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lunaecalamitas2024-05-18 12:19 pm
promittere) wrote in lunaecalamitas2024-05-18 12:19 pm
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...
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.
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...
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.
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
๐ Welcome to your fourth event! It's your dreamshare and memshare event! Ready to open up with your deepest and darkest secrets?
๐ We're halfway through the game. How do you feel?
๐ 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.
๐ On the admin side of things, Lav has swapped out Wanderer for G'raha! Please say hello to your new mentor NPC.
๐ 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.
๐ The next country to go on their mission is North. Do you think a PVP-enabled mission will go well?
no subject
after baam's death, there was grieving of course. belated due to the nature of the tower and more of a rallying cry than anything else. some cried, some got angry but khun;he had work to do. he's processed baam's death in some ways and not in others, some parts of it still rubbing him wrong and raw.
if it was anyone else besides tatara looking at him like that, he would have gotten angry. he knows, because some people have tried and other people have gone a different approach, insinuating that his way of grieving was taking baam's girlfriend. those people lost their fingers and sometimes more.
it's even funnier in hindsight, as if he could ever be attracted to someone like rachel—he forces himself back into the now at the question, looks at his boyfriend and then gently leans in to touch their foreheads together. ]
No. [ he lets his eyes slide mostly closed. ] It didn't stop him, actually. If anything it might have motivated him more, because now he needed to be her legs. [ literally, metaphorically. ]
I could have told him, but...I wanted to protect him as much as I could. Even from myself. I know how I am, after all.
no subject
He breathes. ]
But I can't help but wonder... If he's anything like me, then maybe he would've been fine with it regardless. Because that's who you are.
[ Unless this was one sided?
Tatara shifts, draws his eyes open just slightly. Because in actuality, that wasn't the meaning behind his question. ]
Did he know...you loved him?
[ As a friend, as family, romantically. ]
no subject
Tatara. [ actually, he's mostly embarrassed in a way he didn't know was possible until now. he squeezes their joined hands, a fidget. ]
I've never said that to anyone but you. [ not even family. ] And I don't think he would have noticed.
no subject
His heart aches for his boyfriend. He's delighted that he's special, that he's the only one that's ever gotten his verbal love, but Tatara can see the pain that came from all of that, everything he's been through, and he doesn't know what he can do for him.
Slowly, he leans in, eventually resting his head on his shoulder. He could ask if he's cold. Or if he needs a hug. But who would he be if he didn't go for what he wanted, without checking first? ]
...I'm sorry.
no subject
...I never thought I'd use that word with anyone. My family isn't like that, we start killing each other when we're twelve, if not younger. I wasn't raised with any of that in mind.
[ he doesn't sound like he minds, he just feels the need to express that a lot of the weight rests on his end. ]
no subject
He turns his head to press his face into the crook of his neck. He doesn't really envy Khun's past, but he thinks it says a lot about who he is. That isn't a bad thing. It's just a part of him, and maybe he doesn't like the idea of him killing, but... ]
But... [ He inhales, absorbing some of the weight. ] You do now, right? You've learned it, you've embraced it...
Would you use it if you got the chance to see him again?
no subject
I don't know. [ ...though, that's a copout. they said they weren't doing that anymore, so he screws his eyes shut and just focuses on the sound of tatara breathing, the feel of him on his skin. ]
...no, I wouldn't. He's dead and—there's a lot of other things I'd need to tell him first.
[ maybe after that, but it's impossible to imagine and he doesn't want to put any hope in his mind that he'll get that chance. ]
But I think I would say it to Maria. I'll tell you about her one day soon, but not today. I'm— [ tired. cold. selfish things. ] sorry.
[ he really wants to, but he feels like if he talks about them both right now he'll get entirely lost in himself. ]
no subject
He tucks the name away in his memory; regardless if it's been there before, or not, it now sits there bolder, in a deeper blue. Tatara won't forget that name, and he'll wait patiently for his chance to hear about her. He won't prod. Only when Augero is ready. ]
Don't.
[ He mimics his boyfriend, because he's right. There's nothing to be sorry for, nothing to apologize for. Tatara sees no fault in his feelings or in his past or the people he's loved—he's unapologetically forgiving.
No sorrys, no I don't knows.
His heart hurts for the words that Baam will never hear, but maybe that's for the best. If Aguero thinks it the best course of action, then he won't question it.
He presses his face into his neck harder, and exhales. ]
It doesn't have to be now. Let's— [ They're both tired, emotionally, he thinks. ] Let's go home.
no subject
is that what this place else? no, all the memories dredged up in this forest have underlined that in bold until it sits heavy on his chest. but-he thinks of a silly phrase, a stupid phrase he's never believed in before.
home is where the heart is.
there's no question about that. it flutters against his chest, moving up his throat, tumbling on his tongue and dropping out of his lips. ]
Yeah. Let's go home.
no subject
It's a no-brainer to him. Part of who he is and where he belongs is in a sunlit forest not far from the manor, dozing on Aguero's chest.
With a little smile, Tatara pulls back to grasp his hands, and together, they'll leave the forest and head home. ]