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

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

People who actually cared and bothered to teach him to be better. But we both know families are a crapshoot.

Mn. They are.

[Content that he's safe for the time being, the boy crosses his arms in rest against the windowsill, cheek resting against his arm with a longsuffering breath. Eyes more wide, as though greedily taking in the sights while he can. It is more important, to gulp down that sliver of the outside world, than to wait in the dark or beg and cry for help.]

Regardless of the reasoning they give, to raise a child like they are something other, something less than a person... it makes me wonder where the love of a parent even matters. Should we feel grateful, that they did not kill us?

When does a person stop being a person, in the eyes of other humans?

Nah. I'm more used to too hot than too cold.

[ The cold almost makes him miss being near the desert, which is messed up. Day gazes up once it becomes more cloudy, checking if it's a sign of rain to come. It doesn't seem like it. ]

[The great thing about heading north is that Malice is prepared for it. He's been working with fire for his entire stay here, and with it has come temperature control. So while he is dressed for the weather, he's also not shivering at all even up here, simply because he can make himself warm enough. This just so happened to work out perfectly for him.

Of course, Malice is always one to take on any jobs that involve fighting, and hearing that the Forest of Dreams is having problems means that's where he's going. Initially he's a bit disappointed that so many of the actual threats have already been taken care of by the forest itself, but his expression lights up when he finds a mana stone. And then another! Ooh, and here's another...

Which means that yes, he is popping these in his mouth like candy and crunching on them because it is the one thing Malice is allowed to eat. Well, that and it enhances his power, which is the real reason why he wants them. Though he's gotten character development, he still desperately seeks power and this is a great way to get it!! Thanks, monsters. Anyway, if you're around, you can find him scavenging for mana stones, though he won't steal any of the ones you may have already laid claims to!

Alternatively, perhaps you're here later, when Malice's protective magic has fizzled out and he forgot to reapply it... in other words, it's dream sharing time. Please refer to my plotting comment for what sorts of memories you may encounter, and let me know which one you'd like! I'd love to swap memories, so feel free to give me one of your character's too!

Or perhaps you're finding him later, back at one of the northern villages. Malice has dispatched several monsters and is now being surrounded by the villagers, offering gifts, praise, and being treated like a hero. Perhaps you helped him with these monsters? Or maybe you're just arriving to help out around here? Either way, he'll shake himself free of the villagers to greet you with a grin and a wave of his claws.]

These guys treatin' you like some kinda hero too? Honestly, I could get used to this...

[His good arm is carrying so much stuff. They have given him far too many Things to take back with him and of course he's going to keep them. Being a wizard is fantastic, why can't we always be treated like gods—]

[Idly watching the little dream Solomon get his fill of what little outdoors he can see.]

When they become too much trouble, I'm sure. ...Maybe even before then.

Homeless kids aren't so uncommon, and they aren't all war orphans. Some of them were just too much work or too many mouths to feed, so they were kicked out for it.

[He's never been much of a believer in unconditional, familial love.]

A vacation...

[Now, there's a thought. Has he ever had a vacation...? Adventuring with the Warrior of Light might count, but does it really?]

I suppose there's no harm in trying to enjoy yourself while preparing for the worst. It wouldn't do to spend your time stewing in anxiety.

Mm. Not everyone has compassion. And people are, inherently, selfish. It's part of what makes us what we are.

[Even those that are brutal, those that are cruel, those that abandon and butcher and commit atrocities. Solomon may have his opinions about people that were to chose those ways of life, as well as how they should be treated... but they would still be people.

...]

There is a saying back in my world. "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." The bonds that you make by choice and experience... that is more important, I believe, than that of familial obligation. Love is not something you are obligated to give, or have, or earn, or take. But that is what makes it precious, when it's there.

[He glances up towards the boy, as the memory starts to muddle and ripple to white.]

Even if it's something like the warmth of a sunbeam.

Is that so? Pity I'm not the one in charge, or I could make use of your advice.

[He takes a sip of tea, unbothered by the sarcasm.]

My word is all I have in a place like this, though I suppose I could show you a little parlor trick.

Mm? Don't go complimenting me, now, Jing Yuan. It might all go to my head.

[It's nice, though. A little back and forth, the warmth that comes from it.

He lets his stiff and cracked hands stay pliant, letting Jing Yuan take the lead where his own strength is lacking. It's slightly embarrassing for something so small. But he lets his hands flex gently within the confines of the gloves, even as he slips the scarf around his neck and folds it just so, an easy means to cover his face in a pinch if needed.

It's strange, to have a signature that isn't his own so close to his face like this. But it isn't entirely bad, he thinks. It makes the memory easier to recall, with the trace of Jing Yuan's magic like a fragrance on the air. Like the scent of a loved one on a coat or a blanket.

Mm.]

...These are well done. You managed this with your magic while we stood here?

[ You know, Day figured Malice would have no real issue about eating mana stones, but it's somehow still surprising that he's eating them pretty much right after picking them off the ground... ]

How's the collectin' goin'?

[ Day's got a small sack of mana stones, though he hasn't touched them otherwise. ]

[He continues to watch as the memory fades, the scenery around them returning to the forest they've always been in, Ahito leaned up against not a wall but instead a tree.]

Doesn't seem to me that those types of bonds did you any good. ...Assuming you made any to begin with.

[Especially with how distanced Solomon always seems to be. At any rate, he gets up and pats himself down to remove loose dirt.]

[ Like a vacation, Day says, as if he also hasn't been stressed out nonetheless. But it still holds, to a point. Sidereals get a lot of leeway and independence, but they still need to answer to the bureau and heavenly censors at the end of the day. Creation has too many problems in progress to count.

In comparison, this world feels gentler, even with its own slew of problems. Day has more free time here than he's used to. ]

You've got that right. It ain't like none of us take this seriously, but we've been livin' together here for over a month. Life's still carryin' on, even with the moon hangin' over our heads.

I can't say I did. One or two in passing, but I was not welcome most anywhere I went. Even when I contained my powers, I found that the human world still wasn't a place for me, and that most wanted nothing to do with me.

[He shuffles from where he'd been standing, shaking the snow off his shoes.]

Thankfully, I was lucky enough to find myself directed to a different calling. And the bonds I made from ther..., even if it is not out of love, even if it is not with humans... they have still been foundational in my purpose.

...

That said... I won't pretend it's the same in the slightest. Or that what I consider important is something anyone would think is "good".

It just is. I cannot change it at this point.

[ Day is not about to argue the name with Shinjiro, given what he's heard about the forest. ]

I'm startin' to think stickin' all the terrifyin' natural phenomenon in the North is a common thing cross worlds.

[ Some of the shit in Creation's North, man. ]

[It does. Kiryu knows more than enough about injuries and wounds to know how badly she did. He gives the younger Ithaqua the dignity of not being looked at, Kiryu instead looking at the nearest wall. It's a bit hard to know where to stare to be respectful]

Who did this to her?

[Kiryu's voice has turned harsh, feeling indignated just from seeing how she fared. It's such a cruel thing to witness...]

(more) cleanup
[ Ah, more of that in the East. This time though they really are just gonna gather it all up and burn it in a fire, huh. But that actually is much easier for Comet. It's stuff that doesn't need to be preserved or kept in good shape if it's gonna be destroyed, so.

Comet piles the scrap onto a cloth tarp and when the coast is clear all around it…

Whispering their incantation, they make a downward motion with their hand downwards to flatten it. And flatten it does, swiftly too. Think of when a person steps on a soda can. Then, they wrap up the scrap so it can be dragged along.

Feel free to offer them stuff to press! Or bother them because why do you know this magic, small one. ]

reverence
[ Fellow wizards might notice how uncomfortable Comet gets when the Northern villagers go about their tradition. They try to avoid eye contact, back up when they approach, and they'll hand off any offering kindly thrust upon them to a fellow wizard. It could be a delicious sweet or dried fish, they aren't accepting it. If they and another wizard are caught by the villagers, they're hiding right behind the other. They are short, so it's not hard. ]

ladies night
[ Comet is uh, not trying too hard.
They put their hair up with pins and wear something fluffy due to the cold. If it's cute enough to work, that's a coincidence. ]

Need help?

[ Feeling less than confident or need someone to check how the glamour is looking? They are here to do whatever.

At the actual event… You can use the magical Avrae Dice That Love Us to see if the other guests are convinced (we'll both roll and divide it by 2 for some grace). Surely, things can't go wrong! ]

wildcard/memshare
[[ if you wanna do something different with the prompts, go ahead with something! For a Comet memory, you can ask for one here, and I'll set up a personalized toplevel! ]]

Edited (consistent headers... ) 2024-05-22 22:51 (UTC)

You could try being less annoying. Maybe people would like you better then.

[Clearly not a suggestion he thinks would do much, clearly just another jab because sad backstories are sad but grandpa you are still a real fucked up dude.]

[G'raha listens to him speak, before nodding.]

Aye, life carries on. Even if it turns out the moon is actually a ship, all we can do is deal with things as they come.

[Though he kind of doubts the moon, here, is inhabited by Loporrits and was made to be a vessel... Probably incredibly unlikely for that to happen twice...]

[But if he was going to make any other rude comments as he stands, those are simply lost to time because--

Somewhere in the forest, the laughter of children can be heard, and the sound is enough to make him freeze.]

Excuse me?

[ Did he just say "moon is actually a ship"??? ]

[He laughs at Day's reaction, but he does cover his mouth politely.]

It was a discovery we made of the moon of my home star. The moon was created to be a vessel to ferry those who lived on Etheirys to viable star should the Final Days threaten to destroy our homes. It was quite a surprise, truthfully.

[The moon was also a prison for an ancient primal but... Mostly the ship part is relevant. Nobody needs to talk about Zodiark right now.]

[ Day lets Comet hide right behind him, which, again, not hard for them to do. He is so Done dealing with these villagers and it's been barely a few hours since they arrived in the North. ]

Look, we'll strengthen the barrier anyway, you don't need to give us anything.

[ ...Which doesn't actually reassure the villagers trying to give him and Comet food and furs, since they can't discern where this "generosity" is coming from. They're trying to insist in a way where it's obvious they're wondering if the offerings aren't good enough.

Day, internally: oh fuck me I guess ]

[Ah. Yeah.]

Yes, it does seem to be quite the mystery, doesn't it? I'm afraid I don't have many answers for what happened, but I'm hoping it will be something we can discover in time.

[He's decently optimistic about it, at least!]

[ They were technically here before! So with that little experience under their belt, they wouldn't fall for its illusions again (with knives being tossed around). But this time it's a bit different. Toxins!

How do you feel about boats, Ahito? Because you're in one right now. There's a moonless night sky above him and below reflected in the water, lit by a single lantern... Also, he has a fellow passenger! They are curled up on the other side of this simple boat, who was napping? Somehow? ]

...

[Oh no, there she goes... G'raha follows after her, though, since it's clear Jing Yuan is a woman on a mission and she might as well follow through on this.]

Alright. To the markets.

[She says this to herself, to help hype herself up, and as they're on their way to the markets another thought occurs to her.]

Should we... come up with code names for this mission? My name isn't very feminine, after all, though I know that sort of... cultural basis doesn't exist here.

[But would it help her get in character and sell the persona?]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 15 of 117

thousand dreams, lotus boats upon the waters

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Dream sharing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

endwalker spoilers again lmaooo

no subject

I laughed ngl

good

Reverence

no subject

memshare for ahito!

no subject