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

[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.

[They only stare at him for a few beats longer before they all start to whisper among themselves again, huddling closer together so that their murmurs can't be heard this time before one of the boys turns to him and points to the large house at the other end of the road—the one with flowerbeds along its windows, and gardens out in front, all of the plants wilted and withered and covered in cobwebs.

"He might be in there."

The house looks abandoned from the outside, as if no one's lived there in years. And in Nier's arms, he'll feel Tifa shift, her shaking gently and her face scrunching.

If he does go, he'll find the door unlocked—open a crack, even, as ash begins to drift from the inside.]

[He isn't in a place to start prying for information and the only thing he's been inclined to do is ask for an answer to his question. The kids are kind enough to offer that up, even if they do so hesitantly. He looks toward the house that they gesture to and for several moments, simply stares. From appearances alone, it doesn't look like anyone has lived in it for quite some time.

Are these kids just yanking me around?

He looks back to the kids for some moments and shakes his head. What does he really have to lose by investigating the house in question? Nothing but time, it seems, and hopefully that will be a bit kind to them both. His footsteps carry him and Tifa both, though he pauses for just a moment or two to gauge her response. He wonders what she's seeing. What she's experiencing. Even comatose, she's reacting to the things going on around them.

...Is that intentional?

He finds the door open by just a sliver and with a careful lean, he presses it a touch more that he can get a better look inside.]

There's no way your dad's in here. [He begins aloud thoughtfully.] This place doesn't look like it's seen a soul in ages.

[No, really. What the hell is going on around here?]

[The inside looks just as, if not more, deserted than the rest of the town. Cobwebs hang from the ceilings, dust covers some surfaces, and it looks like pieces of the home have burned away, as if someone had set fire to the piano that sits in the corner, or some of the furniture. But there are some pieces that look pristine and well-taken care of, as if they were able to withstand whatever force swept through the home.

As if the house itself is a mix of fragmented memories, split across time.

From upstairs, Nier will hear something clattering to the floor, followed by scrambling footsteps, and Tifa exhales in a small sob.]

[Nothing about this makes sense. He looks around and he doesn't need two eyes to get what he's looking at. On one hand, the place looks abandoned. Almost desolate. And then in contrast, for one reason or another, some of the furnishings... are in stellar condition. Some of them are nicer than anything he's ever seen in the village.

His attention is ripped from what surrounds him in what he can only suspect may have been a sitting room at one point in time. Something like that. Once, it probably looked normal. The sound from the story above grabs him. An animal? No. Maybe not. Not with footsteps like that. Too heavy, he thinks. Tifa's choked out sob draws his gaze onto her.

Is that a warning? Is it simply that she doesn't want him to go upstairs? Fear? If she were awake, she could tell him.]

...Something tells me your dad's not here.

[Something also tells him that maybe they shouldn't be here either. Nothing about this seems right.]

[There's a sharp sigh from Tifa, but once again, she hardly stirs in response to the noise.

The footsteps from above have stopped, and the world has frozen in time once again, that same silence that had greeted him will fill his head once more, so quiet that if he listened, he could hear it ringing.

But then there's shuffling on the stairs, and small footsteps that rush down them, followed by another set of larger ones. There's a woman's laughter, followed by the giggles of a younger girl, as they rush down to the main story, and leaping down on the landing is the Tifa that Nier is suddenly no longer carrying in his arms, followed by a woman with long black hair and the same crimson cuts in her eyes.

And when Tifa looks at Nier, she waves.]

I found her!

[He's bracing himself for something that evidently never truly comes. He expects thundering steps to lead down the stairs and for him to face a beast or something that surely can't have anything helpful for him. There's nothing. Just... silence. It's heavy. So heavy, it's as if someone's put something atop his shoulders. Atop his chest.

And then there are the footsteps again. Laughter. A woman and a girl. At what point did Tifa manage to wake up? He looks between his very empty arms and the woman she's got in tow.

What the...

Why does this place only ever give him more questions?]

Your... mom?

[He asks it uncertainly and wonders if it genuinely is her mom at all. Isn't that a little too easy? What were those things they heard at the mountain? What about the avalanche?]

[The dream itself has become so fragmented that the house itself begins to flicker, as if he were standing inside an old television, static blurring the images within. In the deepest depths of her subconscious, Tifa knows that this is wrong, but at the very forefront of her mind, the only thing she can think about is how she found her mother.

But if he looks carefully, he'll see a darkness seeping from the woman. Shadows that loom about her form that shouldn't be there, and ones that Tifa can't notice out of sheer will of wanting to believe this is real.]

Yeah, this is my mom, Thea.

[The woman's smile is warm as she looks down at her daughter, but when meeting Nier's eyes, her expression grows dark.]

I knew she wouldn't be gone forever...

[There it is again. The weird shift of the world. Dream. Dream world? He isn't even sure how to call it. All he knows is that the air is changing. Nothing can ever stay constant, it seems. But these doesn't seem to be coloured by his feelings. They must be Tifa's.

At her answer, his gaze exchanges between between daughter and a woman she calls her mother. He doesn't say it just yet, but as he's looking, they can physically look alike all they want, there's something off. He's willing to bet that whatever this woman actually is, isn't her mother. She only looks like her.]

You're not gonna like that I say this, but I think you need to be careful.

[She wants so desperately to see her mother. He can practically feel the weight of such want atop his heart. But he can't push her. If he pushes her too hard, too forcefully, he will only endanger her more than she already is.

Patiently, Nier offers his hand out to her.]

I don't think this is what it seems.

[Tifa stares at his hand, wide-eyed.]

What do you mean...? It's okay.

[But she can't help reaching out to the offered hand. She remembers how warm he was, and how it enveloped her when everything else felt so cold and frightening. She could invite him to stay for dinner with her parents, to thank him for all his help in finding her mother, but just as Tifa's fingers are about to reach his, she feels a hard thump of another hand on her shoulder.

"No, Tifa. It's time for dinner."

Her mother's eyes, redder than only seconds ago, are burning right into Nier's. And she tugs on her daughter, gently, pulling her back to her side and away from him.]

["No, Tifa. It's time for dinner."

There's a coldness in that voice, one that Nier wonders is only something imagined by him. His gaze settles on Thea for several long moments. No, it's probably not her mother at all. What is it, instead? The creatures that exist in these little dream worlds, he supposes. He exchanges his gaze between the two and begins to set his weight upon his back foot. Just to centre himself.]

Tifa, whatever you think this woman is. She isn't.

[He eyes Thea closely. Sharply. For Tifa's safety, he doesn't reach out to her again. The last thing she needs is to get caught up in something that she could get hurt in.]

[She feels herself being tugged again, this time with more force, and she can feel her mother's nails digging into her shoulder. Her hands are cold, and they don't bear an ounce of the warmth she very vividly remembers her having... but she looks and sounds so real...? Just like she recalls.

"Tifa, let's go. Sir, you need to leave now."]

Wait, mom! Stop! You're hurting me...!

[Tifa's eyes go wide then, and she looks back at Nier as she's pulled away from him, her hand reaching out for him. But from the other side of her, gripping her other hand, black smoke and shadows that look like fire begin to lap at her wrist, coiling around it and shoving her towards the dining room.]

Wait—!

[She looks at him in a silent plea for help—]

[He's right, isn't he? He doesn't want to be. Rarely does Nier want to be right because it seems like every time he is, it's not usually about anything good. But that's just the way it is, isn't it. Misfortune follows him.

He's not quick enough to grab Tifa by the hand, so he settles for what he feels is second best. In many situations, it's the first thing he makes a hold for. Without Weiss, there are no dark verses he can use. He has only his sword. And some weird ability that lets him bloom flowers (thanks, Hilda).

Without a moment's hesitance, he reaches for the heavy sword strapped to his back and effortlessly, he takes it into hand.]

Yeah. I thought you were too good to be true. Let's settle this. No need to get little girls involved.

[He won't dash right in. Not recklessly. Tifa needs an opportunity to put distance between her and whatever this... thing is. He can't endanger her either. Rather, he won't.]

[There's a shriek, high and shrill and loud that shakes everything in the house, right down to its very foundation. It forces Tifa off her feet and she falls, scraping her hands and knees on the floor when she tries to break it. The woman that had once stood next to her—the woman she called her mother because she wanted to believe it—was no longer the warm, kind woman she remembers.

Her hair oozes like black ink from her head, her red eyes a deeper hue that glow past it dripping over her face. Her arms are long, nails longer, and she scrapes against the ground, still shrieking, towards Nier, like some kind of banshee-like ghost. Her shouts drown out Tifa's cries of fear, but in this form, she's helpless...

She can't do anything to help. All she can do is run, and she hates it. Tifa never ran from anything, and always faced her enemies head on—

"THIS IS WRONG!"

The ghost swipes at Nier, her nails scraping against the walls when she whirls her arm back and then forward, bringing down anything that had been nearby.

But as she tries again, something larger knocks into her. Tifa, no longer the small girl she was mere seconds ago, punches the ghost with a shout, and sends her staggering against the nearby console table, the dead flowers and their pots shattering when they fall to the floor.

Already, she's crawling back up, rearranging her limbs and snapping them back into place...]

[A Shade?

It's all he can think of when he's faced with it. With her? Once upon a time... was it not said that Shades were simply humans? Unfortunate victims of the dystopian world. That's exactly what he thinks of when he's faced with what attempted to play the part of Tifa's mother. It's better that he has her attention, even if he's not sure how to handle the situation immediately. It'd be easier if Tifa wasn't involved, honestly.

He takes his sword into hand, wields it effortlessly, as if it hardly weighs a damn thing to him. But he's not using it to strike back. He's only using it to protect himself. From the threat of catastrophic, devastating nails. From falling debris. From anything else that might be coming his way. If he's injured, he doesn't bother to pay it any mind. Right now, it doesn't matter. He's looked death so many times in the face that almost nothing is likely to frighten him. All that matters is that he remains standing, in one piece, to make sure none of that attention falls onto his younger companion.

He's just an old man, after all. There's plenty to take his place afterwards.

When the banshee creature begins to draw forward, she's slammed into. It's Tifa. A Tifa Nier isn't familiar with, but... he can put the pieces together relatively quickly. At least he thinks he can. If they need to discuss it later, they can discuss it later. He readies his sword, using the opportunity that the banshee is piecing herself back together to attempt removing one of those limbs that Tifa's managed to knock right out of place.]

[Those red eyes that were once human glow when they fix on Nier and his sword, and she swipes at him with a loose arm, swinging it like a bag of sand around to try hitting it out of his hands, and Tifa stands over the monster, her eyes glistening with tears as she stares down at the woman she thought was her mother. The thing that posed as the one person she had been searching for... And somehow, she was able to trick her into believing it.

What a naïve girl.]

We need to run.

[They shouldn't stay back and fight this thing if they can help it, as the creature's claws burn holes into the walls to keep herself up, as if they're made of acid.

But whether Nier strikes at her or not, Tifa lands a second blow of her own, snapping one of the brittle legs beneath her foot.]

[He hears her. Plainly. Clearly. A part of him even agrees with her, but if this thing is the reason for where they've come to as they are... doesn't that mean in order to leave it that they have to cut a way through it? He has no idea how any of this crap works, honestly. This is what he gets for letting his curiosity get the better of him.]

I'm all for that, but how're we getting outta here.

[It takes all of his strength to keep a hold on his sword. The weight and the force is enough to knock him right off balance. He opts for using Tifa's little distraction as a great universal sign for 'let's leave.' It's a perfect little diversion tactic that lets him regain the hold upon his sword as he draws it right back over his shoulder instead of dragging it along the ground.]

Doubt that's gonna be enough to keep her down, but— [He's indicating the rather smart collision course Tifa's set into action.] —better than nothing. Let's scram if we're making that a thing.

It won't.

[Her tone suggests that she knows this well. And she does. Now that she's awakened inside the dream, she remembers the other times she dreamt of this scenario. Her finding her mother, and it all turning out not what she hoped it would be. Tifa hoped that the younger her would have realized this sooner, or that she wouldn't be so naïve to keep falling for the same traps, but she knows that isn't how it works here.

That young girl would be cursed to relive this dream over and over until she could find a way to overcome it and accept her grief, but finding that way wasn't easy when it transformed and manifested itself into a monster she thought was her mother.

So for now, Tifa does what she does best—she runs from this problem.]

This way.

[The door at the end of the hallway will take them back outside, to the town, and she doesn't look back at the monster tearing at the walls, melting them away with her claws for nails as she tries to right herself again.

And when she finally stumbles through the door, making sure that Nier is with her, fire erupts from Tifa's hands and she shoots what she can at the house, through the doorway to hopefully land a hit, but she doesn't stand to watch and will urge him to keep running until they reach the outskirts of the town, and by then, the house has already started to burn...

Not that she'll look behind her to check, but she can smell it. Feel it. It's just like that day...]

I'm sorry.

[Tifa blurts it out abruptly at him, her hands balling into fists at her sides.]

[A lot of it happens very quickly in sequence. In one moment, she's encouraging him to run. In another, the echo of the banshee creature behind them lingers in his mind, and he knows it's a sound he'll remember for some time. He's seen his fair share of odd things, but he knows already that he's never seen anything quite like that. In more moments, they're outside of the house that hasn't seen a living soul in ages, he'll warrant.

Then there's fire. The smell permeates the air, and though he's sorely tempted to watch the whole thing as it crumbles down, which it will eventually, his attention remains fastened upon current company.

He's still going over all of it in his head. A young girl searching for her mother. A creature, likely a noctaere of sorts, feeding upon an innocent child's wishes, because fewer things are more powerful than the mind and pure-hearted desires of kids. Tifa's own realisation, which has given way to the woman that she became inside of the house.

Nier suspects that her mother, in truth, has been gone for quite a while. Maybe this dream is just an aspect of the hope that lingers where are a heart is not completely full. Her words strike his ears as he's catching his breath. He's in good condition, but he's still an old man. He doesn't have infinite stamina, as much as he'd love to claim otherwise. He finally takes some moments to eye from whence they came before he sets sight upon Tifa.]

Hey— [And after a breath loosed, he shakes his head.] —No. You don't need to do that. Are you okay? [It's probably a stupid question. She can't possibly be okay after all of that. But he has to ask it anyway.]

[In true Tifa fashion—]

I'm fine.

[It's not the first time she's had to face off against this place, or the old childhood dreams that had been used against her. In reality, she's far from fine. She's shaken, and the smell of the fire burns her insides, but the only sign of it are her fists trembling at her sides.

She twirls around to face him, her brow knitting with worry.]

What about you? She didn't get you, did she?

[That... monster was a force to be reckoned with. Tifa saw how she burned through the walls without so much as a scratch, or how that black ooze of her hair melted holes in the floors. If it had managed to touch either of them, she doesn't want to imagine what that would be like, dreamscape or not.]

[She says it, but he gets the feeling he knows better. Instead of addressing it, he simply stands in silence, giving her a more proper look over. No. He knows the truth. Whatever all of that was... It doesn't just go away. She's probably going to carry this far longer than she's willing or wanting to share with anyone else.

She turns it around on him just like that. He's not even prepared for it. In consequence, he looks himself over. It's nothing serious. Truthfully, he's not even noticed what will likely be some days of aches and pains. Provided they feel anything outside of these little dream expeditions. Given that it's his first one, he has no idea what to expect in an aftermath.

Either way, it's likely damage from debris. Just looks like bruises and easy-to-dismiss difficulties.]

Huh. I seem to be good. Nothing to worry about here.

[After a pause, he continues, trying to tiptoe as carefully as he can, as he suspects this is a tender subject.]

You normally dream about stuff like this? If... we wanna call it 'dreaming.'

Not like this...

[Which should answer enough. She's dreamt of that day before, but never in the same too-real way that this had been. She had walked through this one, and practically had to live through it all again without realizing that she had been dreaming. What he says is true—can they even call that "dreaming"?]

These ones feel more real.

[And she doesn't like it one bit, and her lips press together in a thin line, her inhale sharp as she tries to breathe around the smoke that's polluting the air.]

This is the first time I've managed to snap myself out of it, though...

[More real. Yeah. He could believe that. Maybe it's just the nature of this place. This world. Things that ordinarily shouldn't have any bearing or power have a great deal of it here. He isn't sure what to make of that. Maybe the sheer desires they hold are what grant a sense of weighted reality. But if that was truly the case, then surely... his daughter would be here.

No. He can't wrap his head around it at all. This is not his forte. Just let him swing his sword and the blade will answer all of the questions.

When Tifa continues, he's still looking her over, perhaps neglecting himself in the process. Nothing different from usual. He feels like his insides are burning, but that's the state of affairs. Surely, it'll pass with time.]

I'm glad you were able to. The alternatives wouldn't have been pretty. Sorry that you had to go through what you did. Seems like it's been pretty rough.

[Tifa offers him a dry laugh, maybe with the hopes of making herself feel better about all of this.

Honestly, she's more sorry that she had to put someone else through all of that trouble, never mind herself. She could have handled it, surely, or she would have awoken from it—in a sorry state most likely, but at least she would be alive—and that would have been that, but the fact that anyone else had to be a part of it... That's what stings the most.]

I'll survive. It's nothing I haven't already, yeah?

[She's made it through all of this once before, and she's going to keep smiling through this one.

Tifa studies Nier for a couple of beats, searching for any signs of obvious injuries, before she heaves a sigh, as if shrugging all of that weight from her shoulders.]

We should probably find a way out of here.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should just settle for it. You deserve more than that, don't you?

[It's that simple to him, though he suspects it isn't really simple at all. He wishes he was better at handling things like this. When Yonah's mother died, it didn't prepare him for such a difficult conversation. He's guessing Tifa's gone through something very similar to Yonah's position.

When he notices that she's giving him a similar scrutiny, he straightens himself up.]

Probably. Any idea how to go about doing that? Don't suppose we can walk right back in the way I came.

[Which is probably in the same direction that they started going into. He came this way when he was entering the town originally.]

open 🌠 you see the shadows

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wrapping! 🎀💖