Close your eyes and drift to dream Who: Lumi and Ulysses Where: Lumi's place When: Way too late at night/early in the morning
This thing with Lumi was going to be a little too easy. Ulysses'd had his doubts for maybe a few minutes after learning that the girl had contact with Alexandria. That woman could be such a headache. If it wasn't for her supernatural status then Ulysses never would've bothered with her in the first place. People like that were impossible to mold and even more impossible to keep hold of, as evidenced by the fact that she'd come to this country of all places without him. And left. Headaches that he wasn't thinking about just then. Although her interference with Lumi hadn't been appreciated and there'd need to be words had about that. Ulysses was looking forward to it very nearly as much as he was Lumi opening the door when he knocked. Despite what Alexandria had said he'd managed to smooth it over by telling her that no, he wasn't married, he was divorced and Alexandria wasn't quite as steady as she'd let on. Lumi'd been willing to agree because she wanted to. No one wanted to believe that the charming young man who'd taken an interest in them was married or somehow flawed. Ulysses didn't blame her, it was just human nature and she was such a sweet girl that she didn't want to believe anything ill of anyone. Even the ones who actually did mean her ill.
So with a few packets of tea in his pocket, Ulysses arrived at the address he'd been given. It looked like there was only one light on. Shrugging he walked up the sidewalk and knocked on the door. Had Lumi mentioned something about living at home? Ulysses couldn't see anything wrong with that, he just hoped that she was the one to answer the door instead of someone else.
Lumi was not as excited as a teenager at the prospect of a boy coming over to her house. Really. She had just changed out of her regular pajamas into her superman set instead. They were still a little cheesy but better than her typical fare covered in some sort of cat or toast with a face. It took her the whole twenty minutes between Ulysses's last text and the moment she heard a car pulling up to get ready. A messy ponytail was not acceptable for having company over so the straightener had been brought in and oh would her friends laugh at her. Ulysses was just a friend, that was all, a friend who wanted to make sure that she was okay. Her friends did that all of the time. Just look at Alex letting her stay over and being all cuddly and accommodating, then add in Fable and Roxy and pretty much everyone else who was always there for her. But instead of bothering one of them she was letting Ulysses come over. He was the one who had actually asked if she was going to be able to sleep and that was one of those things that got right past every defense she might try to put up. The only thing better at getting to her was her family. But they were all sleeping. Well, Zazriel and Liam were sleeping, she had no earthly idea of where her sister was or what she was doing. "Hi!" Lumi chirped when she opened the door, motioning Ulysses in. Zazriel was a sound sleeper - except for when she started screaming in her sleep - so there were no worries. Plus she was an adult and could have someone over if she wanted. God knew who Viuly had over and what they did with them. At least Lumi had pure intentions. No, no I'm not remembering the dream. We're not at his place, it doesn't apply. "I've already got the couch set up. With um, Titanic if that's alright. Picked a long movie on purpose. And-" she motioned at the teapot she had set on the coffee table, already filled with hot water. "Since you said you were bringing tea."
Really, Lumi's enthusiasm was refreshing and Ulysses smiled when she opened the door and motioned him in. Even his limited empathy was able to pick up on it and had it been any stronger he might've found himself, for lack of a better word, infected by it. "Sleepytime tea," Ulysses added as he followed along to what he guessed was the living room. He added several packets of the tea to the pot before closing the top. A few minutes to steep and then he'd see that she drank some. It was a rather strong brand of tea, a little magically enhanced in fact, because he'd done a bit of research on the type of psychic that Lumi was. Seemed that various forms of sleep disorders were common in them, including insomnia, and the blonde had mentioned that sleeping was a problem for her. Nightmares or something. "And Titanic's fine, haven't seen it in years. That should be plenty of time for you to fall asleep." Dropping onto the couch he picked up one of the pillows. Made sense that Lumi'd be the sort to have pillows that had faces and cupcakes on them. Or cupcakes with faces. Girl had never lost her sense of innocence. How did that happen? There was even a fuzzy blanket. This is so very quaint. Adorable. Nothing like home. "Now you should tell me about that dream you didn't have involving me."
Sleepy tea. Lumi almost made a remark about how of course she had tried to use that with no good results, but decided against it. Ulysses was trying to help and that was sweet of him. There was no reason to tell him that it was pointless. Plus it smelled good. "You have good taste in tea," she complimented as she sat down on the couch and wrapped herself up in the blanket. He would stay on that side of the couch and she would stay, well in the middle because she did not like the arm, but there was a bit of space there. And a blanket! Blankets were completely protective against anyone who might try to make some sort of a move. Which he won't. That was a dream. A little voice chipped in with a remark about how often her dreams turned out real, but she shushed it before she started blushing. "It was just a dream," Lumi muttered, reaching over to flick off the lights when the film started up. She loved the beginning. If there was something that she could go and do then it would... okay, so it would not be shoving herself into a small submarine and descending that far into the ocean, but it would still be cool to watch a ship loom up out of nowhere. A sunken ship that was probably the most famous and well-known one in the world. "We had some brandy, in your apartment. That's really all that happened." Her hand was remarkably well-behaved and did not flinch up towards her neck, where the bruise that had come from the dream was finally fading. Now it just looked like she really had run into a door handle somehow.
"Tea's ready." Ulysses reached out to fill up two cups, though he wasn't drinking his. He didn't need to pass out. Lumi did though. Mostly because she needed to get her sleep and, okay, things like this got to people. He'd had enough experience with girls like Lumi, and even not like her, who reacted in no way but positive to having someone be there for them even if they claimed they didn't need it. They liked feeling protected and if she woke up with him on the couch in a perfectly innocent way then that was bonus points for him. Ulysses'd thought it over and it seemed like one of the quicker ways to get past her shyness. Lumi really did appear to be innocent in pretty much every way, along with gullible, and that was fascinating to him. That and he didn't know any oneiropaths. Or clairvoyants. Or both mixed together with an added side of witch. Lumi was fascinating for those properties alone, much as Alexandria had been when he first encountered her. They're like the opposite sides of a coin. Fascinating. "Sounds like a nice little dream, and just a dream. After all you've never been in my apartment so you don't know what it looks like it." Ulysses pretended to take a sip of his tea before floating the cup back to the table. The vague little flickers that he was getting off of Lumi, which he was only getting thanks to actually focusing on her, she was nervous. Not in a bad way, but that way that he'd felt off of girls before. Someone has a crush. Everything according to plan. "Or was it one of those dreams you have that's... real?"
Lumi was all too eager to pick up the cup of tea and take a few sips. It did taste good, she had to give it that, a little different than any other sleep-inducing tea that she had tried. Maybe Ulysses had managed to bring something over from England that was stronger than what they made. Or I just want it to be successful so my head will trick me into it. Lumi had studied the effects of multiple sleep inducers, tests run on insomniacs and sometimes the things that worked best were actually placebos. The mind was far more powerful than any drug that was out there. "It's good tea," Lumi granted, draining the entire cup before setting hers back by Ulysses's, not even noticing that his was still as full as it had been before. Why would she even think to pay attention to that sort of thing? So far as she was concerned Ulysses was just a friend who wanted her to sleep like all her other friends did. A handsome friend who smiled and made her blush on a rather frequent basis. Charmer. "It was real," she muttered, bringing her blanket up to tuck under her chin. Why was she feeling sleepy? The movie was not even ten minutes in! "You have one of those little table lamps that turns on and off when you tap it. And this strange marble bust that almost looks like Alexandria, from the hospital, your ex-wife. It's weird."
Okay, so that whole thing dealing with her dreams and clairvoyance and knowing things seemed to be true. Ulysses didn't have a particularly unique place and something like a table lamp wasn't all that convincing. But the bust? That was different. He hadn't wanted that thing and still didn't know where it had come from. Briefly he wondered if Lumi had sent it, that would explain her knowing, but there was no reason there. People always had reasons for the things that they did. Even the innocents among them. That, and it was a little harsh for someone like her. "That is a rather odd acquisition of mine," Ulysses agreed, pleased to see that Lumi'd drank all of her tea. That should be more than enough to knock her out and keep her that way until morning. A good night's sleep and she'd thank him for it, maybe ask if she could have some. So long as she didn't suspect that there was magic involved. Or she could suspect, test it out and see. There'd be questions but overall it wasn't damaging so Ulysses doubted it'd actually have an effect on anything. "It was a gift from, what I assume is a friend or someone attempting to mess with my mind. An article that I saw online a few days ago said that there's a lot of people getting strange gifts. Guess I'm one of them." Now he was talking for the sake of it, a rare occurrence but one he didn't seem a problem with. Lumi probably wouldn't even remember what he said come morning.
It seemed to be getting a little hard to stay sitting upright. And she had plenty of pillows. She could have piled them up on the arm of the couch and stretched up, legs tucked against herself so that Ulysses was not disturbed where he was sitting. But another, slightly bigger, part of her wanted to use his shoulder as a pillow. If there was contact and he happened to fall asleep then she could stay away from her own dreams and in his... and there was no reason he had to know. Except Lumi had already said that when she slept with someone she was in their dreams. It practically happened without thinking these days. So when she shifted it was to set her head against his shoulder. "That's really good tea. You'll have to tell me where you got it." Her eyes flicked up and studied the scar that was on the side of his face, one hand slipping out from under the blanket to go up and touch it lightly. "How'd you get that?"
People didn't really call attention to his scar unless they were children, insensitive or idiots. Ulysses granted that Lumi was probably a little fuzzy by then though and her question was nothing but innocent. Besides, she was too tired and mostly asleep so again, she wouldn't remember this come morning. And if she did? It was just a scar. "When I was seven I was playing baseball with some kids in my neighborhood back in Chicago," Ulysses started, arm coming up around Lumi's shoulders when she leaned against him. She was warm. "The baseball got hit up on the roof and I volunteered to get it. I was a bit of a show-off and did a little dance when I got it... went tumbling right down off the roof. Tore this bit of my face and the scar's sort of my price for having done my little victory dance. I could cover it up but I decide why bother? Adds a certain charm, I think." That and the effort of a glamour every morning that lasted all day was just boring. "That fall was where I got my powers. After that was when I started being able to move things." A scar on the face wasn't that bad a price to pay for being a telekinetic. That fall had actually been responsible for a lot of the changes that'd occurred to change his personality from what it used to be. Without that fall he wouldn't be a psychic and he might possibly be some sort of a normal person. How boring would that be? "You always been a psychic?"
While she was trying to listen, Lumi was finding it a little more difficult than it had been at first. Sort of like she was trying to listen through a bunch of pillows. Ulysses had been hurt and gotten his scar at the same time he got his psychic abilities. Like a few other people that she knew and more that she had heard of. Head trauma seemed to trigger or unlock psychic abilities. A few doctors at the hospital were trying to make a study of it but it was a little difficult since the best way to see if it was possible for all people was to induce some sort of severe head trauma and that? Highly immoral. Lumi would never approve of that. Lumi, however, was just a nurse and not in a position to say anything about that sort of thing. She changed bandages and watched the doctors work. For now. "Think so," she replied to the question with a wide yawn. She never fell asleep this easy, not even after a few days without it. "Really started when I was twelve? Or thirteen... don't remember right... now." And her eyes slid closed and she fell off into a shockingly dreamless sleep. Drugs got in the way of even her abilities.
And she was out. Ulysses nodded, satisfied, and turned his attention back to the television. There was no reason he couldn't enjoy the movie.