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

It's hot. He's had that thought before so many times. The heat pours in and washes over him and he leans back, breathing shallowly to ride out the shock of the switch. The taste of ash. The feeling of a strong wooden staff against the backs of his robed shoulders. The hood over his face and partly in his eyes keeps the worst of the glare at bay.

He lifts his right hand and stares at it. Normal flesh greets his eyes. The forelock of hair plastered to his face with sweat is still white. He shoves it out of the way. The sight that greets him is sheer hell. His breath escapes him before he can hold it back and the air that comes back into his mouth and throat is heavy and doesn't help at all.

Shiro shoves his hood back and paces among the gathered people, weaving through them with steady steps. The fear etched on the faces of the prisoners is so familiar he would know it anywhere. People with no hope look like that. He draws the staff and slows his steps, eyes on the black skinned aliens that have faces enough like Galra to stir up a focused anger.

Claws. Probably teeth. Strength. The idea that this is a memory fades as he spins the staff, moving with sure purpose. Tails to dodge. A staff has long reach and while he isn't the fastest, he can make them suffer. It's nice and heavy too.

There won't be human blood spilled here if he has anything to say about it. He surges forward with deadly purpose and freezes cold as a voice made of growls and barks translates in his mind. Lord of the Inferno?

He glances back at the people as his blood turns cold. Are they going to sear them alive?! Light from above. He jerks the hood back over his head and uses it to lessen the glare. Flames spin faster and faster in a dizzying display. He looks away from it, gripping his staff as the earth beneath his feet seems to scream. The air too as if the world around him has a voice and only he is privy to it. He claps a hand over his ear and sinks down. "Stop it. Qui-"

Dirt and debris fly up as something crashes into the ground, and the blast of heat from it is as bad as times he got too close to explosions. He bites back a curse and catches movement behind him. His gaze snags on Castor. Her hair is shorter and she looks a little younger, but he recognizes her from the way she moves. Light, like she could fly over the ground.

Well, at least he knows who he needs to help. He turns back as words pour into his soul that have no right to invade. The Earth beneath him whispers angrily and the wind curls around him as if waiting for his word. The beast roars as he whispers to the wind to gather close. He doesn't know what the hell he's doing but earth and wind are answering him.

Hit it with a rock comes to mind. He chuckles despite himself. It's that or get enraged and he can't afford that right now when the begging people need help. The beast roars and his laugh that had bubbled up again halts. He throws up his arms to shield himself as blue flames roar over him but lets the earth strike and rocks rip past him. It doesn't do anything but pass through. He turns catching sight of Castor again with her cat eared friend.

No one is burned alive but as the silence descends a horrible dread rears up from and the earth's lament doesn't spell anything good.

'O-oh mighty Ifrit!'

His stomach lurches and he covers his mouth with his hand as acid coats the back of his tongue. He breathes through his nose to ride out the nausea. He can't get sick. The memory keeps going, uncaring of his feelings and he's kind of grateful for that as the earth offers him solace. He thanks it and takes it into himself. Instinct.

Impossible! By what sorcery do you resist my master's will!?

"More like your evil overlord but, who am I to judge?" He mutters to himself and straightens up, planting the butt of his staff against the ground and rising to his feet. He thacks his staff against one open palm and takes the time to just breathe. This is heading towards a fight and the beast keeps talking he pulls on the earth. It answers him eagerly. Like it wants to bash the thing to pieces. Good to work with a like minded partner.

With heat like that he doesn't dare get closer. His staff wouldn't like it. But if the earth and wind will keep working with him...he glances to Castor one more time.

"Go time?" A blast of renewed, worse heat than ever before nearly takes him from his feet. Shiro digs his staff into the ground and growls, leaning into the blast. Weapons are drawn and the challenging roar is enough for him.

He's going to give this offender new meaning to Hit it with a rock. "Go! I'll cover you!" He calls to the two still sane. Even if this is just a memory. He's going to see this through. If it loops...well.

He'll come to that later.

The heat is the first thing that catches Vax. It roils through him; wearing black, as he does, it prompts an immediate sweat. Nevermind that his clothing is different, now: it fits Eorzea, which is a surprise. He looks around, and the sight of the scared humans fills him with dread. His hand falls to his side -- and he finds a dagger there, but not the one that he is used to. He turns his head to the side, to see Castor. At least, he thinks that must be her.

But, it doesn't look like her. She seems younger; she has short hair, instead. "What the fuck is--" But then, he looks up at that tiny bead of light. His mouth opens to call out, angry and defiant -- but the roar of Ifrit's voice is more than enough to override his shout of defiance. Instead, he has to watch as the Primal forms and descends. He feels something stick in his throat.

He looks sideways, at Shiro. He looks surprised to see him. The rogue tilts his head, before he looks up. His dark eyes narrow, before he draws both of the daggers at his side. They flip up, with a practiced motion and that undeniable flourish. They twirl in his hands, and then come up, halfway to being crossed, as the ground shakes underneath his feet. Then, he looks from the Mi'qote to the short-haired version of the woman he knows.

"Castie," he says. Unlike the first time he used that nickname, there is concern there. He thinks better of it, too, after he says it. "Castor." This thing..."

He looks up at Ifrit -- and then back to Shiro. 'Go! I'll cover you!' He grits his teeth, then he nods to the Paladin. "Do your best. I'll go for its side. Let's hope this big ugly fucker can bleed!" he calls out.

Castor takes off like a rocket at Shiro's urging, seemingly oblivious to the identity of her dream's interlopers. Her companion is a step behind her, and darts away to Ifrit's right flank, while Castor meets him head-on. The beast roars and exhales a bout of red flame at the Miqo'te before spinning to swipe one of it's massive claws at Castor. She skirts out of the way and manages to keep her footing as Ifrit slams his other hand into the ground again. The Miqo'te jams his spear into Ifrit's side as Castor dives between it's legs, rolling back up to her feet and slamming her fist into one of the knee joints.

So faced, she can now see Shiro and Vax, but no look of personal recognition crosses her face. What she does recognize, however, are their armaments.

"'Ey! You're a conjuror! Keep us on our feet yeah? An' you with the stabbers! I'll try an' keep 'im busy so do yer thing!"

Ifrit whirls back on her, and Castor ducks another swipe of his claws. Finally, she glances over to her Miqo'te friend.

"Shian, try an' get 'im in the shoulder, yeah? I don't wanna test my luck with all this..."

W'shian's red ear flicks then he moves like a desert hunter on the prowl his gold eyes alight with rage. There's something personal in the way he rolls out of the way of a swipe and leaps, light as a feather to land on the beast and viciously sink his spear into the shoulder. He grits his teeth, holding on for dear life and hissing a curse under his breath over and over.

Red light pours down into the spear as he brings it up and brings it down again.

Shiro breathes in letting the earth and wind guide their power up into his staff. Magic, his mind supplies for him. This is what magic feels like. He hurls wind at Ifrit and blinks sweat out of his eyes. Keep everyone alive.

He can do that. He nods to Vax, "I got your back. Do what you have to!" He sweeps the staff and calls to the elements to give him power. He sends it streaming out like water for the lancer with the vicious look on his face and to Castor. It feels odd not to be charging in too. But this is his role. He'll play it as he circles the field, moving with just as much purpose as the rest and rocks rip through the air in front of him. He times his shots, aiming for spots his companions aren't. "Try to disable all its joints!" He calls, and lets the wind whirl and race across the distance to aim a slap right for the beast's face.

Unlike the others who were already prepared to fight, Camilla was just dazed as she watched the events unfold. The first thing she can think of when the haze started to disappear from her thoughts was how incredibly hot she was feeling. The second was that she was in heavier armor than she was used to and she was left gripping an axe in her hands. And thirdly...what in the hell is that pathetic dragon wannabe creature?

It's the fact that everyone else is already starting to join the fray and Camilla strangely cannot just stand there. She smirks as she raises her axe and simply throws it at the beast.

"Oh, did I do that? So sorry, darling." She's not if her smirk didn't clearly show it as the axe sails back into her hands. "Sounds like you'll be a good challenge, let's see what you can do then!"

Vax'ildan glances to the side at Camilla, as sends her axe flying. He understands, in a moment: she must be the big, axe-wielding, Groggy one. He cracks a grin, and then he looks up at Ifrit. Shiro has his back; Shiro seems, at least, to recognize him. He nods his head once, and then his jaw sets. He tries to not think, at least not, now, about the fact that Castor doesn't recognize him.

Maybe, he thinks, that is how this place works.

"I'll see to it," he says. He looks at Camilla. "Keep his attention!"

He goes running in. As he closes the distance, he throws a dagger out. The blade flies for Ifrit's side, before he lunges in. He lands at the back of the Primal, and looks up at alien physiology. Perhaps the exact skillset is different, but the principle is the same. Vax has stood here, before: facing a monstrosity that would spell doom to a city, his comrades attracting its attention, and his blades the instrument to undo it.

Which is why he lunges in, a flash of blades. One slashes up at the base of Ifrit's tail; the other, though, plunges hard for his left leg, to try to hamstring him. Tragically, of course, Ifrit doesn't truly have anatomy...

Terra's axe lands a second after Camilla's. He doesn't know quite where he is or how he got this weapon, but combat is what he's trained for. And there doesn't seem to be any question of who's on the right side, not when he's just watched this "Ifrit" seem to control the minds of others. He still remembers when Maleficent... Such a being has to be stopped!

He runs up to retrieve his greataxe, facing off with Ifrit directly. "Leave them alone!" It's not nearly as eloquent, but he's ready to let his actions speak for him.

Ifrit, seemingly unphased by the attacks, bellows in anger and a wall of flame erupts from him, blowing back everyone close to him. Castor herself goes careening into the wall of flame surrounding the arena and has to spend the next moment ensuring she hasn't caught fire herself.

Ifrit begins to stomp towards Camilla, but Terra's axe catches his attention instead and he changes trajectory almost immediately. He beelines for Terra and takes an angry swipe at him. "Succumb to the Inferno!" the beast snarls before exhaling flame on the axe weilders once again.

Castor pulls herself to her feet, staring at the battlefield. She meets eyes first with W'Shian, then regards the others. For those paying attention, a moment of confusion crosses her face. This...was this right...?

No matter. Castor charges back in with a yell.

W'shian had clamped his hands onto his spear in an attempt to hold on but the wall of flame knocks him off. He drops into a roll to slow himself down and comes back up on his feet. "m' Fine! Hit the flame spewing beastie from one side! I'll get the other! We're takin him down today!"

He glares at the beast. "No more." Whatever he means he charges in moving swift and spear at the ready as he comes up on the left side. He lashes out with a blow intended to knock the legs out from under it on that side and stabs at its middle in the next blow. "The rest of you hit it with everything you've got." He calls out. While Castor is confused, now the memory of W'shian will acknowledge them.

Shiro follows the call of water and sends it rushing into anyone he spots took damage. Wounds heal over as he moves in closer, but slightly out of range of the wall of flame that knocked everyone back. He plants his staff as rocks and wind rise up around him and hurl towards his target. He seeks to slow it down.

He glances at the unfamiliar face but both axe wielders are in the path of the beast. "Be careful! Guard and block when you have to. I'll keep you up!" He glances at Vax, "Looks like it doesn't have anything to disable like normal. I guess it makes sense given how it appeared?"

W'Shian sighs, "Hit your head? This thing is a primal! Doesn't matter what they're made-" He cuts himself off with a snarl. "Keep us up and we'll do the rest."

"It looks like," Vax'ildan calls back to Shiro. "But we can cut it down! We won't--" Ifrit rushes away from Camilla and at Terra, pulling away from him. His daggers bite at nothing but the air, then, and he shakes his head quickly.

"Shit--it's quick!"

Vax's shout echoes over the roar of flame in this blazing hot place. The half-elf's eyes are wide, before he goes rushing at them. He glances to the side, to Castor, as he runs. His eyes narrow for a moment. "Castor! You know us! You've met us, back on Vaikuntha! I don't know where we are, or what this place is... but you have to remember, and--"

The rogue looks up at the Primal, and then cries out: "FIGHT!"

Then, Vax leaps. He comesa down with a one-handed slash at Ifrit's back. His blade cuts down for it, and then he lunges forward. His eyes widen -- and he tries to ram his off-handed dagger into the thing's back, and twist.

There's no time to dodge the blow of Ifrit's arm, but Terra's never been much of a dodging type anyway. Instead, he sets his feet and brings up his blade to block the worst of the damage. The Primal's strength echoes through his body, his teeth clack together with the force of it, but he doesn't flinch.

The fire is a bit more of a concern: it pushes Terra back a step or two, whether he likes it or not. He coughs the smoke from his lungs and tries to ignore the burns.

"We can beat this, Castor!" he calls. "You're strong enough!"

Camilla raises her arms up, using the metal as a makeshift shield from Ifrit's fiery attack. She makes a noise of discontent as she finds herself raising the axe up and yelling at the beast.

"Hey, focus on me!"

It wasn't just her screaming for the fun of it; Camilla unknowingly activities Provoke to get the beast to pay attention to her instead. She can take the hits given heals. She should be also be screaming for Castor to realize that this is only a dream but there is the matter of the giant lizard ready to kill them all.

As if entranced by her yell, Ifrit breaks away from his assault on Terra and stomps back to Camilla, raking at her again with a massive paw. Meanwhile, the ground beneath Shiro begins to crack and glow, radiating outwards like a spiderweb from where he's standing.

Castor herself is back in the fray, following at Ifrit's feet as he moves, but she hears the shouts first from Vax, then from Terra, and she breaks off, looking between them with large and frightened eyes.

"What? What do you--"

Her attention is caught behind her, and she sees the earth beneath Shiro begin to crack. "Hey! Move it!"

The earth is screaming warnings at the same time Castor's voice washes over him. Shiro dives clear and rolls, staff tucked safely against him. He comes back up on his feet. "Camilla step closer to the boy! Keep the primal steady so we can take it down!"

He reaches for the magic again looking for something like rampart. He finds it and sends it sweeping out as Protect. Okay. He jerks back as the stinging heat of the eruption slaps against his side. He sweeps his staff out with a hissed curse and pulls in power to heal it. He needs to be at his best to run around the back if its going to keep hitting him. "Castor, stay on the right. Shian the left! Vax keep to the back. Let's see if hitting it from several directions will slow it down any."

The Mi'quote flicks an ear, obeying the voice ringing with authority. Shiro has an idea. "Next time you see those cracks try and stun it. Maybe we can interrupt its focus." But he hasn't forgotten their objective. "Castor, do you remember what comes next? You have to. You lived through this."

He glances at Shian as he adds, almost too quietly to be heard over the flames. "I see why he became a Dragoon. He looks like he belongs in the sky."

Edited 2018-05-31 19:30 (UTC)

"This thing is moving around a lot!" Vax shouts, more out of necessity to be heard than fury, in the direction of Ifrit. He doesn't know what he can do about that -- but, thankfully, it seems they have a natural leader in their midst. He grits his teeth. "I can do that! Shiro, keep it up!"

He rushes for the Primal's back. Vax rushes in and leaps, which may not be the best idea -- because he tries to land on Ifrit's back, and then slam both daggers in, twist, and rip them free with a bloody pull.

Before cartwheeling backward, and hoping Camilla and/or Terra keep the Primal's attention.

"Focus, Castor!" he calls out. "You've seen this shit before, I'm sure of it! You talked about saving the world, once! And not getting a castle for it. Er. Focus on the first part, for now!"

Camilla nods upon hearing Shiro's order and yells over the flames and fighting: "Understood! Leave it to me!"

And she raises her arms up as a slight red aura pops around for a split second, activating Berserk and raising her attack power a bit more for a few seconds. Followed by Conevalensce because if the beast is going to focus on her, she needs the boost in heals if he does anything like a cleave. And she returns to attacking it like her life depended on it.

Castor seems stunned almost to inaction by the shouts of the party, and she regards the arena with wide brown eyes, no less afraid, but now most assuredly very confused.

"I lived through this...?"

Those in a position to see her may notice her gaze drifting towards the centre of the arena. Even as she begins to close in on Ifrit once again, she always seems to be glancing back towards the centre...

Ifrit roars again, and his voice reverberates through the very fibre of your being once more.

"Surrender thyself to the fires of Judgement!"

Aether begins to coalesce in the centre of the arena, solidifying into a solid pillar after a few seconds. Immediately, Castor breaks away from Ifrit and begins wailing on it instead.

"Shian!" she yells, "an' you with the stabbers! Come help me with this! We don't have long!"

Ifrit goes back to alternating hits between Camilla and Terra, trying to knock one or both of them back away from him and into the ring of fire that enclosed the combat.

W'Shian stuns Ifrit with a leg sweep and sprints to the center, spear moving through the familiar motions. He shifts his weight as another wash of red light rises up and condenses back down into his lance.

Shiro nods, casting healing magic when the elements speak to him while rocks and wind rush towards the pillar. They chip and scour at it. He keeps well away from the fighting in case the earth cracks at his feet again. He can't distract Castor right now.

She'd almost frozen and that would have caused problems. They need her guidance in what comes next. At least until they can break this memory.

"The name is Vax!" Vax'ildan shouts over the roar of flame, and then the shuddering noise that echoed throughout the chamber when the huge spike of stone appeared. His eyes widen, as he gets a brief look at it.

But he knows what he has to do.

He rushes in behind it. Then, he slams his knife hard for a crack in the nail -- before he launches with two quick slashes, blades striking hard for it.

"What happens if we don't rip this apart in time?" he calls out.

"I don't want to find out!" Camilla replies over the noise and then yells over to the other tank in the area. "You go help them destroy that thing while I'll hold him off! The more on that stone, the quicker it will be gone!"

Well, at least that's her thought. She can handle a little lizard on her own.

"You got it!" Terra pulls himself reluctantly away from Ifrit, Berserking himself as he does so. Then he throws his axe at the nail with Tomahawk, buying himself time to move closer. He still keeps an eye on the Primal and Camilla, ready to step back in if she needs help.

"Ye really don't!" Castor yells in reply, her fists slamming into the nail again and again, "It's helpin' 'im focus his aether! Too much and there'll be nothin' left of us!"

After a few seconds of sustained fire by all five attackers, something in the nail suddenly gives. The structure shatters, the aether that made it up dispersing before rubble hits the ground. Castor immediately and desperately looks at Shiro. She opens her mouth to speak but is cut off by another angry roar from the bestial primal.

Ifrit, enraged, leaps away from Camilla to land in the centre of the arena. "Thy souls shall burn for eternity!"

Fire begins to coalesce around the beast, growing larger and brighter and hotter by the second. Ifrit is pulled into the air, glowing with power and rage and with a final bellow, it all erupts. The arena is flooded with Ifrit's searing hellfire; it's too bright to see, to hot to breathe. The aether burns.

It's a wonder anyone survived this in the first place.

BUt just when the heat and light is becoming unbearable...cool air touches your skin. Ash and sand no longer chokes your every breath. It's dark and quiet.

But don't worry. You're not dead.

Looking up again, the dim beauty of the Dream Width greets you once again. Castor just breathes.

"Sorry 'bout all that..."

Vax looks up at the Primal, eyes wide, and stares as the inferno builds and gathers. He sees, then, why the Lord of Inferno is so named. Is this what it would be like, he wonders, to face down the dragon that killed his mother? He raises a hand, protectively, over his face.

But cool air is what he gets. A blast of it, and then Vax turns his head, and peers around for a moment. The clouds of the Width are here, instead.

He blinks a couple of times.

Then, he turns his head and looks to Castor. "It's not your fault," he says. "Looks like any of us could get pulled into memories, yeah?" He hesitates, a moment, before he adds: "...Is that what you meant? That time you talked about saving the world?"

The land and air cry out in warning. Shiro thrusts his wooden staff up following the guiding force of their voices. The look on Castor's face can wait. He sends magic rolling through the air as he jabs the staff forwards and sends it into everyone just as the flames hit and everything feels like its on fire.

His right arm is missing. Phantom pains race down the limb as his body remembers reality. The hair in his eyes is white. He shuts his eyes for a long moment and reaches out to grab onto Vax and Castor. "It happens out here. Everyone grab onto each other, the airship is on the way."

He can see it moving towards them grey and gleaming in the star-like light of the space. "As long as we're together we won't get pulled in. Apart and we'll fall into them."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event || Once Upon A Dream

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

TANK HERE PROVOKING YOUR SHIT

AHEM sorry yesterday was a....thing.

Double your tanking, double your fun!

I think we just hit Bowl of Embers HM

Man and I don't have regen so I can dps and not care. Worst

immediately scrolls camera in all the way, ignores the nails, and stands in fire

no subject

wow this party sucks if you die to triple Ifrit, I'm laughing my ass off

MOOOOOOOM THE HEALER IS DPSING AND THE TANKS ARE PLAYING PING PONNNNG

HUSH THAT HEALER IS ALSO YOUR BOSS. YOU LIVE AND DIE BY MY HAND

IF I IGNORE RAID CHAT MY NONEXISTENT PARSER WILL GO EVEN. HIGHER.

WAKE ME UP CAT MACRO GOES HERE

BEEP BEEP MECHANICS ARE FOR CARS!

WHAT MECHANICS WE BURN BOSS

STANDING IN FIRE BRB

DON'T REVIVE THEM, THEY'RE DOING THE STUPID

no subject

MECHANICS ARE FOR CHUUUUUMMMPPPPPSSS

no subject

no subject