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

Recovering

[mirristry]

[Phil too has been largely avoiding others since returning from the mission, in part due to his own need for physical recovery after that and in part because he feels too rattled, too emotionally raw to feel comfortable around anyone else right now.

He slips out of his room on occasion to go get some tea from the kitchen, and it's on one such trip downstairs - hair loose rather than in its usual side plait and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders - that he happens to spot Mika heading back to his own room and just

sort of

freezes.]

.......

[Well. This is awkward.]

[shortleash]

( Mika noticed Phil first by his presence, then by his scent. He glances up at him as they're about to pass, if only out of acknowledgment and without particularly social inclination, and he sees... his reaction.

He presumes Phil is sour with him about the whole human thing like Yamato and Shinjiro, or perhaps that he blames Mika for his recklessness that could have endangered the rest, too.

He hesitates, guilt needling at him. Then, he glances away. )

... It's fine. You can keep going.

( You can stay mad at him if you want. Jing Yuan said that he should try to make amends, but... if Phil just freezes up, then he probably doesn't want to talk, and it wouldn't be fair to force him to make amends. )

[mirristry]

[Phil's scent is ever-so-slightly different now compared to what it was before they'd left on their mission, the rot seeping a little deeper, spreading its poison just a little further. It would seem as though Mika isn't the only one who didn't emerge from their experience unscathed, unfortunately, though unlike Mika he can't point to any one specific thing as being the cause... rather, it was an inevitability, the eventual physical consequence of his lack of medicine finally catching up to him.]

I...

[He too pauses, hesitates. It's unpleasant, feeling like the still-unhealed wounds from that day are being jarred open once again, and he couldn't meet Mika's eyes even if the other were to choose to look at him.]

... what you said back in the City. Do you... truly believe it's human nature to be stupid and selfish?

[He's not sure what he wants the answer to that to be, honestly. 'No' would make him a hideous exception to the rest of humanity, but 'yes' would be just as damning in its own way with the implication that his actions were simply a function of what he is.]

[shortleash]

( The quiet scent of Phillip's encroaching rot fills the air steadily, and it puts Mika on edge - makes him pause, uneasy, as if its terminal point were much closer than Phillip claimed it would be, and it cast a heavy shadow over them now.

For the first time perhaps, he considers his answer with more nuance than he's willing to mention. He will not compromise on his view of humanity just to appease his team, nor will he lie. But he can at least be honest. )

... I've seen humans hurt more people than they've ever helped. Can you even imagine what billions of people look like? That's how many died at once, thanks to humans. And more die every day. More hurt and kill to survive. More get kidnapped for experiments, which continue anyway.

There aren't any heroes. Just people who think they're right.

( And the ones who hurt always think they have privilege to harm.

A beat.

His gaze slowly trail back to Phillip. )

Humans are self-righteous like that. They are greedy, selfish, and short-sighted. They'll do whatever it takes to get what they want. It's just baked into what they are.

( He won't let his naivete harm the people he loves. He has to be staunch, for them - or so he believes. )

... I don't think... every human has to be that way. I think... there can be exceptions. People who try to be more than what they're made of. But... I can't judge all of humanity by those exceptions. That's all.

[mirristry]

["Can you even imagine what billions of people look like? That's how many died at once, thanks to humans."

The words are like a knife to the heart. Just how many people had died as the Voidstorm engulfed the world? He doesn't know. He'll never know for sure, and he hates it, because he feels like every single name should be engraved in his memory like some sort of living cenotaph. He can't stop himself from flinching like he's been struck, or from pulling the blanket a little tighter around himself as though it will somehow shield him from the eyes of people who aren't even there.

He has to swallow a few times to choke back the lump that threatens to close off his throat. The familiar hot sting of tears burns his eyes as he closes them, tries to center himself enough to keep from sobbing aloud the moment he opens his mouth.]

... I... I see. I can't... say that you're wrong. Humans are selfish. Selfish and arrogant. Even if that isn't true of all of them... does it really matter when it only takes the actions of a single person to destroy everything?

[Because that's what he'd done. That's what he's always done. He destroys everything he loves... or is it that he destroys them because in the end he doesn't truly understand what it means to love?]

[shortleash]

( It would be remiss to think that Mika, so conscious of Phil's organs squealing, would miss the slight nuance of his hurt; the scraping of the blanket's fabric tighten in his hands, the way his throat goes taut, and there threatens the gentle scent of salt.

It's subtle, underneath the scent and sound of everything else wrong with Phillip, but it's enough that even Mika can recognize there's something wrong.

Does Phil not actually believe what he's saying? Is he just agreeing with Mika? He doesn't... sound insincere, though. Not exactly. But Mika isn't sure how to take all this. )

... Yeah. It does take only one person. One person who embodies everything it means to be human, and overshadows the rest.

( Selfish, arrogant, callous, and cruel. However briefly humans may dabble in kindness, it hardly makes up for the desolation they leave behind.

And so there was Guren, who sacrificed those billions to save seven friends. In his wake came groups of humans working together to kill off the rest. In protest of Mika's derision, Yuu had asked him - But Mika, wouldn't you do the same as Guren? Wouldn't you do that to save the people you love?

Yeah, he would. Because he's the worst of both worlds, human and vampire. )

... What's wrong?

[mirristry]

["The third Ix is suffering because of me, but even so, he's still struggling to move forward. Compared to that... what am I even doing...?"

What is he doing in the end? Does it even matter what he's doing when nothing will ever be enough to come anywhere near to making up for what he's been responsible for? Just how many lies is he going to keep telling himself and everyone else?]

... nothing's wrong. I'm fine. I was just... thinking, that's all.

... I'm fine.

[But the way his voice sounds clipped and tight betrays the truth. Yet another lie, because it comes as naturally to him now as breathing. Because if he tells these lies to other people enough times, then maybe he'll be able to believe them too.

He has to be able to believe them, because that's the only way he can keep moving forward.]

[shortleash]

You're not. I can hear it, you know. Your scent is thick with your body failing.

( He says this sharply and pointedly, brooking no shoddy excuse. Mistakenly, though, he assumes it's Phil's health that's the cause for his demeanor - Phil hasn't said anything to cause him to think otherwise, either.

Mika steps closer, a little too close into his space, as if - the closer vantage could help him see how to fix this. )

What do you need right now?

( If the healers aren't enough, what is? Vitality? Mika can offer his own, but he knows that's clearly just a quick fix. )