open ✨ life can be harsh, it can be bitter.

[starshower]

Who: Tifa Lockhart feat. Cloud Strife & YOU
What: September catch-all. Tifa tries to find something else she enjoys outside of Heavenly Blanc, and drags Cloud along for the ride.
Where: Where the threads happen
When: When the threads happen
Content Warnings: N/A

𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 '𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦. 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚍 & 𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚊 ★ 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚙 ★ 𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 ★ 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚍 ★ ♫

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[forethinking]

(Immediately, he's tense. The frowns, the glares, her worry... What was it? Another person who remembers him in that hell-like room? Did she learn about his past? If there's one person Ren doesn't want to figure it out, it's Tifa, and yet...

It's just Mona. All the tension is released in laughter, sincere and loud to the point there are tears watering his eyes.)

... That's it?? (He manages between the loud chuckles.)

[starshower]

[Is he... laughing!?

Tifa stands there, arms folding across her chest and looking almost incredulous beneath her hard stares while she lets him finish up. This is serious, Ren! Do you have any idea what she just saw, and thought was her memory for a hot second!? It feels like her brain is turning itself upside-down in her head right now.]

No, that's not all. [She wishes that it was, but that was the weirdest part! How does she even go on to explain the rest of it...?] Your friends had some ridiculous outfits on, [don't get her started on Ann's] and they—you were all running from a collapse.

[Promise she's not as annoyed as she sounds. Just confused. Very confused.]

I'm starting to think there's more to you than just being a barista.

[forethinking]

(When he finally composes himself, the back of his hand wipes the tears that were blurring his sight.) Sorry, I was just expecting something else.

(And of course, after the initial shock of seeing Mona turn into a bus in the first place, he just accepted it and moved on. After all, he drives it way too often to dwell on the fact that it's a cat. That's not a cat. That's also not a bus. Somehow, that's not even the strangest thing he has seen.

But then he pays attention to the words. Escaping a collapse, outfits, Mona in his bus form... Did she see Futaba's palace disintegrating? But it was the accusation that had him tilting his head and frowning.)

You knew this. You were the only person we've told willingly. (Why would a seventeen year old need a hideout, anyways?)

[starshower]

[Tifa's lips press together in a pout.

Sure, Ren and Akechi had told her some things, but not enough that she doesn't feel like her brain is twisting itself trying to wrap around everything she's seen in this memory, and all of the other ones!]

So, this has to do with the cognitive world. Yeah, I got that. Still doesn't explain the outfits, or what was going on.

[IT EXPLAINS NOTHING!!!]

[forethinking]

(Usually, the one who gives people the explanation is Mona, not Ren, so when it's actually time for him to do so, his mind goes blank for a second.

How can he explain the inexplicable...? Perhaps it's better for Tifa to sit down, as he tells her in a gesture of his hand to the nearby chair.)

OK. (He agrees, curling a tip of a lock of hair while he tries to gather all information into a comprehensive discussion. It's complicated.)

We were in the Metaverse, which is what we call that world. The outfits are a manifestation of what the person's subconscious idea of a rebel looks like. We've awakened power there, so that's why we have the outfits.

[starshower]

[Tifa looks to the chair, then back to Ren. She's not sitting and chooses to stand there, firmly planted like an old, wise tree.

And when he goes on to explain, her expression shows no signs of understanding. Just more confusion, as her mouth hangs open and her brows knit together further, deepening her frown. The Metaverse? A manifestation of their subconscious idea of a rebel? Awakened power!?

Maybe she should have taken a seat after all.]

Rebels. Metaverse. Subconscious... [She repeats slowly to herself, as if it'll help her wrap her head around it all. It kind of does??? But kind of doesn't.] So, the costumes are your power?

[Getting there.]

[forethinking]

(Would have been better if she did, honestly. Unless you've experienced the Metaverse, this probably feels and sounds like insanity in its truest form... But there's nothing in Ren's expression but honesty while he attempts to walk her through it.

The confusion is normal, he isn't taken aback by that.)

If you have such power, you have the attire. They're called Persona.

(And it takes a beat for him to realize he would make it much worse if he didn't elaborate. Where is Mona? He always knows how to explain these things.)

Personas are parts of ourselves manifested into mythological archetypes. Each of us have a different one.

[starshower]

[Understanding begins to surface on Tifa's expression, although it doesn't unknot her frown in the least.]

So, these Personas are your power. Alright, I get that.

[Doesn't explain the change in outfit much, but... whatever. She'll take it for what it is—like those Magical Girl shows that Marlene likes to watch on TV in the mornings over breakfast, where they have to transform in order to use their abilities.

Yep. The Phantom Thieves are Magical Girls now.]

Still doesn't explain the talking cat, or the bus. Or is he a Persona, too?

[forethinking]

(his true self is usagi and we all know it now.)

If you want me to explain Morgana, you'll definitely need that seat.

(Ren gestures again, a little more serious this time because if the Metaverse wasn't enough to make her faint, maybe Mona is. He's trying to be as comprehensive as he can, as clear as possible but honestly? It's all so complicated he just wishes the other two were here to help put the pieces together.)

We told you that the Metaverse is made up of cognitive concepts. Japan has the widespread imaginary idea of a cat turning into a bus, so he can do that there. He is a cat, after all.

(The other question was... What was Mona, wasn't it?)

What he is, I can tell you another time. It's long. (And he's tired.)

[starshower]

[Something's wrong if that whole country has such a widespread idea of cats turning into buses that it makes it happen... Tifa fears for their sanity, and her own as she takes a seat in the chair at last, slumping into it, tired.]

Not a normal cat, [she concludes. Betty's cats are normal cats. Wedge's cats are normal cats! They don't turn into vehicles based on some idea that the people of Gaia have concocted about them.]

Okay... so. Personas. Metaverse. Cat buses. Cognition...

[With her eyes on the ceiling, she heaves out a sigh before fixing Ren with them again. All this talk on cats, and she's forgotten one other important detail about the memory.]

What did you do with those powers? Besides the outfits turning your cat into a bus...

[Tifa, drop it!!]

[forethinking]

Not at all. (Even if it's strange, Ren thinks Tifa would like him a lot given enough time for the shock to diminish. It's funny to imagine Mona living in a world where he would be easily understood by all, though... How many people would be as shocked as his friend in front of him?)

So far, so good. (He confirms, but he leaves God out of the list for the time being. Too much too soon.)

Made criminals confess and repent for their crimes. (Sort of weird to be explaining the Phantom Thieves as a part of them so openly, but alas.)

[starshower]

[Tifa swallows past the lump that's suddenly grown in her throat.

Making criminals confess and repent...? For their crimes? She doesn't understand a lot of things, but out of everything he's told her so far, this is the only thing that makes the most sense to her. Something she grasp onto with the hope that it will help make everything else clearer.]

How'd you do that? Most criminals just do what they do... refuse to accept that what they're doing is wrong. Or don't care...

[Shinra. Don Corneo. They're all the same in that regard, and none of them would ever confess to their wrongdoings. All they did was pin the blame on someone else.]

[forethinking]

They have distorted views of the world around them.

(Something he knows Tifa knows very much at this point, with all the stories and the horrors she has personally endured and witnessed. He probably doesn't know the half of it, does he?)

We steal their distortion. Without it, they realize what they've done and confess.

[starshower]

And you somehow do that through this Metaverse, right?

[See! She's catching on quickly now!]

[forethinking]

Precisely.

(He stays quiet for a few seconds, a hand moving to curl around a strand of hair while he thinks.)

You seem ok now. (Ren chuckles - he's just explained souls, Metaverse, rebellion, and she seems to be picking up on the information so far... And he's sure that if he starts to talk about Hope of Humanity TM, she'd freak out again.)

If you don't have more questions, I also have something of yours. (And if she notices, there's a gentle, albeit short smile forming on his lips.)

[starshower]

Of course you do...

[Tifa isn't surprised, in the least, although the smile that forms on his lips is telling. He didn't see anything around the fall of Sector Seven, or Sephiroth, or Shinra, did he? None of those are happy memories.]

What was it? [But before he can answer, she adds on:] Don't think this lets you off the hook. There's still a lot I don't know.

[And she knows it... There are still hundreds of questions running through her head, but one thing at a time!]

[forethinking]

(His mouth opens to tell her but she was quicker and instead of an answer, she gets a low chuckle. There may be and hopefully, she will never get the full picture. There's too much at stake and not only for him.)

Cloud-san gave you a flower. (And unfortunately for Tifa, he remembers exactly what she felt. Sorry, time to awaken to your true self, Tifa.)

You like him.

[starshower]

[Tifa's eyes widen at the same time her face grows hot and red. Of all of the memories for him to see, it had to be that one. It could have been any other, but it was that. The flower had meant more to her than even perhaps he could see, or anyone. She had put it into a glass with some water, wanting to keep it alive for as long as she could, and that same night, looked up its meaning.

But that doesn't mean—]

W-We're... Cloud and I are... just friends.

[Here she goes again with that, but that's all they are. Their relationship stretches no further than long-time friends, but that doesn't address how she feels about it.]

I... That flower symbolizes reunion. I thought it was a sweet gesture, that's all.

[forethinking]

Two things can be right.

(A simple statement. Ren lets her take her time to digest the fact that he knows and while crystal clear for all who sees them together, Ren shouldn't be aware of it the way he is. He has a receipt!

Tapping his nails on the nearest surface, he allows his eyes to analyze her expression for a moment. Is she in denial or unaware?

Regardless,)

I remember what you felt. (He reminds her.) That isn't it.

[starshower]

[This is neither denial nor unawareness, but... fear.

Ren has caught her red-handed, and while she's not willing to admit to it fully out loud, she isn't going to refute it either. She thinks it would be better explained from her point of view, rather than from only what Ren saw.]

Cloud and I weren't close as kids... we knew each other and were friends, but I was just the girl who lived next door. The one who wanted to be friends with him, but he'd always turn away. I think it was because I was always surrounded by other boys. Wasn't until we grew up a little that we became closer.

[Tifa's voice and expression exudes warmth. Fondness. Nostalgia for when things weren't so bad.]

He left to join SOLDIER a long time ago. I haven't seen him in... seven years? When he came back to Midgar, that was the first time I'd seen him. Just before the bombing mission. Cloud's...

[Cloud is everything to her. The only thing she has left of home. Of Nibelheim. Of her past and who she used to be. She doesn't want to ruin that. She's afraid of ruining that.]

Cloud's important to me.

[forethinking]

(Ah. The more she says, the more pieces complete the puzzle. It wasn't that she didn't know about it, rather than the fear of losing it now that she has Cloud around.

Little did she know that Ren is more than aware of her losses, and he will keep it that way with respect to Cloud.)

I know. (It's all he says when she finishes, voice calm after he took in all the information. He takes a while to continue, as if putting the right words together as to what he wants to say.)

Doesn't it frustrate you, though? Not knowing. (He knows it did for him, with how Akechi kept him waiting for a reply, even when the fact he had made a decision was painfully obvious.)

[starshower]

[Tifa lifts her gaze to meet his, a look of genuine surprise behind them.]

Not knowing what?

[To her, the only thing she doesn't know is what happened in the seven years they were separated, and that kills her. Everything else? She's certain there's nothing she's missing.]

[forethinking]

If he likes you back, naturally.

(Someday, this meddling is gonna get Ren punched in face! He doesn't care though. This is fine.

Also, to his understanding, of course he does. All Ren did was ask about their well-being and Cloud was a stuttering mess.)

[starshower]

[Oh, that.]

Not really. There's nothing to know.

[She never said she had feelings for him after all! Not outright, even if her reactions are making it obvious.

Tifa's smile returns just as easily as it had come earlier.]

Things are fine with Cloud the way they are. We've got each others backs, through thick and thin and honestly? Wouldn't have it any other way.

[She pauses to take a breath, and then her eyes narrow at him.]

What's with all the questions?

[forethinking]

I'm not so sure.

(As if he doesn't like you, Tifa.

Repressing does nobody good, but these two probably need more time to process it, Ren considers. Seems like they're happy the way they are and eventually, they'll probably reach to their resolve by themselves.

For that reason only, he will not push or poke them into resolution - at least not for now. )

No reason. (But there is a smile on his lips, like he's pleased.)

It was a nice memory.