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]

If that were all, I don't think it would be this... I dunno... catastrophic? Besides, it was my niece's future. There was. It had two outcomes. One that causes this and. And one that stops the destruction.

[dyingtohealyou]

I guess, yeah... Especially if it wasn't a wreck like that before you got there.

[Damn. He doesn't know enough about this kind of magic to give any good advice. All that's left to really say is just...]

...Sorry.

[That this is how it turned out.]

[fallingsand]

... [ What else is there to even say? Bruno turns to offer Ahito a smile, albeit a sad one. ] Thanks, kid.

[ That's about all, isn't it? He follows that up with a quiet sigh and turns away again, looking back out across the ruined, desolate valley. From up here, where Casita used to sit, they have the best view of it. ]

I've been wondering if I should even go home, if we get that chance, y'know?

[dyingtohealyou]

...If you're happier here... I don't see why you have to go back.

[Ahito knows what he'd pick, were he in Bruno's situation. But...]

[fallingsand]

I... am, in some ways.

[ But not all. ]

There are a whole lot of "what ifs", though. The rest of you are going to go home when given the chance. I realize that much. I may not get on well with the real wizards who belong at the manor or in the South. I. I might regret staying.

[ But won't he regret going, too? ]

On the other hand, I can't just leave Mirabel to deal with this alone. She. When she tracked me down and we thought we found a way to fix this, she was so excited. She said she wanted me to come home for good once everything was settled and... and I wouldn't have to be alone anymore... She wasn't afraid of me, not in any way, though all she ever knew about me growing up was the scary stuff.

[dyingtohealyou]

...If you do end up going back, maybe you could end up striking it out together? [...If there's no home to return to.]

[fallingsand]

Nah, I think she'd want to stick with her family. Like, her direct family, I mean. Julieta and Augstín care a lot about their kids, so they would stand by her no matter what, even if it means they all end up leaving, too.

[dyingtohealyou]

...Really?

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

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

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

[fallingsand]

Yeah? Really? Look, my family and I may have our issues, but. But my sisters? They aren't bad parents. I know that they love their kids.

[ It would have been infinitely more difficult to decide to vanish for a decade if they hadn't, oof, what a dreadful thought. ]

And the reason they wouldn't take me too iiiis... because... [ There's a long pause. He's trying to think of a reason. However, the best he can do is, ] I can't think of a good reason but if I had one, you'd be like, oh, yeah, that makes sense, so how about we leave it there?

[dyingtohealyou]

...

No? Even with their beloved daughter vouching for you?

[fallingsand]

I... I don't know. I want to think they would but then I'm just being a burden.

[dyingtohealyou]

I think you're allowed to be a bit of a burden after you spent years and years hiding in the walls trying to fix things for everyone.

[fallingsand]

Maybe but it's not something I want to be. All I've ever wanted is to actually be useful.

[ Which he has been! In this world! This one! Which sure doesn't help the side of "going home" here but... In any case, there is no more to see in this vision of the future, and it begins to fade away into the fog. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

Then they just owe you.

[-Is his smartass response, though his expression quickly cuts to one of surprise when he hears the soft laughter of children somewhere in the fog of the forest.]

-Was that...?

[fallingsand]

Kids? What are kids doing out here?

[ Bruno's already moving towards that sound. Oh no, are they lost? ]

[dyingtohealyou]

[He holds his hand out to stop him.]

It's not kids. It's the forest. Careful-

[But the word dies in his throat as the illusions take shape: a familiar, if younger boy with silvery hair and light brown eyes as he's led into a lab by his parents, the interior of the lab itself seemingly growing to surround them in order to set the scene. The child is swiftly 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.

...And all Ahito can do is simply watch as his past plays out before his very eyes yet again.]

[fallingsand]

[ And all Bruno can do is stand by Ahito and watch it unfold all the same. Ahito had mentioned the experiments before, that his healing ability from home would cause him harm, but all of this... this is... He moves a step closer to Ahito, raising a hand to put it on his shoulder, in a way he hopes is comforting.

He's right here. He isn't having to relive this alone, though he suspects Ahito would prefer no one be here to see this at all.

How could his parents do this to him? How could any of these people? Bruno never even knew about his right eye. He never seemed to suffer for its lack. ]

What... what happened to the girl?

[ He feels himself asking that first. Had they simply let her die? Just like that? ]

[dyingtohealyou]

[Though his shoulder is a bit tense under the touch, he watches it all with a remarkable calm, eyes always on Mizuki - it's been a while, since he saw her.

Been a while, since she haunted his nightmares.

At the question, he remains silent for a long moment. When he finally responds, his voice is soft:]

...I wasn't there to heal her.

[Not that it would have been enough to save her anyway. ...Not that the researchers would have let him, when all the work they had put into his magic was deemed far more valuable than the potential magic she might have held.]

To them, it was just a failed experiment. ...And they don't have any need for subjects they've already used up, either.

[That bitterness, that anger - it's well contained, but still ever alight.

He can't let them keep getting away with this. He won't. But so long as he's stuck here in this world...

How is he ever supposed to find them...?]

[fallingsand]

[ Which means she must have... oh... ]

Ahito... [ The urge to drag him into a hug is strong but with how tense he is under that hand on his shoulder, he isn't sure how well Ahito would take that right now. ] Everyone failed you, didn't they? Everyone who should have cared about you... and her... I'm so sorry.

[dyingtohealyou]

[He shrugs, the motion sharp and still so very tense, but - it is what it is. There's no changing the past now.

He can't go back to his original body, can't bring back her smile - all he can do is face the future, whatever it brings.]

...I got out. That's more than most people can say, once they get involved with that group.

[He's still got his life. For now.]

Besides... There were better people later on. I just had to find them first.

[fallingsand]

Then... how about you, uh, tell me about the better people?

[ Focus on something nicer, something more recent and better for Ahito, rather than this awful mess of a childhood. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

[He turns to Bruno with a faint smile - a little more than might be expected at this angle, but, well. His bad eye and all.]

Well, after my parents passed, I ended up in my grandmother's care. So, at least there's that.

Plus... I've mentioned it before, but my teacher's pretty good, too. A lot like you, even.

[fallingsand]

Yeah, I remember. She likes to make tea, right?

[ Which is funny, since... ]

Y'know, I really didn't make as much tea back home as I do here. I just figured it was a good way to destress. [ And he was right! ] Ah, so, is your grandma nice?

[dyingtohealyou]

Yeah. She's not connected to any of the stuff my parents were involved in. Though she wasn't exactly expecting to have to raise another kid, either...

[There's a rare flicker of - guilt, if just a little. He doesn't believe for a second it's his fault they're in this position, but it doesn't exactly feel great draining finances, either.]

Either way, we make it work.

[fallingsand]

Hey, don't be like that.

[ Here Bruno goes, moving his hand off Ahito's shoulder and reaching over to ruffle his hair instead. ]

People choose to sacrifice for others out of love, Ahito. I'm sure she has no regrets. I mean, I know I wouldn't have any, either, if you or any of my nieces or nephews came to me that way.