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

[Makoto blinked and the world around her changed.]

[As though waking from a dream, Makoto took a step forward and was greeted with the cafe that she had come to call a second home. The air was full of the smell of Jamaican Blue and the simmering scent of curry that had an hour left to go. This was her nostalgia. Her comfort. Her sanctuary. The moment was broken when she instinctively lifted up her cell to call her sister to make sure that she was okay and to tell her all about the crazy dream of moogles and chocobos and... her absence.]

[Instead she was greeted with the blank screen of a dead phone. Without a power source in Valkutha she hadn't have access to it for almost a month now. Everything else was quick to follow: the ship, the Dream Width, her friends. The transition was so seamless and quick it reminded her of the Metaverse.]

[That thought lingered as she heard a pair of voices. She only needed to see the girl to get a sense of what was going on. Now the question remained: was that her, or was that a cognitive memory of her? Only one way to find out.]

[She approached the two.] Hello Boss. Hello Futaba. The sign said that you were open, but were you about to go somewhere?

[ Un...fortunately, there's a total lack of recognition in either face. Indeed, Futaba gives a startled yelp and dives behind Sojiro. Which in turn, mildly surprises him. Congrats Makoto, you may have helped initiate a small surprise bonding moment? In any case, Sojiro turns to look back at her, a bit nonplussed. ]

'Sorry, that must've been a mistake on my part. You'll have to come back later. We're not quite open, yet.'

[ Behind him, Futaba's voice echoes quietly ]

Not open yet!

Ah... my apologies. [She flattens her hands across the hem of her shirt, looking down the cafe.]

I hate to impose, but I was actually supposed to meet somebody here for a study session.

I'm a tutor for a middle school student, you see. This was supposed to be our first meeting. Did she not show up here? Her name was Kana.

[As soon as she said that her eyes moved to the girl hiding behind Futaba. If she was the real one that should remind her of their friendship. If she wasn't... well, she'd have to cross that bridge when she got there.]

[ That was actually a pretty sharp idea. Sojiro frowns, and is halfway to opening his mouth to reply when Futaba speaks up, voice stiff and shocked. There was no way it could be, right? ]

...Magario Kana?

[ She's peeking out from behind Sojiro a bit now. With... the mask on still, but... progress. ]

Yes, that's right. Did you meet her? Is she here?

[Her pace and tone is even, betraying no hint of the deception. Considering how rarely she did it, Makoto was an exceptional liar. More so than a certain model, anyway.]

N-no, she...

[ Her hands dig themselves into the fabric of the back of Sojiro's nice business shirt. She hadn't seen Kana in years. Didn't know if Kana was still mad, didn't know if her parents were still being awful, didn't- ]

D-does she live around here?

[ Sojiro himself had fallen silent, not wanting to interrupt someone who'd seemed to have gotten more words out of Futaba since the accident than anyone besides himself. But here, he does speak up ]

'Someone you know?'

[ Futaba nods, but doesn't elaborate. ]

[Drat, she was hoping that there would be more recognition than that. Still... being too disruptive would be bad. For now she needs to play along and see where following a memory leads.]

[Her concern for her friend demanded nothing less.]

Ah... I see...

I am very sorry, but it would not be my place to say. Please understand that as I am working here at an official capacity as a student at Shujin Academy I cannot answer any questions to anybody other than her family.

[She paused a moment to let the weight of that statement linger.]

...but if she feels like answering your questions when she gets here I would not be in a position to stop her. I could extend our session a little past our scheduled time.

[ Hm... that's. Hm. It's frustrating but unsurprising. Still that... sort of leaves a question there. One that Sojiro himself asks a few moments later. ]

'Would you rather eat here instead?'

[ And that's actually a tough one. She doesn't know if Kana will even want to see her. And if Kana's mad at her too she doesn't know what she'll- there's also the question of who else might turn up. There's a lot of ifs and she doesn't like mot of them. But. But. Finally Futaba nods and.... slowly... slowly... inches her way back towards her seat in the back of the room. And... pulls the mask off once she's safely behind her laptop. Which frees up Sojiro to head towards the kitchen. ]

'Curry?'

[ Futaba shakes her head sharply. No curry. Sojiro's face falls a bit at that, but he doesn't comment, turning to Makoto instead. ]

'Feel free to have a seat while I get things opened up.'

[Makoto remembered this awkwardness well. When they first got together she felt so helpless to even make a dent in the barrier that Futaba had created for herself. The rift was so wide, so desperate. Even with the advantage of foreknowledge she knew that she was going to have her work cut out for her.]

[So, instated, she's going to take a booth that was facing her. Trying her best not to make more of a scene, she pulls out a cell phone and... pretends to work on it. She glances out the door occasionally but mostly she waits for Futaba to make a first move.]

[There was a Plan B, but for now she wanted the conversation to be more on Futaba's time.]

[ Futaba is glancing over at the door too. And at Sojiro. And especially at Makoto. She's trying to focus on more internet trawling, but her nerves are too unsettled. Every time she tries to type something she ends up backspacing as much as she progresses. It's too frustrating, and eventually she just. Gives up. Closing her laptop and hugging it to her chest instead.

Glancing up at Makoto again. ]

D-did, um- [deep breath] Can you say when she's supposed to get here?

[Makoto stopped and looked up from her phone.]

Hmm...? Ah. The agreed upon time was 1:00 PM. If you see her let me know.

[She pauses again, looking down at her phone and then back up at Futaba.]

...am I making you nervous?

[ Futaba just... makes a small half-miserable half-disgruntled noise with maybe a word or two hidden in there that probably could be taken to mean "yes." It's rather reminiscent of the time that Ryuji asked her why she didn't just ask for help outright.

But really, it's more like everything strange and new makes her nervous, to be fair but. Right now they're a both a lot more focused on each other than anything else (Futaba's brief glances over towards the doorway aside). ]

[Makoto set down her phone.] I understand. I have a friend that is very much the same way. She's capable, intelligent, and a real wizard when it came to technology. Only... she feels greatly and is easily hurt.

One time it got so bad that she would close herself away and tried to make all the bad feelings go away. She hoped that would be enough to turn away the voices running through her head. Or... maybe she thought that she deserved that kind of life.

Its hard to say. I worried very much for my friend when I found out.

[ She... she doesn't understand why but there's something about this story that affects her. Her hands are shaking ever so slightly as she ducks her head behind her laptop, trying to figure out... what was going on. She didn't understand. She didn't understand...

Or did she? ]

Wh-what happened?

For a while, she waited and watched the world march by without her. I think were it not for something important, she would never had a reason to leave.

But then she wanted out. She wanted to live. Even though she didn't think she deserved it. Even though she was scared of what people may think. But she knew that if she wasn't able to change things, her house would become her tomb.

Her first step was to hope. The second was to reach out. The third was learning to trust again.

...

The fourth step was to remember how to smile. And how to laugh.

...

What do you remember?

[ One long deep breath, hands still shaking. Another. The answer seems to come on its own. ]

...the beach.

[ A gentle ~~familiar~~ voice reassuring her as it unwrapped the towel she'd tried to hide herself in, a banana boat, chasing lobsters (for some reason), feeling protected on all sides despite the crowd.

Feeling, for the first time in months, like she can talk without a heavy weight pressing down on her lungs.

But when... when was this? H-how-? She looks up at Makoto, a confused sort of desperation in her eyes. She doesn't know what's going on but... you do, right? ]

[Makoto's eyebrows raise and she takes a measured moment of contemplation. If this was her cognitive form of herself... would she be able to recall a memory that she wouldn't have had? Regardless, this person did recall a past event. Her ties with the true consciousness meant that even if she was just an idea, she was tied to Futaba's main consciousness.]

It is... [She pauses again, considering how to best answer this.] ...a memory.

Of something that has happened. Or something that will happen.

But I think the fact that it was remembered at all means that it is important.

Do you think you can hold onto the memory more? I am sure there are answers there for you if you want to find them.

[ That's. not... really all that satisfying. But... she'd dug only a little and found the fragments she had so far. What if she kept chasing them? Was that what this other girl meant?

Worth a shot, she guesses. She even puts her hands up to her temples, psyching herself up. ]

I remember... lobsters. One in each hand.

[ yup, that's it. That's the first thing that came to mind. ]

The sand was hot. [ She'd nearly burned her feet running to the banana boat... ] There were so many people, but... everyone was there. Like a shield.

[ Sojiro, meanwhile is watching, clearly confused and a bit wary, but again... getting Futaba to open up has been an incredible challenge. If this is actually working, he seems willing to let it play out, for now. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event || Once Upon A Dream

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