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!]

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[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.]

[She only offers him a grateful smile—albeit a crooked one—at his words.]

I don't think so. Every other time, it just kind of happened, but...

[Tifa looks onward to the rest of the world that lies beyond the town's arches. There's almost nothing besides more mountains on one side, and fields and fields of grass on the other that would stretch on forever. If they walked for days, weeks even, they might reach the ocean, but they don't have that kind of time.

At any rate, she'll start to walk away from Nibelheim, leaving the fires behind without looking back.]

If we just keep going, we'll probably find something. Or the dream'll just end, and I'll wake up on the other side.

[In her bed, safe and sound. It's as much as she can hope for right now.]

... And you? You'll be safe back in the real world?

[Nothing's ever easy, is it? The people who deserve the most often get the least. And the people who deserve the least, tend to get everything they want. Because they take it, with no regard for others.

He finds himself shaking his head in something very akin to disdain for her circumstances. For all of the circumstances that he has known.]

Well, I came here by lantern, so I figure we'd probably go out the same way. I don't see why I wouldn't just wind up back in whatever that world is we came from. Reverein. If you want to call that the 'real' world.

[He isn't sure what it is. Purgatory?]

[The world realer than this one. It's a stretch, but when she's stuck in a dream like this for so long, she'll take anything else over the fragmented and broken memories of her past.]

Do you have your lantern with you?

[Tifa probably should have kept it close, and maybe it would have come with her on her person here, but alas... It wasn't clipped to her skirt the same way she keeps it on her belt, or around her wrist back in Reverein.]

We could try it.

[Does he—

Nier takes a quick perusal of his body with his hands, over leather straps and the intricate design of what he imagines some might call 'barbaric' armour. Ah. Found it. He offers her a short little nod and draws up the lantern in question to show it to her.]

This right? Honestly, I'm not real sure how they work. But if you know, I don't mind letting you take the lead on this one. Just consider me the muscle. Not the brains.

[Tifa steps closer, her hand reaching out just far enough that her fingers are barely grazing over it, but she pulls back slightly, her lips turning downward into a frown when it occurs to her that she doesn't really know how they work either. Besides them offering glimpses into dreams, she hasn't used them to their fullest extent. She never had to, and even when she would accidentally stumble into another's dreamscape, it would be by complete fluke while she was fast asleep as well...]

I don't... [she admits slowly with a crooked smile.] But I'm sure we can figure it out.

... Try focusing on waking up. Maybe if we think about our beds back in town, it'll just happen naturally.

[Ah, they're both in the same position, it seems. Nier wears a silly little amused smile, though he doesn't allow it to linger for too long. At her suggestion, he gives a small nod.]

I can try that.

[He shuts his eyes and loses himself in thought. The treehouse back in Reverein isn't ornately decorated. If anything, it makes him think of the village at home. Just that simple room with the bed. A table in the corner. Shelves. His wife's diary on one of the shelves, filled with her pretty handwriting. It's comfortable and warm. The closest thing he has to going home, even if it doesn't have all the people he wants.

When he wakes up, he knows Kainé won't be far. Or she'll wake him in the most unpleasant of ways. Maybe by yelling at him. But to him, it might as well be home.]

[Tifa joins in, and in sharp contrast to the suffocating heat from the fires that burn the village, there's a different kind of warmth that settles around them—comforting and embracing, wrapping around them both protectively as she, too, closes her eyes to focus. Whether this works or not, thinking about "home" helps to ease her nerves.

But when she thinks of her home in Reverein, it isn't in the treehouse she's picked out for herself. It's with the sounds of dogs barking, and it's chaotic and sometimes noisy, but that's part of what makes it so special.

If it's because of them, or because she's slowly waking up back in the real world thanks to all of this, it's hard to say, but she does feel that tug in her chest. That familiar one that says, "it's time to go".]

You feel that?

[It's not a feeling he knows how to explain. A bittersweet ache? Nostalgia of home. The desire to simply be there above all other things. Home is no longer a place. It's a person. Maybe, it's never been a place to begin with. And home... like people, is not static. It changes and evolves, grows.]

Yeah. [He finally answers with a subtle little nod, grasping onto the feeling that grips him so securely.] I think that's it.

[After a moment's pause, a moment's consideration, Nier continues.] You're sure you don't need to tend to anything else here? If not, let's go where we belong. There isn't anything here for either of us anymore.

[There's nothing here for Tifa anymore. Not with the town burning once more.

So she gives him a nod, and a smile, warm but weighted with all of the things she can't quite bring herself to say right now. But she does rest a hand on his, briefly, before she feels another pull.]

Thank you...

[And just like that, Nibelheim, her childhood, and all those memories are left behind right where they should be—buried away deep down where no one or nothing can touch them.]

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wrapping! 🎀💖