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

Who was there? The voice was right by her side at that point, saying that everything was over as Selphie smiled sadly. The memory continued to lose its thrall on her as she finally noticed the hands gripping her elbows. The voice was becoming more and more familiar to her ears and felt the heaviness of memory like she was carrying a fifty pound weight. It was painful enough to go through it once but to have to live through the entire ordeal because the Dream Width was toying with her was more than the perky brunette could take.

Yuri would have given her no end of grief if he knew that this particular memory was still setting her off. His words came to mind as the memory finally lost its hold and the deck of the spaceship came back into view, the stars from the windows. Her head snapped up to reveal an anguished face as tears that she'd been holding back since reliving the death of the mother spilled freely. She broke away from Tidus's grip on her arms and spun around to stare at who had broken her out of one of her worst days ever.

Her mouth opened and shut several times as she tried to the find the words to say and didn't have anything. There wasn't even a bad joke to try to blow it off like it wasn't a big deal. Selphie knew that Tidus had seen every last vivid detail as she swallowed the lump in her throat. She shook her head furiously to shake away the last cobwebs of the memory.

"...Tidus...?" she finally managed.

She didn't have to go through things alone but it still stung to relive.

Tidus let her go willingly, standing on legs that were a little shaky as the ship came back into view. He hadn't gotten through seeing a horror like that completely unscathed (there were tears at the corner of his eyes), but that was nothing compared to actually living it---and he knew that.

"Hey, welcome back," he whispered, that sad smile still on his face. They weren't close enough friends that he felt comfortable diving right in to comfort her, but he was determined to be there however she wanted him to be.

His stance was open, eyes kind. "I meant it, you know? Seeing families ripped apart like that never gets easier."

Selphie would appreciate the words in time but for now, knowing that someone she barely knew was getting a glimpse of what happened behind the shield she kept around herself was enough to leave the SeeD in silence. She didn't approach Tidus, uncomfortable with what had just been shared but instead moving toward the windows to stare out into the Dream Width. She placed her hands onto the sil of the window before leaning against it.

With her forehead resting on the glass pane in front of her, Selphie began to put the pieces back together. She couldn't fake her way through that kind of despair again as she eventually looked over at Tidus with a tired look. She wanted some time to process everything again but knew that wasn't going to happen as her gaze went back to the scene outside of the window.

"It hurt a lot that day..." she carried on as she tried to internally bring herself back into the present.

She looked haunted, but why wouldn't she? What hell that was to go through.

"Life...really sucks sometimes, you know?" That probably sounded stupid, but he decided to go with it, looking sadly into the void.

"My world was like that too. Almost everyone was an orphan by the time they were ten. We tried to fight the monsters, to give kids a chance at growing up with a family, but...none of us could do it all."

He sighed. "You're not alone. I know that doesn't make it any easier."

Everybody had their own story and sometimes, there were parallels to draw between them. Being orphans in this instance was enough to get Selphie's full attention. She gave her full attention to Tidus's words and could only nod slightly. Orphans always seemed to pull together in one way or another it appeared.

She gave her friend a smile, genuine smile.

"I know that I'm not alone but..." Selphie trailed off. "I need to sort some things out about this first on my own."

Tidus recognized when he was being dismissed. He exhaled, stepped back, and nodded faintly.

"I'll probably be heading back to my ship---but look me up if you want later, okay? I still owe you a game."

"Wait!" Selphie exclaimed before reaching out to grab his wrist.

She gave Tidus a desperate look before shaking her head. Selphie may not have been ready to sort things out in her head at that exact moment but she didn't intend to dismiss anyone like she was some sort of princess. There wasn't anyone on the ship that she knew very well, let alone begin to trust with information that sensitive.

"Don't go yet," she said softly.

Aww no. How could he leave someone in trouble like that? Tidus nodded simply, stepping back toward the window.

"I'll stay," he whispered. "Anything you need."

Except snacks...oh, how he wished he'd remembered to stuff snacks in his pocket. He'd put that on the list for next time. He lingered just within arm's reach---close, but not trying to overwhelm her.

Food wasn't exactly at the top of Selphie's list of needs at that moment as she shot Tidus a grateful look for agreeing to stay. He probably had more important things to do but even though the brunette wasn't in a particularly chatty mood at that moment, she appreciated the fact that he was willing to stay.

"Thanks," Selphie replied before continuing. "For staying and for pulling me out of my memory. I think I’ve found an answer of my own.”

It was good to have friends to rely on.

Edited 2018-05-28 01:20 (UTC)

The answer...yeah, he remembered her words, and that stirred that melancholy back up. He wouldn't pry, but instead he'd communicate with a tiny little smile of understanding.

"Just wait. I think...we have a shot at a better future."

The final words of the mother from that day had played over in Selphie's mind on a loop for a few days before the harsh words of a moogle and a good friend brought her back to her senses. Even now, there were friends with words to bring the perky brunette back into the present, to the here and now. She was hurting from the memory and couldn't quite return Tidus's smile but she would always appreciate the sentiment.

"I know," Selphie agreed. "This just wasn't a memory that I wanted to live through again. I lost my way for a bit back then but I had to accept that it was out of my hands. There was nothing else I could've done."

Part of him might have needed to hear those words. How many times had he watched people die? Kilika, Mi'ihen...and then he died himself, a horrible choice but one he'd had to make for all of Spira.

Being unable to save someone hurt like hell.

"You know that you're doing your best, Selph, we all are. We're gonna fight to make a big difference. Maybe we can't have everything, and we don't always win...and it sucks, and nothing can change that it sucks."

He sucks in a hard breath. "And it's okay to be discouraged, but...we'll help each other keep going, okay?"

Selphie knew all too well that they can't always win. Being tossed in jail, losing many of her closest friends and other things that won't come out of her mouth unless prompted were a few examples that came to mind. Every single one of them were beyond her control as she felt the sadness from every single loss of life in her scant years in the worlds she's been to.

She eventually placed her hands on the pane in front of her and nodded her head a few times. "Sorry but..."

She shook her head and forced a smile for her own sake more than anyone else's. "I'll be okay."

"No rushing it, okay?"

Tidus hesitated with what to do now. They really weren't close yet, but she was just so down about it (understandably) that he wished he could do anything to make things better.

He knew a forced smile when he saw one, though, and after briefly considering the merits of Yuna's forced laughter idea, instead decided to settle for a brief, gentle squeeze to her upper arm.

"You're right..." Selphie agreed as she grabbed Tidus's hand and refused to let go for quite some time.

A grimace appeared on her face after a few minutes before Selphie covered her eyes with her free hand. There was a certain moogle at the house who knew very well how Selphie had reacted after the death had first happened before she'd been forced to talk about it. Her shadow would probably be turning in its grave if it knew that its light side was still beating herself up to a degree over an old, traumatic event.

"Jaelyn is gonna kill me," Selphie groaned with a shake of her head.

Tidus stayed with her for that little while, gentle and steady. Not his natural area of talent, but he'd gladly try. When she spoke, though, he tightened his grip a little. Jaelyn was a good moogle, but he knew trouble when he heard it.

"Hey, you don't have to worry about that yet. And if you need anybody to run interference...I could? I'm pretty good at making a disaster in the house."

"If I disappear for a couple of days," Selphie continued as she eventually let go of Tidus' hand. "Just assume that I went training and took out a few monsters along the way."

Selphie laughed a bit. "Jaelyn can stay home though and keep the first aid kit handy."

"Will do. And you can always call us, okay? I've gotten pretty fast at moving around."

He leaned back, his head finally starting to clear. They wouldn't be okay just yet, but...having companions helped.

"I will, don't worry." Selphie said with a small smile.

She's glad to have friends as she held a fist out to Tidus.

Tidus lightly bumped his fist with hers, the glimmer of an encouraging expression there. It was rough, undoubtedly, but he was sure she'd be back on her feet when he saw her again.

She was strong, and he had full faith in her.

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Event || Once Upon A Dream

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