The beach was pristine when the young pirate stepped out on the shore, giving a slight hop to avoid the surf. He grabbed the rope attached to it and pulled it up on the sand to avoid it being swept out to sea. Yes, the beach was pristine, but would not remain for long, though. He was here looking for the stash of the infamous pirate, Old Gunner Longshanks, the most notorious pirate ever to live during the Adventure Era. The island was a fairly typical one of the greater Mideel islands. Full of monsters and dangerous plants, yet beautiful at the same time with the rich jungle and warm weather. The sky, however, was a completely different story.

A dark, blood colored orb hung in the clear blue, staining the blue and marring an otherwise beautiful day. Time was short, and he was determined to make his dream come true before that!

So that was all the more reason to hurry and find the treasure. Captain Reno would be the first to find it after so many years, and the prestige would be his. They would sing his praises in the taverns and cheer whenever he showed up, for he would be generous and order a round of drinks on him! That was definitely the life, and it would all be made possible if only he could find out where the marlboro shaped rock was. Searching all of these little islands was getting tiresome. His loyal crew was on board his ship in the little cove they had anchored in, ready to come ashore at his signal, but this was one thing he wanted to do alone.

So, with map at the ready, a compass and a telescope, Captain Reno set out to find that treasure.

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...

The world of this dream is different from those Tseng has previously been found in, though it's eerily similar to the frozen library. Pillars and archways of ice form meandering pathways across the vast frozen landscape, everything crafted of ice and snow aside from the clusters of lillies that grow impossibly from the at times transparent ground. Ribbons of light twist beneath the ground and in the air, forming rivers and flowing endlessly back and forth.

All paths, however, eventually will lead to what could be seen as some sort of receiving area or strange bedroom. Frozen constructs shed cool light in the area, illuminating carved seats draped in heavy fabrics to keep the chill off of skin. Whites, blues and pale greens dominate with the occasional glint of gold bringing the only visual warmth to the scene.

Despite the frigid scene there's a pervading deep sense of safety and home that seems to come from a rather scantily clad blue skinned woman who's mass of dark blue hair falls in braids and twists bedecked with gold and ribbons. Seated on one of the larger 'chairs', she seems more than content to let the dark haired man rest with his head in her lap as she gently runs her fingers through his hair in soothing affection a soft hum of a long lost song floating in the air.

The tialk on Tseng's forehead is blue, instead of it's usual black and he's dressed in a draping blue and silver cloth that leaves his arms and one shoulder completely bare. What can be seen of his skin is littered with scars, alluding to those that aren't visible. Despite being obviously more relaxed than anyone has likely ever seen him, he doesn't look younger. If anything the loss of the tension revealed how very tired he'd been, how thirty years of being a Turk wore at him.

Despite the somewhat obvious implications of the dream, there's no sense of sadness. Tseng has long been at peace with his own demise, and in some ways it's a bit of a relief to finally have it done with.

When approached, she gives whomever it is a look that speaks volumes. Violence of any sort will not be tolerated in her domain, and while she's incredibly tolerant and understands there may be a good deal of anger she will stop anyone from harming her charge. He is hers to protect, at least until he's good and ready to defend himself again.

She touches Tseng's shoulder, head bowing as she speaks to him briefly and shifting as he sits up to greet whomever it is with a tired though open smile.

[OOC: Holy tl:dr batman!

So, basically Tseng's dead now, timeline wise for the ff7 people who're in line with him this dream happens the night after the wails of thousands of dying souls is heard coming from the abandoned Midgar sometime just before Dirge begins after Deepground's attack on Junon where said thousands of people were taken from.

And yes, the woman is Shiva!]

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. ]

[All in all, it's a fairly simple dream. Nothing odd or off about it. The abode itself is nothing if not unusual, but he's found comfort here before. The real oddity lies in the three mirrors, carefully positioned to lean against the wall. Not particularly ornate, there doesn't seem to be anything out of place about them-- until you take a look at the reflection.]

Past, present, future...

[He can figure that much out on his own. There's a smile, for himself, for Roxas, for Sora-- returning to the living and being surrounded by the warm embraces of their friends, reuniting after death. Some of those people aren't in Promenade anymore, but watching their faces--]

[Zaheer, and Lior. People he misses dearly. The past isn't much to be afraid of, though his smile drops when he seeks out the present. It's not his immediate present, he knows that-- it's not even him. Just a boy without a mask, standing within a desolate graveyard. Hands covering his face. They share the same future, the one mirror Ventus so carefully avoids.]

[A boy, in a room. Sleeping through the years with no end in sight.]

[Future.]

[Sitting on the bed, Ventus' mind is rather occupied. Within this safe bastion, no one would seek him out, aside from Roxas-- no one else knew where it was.]

[Right?]

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).

A little girl lost her father when she was still young. Realizing she also had no godfather, she decided to seek one out for herself. However, who should it be? The Light, she felt, was too careless of the people it should care for; but the Darkness often deceived its followers, too. In the end, she chose Death as her godfather, for Death put no person above another.

Once this was arranged, Death took his goddaughter to a well-known research laboratory. There, he showed her certain compounds and medicines that could cure any illness, no matter how grave. Moreover, whenever she made her rounds at the hospital, Death himself would appear at the beside. If he stood near the head, then she was free to give the patient the medicine and see them recover. But if Death stood by the feet, then the patient was already claimed by him and nothing would suffice. It was their time to go with him.

As Death knew she would, the girl worked diligently and became a very famous doctor, said to be the youngest in the world and praised for being able to tell when a patient would live or die, and for her miraculous cures. One by one, her patients lived, and they showered her with fame and money. For as long as she obeyed her godfather's advice, everything went well for her - for as long as she obeyed her godfather's advice.

And so, the physician walked confidently into the room with her next patient.

(ooc: Taken from Godfather Death. Open to any type of encounter, including cheating Death for close friends/CR.)

The city, Midgar was full of people. Soulless, faceless people that ate and breathed and worked and slept. People who didn't have a prayer when it came to protecting themselves from the evils of the world. The monsters that lurked in the darkness, in the streets at night and threatened their very lives as they lay sleeping. Then there were the creatures that inhabited the city, just as monstrous and inhuman but somehow more honest about wanting to destroy you and for what reason.

The Turks were the last bastions of defense against the evils that was AVALANCHE led by Fuhito. They were the only thing separating the world from teetering beyond the brink of despair and falling into destruction. Everything they cared about would disappear. Homes, lives, family. They were a family. Drastic measures had to be taken, consequences notwithstanding. They were underpowered, short handed. There was no way to win against these guys. Reno could not let any more fall to Fuhito and his bunch. He had lost too many people he was willing to call friend. This was where it ended.

This room.

Reno held the grip of his EMR tightly, knuckles turning white with the force, standing in front of an impressively carved oak desk. It was an audacious plan, one that could backfire or cause any number of unexpected things, but it was their one last hope. They needed help, more power, something, and Reno was going to sacrifice himself to get it- not that he had that much humanity left anyway. Not with most of his friends six feet under. He was a lone turk against the world.

The person behind the desk was sitting in an over-sized winged back chair, facing the large floor to ceiling window overlooking the city basking in the glow of mako. Nothing was going to get done like that, he had power to buy and a soul to sell. He walked forward and grabbed the chair to swing it around.