The flat tone did not escape Aboli's notice, but it only made her smirk wider, like Cheshire-catlike. "I was just making sure." Was she being condescending? Perhaps. But Aboli thought she deserved to be condescending sometimes. "What question did you try asking it?" she asked as she pet the crystal ball gently.

"Making things up!? Well, that's fun sometimes. It's creative. You can make a story out of it." Aboli stopped touching the ball and pulled out her journal, still with her hands un-gloved, and plopped right in front of him. "This is my dream journal. And all my interpretations. Some of them are wiiiiiild. But my mum's specialization is in dreams and she gets her visions in her dreams. So I take my dreams very seriously. I enjoy dream stuff more than -" and she gestured wildly at the crystal ball - "That."