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

memshare (mika) cw: torture

[leewards]

[Does Ithaqua realize that the Forest of Dreams has something else in store for him this time around? No. Perhaps he's let his guard down, having been here before and only put up the requisite protections over himself-- and Mikaela, should he have needed it himself-- and the forest's toxins... well. They do their thing.

Ithaqua shakes his head and blinks a number of times, before realizing that their surroundings have become warmer, harder, that they're no longer walking through a forest full of snow but a long stone hallway lit by torches, and massive windows of stained glass. And he recognizes those windows-- the exact same windows that the town church has. That church full of those so full of people who were scared of demons but ironically held the worst demons inside of them. He takes a deep breath, and exhales noisily.

Mikaela may notice that a room is much brighter than the rest, multiple braziers and torches burning to light the room up completely as if to leave no shadows... Thus illuminating what else is in the room. Two people, a red-headed woman whose age couldn't couldn't be determined past "maybe twenty? maybe thirty?" just by looking at her, in heavy chains and in a wholly uncomfortable position on the stone floor, and a young man who.

Is that Ithaqua?

No, Ithaqua is near the vampire-- and is also right next to the open door of the chamber, maskless and hoodless, and more importantly, quite human-looking, his eyes white, not black. There are other differences between Ithaqua and the one who is clearly his twin, such as the twin having just a little more colour in the skin and hair than the abominable snowman-to-be.

Then the twin takes one of the tools in the brazier, and Ithaqua, the real one all wrapped up, has to look away from the scene as his mother screams and his twin laughs.]

[shortleash]

( Mika had cast his own protections, but he had, after a moment's hesitation, not denied Ithaqua's, either. A little like an animal, he doesn't like the signature - the scent - of another person's magic on him, but the reason in him says he could use it, especially considering the dangers. (Especially considering he's covered in other, small traces other people's magic already, anyway.)

That they step into cathedral halls surprises him, and instantly puts him on edge. It could be anything - a strange feature of the forest - some other wizard's enchantment - it's unclear which. But Ithaqua's reaction - his loud exhale, amplified in Mika's ears - strikes him as odd, and it becomes clearer why as they come upon the unpleasant scene of the false Ithaqua, the woman, and Ithaqua's younger self.

Mika doesn't look away as the woman is harmed. He doesn't even flinch. (How can he so confidently proclaim that all humans are evil and cruel if he will not take on every instance of it onto his shoulders to carry with him?) But he sees that the Ithaqua beside him does, in a way unusual for his usual demeanor.

Mika can't blame him, exactly. Not when - his own twin? - it seems, hurts someone clearly dear to him.

But he supposes church is a place where cruelty is born, no matter where you're from. )

... Do you want to break this enchantment?

( He doesn't know how, or if it's even possible - but he will offer it as courtesy to Ithaqua, because he's clearly distressed. It's not hard to put two and two together - that this is a memory, or a dream, or something; but it's Ithaqua's, and it's not for him to see. Mika's own dream was shown to Solomon the other week, so he has some baseline comprehension. )

[leewards]

Of course I do. [He rubs a hand over his head, the ears of his hood wiggling.]

No one is supposed to be in this place.

[Of course he's sure it was still populated with people on their holy days, back in the real world, but right now? This place isn't supposed to exist.

However, the screams cut off, and more movement capture Ithaqua's attention-- his twin is moving, the red cloak flapping as he goes, and the unmasked Ithaqua creeps behind him.

And the masked one follows.]

[shortleash]

( As Ithaqua speaks, Mika's attention fades slightly as he tries to extend the reach of his influence, like a pulse. If there's anything Easterners are supposed to be good at, it's weaving and unweaving these sorts of things, though he doesn't feel like he has solid ground here.

But it ripples back in concert with the scream, and Mika grimaces at the recoil, his heel digging to keep himself from stumbling back; he shakes his head. His gaze follows the scene vaguely as he collects himself. He knew North was inhospitable, but he didn't expect it to be that bad. Might makes right, and mighty Easterners are not. They lack the privilege to influence the environment.

But Ithaqua goes as he's collecting himself, and Mika pauses, considering. After a moment, he follows after the Ithaqua he knows - all of them in a line, chasing ghosts. )

... Who is she?

[leewards]

She who found an infant in the middle of a blizzard and took it in, despite having little to nothing to her name, and an uncertain future ahead of her. [That's not descriptive at all.

Luckily for Mikaela, Ithaqua is too attached to her to not mention their actual relationship.]

My mother. [Adoptive, really, but who will quibble when only she loved him and raised him?

As he speaks, the twin in the red robe approaches a guard at the end of the long hallway, telling him that he will retire home for the night and that in no uncertain circumstances must he allow anyone else in or out of the bowels of the church until he, the young man in the robe resembling clergy, lifts the ban. To which the guard responds with an affirmative, calling the young man Nathaniel Norwell.

Incidentally, Nathaniel sounds exactly like Ithaqua, but more self-assured, in a louder, stronger tone because he knows everyone shall listen to him, rather than Ithaqua's usual soft murmur, a voice that implies he rarely speaks to anyone because he rarely has anyone to speak to. Nathaniel Norwell is the (soon-to-be) highest authority in this town, and Ithaqua is a ghost.

Though even if the guard makes such a promise to Norwell, the younger Ithaqua doesn't need to use the door, when he's found a way out through the back, picking his way through the streets for the Norwell family home-- whom Ithaqua and Mikaela must follow because this is Ithaqua's memory, after all. Out on the streets, the younger one straightens up enough to mimic Norwell's gait, though he can't quite school his face, leading townspeople to look worriedly at his somber expression and give him a wide berth.

The Norwell home is large. As old as any other building in town, but large and made of better material than most houses, speaking to the family's history and station. Guards are stationed outside and lanterns are lit for the night, and no one bats an eye when Ithaqua comes, demanding to be let in-- clearly they hadn't realized that their true young master had already arrived home.

With free reign in the Norwell home, Ithaqua sneaks around once more, climbing to the rooftop and peeking into each bedroom for a sign of his twin. When he finally does, a scuffle ensues with Nathaniel squawking in indignation-- though with Ithaqua's superior physical strength from living in a forest and providing for himself, and the sheer rage simmering in his blood for hours, it's an easy feat to just kill his mother's torturer with a swift slice to the neck, watching as Norwell staggers away, attempting to keep his neck intact.

Then Ithaqua turns away, wiping his hands on his clothing, to hastily snatch notes, papers, inks and a quill to write a note in his twin's script, how he killed himself.]

[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. )

[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.]

[shortleash]

( Mika can't dissect Ithaqua's motive from his pulse and stance alone, but he wouldn't be surprised if he knew the detachment were intentional. He detaches himself from matters of his parents, in particular - has been, ever since he was young. Sometimes, you need to.

He watches the younger Ithaqua take to the window, and the Forest's snow pour through. )

... A church took from my mother, too.

( A vague and abstract statement - one that understands their situations aren't perfectly parallel. His mother had been broken by strangers; Ithaqua's, his own (long lost?) brother. The means were different.

But both were unfair. )

... Did he know about you? ( Is that why he harmed her? ) ... Or was faith just vehicle for his cruelty?

( This is not to say he was cruel on account of his faith, though he might have been; simply: faith is a tool humans exercise as a means to injure others. They do not need to be faithful to use it. Some are, and some are not.

He's sure those who hurt his own mother were a mix of true believers, and faith-indifferent humans who used their church, their cult, no different than Nathaniel had used his tools of torture. )

[leewards]

He did not.

I remember the look in his eyes when he first laid eyes on me-- he was shocked. [Because of course a man with such self-importance would know exactly what he looked like without needing a mirror.] No one knew that the most important family in the town had more than one child.

[Except, perhaps, for those who were present at the birth.]

And I never knew that there were people who looked just like me. Not until one of them came and took Mother away for the crime of being a witch. [Then he gives a shrug.] In a way, yes, faith was a vehicle for his cruelty-- after all, magic is a sin against God.

[And that? That is an audible sneer-- he almost sounded like his twin for a moment. Though he can't help that, with how their voices are.]

[shortleash]

( So the pieces fall into place.

Mika glances briefly at the forest, and the snow, and all the things that used to comprise first a church, and then that grim bedroom. )

... He chose the wrong witch, then.

( Of all women to persecute, he chose the one caring for the twin he hadn't known he'd had, whom he'd perhaps never meet if not for this, and died a death he must have surely thought was below his station. )

I suppose God turned away from him, then. Something deserved.

( But so did He turn from Ithaqua's mother, and that was perhaps unfair. Still, this is expected, to Mika: from what little he knows of God, He is quick to dole punishment but reticent with mercy. )

[leewards]

No, I don't believe their God had anything to do with this. Not when she lost her humanity because of his actions. [There's no such thing as a God that's as merciful as the one they worship, when this happens to those who were truly faithful and the false believers are just... allowed to do this, and a person must take matters into their own hands.]

And I shan't be considered an instrument of punishment, when I'm not owned by any god.