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

Well expletive appropriate for this situation. In hindsight, Connie probably should've expected that--it made logical sense considering her own experiences, after all. She still can't help wincing when Futaba puts herself down like that, though. Time would tell whether she was digging herself deeper of climbing out of the hole, but Connie continues bluffing. "...okay, when I said 'we,' I was maybe exaggerating, but even though I never, um, really talked to you, loners tend to notice other loners, and loners tend to also have, uh, not the best self-esteem and stuff. I didn't want anything happening to you, so I, uh, came here to help you feel better."

It's not putting herself down when it's the truth, she's pretty sure.

Connie's attempt to recover could... have gone worse. It's hard to tell Futaba's expression because of the mask, sure, but she doesn't... immediately shy away or call for Sojiro, who's still moving around upstairs. It was true that she'd... pretty much kept her attention inward for the past year or so.

But uh. Futaba isn't going to be helping her along either. Unfortunately.

At least Connie wasn't being tossed out into whatever void laid behind the cafe. She twiddles her thumbs for a moment, searching for something, anything to say, before gulping and settling on, "So, uh... what happened? If you don't want to tell me, that's fine," she rapidly backpedals. "Maybe talking about it would help? I know from experience that keeping bad stuff pent up isn't a good idea in the short or long run."

Oh Connie, you really, really are trying. And Futaba would... probably appreciate it under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, these are decidedly not normal. Her hand curls up uncomfortably, and underneath the mask she's incredulous. How did Connie not know? The rumor mill at her middle school had had a field day when it found out.

"Mom died," she say coldly, "Mom died and everyone.... Everyone...."

She can't say it. Nope.

...oh. Connie really had nothing to say to that. No wonder Futaba... Connie's face is full of shock and genuine worry, and she moves to take Futaba's hand to ground and comfort her before realizing that it was probably a terrible idea and pulling back. "Oh, stars, I'm sorry. I- I- had no idea." Normally, Connie would ask if Futaba wanted her to leave, but that wasn't exactly an option now, was it?

"I know that, uh, this is pretty unlikely, but I can't leave you alone right now so... is there anything at all I can do to help?" She sounded so stupid. Of course there was nothing Connie could do.

Yeah backing off was probably a better move. Futaba is clinging to that side of the counter like it's a rock in a storm, and cringes against it initially when Connie reaches out.

There is something that's making her... a bit suspicious though. Everybody at school already knew what happened, pretty much. It'd spread like wildfire in the rumor mill. She still doesn't... she still can't trust that Connie's intentions are genuine. Especially not right now.

In some cases, literally.

"Are you a transfer student or something?" Because that's... that'd at least explain why she didn't know.

At least this Connie had an easy explanation for. "Um, yeah. I'm an exchange student from the U.S.," Connie explains. She really had no idea where to go from there, though. All of what Futaba has gone through... it's nothing that Connie has ever experienced anything like before. She really was no help in this situation. Biting her lip, Connie stares at the tabl, unsure of what to do next.

Hm. "Your Japanese is really good," she comments, frowning thougtfully. Better than she might've expected from an exchange student? Not that she's met too many.

At that moment - perhaps saving them both - there's a voice from upstairs, sounding more than a bit confused. "Futaba? Is someone else down there? I didn't hear the bell."

"Neither did I!" Futaba calls back, her head tilting a bit towards the stairs then back to Connie. EXPLAIN THYSELF..... maybe. Or something. In any case there's footsteps moving across the ceiling, towards the stairs.

This probably wasn't good. If there was another anchor tying Futaba to this memory, it would be all the harder to pull her out. Then again, there wasn't exactly a lot Connie could do about it except to double down and hope that maybe the logical inconsistencies would get Futaba to snap out of it. "Um, I just saw you in here and walked in. The door was unlocked, right? Is the cafe closed? Sorry if I didn't notice."

As the footsteps come down the stairs, they're revealed to belong to a middle-aged man. It's also worth noting that he's one of the sharper, clearer parts of the memory. Futaba remembers Sojiro better than anything else. Which may not help Connie's worries about him being an anchor connecting Futaba to this memory.

He seem a bit surprised at seeing someone about Futaba's age, it gives him pause before he glances over at Futaba and.... sighs gently because that mask. "Yeah, actually, we're not quite open yet. Are you here to see Futaba?"

Kids didn't normally come into cafes by themselves just to get a coffee, from what he remembers. Next to the counter, Futaba adds, "She says she's a transfer student from school."

Connie nods at Sojiro's question. Hopefully he wouldn't do the weird Inception thing and try to keep Futaba from waking up by engaging with Connie in an epic fight scene that she was in no way prepared to have. "Yeah. I, um, noticed she wasn't doing too well at school--not that she isn't smart, but, oh god, just going to stop digging my own grave right now--so I decided to try and check in on her."

Edited 2018-05-27 21:50 (UTC)

Don't worry, no Inception fights here. Just... a slight sigh, along with him glancing over at Futaba. Who is still looking somewhat uncomfortable. And that's something that hasn't really escaped his notice, nor is it something he'll disregard.

'Well, we really appreciate it,' he says politely, 'But now may not the best time. As you can see, we're still closed.'

No no no no no. Futaba wasn't even close to waking up yet, and Connie couldn't just leave her alone in the Dream Width. But how could she get out without making a scene? Connie, at the worst possible moment, freezes up. "Er, ah, I..."

Futaba glances up at the awkward stammering, being... a bit too familiar with it. And the more she looks at her the more she wonders... Connie really does seem kind of familiar? And maybe actually genuine. But...

"S-sorry," she mumbles.

She's just. She's not feeling up to this right now.

"W-wait, I'm-" But what could Connie say? That none of this was real? Please, she was doing such a bang-up job of warming herself up to Futaba already that there's no way that would make her sound crazy at all. Plead to stay longer? That would just seem creepy. What could she do. Swimming in despair and anxiety, if either of them move to lead Connie out, she doesn't resist.

And so Sojiro does, though it's worth noting that he's not a jerk about it. It's easy to see that Connie is distressed about... something. So as he holds the door open for her, he says, not unkindly, 'Another time, okay? Just make sure to let us know beforehand.'

Since that'd probably help on Futaba's end too. Less surprises, and all.

This was all her fault. If she wasn't so stupid, if she wasn't so scared, if she wasn't trying to be clever... then she might've... Connie might've been able to save Futaba. She was such an idiot. Eyes stinging, she pauses at the door, half-tempted to rush in and try to shake Futaba out of it, but she was too much of a coward to do that. It was hopeless, anyways. She was hopeless.

So all Connie could do was whisper, "I'm sorry," under her breath as she lets Sojiro push her out the door like the weakling she was.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event || Once Upon A Dream

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SOJIRO best non-thief confidant tbh

I wanted at least one of her crosscanon CR to get to meet him.

Side note: for character arc purposes, it would actually be beneficial for Connie to fail here

May be for the best, since I think we accidentally painted ourselves into a corner

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