lunaecalamitas | thousand dreams, lotus boats upon the waters

thousand dreams, lotus boats upon the waters

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He falls silent at Kurapika's words, taking in the scenery, the sound. ...Yeah, it does sound like a fierce battle, doesn't it?]

The forest's illusions...?

[What a choice in scene to show.]

...I believe so.

[ He's glad they didn't experience this on their little mission here, but still. With a sigh, Kurapika begins to walk forward. ]

Do you want to watch?

[Following!]

...Would you mind it if I did?

[He's curious but he does value Kurapika's feelings on the matter above that, ultimately. And given his struggles with killing, well...]

[ He shakes his head. ]

No. I wouldn't mind.

[ To him, it's only fair. Preventing Ahito from seeing something like this would be dishonest in some way, at least to Kurapika, so he sees no reason to do so. He motions for them to stop at the edge of one of the cliffs overlooking the gorge down below, and if he remembers correctly, this should be a good spot that will keep them out of the din of battle.

After all... Kurapika knows the cadence of this battle, each and every movement memorized from the way that it haunts his dreams. They stop at the edge of one of the cliffs just as a slightly younger version of Kurapika lands on the dirt below, a long string of chains extending from his fingers. There's some sort of aura surrounding both the chains and Kurapika, white as it radiates from the outside of his body. This is the power from his world that he mentioned—Nen.

His opponent has an aura too, ferocious and red and imposing, though that could be partially due to his height. After all, his opponent is at least eight feet tall and much bulkier than Kurapika. The moment the man lands, Kurapika aims his chains right at him and misses, striking the ground behind him as he runs toward Kurapika.

"Strike first to win!"

He lands that hit, surprising Kurapika with a strike that knocks him back several feet, the sheer power of it reverberating through the earth as Kurapika uses his arm to dodge it. There's a moment where the man looks satisfied, as if he's surely won, when Kurapika emerges from the dust brushing off his clothes.

"Was that punch the best you've got?" Kurapika's voice is cool and collected as the man balks in surprise... just for a moment, because he laughs soon after. His aura surges as he charges toward Kurapika again, but this time Kurapika seems prepared for it. He dodges, leading into a few moments where he has the advantage against his much larger opponent—a punch to the back that sends him surging forward, a kick to the head that tosses the much larger man like a rag doll, and then a leap that sends Kurapika landing on the man's back and creating a crater in the earth. But that doesn't mean he's overpowering his foe either, he's quick to recover, and they once again find themselves in a standoff.

"Damn, he keeps darting around. But..."

"I'll regret not using that chance to chain you up?" There's a cruel sort of smile on Kurapika's face, a look that really doesn't suit him. "Stop making excuses and give me your best shot. You're wasting my time."

That gets his opponent fired up and his aura surges once again, creating an oppressive atmosphere that reaches the two of them up on top of the cliff, and it almost feels like they've been weighed down by it. After all, it's not the sort of aura you forget easily.

He punches the earth, creating a layer of dust that provides a smoke screen and allows him to finally get a hit on Kurapika... leading to a sickening crack that's telling of broken bones. Even from this angle, the dust having traveled up far enough to obscure their own vision and potentially cause them to choke on the air they breathe in, it's easy to see that Kurapika's arm has been shattered almost entirely. ]

[He watches the battle play out with a sort of quiet awe - he's never seen the likes of this kind of martial prowess before, in a world that relies mostly on swords (or living weapons...) for combat rather than the body's own strength. For a moment, he has to seriously consider if a magic user, those stereotyped as bookish and concerned more with academia than anything else, could reach this level of power by augmenting their own bodies rather than rotting it on their research, but...

No. No, he would not be confident at all, trying to believe any of the mages in his world would be capable of this even with their magic.

He instinctively raises his arm to cover his face from the dust, wincing at the audible sound of bones breaking. Honestly, it seems to be a miracle to him that it took this long, though it's dismaying to see Kurapika was the recipient. Still...

He's already got spoilers on how this ends, and he trusts Kurapika will turn it around and show him exactly how that comes to be.]

[ And the Kurapika beside him? He breathes quietly, in and out, as he watches the scene. It's a memory he'd much rather leave behind him, but... it'll always find a way to haunt him in some form, won't it?

The younger Kurapika withdraws, landing on a clifftop opposite the real Kurapika and Ahito. He lifts his hand, stating that he's able to hide the presence of his power. That prompts his opponent to try to move... only to find out he can't.

He's quite literally chained in place. There's a back and forth about powers, talked about in terms and phrases that Kurapika hasn't gone over in depth with Ahito, but what he can gather? Kurapika purposefully obscured the type of power he had just for this very moment. In other words—

"My bluff just paid off. While you were making empty threats, my chains were already wrapped around your body." And each of those hits? Those were moments Kurapika took advantage of to slowly wind his chains around the other man's body. Kurapika pulls, tugging him forward and knocking him off balance just enough to make him stumble, but not so much that he falls to the ground. There's an eerie calmness to his demeanor as he does so, as if he's testing his opponent rather than taunting him.

This is an assessment.

"You've been captured." There's a stillness to his voice as he says so, and his posture matches, a cool calmness as he watches his opponent try to work out why he's losing this battle. "I see you're having trouble understanding. Let me illuminate this for you before I send you to the other side."

With his free hand, Kurapika removes the contacts in his eyes, revealing an eerily bright red. They're similar to what Ahito saw as part of Kurapika's curse, but there's a key difference—his eyes here are only red in the iris. There's an almost supernatural quality to them, like gemstones that shine underneath the moonlight, betraying their supernatural sort of power.

His opponent perks up in understand, if only just a little. "Those eyes. I remember them, there were a bunch of them out in the middle of nowhere. The boss really liked those eyes." He laughs. "They were pretty strong! So, you're a survivor? Then let's see what's stronger—your grudge or my power!"

Kurapika frowns, spitting out that he'll never be able to break the chains wrapped around him. And the man tries, attempting to summon up his aura in the same way he had before, when it had come easily to him. The surge of oppressive power that's meant to come, however, simply... doesn't. He falters back a few steps, sweating from the futile effort and looking confused.

"When my eyes turn Scarlet, I become a Specialist. I wield full control over every category of Nen."

And in a one-on-one fight? That means he has full advantage, which he demonstrates by immediately healing the shattered bones in his arm with one of his chains. Within seconds, it's as if he hadn't been hit at all.

There's a reason he chose a one-on-one fight, too, and the opponent currently wrapped in his chains. Kurapika has no problem revealing this information to the man either, and that he'd picked the strongest member of the Phantom Troupe for a reason—to see if he could truly break out of his Chain Jail through physical strength alone. And, as the man struggles against the chains...

That certainly proves that none of them will be able to break them. ]

Edited 2024-05-27 02:31 (UTC)

[And there begins the ticking timer on how much time Kurapika has left...

He tries to track the time, too. Watching with a silent coldness, to see just how, exactly, this arrogant man will meet his end.]

[ It takes less and more time than Ahito might expect. Once Kurapika's opponent was captured, the battle had been decided... which Ahito knows well by now. However, what Kurapika does with his remaining time is the real bit of mystery, isn't it?

The fight continues, the Kurapika down below rushing towards his opponent with a punch powerful enough that his fist digs into the man's abdomen, causing blood to spill forth from his mouth and onto the dirt.

"It looks as though my enhanced fist is slightly stronger than your physical brawn," Kurapika remarks, almost mechanically. This is an important observation, one that will serve him well. "This is valuable information. I can beat every member of the Troupe barehanded, provided I've chained them." He moves the chains around his opponent, momentarily constricting them around his body before easing their grip just a bit. "Tell me everything you know."

Silence. After a moment, Kurapika aims another punch towards just underneath his ribs, forcing up more blood.

"Where are the others?"

"Kill me."

Kurapika's expression darkens, his mouth turning down into an angry frown, as he surges forward and aims for the man's arm instead. The bones crush under his fist and his opponent grits his teeth.

"What abilities do they have?"

"Kill me."

Calm, quiet, resolute. He'd rather Kurapika kill him than give away any real answers, and that prompts Kurapika to hit him again. Again. Again. Again. Each strike breaks and fractures new bones, damages organs, forces him to expel more blood until Kurapika is covered in it—it's on his hair, his clothes, his face.

Finally, Kurapika steps back, breaths heavy and uneven. His voice trembles and he doesn't mean to yell, yet it happens anyway.

"It makes me sick... The sensation left on my hand. The grating sound of each strike. The smell of blood. It all throws my senses into a disarray. How can you do these things, yet feel and think nothing at all?! Answer me!"

"Kill me."

That seems to be the last straw, as Kurapika extends a chain that pierces him in the heart, wrapping around the organ. It's a conditional bond, the sort that will allow him to live just a little bit longer if he obeys Kurapika's order. If he doesn't, the bond activates, crushing his heart and killing him. He must answer a question and answer it honestly. Kurapika's question is the same as it has been: Where are the others?

And just like that, his opponent laughs.

"Die, fool."

The rule is broken, and his opponent is dead.

He falls in a large heap in the dirt, and Kurapika walks over to a spot on the ground where he left his phone and makes a phone call. It's a one-sided conversation, but it sounds like he's checking in on his employer. It's quick enough, and he hangs up, an empty look in his once again brown eyes as he regards the result of his revenge.

Then, he grabs the shovel he brought and begins to dig a hole, every movement mechanical, as if he can't allow his mind or his emotions to be in the moment. But he has to do this. Everyone deserves a proper burial, to be honored in some fashion after their death. And as he digs underneath the moonlight, the scenery around them begins to melt away and shift back into the forest. ]

Edited 2024-05-27 03:14 (UTC)

[Ah, he sees where this is going, and there's a quiet approval even if it's rather grim. Seeing just how effective your abilities will be on the others when the time comes - yeah, that's smart, and he'd expect no less of Kurapika even through the brutality.

While his expression tightens as he watches the man die, he watches nonetheless - watches, too, as Kurapika lays him to his final rest.]

...More respect than I'd give him.

[ His expression is grim, even as he continues to stare off into what has reshaped into trees. ]

I can't let someone die without being laid to rest. My family wasn't afforded that privilege, so I will extend it myself.

You really are kind. I don't think most people would bury the dead who didn't even extend the same respect.

Saying that when I'm the one who killed him in the first place...

[ He really doesn't think that "kind" applies here. Not at all. ]

Are you saying it would have been kinder to leave him to rot? Or, better yet, desecrate his body after the fact?

Of course not. The kind choice would have been to not kill him at all, to not have dragged it out the way I did.

There's different levels, you know. Kindness doesn't mean "innocent."

[ ... ]

When you put it that way... I suppose it makes sense. I can't remember the last time I would have even considered myself "innocent".

Exactly.

You can still "do someone a kindness" even if the overall situation is cruel.

[ He sighs, shoving his hands in his coat pockets. ]

You're so annoying sometimes.

[ Because he's right. ]

You can't just say that every time I'm right.

[Hehe.

That said, there's a rather out of place laughter from somewhere afar - it sounds almost like young children?]

[ Ugh. Kurapika rolls his eyes, about to say something, when he hears... laughter?

He frowns, looking around. ]

Do you hear that?

[...His gaze turns sharp.]

...That sounds like...

[He could never mistake it - how many times had he heard those same voices in his dreams?

But as for Kurapika, he'll see for himself as a young, silvery-haired boy with light but otherwise normally colored eyes is led along by his parents to the labs. And, once there, being introduced to a robed man who promises him magic, shows him a lonely girl isolated in a room, her small body covered in bandaged wounds--

What plays out is not a happy story.]

[ ...Ah.

So this is the girl he couldn't save, the one he felt haunted by. It's surreal, to see the impact she had on Ahito in real time, watching all of it play out. Something tugs at him, memories of his own friend that he couldn't save.

When it vanishes, he doesn't know what to say at first. ]

...You really cared deeply for her.

[He watches it play out with a solemn, though... not particularly sad expression, gaze intent on Mizuki the whole time.

It's been a while since he's seen her - ironic, since she'd haunted his nightmares for so long. And yet, now that he's finally moved past all the guilt, she's gone and more or less disappeared from his dreams.

When the memory fades and Kurapika speaks up, he responds, voice quiet:]

Someone had to.

[She had no one else. She'd been spared the immediate deaths her family had suffered, and for what?

All it meant was that she was delivered right into the hands of a callous lot who were interested only in what they could hope to gain from her. Maybe that's why she only ever spoke to Ahito, her voice so quiet it could barely be heard...

He was the only one who cared enough to listen, to stay close enough to pick up every whispered word.]

I know you've come to this conclusion already, but despite everything, she seemed to be happy to have you there.

[ Even if Ahito felt like he failed her in the end, that failure still came with a lot of success. ]

[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.]

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cw broken bones

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cw violence/blood, etc

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