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

[He blinks at her.

It's Tifa's mom? But her voice is Tifa's. He's confused.]

How is it wrong? What's going on?

[The woman's eyes begin to glow red in the dark, and they flick down to Tifa in his arms.]

You need to run.

[There's a hint of desperation in that voice, and it's starting to mix with another—that of a much older woman along with Tifa's, and the young girl stirs in his arms again, but this time...

The silence is broken by a scream from her and she jolts awake, and the moment that she does, the atmosphere in the dreamscape begins to shift again. It swirls in black shadows, the only visible thing through it are the deep, glowing red eyes at the window, and the moon that shines through it.

And when it all clears, it isn't a woman standing on the other side anymore, but a monster. One with long nails, its black hair turned to wisps that hang over its face, and longer limbs.

... Not again.

Tifa's hand wraps around Ventus' and she pulls.]

We need to run!

[Ventus can't keep heads or tails of what's happening in the dream anymore.

But he stares wide-eyed at the monster that appears before them before he feels his hand being grabbed and pulled.

A brief stumble before he nods.]

Let's go!

[When she had woken up, when the dream had shifted so much, she has no idea, but she isn't going to waste any time wondering why or how. Not when that monster is standing there with her claws dripping black ooze that could melt through the floor. So she takes Ventus by the hand and rushes with him to the door, but she slips and stumbles to the floor, her sandal falling loose from her foot.

From the other end of the room, there's an ungodly shriek, and the woman's hair grows bigger, with spikes for hair rather than long, flowing locks, that shoot across to strike at Ventus if he doesn't move...]

[Why is this his life??

Ventus jerks back when Tifa stumbles, quick to catch her even if her sandal comes loose. When he hears the shriek, he tries to come up with Dreamotion energy. Trying to tap inside of him to access it--

Then a burst of light appears, like gentle winds, before it forms into a tornado of light between him and Tifa, and the monster. It has him staring, but he's quick to help Tifa steady herself and start moving again.]

[~~Because this is what happens when you are either A) a Kingdom Hearts; or B) a Final Fantasy character.~~

Tifa cries out when Ventus helps her back up, and it's either fix her sandal or kick it off completely so that she can run, and it's the latter. She quickly shakes them both off until she's barefoot, and hardly gets a look at the dreamotion wind and light before he's pulling her along.]

Down here—!

[She motions to the stairs when they get to them, and she runs very carefully down them and to the front door... but her stomach turns when she doesn't hear the monster thumping behind them... Is it still caught, or...?

Tifa guides him to the front door, but when she opens it...]

No!

[On the other side is the creature, screeching with its red eyes flaring up again, and she slams the door back in its face.]

[~~In other words, it sucks being a Square Enix character.~~

Ventus jerks back when Tifa opens the door and the monster is there. Just what exactly is going on again? But he does grip her.]

Tifa--we might need to fight it.

[He's trying to be comforting, but having a scary monster after them isn't comforting. But he's trying to connect the pieces here, trying to find some way for them to get out of this. Dreamotion works in dreams. This is Tifa's dream. This monster, too--maybe Tifa has to be the one to defeat it so they can escape?]

No. No, we can't.

[Not in the state that she's in right now. The young girl in front of him has no idea how, and she isn't going to make him do the fighting for her. Instead, her eyes scramble around the house for another way out.]

We need to get out of here and wake up. If we try to fight that thing, it'll—

[It must have slammed its long hands against the door, because there's a thud as it tries to break it open.

She pulls on his sleeve, and points to the window at the end of the hall, in the dining room. It should be large enough that they'd be able to squeeze through it?]

It'll--?

[But the thud catches his attention.

He frowns and nods, gesturing for Tifa to go first. Hopefully she'll be able to slip through? He doesn't mind playing defense in the meantime until they can get to safety.]

[It's a small window, but she should be able to make it through... If she can get it open. It takes a moment, and she shrieks when there's another thud, and then another on the front door as the beast tries to break its way through, and just as she throws open the window—

BANG!

The front door crashes against the floor, and her red eyes pierce the darkness of the hall. Tifa leaps up and stumbles through, and calls for Ventus to follow when she hears the footsteps crawling towards him at incredible speed, like a spider finally having caught its prey in her web.]

[CAN HE SAY NO TO THIS?

Ventus waits for Tifa to go through first, glancing behind him as the monster comes. He conjures up more dreamotion, focusing on his own desires to help Tifa and it has a strong gust forming between him and the monster. There's something about this that nags at him, but he tries to use the time to try to follow after Tifa.]

open 🌠 you see the shadows

no subject

no subject

no subject

omg I think I got confused with another thread in my last tag, WELP guess tifa's awake now LOL

ssdfsd omg Sheila....

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject