lunaecalamitas | thousand dreams, lotus boats upon the waters

thousand dreams, lotus boats upon the waters

NEW MOON ADAGIO

Between the constant requests from the North and the sense of tension that pervades the manor, Sage Tatara makes an executive decision: we're going North, baby.

Of all the things that have happened thus far, let this be the ultimate test of your magic. Even as we near summer, it's frigid. Protect yourselves and your allies from the cold. Protect yourselves while also fighting off monsters (or other territorial wizards, should you make the terrible mistake of wandering into another's territory), flying through the vast wilderness, or protecting the poor humans who need your help to survive. Time to blow off some of your steam. Just be sure to obey Tatara's one rule: don't kill each other.

One particular problem of note is in the Forest of Dreams. Without its guardian, many of these rogue monsters and dangerous predators, displaced from their normal habitats, have found their way into the forest. Many of them, however, are unable to survive against the fatal toxin, and there are plenty of animal corpses and mana stones that litter the forest. It might be best to clean these up before the forest guardian returns...

That said, the toxin is yet another thing you must protect yourself against in addition to the cold. While you can likely keep yourself from dying from the toxins, you may not be immune to its effects. This deadly toxin causes anyone who breathes it in to dream and hallucinate vividly, be it images of the past, imagined futures, thoughts of the present processed and warped...

Strangely enough, those nearby may end up sharing in your dreams... Did you want the darkest recesses of your thoughts, hopes, and fears unearthed for others to see?

Those who decide to venture far past the more populated (in relative terms) parts of the North may find themselves stumbling upon what looks to be an abandoned bandit hideout. It seems it's been abandoned for quite a while—nothing to loot here, sorry!—but there sure are a whole lot of monsters that have decided to make this hidden corner of the North their home.

While you're at it, you may find a nearby cave. Beautiful crystals dot the walls and the floors, and there are small pools of hot spring water free for relaxing. It seems to be relatively free of monsters, too. So maybe this wouldn't be a bad spot to relax, away from everything else?

However, there's one thing that makes this cave truly unique, and it isn't the vistas or the springs—it's the bats. These bats hear echoes of the past and replay them for visitors. Should you stay a while and listen, a bat may pay you a visit. And when it does, it may play for you the voices from the memories of visitors past, whose stories may hold a clue or two to your circumstances...

While the Forest of Dreams is a memory/dreamshare free for all, the aural memories replayed by the bats in the Cave of Time will come from one of the original wizards only. If you'd like an audio replay of a perhaps significant moment either in their personal life or a clue as to what happened to them (it will be randomized), then please reply to this comment!

JOB BOARD

Clean-up and repairs. While thanks to the hard work of your Eastern friends the worst was prevented, the City of Rain emerged from their short ordeal a little worse for wear.

Buildings need repair, blood needs to be cleaned off the streets, the injured need help. This is, perhaps, the only time you will be allowed to use magic openly in the city (you've been given permits and everything!), but you still are not allowed to talk outside of designated zones. Please, please don't get arrested...

As for the scrap that litters the streets? Unfortunately, you'll have to take it back to the scrapyard. But this time, there's a big, roaring bonfire out there. Just chuck all the scrap and debris in the fire. The city isn't taking any second chances—extreme situations call for extreme measures.

Reverence. Several Northern villages are currently outside the protection of a wizard, and have requested the sage's wizards' presence. They're terrified of the monsters and worried the barriers for their villages will fail sooner than later. They don't simply ask for help for free, however, and these smaller villages are steeped in their tradition—they'll pay you their respects, praying to you, offering you gifts, groveling at your feet, in hopes for a modicum of your time and protection. Do their offerings please you? Then assist them with what you deem appropriate for their worship to you: kill a few monsters for them, or a lot if you're pleased. Strengthen the barrier a lot, or not at all if you're displeased. It's up to you! You have the power here. What's it like to be a god for a day?

Ladies' night. The monthly lady officers' gathering is coming up in the City of Affluence—it's an exclusive meetup for the women involved in and related to Western military and bureaucratic affairs. Anyone is welcome, so long as they meet two requirements: they are outwardly presenting feminine, and they have an invitation to the gathering. Here's your chance to flex your transformation and glamour spells! Infiltrate the meetup with a disguise and a fake invitation, mingle, enjoy the drinks, the jazz, the entertainment, and find out what you can... What's the Western army up to? Be careful, though—don't get caught and kicked out!

The attendees seem to be excited about the new phantasmagoria technology and the upcoming display, and many whisper about the upcoming Venator meteor shower...

G'RAHA TASKS

Greetings, new friends! I am G'raha Tia, and while I hesitate to call myself a mentor or a replacement for the one you had, I am eternally grateful for the assistance I received and will do my best to help your cause in any way I can. To that end, I feel I may need to be caught up to speed on the events and get to know all of you.

We can have some tea and sandwiches and have a discussion! That's the best way to learn, sometimes.

TATARA ACTIVITIES

Even if we're not here for very long, I think we should leave our mark (not literally! Don't paint on the walls!). I got paint and big paper in the dining hall, but no brushes... Do you know what that means? Finger paint! Finger paint a portrait of yourself with your name and I'll hang it up in the library when they're all done!

Thanks to Cid and Khun, my camcorder works now. The thing is, what's the point of filming anything if we have no way to watch the film?! Could you guys work together to make some kind of projector? Or like...VHS player? We could have a movie night together!

OOC NOTES

🌙 Welcome to your fourth event! It's your dreamshare and memshare event! Ready to open up with your deepest and darkest secrets?
🌙 We're halfway through the game. How do you feel?
🌙 Back at the manor, Kurapika and Maya have set up a bulletin board! Leave comments, argue with your neighbors, have fun. Be nice. Don't set it on fire.
🌙 On the admin side of things, Lav has swapped out Wanderer for G'raha! Please say hello to your new mentor NPC.
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here! Remember to keep all wider plotting to the post, and remember to check back frequently, since not everyone checks plurk or discord all the time.
🌙 The next country to go on their mission is North. Do you think a PVP-enabled mission will go well?

» NAVIGATION

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[ Oh, he certainly understands that much.

The sentiment, funnily enough, is familiar to himself that he also finds it hardly all that unreasonable. Perhaps, even though it may still sting, that can be what drives Ahito forward. ]

Those who have moved on would certainly indeed be upset with us to find if we had ourselves too mired in the past to advance.

Though, it is far easier for people to become far too trapped in knowing what they have lost to the point where they no longer see what is before them. I can acknowledge that you are not among those who'd be as much...even if I was not sure if that initially happened to be the case.

( Mika has been in the library, perusing the shelves for a fairly specific subject; however, he does not pull out the books he thinks are relevant and set them out in a pile, but instead has slowly spent his time scouring the shelves slowly, extracting each book he thinks is relevant, and skimming them one at a time - before setting them back. He hasn't found a lot relevant to his search, so he hasn't needed to sit down and read much.

He glances back when he hears Khun's idle remark. He'd been aware of him, but did not particularly have business with him (in fact, unlike their meeting before, directly after the beheading incident, he seems very faintly on his guard with Khun in the room).

After scanning Khun's pile, he will, after a moment, turn just slightly more toward him to address him. )

... Were you looking for something specific?

[ Even without the information about the place, messed up as it is, it's pretty clear how unnerving this damn forest is. Things that tend to be pretty are the most dangerous, as people like to see, and this is no exception.

The fact they'd likely be kicking dirt without the protective magic blanketing over them probably doesn't help the feeling, either.

Shinjiro doubts it bothers his companion, however, evident by the glance he throws Khun as he picks up another mana stone off the ground. ]

Startin' to think they just like making us clean up after everyone.

[ Doesn't this happen every week at this point... ]

[ Now, that's a face he hasn't seen in a while.

Normally, he has to warn the other man off from the kitchen with the verbal equivalent of swatting him with a broom....although, the last time they had actually talked had been the conversation outside his window.

Perhaps that's while he's eyeballing the older man with far less irritation than normal, only letting his brows furrow in faint suspicion. ]

So, what. This is where you've been hanging out now?

[ The poison forest? Or just the North in general? Either way, terrible choices on either end, Solomon. ]

[ At least somebody looks as displeased with the cold as himself. Even layered up with heating charms on most his clothes, Shinjiro still looks about as grumpy as he always does...with added red on his features, from the frigid sting. Day can probably hear his grumbling, close enough as they are. ]

They couldn't pick somewhere warmer to stick the damn forest of death....

[ It sounds far more apt than 'Dreams', even with how pretty it looks. The mana stones and dead animals littered here and there are not doing the place any favors. ]

( Mika had cast his own protections, but he had, after a moment's hesitation, not denied Ithaqua's, either. A little like an animal, he doesn't like the signature - the scent - of another person's magic on him, but the reason in him says he could use it, especially considering the dangers. (Especially considering he's covered in other, small traces other people's magic already, anyway.)

That they step into cathedral halls surprises him, and instantly puts him on edge. It could be anything - a strange feature of the forest - some other wizard's enchantment - it's unclear which. But Ithaqua's reaction - his loud exhale, amplified in Mika's ears - strikes him as odd, and it becomes clearer why as they come upon the unpleasant scene of the false Ithaqua, the woman, and Ithaqua's younger self.

Mika doesn't look away as the woman is harmed. He doesn't even flinch. (How can he so confidently proclaim that all humans are evil and cruel if he will not take on every instance of it onto his shoulders to carry with him?) But he sees that the Ithaqua beside him does, in a way unusual for his usual demeanor.

Mika can't blame him, exactly. Not when - his own twin? - it seems, hurts someone clearly dear to him.

But he supposes church is a place where cruelty is born, no matter where you're from. )

... Do you want to break this enchantment?

( He doesn't know how, or if it's even possible - but he will offer it as courtesy to Ithaqua, because he's clearly distressed. It's not hard to put two and two together - that this is a memory, or a dream, or something; but it's Ithaqua's, and it's not for him to see. Mika's own dream was shown to Solomon the other week, so he has some baseline comprehension. )

( As the tides of the villagers break along the shore that is Robin, pleading for his favor, Mika is an indifferent god: he does not entertain them, he does not accept their gifts, and his displeasure is serrated should they venture too close, apologize too much. It puts them ill at ease, between Robin's potentially-ominous words and Mika's absolute displeasure, to think that they have displeased their sole means of protection.

Even when they don't speak to him, though, and only murmur amongst each other, Mika's gaze sometimes narrows sharply - only amplifying the anxiety of those humans watching him.

He has hung back after completing his work quietly, and watched Robin in his own interactions, and he does not interfere; it is only as Robin drifts away for a step from the immediate crowd that Mika steps from his post, and remarks: )

... You don't have to entertain their fantasies, you know.

( Mika managed his transformation spell in private, because he futzed up so many times and he did not want anyone else to witness his shame at being bad at any type of magic this late in the game. He, conversely, does not look very different, with the same fluffy hairstyle as always, only faintly altered features, and an otherwise feminine figure.

His outfit is probably just his usual wear, which means it's not super comfortable to wear right now with the way he fills it out differently than usual. He was probably going to grab clothes or something on the way, in West. )

... Makeup?

( isn't transformation enough, )

[Ithaqua would like to tell him where to put his concern. In fact, he would have done so if he wasn't interrupted as soon as he opened his mouth to speak.

Then he braces himself for a mouthful of saltwater, the moment he sees a wave of blue coming for his face. However, he doesn't get it, but rather something else entirely, a heavy weight on his shoulders and in his chest, weighing him down from inside. Feels like it's on the outside too, pressure from everywhere at once.

Then he shakes his head when he hears those words-- or perhaps they're ringing in his head? It's difficult to properly describe a single moment of a long line of moments full of sheer assault to the senses... that is not, at the same time.

Solomon however looks horrible, and Ithaqua growls softly in his throat.]

Explain. [Ah, yes, so sympathetic of him.]

The north is inhospitable. Inhospitable lands create desperate people.

[So everyone had a hand in creating this culture, clearly.]

Of course I do. [He rubs a hand over his head, the ears of his hood wiggling.]

No one is supposed to be in this place.

[Of course he's sure it was still populated with people on their holy days, back in the real world, but right now? This place isn't supposed to exist.

However, the screams cut off, and more movement capture Ithaqua's attention-- his twin is moving, the red cloak flapping as he goes, and the unmasked Ithaqua creeps behind him.

And the masked one follows.]

Of course they do!

[ He grins! ]

It's part of a sage's job!

I won't.

[ In the pause that follows, he squeezes Khun's hand, stares at him. He knows the forest is dangerous, logically; he knows Khun is the only one here right now that can keep him safe. He won't get go. He'd know by now, by the look in his eyes, that it's all written there.

He turns and walks alongside him, following the sweet waft of home. He holds Khun's hand tight, like he's nervous, like he's afraid of losing him when he peeks back into a glimpse of the past.

He pushes back a thick patch of brush to continue through the trees, but it has a weight to it. There comes the chime of a little bell, and all of a sudden, the world around them changes. The brush is now a door, and before them is the spacious interior of a western-style pub. The afternoon sun streams through the windows, and the building is empty, save a lone man in sunglasses and a red scarf cleaning glasses behind the bar as he smokes.

"Hey, Totsuka," he drawls, and pauses when he glances up at the two. That is, indeed, a raised eyebrow behind the shades. "Didn't know ya had friends 'sides us."

Tatara grins at Khun, then drags him towards the bar. ]

[ :D? ]

Reading?

[ He smiles up at Jing Yuan. ]

Is something wrong?

[ Tatara laughs. Oops! He's almost sorry Syrlya dropped his fruit. Almost. ]

A camera. [ He peeks out from behind the lens, looks at his camera, then back at Syrlya. ] I guess you don't have these where you're from?

[ Jing Yuan only continues to smile slightly in amusement. ]

...Isn't that a little difficult to do if you're reading backwards?

[ Tatara is bewildered by the sudden change in scenery; he looks back and forth between the caves and Solomon, and steps in closer to him. At least he trusts him to protect him if anything happens, if anything jumps out at them...

But the conversation continues, even though Solomon stops. He's about to take a step forward, after the phantom images, but the older man roots him in place.

He feels that well of unfamiliar emotion in his chest, and aptly identifies it as not his own. It's weird, and uncomfortable, because he never feels this much, ever. Maybe he is heartless?

Which means— ]

Uncle Solomon?

[ He whispers up at him. He knows how this forest works, and even if it isn't the same as the last time he was here...he kind of gets what's happening. ]

[ yes... secret tactics win...

He scribbles it all down and studies the appearance of the foreign words in his book. Fun and weird, in his opinion.

Tatara reaches for a cookie, and he talks as he's munching. ]

That's so cool... I've never heard of a place like that before. [ Obviously! ]

Could you tell me what you were doing before you got to the forest?

[ when he's like this, few expressions filter onto khun's face—they don't generally have a space for when he's making calculation after calculation, weighing the odds cleanly in his mind. here though, when he sees the man with red scarf and sunglasses, something almost slips through. (he had known tatara was in costume that night, but seeing that man in front of him after the rest of what happened that evening—well he's glad for his poker face.)

he manages a small smile, a touch droll, and lets himself get dragged over. he's not sure if he's supposed to speak given where they are, so he opts for a belated wave in greeting instead. ]

[ khun on the other hand hasn't seemed on guard at all, or more realistically, more than his baseline. he's really invested in whatever this research project is.

he looks at mika with a tired sigh. ]

Holidays. [ he snaps the book he was reading shut. ] There's so many of them for anything and everything.

But you're here at the barriers rather than killing monsters. Why?

I imagine not. But--

[...

He doesn't quite finish his thought as Jing Yuan holds out his hands. Ah... he'd thought the incantation had been for warmth. What in the world was he...]

[He's hesitant. Another wizard's signature... would that shift anything? Would it be a benefit or a detriment? Another tracker, perhaps?? Maybe it could give him another chance to--

...

His thoughts fly, but only briefly. He is tired. So tired. And the act of chiding kindness puts a pin in the plans of his head.]

Mm.

[His demeanor deflates, just briefly. A look of shame, a momentary inner scolding, that has its place and fades into exhaustion.]

...Yes, I... suppose you have a point.

[He reaches over to take the winter wear from Jing Yuan's hands cautiously, the white stark against the cold bite of red from his skin. A sign he was not infallible. A sign he was human.]

I'm sorry, if that is what I've done for you as well.

[ Jing Yuan himself hasn't been out here all that long, but the toll of having one's personal memories, and certainly a number of vulnerable points alongside the pain of loss and uncertainty is indeed...something he is struggling with.

(Jingliu's situation is more complex than what can be revealed in even these memories. The final chapter left disturbingly open, to great consequence, or great benefit.)

But, he can't help himself, wanting to do what he did, and being able to still keep his heart open all the same. He smiles again when the other takes what he has to give, though it's a smaller, and weaker facsimile of his usual ones. Still, it is genuine all the same. ]

There is nothing to forgive.

...Though partially I say that because I am a rather forgiving man. [ His eyes twinkle a bit in mirth as he slides in a little tease. ] But, I can say for certain that my words are nothing less than the truth, as long as you remember to take care, that is. I will be rather cross with you otherwise.

...With that said, let us go make our walk back in earnest.

I can even tell you a bit more about my current student too, if you're amenable. We've seen much too many heavy things as of late, and I can assure you that you may find it to your interest.

[ Jing Yuan's tone is light, because he thinks it might benefit them. Or so he hopes. ]

[ at first he thinks the rock (?) is simply a big manastone, a prize for him having to deal with the weather that reminds him of home. but this doesn't look like one, and there's suddenly less grass and more ground out of nowhere. ]

Kurapika.

The environment's shifting. [ his voice has dropped low, scanning for whatever else might be coming their way. ]

Edited 2024-05-22 16:27 (UTC)

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thousand dreams, lotus boats upon the waters

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