was covered with crudely drawn flowers, stars and hearts.
"And here's Mimpi, to make everything sunshine and sugar." Traum had shifted from mild aggression back to mocking.
Mimpi was smiling broadly. She ceremoniously handed me a marker pen and then walked around to inspect my back. "They're not as noticeable as you think." She said seriously, "I would never have noticed them if I'd only seen you from the front."
"Well that's great news for him, isn't it?" Traum replied. "All he has to do is stand next to a wall for the rest of his life."
"That would give him something to lean on." I couldn't tell if she was making fun or not. "They're not as bad as my scars were, before they got better."
"You didn't have any scars." Sono said, tiredly.
"I did! They got better. They were shaped like hands, but mine went right through to my bones."
Traum laughed, "Sure, and they cut off your head, but luckily it re-grew. Not your brain, but hey, glass half full, right?"
"You never believe me!" Her voice wobbled.
"I have more sense."
She started crying, and flung the markers on the floor.
"Shut up Traum! It's the same thing every fucking night." Alvas snarled. "You always set her off."
"What, you believe her garbage? You let her keep all those markers. They've probably made holes in her brain!"
Alvas sneered "Since when did you care? It's all an act from you. You've got an audience so suddenly you give a shit! Hey Marsh Boy, this is Traum in savior mode! Better get used to it, it's one of his favorite characters. A nice change from his celebrated asshole persona. "
I wasn't sure what to say. Dormi seemed to notice my discomfort. She laughed nervously "Alvas, come on. There's no point."
Alvas sighed in exasperation. Traum rolled his eyes extravagantly then wandered out. "You may as well sit down." Alvas said. "Ignore Traum. We can always hope he gets traded away someday."
I sat down, trying to look more at ease than I was.
"Where are you from, then?" Asked Sono, obviously hesitant, but trying to seem welcoming.
"A marsh. We're the largest tribe in the area." I was trying to sound very neutral, and keep all thoughts of Kaoru out of my head, lest they read my mind. Of course, not thinking about her made me think about her.
"But where?" Dormi said awkwardly. "Could you find it on a map?" She seemed worried she'd offended me almost before she'd finished speaking.
"I've never seen a map." I wasn't sure what to say next, so I tepidly apologized and then wondered why I had.
"You're really from a tribe." Alvas said, the non-question hovering there uncomfortably. "You probably think we're real…" He trailed off.
Mimpi was hiding under the table again, humming something.
"Where are all of you from?" I asked, wondering if I was breaking some taboo by doing so.
"We're all human raised, if that's what you mean." Alvas said slowly. "I'm from Rustboro City, Hoenn. So's Dormi."
I must have looked mystified.
"What's it like in a tribe?" Dormi asked.
"Good. It's good…" I wasn't sure how to describe it. "Our tribe has the most territory- the whole marsh."
"Territory?" The gulf between us was becoming ever larger.
"We're a bit removed from all of that." Sono said. "Even my grandparents were human raised."
Everyone was silent for a while.
"It's not so bad, being with humans." Dormi said. "Not these ones so much. But where I was born was good. Don't listen to Traum. Humans don't mean you any harm."
"Except the one who caught me." I said flatly.
"Well, look, some of them are harsh, but they're not… They mostly mean well."
"You're safe here." Sono said. "These people have been around our kind too long, I'll agree, but they're not cruel. You could be a lot worse off. You'll never be hurt here, anyway."
"Too long?"
"You may have noticed their dreams are a bit… full on." He sounded very awkward now. I had no idea if Traum had told them about Kaoru and me.
"Their minds aren't well anymore. It's unfortunate." Alvas said softly.
"You've probably never seen this before, I'm assuming. Your tribe doesn't catch humans or something?" Sono sounded concerned.
"No. Why would we? We just eat their dreams, they don't even know."
"Sorry, a bit of an urban myth the humans have."
"We try to let them dream sometimes. Go hungry for the greater good, you know. Or, you know… cannibalize." Dormi laughed nervously.
"You eat each other's dreams?" I felt nauseated.
"The lady's dream's are scary." Mimpi said innocently. "She's always trying to get me."
"Her dreams aren't always violent." Dormi said.
"I avoid hers. The husband's are jumpy but they're safer." Alvas looked weary. "A scientist should know better. We all need food, he doesn't seem to understand the implications of that."
"We avoid the children's dreams as much as possible. Their minds are fresh, but will decay quicker than an adult's. I suggest you do the same." Sono smiled wanly. "Sorry to throw all this at you as soon as we meet."
"Why are we here?" I asked.
"The scientists, to the best of my knowledge, are working on a weapon. Trying to use our hypnotism powers for something. Hence the brain scans. I'm not quite sure what form it's meant to take, like, defensive or offensive, or who it's aimed at." Sono said in a measured voice.
"It's the husband's innovation. He's a bit, fuck it, a lot obsessed. With what we do." Alvas added. "The two of them, the husband and the wife, they're both a bit weird about us. Not us, us- but our kind. His dreams, the real ones, are often about us. They don't make for pleasant viewing. Anyway, look, this is all.., It's a bit hard to be clear about. And it's late, I suggest we sleep." He sighed, something between tiredness and exasperation.
I curled up under the table. Mimpi had crawled as far under as she could, and was drawing on the wall and humming something. Everyone seemed to drift off. I thought about Oneira, partially to help me calm down. I can't remember falling asleep.