melodiesofeternity | Event || Once Upon A Dream

Event || Once Upon A Dream

Who: All characters who signed-up!
When: May 31st - June 04th
Where: The Dream Width (+ Curti Center & Airships)
What: Event log for the Once Upon A Dream Event! Should your character have their own memory, start your own top-level with said memory. If not, then tag around in other characters's memories! Furthermore, feel free to use the Mingle threads at the Curti Center and in the Airships for non-memory related CR. Please refer to the OOC Post for details and plotting. Plot Memories and the second Airship Mingle will be unlocked on May 25th.
Warnings/Notes: Memories with specific warnings will be marked as such by their players.

Please use the following form for your memory's title line:
CHARACTER'S NAME | MEMORY TITLE | WARNINGS (IF ANY)
We will add links to your memories here as the event progresses!

Mingle: Curti Center | Airships #1 | Airships #2
Plot Memories: The Dream | The Nightmare | The Premonition
Holographic Messages

Adrien Agreste | Then and Now
Aqua | Thorny Pathway | cw: spoiler for kh 0.2
Castor | Lord of the Inferno | cw: fire, mind control
Ena | Zera Hamlet, Reprise | cw: mutilated corpses
Futaba Sakura | Early Days | cw: references to verbal abuse/neglect and auditory hallucinations
Ignis Scientia | For The Life of the Chosen | cw: spoilers, violence, death
Irhya Pendhula | The Parting Glass | cw: violence, amputation
Johnny D'Amico | United Earth Prisoner
Kanji Tatsumi | You're a BOY, you know! | cw: bullying, mild homophobia
Lelouch vi Britannia | Julius Kingsley
Monika | Just Monika | cw: spoilers, possible horror, possible deletion
Nanamo Ul Namo | A Good Memory
Noctis Lucis Caelum | Light of the Crystal | cw: chapter 13 spoilers
Okuyasu Nijimura | Lending a Hand | cw: blood/injuries
Prompto Argentum | I'm not one of your experiments! | cw: episode prompto spoilers
Selphie | The Answer | cw: gore/death
Takashi 'Shiro' Shirogane | The end of the beginning | cw: end of season 2 spoilers
Tidus | A Broken Dream | cw: death, bullying

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The classroom behind the door was more of the same as the halls: Instructions on the chalk board, posters on the wall, and math formulas decorating what were otherwise quirky tidbits and ways to practice certain kanji.

In the teacher's absence, it seemed the students had decided to take advantage of the freedom to leave their seats and have a quick chat with their friends. But they were abuzz about something today, keeping their voices hushed. Their color and definition was gone as well, replaced by black shadowy figures. Their eyes were hollow white holes, mouths curved into smiles as they learned and spoke to one another.

"Poor Mi-chan... is she ever coming back?"

"Her mom probably needs to burn her bag and bury it first. Especially after Tatsumi touched it."

"She should have asked someone else..."

"I know! She should have known better."

"Sshh! He can hear you."

"Do I really care if he does? He's gross."

One by one, the minute features began to melt and turn into large white X's as they spoke, further blurring what little individuality they had. But seated to the left side of the class and near the window, surrounded by too many empty seats, was a boy of about 9 with short black hair.

His hands were clenched into fists atop his desk, gray eyes focusing on the surface of it. It seemed every inch of him was bunched up and ready to move, but something held him back.

"Why won't you just leave?"

The boy turned, looking to a shadow seated behind him by a pair of seats. The shadow stood, leaning hands against his (for the voice was another boy's) desktop.

"Nobody wants to sit next to you, or eat lunch with you. Nobody wants to touch you, or they'll turn weird like you!"

The boy grit his teeth. His eyes burned. He was so tired. This was happening every day. "My mom says th-there's nothin' weird about-!"

"'But mama says there-there-there's nothin' weeeeird!' You're a freak, Tatsumi. You play with dolls, you sew, you put girl stickers on your notebooks... you're supposed to be a boy but you're not, so what are you!?"

The boy didn't answer, eyes tearing up in frustration. But as the shadow talked, the others were in rapt attention, some even nodding, murmuring.

"See? You even cry like a girl! You know what you are? You're a qu%$*."

The word was lost in a horrific, grinding screech, something so distorted, while some of the watching crowd began to excitedly repeat the word, as if they were learning what word to use for this boy for the first time in their lives.

But the boy was upright in an instant, eyes wild, and he grabbed the chair he was just a moment ago occupying. In an instant, the chair hurtled across the room, striking the shadowy figure and sending it sprawling to the floor. In the wake of it, the room was silent.

The black-haired boy tread across the floor, stooped to grab the shadow by the collar and lifted him. He struck him in the face once, twice, watched blood stream from his nose. He raised his quivering fist again, teeth bared, tears streaming down his face... then, he stopped.

He dropped him. Breath seething between his teeth, the boy turned and made a beeline for the door, shoving aside every desk in his way, elbowing classmates until he could make his exit.

Something was incredibly wrong here. What could have possibly distorted this person's memory so much as to forcibly erase everybody from the scene? Connie's answer comes when the razor-edged rumors and chatter reaches her ears. She clenches her fists, teeth set. Oh joy. Bullying. Friendlessness. This was bringing back fantastic memories. At least now she knows how to deal with it.

She stalks towards Kanji's seat, putting a face to the name as she realizes that this is the memory of the guy who shared food with her on that horrible, horrible first day. Connie had been hoping to meet up with him again, just... not like this.

As Kanji begins to cry but before the shadow can completely break him, Connie walks up behind him and says, in a voice that barely contains her rage, "On the contrary, Tatsumi-kun, would you mind if I sit down with you? It looks like you could use some good company." She glares at the shadow, anger burning in her eyes.

He should be used to it by now. His parents would always say, 'be the bigger person. Ignore them, and tell a teacher.' Fat lot of good that did, when the teacher simply told him to ignore it until they 'get bored' and stop. Kids could never be bored of the torment of other kids.

Kanji sat upright, surprised, and turned to look at this girl in the cool uniform. Where... where'd she come from? Was she from the junior high nearby? His eyes wide, he couldn't reply at first, wondering if he'd somehow imagined this person from his own loneliness, something that happened sometimes and he knew he was pathetic for it.

He desperately wanted to nod, his heart wanted him to nod. But reality thought otherwise. His eyes turned fearful as he shook his head. "Please don't... they'll make fun of you, too."

Connie's heart aches when Kanji says that. He must've been tormented incessantly to have such a resigned response, not to mention an obvious lack of friends. It was all too familiar. Smiling sadly and shaking her head, Connie says, "Don't worry, I'm used to it. And even if I wasn't... you still need a friend more than I need to keep my ego intact."

Kanji had no response to that. If she wanted to sit, then she could sit. But he'd warned her...

The seat next to him was available, of course, as nobody wanted to sit there. All the while, the whispering continued, following the memory. But as time went on, it seemed Connie was becoming rather integrated into the tale.

"Who even is that?"

"She doesn't go to this school, she's probably weird too..."

But Kanji didn't seem to notice, fidgeting and blushing. This hasn't happened to him before, wh-what does he even do at this point?

"Why... why are you here? I thought I knew all the kids in town."

She had to handle this delicately. Connie couldn't risk raising Kanji's suspicions or try to snap him out of the memory this early. Thinking for a moment, Connie replies, "I'm not from here, no. I just came to to visit family. I wanted to try and surprise my little cousin, but I might've accidentally come to the wrong school."

Connie scowls at the whispering shadows, then sighs and shakes her head. "They have no idea what they're talking about, you know."

Edited 2018-05-21 00:54 (UTC)

That seemed to work, as he nodded and sniffled, running the heel of his palm over his eyes to mop them up. He could give directions to the other school nearby, but he wasn't very good at writing them when he'd only seen the place once or twice.

"They do. Boys aren't supposed to do what I do. I'm the only one who does it, other than... than Dad. But he's an adult, and adults can do whatever they want."

Connie was clearly having none of Kanji's nonsense. She knew that he was fully capable of owning both sides of himself on Vaikuntha from what she saw on MogNet. He just needed some help jogging his memory. "Tatsumi-kun, it doesn't matter what other people think of you. Does doing all that," Connie makes air quotes with her fingers, "'girly' stuff make you happy? If it does, it doesn’t matter if other people think you’re weird. What matters is that you stay true to yourself. As long as you’re not hurting people, you can’t go wrong if you do that.

“And you’re not alone.” Connie leans back and smiles, reminiscing. “The bravest, strongest person I know is a boy a lot like you. He wears pink, he likes flowers, he’s a huge sap, and he’s the only reason I’m able to talk to you like this. Steven can do all of those things, save the day, and teach me how to stand up to myself at the same time.”

He nodded. Doing things like this, and fixing Mi-chan's bag did make him happy. But he couldn't wrap his head around why people seemed to be cool with it right up until he'd fixed that bag. The older he got, the less people seemed to enjoy the things he made.

His father got to work at the shop. When he was really little, he could make things and make people happy. But suddenly he wasn't allowed? Why? How old did he have to be before people would like him again?

Kanji canted his head as she spoke of Steven. He sounded pretty cool.

"...Do people pick on Steven?"

If by "pick" Kanji meant "tried to kill and/or traumatize," well, Connie would be there all day listing the incidents. But that obviously wasn't his real intention. Shaking her head, she says, "Not at all. He's loved by pretty much everyone who knows him, really. I know it probably sounds like I'm making him up, but I'm not."

Connie sighs, looking out the window. "When I was around your age, I also had... problems with, well, people like this," she gestures vaguely towards the rest of the classroom. "But when I met Steven... because he was so nice, so gentle, he helped me learn how to stand up for myself and became my first real friend. The world doesn't need more tough guys, Tatsumi-kun. The world needs more genuinely nice guys. It's still totally fine if you want to be strong, though. Steven is living proof that you can be both nice and strong at the same time."

Steven sounded cooler the more he heard of him. Strong, but still nice to people. He needed to learn to be like that.

"You make it sound easy, but people are really mean sometimes. I gotta know how Steven does it. Can I meet 'im?"

Kanji turned. "And maybe-"

He froze amid a sudden cloud of white powder. A chalkboard eraser had struck his head and clattered against his desk. The gray in his eyes had gone steely as he turned to witness a shadowy classmate reaching for another eraser, preparing to throw it. The glowing white eyes are on Connie.

"Take your stupid friend and leave!"

Thankfully, Connie was saved by having to answer that awkward question by the untimely interruption of the shadow. She sighs. At least this would probably be a good opportunity to try and snap him out of it. If the shadow throws another eraser, Connie's hand snaps forward to catch it--since she hadn't been able to rely on supernatural powers on Earth, the sudden removal of such a crutch didn't do anything to impair her natural athleticism.

"Tatsumi-kun, I need you to do me a favor. Take a deep breath and look at your classmates. What do you see?" Seeing the anger in Kanji's eyes, Connie does her best to smile and adds, "It's not worth it. Fighting them could prove them wrong, but then they'll just start hating you in a different way instead. The only way to win is not to play: ignore them and focus on what really matters." She places special emphasis on the last three words, looking at Kanji meaningfully. "Remember what matters to you, and you can't go wrong."

The eraser was caught like nothing, and Kanji's eyes were wide. Who- who was this girl...!?

But now she was saying weird stuff. What did he see? Terrible, cruel people he was supposed to call his classmates and friends. They were nothing but shadows to him, with mean, hateful eyes and cruel smiles. Fighting them was so tempting, but she was right. It wasn't worth it.

What really matters...? Being himself, right? To be strong, but kind?

As he stared at her, his hair was slowly growing pale. "I-I... what?"

That was some progress, at least. But she still had to be careful. If she wasn't... well, Connie had no idea what would happen if she aroused Kanji's suspicions, but it couldn't be good. Keeping an even, calm tone of voice, Connie continues. "Who cares about you, Kanji? Remember them. They're the ones you should worry about, not all of these... people who are trying to drag you down."

Edited 2018-05-22 14:51 (UTC)

Who cared...? Despite his fears, there were two he could think of. Maybe.

"Mom n' Dad? But they don't listen... not when I tell them all the stuff they say. They tell me just to be nice and they'll 'get it'. I keep trying n' trying n' trying..." He lowered his head to his desk and threw his arms over himself.

Meanwhile, a shadow had come over with a container of some kind, and was beginning to pour some sort of thick fluid into the bag that hung over one side of Kanji's desk. But the child didn't seem to notice through the quiet sobbing.

Okay, Connie has officially had enough of this memory's twisted torture. Her hand snaps out to snatch the shadow's wrist. Kanji was almost there, she could tell, he just needed one final reminder... Maybe she could use her boiling rage to her advantage. "Who cares what these idiots think?!" Connie explodes.

((OOC: Mood Music))

"Do you really want to worry about what people who do stuff like this," she gestures towards the arm she's holding, "and say stuff like that feel about you? They'll never 'get it' and that's okay! Sometimes people will never become better just because you try being nice to them, and that's okay! You're already so much stronger, so much better than them for just trying to be who you are despite all the stuff they do to you. Find your own truth and stick to it. If you do, you'll meet other people who'll accept you for who you really are, no matter what. In fact, I'm sure you already have, whether you remember it or not... Kanji."

Edited 2018-05-25 16:14 (UTC)

That voice... why was it so familiar? It was ringing bells left and right, and briefly he saw in his mind's eye a girl hunched over a tray of food and eating like she hadn't in days, then looking sheepish. The lines were so long, weren't they, so some people didn't get to eat until it'd gotten really late.

He sat up and squinted at her. The wrist in Connie's hand was gone, and the room had gone silent. The sound of wind, the sound of cicadas, and even the smell of the classroom had muted to nothingness. It was muted because they didn't matter. Most of them, Kanji realized, moved out of town or to different schools. Even if they went to Yasogami, it wasn't like he talked to them. Hell, they'd give him a wide berth when they passed in the halls.

But he wasn't a high schooler. He was just a kid... right?

"Connie, my head hurts." He knew her name. He wasn't supposed to, yet he did. Have they met before? He wasn't supposed to be here. Was he supposed to be somewhere else.

"The hell's going on?" Language. He wasn't supposed to swear.

Swearing was probably a good sign. There was the Kanji she'd met earlier. "There we go. Kanji-san, you're not supposed to be here," Connie chides him gently. "Don't get caught up in the past when we have friends to help in the present. With all the chaos on the ships, we need to stick together if we want to get everyone out of this. And hey, after all this mess is over, I could go for some food like the stuff you shared with me that first night."

"I'm not supposed to be here," he repeated, the boy looking lost as his eyes turned to the chalk board. He recalled the smell of the cleaning solution used to maintain the ships, the conversation he shared with his crewmates.

Kanji hopped out of his chair, eyes sharp. "The- the ships! That's right, something happened to the ships, right!? Swirly stuff, and a feeling like something grabbed my brain and shook it around..."

The classroom froze, giant cracks forming in it. Piece by piece, it began to fall away into a growing blank whiteness, like a brightly-lit room unfurnished and without windows.

"Food? That's right, ya sat at my table... I'm gonna need that and somethin' close to a damn stiff drink after all this is over. But how do we leave? Is that supposed to happen?"

Yeah because the... the shattering room looked pretty damn freaky right now.

"Thank goodness you're back." Connie shakes her head in relief, then stumbles as the room begins to fall apart. Oh. Well, she supposed it was only to be expected. With the memory failing, it only made sense that the world was beginning to fall apart. "Yeah, I think this is supposed to happen. When we get back, meet up same place as last time?"

Kanji looked guarded, and gave a yelp as the floor under his feet gave way. Yet despite the nothingness beneath, he still felt like he was on solid ground. He was also back to sixteen years of age.

He was free. That part of his life was over. He'd grown.

Connie was given a nod. "Yeah. Same place. With shorter lines this time. And... thanks."

Connie shakes her head. "It's no problem, really. It honestly felt a little cathartic to be able to go off like that with all the crap I went through when I was-" She blushes, covering her mouth. "Er, ah, anyways, see you later. We still got some people to rescue, after all."

((OOC: Do you want to end here and do a log with them meeting up later in the main comm?))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event || Once Upon A Dream

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For maximum effect, click link after first paragraph

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KANJI MADE CONNIE DO A SWEAR