I fell in love with the dream that I built of you

[continuousgroaning]

WHO: Tina Belcher and you
WHERE: Various places in Heropa and Maurtia Falls
WHEN: December 14th and onward
WHAT: Tina's being very navelgazy, surly, and generally discontent after she has a revelation about who she thought was the love of her life.
WARNINGS: Teenage romantic angst. Also, the prompts will be in prose format, but if you would rather do action format I will match. If you want a starter, shoot me at PM or hit me up at shurimon!

A. Outside the Adventure House, Maurtia Falls, December 14th

After the network conversation Tina had had with Archie, where she found herself desperately trying to justify the way Jimmy Jr. could treat her... she found that she couldn't, it wasn't easy to reason away like it was back home, and she found herself reflecting on patterns of behavior and wondering what the hell she'd been thinking.

Finding the house a little too stifling, she'd thrown her coat on and gone wandering out into the cold by herself for a while, to think. She knew it was dangerous, knew her powers still weren't working right and she should probably stay home where it was safe, but she didn't care.

When she'd finally started to get cold, she wandered back toward home, but hovered uncertainly outside the door, not sure if she could face having to explain her change in mood to her housemates. She then sighed and sat on the porch, pulling out her focus and casting a light spell... and, as she should have guessed, instead of one ball of light, multiple little ones covered her, lighting her up like a Christmas tree. And the idea of being a tree suddenly seemed appealing, more than being a stupid human girl, anyway.

So she stands out on the lawn, still at first, then begins twirling around, dancing like a living light show.


B. Inside the Adventure House, after the above

Tina's not used to feeling all this aggression and frustration, but she's not keen on getting detention by lashing out at school again, so she instead puts a lot of that energy into household chores. Loudly chopping ingredients for dinner, stirring pots a little more aggressively than she should, cleaning up the messes with fierce intensity. Or else she's just being a surly teen and locking herself in her room to write in her diary and not talking to anybody.


C. Wildcard

Or if you'd like to run into her elsewhere, Tina is in Heropa fairly often even though she lives in Maurtia Falls.

Comments

C, Heropa, after the 15th, shopping

[andtherevolution]

Utena meanders through the store listlessly, paying only enough attention to her fellow shoppers to avoid a collision. The store itself is an explosion of holiday cheer, with holiday songs blasting from the speakers and colorful tinsel and ornaments hanging from the walls, and she lets herself get lost in the silver-and-gold kaleidoscope surrounding her. She may not have much Christmas spirit in her, but the noise and the color provide a welcome distraction from the thoughts in her head, and there's the faint hope that if she surrounds herself with enough noise and brightness then maybe she can forget everything that happened this past week.

It works until she decides to check out the price tag on some snowflake encrusted knicknack. Fifteen dollars for a hunk of plastic?! She wrinkles her nose, but as she sets it down, her heart sinks with the realization that even if she wanted that cheap piece of crap she couldn't afford it. With a sigh she shuffles over to the clearance section, hoping that maybe there's something there she can grab.

Which is when she sees Tina. She hesitates for a moment, and a part of her, formed from exhaustion and embarrassment, wants to just walk on by. But that would be mean, wouldn't it? And besides, Tina's a friend. So she forces a smile and waves to her, walking on over.

"Hey. Long time no see."

[continuousgroaning]

Tina notices Utena shopping and looking distracted and is actually debating whether or not to approach her friend herself before Utena makes the decision for both of them. Truthfully, Tina's not feeling very full of holiday cheer herself. She has lots of things troubling her, questions she can only ask of people who aren't here, and it's hard for her to get over the embarrassment and humiliation she's currently feeling. On top of that, it's mixed up with her feeling like she needs to just get over it, because really, who was she to be this upset and angry around Christmas? And when it was her crush, something that was totally insignificant in the grand scheme of things when it came right down to it?

But she manages to muster a smile for Utena anyway, nodding.

"It has been. It's been... quite a few months here, hasn't it?"

[andtherevolution]

Crap, she's right. Utena winces a little and scratches the back of her head, and says, "Not since that swear-in. Sorry about that... I've just been busy, I guess."

If she feels like she made a friendship faux-pas, though, she doesn't let it bring her down too long. Just a second later, she brightens up, and says, "So why don't we catch up? You can tell me everything that's been going on with Tina Belcher. I bet a lot of neat stuff happened, right?"

[continuousgroaning]

"It's fine," Tina replies sincerely. "I've been really busy myself. I was sick last month, and then we were planning Thanksgiving, and all that stuff happened at the swear-in with the dragon and everything... I wasn't there but I did hear about it."

She pauses to catch her breath a little bit.

"... I was going to say I'm fine, but you'd probably be able to tell I was lying right away," she admits. "I've just... had a lot on my mind, too. But, hey, it's Christmas, right? It's not a time to be sad because I'm afraid I'm never going to see my family again or that I realized the guy I was in love with back home was a huge jerk and I wasted so much time-" She catches herself, resting her head in her hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for all that to come out."

[andtherevolution]

Wait, a dragon?! Utena does a double-take, but as soon as it's mentioned it's brushed aside. She furrows her brow, but the moment to ask questions passes by, ushered away by Tina's troubles. Her face softens when she mentions her family, but once she mentions love, she looks up sharply, overcome by memories of friends and their crushes and girls at school who flocked around boys who thought nothing of them.

"No, no, it's fine," she says quickly. "It's fine, really. And, well..."

She sighs and shakes her head.

"Trust me, you aren't the first girl who's wasted her time on a real jerk. The best thing you can do is to just forget about that guy."

A

[extremeteenbible]

Merle just so happens to be coming back from the store when he sees Tina standing out on the lawn, surrounded by balls of light, twirling in a sad little circle. He decides that looks like fun and he'll join in, not wanting to miss out on a bonding moment, or something.

He casts Spirit Guardians and a dozen small points of light appear in the area surrounding himself and Tina, then he spreads his arms and starts twirling.

"This is fun, Tino!" (Not her name.) "What's the occasion?"

[continuousgroaning]

Tina stops when she sees Merle, and she can't help but smile when he summons even more lights and starts joining in. She heaves a sigh and stops her twirling, tilting her head at him.

"I just... felt like it, I guess," she admits. "Being a twirling Christmas tree seems easier than being a human right now."

[extremeteenbible]

"Christmas tree..." Merle hums thoughtfully, stroking his beard. "That's those decorated fir trees, right? That you see everywhere this month?"

Candlenights has its own traditional decorations, so he'd assumed it was part of this world's winter holiday.

[continuousgroaning]

"Uh-huh," Tina replies, nodding. "... do you all not have Christmas where you come from?"

[extremeteenbible]

"Well, y'see... It's hard to have Christmas trees when we don't have Christmas." He puts up a finger to add, "Our winter holiday is called Candlenights, and we do sometimes decorate for that, with trees or bushes, and tinsel and candles."

A

[fridgeflower]

[ Laurie's up in Maurtia Falls for something of a jog, except focused on powers instead of running. This is a best town for small time crime, which... She doesn't want to think too hard on the idea that she's turning crooks into guinea pigs, kinda sorta, but... Well. It is what it is.

She foils a convenience store holdup with decent success before cutting through the imPort neighborhood on her way back towards the center of town, and that's where she encounters Tina, a girl spinning around with lights in her (at least Laurie hopes its hers) front yard. ]

Practicing for a recital? Having special effect powers must be pretty useful.

[continuousgroaning]

[Tina stops when someone addresses her, panting slightly. She smiles sheepishly and does one more twirl for effect.]

My powers aren't working right, actually. I ended up looking like a Christmas decoration, so I thought... why not embrace it and turn into a lawn ornament?

[fridgeflower]

I can't think of a good reason, myself. [ Well... Truthfully, she could probably think of a few, but why not indulge a girl following her decorative dreams? ]

I guess I should've figured may be a goof, what with powers doing what they're doing lately. A malfunction could definitely treat you worse, though.

What're the normal functions of your powers?

[continuousgroaning]

Well, I'm learning some magic, and one of the spells is the ability to create light. Normally I can barely get it to make one ball of light, let alone enough to light me up.

[fridgeflower]

Oh, then the malfunction is more like... Well. Super-function? I don't really know what you'd call it. [ Way to go with that writer's vocabulary, Laurie. ] A few people's are going that way. I'm actually out here because I was worried about my own powers were screwing up.

[ The open air helps, though. And the occasional villainous guinea pig. Non-literal. ]

So, do you come from a magical world?

a

[h2no]

[there could be a million reasons why archie is outside fantasty house. his best bro magnus lives there, for one, and he drops by semi-frequently for one reason or another. this time, however, he was actually aiming to see tina. he crosses his arms, when he enters through the front gate, standing and watching her for a moment, not really sure what to think.]

Yo, Tina! [he calls out, not really wanting to disturb her but... she's gonna get dizzy, right?] You okay if we chat?

[continuousgroaning]

I'm not Tina, I'm a Christmas tree.

[That comes out sounding a lot brattier than she intends it to; Tina abruptly stops her twirling and crosses her arms, trying to be smaller, to curl in on herself.]

... I'm sorry. Sure, we can talk.

[h2no]

You're a Christmas tree if you wanna be a Christmas tree.

[said when a shrug. he pads over and puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly.]

How've you been?

[continuousgroaning]

[Tina lets out a long sigh, watching the breath expel from her mouth in a cloud in the cold air.]

Starting to think that maybe that guy was right. 76. That I don't pay close enough attention to things and I'll end up getting hurt some day. Worse than this, I mean.

A

[journalkeeper]

Lucretia spots her from her window, opens it to call out to her before she stops herself. She frowns, and then busies herself for a bit before coming outside. When she does, she's holding a large pad of paper, a watercolour set, and a chair.

"Good evening, Tina. You're looking quite, uh, pretty."

[continuousgroaning]

Tina looks up when Lucretia approaches, smiling shyly and attempting to curtsey before she overbalances and falls on her face into the snow.

"Tha-ahhh! I'm okay!"

a

[ghoulking]

Kaneki is passing by, by pure chance, when he spots Tina with lights all around her and twirling around like that. He doesn't say anything for a moment, letting the girl enjoy herself, and eventually he decides to speak up.

"You seem to be having fun."

[continuousgroaning]

Tina stops when she spots Kaneki and approaches him, rubbing her hands together for warmth.

"Yeah... my powers malfunctioned," she explains with a sigh. "So I figured... might as well run with it. Being a Christmas tree sounds pretty good right now."

[ghoulking]

He hums softly, not truly judging her, but certainly curious. "Does it? Why?" she'd rather be a Christmas tree only because of the powers malfunctioning'?

[continuousgroaning]

"Because Christmas trees don't have to worry about growing up and missing their families and boys they crushed on turning out to be huge jerks." Tina kicks a rock on the ground at that, wearing a pouty expression.