sleepie times
The sigh that Gallagher heaves rivals anything that had come out of his bedraggled guest so far. It's clear without him even saying so that he doesn't like her answer. For a few moments, he watches the pink bubbles lift one by one from the bottom of his glass and pop at the surface, his arms crossed, the playfulness in his expression earlier now replaced entirely with the evening's exhaustion.
"Well, that complicates things." It all he says for a while, and lets the coffee work its magic on Chiori in their less-than-companionable silence. The only good thing that comes out of this halt in their conversation is that the others in the restaurant have given up expecting anything interesting to come out of it and have returned to their own conversations and newspapers. Gallagher is, after all, a usual fixture around these parts, and his foreign guest, petulantly inert, fails to be any more entertaining than the neon lights flashing across the signs outside.
"You didn't fall asleep in the Reverie Hotel? Or a barge at the edge of the star system?" Gallagher tries, but there's no misplaced hope in his voice. Her description of her night had been so ordinary. And if she really was a stowaway, it'd be a first time he'd ever met one wishing to go back home so badly. He runs his fingers through his hair and downs his drink in three gulps, then returns the emptied glass to the counter with a second sigh.
"If it's any comfort to ya, you are in a dream. But that's also the problem. You've never heard of Penacony, huh?" It's rhetorical at this point. Everything about her has already answered that question - her blatant confusion, her reaction, or lack thereof, at his mention of the sweet dream, and the way she'd dragged her feet all the way here like he'd really brought her to the land of the dead. He pulls his hand down the length of his face and then blinks open his tired eyes to look at her more seriously than he had since he'd found her in the alley.
"This place is one big collective dream managed by a group called the Family. There's only one way in. Legally, that is. And it sounds like you just might be a fugitive. You get what I'm saying, right?" he asks. "I can't take ya back out the normal way or else they'll start asking questions."
The coffee in scent alone perks Chiori up in ways one might think impossible. It's like a child's cartoon, how just letting such bitter warmth waft through nostrils. That first sip is like heaven, and the two that follow, despite a singed tongue, were indescribable. It takes only a few minutes before she's more amicable.
Initially, questions are answered with a faux politeness, only to remember that that was completely undeserved. Even as her temper becomes more apparent, it is leagues more tolerable than it had been. "No, I don't know what any of these words you're saying mean. I don't know what the Reverie Hotel is, I don't know about any barges aside from the ones that bring my materials, and they aren't at the edge of the star system, they are within a relatively large body of water."
She was only here because of that creature. Even if she can take solace in this being a dream, Chiori can only question what that extends to. Everything has felt so real, no pain has woken her. A calm shake of her head once more. "I've never heard of Penacony. I've personally been to Inazuma, Fontaine, Liyue, Mondstadt... do any of those names ring a bell?" The reactions he offers only discourage her further. As if the gravity of the situation is settling upon his shoulders as well. She almost feels bad.
An interconnected dream that was overseen by a group. What she'd have initially called insane feels more true than she wants to admit. Chiori is here, after all. Flaring up at the prospect of being a fugitive, she stops herself from lunging for his collar again. A deep breath, though still effectively just snarling at him.
"I didn't want to come here. How could this be? There's no way to go back without asking them?" Leaning forward, any sense of civility dissipates. She had heard him before, but suddenly the realization that this is far from literal hits. "How can I prove that I didn't break any rules or laws in being here? How can I show you and the family that I was brought here without my knowledge?"
