[He won't need to worry about making good on that promise. Not tonight, anyway. They'll stay there in the field for the rest of it, sleeping in the flowers as peacefully as they do in their bed, the other helping to keep the nightmares at bay. It's only when the sunlight begins to peek through the windows of their tree that Tifa rouses in the dream to gently shake him awake and warn him that she's about to be pulled back so that he could come with her... and they can wake up together in the warmth of their bed late the next morning.
In the days that follow, the nightmares still come and go, but they become less frequent and easier to get through, whether it's Eustace or Tifa that has them. It's always the same thing—the red-eyed abomination taunting her, the visions of her and their friends encased in ice in that cave, but it always ends the same, too... They always find their way back to each other, reuniting in that field of starflowers.
Their control over these dreams strengthens too, and it's Eustace's suggestion that next week that it would be Tifa's turn to confront her fear of the lindwurm and put it to bed. With that particular nightmare mostly vanquished, he can easily slip into that silver lindwurm's skin within the dream for her, and rather than fear it, Tifa's learned to embrace it.
They spar together, teaching Tifa ways to defend against their attacks and in turn, fight back against them. He's even able to create nightmarish versions of himself for her to properly fight against, and each time, that gets easier too. She's not sure that her fear of them will ever fully go away, but that isn't the way things should be. He teaches her, instead, to look at that fear within and turn it around to use as strength—something to power her attacks and move her forward rather than freeze her in place.
Once that's all over, he offers her rides on his back and they sweep over the flower fields, and she learns from so high up that they really do stretch on for eternity. He swoops downward, purposefully kicking up the petals so that they swirl around them, and Tifa lays on his back as they soar through the skies, and she's always so mesmerized by how the silver scales shimmer under the never-ending sun.
And before it's time to wake up, the two of them lay in the bed of flowers together, the lindwurm's muzzle bumping up against her so that she can rest on him with his body coiled protectively around hers.
Those are the dreams that Tifa will cherish.
That first week flies by rather quickly. Their friends come and go, and that is the hardest part of it all, as the guilt that she's tried to force down all comes rushing back with every single person that shows up at their door, but everything is going to be okay. She trusts in her friends, and in Eustace, and being able to confront them all after having some time to cool off helps. What she needs most is time, but Tifa has already started to bounce back from it.
The dogs have been spending more time around them too, and Eria is always quick to shoo all of them, as well as herself and Clover, out of the house when they prefer some alone time—which has become a more frequent thing, too. But for Tifa, she's not sure she's ever loved him more than she does now, so it's hard to resist when he smiles across the room at her, or when he slips his hands around her waist. She hardly lets him out of her sight or out of her reach, but this is the exact thing that they needed: time.
Time to spend together to heal their hearts, and time to confront their fears at each other's sides. It will take a little bit more, but they are moving in the right direction, and as long as they continue to do it all together, she knows that it will be no time at all before they're back to their usual routine.
Not that this is such a bad thing, either. She kind of prefers it.
It's near the start of the second week that things have started to feel... somewhat normal again. Eustace will be woken to the smell of pancakes, bacon, and coffee bright and early one morning after another lindwurm session in the flowery dreamscape. The sun is barely rising by the time Tifa is in the kitchen whipping them up their breakfast, but she knows that it's only a matter of time before the smell will wake him...]
no subject
In the days that follow, the nightmares still come and go, but they become less frequent and easier to get through, whether it's Eustace or Tifa that has them. It's always the same thing—the red-eyed abomination taunting her, the visions of her and their friends encased in ice in that cave, but it always ends the same, too... They always find their way back to each other, reuniting in that field of starflowers.
Their control over these dreams strengthens too, and it's Eustace's suggestion that next week that it would be Tifa's turn to confront her fear of the lindwurm and put it to bed. With that particular nightmare mostly vanquished, he can easily slip into that silver lindwurm's skin within the dream for her, and rather than fear it, Tifa's learned to embrace it.
They spar together, teaching Tifa ways to defend against their attacks and in turn, fight back against them. He's even able to create nightmarish versions of himself for her to properly fight against, and each time, that gets easier too. She's not sure that her fear of them will ever fully go away, but that isn't the way things should be. He teaches her, instead, to look at that fear within and turn it around to use as strength—something to power her attacks and move her forward rather than freeze her in place.
Once that's all over, he offers her rides on his back and they sweep over the flower fields, and she learns from so high up that they really do stretch on for eternity. He swoops downward, purposefully kicking up the petals so that they swirl around them, and Tifa lays on his back as they soar through the skies, and she's always so mesmerized by how the silver scales shimmer under the never-ending sun.
And before it's time to wake up, the two of them lay in the bed of flowers together, the lindwurm's muzzle bumping up against her so that she can rest on him with his body coiled protectively around hers.
Those are the dreams that Tifa will cherish.
That first week flies by rather quickly. Their friends come and go, and that is the hardest part of it all, as the guilt that she's tried to force down all comes rushing back with every single person that shows up at their door, but everything is going to be okay. She trusts in her friends, and in Eustace, and being able to confront them all after having some time to cool off helps. What she needs most is time, but Tifa has already started to bounce back from it.
The dogs have been spending more time around them too, and Eria is always quick to shoo all of them, as well as herself and Clover, out of the house when they prefer some alone time—which has become a more frequent thing, too. But for Tifa, she's not sure she's ever loved him more than she does now, so it's hard to resist when he smiles across the room at her, or when he slips his hands around her waist. She hardly lets him out of her sight or out of her reach, but this is the exact thing that they needed: time.
Time to spend together to heal their hearts, and time to confront their fears at each other's sides. It will take a little bit more, but they are moving in the right direction, and as long as they continue to do it all together, she knows that it will be no time at all before they're back to their usual routine.
Not that this is such a bad thing, either. She kind of prefers it.
It's near the start of the second week that things have started to feel... somewhat normal again. Eustace will be woken to the smell of pancakes, bacon, and coffee bright and early one morning after another lindwurm session in the flowery dreamscape. The sun is barely rising by the time Tifa is in the kitchen whipping them up their breakfast, but she knows that it's only a matter of time before the smell will wake him...]