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

[fallingsand]

[ He'll pocket the stones for now, at least until he can find someone else to hand them off to. If not another wizard, then maybe Tatara. It's no secret that the magical elevator at the manor uses them. ]

Oh, I'm sure. Lots of folks poking around here despite the da... nger... oh.

[ Bruno can already see that thicker fog beginning to roll in. Not cool, forest, not cool. He'll step forward quickly, reaching to grab Urianger by the arm. ]

Uh, we should. We should probably start walking, um, this way, real fast.

[ Away from the fog, away! ]

[fallingsand]

[ Bruno looks on in concern, though only briefly. Those tears... How long has it been since Mika's tasted anything other than blood? Years? So instead of fretting over those tears, he offers a faint smile. ]

Yeah? I'm glad to hear that. I... I bet we could swap all sorts of flavors into blood for ya.

[dadsandals]

Because- this is-

[ His memories. His life.

His life, in which Kiryu gets to see their manager, Tsumugi, announce that she'll be managing the seven of them as a new up-and-coming idol group. Tsumugi, who moments later, comes to tell them that plans have changed and she has to make everyone audition for a spot in a smaller group. And Yamato, bowing out and walking away. ]

...Ah.

[ He lets out a quiet sigh. ]

This...this isn't one of my prouder moments.

[ He's convinced to stay, though. He's convinced to stay. He does the "audition". He shows his charisma, his performance abilities -- and soon, there's an announcement that all seven of them can stay together as a group.

He kept at it. And that's why he's here today, as an idol. ]

[dadsandals]

Yeah. He lied to me. He started a secret group full of actors that protected each other's awful secrets. There was nothing but lies and deceit in my mother's house -- she was his mistress.

[ It was awful to be around, as a kid. ]

That's all there is to it.

[jorunna]

That's good to hear, really. And, even if you make a mistake again... we've seen mistakes happen already. But we'll try to fix them.

[ Comet smiles. Since they were thinking about the past, and the time spent here... ]

The fortune teller who visited told me about someone who chose betrayal... They said I was bound to that person. I think they were talking about—

[ They're interrupted by... Humming. It's sounds like it's an older woman, not quite upbeat... But soothing. Suddenly, there are whitish rectangular shapes, transparent like the individuals from Malice's memories. The rectangles define themselves into canvases with beautiful scenic paintings. There's the exception of one rectangle, which makes itself into a window... With a lattice of metal bars over a black sky. A prison.

Comet looks downward, taking a deep breath. ]

Oh. Mine too, huh. [ Their memories. They don't turn their head to the singing voice, instead looking at the paintings. ]

This is where my mom was locked up.

[ There's a figure working at her easel behind Comet. She has long, silky white hair that reached the floor and the bounds of the memory, fading at the ends with her paint smeared robes. A small, but longer haired Comet sits next to her in tied up, oversized clothes. ]

[divineth]

[Urianger's about to ask if something is amiss when he suddenly trails off, but Bruno acts quicker.]

Wherefore...?

[He tips his head to where Bruno's looking, and suddenly it all makes sense. He's familiar with the fog and the effects it brings. If only their protective charms were just a little stronger...!]

Aye. Let us move.

[He breaks into a stride, making sure the two of them stay linked so they don't get separated. Bruno can run fast to keep up with him, right?]

[annihilator]

[Malice's attention is immediately drawn by the illusions again, but he certainly isn't going to forget what Comet started to say. The fortune teller's words have been bothering him since he first heard them, so figuring out what they mean would certainly be helpful... But right now he's more interested in this.

Unlike Comet, Malice turns to the figure, blinking in surprise at the bitty Comet sitting next to her. He decides not to mention that little Comet is incredibly cute, instead looking back over at the current Comet's words.]

Locked up? D'ya mind if I ask why?

[erythropoiesis]

[G'raha tilts his head, musing.]

It's more that it can hold... information, which includes memories. It's not limited to that, of course.

[leewards]

Healers worry quite a bit, who knew? [Sorry, boyfriend who is not here at the moment...] But they are appreciated all the same.

In any case, is that they only reason you have come by?

[dyingtohealyou]

...Hunting? Unless you're telling me the beasts turned out friendly.

[dyingtohealyou]

Which they don't seem likely to do, ever.

[dyingtohealyou]

...Really?

[That's a surprise. But...]

...Good. At least there's that.

Is there any reason they wouldn't take you too?

[dyingtohealyou]

...So that's your goal.

[dyingtohealyou]

-?

[He turns to look where Malice does, eyes alighting on the woman and the children... only to rest on the woman alone, once the children have vanished.

He was already getting an inkling, but when the purple-haired vampire appears, he becomes certain.]

...Your past...?

[leewards]

[Ithaqua's voice grows ever softer.]

The world is not a fairy tale, and the animals, too, must eat their fill lest they freeze to death in the unending snow.

No, we hunted, foraged, and tried to grow our own food. When we did not need to hunt, we found ways of keeping them from hunting us. [Which is magic-- he's quite sure his mother used magic to keep them alive in many ways, because they just should not have survived that long. He shouldn't have lived to be an adult.]

[lighthaus]

Yeah. Don't tell me that's surprising?

[lighthaus]

I think that's more because of where they come from, but it might be both.

[ people are so weird about eating the souls/magic distillation of dead people! ]

[revengier]

[ That they do and that they are! ]

I wanted to check on you in general, to see how you were faring.

[leewards]

Well then. [Ithaqua places his tea down on the floor so it's secure, and pulls up a sleeve so Kurapika can see-- no bruises. His face is clear of bruising as well.]

The physical is entirely fine, though the magical? That needs a bit of replenishment, but that will be easily handled soon enough.

[However, he's unsure of why Kurapika is just here to... look on his condition. What about asking for the mission?]

[foresightis2020]

[ Jing Yuan gives a little nod. ]

I do agree...at the least more people should be like her in general given that it seems quite a good deal have yet to catch up to her; at least from your world.

[ At least the edges of the forest are likely clear by now. ]

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya glances around as if his senses even compare to Malice's.

Actually--it seems mistier than it did before, doesn't it? He pauses, staring out as he checks his own memories for when it started to get harder to see.] No, not now anyway.

[Though, now he's thinking that the barriers may need more strength than just reinforcing them, if something more powerful is growing.]

[dyingtohealyou]

[The words get a faint smile.]

...That's what I wanted most - or, maybe second most? [Other than her recovery...]

The best times during all of that were the ones when she had something to smile about.

[When every day brought pain and uncertainty, when she fell asleep each day wondering if it would be her last...

If he could get her to smile, even with all that, he could be happy, too.]

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya's breath catches.] Oh, you poor child...

[He's been burdened with something too heavy for him, and Syrlya aches with him. But he realizes, now, that what he's seeing is an illusion, a vision--there's nothing he can do, even as his fingers sink firmly into the shoulder.]

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

[How curious...in Kiryu's opinion, it doesn't seem terrible. If this is one of Yamato's less proud moments, then perhaps Yamato can consider himself lucky]

It's not so bad, from a first glance.

[Idol stuff...it's a little bitter to see this kind of stuff, given the kind of past experiences with the world of idol entertainment he had]

[revengier]

[ Condition is more important to him, so he nods, his first priority attended to. ]

Good. I'm glad you're well... and the magic will sort itself out in due time, you're right.

[ And with that, it's time for business: ]

Ahito told me about the mission. Well, parts of it. He mentioned that you fought a chimera.