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

[dyingtohealyou]

...When was the last time they let you out?

[impacter]

[The boy shakes his head.]

I don't know. I don't get to anymore.

[dyingtohealyou]

Why not? Too dangerous?

[impacter]

M-mn.... The soldiers would get me. Which means the soldiers would get them.

So I gotta stay.

[dyingtohealyou]

[...You know what? Baby Solomon gets headpats. Your life is so rough, kid.

Big!Solomon gets a pointed look, though. We are apparently done ignoring him for the moment.]

About how long would you say he has before he's free?

[impacter]

[Solomon (real)(not child) has not moved from his spot next to the wall, arms crossed in silence as he watches Ahito and a ghost of his former self. At the question, his eyes flicker to the boy, to some of the surroundings. How hold must he have been here... six, perhaps? Seven?

...]

A decade. Perhaps a little longer.

[dyingtohealyou]

[Practically as long as Ahito's been alive... Cool.]

Under what circumstances?

[impacter]

Age. Once I came of age, I was no longer the responsibility or burden of my family, and I would be dismissed to fend for myself.

[dyingtohealyou]

Which went oh-so-well for everyone, obviously.

[impacter]

[He smiles slightly. It doesn't reach his eyes.]

Maybe I would have been better off kept down here?

[dyingtohealyou]

I didn't say that.

[Sharp.]

[impacter]

[As they talk, the noises outside seem to fade. The boy under Ahito's hand stirs as he looks up towards the window, hesitating, before slowly crawling to his feet. He cannot reach the window, but the boy barely needs to wave a hand for magic to come to him, earth and water alike forming a platform to lift him just high enough to peek through the latticing, ducking his head down frantically from time to time as though hiding.]

Then what would you wish, in this situation? [It's a gentle question.]

What would you do with this boy, who will become a man that does what you despise so deeply?

[dyingtohealyou]

People who actually cared and bothered to teach him to be better. But we both know families are a crapshoot.

[impacter]

Mn. They are.

[Content that he's safe for the time being, the boy crosses his arms in rest against the windowsill, cheek resting against his arm with a longsuffering breath. Eyes more wide, as though greedily taking in the sights while he can. It is more important, to gulp down that sliver of the outside world, than to wait in the dark or beg and cry for help.]

Regardless of the reasoning they give, to raise a child like they are something other, something less than a person... it makes me wonder where the love of a parent even matters. Should we feel grateful, that they did not kill us?

When does a person stop being a person, in the eyes of other humans?

[dyingtohealyou]

[Idly watching the little dream Solomon get his fill of what little outdoors he can see.]

When they become too much trouble, I'm sure. ...Maybe even before then.

Homeless kids aren't so uncommon, and they aren't all war orphans. Some of them were just too much work or too many mouths to feed, so they were kicked out for it.

[He's never been much of a believer in unconditional, familial love.]

[impacter]

Mm. Not everyone has compassion. And people are, inherently, selfish. It's part of what makes us what we are.

[Even those that are brutal, those that are cruel, those that abandon and butcher and commit atrocities. Solomon may have his opinions about people that were to chose those ways of life, as well as how they should be treated... but they would still be people.

...]

There is a saying back in my world. "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." The bonds that you make by choice and experience... that is more important, I believe, than that of familial obligation. Love is not something you are obligated to give, or have, or earn, or take. But that is what makes it precious, when it's there.

[He glances up towards the boy, as the memory starts to muddle and ripple to white.]

Even if it's something like the warmth of a sunbeam.

[dyingtohealyou]

[He continues to watch as the memory fades, the scenery around them returning to the forest they've always been in, Ahito leaned up against not a wall but instead a tree.]

Doesn't seem to me that those types of bonds did you any good. ...Assuming you made any to begin with.

[Especially with how distanced Solomon always seems to be. At any rate, he gets up and pats himself down to remove loose dirt.]

[impacter]

I can't say I did. One or two in passing, but I was not welcome most anywhere I went. Even when I contained my powers, I found that the human world still wasn't a place for me, and that most wanted nothing to do with me.

[He shuffles from where he'd been standing, shaking the snow off his shoes.]

Thankfully, I was lucky enough to find myself directed to a different calling. And the bonds I made from ther..., even if it is not out of love, even if it is not with humans... they have still been foundational in my purpose.

...

That said... I won't pretend it's the same in the slightest. Or that what I consider important is something anyone would think is "good".

It just is. I cannot change it at this point.

1/2

[dyingtohealyou]

You could try being less annoying. Maybe people would like you better then.

[Clearly not a suggestion he thinks would do much, clearly just another jab because sad backstories are sad but grandpa you are still a real fucked up dude.]

[dyingtohealyou]

[But if he was going to make any other rude comments as he stands, those are simply lost to time because--

Somewhere in the forest, the laughter of children can be heard, and the sound is enough to make him freeze.]

[impacter]

[Thank you, ghost children, he is so tired of this boy's sass...

Still, he glances off towards the direction of the sound, eyes narrowing slightly, before glancing back towards Ahito.]

...Is everything alright?

[dyingtohealyou]

That sounded like...

[But then he sees a young boy with silvery hair and light brown eyes as he's led into a lab by his parents, and whatever he was about to say simply dies in his throat. Particularly when the interior of the lab itself seems to grow to surround them, setting the scene as the child is taken to meet a robed man who promises him magic, shown a lonely girl kept isolated in a room, her tiny body covered in bandaged wounds--

The next time the boy appears, his eyes are bright blue and his smile infectious in its cheer, all contrary to the unfortunate tale that unfolds soon after.]

saunters back in here late with starbucks eyyyyyyy

[impacter]

[It's an unfortunate, horrific turning of events. Magic being used in the worst sorts of ways, finding life in those that aren't ready, aren't sure, are too young, are in the wrong places with the vilest of people...

He may be someone innately tied to magic from the moment he could breathe, but he would have to be blind, deaf, and particularly heartless to ignore the cruelty playing out before him. Someone so young with magic so dangerous, forced on him by adults he thought he trusted, for someone so dear to him to just wither away alongside him. That aching value of the kindness of her over the disintegration of his own life...

They were only children.

God be damned, they were only children.

As the ghostly memory of Ahito weeps in his fury at the sight of the empty bed, Solomon turns his gaze away.]

...

It's no wonder, then...

It really has been an exceptionally cruel existence for you, hasn't it...?

[dyingtohealyou]

[It's with a surprising amount of calm that he watches as his own memory plays out. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his eyes are always, always on Mizuki - ears straining to catch those whispered words as she confesses fears that would ultimately become the cold reality.

...He can't even feel distressed about it all. If anything, it's like a pleasant dish with a terrible aftertaste. How long has it been, since he'd seen her? ...Ever since the nightmares stopped, so, too, had she stopped haunting his dreams. It was a bittersweet thing in some respects.

By the time the memory comes to an end, he just releases a long, soft sigh, a hand moving unconsciously to readjust his shades.]

...Isn't that what I've been telling you all along?

[impacter]

In some ways, yes. Though you tend to paint yourself as coldly unaffected, outside of your anger.

[Not that he'd ever believed all that for even a second, but Ahito had walls that stretched to the moon.

Rightfully so.]

Were all the children at that building like the two of you?

[Alone, experimented on, probably heavily traumatized, etc?]