thousand dreams, lotus boats upon the waters

[promittere]

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

Comments

[leewards]

Then you may be casual with me. [He leans back in his chair and laces his fingers together over his belly.]

In fact, I insist upon it, heheh. Formality has its place, and it is never with me.

[foresightis2020]

[ Time to get into a fashionable mode, stat! Though, this is prime time to look at what's been given to G'raha.

...Do any of these even fit towards a female figure...? ]

I don't believe so. I could simply cast a spell that will make it appear to others that you have ears like everyone else. That solves the issue, does it not?

[ Jing Yuan points out helpfully because Westie powers mean Good Illusions as she watches G'raha lower her head. She is being Perceived because. Adorable. But she does go to make her voice a bit more gentle. ]

Red and blue. Or either/or, then. Let us see if there's anything in your wardrobe that would be reasonable too. If not, I can transform those article of clothes into different options. Then, you can see what you might like.

How does that sound?

[foresightis2020]

[ Well, Jing Yuan has always had wonderful (?) timing.

But, indeed, whatever conversation they could have made is interrupted by the unhappy story viewed right before their very eyes.

...It is more than a simple story, though. It seems to be a painted picture of one's own memories.

Ahito's, to be exact. ]

...This is from your past?

[ He asks, to confirm (they're in a place where 'anything' can be seen), startled from seeing all of that himself but he is far too calm to react differently. Instead, he asks first to confirm, and while they have a quick moment of reprieve, if one can call it that. ]

MEMSHARE - BASEMENT

[dyingtohealyou]

[...Oh. It's Solomon.

Ahito, too, had been going around collecting mana stones, but his bored yet still alert expression gives way immediately to one of distaste and wariness.]

...Obviously. I came here earlier on Lazuli's request.

[dyingtohealyou]

[Ahito's hands are clenched at his side, teeth grit as it finishes playing. But- still, he manages to keep his cool.

He releases a long breath, breathing in deep once more, and responds with a curt:]

...Yeah.

[shortleash]

0. since recovering... (not quite a prompt, but sort of)

( ... Mika's been avoidant. He'd been laid up in bed with in Ginger's room (their semi-shared room, at this point) all week since returning from East's mission, drifting in and out from feverish sleep as he tossed and turned from sickness due to moon exposure. Ginger handled feeding, and visitors were (mostly) welcome - but Mika was barely sentient, not totally sensical, and seemed terribly clingy and worried about most people passing through, as if obsessed with the idea that they were striding off into great danger.

Since recovering - though he presently still feels a little bit woozy - Mika has been avoiding other people, especially of crowds. It's partly embarrassment (he said some weird things while sick, and he was... embarrassing), and partly... something that's hard to define. But there are times he's within earshot of others (and his earshot runs wide) where he'll suddenly frown, then turn on his heel and leave. Weird.

At least he's not feverishly talking about the moon and its love anymore. That was definitely weirder.

If you want him somewhere around the manor, you can find him quiet places around evening and night - tending to the rose bushes he's been working on with Ginger, up on the roof apparently relaxing as he looks at the sprawling scenery, or out training his magic and with his rapier in the forest around the manor. You can, strangely, now, on rare occasion, see him around during day, too - though still only inside the manor. He continues to never be outside during the day, if he can help it. )

i. hot springs

( Mika's not one to hop into random hot springs, but he can be found investigating them between missions. Here he is crouching down beside one, studying it - neither touching nor seeming keen to get in - as if it were somehow strange.

Really, it's because he's only ever seen hot springs on TV - and that was years ago. He'd basically forgotten they existed. It's... interesting to see them again, and he doesn't find himself wholly indifferent, like at the beach.

It might not be the easiest thing in the world to convince him to get in with you, but it's certainly possible. )

ii. ladies' night

( Though with great reluctance, Mika has, ultimately, conceded to participation in this mission. It does take him quite a few (quite a lot, actually) of tries to get transformation off at all, which is why the end result isn't all too different from his usual self.

He looks largely the same - same exact blonde, fluffy hairstyle, same red eyes, and, honestly? just about the same face - if with vaguely softer features suggesting a glaze of femininity without distinct source. And, lastly: when Mika thinks "girl," he thinks of either of the deceased orphan girls, or a generic Pretty Girl TV Model, so... the latter's the figure he's working with. It's fine. It's embarrassing, but he's can live with it.

You can find a transformed Mika...

iia. Shopping for clothes in the West. This is visibly a challenge, both because Mika hasn't picked clothes out for himself in forever, and also because he's being accosted by some extremely chatty, extremely friendly Western saleskeeps while trying to look at some clothes on display, and he's clearly getting peeved; or...

iib. At the lounge, donning a long, white, military-style jacket, black gloves, a black turtleneck that shows a bit of midriff, white pants, and heeled, black, thigh-high boots. (It's basically the Field Commander's Coat, don't look at me,) He's holding a drink he hasn't touched and is sitting kind of off to the side, on one of the couches, just trying to eavesdrop... but drunk girls keep laughing and falling into him or against him, and trying to drag him into their antics - and he's looking increasingly unamused; or...

iiic. After the party, relieved to be done with it all, lingering at some quiet balcony or bridge a little ways off from the lounge, elbows on the ledge, as he gazes over the bright, Vegas-like lights and vivace of the Western city below. He seems introspective - and tired. He also doesn't seem like he has the patience to be pestered by more annoying humans (Western humans, specifically), which honestly seems to just make the lingering women tempted to bother him some more. There's an Air there. Join him, save him... or just watch him suffer; it's fine. )

iii. sweet dreams

( On a monster extermination excursion to the Forest of Dreams with Mika, you may find...

Discord for memshares, please! Mika's memories range from normal anime boy trauma to uncomfortable, so let's figure out your comfort levels before we discuss anything. We can do a memshare exchange, if you prefer. )

iv. wildcard

( Hit me. Discord to hash things out! )

Cw: war imagery, large amounts of death

[impacter]

Mm. Long enough.

[Enough that the passing images aren't a surprise. He looks off towards the end of the massive room, where a throne sits. Something hulking and massive and immensely powerful sits atop it, with many wings and a booming voice.

The real Solomon turns to keep plucking things from the snow, just as the sound of doors burst open in an unseen space behind them, and an apparition of Solomon comes strolling in to this courtly scene. The space is filled bit by bit, faceless demons that stand upright like humans, a court in shock filled with wings and horns and the cool but fiery energy of Hell, especially as the most ferocious of them stomps to his feet. Who dares to barge into the castle of the King of Demons unannounced?

"Only a witty sorcerer."

The list of demands is wavering, as though the memory is so distant that the details are blotted like an ink stain. But Solomon stands, unmoving, smiling as he always does with a face of mirth and eyes of sharp ice as he demands an act of peace. An end to the recent increase of activity above the grounds. Working together... with a catch.

"Only under my supervision will I let you go and do as you please. Obey me, submit, and I'll consider this peace a success."

The rage of the king fills the room with a deathly energy, licking like fire. And yet Solomon does not move, real or apparition, even as the refusal turns to a threat. How dare he. How dare he. Come to a land that isn't his to demand what isn't his. How dare a mere man lay foot into matters that weren't his own.

"I don't think you need to doubt my reasoning, here. I am very serious. And I will prove it if I must."

The energy of hellish rage only grows, and the scene starts to morph. Not to a court, but to the vast stretches of a battlefield, under scorched lands and a dark, sunless sky.

It is only Solomon. And the magic power that courses through him is thick and intense. The smell of inhumane blood and fire fills the nostrils and coats the tongue. Dead lie all around, and fire burns heavy. And yet still the new waves of soldiers rush him in the distance, their cries an echoing holler of their king. Solomon merely holds his ground, a speck in the sea waiting for a wave to try and move it. There is no joy. Only a cold and unwavering confidence, as he starts to advance forward through bloodstained and barren lands.

From off to the side, the real Solomon watches - not the memory, but Jing Yuan, closely.]

You can see it as well?

Cw: brief mentions of blood, destruction, death

[impacter]

[A chuckle, tired but humored. Ah, Bruno, never change. He leans his weight off the tree he's been resting at, plucking up another stone from the ground.

His face looks slightly more battered than the last time they spoke, face kissed red with exposure to the cold.]

Relax. There's nothing but us in here for a reason right now.

[Faintly, distantly, there's the flickering smell of smoke. Of dust and debris. Of blood. Of distant, mourning screams. Bruno's body will feel like a phantom of itself for a brief moment. Pained. Exhausted. Powerful. Powerful. It radiates like the heat of the sun in waves off his body. But he feels distress, not his own, but of a phantom, stumbling and bleeding and desperately trying to will something, something in him, something innate, to stop.

The real Solomon flinches with a deep exhale, as though this is not the first time this hallucination has rolled into his view. His hand runs, reflexively, at the ring against his middle finger, unaware that the vision is being shared.]

... Be cautious of what you see. This place is... exhausting.

[impacter]

[He can't see it. But the blatant dismissal still ruffles him a little. Fine, if Ithaqua wanted to be that way...

...

Still, something feels... strange. A pull, despite the displeasure, one that flickers with noticeable intensity at the barrier that flares up. What in the world...

Faintly, the air starts to smell thick with salt. The air starts to grow cold and wet. Solomon immediately starts to look uncomfortable, his frown thin towards the other Northern Wizard.]

Not even a hello? Are we truly at that point, Ithaqua?

Cw: brief mentions of blood

[impacter]

Ah. You're a new face...

[His smile is tired, slightly pained, scuffed slightly along the forehead and jawline and skin kissed raw and red from the cold.]

I'm sorry this is your introduction. But I hope you can make peace with our circumstances...

[Faintly, distantly, there's the flickering smell of smoke. Of dust and debris. Of blood. Of distant, mourning screams. Graha's body will feel like a phantom of itself for a brief moment. Pained. Exhausted. Powerful. Powerful. It's both very right, and very wrong.

Solomon seems to flinch as the sensation settles, as though bracing.]

...It can be a little unkind. Just be wary of where your eyes sit.

[impacter]

Mm. You were with that group.

Are you alright?

[Faintly, the space around them starts to feel damp. Dark. Claustrophobic. As though trees are no longer trees, as though the sky above starts to feel like it isn't real; fogging up the sensation of openness, their space condensing with the innate sensation of feeling small. Alone.

Afraid.]

memshare (mika) cw: torture

[leewards]

[Does Ithaqua realize that the Forest of Dreams has something else in store for him this time around? No. Perhaps he's let his guard down, having been here before and only put up the requisite protections over himself-- and Mikaela, should he have needed it himself-- and the forest's toxins... well. They do their thing.

Ithaqua shakes his head and blinks a number of times, before realizing that their surroundings have become warmer, harder, that they're no longer walking through a forest full of snow but a long stone hallway lit by torches, and massive windows of stained glass. And he recognizes those windows-- the exact same windows that the town church has. That church full of those so full of people who were scared of demons but ironically held the worst demons inside of them. He takes a deep breath, and exhales noisily.

Mikaela may notice that a room is much brighter than the rest, multiple braziers and torches burning to light the room up completely as if to leave no shadows... Thus illuminating what else is in the room. Two people, a red-headed woman whose age couldn't couldn't be determined past "maybe twenty? maybe thirty?" just by looking at her, in heavy chains and in a wholly uncomfortable position on the stone floor, and a young man who.

Is that Ithaqua?

No, Ithaqua is near the vampire-- and is also right next to the open door of the chamber, maskless and hoodless, and more importantly, quite human-looking, his eyes white, not black. There are other differences between Ithaqua and the one who is clearly his twin, such as the twin having just a little more colour in the skin and hair than the abominable snowman-to-be.

Then the twin takes one of the tools in the brazier, and Ithaqua, the real one all wrapped up, has to look away from the scene as his mother screams and his twin laughs.]

[promittere]

[ There comes the rustle of lush foliage, the quiet hush in the air of the deep wood. He is silent, his breathing even. Someone walks ahead, pace just as even. An owl hoots in the distance.

He speaks, calm. His voice is young, but cool and composed.

"Why are you walking so fast? You should walk next to me."

The voice that speaks in turn is elegant, smooth, yet agitated.

He huffs, upset in turn.

"Don't say that. I'm your vassal. It's my job to serve you. And I promised to—"

The other voice rises in frustration. The footsteps through the underbrush come to a halt; leaves shudder as the person ahead whirls around. He, too, stops.

"Heh," his chuckle is light, proud. What the other yells at him for seems not to bother him. "You're even more handsome when you're ordering me around."

Except that only makes the other voice angrier—it rises in frustration, gripes echoing through the still foliage.

"Why, Heath?" his voice rises in frustration, too. "Why did you ask me to come with you, then? I thought I was useful to you. I thought you needed—"

A yell, in anger. It cuts him off. But it doesn't deter him.

"Fine. If you don't, then I'm going back to the manor. At least Faust knows how to make me useful."

He whirls on his feet, the leaves and branches shuddering in his frustration. He takes one, two steps atop dead foliage, the only sound in the tension between them, when there comes a low, menacing shudder.

It echoes in the distance, far, but slowly grows. It is no monster, no beast he is familiar with; it whips through the dense trees as it gets louder, and louder.

Static fills his ears, his sense of direction and his heartbeat and his thoughts quickly fizzling out beneath the relentless wave of sheer noise. His breathing quickens, but soon that, too, is lost beneath the audible shudder in the fabric of reality.

Faint, behind the noise, the other voice yells for him. Over and over. Panic, regret. Shino, Shino.

The noise swells—

and silence. ]

Memshare - Promise

[troublereduction]

Man, seems like it's gotten worse since the last time...

[ He seems to draw some quick symbol in the air with his finger, a gesture that has meaning for only him, to cast protection on himself. ]

[impacter]

You've been here before, I take it.

[Solomon will cross over to Day, extending his own heating spell. So long as they stay close together, he'll keep them from freezing, though it looks like the cold has already been enough to turn his face red in places, scuffed up like he's taken a bad fall.]

There isn't much here left alive besides us, so--

[Thanks for saving me back there.

It's a whisper of a phrase, as though on the wind itself, and yet Solomon freezes immediately, glancing behind him, even as what sounds like his own voice echoes in return.

It was the least I could do. No need to keep the only other human here in a pickle. Though... you do have me interested in how you got Lucifer so worked up.

There's stumbled conversation, wordless and muddy. And Solomon stays frozen, swallowing dryly.]

... we should... keep moving.

[foresightis2020]

[ A memory, then.

Jing Yuan's eyes are back on the scene playing out before them, even though Solomon returns to what he was doing a moment ago.

It's difficult for him to do something like that himself when he isn't exactly familiar with the sight, and there is a burning curiosity within him that asks to be soothed by knowing.

Solomon doing this in the first place is interesting, even if he knows not why. But, no, perhaps even in that he can figure the answer. The 'request' for partnership under the pretense for 'peace'. Solomon's words highlight the true intentions exactly, though he blinks.

Demons can be quite formidable creatures. The fact that he wishes the peace to have been constructed to cease what 'increase of activity above land' is also something he takes into consideration.

Still, some pieces seem to be missing. Jing Yuan listens throughout the entirety of it. The rage, the fight, the flames, the battlefield, and then the dead.

He blinks, eyes still on what lies in front of them even when Solomon watches him. ]

I can.

Everything that is happening then...I wonder what circumstances brought them into play. And why is it only you that confronted these demons.

[leewards]

I've been here already, so what is your warning to me?

[Short. A lack of care given when he responds. Why should he be warm to someone who had dashed all of his attempts at some form of peace between them, and smiled about it?

Not to mention, there's something else happening... He raises his head and sniffs, noting how it smells like... salt? Doesn't salt melt ice? And yet the snow is still there-- if there's even snow around because the landscape is changing.

And he makes a sound in his throat-- confused, and just a bit concerned.]

[troublereduction]

[ Day is thinking of trying to strengthen his own warming blessing, which is not something he ever expected he'd have to do after two years living near a desert.

And then he hears the voices, and watches Solomon's reaction. ]

...Right. Let's go.

Cw: war imagery, large amounts of death

[impacter]

[Solomon exhales slowly as his eyes trace in the direction that his phantom faces, a mirror image. The army descends, from air and ground alike, and the magic circle that spins to life under Solomon's feet takes only a moment to respond. No incantation, no tracing, and yet the magic erupts like a flood, an effortless outreach for the lone man to have the space around him erupt into swirling tendrils of fire that shoot out like thousands of arrows. War screams start to echo into agony as bodies start to drop like stones. Arrows fly with dark energy, but fry like gnats against a fire when they hit the barrier surrounding Solomon, the protective magic radiating out with an iridescent rippling. They descend, attempting to overlap, and the man is suddenly gone - teleported, several dozen meters into their midst, where another massive magical burst sends a shockwave through the ground, knocking many off their feet and sending those closest to the barrier flying with earthen shrapnel.]

The supernatural doesn't tend to care if humanity has any sort of lasting peace. The state of it only matters so long as it is under their terms, their benefits, and not our own. It's been that way for millenia.

At the time, I was the only one who could do anything.

one memshare for a sad grandpa please

[1145pm]

[ Tatara sticks close by, mostly because he knows the moment he loses Solomon's protection, he's dead (and the one person remaining who knew the sage summoning ritual is now). He's bundled in a red jacket with fur on the hood, and wine-colored hat with a pompom on the top.

He shivers. ]

Should we go back soon, then? You've found everything you need, right?

tea paty!

[1145pm]

Hello~

[ With a bright smile of his own, this young man with light brown hair and a red book in his hand takes the seat opposite. ]

So you're the one they found in the Forest of Dreams?

[lighthaus]

Borrowing is optimistic.

[ though maybe wanderer will return from the great beyond??? khun will leave that to other people to believe in. ]

So you really are completely new then and don't know anything more than the rest of us? The shortie was stronger than us when we arrived.

[lighthaus]

[ khun agrees. ]

You were going to reinforce the barrier?

[troublereduction]

[ You would not be the only one Lav, stares at some of Day's previous threads.

Day takes a seat and reaches for one of the snacks. ]

How're you adjustin', so far?

Clean-up

[specialinquisitor]

Take solace in knowing that we are helping others.

[She's a bit more fancy, as she uses chains that look to be made of fire to wrap up larger pieces of debris, then heave them over into a central pile. The whole thing will have to go get roasted, and she's not sure how she'll manage that, but worst-case scenario she'll just burn it all here.]