open 🌠 you see the shadows

[starshower]

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!]

Comments

[tantailizing]

[He's got a knack for just annoying the heck out of enemies like that. Might even leave them in trouble, like right now letting Tifa get her strike in. And while it whirls on her, Zidane would take the chance to rush in and jump onto its back, digging his daggers in. Gripping down, he has a feeling he might need to hold on.]

[starshower]

[He's definitely right in that because when the spider feels his daggers pierce its back, it rears on all eight legs, kicking some and almost hitting Tifa with them. It shoots a web in any which direction hoping it will land, but it melts away the cave wall instead. And from where he's impaled it, black liquid begins to ooze out, smoking and corrosive, dripping over its body.

Tifa lands a kick in its face, the sole of her boot landing squarely over all eight of its eyes, and she sends it flying backwards—hopefully not with Zidane still on its back!—where she'll trap it against the wall of the narrow tunnel.]

Hit it with your best shot.

[Dreamotion magic is what they need to take care of it, right?

Small little lights appear all around the spider, and one by one, they begin to pop and explode like tiny fireworks near its head, stunning it momentarily.]

[tantailizing]

[Gross, but it's not like his hands hadn't been buried in gross fluids before. He holds on, feet pressed and knees bent as he keeps on, wincing a bit when Tifa kicks the spider in the face. Ouch, that looked painful, haha. And feeling it fly back, he springs off, taking his daggers along.]

Best shot? Got it!

[He'll take a leaf out of Steiner's book for this one. Summoning fire magic again, he let's it surround both of his blades; and as the fireworks pop, Zidane charges in, bringing both blades forward to cut both searing weapons into its face - one for its head and the other, its mouth.]

[starshower]

[Well, that'll certainly do the trick, but Tifa gives it one last swift punch for good measure, and as she does, she tries to think of all the things that have brought her here. All the things that have her wanting to protect this new world that she's found herself in—all the friends, old and new, that she's made. It isn't difficult with Zidane here—he was always great at bringing out the best in her—so when her fist lands, it's with another eruption of fireworks, these ones not so small, and they start to grow bigger and bigger until...]

Oh no... Get down!

[BOOM! CRACKLE! FIZZ! POP!

It's an entire show that explodes in the spider's face where Zidane's daggers meet its body, and the flares fly this way and that, ricocheting off the walls of the cave and disappearing while others rain down on them. It won't hurt or burn, but any that touch Zidane's skin will tickle.]

[tantailizing]

Huh!? Woah!

[Talk about explosive, Zidane drops as that firework punch goes off. It doesn't hurt, but it's still loud! Enough to make his ears ring as he looks over at the spider.]

... Haha, going out with a bang.

[starshower]

We always do.

[The fireworks have done more than enough to take down the spider, along with the daggers. It twitches on the floor, clearly still alive but stunned that it buys them a few seconds of respite, and in the light of the fires that still burn around her knuckles and the last of the sparks as they fade away, he'll see Tifa's lips turn up into a small grin.]

Want the honours of landing the last blow?

[End this thing once and for all! So they can get the hell out of here.]

[tantailizing]

Do I? I dunno... it looked like you were enjoying yourself. But no, no, I got it~

[Because he really wants to try again - albeit a little different. Bringing the ends of his daggers together and twisting, they lock, letting him twirl the newly form weapon around. And just as before, with a spark, both ends ignite into a twirling blade of fire.]

Burn!

[Leaping at the spider, he'll cut right down the middle with the whirling, burning weapon just to make sure it was good and down. He'll land on the other side with a pivot, disconnecting both daggers and letting the fires go out.]