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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Flashy.

[He doesn't feel a need to try to match the aesthetic, though. Sometimes simple is best.]

It's not the helping part I have a problem with.

Yep. Sure are a lot of jobs like this these days.

[Thinking back to Central... But, heading over to the edges of the village to see what do.]

You don't like it either?

[It gives him the creeps, honestly... He's glad to be moving away from all the groveling.]

[??!!]

Huh?

[They have cameras but only for still photos nani the fuck.]

[ A sea... a sea in the distance... That's the only hint of relief Bruno gets to feel before the rest of the vision sets in. It can't be his home. This isn't his. It must be Solomon. Yet, he's being affected? Why?! Bruno is, as ever, sensitive to such negative feelings, having been bombarded with them his entire life yet never growing cold enough to brace against them.

When he feels the urge to double over, he does, and he grips Solomon's cloak with one hand as he goes even further. Doubling over, sinking to the ground, to his knees, with a soft choking sound. ]

Solomon... what is... what's going on...?

[ He feels like he's going to burn up, explode, take the rest of what's left with him when he does. ]

...you think so?

[ Bruno asks uncertainly. He turns slightly to give Khun a nervous look, almost as if he's expecting some sort of mockery, but, maybe not? ]

I mean, all of this is baggy enough to still fit... mostly.

Er, thanks?

[ Bruno won't even try to pretend he wasn't looking at dresses this time, at least, though he's still shy about turning to toss Mòrag a look from over a shoulder. Uncertain, as always. ]

A moisturizing cream? I. Huh. I wouldn't have even thought of that.

Ingenuity out of desperation.

[He knows this scene. Very, very well.

Swallowing thickly, Solomon kneels to Bruno's side, a sharp inhale and shaking exhale at the contact. In his mind, in his ears, like it's him and yet not, Bruno hears the dry and pained gasps of a phantom; a young man, a pained man, a desperate man, not him and not his fellow wizard, but of a fledgling sorcerer hardly in his twenties. Yelling. Mourning. Gasping for pain against the ground, the ache of utter tragedy. The magic exists regardless.

It hurts, and from how Solomon physically shudders along with Bruno at the waves of power, it's affecting both of them. But he'll shove himself behind the Southern wizard, breathing heavy, taking up Bruno's hands against both of his own as he tries to lift him up out of a fetal position, resting that pained weight against him.]

Breath. Follow instinct or it's just going to keep happening.

["Please------- Please, let me take it back!!!!!"

Hoarse words to the dead. Pointless crying from the wolf among the slaughtered lambs. Heaven won't hear you.

So call for help. Make them come from elsewhere. The mind rushes in desperation. To make a circle, a spell, a pleading. Drawing from phantom memories, phantom theories, the mystical and dark and forbidden.

Instinct says a circle is possible. Logic says you will die. Fear smells the blood in the air and feels the burn of your magic like bile in your throat.]

[ What does that mean, what is going on, what is Solomon doing?! Bruno has no breath left in his lungs for asking these questions. He can barely gasp in a ragged, rattling breath when Solomon bids him to. Between the memory forcing his hand and the sorcerer pressed close behind him guiding him through what's being demanded of him, there isn't a lot of room left for him to resist.

If this will get them out of here sooner, if... if... oh, god, he hopes that if is correct. He can't take much more of this. The pleading, that desperation, he's felt these same feelings before, when a younger Bruno would beg not to have to deliver bad news, running away and hiding and praying for the Miracle to take his gift back.

Even with the threat of death lingering on the edge of his mind, he goes forward with the instinct pressed upon him. Make a circle. Make a circle. He reaches out and shakily begins drawing a circle on the ground, stumbling through it with only Solomon's memory and the sorcerer himself to help him. ]

i. best left forgotten;

[ The North is frigid and dangerous, but Kurapika has taught himself a charm or two to keep himself warm. He'll extend the offer to whoever is accompanying him, too. Warming charms aren't the most important spells, however. Most of Kurapika's focus is on charms that can prevent the toxins in the Forest of Dreams from taking root, which he'll offer assistance with as well.

Once they have reached the edge of the forest, Kurapika nods as his partner before heading in. Even at the entrance, the ground is littered with mana stones. ]

Hm... this might take a while to clean up.

[ It's memshare time! Here are a few options you can select from:
-Uvogin: Kurapika's first kill. "How can you do these things, yet feel and think nothing at all?"
-Friendship: Kurapika confides in his friends, and Gon asks him to place a conditional bond on his heart to ensure he keeps a secret.
-Test: A young Kurapika and his best friend travel to a nearby town as part of his test to leave. (cw: ableism)
-Returned: Kurapika wins a bidding war for a pair of Scarlet Eyes. This can be third person interactable, please specify if that's what you want! (cw: eye horror)
-Funeral: Kurapika holds a funeral for his fallen people. This can be third person interactable, please specify if that's what you want! (cw: eye horror) ]

ii. clean-up;

[ The scrap that litters the streets is both an eyesore and a hazard, so that's what Kurapika works on moving first. The blood on the streets can wait, at least for now.

He's working on enchanting a rather large pile of scrap to make it smaller and lighter. Keeping his voice low, he motions over any fellow wizards he spots. ]

Help me with this.

[ Sorry, he's voluntelling you. ]

iii. ladies' night;

[ Kurapika isn't going to pass up on any infiltration opportunities, especially if he's able to learn something. That's why he's in the courtyard of the manor, two fake invitations in hand and looking very different. ]

Come with me. I'll assist you with transformation spells if you need it. [ A pause. ] Makeup too.

iv. wildcard/bulletin board;

[ Hit me up with whatever you want! Kurapika also has a note offering combat training up on the bulletin board for anyone who would take him up on that offer! ]

[Your heart beats rapidly in your chest.

Bruno starts, and Solomon guides, with the memory jerking the motions like puppet strings. A space for protection. A space for the vessel. Written incantations that feel like a mockery under the bitter rolling of your stomach. Sanctuary, sanctuary, protection against that which devours man.

You need a catalyst. You don't have to even think twice. There's pain, sharp and vibrant against the palm, and though neither of them find an injury, it can still be felt, blood dripping and coating the fingers. Tracing, writing, with no finesse.

The shape of the pentagram, the curves of the serpent, the directions and their marks. Time, Time, you need more time. The start of the seal splatters under heavy breathes. You need more time. You wipe mud and ash and sweat from your face, so focused that you can hear nothing but the heart beating in your ears and the begging need of your soul.

Let me take it back.

It's as they finish the last draw of the circle, an attempt to close it, that Bruno will feel Solomon grip him tighter.]

Demand it. Demand what you want.

[As the lines draw close with a startling ice to the veins, as the depths open against the pull of your magic like a hungry beast, like falling into the bottomless pit of the sea. Hell stares into you, demanding what your soul is worth, what you desire, what you will die to eternity for.

He's out there. He can reverse this. He can turn it back.

Barbatos.]

[ Day, for his part, is focusing on both the warming and protection charms, because he hates the Northern cold almost as much as he hates the idea of dying due to deadly toxins. ]

This place looks way worse than when I came here the last time. [ Jfc. ]

[ they're here, but to be honest, khun would have rather come alone. that's a rarity nowadays for anything that involves tatara, but the forest of dreams isn't exactly welcoming and he's protective. but he's also just weak to anything his boyfriend asks of him, so.

khun's sufficiently bundled for the weather, in style as is his usual; layers of enchanted clothing under a periwinkle pea coat. he's also enchanted whatever tatara is wearing for warmth and probably tried to shove a down jacket at him if he'll wear it since you can't go wrong with those in the cold. their hands as usual are clasped, perhaps in matching purple mittens. ]

Is it? I've run into weirder lethal things. [ khun supposes the forest is pretty, but he's more focused on any dangers that might come their way. ]

Mostly.

That's not good enough. Move aside. [ time for him to look through the wardrobe himself for dress options. ]

Barriers are universally useful. It's the one thing I wish the West was predisposed to that it's not.

[ he's following along without asking because he's rude. ]

Such goes the status quo.

[Time passes in a sluggish and painful mess. The battlefield only grows more barren, more filled with the dead. While the phantom memory of Solomon does not advance on those attempting to retrieve the dead, he is not merciful to those that continue to charge him, though their numbers start to dwindle. The fear in the air grows thick, cold. Day after day, a full week of combat, with Solomon continuing to march over the horizon doggedly. Never in conquest, never advancing more than what pushes into the boundaries of a threat.]

The Demon King never took kindly to discussions of peace when it meant relenting the control of demons over humanity. It's never been a balance. Between heaven and hell, perhaps... but are humans a blessed creation, or the unclean scraps? Here only to be protected, to be used, to rely on the powerful and beg and grovel and hope they aren't collateral?

[The phantom looks ragged with the starts of exhaustion. But he still draws in a deep breath, and advances once more into the depths of the valley with the blink of a teleportation spell.]

To treat the human world as a lesser should not be accepted. To underestimate a human shouldn't be a novelty. And their free will should be on their shoulders and theirs alone.

I believe that is something worth fighting for.

[Even as the Devildom wails in mourning.]

Please. That assumes either one of us would want to fall behind each other.

[ part bluster part confidence. khun's dressed for the weather, though he hasn't really looked thrilled with the cold water since they've arrived.

he'll start to stroll in since the faster they get this done, the faster they can leave. ]

...mostly... I mean, I'm pretty flat even as a... lady.

[ Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Ah, but he does hop a step to the side, getting out of Khun's way.

Er, do you actually know anything about dresses?

Your bodies still different.

[ searching, searching!!! though he pauses to throw a Look. ]

I used to help my sister get ready for balls when we were kids.

[ This is another moment in the memory that Bruno fights against. He jerks his hand back — or tries to — when he feels the stab of pain in his palm. Worse is how he can identify that feeling of hot blood running down his fingers even before the bright red of it makes itself known in the shapes he draws. He struggles, wanting this to end, end. Hasn't he dealt with enough blood already? When will it be enough?!

It doesn't matter in the end. His desire to fight against what he's doing can never be as strong as that young Solomon's desire to change what has happened here — and the old Solomon, the one he knows, his grip too tight. He has to carry on. ]

...I don't... I don't want to... [ Bruno doesn't quite sob the words. If nothing, he will be able to look back on this and say he didn't cry. It's a minor improvement. Regardless, his mind wants to reject the idea of what they're doing. This is a demon, isn't it? They're summoning a demon. He doesn't even need the feelings the memory is trying to overwrite him with to feel horrified. ] Don't make... please don't...

[ Don't make him do this, don't! Not that pleading with Solomon will help. Neither of them can stop this and the words force themselves out of Bruno's mouth regardless. ]

B-Barbatos, I summon thee.

[ It's a weak demand but a demand nonetheless. ]

Edited 2024-05-21 04:22 (UTC)

What? You've got a sister?

[ Khun really does give off only child vibes, just saying. ]

Ha, I can think of a few times my sisters made me wear their dresses when we were little, but I doubt they would ever trust me to help them with anything like that.

[ khun actually stops searching and turns around to look at bruno fully. ]

I have thousands of brothers and sisters. [ then he turns back to rummage through the dresses again. ]

Though once you get past a certain point, they're really only family in name.

[ Mòrag used glare on Jing Yuan. It was...somewhat effective? Maybe. Debatable.

Jing Yuan is smiling a little in the face of it, but other than that, the message seems well-received!

But then he ushers her over to another section... ]

[ Frigid, dangerous, and unkind.

So many words that can be used to aptly describe the North indeedy.

And so, here is Jing Yuan, willing to help out Kurapika all the same. He has been focusing on other areas of magic rather than warming charms admittedly but he does finally have a decent one upon himself. ]

Perhaps, but we could always find a way to make it a fun activity.

[ Is he joking... ]

[Bruno's voice falls weak. In his minds eye, the same words echo with an outstretched hand and desperate determination in the strength of it, throat aching. The call goes out, a demand for an answer without a pact to bind it, a blind but brilliant shot through the depths of hell.

Something grabs up immediately in return.

Into the space between the mortal and the non, an icy claw digs into the soul, a grip that tears in deep and yanks. Payment, payment, payment, the spiraling of hell demands its payment of humanity. Is this the vessel, this frail one with the brilliant soul? They grip, and grip, and grip. They pull at you. At your soul. Feed them. Serve them. One more into the fires, one more into the mouth.

Even with such a tremendous amount of magic, you can feel that a piece of this portal you have made is missing. And you, yourself, are making up the difference, as your body starts to deteriorate under the payment. It all happens within a moment, the taste of blood hot in your throat as your chest burns for air.

Then the connection settles, a brief and brilliant moment, before a rippling blast explodes outwards in a swirling of demonic smoke.

Solomon and Bruno will go tumbling. And the phantom, the young man, rattled and bleeding and broken, crumples backwards into a heap next to the haphazard circle.

In the middle of the seal stands a creature. It looks down, with dark and cold eyes, at the man crumpled. Its gaze narrows. It doesn't speak.

He splutters. His breath is so shallow, fists gripping tight as though the sensation is leaving them.

--P---power...

A choking wheeze, an attempt not to cough.

He's dying. You feel it, in the weakness, in the cold, in the way the surroundings seem to blot. But every drop of energy he has is spent in locking eyes with his prize, in a confidence that shouldn't belong to a dead man, that shouldn't echo in his battered voice.

Barbatos...

Obey me... that whomst hath summoned y-you...

Lend... me your power...

L...

Lend me your power...

There's the quietest of chuckles, smooth and sinister, even as Bruno is let free of the bitter connection. The demon slides to the crumpled man, the lightest of touches to his shoulder.

A beat, in which the air flashes brutally cold. And the two vanish completely.

And as they vanish, so do the colors, back out into the snow where both wizards now lay prone in the brush of the forest.]

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Page 5 of 117

thousand dreams, lotus boats upon the waters

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Reverence

Smile

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i - Uvogin

sepia

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i- first kill ouo

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i - Returned --> third person interactable is a pref;

cw: demon stuff, death