songerein | open 🌠 you see the shadows

Who: Tifa Lockhart & you!
Which: Open log + interactive dream
Where: Around Reverein, Mount Nibel
What: Mount Nibel Incident dream, and a couple of dream board postings.
Warnings: N/A for now

✨ i. "the day mom died..." — interactive dream

[There's a winding, rocky path overlooking the town of Nibelheim below, but where it should be clear, the mountain the path leads up is shrouded in a fog that only grows thicker with each passing moment, with what the eyes can see morphing and twisting in and out of view, almost as if the entire landscape isn't sure what it should be. There's an unshakable sound of static in the air, and a rumbling underfoot that isn't too threatening, but it's noticeable enough that it makes itself known.

On one ledge of the path up the mountain are four children. Three boys, whose faces fade in and out of clarity, and a girl with long, dark-brown hair, all looking up at the mountain as they talk, but their words are cut out by the static.]

"Mt. Nibel is scary. Many people have—there."

"—one crosses that—alive."

[The girl turns to face them all, revealing a much younger Tifa, not a day older than nine-years.]

"How about—died? Did—pass through—?" [Tifa wanders past the boys watching her, up the path.] "I'm—"

[Two boys follow while one runs the other way, threatening to bump into any dreamwalkers as he rushes back in the direction of the town. If Tifa is followed, they'll reach a bridge that she crosses fearlessly and without a word, but like the rest of the mountain, it fades in and out of view as well. There, the two boys who remain rush off, leaving Tifa to venture up the rest of the mountain alone.

...

But they stop upon seeing someone new. Someone who might be able to help?]

"Please, you have to stop her! It's dangerous up there! We're going to go back down and get Mister Lockhart."

[And off they go together without another word.]

** ( ooc: Because Tifa doesn't remember this event in full, I fully encourage anyone to have your character influence the setting as much or as little as you'd like! )

✨ ii. freeloading reindeer

[Having done some work on the communal gardens already, Tifa's grown handy with a hammer and nails. Not that she wasn't already proficient enough, but there's a difference between fixer-uppers around a bar that she knew like the back of her hand and building wooden flowerbeds and fences, and the latter has allowed her to at least learn some proper techniques in woodworking. Hell, she's even started learning how to sand and polish, so something like this should be a piece of cake.]

There. I think that's the last of it.

[She'd been hauling wood around all morning, the large planks thrown over her shoulder before she sets them down out in the middle of the farm where there's plenty of room to build out. It's nothing but a pile of wood and a bag of tools, and whoever else has come all the way out here with her, and around them, the reindeer will be grazing and curiously watching from afar, still not sure if it's safe to approach.]

So, it was a new stable for them and a fence, right? Gotta say, biggest thing I've ever built was a flowerbed so this'll be new to me.

✨ iii. new year's noctaere

[It is a little terrifying going up against the Noctaere, especially when she knows little of what to expect upon entering the dreamscape, but Tifa was never one to sit back or sit still for very long. Not when there were threats that needed to be taken care of. She might not be the most experienced partner in the dreamscapes, with her skills in dreamotion magic leaving plenty to be desired, but she can pack a punch when needed, and it has come in helpful in a lot of cases.

That isn't to say she's completely useless at magic, but she'd prefer to let her fists and feet do the talking if it came down to it. Which it will.

And just before stumbling into the dreamscape, she looks over to whoever has volunteered for the job with her, and gives a firm nod.]

You ready?

** ( ooc: if you have a preference for the dreamscape, then please let me know in the subject line! Otherwise, I'll randomize which one we end up getting! )

✨ iv. wildcard

[None of these prompts work? You know the wildcard drill! Feel free to leave something else below, or contact me via PM or @ crystariums if you'd like to plot out something! Tifa can be frequently found at the communal gardens, at the edges of the forest training, and just in general wandering around Reverein, so she's easy to bump into. Also okay with any of the dream board postings!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She gives him a firm nod.]

Yeah. We did. It's done.

[Tifa's relief is palpable in the air, its warmth settling in around them. The tapirs had confirmed it with a single nod as well before flitting off to attend to the others who have come by to help with the others, and she offers him a hand.]

We can relax for a little while now.

[ There's a brief pause before he takes that hand. The amount of time that Vanitas sits there, wary of his choice, is going to steadily be decreasing each and every time Tifa extends it. She's not asking after details. Not judging him. Not necessarily telling Vanitas that he is wrong to do this that or the other. Well, she might be thinking it. Of that he has no clue. But right now it is all working to give her points in her favor.

He gets to his feet and stretches a little more. It's as if he is paying more attention to himself than what the tapirs are doing. Even the warmth that is seeping into the area, the gloom and chill from happiness and "light" being sucked out of the area being chased away, doesn't exactly touch Vanitas. But that's fine. It doesn't have to. ]

Yeah, until something else shows up. Something will always be going on, I think. That's just how these things work.

[ He offers a shrug. Then a smirk. ]

If you want to bring me along to that next time, I think I'd be able to handle that.

[ Meaning that Tifa hasn't been an issue to work with. That he is willing to do so again. ]

Don't I know it.

[Tifa's been there, done that. In her world, and in the next, and now this one and she can't help but pause to wonder how many more will need their help before they're made to return. It's not something she likes to think about, but it's always there, an idle thought in the back of her mind that awakens once in a while to remind her of what this is.

Once they save this world, it's onto the next.

Shaking the thought away, Tifa gives him a nod.]

I'll be sure to keep you in mind for the next one. [Because there will always be a next one. For now—] How about right now, you and I go grab a bite to eat?

[ Vanitas? He's not interested in all of that. Continuously helping people just because. The ones that prove themselves to him? That make him care? Sure, that. Because they are his. They are his people and he's not about to lose that which he considers his own. That's all that it is for him.

If that means following those people from one world to the next? Whatever... ]

Yeah. Food. I could use that. Hopefully that means no more nightmares for at least a couple of weeks, right?

[ Which means he's going to follow after Tifa. ]

Cake would work, right?

[ Welp. Okay maybe someone need to explain to him that cake does not really a food make. ]

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