songerein | open 🍃 still I follow heartlines on your hand

Who: Oriphi and anyone!
Which: Open log
Where: Around town and two (2) dreamscapes
What: Helping out with wimdy-related damages, and two traveling-themed dreamscapes. Do you want to D&D/Fantasy AU your character? Or meet Ori's friends? Here's your chance!

1 ✧ it fucken WIMDY

( A )
[ Destructive gusts of wind or no, Oriphi can usually be found helping out wherever she can around town - but this month especially so.

Some days she's around after a particularly strong bout of windiness, helping clear debris or patching up damage to buildings by using elemental magic to conjure and grow woody vines to reinforce structures. Sometimes, for a little extra flair, she makes flowers sprout all over the buildings. Though that seems like it might be pointless when the next gust will likely blow all the blooms away, it's worth it for any measure of joy it might bring to the those who dwell in the the previously-damaged home or shop or anything else. ]

Hmm... What do you think? [ This, she says to anyone who might be passing by as she finishes her work, or perhaps someone she's been helping repair this building with. ] Is it too much?

( B )
[ Other days, she's caught in the middle as the wind starts to pick up. Each time, she slams the end of her staff down, embedding it into the ground as vines come up to brace it into place. She does her best to plant her feet down and hold on, but— the livestock aren't so lucky. ]

Oh, no!

[ With one arm tightly wrapped around her staff, she reaches out with the other to send vines out in an attempt to prevent a sliding cow or sheep from going airborne. It seems to be working, but she might need additional help to hold on! ]

2 ✧ a hearth of moonlight and shadow ✧ interactive dream

[ It is well into the night, and a warm fire burns in the center of what looks like a campsite put up in the midst of the woods.

Spread out across the site are a few adventurers. A tall, lithe elven woman with copper-colored hair patrols the perimeter of the camp, embedding magical arrows into the ground in a seemingly logical pattern. In another corner, a white-haired elven man sits with an open spellbook and scrolls strewn about around him. Then, seated closer to the fire, there is (yet another) elven man with his hand gripped decisively around a bottle of wine, a tall, half-orc man sketching, a half-elven man with dark hair tuning a lute, and a masked figure. Save for the ambient sounds of jungle creatures coming alive in the night, the sound of various writing implements on parchment, and the tuning of a lute - the camp is silent.

Whose dream is this? Whose friends are these?

The answer is revealed when Oriphi emerges, seemingly out of nowhere. But the moment that she appears, it's as if the quiet vignette truly comes to life.

"Alright, this is boring. Anyone up for another team-building exercise?" declares the dark-haired elven man, setting his lute aside in resignation. Something about the dreamscape tells you that his name is Colin, and that he is a bard.

"Always," replies the bare-chested elf, Mellon, lifting his bottle of wine in agreement before he takes a hearty swig. Sian, the masked figure, simply shrugs and offers a noncommittal noise.

"Uuuuh, I'm really busy doing this drawing? It's coming out really well. Really cute, actually." And though Cibark's sketched drawing of a river scene is appealing, it's not what one would typically describe as "cute," and while his tone sounds serious, something says that he's being facetious.

Dae, the man with the glasses, slams his spellbook shut abruptly as he stands up with seemingly renewed purpose, startling Aerie and causing her to nearly snap an arrow in half. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose as the lenses catch the light of the fire, making them gleam in the dark.

"Mister Colin, what an excellent idea! The Alchemighty needs to have a strong foundation, so we've got to team-build as much as we can!"

One can practically hear the way that Colin rolls his eyes. "Aaand just like that, I suddenly don't want to." ]

I think it'll be fun!

[ Ori finally chimes in that moment, taking her seat beside the bard and shyly nudging him with her elbow and a smile on her face. The boredom on his face fades a bit, and he acquiesces, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head.

It's then that the adventurers turn their attention and gaze towards the dreamwalker present. ]

So, how about it? Two truths and a lie. You start!

3 ✧ there once was a ship that put to sea— ✧ interactive dream

[ This dream finds its inhabitants and visitors at sea, on the main deck of some kind of merchant or passenger ship. It seems to be a beautiful day out on the seas, the waters more or less mild and the skies clear and bright.

Only that the ship is actively under attack by a massive froghemoth. What is a froglike monstrosity doing out in the ocean? Can it even survive in saltwater? Don't worry about it - it's a dream. What matters is that in its many tentacles, it holds a few of Oriphi's adventuring friends.

And where is the tiefling, herself? Well, she's desperately clutching at the bulwark, looking absolutely miserable as she tries to keep her breakfast down.

See, she always gets so terribly seasick whenever they travel via ship, and she is in no condition to fight the froghemoth - at least, not without the aid of another, or at least a reminder that she's simply dreaming and could dream the seasickness away.

"Pull yourself together, Ori!" Aerie calls out from somewhere further away, nocking an arrow and letting it loose against the froghemoth. It zips through the air and finds purchase near one of the froghemoth's eyes - but it's the only one that hits before the ranger is promptly swept away by another tentacle. ]

I— I'm trying!

[ She manages to pull an arm away from the bulwark to take up her staff, summoning a bolt of fire and casting it at the monster - but she misses. ]

(( ooc: If you have any questions, especially about the dreamscape prompts, or want to plot out anything else, feel free to PM me or hit me up at

camerata! ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ A smile slowly crosses Trahearne's face as he watches. He isn't sure exactly what it is about the scene--perhaps it's the depiction of Colin, or the presence of Valphi, or the flowers blooming in tandem with the music--but it's so quintessentially Ori. Of course this is the sort of memory she would choose--and that thought isn't meant in a negative way. It's nice. ]

That's lovely. [ His eyes dart from Colin's playing, to Ori's casting of the spell, to Valphi. ]

Was it just the three of you? [ He doesn't remember seeing Valphi with the rest of the party, but he has a feeling that's a sore spot. For another time. ] Did you travel long together like this?

[ She shakes her head. ]

It was mostly Valphi and I. But we ran in the same circles as Colin, so we'd... Cross paths often.

[ Namely, circles that were not quite so wholesome and walked those fine lines between mercenary work and... well, criminal activities. ]

Those were... tough times, for Val and I, but... It was always nice to run into him and have moments like this.

[ The song ends before long, after which point Colin says something in that smart-ass, smarmy way that he's been for the duration of this dream, and to which Valphi responds in an incredibly unimpressed, almost irritated manner. They begin to bicker, but Ori watches them both fondly, the nostalgia clear on her face. ]

[ Trahearne watches, listens as Ori explains. Ah, interesting. He'd gotten the impression they were together all the time, but that was perhaps the scene from the party coloring his perception.

As the song comes to an end, he glances over at Ori. He hears the others conversing, but he concentrates on the look on her face instead. She must really miss this. A small, gentle smile plays on Trahearne's lips before he turns his attention back to the seen. ]

I suppose that made your chance meetings all the sweeter.

[ It is nice to have memories like these.

Now to ruin the moment by being too direct. ]

When did you realise you were in love with him?

I—

[ The question gives her pause. Has she ever been asked this, asked to put it in words...? She doesn't think so... ]

I don't... I don't know if there's any one moment, to be honest, but... I guess it was while we started adventuring together.

[ Certainly, she'd held feelings of fondness for him long before she would deign to call those feelings love. She knew that she was simply infatuated, at first, in the way that a hopeless girl would be for any charismatic, handsome person. But when it turned into a deep admiration, into a desire to see him happy was not due to any one occasion - it was built over the course of their adventure, over quiet conversations across campfires, over moments in which they relied on each other in the heat of combat.

But there is a moment that Ori can think of, the moment when she realized she didn't want to be apart from him again. The scene disintegrates into wisps and darkens as another materializes around them, one that is much drearier than the warm campsite in which the dream started: now, they find themselves in the dark hallways of a palace that has seen much better days. There is a dire, oppressive atmosphere as Ori and her friends make their way through. The druid and the bard lag behind the rest until Colin - who looks much, much worse for wear, not unlike a dead man walking - reaches out and rests a hand on Ori's shoulder.

"Ori, I... Can we talk?"

"Of course..."

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry. For leaving without a word."

"It's alright... You didn't say anything because you knew I would try to stop you.... I understand."

"I wanted to ask you to come with me, you know. But I figured... The others, they needed you more. They'd fall apart without you— Though, I suppose it's pretty clear that I'm the one that fell apart without you, isn't it?"

"...I'm just glad we found you again."

"So am I. Can... Can I give you a hug?"

Ori watches the conversation unfold, a memory playing out like a scene in a play before them. And as the Ori in front of them and Colin embrace, the real Ori turns back to Trahearne. ]

I woke up one morning and he was gone. All we knew was that he had gone back to his home and that he didn't want us to follow him. It was... Painful, and it hurt because I thought he trusted me enough to at least tell me what he was planning on doing... But when we did finally find him again and he was nearly on the brink of death, I think that's when I realized... That I wanted to do everything I could to protect him and never let him do something so reckless again.

[ Well. Trahearne was, in all honesty, expecting a nicer scene to accompany the answer, but it seems this isn't the case. It is often said that people don't know what they have until they've lost it, or that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Perhaps that's doubly so with an affection slowly built over time, that the change in heart is only noticeable with a change in circumstance.

As she turns to look at him, he does the same, his brows raised in sympathy. And he listens. Finding and maintaining love in desperate situations, ones that require attention to time-sensitive, potentially world-ending matters, is not easy. Nor is it easy to watch someone held so dear vanish from one's life. Be it sudden...or gradual. ]

...The realisation must have been painful, then. I know things seemed to have eventually worked out for you, but it could not have been easy at the time. [ He can't imagine the heartache. ]

I'm glad you have him. And he, you.

[ A bit of a wistful sigh escapes between her lips as she looks back at the Colin and Ori near them. If she could, she would reassure those two that things were going to be alright. Maybe they didn’t need to be so afraid to act on their feelings back then. She doesn’t know if that would have helped them, but… She remembers how much she worried - perhaps excessively so - about where the two of them stood. Even despite the fact that there were much more pressing things to worry about. She worried about those, too.

At the heart of it, she only wishes she could tell her past self that things were going to be okay, that she needed to trust herself more. ]

I’m glad, too. He and the me who’s awake are… Well, they’re figuring things out. But I think they’ll be fine.

The me that’s here in the dream realm, though… I’ll be fine, too. I still have Diluc, and I have friends like you and Eustace and Tifa and everyone else. I’ll always be grateful.

[ Light begins to seep into the edges of the scene. ]

Speaking of… I should probably go ahead and wake up, huh? Thank you for spending time with me here, Trahearne. And for always listening.

open 🍃 still I follow heartlines on your hand

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