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

[fullspbar]

[ There's...something uncomfortable, here, but the embarrassment seems to rise right beside it. Especially when the area around them begins to ripple, the bark peeling away to reveal a stretch of...beach? And the sky, once white, starts to turn a bright, summery shade of blue.

It still remains cold, even with the sights, but it's not that that's currently bothering Shinjiro. It's the shape of three younger teens that take shape within the haze, there but not.

If the looks did not give it away, the younger visage of Shinjiro's voice certainly will.

-Who the hell knows! It's exasperated. What are you fighting?

You don't look happy, Shinji. Aren't you the one who was looking forward to this?

The real Shinjiro is currently dragging his hand down his face, grimacing.

What's with the outfit? You look like someone from a dolphin show with that tight fit- ]

Of all the damn things...

[leewards]

[Not so difficult, was it!]

And perhaps you'll not find out. Though I wonder if that is a curse or a blessing. [Given Day's personality... Hm.

Hmm.]

[foresightis2020]

You will?

I suppose you are quite good at enduring crowds, hm?

[ Jing Yuan isn't entirely surprised, though. Syr gives off a rather calm aura. ]

[shortleash]

( !

His instinct knows it's Ginger before his mind puts a label to it, turning to look back and finding an fresh face, but familiar features. Of course he'd know his own heart.

But there is - a pause, that follows his recognition. When Mika says he sees Ginger for Ginger, he really does mean it, for better or worse - Ginger, in his mind's eye, is comprised of his thoughts and his words and his gestures, and not so much his surface. Picking out what's shifted in his beloved's and finding what's new - what he can't help but love, too, because how could he hate any expression of Ginger, in any form? - he finds... by necessity, his attention drawn to that same surface he's taken perhaps for granted. )

... You did.

( A bit of a lame answer, because he's pulling himself out of his thoughts.
He gently lays his hands on Ginger's arms crossed over his chest. Ginger's limbs are way more slender like this, huh... and he can definitely feel how much softer his chest is. )

... You look... really good.

( Weird for Mika - he kinda wants to see all of him. Is pretty the right word? It feels almost not enough. "Gorgeous" and "beautiful" feel so unnatural to his vocabulary, though - almost pretentious and fake, from his lips. )

... Is it weird if I kiss you right now?

( Genuine question. He can't decide. Is Ginger comfortable with it? ... A kiss is easier on his lips than words. )

[fullspbar]

...Sure. Alright.

[ Well, he's definitely the...understanding sort. He can work with that. ]

So...you woke up somewhere else, huh. Not like us. [ Or so he's heard through the grapevine, anyway. A scratch at the back of his neck. ] You feelin' alright?

/2

[shortleash]

( Mika's always had a weird relationship with food and consumption.

His parents rarely truly fed him, but he fed a little better in the orphanage; the food was often bland, but it tasted good, he thinks, because of the company. In Sanguiem, they were barely fed at all - but the orphans fed at orphanage quality once Mika courted Ferid for food. On Mika's tongue, though, it had no taste; every spoonful a memory of the degradation he peddled to have it. (It was enough that his family was happy, is all.) And once he became a vampire - well.

The tinge of blood has always been bitter at the back of his throat, unwelcome hunger ever nipping at his heels.

So he doesn't know what he expects. Largely, he expected it not to work. Like - he would taste it, and despite Bruno's best efforts, it'd still just taste like blood. Or - it would have worked, but his curse would make him cough it up. You know. No happy ending. But he was willing to entertain it, because Bruno clearly really tried and sacrificed.

But if he had to be optimistic, against his nature: given everything, maybe, at best, he expected - bland, and all right. (That would already be exceptional, for what he understands to be flavored water.) Ginger has been trying to flavor the blood in his body his own way - and Mika can't say there's been no taste at all. It's just still overwhelmingly blood in flavor, and that seems to reside within the bounds Mika's allowed.

But that would still be something - miraculous, to taste blood that tastes like tea without flavor. God has been irate with him since he was born, and turned His back on him fully when he died. This would never happen in a million years, but if it did, he'd still be grateful for terrible, flavorless tea— but that the curse would have a crack that'd allow him the taste of anything would be... it should be impossible.

But it isn't, and the full taste hits his tongue, and it isn't bland, and it isn't nothing.

It's actually, really rather nice. )

[shortleash]

( And he might be ruining it a little bit, because, strangely, he's starting to tear up, his cup still at his lips, as if reluctant to pull it away.

...

He takes another sip, deeper this time, quiet for a long few moments as he savors it.

Very softly: )

... It tastes really good.

[serenesinker]

[Yodarha sighs.]

True... Our time here is limited, so it's gonna be hard to make change that big and that quickly. But I wonder if there's somethin' we can do to make things permanently better, if only a little bit.

[troublereduction]

Oh, I think... [ This feels like such a morbid thing to say, Day realises, but Ithaqua just came back after the Norths all fought something, and the mana stones are proof that something (or someone) is now dead. So honestly, this just fits the mood. ]

I'm definitely gonna end up havin' to kill someone at some point, it just ain't happened yet. [ he says this very neutrally, like it's a fact. It's the inevitability that's been impressed upon him both in training and anecdote. ]

[leewards]

Hmmm.

[He blinks those big, black eyes, and then tilts his head. He's not unlike an owl right now.]

I wonder how you would change afterward, then.

[troublereduction]

[ Day finds himself looking back, but his expression is harder to read. ]

...Honestly, I ain't got a clue either. [ He's thought about it but never been able to actually...imagine how he might react. Or rather, every time he tries it feels more surreal than it probably ought to feel, even for a hypothetical. ]

[specialinquisitor]

So, not knowing what inspired said laws, or what cause they have to still exist, your immediate reaction is to get rid of them.

[She doesn't expect him to see the problem here, but she'd love to be surprised.]

[specialinquisitor]

[She... wears her heart on her sleeve a tad more than one would expect from her general attitude. But that's still just 'more than one would expect', not exactly a broadcast.]

You are correct, and I'm well aware that my experience as a soldier and Driver predisposes me towards certain lines of thinking. At the same time, without prior reference to the concepts of magic and wizardry in general, I suffer a problem of knowledge. I don't know what I don't know, in other words.

one fucked up coming down the line

[fallingsand]

Wait, you feel weird about eating these things, too? Wow, I was starting to feel real alone about that.

[ That's a relief. He was beginning to think he was the weirdo out here but no, now they can be the weirdo together. However, that does make him hesitate to give Urianger the mana stones. ]

I mean, I can just. I can find someone else who doesn't mind them. I... I know they're just monsters but... y'know.

[foresightis2020]

The North is treacherous in regards to how difficult it is to trek from one place to another; so if there is a way to improve that kind of travel or the ease of how supplies can flow from one place to another...

[ There is a pause as Jing Yuan seems to give this serious thought. It seems minimal enough to him if it isn't something too drastic. But they don't have time to come up with a system for that either. ]

Perhaps. Though even that will take work.

[ He still considers it further, however, because his heart is big and he does not like to see the common people suffer. ]

...Maybe if there was a way to utilize magic for this purpose.

[specialinquisitor]

That would depend on what makes the reason 'dumb', would it not? Cultural heritage and traditions are not things we should simply dismiss because they make it inconvenient for us. A legitimate purpose, even if misguided, should not be thrown out arbitrarily, but instead ought to pass through the proper channels.

[fallingsand]

Nah, I think she'd want to stick with her family. Like, her direct family, I mean. Julieta and Augstín care a lot about their kids, so they would stand by her no matter what, even if it means they all end up leaving, too.

[specialinquisitor]

Scratched-up, uncomfortably warm, and this is hopelessly distracting even were I to sit elsewhere. It's completely disrespectful to the library.

[Apparently she has strong opinions about libraries! ...or is just a real stickler about behavior.]

[foresightis2020]

[ Jing Yuan looks amused at her words, but he does at least take them seriously, expression going contemplative as he responds. Apparently, he has Opinions, which he normally keeps to himself. ]

With all due respect, their horrid and despicable attitudes towards wizards seem to be at least a catalyst for some of them. In addition, we know incantations must be spoken and with their laws forbidding speech I believe that is also another indication.

And even so, they are quite restrictive and debilitating, generally speaking. [ He turns to face her properly after putting away something; probably some other thing that needed to be cleaned up as his next words are blunt and with reprisal: ] To that end I further believe that those who continue to uphold such laws to be close-minded and short-sighted.

Such laws should also be dismantled and better ones supplemented in their place; just because there was reason to have them made does not necessarily make them anywhere near reasonable in practice. At this time, they proceed to be of little use and only further encourage certain behaviors in its populace.

But, what do you think? That they are praise-worthy? Or, that they are necessary, despite what pain may be brought to those who suffer keenly and silently beneath them without a helping hand to be extended to them?

[leewards]

No, no, it's something you must learn for yourself. [He waves the hand laden with mana stones for empahsis, even if he can't gesture too much in case he drops the coat.] After all, taking a life reveals something that you would have never foreseen about yourself.

You think you know yourself, but you really, truly don't until something happens. Murder is one of those things.

[leewards]

[Now he is unimpressed, and he has to place one fist on his hip.]

We have a wealth of knowledge here in the form of books and you did not read? We have a mentor, and you do not ask? There are tools to assist and enhance abilities and you do not seek them out?

[She acts like a human, and he wants to stab her.]

[fullspbar]

[ Shinjiro has gone a bit stiff, uncomfortably so. He does pick up the pace, as if looking for something that isn't there, but it only gets worse. The smell, the prick of heat, as the rippling edges of their vision turn smoky. Ahito's efforts are appreciated, but as expected, they do nothing.

A blink, and you see a flash of orange. It gets brighter, crackling with intensity. You turn, and it's there, too. It looks almost hazy and distant, almost like something viewed underwater, but damned if it doesn't feel like it is. ]

It ain't- [ He tries not to make it seem like his tongue feels thick like cotton, imperceptible tension keeping him taught as a wire. ] It ain't real, Ahito.

[divineth]

[At least they're not alone in being weirdos! Not that Urianger needed an aversion to consuming mana stones in order to be a weirdo--]

Verily, I know. While I understand that these stones doth grant us additional power, I hesitate to consume them for a variety of reasons. I may change my mind if I find I have no other choice, but for now I shall refrain.

[With that said, he nods at Bruno's idea to pass them on to someone who wants to immediately use them.]

Very well. I imagine thou wilt not have to look far. I have observed several wizards seeking out stones here in the forest.

[lighthaus]

There's no succession, he's immortal as far as natural causes go. But he can still be killed by unnatural ones~.

[troublereduction]

I'm assumin' that was the case for you?

[ Though he does believe that Ithaqua's right. It's why he dreads the day he has to take someone else's life, for whatever reason it ends up happening.

Day thinks he's also been through one of those things that reveals something about yourself, but...well, taking a life is a different matter from having to start your life over. ]