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

Futaba shakes her head, "I've pretty much been around Tokyo most of my life. And I'm not exactly famous or anything."

(H e h.)

That being said, inspiration, in its own way, strikes. Maybe a way to keep this... apparently progress towards snapping him out of it. "Can you think of anywhere else you might know us from?"

Shirogane... he remembered hearing the name on TV a couple of times, but Mom and Dad turned off the TV when he entered the room. They seemed scared to have him learn that- that-

"I lost both my parents in an accident. I was still young, so my grandfather took me in." Right. That happened. And he was worried SICK as he heard all this, because she was so dumb and went into the TV world by herself, the freakin'...!

Kanji stared at Futaba. Where he might have heard of her...?

"You happen to be talking to a master hacker, here." After he'd tripped over her, and they woke up on that weird ship. She was curled in a ball and-

The now-blond clutched his head. "No, this is wrong! I think I know you guys. I got... I got mad at you, Naoto, 'cause I was worried about you... and Futaba's like a wizard, and she likes curry..."

The bird song stopped, and the cicadas quieted as well. Any breeze that could be felt, any smell of grass and dirt had disappeared as well.

Pausing when Kanji clutched his head, Naoto stepped closer. Seemed like it was enough for him to notice something wrong in time. Good... though, did he have to bring that up?

"... Yes, because I made myself a target."

Around them, all sounds and general ambiance along with scents had gone. The memory was recognized for what it was: a memory.

There's definitely some sympathy when he grabs at his head. She's... been through this. Maybe not this exact scenario, but close enough that she knows the feeling, knows this part honestly sucks. But they're getting there.

"That'd be a tech wizard, specifically," she says with a soft grin, "And hey, either way we're still here. We're still... your friends."

It's said with the gravity of someone who knows how important that kind of admission can be. Something it's sounded like they can all understand. Remember that?

He definitely remembers that. There was the sound of glass breaking from both behind and ahead of them, shattering the dead silence of the paused memory. His hands were shaky when he lowered them, gaze unfocused.

"You're... you're both my friends! But I didn't get to meet you guys yet. Not for years. I'm... this isn't home. I'm not home right now." Inaba... no, he hadn't been waking up in Inaba for a while.

But as he shook his head to clear it, he looked between the two of them. His first thought, strangely, was 'wow, they're both pretty damn tall today.'

"This ain't right. Where am I? I-I feel like..." His hands passed over his body, patting himself. The color drained from him.

"Like that time she dragged me under."

His eyes focused on Naoto. "When she dragged us all under, as a last resort."

God, he still had nightmares about that sometimes. Maybe they needed to talk about it? But nobody had really...

Edited 2018-06-09 17:04 (UTC)

Her eyes narrowed at the thought of her. If being in this place felt that oppressive, it was all the more reason why they needed to get him out of here... now.

"There was some turbulence while we were exploring the Dream Width. Right now, we're all in a memory nebula you created..."

Futaba didn't need to know about her... but, Naoto would speak to Kanji about it later likely. Had that been bothering him for some time? Why didn't he say anything?

Yeah, Futaba has no idea who "her," was, and even her own experiences don't have anything that can be used as a frame of reference. That's not to say she isn't curious though.

"Yup. And that's what we're here for. We're here to pull you out. Or at least help you pull yourself out," she says.

Because that was what friends did. That at least, she has some reference for.

That's... yeah. He was on the ship with a crew, and suddenly there was nothing. Just like that, he was sent back a few years to the day that he-

The boy yelped and stepped back in surprise. When he stopped he was bright red in the face. He was also sixteen again. A myriad of emotions flit over his eyes, but save for that sound he said nothing more. They'd seen something he had hoped he'd buried with his progress.

"Sh-... shit." He frowned at the floor, face flushed. But the sky darkened to black, to stars. The floor began to feel like it was softening.

Kanji looked around, alarmed.

"Uh- okay, change of subject- h-how do we get out!?"

Stepping back when Kanji returned to his age, there was the faintest hint of a smile seeing him back to normal. While that was good, there was a sadness in his youth being gone. This had been a memory - that did happen... Still, they could discuss it later.

Raising her head and looking around, she looked towards Futaba.

"I believe once the memory is realized as what it is, it just collapses. We should be able to leave once it's gone completely..." Though, that might not be it?

"Mm..." Futaba makes a noncommittal noise. There's something bugging her that- ah right. That might be it. "Do we know what the conditions are in the Dream Width if we aren't in a memory?"

The impression she's gotten so far is that it was... like space. Which is pretty inhospitable to most life without protection. Which they... don't have.

Though this raised the question of how these memory nebulae were even able to create a hospitable environment with breathable air, temperatures, and whatnot. Maybe not a question for right now, though.

"If we see a ship, I think we should go for it." Whether the memory is entirely gone or not.

Collapses!? But nebula means space, and he liked having air in his lungs!

"Whatever the case is, somebody's gotta know more about the damn Dream Width before shit like this happens again." But he had to think. Where would they find something like a ship?

"Where would- ...the school? My memory of that bullshit started near my old classroom. Maybe the ship'd show up there!"

"... That's possible. It is where everything began..."

Though, they'd headed away from the school and who could say how much longer her memory would hold.

"... Kanji-kun, if we happen to see the ship before this space falls apart, it's technically our world. You might be able to boost us towards the ship." If he could summon even with it falling apart... Takeji Zaiten could throw them. They just needed headed in the right direction through space holding their breath.

Hm. She isn't quite sure what Naoto's talking about (which was too bad, Necronomicon might've helped here) but it seemed Kanji's thoughts were following hers. Which meant she didn't have the time to try to figure it out.

"C'mon, we don't have time to waste here!"

And as much as she hates running the idea of getting caught in the vacuum of space was even less appealing.

It dawned on him after a spell. This was considered their world. She was implying that he had his-!?

Yeah. Yeah, there it was, that feeling in the pit of his soul sort of buzzing around and ready to end a fight. God, he really missed that feeling. Asterisks were nothing like it. But with that info at hand, he had some extra tools in case.

"Right! Let's haul ass, guys!" He'd lead the charge, mostly because of his longer legs. As he turned to move on ahead, he'd noticed the pavement beginning to dissolve and ball away into blackness. The whole school thing must've been a good call. Then again, he WILL swim out into space if he needs to. What a (really fucking reckless) pal.

What'd Yosuke-senpai call something like this once? A load-bearing something or another? This was a load-bearing memory.

With the memory frozen, however, that meant windows and doors too. But with a solid kick, he made a door, leading into the elementary school interior. Within, patches of the walls and floors were gone, giving way to star-filled darkness.

Naoto, fortunately, was used to running to keep up with Kanji's strides. Even in her ridiculous shoes, she's always about one or two steps behind him as they dashed. Hopefully, it didn't come to them having to swim, but they did have to make themselves move in the direction they needed to go.

Seemed like the memory wouldn't simply unfreeze after being uncovered for what it was, but this was an instant where Kanji's way of handling most things came in handy. A knock to the door and it was open; however...

"We'll need to proceed with caution. This place is deteriorating faster than expected."

With the pressure now on, she can practically feel herself slipping into a whole different mode. A familiar mode.

"You guys make sure the path ahead is clear, I'll search for a way out of here."

She may not have her Persona with her at the moment (she thinks? There's a familiar feeling in the back of her mind, but she doesn't have the time to probe it adequately), but she can still be Oracle for these guys. Still guide them to safety.

Huh. This was pretty familiar, all told. The gaps seemed easy to clear, but the trick was navigating the halls and back to his old classroom. The smell was gone, which was good, but it was replaced with something decidedly like... raspberries.

He'll ask about that later.

But he expected to find shadows wobbling about in the halls, reminding him of each of the dungeons as he passed by doors that were sealed tight but pointless for their escape. It was when he turned a corner and ascended the staircase that he saw a problem: His classroom hall was gone, save for a few bits of wall and a trio of static doors. Kanji had to snatch at the staircase's guard rail to keep himself from hurtling off the edge. This wasn't something he could jump even if he tried.

But the doors...!

"Uhh, shit... Naoto, I'm- I might need to do the thing! I just wanna check the doors!" ~~So, Futaba, this might be super weird and there was a perfectly good explanation once they were safe from deep space...!~~

"Futaba-san, you'll have to do that while we're going forward."

Did she really just expect them to go on ahead without her? It was dangerous to leave anyone behind in a collapsing memory nebula... that, and right now really wasn't the time to fall back for support like this.

Frowning, but following after Kanji, she scowled when they reach their actual obstacle: no hallway. She stopped herself from bumping into Kanji at the top of the stairs, and looked over at him.

"If it's the only option we have right now..." She could also help - it did have the ability to fly oddly.

"And I can. I've done it before."

It comes out a bit more sharp than necessary probably, but there's no time. Indeed, she's only keeping a few steps behind them as she looks. Thankfully, she's still far enough back to stop herself from overshooting past them into the void. Ugh this was bringing back some uncomfortable reminders.

There's nothing - no hallway in front of them, nothing in the ways of lockers or cabinets to climb. "You know, supposedly you're okay in space for about thirty seconds if you close your eyes and mouth," she says distantly, eyes searching for something, anything. Pieces of other classrooms beyond the fragmented walls, some part of the world they could jerry-rig into something to get them over there... There's not much. And what's more, the bits that are there are disappearing pretty rapidly - enough that it's easy to see a noticeable difference even from only the couple of seconds she watches.

"Well if you've got an idea, now would be a good time to use it. We don't have a lot of time." She's maybe slightly annoyed at being left out but, again. More important things.

"Thirty sec-!? I-I'd rather not test that theory if that's okay with ya, Futaba!" Shit. Okay, across the gap, no issue, here we go. They'll just have to explain to her later that this was a thing that they could do and then maybe they'd all have a talk later about their abilities.

For now? Survival. As he focused, it was like going back home. The emperor card descended and he put a bit of elbow grease into it:

"Persona!" Card, smashed. Flowing outward from him was the telltale blue light before the white-cloaked Takeji-Zaiten appeared, brandishing the flaming sword.

Heaven help him, he sucked in a big breath and closed his eyes as he hopped into the giant hand of the creature. He didn't need to see if his Persona could smash through the first door as he did. But it couldn't fly far... not like Naoto's could.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event || Once Upon A Dream

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