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

[1145pm]

> sepia dreams.

[ Tatara can't venture out into the cold of the North alone, so...good thing he has you with him, right?

It also doesn't really matter if he almost got choked out the last time he was here, because if Tatara Totsuka is known for anything, it's his complete lack of sense of danger. It's not like he doesn't trust you, or anything.

Either way, he's sticking close, eyes wide as he looks around the forest. It's pretty. ]

Hard to believe these trees could kill you...


(( Memshare! By default I'll steer the thread into a memshare one, but if you DON'T want one, let me know ahead of time and we can have fun forest time instead! ))

> smile!

[ Whether it's in the North, or back at the manor—surprise! Tatara will jump in front of you, his camera (or for those without the technology, a curious, eldritch gadget) trained right on your face. He waves, looking at you through the lens. ]

Hellooo! Have a word or two for our future viewers?!

[ He's chipper, as usual, and very excited. At last, his camera is working again... ]

> library etiquette.

[ Back at the manor, Tatara has decided to start working in the library.

Except...he seems to have things a little backwards. There are stacks of books occupying the chairs while the sage himself lies on his stomach on the table. He has his head propped up in his palm while he kicks his feet in the air. Slowly, he flips through a particularly thick book...

He doesn't really seem to care that he's got it backwards. Sorry, nerds. ]

liberry

[specialinquisitor]

[After a long moment of mental struggle, Mòrag can only sigh, and reach up to touch the brim of her hat.]

Why are you this way?

[1145pm]

Hm?

[ Tatara looks up from his book, and when he sees Mòrag, he gives what is essentially a confused little smile.

:)? ]

Why am I what way?

[specialinquisitor]

[She isn't sure if he's genuinely confused or just being sassy, and elects to presume that it's the one that doesn't get him burned.]

Supposing someone else wants to use that table as well.

Smile

[dyingtohealyou]

[??!!]

Huh?

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

[1145pm]

[ Tatara peeks out from behind the lens, all smiles. ]

I'm recording video! Introduce yourself, Ahito-kun! We can have a little interview.

[ He points at the lens. Look there! ]

[dyingtohealyou]

Recording what?

[?????]

sepia

[lighthaus]

[ 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. ]

[1145pm]

[ Tatara's bundled in the down jacket Khun gave him, probably black with fur on the hood (he would've worn his blue winter coat for this, the one he arrived in, but it's still shoved in the back of his closet, still torn, bloodstained, and a part of him just couldn't wear it in front of Khun). But his knit hat with the pompom and the mittens are all purple.

He's huddled right up beside Khun, absorbing both his body heat and enchanted heat, and peers up at him. ]

Like what?

[ Just curious, really.

As they walk, the faint scent of cigarette smoke, of worn wood, and sweet, distilled alcohol fills the air. Tatara tilts his head when he gets a whiff of it—it smells so familiar—but doesn't comment on it. ]

[lighthaus]

[ he really should be wearing a hat but he is not, because that would mess up his hair. it helps that he has innate cold resistance by virtue of his genes, but he still just doesn't like the cold personally. ]

Microscopic parasitic bees. [ maybe he should said it's more unexpected than weird but eh. he peers down at tatara briefly and then refocuses on what's in front of them.

...that's definitely not a scent he expected to get in the forest. hmm. he's gonna just try to lead them away from it. ]

sepia dreams

[troublereduction]

[ Day's the one accompanying Tatara this time, which is why he's got warming and protection blessings up. ]

Guess that's why they have the rep they do. [ After all, something beautiful that slowly kills tends to stand out in people's memories. ]

[1145pm]

[ It's nice when his wizards keep him warm! Yippee!

Still, Tatara's all bundled up in winter gear (what is it? almost summer? and yet?), and he trudges through the trees as close to Day as he can manage. Save him, neighbor... ]

Still...it's hard to believe people will come all this way just to die. It's so far. [ And so cold!

Speaking of, the sky above them begins to darken. It's not a sudden dropping of the curtain of night, but it is quick enough and early enough in the day that it's both noticeable and unusual. Tatara gazes upward, his tracks slowing. ]

[troublereduction]

There's always gonna be people who'll take a gentle death. [ Which is a morbid thing to say, but they're talking about morbid things right now, so it's only natural.

But then the sky changes, and Day also looks up in confusion. ]

Huh?

> library etiquette;

[foresightis2020]

[ Guess he is just watching this now...semi-amused. ]

...Now, what are you doing?

[ He might have noticed the whole-book-is-backwards aspect? ]

[1145pm]

[ :D? ]

Reading?

[ He smiles up at Jing Yuan. ]

Is something wrong?

[foresightis2020]

[ Jing Yuan only continues to smile slightly in amusement. ]

...Isn't that a little difficult to do if you're reading backwards?

Smile

[chronosynthesis]

Whoa! [Syrlya, who had not been expecting to be jumpscared, damn near drops the fruit he was munching on.] Our future--what is that?

[1145pm]

[ Tatara laughs. Oops! He's almost sorry Syrlya dropped his fruit. Almost. ]

A camera. [ He peeks out from behind the lens, looks at his camera, then back at Syrlya. ] I guess you don't have these where you're from?

[chronosynthesis]

A camera? [His expression only remains uncomprehending, and that's explanation enough.] What does it do?

smile

[leewards]

[Ithaqua tilts his head to one side, then the other, like a confused but curious owl that doesn't know what it's looking at.]

What is that? What is this? [Bit too curious to even be surprised that the sage managed to sneak up on him while he's reading potions books in the library.]

[1145pm]

[ He doesn't say as much, but Ithaqua's whole tilting of the head causes Tatara to light up a bit. That was cute?! He's so lucky he caught it on tape!! ]

It's a camera! I just got it working! [ He zooms in on Ithaqua. ] There have been thousands of sage's tomes, but this is going to be the very first sage's documentary!

[leewards]

[Now he tilts his head back as if the thing would come to life and bite his head off.]

A what now? Camera? Documentary? [Forgive him, he's from the forest.

Ithaqua raises a hand to ask for some space.]

Perhaps you should explain those concepts first, Sage o' mine.

sepia dreams

[jorunna]

[ Comet stays close by to Tatara! They're not thinking of this as an escort mission in any case! Two of the most trusting together... It cannot go sideways. Surely
]

Yeah. They're kind of pretty, but maybe that's the warning. It's all too pretty...

[ They stay close not because of any perceived danger, but because the North's uh, attitude has left Comet a little unsettled. ]

[1145pm]

Like a colorful frog or snake...

[ He's on the same page as Comet, of course. This is the only time he'll think of pretty trees as dangerous.

But he's also huddled close to Comet, too—with no magic of his own, he has to rely on their protection to keep himself alive. Like, in general. Here, in the forest.

As they make their way through the forest, he hears the distant beep of a car horn. Startled, he stops in his tracks, and looks at Comet. ]

Did you hear that?

[jorunna]

I think that's a sign they're dangerous...?

[ More specifically, poisonous. Not that they had ever met a tropical critter like that... But! It's okay Tatara, Comet will try their best to keep him safe. Statistically speaking, the South's are pretty good at it.

Since they're leading the way with the Sage huddled close... They stop at the sound of the car horn? They know what that is but... Here? ]

I did... Was that a car?

[ Does Tatara want to approach out of curiosity or go the other way... Comet kinda wants to do the former. ]