Deep within the silent woods the princess has laid since she was young. Her finger pricked by a cursed needle, she was doomed to sleep. The kingdom had long sinced mourned her eternal slumber, believing she would never wake from her fate, her body now set up as some sort of memorial.

She looked at peace, her hair spread out neatly framing her face, and flowing outwards alongside her still body. Flower petals were scattered around her, seeming like they were almost frozen in place, just like the princess they rested near.

It seemed as though there were nothing more than rumours on how to wake her, and nothing so far had worked...

You find yourself standing beneath a dark, clouded sky, with a great tower rising before you. A forbidding sight, so at first it's easy to overlook one aspect of the scene that seems somehow out of place.

Yet if one is observant, one may notice that there's a long, unbound skein of silver hanging down one side of the building, from an open window that's quite high up (the 67th Floor, to be precise). In that high chamber, Sephiroth sits waiting, thoughtful and even a little wistful. He isn't supposed to let his hair down without being ordered to do so, but he tires of his seclusion here, and of following orders.

The doors and lower windows of the tower cannot be entered, sealed by some force, and guarded. There appears to be no viable way to enter, other than that strange, pale, silver fall of hair.

So, do you climb it?

[[OOC: The tale of Sephpunzel. Relevant image. If you'd like to be already in the story or play some character other than the rope-climber, be my guest!

You can also request child Sephiroth (pinnaculum) instead of adult Sephiroth, but I'll default to adult if not specified otherwise.]]

Perhaps getting thrown down here was part of the plan. The great quest. The attempt to woo sweet Agrabah princess, or just fetch what that weird rug merchant asked you to get.

More likely this particular stop wasn't on the itinerary. Boy is that Saucer of Wonders picky! The moment you--or a faithful but not always reliable animal companion--got distracted by something shiny, it was down the hatch to a natural desert prison, surrounded on all sides by quicksand. There's evidence that people have been here...and evidence they died here. You're not about to find anyone alive and kicking in the rundown shacks anytime soon.

Look long enough, though, and you'll find a dusty watering can lying on its side. The weathered metal has certainly seen better days, but maybe it could be cleaned up with a little polish?

Or maybe you're more interested in the "water" part of "watering can". This is a desert, after all.

Pick it up?

[ No? But thou must! Not much is going to happen until that can's picked up, and Aerith might get a bit impatient if your character ignores her. Oh yes, indeed, she's in there as the Genie.

In a little spin on the theme, I'm using the Disney take rather than the classic version itself. Also, if you want to find the watering can in a completely different place to better fit your own character's quest, that's fine! (And I do mean completely different, never underestimate the power of cosmic ...powers.) The Gold Saucer/Corel Prison just happened to suit the Cave of Wonders sequence nicely. ]

There once was a king whom possessed a beautiful and talented daughter of whom he was very proud and more than a little possessive of, but as things go, he knew he had at least make a show of trying to marry her off. So he found a large mountain made entirely of glass and installed his daughter at the top of it within a golden castle. Outside the castle, upon the summit of the mountain was planted a tree which produced golden apples. To gain admittance into the castle, one had to pick one of the apples from the tree.

The task sounded deceptively simple when the king spoke of it, saying whomever managed to gain the summit and then gain admittance to the castle would gain not only his daughter but his kingdom once he passed away. Thus a great many attempted to scale the mountain and unfortunately they soon found out the task was no where near as easy or simple as it seemed. The continued painful (and sometimes fatal) failures pleased the king and he sat content on his throne. One day the king's adviser came to him and told him of a knight whom had made it easily over half way up the mountain before turning away to go back down. He advised that if the king truly desired to keep his daughter for himself that there should be put a guardian to watch over the summit of the mountain and the tree.

The king agreed and tasked the man to produced him such a guardian, thus the adviser produced a massive winged beast akin to an eagle and set it to keep watch over the tree and the mountain's summit. When the golden knight arrived again, he made it so close, so close to the mountain's top, but before he could take it and thus make it to the tree, the beast was upon him, causing his horse to rear and the two, man and horse fell all the way down the mountain to perish at its base along with all those whom had tried before.

And so the princess remained trapped within the golden castle still.



[ooc: Decided to intro the lady in with a theme post, Seph's the princess, the king is the President and the adviser is Hojo. Feel free to join in as one of the staff serving the princess, or even the king, or as one of those seeking to win/free the princess from the mountain. The story, twisted to serve my ends is right here ]

On his way home from a foreign land, a young man with a retinue of three meets an old witch. The witch asks the young man to climb down into a hollow tree. Inside, she says, he'll find three rooms: one filled with copper, one with silver, and one with gold. Each room will be guarded by a dog. In the first room, the dog will have eyes the size of teacups. In the second, it will have eyes the size of mill wheels. The third dog will have eyes each the size of the Round Tower.

She gives him an apron and instructs him to pick up each dog and lay it on the apron and then help himself to as many coins as he wishes. In exchange, she merely wants a tinderbox, which her sister left last time she was down there.

The young man agrees, leaves his retinue to keep company with the witch and climbs down into the tree.

Inside he finds the three rooms with the three dogs with enormous eyes, exactly as the witch said, and he fills his pockets with coins. He leaves the tree and asks the witch what she wants with the tinderbox. She says it's none of his business. He says, "Tell me, or I'll have your head chopped off."

She says, "No." And he orders one of his retinue to chop her head off.

He takes the best room at the best inn in the nearest city -- a city which is home to a beautiful princess who lives in a copper palace and is never allowed to see anyone but the king because it has been foretold that she will marry a foreign man -- and he spends every coin he has on food and entertainment.

One night, he uses the witch's tinderbox to light a candle, and the dog with eyes as big as teacups appears and says, "What is my master's command?" He promptly asks for more money, and the dog fetches him a sack of coins. After some experimentation, he learns that if he strikes the tinderbox once, the dog with copper coins comes. If he strikes twice, the dog with silver comes. And if he strikes three times, the dog with gold coins comes.

One night, the young man decides he wants to see the princess who no one ever sees, so he summons the dog with eyes as big as teacups and commands him to bring him the princess. In seconds, he returns with the princess on his back, asleep.



ooc: This is the tale the above is from, feel free to be the princess or one of the trio traveling with the young man (Rufus).

[ Once upon a time... or something to that extent. Seriously, why do we always gotta start with that?

( Anyway, cutting to the chase, there once this magician, people liked to call him. )

( ooc: Because I'm horrible, here's a spin on Pinocchio. With Roxas having come just at the start of Day One of his simulation days, these are the last of his ties to the Organization come to life in a dream. Not that he'll realize it. Feel free to hop in as one of the other puppets. Will they try to stop him or will they be gun ho to go with? Or maybe you want to hop in as the puppeteer catching him dead in the act. Or even a nosy fan or someone who got lost trying to find the bathroom- or something. Yep.

P.S. Ah-hahaha;;; Don't mind the tl;dr.

P.P.S. Mods, if you'd put in a Roxas tag, I'd really appreciate it. |D;;; )

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom named ShinRa. It was an ailing land, for the king had been unwise and had used the resources of his land without a thought for the future. Much of the countryside was growing bare, and the people were weary and sad, though the king's soldiers assured that they didn't stop working.

The king had no heir, and he could have no children, so he asked the wizards of the land to make a perfect child for him, a child who could carry on his legacy and save his land. Whichever wizard made the most perfect child would become the court wizard, a position which carried with it much power and esteem.

The wizards created children of crystal, children of gold, and children of sunlight and moonlight, beautiful children and wise children, but the king wasn't pleased with these and had them sent away. Maybe they became great heroes, but this story does not speak of them. It was the wizard Hojo who decided to make a child of dark magic, the kind that most wizards know to stay well away from, for it can create horrible things: the magic of nightmares. The child's name was Sephiroth. His hair was of silver and his eyes shone like emeralds, and he could kill a man just by touching him, if he chose. For all that, he looked more or less like an ordinary child, and the king was pleased. Here was an heir who could fight his wars and restore his kingdom to its former glory.

The child was innocent, obedient, and perfect (but is anyone ever really perfect?) and to preserve him as he was, the king kept him in the castle, surrounded by tutors and servants. He learned many things, but the king ordered the tutors to teach Sephiroth only the things he wanted him to know.

But one day, a black bird and a white bird came to sit on Sephiroth's window, and they sang to him. Sephiroth liked the singing, so he opened his window for the first time (it was sealed shut, but he was very strong), and the birds hopped in. Sephiroth gave them some crumbs from his dinner, and the birds were pleased with this, and they became his first friends.

The birds told him all they knew about the world, many things that Sephiroth had never heard of before, and he became eager to learn more. He wanted to know about everything, especially about himself and where he had come from. "We don't know everything," said the black bird. "But you can ask the Bird of Truth," said the white bird, helpfully. "Though nobody knows where it is," the black bird concluded dourly.

Sephiroth concluded that the best way to learn everything would be to find this Bird of Truth and ask it some questions. He escaped from the castle by leaping down from the window that he had opened and landing lightly on the ground. One problem with the king creating a perfect child was that he was perfectly able to escape.

After he had run away from home, Sephiroth traveled through all the lands and had many adventures, and whenever he met someone new, he asked them politely, "Excuse me, do you know where I can find the Bird of Truth?"


[[OOC: Based on this story, but obviously changed a great deal and fused with Sephiroth's story. Any kind of character who wants Sephiroth to encounter them on his quest (in any capacity) is welcome.

Prose or actionspam replies both loved! Replies will come from pinnaculum, my Tinyroth account.]]

The twists and turns of the forest are long, secretive, and closed. But in this one small clearing, there is a house made entirely of sweets. Gingerbread forms the walls, adorned with enormous pieces of candy. The pillars and lampposts outside are peppermint, while the bushes grow marshmallows and slices of pie and cake. Even the paving stones of the pathway are rock candy. A river of pure dark chocolate flows lazily alongside the house, hot enough to be molten.

It's clearly a haven for children. In fact, a girl with pink hair and wearing a soft dress sits comfortably amid the wafer candy grass and nibbles at a handful. She looks up and smiles at the newcomer. Something about the smile is a bit too cold for her greeting, but with so much candy nearby, there's plenty to distract from the expression.

"Come over and try some," she invites. "You can eat enough to have a full stomach." This is a rare and precious thing, in a poor kingdom like this one. "Don't worry, I live here with my sister."

(ooc: story can be looked up here. Lethe is working for the witch to lure travelers in return for herself and Mnemosyne not being eaten.)