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

[There's a shimmer between his arms, a warm light reminiscent of what he may have felt before around her, and in an instant, she's taller, her frame not so small to fit in his arms anymore and rather, Tifa is the one holding him tight now, and she leans down so that she can bury her sobs into his shoulder.

And now, she feels silly. Stupid for getting so caught up in her nightmare that she hadn't even realized she had a friend to guide her the whole time. That she had given him a glimpse into this strange memory that had plagued her since shew as a girl—one that she could never fully piece together and still can't, and he had been to suffer through it with her. That's a burden she wouldn't wish on anyone, even her worst enemy.]

Sora...

[She may be her older, more present self again, but her voice is so small and afraid, and brimming with shame and guilt.]

I'm sorry.

[In a flash the dream seems to change again. Flickering back to something like a normal reality. She's here and she's herself again and Sora is sure to hug her back with just as much encouragement as he can muster.]

It's okay. Everything's going to be alright.

[Dealing with loss and trying to move on from something that felt so short. Childhoods are complicated. He misses so many people too but for their light, they've got to keep looking forward.]

I didn't mean to drag you into this.

[She didn't mean to drag herself into this, but alas... She recalls now that she's had this dream multiple times, all with different outcomes, but there was one thing that never changed between them, and it was that whoever had stumbled in had been able to help her, and some had even been forced to face something they would rather not have either.

In the corners of her eyes, she can see the dream beginning to shift, but much of the ruins they're standing in remains. Her arms only tighten the hug around him.]

What's all this?

[She's only ever seen weapons like those once.]

It's okay, sometimes dealing with this stuff is easier when you have a friend.

[While he knows that Tifa might not remember or even be the same Tifa he knows from home he's not about to abandon her in those feelings. Not a chance.

But then he loosens his hug and looks around at the remaining ruins around them. The crumbled ground and dusty air make Sora feel tense. The collection of keyblades that are protruding from the ground in droves gleam under a suddenly hot sun.]

It's ... Uh. It's a graveyard.

[That makes something feel heavy in his chest.]

A long time ago when darkness and light clashed a lot of people... were lost. [...] But this is just a memory, right?

[When she pulls back and frees him, her hands still rest on his shoulders. She doesn't look around, but watches his own expression, and how it mirrors everything she's feeling right now. She isn't going to pry or ask much more about it—she can sense this is a heavy memory, but it's already starting to fade away, a light current of water washing in through the cracks in the rocks.]

Yeah. Just a memory.

[He can talk about it if he wants, but she only gives him a small, reassuring nod and a smile to go along with it.]

Nothing in here can hurt us unless we let it.

[It's a reminder to him, but a much-needed one for herself, too.]

I wish I knew how to get out of these...

Yeah, you're right. Nothing can hurt us unless we let them do that.

[It's a lot to talk about and honestly Sora hasn't done that much with other people before. He has a tendency to bury his deepest darkest traumas deep inside his heart and hides them with a smile and upbeat energy. He's always done this.

That's why he laughs and puts his hand on his hips.]

I guess it might not be as easy as just pinching ourselves awake, huh? Maybe we should try to look around some more?

[A bad habit that the both of them share, which is why Tifa mirrors him, her own arms crossing in front of her chest, but her eyes are wary as she looks around them.]

I guess that'd be the best thing we could do.

[Although she'd rather not... see what else is out there beyond this graveyard. But if they're going to find their way out of here somehow, then standing around here isn't going to do them much help.

So Tifa first offers her hand to him.]

Let's be careful, okay? The ground's all broken up...

[To no one's fault but her own.]

[Sora smiles anyway as he goes to take her hand with all the trust in the world.]

Don't worry. I've got you, heh.

[Who's got who? They've got each other. Sora might be a little unnerved to be here in the shadow of his worst memory but he's with a friend and that's the important thing to keep him grounded. They can get out of here together.

Just a few steps over the expanse of this broken world. It seems like a long stretch of nothing. But soon enough it might seem like the dream is starting to shift and fade. The edge of the world blurring.]

[Whether it's Tifa's doing—a powerful enough wish to return "home"—or if it's Sora's, or the dreams, it doesn't matter. As the world around them starts to fade, her hand grows tighter around his, almost as if she's afraid to let go. She knows that they're going somewhere safe after this, and that she has nothing to worry about or be scared of for either of them, but walking through it all still feels like they're wandering into unknown territory.

And as the world begins to blur further, it envelops Sora's world, replacing it all with Tifa's memories. Memories of her home, of Nibelheim, and of Midgar all rolled into one, as if the two places have melded together to form a strange blend that doesn't quite fit together.

Just as she opens her mouth to say something, Tifa feels a tug that pulls right down to her very soul, and with one last squeeze, she turns to Sora.]

Guess this is it.

[Her smile is crooked, and she's unsure of what else to say before she disappears, so all she can do is nod and give him a quick—]

Thank you...

[—before they both fade from the dream.]

open 🌠 you see the shadows

sora!!! 😭

😭❤️

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