songerein | open 🌠 you see the shadows

Entry tags:

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

[Nier has yet to experience anything like this. This... sharing of dreams with another. He certainly wouldn't be interested in sharing his dreams with anyone else either if he has any power over it. Not because he has anything to be completely ashamed about (except his poor parenting), but because that's admittedly a part of him that he just doesn't want to share a lot of. Maybe... if the way it all ended was different.

Regardless, nothing about this current situation is affected by the thoughts of his own dream, except that every so often as he's following after some kids who look far too young to be exploring the rocky terrain of a mountain on their own, he's almost certain things flicker in and out of view. Things that probably shouldn't exist there. Things that feel, or almost look familiar to him.

...His own thoughts, perhaps, affecting this place he's found himself in? He'll have so many questions for Kainé and Nier the next time he sees them both.

"Please, you have to stop her!"

That's not something hard for him to get himself involved in. He's hardly gotten a particularly good look at any of these children, but they can't be much older than a Yonah in her younger years. It'd be silly to think that his fatherly instincts aren't immediately going to spring up. He lifts a hand in an attempt to be as reassuring as possible, though he suspects that a man looking as barbaric as he does may not be the most welcoming sight.

...Even if he is here for good intentions.]

Don't worry about it. I'll go get her.

[Just like that, they're down the way they came and Nier continues along to trail after a young, very determined Tifa. When he manages to get within earshot of her, he raises his voice over the relatively cooler temperature of the mountain's ascent.]

Hey, kid, wait up! You shouldn't be up here!

[He isn't fully certain of why, but it can't be good for a girl her age to be misadventuring here.]

[By the time he reaches her, she'll be almost to the other end of the bridge, but her fear is getting the better of her now that she's gotten this far. There's no way she could turn back, but rushing forward would be dangerous, too. His voice calling out to her is enough to startle Tifa, and the bridge sways and blurs in a wind that seems to come out of nowhere, and so suddenly, and she wobbles on her feet trying to stay upright, gripping onto the ropes on either side of her for dear life.

It's dad... isn't it? The boys went down to get him, and now he's come up to scold her again for being reckless...]

Go away!

[She shouts back but doesn't turn around to face him. She can't face him.]

Mom's not gone! You're lying, and I'm going to prove it!

[If she could just take another step...]

[Mom's not gone!

For just a moment, Nier thinks of Yonah. It's impossible for him not to. She was so young when her mother passed on that sometimes he thinks she doesn't remember, but even Yonah had moments where she said similar things. Worse things even when she wasn't the most evened out kid. It's an earnest reflection of years he's thought far behind him.

What... would her actual father say? Should he even be trying to play that role? No, of course not. It's not his place. But even though she isn't his daughter, he feels the same kind of fear he'd feel if Yonah were in her position. His heart threatens to lodge itself right into his throat and he carefully manoeuvres himself forward, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

If she spooks, if she thinks he'll stop her, she'll go running off. The bridge could give way. She could fall. He has to do everything he can to prevent that from happening.]

Listen, this is dangerous. If you want me to come along, we can go look together. You shouldn't go on your own.

[...Besides, he has no real idea if her mother is gone or not. He can't say either way and it's not his place to be stirring the heart of a child with falsehood based on presumption.]

[In those few moments before he shouts back, small embers had started to form from the ground, and it's started to feel hot at his feet, as if Tifa is trying to chase him away, back to town where she thinks he belongs, but they and the heat die away when she realizes that she doesn't know that voice.

Her foot withdraws from taking another step, gently falling back next to her other one, and as carefully as she can, she turns her head to glance over her shoulder. Tears start to flow, violently, but she's too afraid to cry or sob out loud—it might all crumble underneath her.]

You... want to help? Who are you?

[Why does he want to help? What will it do for him? Does he know her mom? Is he a friend of her dad's?]

[The embers and the heat lingering under his footing make him hesitate from proceeding any further. Not because he's afraid to move forward. On the contrary, there's no amount of pain he wouldn't go through for Yonah. Tifa isn't Yonah, but in the way he's done it before, a part of him must be projecting such an image onto others. It'd be easy to say that it's just a normal part of being a father, but how normal is it, really?

...Isn't it a little unhealthy?

He waits patiently, poised in just such an abrupt pause, a hand in the midst of reaching out. She's not within arm's length of him. Wasn't before either. It's merely been a show of good intention on his part.]

Name's Nier.

[He begins carefully.]

I'm just a man who has a daughter and if she was asking for the same thing you are, I'd do it for her.

[...

Tifa shrinks back a little, her frown growing deeper as she reconsiders her next moves. She could run the other way, towards the opposite end and do this all on her own like she planned, or... Her eyes dart to his hand, and her own grip the bridge's ropes tighter.]

Okay... But don't keep following if you think it's too dangerous.

[She doesn't want him to get hurt. Even if he was going to tell her dad later, she doesn't want anyone to get hurt. This is her fight, and her search, but if he wants to help, then who is she to say no? Her friends had tried, but they all left, and she was all alone again. Just like she was when mom...

Her arm stretches, a hand extending to him too, but she's too far away to reach.]

I promise the bridge will be safe. I'll make sure of it.

[As safe as it can be for something that fades in and out of his vision.]

[It's hard for him to resist airing a laugh at that. She wants him to be safe? Shouldn't he be the one concerned about her? Somehow he does manage to refrain from doing exactly that. She likely wouldn't understand if he did start laughing. Even if it was a small chuckle. Or she'd be deeply offended.

Kids are a difficult misadventure, aren't they.

He nods slowly and watches her arm stretch out for his. He begins to move again, across the embers from before, ignoring the scalding heat that touches along his shoes and lap at his feet. Step by step he's careful and cautious and once he manages to touch her hand, he takes her hand with all of the tenderness that he can muster.]

Let's both do our best to protect one another, eh?

Right!

[She's going to do everything in her power to protect him, she decides, the second that their hands reach one another's. And when they do, the bridge beneath them sets, its once faded essence becoming something much more real and solid, and no longer working to keep itself together. It still sways in that non-existent wind, but this is better than nothing.

Up ahead, there's a low whirring noise that comes from somewhere deep in the fog, and along with it, whispers of voices he may or may not recognize. Some belong to Tifa's memories while others... he might find himself hearing words of people he's familiar with. They say nothing important, besides beckoning them towards the greenish-blue glow.

As they reach the other end of the bridge with one careful step after another, Tifa pauses just before hitting the mountainside.]

You hear that too, don't you?

[Nier wonders, for more than a few moments, if it's possible that the building of that foundation, the relationship for however simple it may be between himself and Tifa, that it's responsible for the same more stabilised version of the bridge they begin to cross. It is an idle thought. One that exists within a breath and disappears just as quickly with the next.

Dad—

At first it doesn't occur to him, but as they proceed together hand-in-hand, there is a sound buried in the complex churning. Not Tifa's. A voice he knows well that leaves him scouting intently around them. It's a voice he knows well, but a voice that makes no sense for him to hear. There is no reason he would hear her in this place. This is not her home. This is not her world.

Nier knows the imagination is a powerful thing. But is it his imagination, or is it truth? How can he know for certain? He frowns for just a moment, his eye fixed on the green and blue luring them. He moves only so far ahead of Tifa to act as a barrier against anything that might come at them.]

Yeah. [He agrees.] I hear it. Not sure if it's safe for us to investigate or not. [...Maybe Yonah's voice is all in his head. He wants to assume that it is. That it's purely the situation conjuring thoughts of her.] Think you're brave enough to check it out?

[...

....

Tifa's silent, considering their options. This is the first time since she's climbed this mountain that anything has ever given her pause before. Is she brave enough? She is scared—terrified, even—of what's ahead. Of taking that last step to the other side, but she's already come this far. The boys all told her that she shouldn't, and it made her feel weak. It made her feel like she was wrong for wanting to find her mom and see if all of those tales were true or not.

So after a moment longer, she squeezes Nier's hand, as if to convince herself that she isn't alone, and stomps her foot on the rocks, bringing herself to the other end of the bridge at long last.

The voices are still there, whispering to her, telling her not to go on. She can hear her own father's scolding tone, and all of the other moms in the village warning her not to press forward, but there is another... A man's voice, low and cool, telling her to keep moving. Reminding her of what it is she came for. It sends a chill down her spine again, and the voice is enough to strike fear into even the bravest souls, but she is braver than that!]

Yeah. Let's keep moving.

[The path ahead emerges from the fog, and it's long, steep, and winding to the top. Rocks crumble under a wind that batters and beats them, and tumble down into the abyss below, leaving very little room for them to traverse side by side. They'll have to continue single file.]

But I want to go first.

[She is not alone.

He doesn't outright say it. It's not because he doesn't think it's potentially a right thing to say. It could be. But not every child is an equivalent to Yonah and what might work for her doesn't necessarily mean it's a blanket cover for all children. He at least has the sense to know that. Instead, he squeezes her hand back. Just reassurance. She definitely isn't alone and as long as she needs him to be here, he'll be here.

Nier nods in a subtle agreement when she decides that she wants to continue. The words that follow from her made him hesitate. He can't say he's comfortable with that, but he gets the feeling that she might be a little too strong-willed to hear sense. He's the adult. He should be the one to go first. But she's the one looking for a certain something out here. It's a challenging situation to be in. There is no black and white here, simply shades of grey to be considered.

Hesitantly, he decides to concede, wondering if he'll regret that later on.]

If you were my daughter, I probably wouldn't let you do that, but... let's make at least an agreement here.

[He lets her go ahead of him, sliding in behind her for the same of simplifying the continuation of their misadventure.]

If you change your mind, you say something. It might not be the easiest thing to do, but we'll make it happen.

[Tifa's already tugging on him before he can finish what he's saying, giving him a look of silent agreement first over her shoulder. She's careful as she starts ahead, one foot testing the ledge first before she shuffles sideways with her back to the wall. She could probably fit a little easier but Tifa would be lying if she said she wasn't terrified of what awaits below—far, far below, beyond the thick fog and clouds that coils about, thickening the air that it makes it harder to breathe.

A single misstep, and this journey would be over.

So, she focuses on something else for now, clinging onto Nier's words.]

You have a daughter? What's her name?

[It's an easy thing to become unnerved by. Plunging into anything far below him is not his idea of a good time and maybe one would think that Nier has had well over thirty years to come to terms with this. That said, no amount of adventuring, misadventuring, or the like is enough to make him an invincible man. In fact, he'd dare to say that his heart is actually his biggest weakness and the quickest way to get to the source of him.

Fortunately, Tifa provides both of them with a more than worthy distraction, whether she's aware of it or not. Perhaps eventually he would have come to the same conclusion himself.]

Her name is Yonah.

[That's kind of how it always begins, isn't it. All he has to do is say her name and his mind is full of her. Every laugh, every moment she's lost her temper, every time she's pleaded with him to stay, and every sliver of guilt he's experienced as a father, forced into a situation where he must either leave her behind to save her, or spend a finite number of days in her inevitably short-term life.

He could have, should have done so much better.

His words threaten to lock into his throat, but somehow he still manages to force them right out.]

She's about... fifteen, I think, now. Circumstance has kept us apart, but I never stop thinking about her. I would do anything in the world for her.

[If Tifa were older right now, this conversation might have gone a little differently, but this Tifa is much more curious, and a lot less subtle about what it is she's thinking. She looks over her shoulder, only briefly, to peer up at him before she's fixing her gaze forward again, to where the ledge meets another proper path that they'll be able to walk along. Not very far now...]

How come she isn't with you?

[She doesn't understand yet. Tifa's own father has never left her side, and even when her mother had disappeared, she was still determined to find her, and if she can find her mom, then surely he would be able to go find Yonah? Even the thought pulls at something in her chest.]

It must be very sad not being able to see her...

[His eye lingers on her for just some moments before it moves back onto their destination in question. If it were up to him, maybe it might be a case of Yonah would never leave his side. Not... Well. Not until it was more organic, anyway. In an ideal world, Yonah would grow up, one day maybe fall in love, and spend her life with the person she felt completed her.

She will get that. He'll just never get the chance to see it for himself. That thought hurts almost as much as Tifa's very innocent input.]

She was taken from me.

[He manages to answer her in a way that is far more even than how he truly feels over the situation. What can he do, though...? Nier feels... Well. He feels just a touch powerless.]

I miss her a great deal, but I'm always thinking about her, which means— [He folds his free hand over the consistent thump of his heart.] —she's never far from me.

[Tifa looks down to his chest, before her gaze roams over to her own, only briefly, because she catches a glimpse of what awaits them below should they fall, but with her free hand, she mirrors his actions, a pensive look passing over her face. She's never far away...

She wonders if it would be the same for her mom, too.

She remains silent the rest of the way, checking back over her shoulder every now and then to make sure that Nier is still holding it together, and it isn't until she leaps and feels both of her feet on solid ground again does she finally let out the air she's been holding in.]

... Maybe we'll find her—

[But just as she says those words, she feels herself slip on the edge, rocks crumbling beneath her until she feels the vanish from underneath her altogether, in that one particular spot, and with wide, horrified eyes, she slides down the rocky edge.]

Maybe.

[He's not expecting that. But just because he's not expecting it doesn't mean it won't happen. Plenty of things have happened already that he's been ill-prepared for. On the contrary, having Yonah here, even seeing just a glimpse of her, would lift his spirits.

Although truthfully, Nier isn't unhappy here, in this world, even when going through strange walking dreams like the present one. Because at least he exists. That is, he thinks he exists.

He follows closely after her, which goes according to plan until she loses her footing on the edge. The moment she falls, he has only quick reaction to rely on. His initial reaction is to follow right after. It doesn't even require a second thought. He practically dives toward to edge, swinging down an arm in an attempt to get a grasp on her.]

Hey! Grab on!

[...And well. If she can't, he'll just have to improvise.]

[If this nine-year old version of her knew any better, she would tell him to let her go, but she manages to grab on when he calls out to her, but her shoulder snaps with a small cry out for help when she does, and while her toes dangle over the edge as more ground crumbles underneath her, and now him, slowly, but he'll feel begin to feel himself losing his footing.

The dream is trying to right itself. Whatever lay beyond the rocky mountain paths, Tifa didn't know. Whether it was her mother or Yonah, or both, she had hoped to find them... but in this land of dreams, she can't ever know.

Not now, at least. And not like this.

And this mountain will continue to do whatever it can in its power to shake both Nier and Tifa off of it, whether it's the crumpling of the rocks as it starts to head inwards, or the quaking of the ground as it tries to force Nier off his feet and lose his hold.]

[That little snap feels and sounds likely a great deal louder than it actually is. He can just imagine what his reaction would be if it were to happen to his own daughter. Maybe a little piece of his heart goes into it as well.

He casts a look around. It's unstable. His feelings, perhaps? Her own? Whatever happened in the reality that she's accustomed to? He doubts she'd be able to answer him. All he can do is prepare and expect the worst. He turns his feet to the side, just in an attempt to gain traction, though nothing on his feet is particularly impressive. He doubts there's much down there after all of the roughhousing he got into back home.]

Hold on—

[It's the best he can offer as reassurance, trying to rely on the strength in his shoulders and his upper back in an attempt to bring her back up to him. In a worst-case scenario, he'll lose his footing and if that should happen, he has every intention of acting as her shield on the way down.

But he doubts he wants to find out what's going on down there.]

[The crumbling mountain carries him in a rockslide, but if he keeps his footing, it will be more of a sliding than a tumble until they reach a path further down the mountain. There's a lot of debris and dust, and through the thick fog it creates, he'll be able to feel Tifa's hand, but her scream has been snuffed out, and it all goes eerily quiet when it comes to a stop.

The grip of the tinier hand on his loosens and her wrist falls limp, and by the time the fog has cleared, he'll find only her arm sticking out from beneath all of the rubble and wreckage, the rest of her buried beneath the fallen rocks...

And the last thing that Tifa can remember is how everything had gone dark and cold, with her mother's voice ringing in her head along with his. A dull ache passes through her, and she flickers in and out of consciousness before it all stops...]

[It all happens rather quickly. The sliding along the mountainside. The dust that kicks up around them both. The feel of her hand growing slack in his. The child's scream fading into the turn of the circumstance. As things clear, he finds only rubble and the occasional abrasion lingering along his arms and legs. Tifa remains foremost priority, however.

It doesn't take him long to start removing the rubble that's fallen on top of her. He may seem calm on the outside, his insides are riddled with anxiety. All he can see are the multiple failures he's fallen into as a father. How much Yonah has deserved better. Tifa isn't Yonah at all. He knows that.]

Hey—

[When he finally manages to uncover her, he's very careful in how he draws her into his arms.]

Kid, you hear me?

[No. Maybe not. Despite how he's so rough and tumble on the outside, the way he pats her in an attempt to get her attention, to rouse her, is exceedingly gentle.]

[Besides the light rise and fall of her breathing and the smallest pained sound, she doesn't respond. Her mind is very much awake and afraid, screaming and calling out to him from the dark, but her body refuses to move. No matter how much she tells her arm to reach for him, or for her mouth to move, it's as if she's paralyzed from head to toe. She registers the pain and soreness that courses through her in waves, all centered in her head, but... nothing. Around her is a whole lot of nothing.

This... this is what happened back then too, isn't it? Their voices were all a distant murmur while she was trapped, wishing she could tell them that she was still very much there. Hoping that they would do more to help wake her.]

Yes! Yes, I can hear you! But you can't hear me, can you...

[Perhaps in her plea of help, or the dream still trying to right itself, the dust and fog clears, and the rocks crumble away as she lays in his arms, and it opens a new path down the mountain where he'll now be able to see the small town below, its windows and lanterns lit up as night falls over it.]

[He can't hear her at all. He's simply left with the body of a young girl in his arms. A girl he couldn't help. Well, not in the way he would have liked to. As the adult in the situation, as a man with a daughter of his own, wasn't it his responsibility to keep her out of harm's way? He's done a great job of that now, hasn't he.

He scouts around them, trying to figure out what his next plan of action is. Take her... back home? Where she belongs. Whatever she's looking for, her mother, and the case involved with that... It's going to have to wait for another time. Another moment's investigation. He probably never should have let her do it to begin with, honestly.

The patch catches his eye as he shakily makes his way to his feet, trying his best not to dislodge her too terribly.]

It's probably not gonna make you happy to learn about it, but we're going to get you back home. [He says aloud. To her. Even though he's certain she's can't hear a word of it.] I'm sure your dad's in a panic over you anyway. We'll get you taken care of, though. Your mom is going to have to wait.

[If he looks down at her, he'll see the wrinkles of a frown forming, her face scrunching together when she hears him. She doesn't want to go back to dad, and she doesn't want to leave mom behind... But she can't say that. She can feel him moving, getting to his feet, and although her eyes are shut, she can see flickers of a blurred path up ahead in her head, rocks forming themselves into a sort of ramp all the way back down to town as the vision grows clearer.

She stirs a little in his arms, but never wakes up on his journey down. And as he nears the bottom, he'll see a small town up ahead. All of the streetlights have had the light snuffed out of them, and it's empty. It looks abandoned, some doors to the dark buildings creaking as they sway in the wind...

The only souls left are the three boys in the center, crouched in a tight circle under the water tower and whispering among themselves, but their voices echo loud from all around.

"I can't believe she did that."
"I know, it was dumb."
"Shouldn't we go back and help her?"

But when they see Nier, they'll all halt their whispering and stare at him and Tifa.]

[Every little step feels heavier than its predecessor, but he can't stop. In spite of it all, he must continue. He does, however, pause in the midst of a step along the rubble that's provided him a pathway when she stirs. It's minute.]

Hang on. We're almost there.

[He looks down to her, watches her for several moments, and then proceeds. As he moves forward, however, he finds that the town looks... mostly lifeless. Has it always been like this? That can't be right. Her father lives here somewhere... right?

All he does find are the three boys he'd seen before.]

Hey—

[He begins, though it occurs to him... do these boys even exist? It's a dream world misadventure, so likely not, but...]

—Where's her dad? I need to take her someplace to get looked at. She fell. There was... I guess it was a rock avalanche.

i. he's just gonna play dad to everyone

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject