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

[shortleash]

( .......................???????????????????????? )

Did you actually taste test it? Don't tell me you did. You know humans shouldn't be putting blood in their mouths, right? You're one of the people here who specializes in healing, we can't really afford...

( He sounds like he's scolding Bruno, and he is, but also - there's an undercurrent of confusion. His vampire senses are just that good, so he's very, like, why go that far for me? someone like me?

He's... not ungrateful; he's curious about the tea, even. But he's - struggling to understand, especially if Bruno put himself at risk somehow. (He'd be willing to believe magic eliminated cause for disease, but he's not going to assume safety when there's risk of things going wrong, like their last conversation probably proved.) )

[shortleash]

( Unfortunately, that's way better than anything Mika can do (Mika's resume of makeup skills: absolutely nothing. Never put him in a Sephora), and while he narrows his eyes as if he were trying to assess the quality... really, he has no baseline at all. He's barely noticed makeup on anyone before.

After a moment, he sighs. )

... Fine. Since you're offering. Lead the way.

( Wherever Kurapika wants to do this. )

[dadsandals]

Yeah, that'd be ideal.

[ He smiles back at Jing Yuan -- he's pleasant company. This shouldn't be too bad. ... And it isn't, up until there's the sound of a little boy laughing, running past Jing Yuan. The boy is small with bright eyes, but the color of his pupils, combined with his hair color, make for a familiar face.

Yamato's reaction, too, is telling. He's just staring at the boy with his eyes wide. ]

[shortleash]

( Why not just tell him... nvm this is Khun and Tatara, they're weird enough they probably communicate in the equivalent of alien clicking or something. )

... That was a really strong reaction for not being able to guess.

( The blushing. )

[dyingtohealyou]

Still sounds a lot like the people who end up here are the ones the other countries didn't want around.

[He doesn't like it...]

[dyingtohealyou]

This supply should be good for now.

[As much as he doesn't really enjoy eating rocks, North's inevitable mission looms, and he's not about to run in unprepared. He summons his broom to his side, the sooner they're out of here, the better.]

[dyingtohealyou]

...It's just annoying. Putting in all this work just so someone else can come back and play at being god again.

[That's... one way of putting it.]

[impacter]

[He chuckles tiredly as he swings one leg overtop his own broom.]

If you have the energy to curse like that, then that's at least a step in the right direction.

Hop on. I'll take you back before we freeze to death.

[troublereduction]

[ He'll climb on Solomon's broom, sitting behind him. ]

Sorry 'bout all this.

[shortleash]

( Though it only exists in the slight nuance of Mika's expression, some of his indifference soften when Ithaqua identifies her as his mother - by adoption. Her pitiful form reminds him at once - of his own mother, back hunched in prayer beneath those stained glass cuts of angels, and the orphanage caretaker, who was not quite a mother to him, but who was family all the same. She cared for him, wretched as he was, where his own mother could not bear to without breaking.

The memory continues, and he understands it's from the perspective of this aggrieved stalker. What he doesn't expect is the voice of the clergyman - the implications it confers to the twin trailing him, and, of course, the Ithaqua Mika trails instead.

He watches the fight impassively, but not with disinterest. Had his father struck his mother, he'd hate him, too. (But it was only Mika he hurt, so Mika could forgive him.) And the clergyman - Nathaniel - had done more than just strike.

Sometimes, blood matters less than the family you choose - the people who love you, truly.

He doesn't say anything, as the younger Ithaqua hurries with his letter as his brother bleeds out. It's a sorry sight, but a deserve end, he supposes.

It's really not for him to see.

Mika is quiet between the rasps of a man certainly dying, and his murderer's quill. He glances at Ithaqua, to gauge his reaction - whether it be through body language, or heart beat and pulse, should Ithaqua have either.. )

... Did she survive?

( Your mother, he means.

No judgment for the murder, nor the apparent attempt to disguise it as suicide. What Nathaniel did provokes question, but Nathaniel is less important, he thinks, than her. And so he asks after her first. )

[fullspbar]

You'd be surprised what the grown ass men around here get up to.

[ This is shade, yes. Have you met half the manor??

Perhaps the smell, the sounds would be easy enough to deal with and ignore on their own. It's the voices, however, that has Shinjiro halting in his tracks. Somewhat distant, but getting closer as the smell of salt increases, and the snow starts to sink beneath their feet in a way that feels far too similar to sand.

And this burning sun -

Huh.

It’s like we’re being challenged by nature, making the fighting spirit burn up-!

Shinjiro, if Day would care to peek, vaguely looks like he's swallowed a lemon. ]

[fullspbar]

...'M fine.

[ After some...other things, he feels himself on high alert, shoulders drawing tense as the smell seems to get worse.

And maybe also because, among the burning scent, comes what sounds vaguely like crackling. Wood burning.

And it's getting hotter, despite the clime. Far too hot. Something uncomfortable starts to seep into Ahito's chest, like the burn from standing near a bonfire too long, the sensation of smoke in your lungs.

Judging by the twist of Shinjiro's features, hand coming to grasp at his chest with a cough, he feels the same. ]

[troublereduction]

[ Day has a quip for that and would have said it, but then Shinjiro stops and there's the voices. He peers at Shinji, then turns his head to where the voices are coming from. ]

Fighting spirit, huh... [ Day thinks being challenged by nature is exhausting. ]

[leewards]

You're concerned about them? Hm? [Ithaqua can hear that past all of the huffing and puffing.]

[jorunna]

Both.

[ He's spared from sassy pancake's mild tantrum! At least young!comet is helpful to ahito, realizing he's confused. ]

Those who gain their immortality and magic from it like my Mom's people call it the Moon God. It gets stronger from their worship and offerings. But it prefers being a god of Death, since it carries lost spirits around or takes sacrificed spirits to other gods.

[leewards]

Her body did, though the only feeling left in it is lethargy.

[Ithaqua's tone is even, everything in his body, from his stance to his pulse showing that he's mostly calm right now. Detached. He has to be, otherwise he would have been feeling the same emotions that his younger self is showing right now. He remembers it well-- the adrenaline from the first time he's killed a person, the fear that someone might walk in on them, the determination to make it out alive and make sure that no one bothers him or his mother ever again.]

But her mind? Nothing is left. [That is not completely true-- there's something in her left. Unfortunately, that "something" is what drove him to wear a mask in the first place, and is quite unpleasant for everyone involved, and for anyone to hear.

His younger self's last act in Nathaniel Norwell's room is to place his knife in his dead twin's hand, before leaving through the window and quietly closing it behind him.

However, the flurry of snow increases despite the closed window, and the floor beneath them gives way to hard ground and even more snow. They're back to where they were, as if they never left.]

[impacter]

"It ain't like you can help it"... was that how it went?

[A chuckle, light, as he gestures to his waist.]

Hold on tight.

[troublereduction]

Shush. [ Day has no right to say it but he will anyway. He wraps his arms around Solomon's waist, carefully. ]

[impacter]

[The scolding only seems to encourage him, though he doesn't continue the tease.

The broom lifts smoothly, up to a decent height before picking up speed. It's only once Solomon has them moving comfortably that Day will feel some measure of a heating spell return. It's mild, enough to protect from the chill of the wind and keep their extremities warmed.

He hums quietly.]

Did they give you any answers? The one who found you on that hill?

[troublereduction]

...Yeah. [ And from what he managed to glean after the fact, Golden Mirror had intended to fetch him from the theatre. She hadn't expected him to run all the way out. ] I got answers, and a job offer.

[ It was a little more nuanced than that, but that was basically what happened. ]

[impacter]

It's not exactly the first impression of a new employer that I would want to see.

[He was being observed, then. Not a happenstance meeting under the stars, but a more deliberate search.]

I imagine you weren't thrilled. Was it another mortal like you who found you? Or something else?

[troublereduction]

Another one like me. Division of Secrets. [ The one he had more or less said he could see Solomon working in. ] She kinda knew my...predecessor, so she got involved in fetching me. Usually they only find out 'bout a new Chosen a few days before it actually happens.

[ And boy, he wasn't thrilled. Perhaps the only reason he wasn't furious back then was because he had been emotionally tapped out. ]

[impacter]

Mn, I see. And who is it that does the choosing?

Is it another Division? Or those gods beyond the stars?

[troublereduction]

The Maidens, who are the goddesess of the stars, and fate and destiny. The specific one who Chose me is Venus.

[ So yeah, that sure is a thing. ]

[impacter]

Had you been a follower? A devout worshiper of any sort before then?

I remember you mentioning your home town had a shrine.