let the magic take control, it's there wherever you go

[promittere]

CADENZA DI FIRST QUARTER

On this bright and sunny morning, Sage Tatara and Mentor G'raha call a meeting. It's mandatory.

Once every wizard is gathered in the lounge, Tatara settles into one of the plush armchairs, clearly too big for him, but absent is any of his silly expressions that might make light of the difference in size here. Instead, with a serious hue in his coral eyes and neatly pressed lilac dress shirt, he looks like he means business.

"Now that the Western wizards are back, we need to share what we've learned with each other. I know some of you have been sharing information privately amongst yourselves, but I think it's time we put all the pieces we have together.

"Everyone encountered a moon stone on their missions, and I think the general consensus is that neutralizing these stones brings the old wizards back physically, somehow. But we haven't received any reports of any of them waking up yet."

That isn't to mention the sage, who still remains missing...ostensibly. They'll get to that in a second.

"If there's anything else you've learned that you think might be related to these things, or to our situation specifically, then speak up now."

For a summary of everything discussed in the meeting, please see this comment. Thank you Mauyn!

When the conversation dies down, Tatara raises his hand to get his attention back on him and G'raha again.

"For the second order of business, I have good news and bad news."

His tone and expression are lighter this time.

"The good news is that we've found a ritual that can send everyone back. There are details we can work out in the meanwhile, especially if you've decided not to go back to your home world, but for now, we need to talk about the ritual itself.

"In order for the ritual to work, we will need rare materials from all over the world. I'll be posting the materials on the job board so you know where to look."

G'raha adds, "We'll need these materials by next week, before the full moon. There's a reason for that, but we'll touch on that in a moment."

Tatara glances at him and nods.

"The ritual is far too powerful for any of us to perform, so we'll have to wait until the old wizards wake up. But...I have a feeling we might be able to do something about that."

When Tatara stands, G'raha follows suit.

"There's one last thing I need to show you."

With a silent gesture, Tatara makes for the door of the lounge and expects everyone to follow. Yes, everyone.

Sage and mentor then lead everyone down the winding corridors of the manor, past an indiscreet door into a wing of the building that has remained relatively untouched. The lights here are off, but the chandeliers and sconces quietly flick on as they make their way down the dust-laden corridors.

Soon, all will notice that the halls they walk through are a mirror image of the residential section of the manor, except it seems no one has lived here for quite a while.

You're led up the stairs, where Tatara and G'raha stop before a door that is a mirror location to Tatara's room on the second floor. A faint energy pulses from inside, one belonging to a person unfamiliar to all.

After an exchanged glance, Tatara pushes open the door and G'raha steps inside. He gestures to the sight at the center of the room: there, on his knees, is a young man. His face is frozen, twisted in panic—in fact, all of him is frozen, and his image practically see-through, just scarcely flickering on the razor-thin edge of existence. He holds his fist high above his head, as though clinging, with dear life, to five faint ethereal threads—yellow, purple, blue, pink, and green—that float in the air above his head. The threads are just as faint as he is, fading before they reach the walls.

"This is the previous sage," Tatara says. "He appeared here a little before the Western wizards returned from their mission. I'm guessing whatever they did to the last moon fragment is related."

G'raha nods. "The sage's soul seems incomplete. Putting him back together may be the key to waking him, and the rest of the wizards, up. However—" he pauses, reaching to gently run a finger over the purple thread. It flickers faintly. "The energy in these threads is too faint to see where they lead. They do seem to grow in strength as we get closer to the full moon, though. It's likely we'll see what lies at the end of them when the time comes, next week."

"Next week," Tatara repeats. G'raha steps out of the room, and Tatara closes the door behind him. "We'll wake him up next week.

"But before that, we have materials to collect."

JOB BOARD

An important note for these tasks is that they are time sensitive. At least one completed thread of each material must be submitted before 11:59 AM EDT, June 22 for the gathering of the materials to be considered successful. Now's the time to coordinate and work together.

Water from the Lost Oasis. Mesa was once a great city of commerce in the southern part of the Central country...the part of the country that is now a vast desert. The city was once lost to the sands, and though it is said to have recently emerged from its sandy grave, it is still rather difficult to find in the desert. It is very easy to get lost, even on broom, so be careful.

Either way, your task is to collect a bottle-ful of water from this barren oasis. Your only choices may be to commune with the spirits to have them to show you a phantasm of what the bustling city was like in its heyday, before it was destroyed, or to brute force dig your way to the ground water. Why here, when there are other oases in the desert? This is an ancient place of power, and the land is special.

The Central spirits here are very old and very picky—Northern wizards beware, as your presence may not be entirely welcome. Acting out may cause the spirits to lash out and cause sandstorms.

The Frozen Oz Root. Named after the world's most powerful wizard, the Oz flower is a brilliant crimson and deathly poisonous. It grows in the vast snowy plains of the North, but it is said to be exceedingly rare, despite how the color of the flower stands out so starkly against the white of the snow. Finding it will not be easy and you will need sharp, tireless eyes.

Despite how beautiful the flower is, that is not what we need. All of the flower's poison is housed in its roots, and we need the poison. However, the most important thing is that the roots remain frozen. Do not let it thaw. Once it thaws, the poison loses the quality we need for the ritual.

A Storm in a Bottle. It's the fickle quality of the spirits in the Valley of Storms that cause the eponymous storms. They're shy and sensitive, a lot like the Eastern wizards themselves, and don't require a lot of prodding to elicit any sort of reaction from them. Your job is to agitate the spirits in the valley just enough to cause a storm, and to catch that storm, lightning and thunder and rain and all, in a bottle for use in the ritual. Western wizards in particular will have an easy time stressing them out, but be careful not to push the sensitive spirits too far—the valley is also known as the Valley of the Lost for a reason (don't get trapped, please come home!).

In contrast, if you accidentally make the spirits happy, they might take the form of cats instead... Which is nice, but the manor isn't exactly aching for more cats. Just don't get too distracted playing with them if this happens, okay?

Blood of the Last Monster. The Western military and word on the street will tell you that all of the magical monsters in the West have been slain, their mana stones harvested. But is that true, when there has been no word of the death of the mythical tarasque? The legend of the tarasque tells of a large, ancient beast with six bear paws for legs and a massive turtle shell on its back, who slumbers in the depths of a remote ravine among the mountains on the Western Country's northern border. You are to collect a vial of this ancient creature's blood. Nothing more, nothing less.

Be careful not to wake it, and be careful not to kill it. If awakened, there's no telling if anyone would be able to stop a creature of that size and caliber. And if killed, its mana stones would attract all the wrong kind of attention. Besides, doesn't the West still deserve to keep some of its native fauna, magical or otherwise?

Pestilence Frog Mucus. Though once a plague-ridden bog, the Swamp of Pestilence is now home to a thriving, diverse, and healthy ecosystem. It's now also home to a very rare type of frog, its stunning green, yellow, and blue stripes eye-catching and attractive. However, this frog only emerges from the depths of the bog on a clear twilight after a day of rain in the rainy season...except the Southern rainy season isn't for another few months yet. You don't exactly have the time to wait until then, do you? You'll have to figure out a way to trick the frog into thinking it's the rainy season to lure it out, or dig it out by force... Either way, you'll need at least a vial's worth of this frog's mucus. Make sure the swamp water (or rain water, for that matter) doesn't contaminate it.

OOC NOTES

🌙 Welcome to your final final mingle! It's time to share info and get down to business.
🌙 How do you feel about the bonds you've forged thus far? Was it all worth it?
🌙 Pair guesses are now closed! Thank you and congratulations to all who found their pair!
🌙 A reminder that rewards close at 11:59 PM EDT, June 19, and that includes mission rewards. If you have not submitted rewards for your mission participation yet, then now's your last chance!
🌙 Speaking of time limits, if you missed it above, all materials must be submitted before the finale for the gathering to be considered a success. Plan your time and your threads wisely.
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here. Please note that this plotting post doubles as the sign-up for the finale and final encounter. Read it over carefully and fill out the form if you'd like to die play.
🌙 Speaking of, what do you think is happening next week...?

» NAVIGATION

Comments

QUESTIONS

[promittere]

MATERIAL SUBMISSIONS

[promittere]

(( Reply to this comment with threads for successfully collected materials! You have until Saturday, June 22 at 11:59 AM EDT to submit. At least one of each material must be submitted for this to be considered a success. ))

[dadsandals]

Storm in a Bottle w/ Ithaqua

[foresightis2020]

Frozen Oz Root w/ Ithaqua.

[revengier]

pestilence frog mucus with ahito

DEFENSES ADDED

[promittere]

(( If your character is setting up any defenses around the manor or on their fellow wizards, reply here to let everyone know! ))

[dyingtohealyou]

EXTRA Storm in a bottle with Jing Yuan!

[dadsandals]

Water from the Lost Oasis w/ Kurapika

[dadsandals]

Blood of the Last Monster w/ Ahito

[dyingtohealyou]

EXTRA oasis water with Day.

[foresightis2020]

Extra Blood of the Last Monster w/ Khun.

MEETING MINGLE

[promittere]

(( The meeting has been called, and your information is needed. Please keep your meeting information and mingling contained to this toplevel.

And since time is fake, please feel free to discuss material gathering and the previous sage here as well. ))

[1145pm]

[ Here's your sage! With a sagely question. ]

Two things, mostly out of personal curiosity.

One—who knows about Oz?

Two—has anyone talked about him outside of the manor?

NORTH MISSION DETAILS

[impacter]

[Oof. Well, might as well get things started besides Tatara's question.]

Let's at least present what we know, and perhaps those that can fill in the blanks will be kind enough to speak up.

Those of us assigned to the North were teleported outside the City of Ice a little over three weeks ago by an unknown force, which we believe was from Snow and White. We were faced with an enormous chimera, and the majority of our mission was simply defeating it and keeping it from causing further damage to the city. While we had two witches intercept us in a claim to take over the kill for their own merit and magical power, it seemed they were there by chance, and only chance. Both of those witches perished, and the chimera was downed soon afterwards.

The moonstone we found was inside of the chimera, and immediately had to be purified on the creature's death. At the time of the mission, we had no evidence of how the rock was obtained, nor how it was moved due to its size, nor how the creature emerged from it.

[He lets that settle, since he's pretty sure a lot of people have already obtained this information by now, but no stones left unturned here and all that.]

As for myself, I'd spoken to a Northern representative back during the ball in our first month that expressed concerns in regards to tensions between North and Central, due to connections with Oz and the crown prince. At the time, with a lack of evidence and other factors, I held it as a point of suspicion and only that. I investigated Oz's castle on my own, though I wasn't able to do much before being kicked out. Several of you helped me to followup with the village itself in the wake of my mission injuries, which I've been grateful for.

I don't know if this tension has a part to play in the grander scheme, given that Oz is now a topic of discussion, but I in part saw no suspicious activity from that part of the world in the time I was there.

SOUTH MISSION DETAILS

[fallingsand]

[ Well, since Solomon is laying down all the Northern deets, Bruno figures everyone could use a refresher on the Southern mission. Wow, that feels so long ago now. ]

Uh, right, so when the Southern Country reached out for our help, it had something to do with a wheat field making their farmers sick. It was only that one and since the South has pretty limited resources, losing that field would have been, well, bad. We flew down to the village that was having these problems and split up to look at the field, talk to the village's mayor, and check the surroundings for anything else suspicious.

Turns out the only suspicious thing was these corrupted stalks of wheat at the center of the field. It was giving off the worst vibes I've ever felt and the plants tried to grab anyone who got too close to it.

That said, we, uh, we decided to try and help the farmers first. That same corruption was what was making them sick and we were able to cleanse them of that and... and we... w-well... anyway, that.

[ Bruno can leave out the gory details of needing to amputate a whole leg. Ahem. ]

That settled that but we still had to deal with the corruption in the field. We went back the next morning and had to combine all of our magic to get through to the center of the corrupted wheat. We dug up what turned out to be that first moon rock and got that cleansed, too. Once we did, those lights that we know are the original wizards now showed up and thanked us.

Theeen we took the rock and came back. Yeah. That was. That was pretty much it.

WESTERN INTERFERENCE AND EXPLOSIONS

[dyingtohealyou]

I found this out back at that party with the representatives, but the Western Magitek Army apparently sent an expedition to some hidden labs. Something involving the original Wizards resulted in an explosion which left only one survivor - the man I spoke to, though he was still injured.

He also kept blaming the original wizards the whole time and kept insisting it wasn't his fault.

[Much convincing wow.]

...According to Tatara, the timing lines up pretty well with an explosion that happened in the East. The one we were cleaning up, as a matter of fact. And, according to Syrlya, a representative from the City of Rain claimed that a western expedition team was caught cleaning up the explosion, too - they blamed the previous wizards then, even.

WESTERN MISSION DETAILS

[foresightis2020]

We were initially assigned a mission in which we were to check in on the Schropfers' Estate. There were apparently reports, in a suspicious letter by General Gilles Barnett, that there were people who went missing in that area following the hiring of a man claiming to be a necromancer by the Schropfers.

When we arrived, we found no one available, the mansion itself quiet, and with no way to see into the windows inside unless by a very strong lightsource. One the door had been opened, it was easy to sense the power of the moon rock's influence, which had affected all of which was inside, including the two survivors. Upon entry we found it mostly dark, and soon discovered in one of the rooms the Schropfers' daughter, Elizabeta. She was one of those whose appearance had been corrupted by the magic from the moon rock.

According to her, it turned out the man hired was not exactly a necromancer, but meant to pose as one in order to bolster the diminishing wealth of those nobles based upon such claims. How so? That would be by attracting interested parties to watch the shows this man put on with the actors he's hired pretending to be a necromancer; as a result, those people paid the Estate. However, things started to take a turn for the worst even when money came in.

The man had posted what he called 'lanterns' all over the manor walls, from which emerged creatures not unlike specters; they appeared skeletal and are difficult to defeat by traditional means. As in, physical and magical attacks would be normally reflected back. One had to disable the lantern in order to make quick work of them on a temporary basis due to how they were 'constructed'. Elizabeta's parents met their ends at the hands of one of those creatures.

We found their bodies in the room adjacent of the one Elizabeta was in, and located their keys. After dealing with the monster there, there was the remaining actor found, who was transformed into a wolf-like being; nothing of importance was gained from him but the room he was in allowed us to ascend without any trouble. Unlike how attempting to do so from the front stairs seemed to be met with strong repelling magic.

Once we were upstairs we found the so-called false necromancer, who had rearranged his...outward appearance with metallic implants. If you want the gruesome details I could elaborate but I don't think it necessary. [ That will definitely get you cw warning, but hey. ] We found him in such a state where he appeared to be working on more of those lanterns I suspect, surrounded by boxes filled with mechanical parts and mana stones. When we engaged him, he was incapable of speech and needed to be put down.

In the midst of this, the mana rock, which was opened by one of the keys, was also purified. The manor collapsed following the completion of all this, and when we made our escape we took notice that Elizabeta and the remaining actor were changed back to their original state.

Ah, and one more matter:

We happened to get a glimpse of four red orbs that made their appearance with something like appreciation tinged with mischievousness and playfulness radiating from them before they made their get away.

[ The implications are clear, though. No one else survived, and hey that seems to be all. ]

VISIONS OF THE END?

[fallingsand]

[ After folks have discussed Oz enough and have shared the details of their missions, Bruno does his best to try and call everyone's attention back to him. He doesn't like doing it but this is the best time. This entire meeting, he's had a bundle of something somewhat square-shaped on his lap, wrapped in a blanket, but now he gets to his feet and unwraps it.

Under the blanket is a pane of roughly hewn green glass, fainting glowing. To a more wizardly sense, it would come off as made completely of magic. Bruno's magic, to be precise. ]

Um, so, before we all scatter, there's something I wanted to share. I. I figure most people know I can see into the future by now but if you didn't know that yet, er, sorry. I can.

[ Bruno will never not apologize for being a prophet, sorry. ]

I've tried to figure out how this will all end before and the first time, I got four possible outcomes. It's. You know, futures aren't always set in stone. There's wiggle room sometimes, hence more than one outcome. Anyway. After everyone got back from that whole mess in the West, I went out and tried again. We're down to two now, which is... well... I wouldn't call it an improvement.

I saw the mansion, destroyed by fire, and I saw twenty-five figures facing the moon, which... which by now, I'm pretty sure is us. S-so, y'know, I think we're maybe, kinda, sorta...

[ Wow, what's a good word for this? ]

To be crass, I guess, we're probably fucked?

[ Yeah, there we go. His single approved use of the f-word (in English). ]

Or I'm wrong. I'm not, like, all-knowing or anything. A-anyway. You. You can see what I saw on the tablet. Just move it one way or the other to see the different. The different visions.

[ yaaay what a fun way to end the meeting ]

Eastern Mission Details

[lustro]

[ Ginger presents last because public speaking is something he has to steel himself for. ]

The City of Rain sent us a blood-soaked letter requesting aid against sentient... clockwork... automatons - the same ones we were cleaning up the week or two prior. When we flew there, the streets were empty of people, but filled with... armed automatons and song.

[ His eyes flick toward Yamato who was pretty pissed off by that, he remembers. ]

The automatons had the engraving of the Collodi Workshop on the back of their necks - and they were powered by purple magic. Some of them were mere guards, some of them were just there to sing, and the loudest singing was from the city square. They were singing love and longing to the moon. One of them told us that it would embark and no one would stop it.

"We wish to return to the place that loves us, that we love, too."

[ Ginger remembers this clearly because it had left such an impression on him at the time. He hadn't expected the moon to weaponize love. ]

Each automaton carried a piece of the moon inside it, cut and polished by Joseph Collodi, and desired to be made whole once reunited with the moon itself. The source of the magic powering them was not in the city square, however, but the Collodi Workshop in the Artisan District. We had to purify the seal protecting that place. I say we, but it was Phil...

[ A glance at said man. Is he still without magic? ]

And as is the case with all the other corrupted areas, the air changed as soon as we stepped inside. Collodi himself was dead, slumped over his desk and had been for a couple of days. The only sign of injury was a dark bruise at his neck, which is strange considering the automatons were armed.

The moon rock was located downstairs, locked in a drawer, resonating with terrible and dangerous energy. Most of us had protection spells, but... [ East happened. ] I think the rest should be explained by one of the others. I didn't exactly see what happened.

Oh - but I heard from Mika, who heard from Ahito, that the spirits? Or something? Of the original wizards thanked his group at the end of their mission. I don't think I heard anything thanking us, but... if they were Eastern wizards...

[ It would be more like: get rescued, float awkwardly in the air for a moment, get the fuck out of there before anyone risks being social and using actual words to say actual things, exist awkwardly elsewhere preferably in a hole. ]

WESTERN COUNTRY & GENERAL BARNETT

[lighthaus]

Back at the ball, I met General Barnett of Western Country. We hit it off pretty quickly and he invited me after to get a real feel of Western Country with him, including a tour of their research facilities. In general his aim was to feel me out and also encourage me and by extension other wizards under the Sage that our life would be better in the West—a whole wine and dine deal, literally.

We met several times and I took Cid with me to each, you can confirm with him the details if you don't believe me. Anyway, I told him what he wanted to hear and he in turn continued to try to schmooze me—I'm not under any real impression that either of us thought we really knew the other, but that's how noble society is. The Officer's Club is pretty nice, by the way.

Things of note: their R&D department is focused heavily on the continued use of mana stones as a way to harness magic for themselves, with notable projects being: light emitters, flight packs, and resonance neutralizers. The latter is the most concerning as theoretically it would enable them to neutralize magic from a source with a specific magic signature. From what I could gather it's not deployment ready, but that could have been an underestimation on their part.

Lately General Barnett seemed focused on the West's relationship with Central Country, which is concerning given Oz's location. He was optimistic that this relationship would be turning for the better shortly, most likely because Vincent is in charge of Central now as he's always had a good relationship with the West. The lab explosion out East wasn't under his direct purview by the way, but I know he looked into it afterwards.

All of that being said, it's obvious the West is power hungry and would want nothing more than to have all our stones for themselves. The letter he sent asking for our assistance in the recent Western mission made that even more glaringly obvious. As far as I know they're not aware of Oz's presence in Central, but given the politics of the matter, I assume it'll be a matter of when not if. To that end Maya and I have been reinforcing the barrier every week, like I said before.

[dyingtohealyou]

A. A Normal Day...

[Between missions, Ahito can be found in the following places:

In Central, atop a roof or a tree from sunset to the faintest stars appearing in the sky, recharging his amulet,

In his room, scratching down notes and spell concepts, or

In the kitchens, preparing baby castellas! Leftover baby castellas are left on a plate for people to snack on, too.]

B. Water from the Lost Oasis

[Don't mind him casually attempting a ward against the fucking heat of this place, the temperature is so much less bearable without the ocean wind to cool it.]

Any luck talking to the spirits?

[They don't seem to want to talk to him for... some reason... mysterious.......]

C. The Frozen Oz Root

[He'll cast a ward against the cold for himself and, if whoever is accompanying him isn't a fellow north, for them as well. After that, it's just a matter of hopping on brooms and scanning the ground below for that tell-tale red.]

It's weird how quickly I've gotten used to this place...

[He's lost count of how many times he's been up here, these days...]

D. A Storm in a Bottle

[Wow, he did not miss the East. But still! Here they are, in the valley of storms, in which... it is not presently storming. Fortunately, that part's easy to fix. Unfortunately...]

Soo... Upsetting the spirits shouldn't be a problem, but how do you think we should go about bottling the storm itself?

E. Blood of the Last Monster

[Fortunately, he's not too shabby when it comes to stealth, and he seems pretty confident in that as they move through the ravine. However, stealth isn't the only issue, now is it?]

What would be the best way to extract its blood...? I guess if we can numb it first...

[Hmm!]

F. Pestilence Frog Mucus

[Ughhh heat ward does not help with the humidity of a fuckin bog, thanks he hates this. He's also staying on his broom for now instead of getting into the muck.]

...I wonder if there's a tracking spell we can use to find it instead.

[He is not a hunter, he just wants to be done with this one asap, thank you very much.]

Wildcard!

[Hit up my plotting comment and I can make a custom tl!]

blood of the last monster

[dadsandals]

Numbing...sounds like a good idea, if we can find a way to do that without waking it up.

[ Yamato is a Seals guy, so he could hypothetically try it. ]

I might be able to do it through a seal, but I don't know if it'll feel anything...but we can try it?

[leewards]

last-minute training

[Whether you found a certain note on the bulletin board, or just followed the noise outside (and it's a lot of noise, it's hecking wimdy out there), you'll be able to find the author of said note lounging on a rock like a cat, one hand raised lazily in the air and tracing languid circles, manipulating the wind in that way. When he spots that he's no longer alone, the wind stops and he sits up, crossing one leg over the other.]

Come for the practice, or merely passing through?

snowball fight...?

[Splat! A snowball whizzes past anyone who may be passing the gardens, and hits a surface behind or to the side. Who threw it? From where? Why?? The answer, of course, is Ithaqua.]

That first one was a warning, heheh! [He's surrounded by snowballs that are not melting... and perhaps you may have already noticed that there are snowballs everywhere in this particular corner of the garden, not just around the snowman. A certain someone clearly prepared for this.

Then he raises a hand, with another snowball packed into it already.]

Think fast if you want to be involved in this!

wildcard
[ bring your own prompt! for missions, please check my plotting tl. in general, i'm open to all missions save for "water in the lost oasis" because ithaqua being ithaqua in that scenario is an instant lose condition. ]

@ jing yuan (frozen oz root)

[leewards]

[Ithaqua stretches his arms above his head, inhaling deeply, and exhaling just as much when he relaxes. His breathing quite audible given the mask he wears today does not cover his mouth... and neither is his breath. Yes, he breathes, but there's no tell-tale puff of breath one would expect from a warmer person in a cold climate.]

You should consider yourself fortunate that I have deigned to accompany you-- there's no other wizard in the manor capable of commanding the ice and snow like myself. [Or anyone who can use ice magic, period.

He even shows why he wears stilts-- he leaves traces in the snow so small that they're almost negligible to everyone save for those truly observant, and he does not make noise as he moves. And moves easily, at that.]

[serenesinker]

The Big Frog Finding Endeavor!

[Deep in the Swamp of Pestilence is a man on a mission. A mission to find frog mucus, that is!

Yodarha stands tall deep in the muck despite his short stature, thanks in no small part due to a pair of simple wooden stilts attached to his legs! Thanks for the inspiration, Ithaqua.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, he shields his eyes from the bright sunlight, on the lookout for his fellow wizards. They should be here by now, right?]

[fallingsand]

[ Nope, nope, Bruno isn't setting foot in that mud, so guess who's similarly gotten creative? Rather than using stilts, however, Bruno has figured out how to magic up a bit of levitation. He walks over the muck rather than attempting to trek through it. ]

I, uh, I'm not sure anyone else is coming, Yodarha.

[ Or maybe they are! They're just, uh, late! A little late. Tiny bit. ]

[foresightis2020]

i. row row fight the power;

[ Jing Yuan has taken up residence in the courtyard as a more consistent presence besides his afternoon walks due to reasons. He seems to be practicing a variety of magic at times, most of offensive and some of it defensive.

Though there are moments of which that display something somewhere in-between or where he can be caught with his glaive. Whatever the case, he'll turn towards the person who has joined him. ]

Do you need any pointers? Or do you wish to engage in a spar?

ii. magic crafts;

[ Jing Yuan doesn't consider himself to necessarily be anywhere like a blacksmith, but he has been doing things that are essentially out of his comfort zone. One can find him out in the courtyard AGAIN with a huge mess of materials surrounding him.

He yawns but he will wave his hand at anyone who comes near him. ]

Oh hello, did you want to join me? It could be fun.

[ Sing song tone...do you trust this grandpa. ]

iii. wildcard;

[ Pick a god and pray. ]

TAILORED PROMPTS.

[foresightis2020]

[ Will go here. ]

[fallingsand]

TRAINING DUMMIES (THE STRAW ONES)

[ Ahito came up with the idea first and Bruno has decided to run with it. All he needed to do was collect all the wood he'd been hoarding in his room for his little projects, find some straw, and, tada, training dummies! He's made them with tripod legs for stability rather than one support buried in the ground. This also makes them easier to move around in the courtyard!

On top of that, they are decorated in certain ways:

• Straw Dummy #1 has a white mop top as a wig and a white sheet settled on its shoulders like a cloak.


• Straw Dummy #2 has a black-feathered feather duster pinned to its head and wears a black coat along with a tie.


• Straw Dummy #3 happens to be smaller than the rest and sports some extra bristled styled as a big ol' mustache and also some corn cobs cut down in size to make pointy-ish ears.

There. All set. ]

Okay. Right. Now I just need someone to try and hit these.

TRAINING DUMMIES (THE ONE THAT IS ACTUALLY JUST BRUNO)

[ Right, okay, enough practice with the straw dummies, it's now time to practice on the sad dummy! Wait, no, on the sad uncle, which by that he means him. Yes, that's right, him. Bruno will be setting the trio of dummies aside in the courtyard and when the next wizard happens by to practice their spells, he'll pipe up nervously, ]

Uh, h-hey, I've been working on my, um, defensive... spells... so... I was wondering if you could... try to hit me? Like, with magic or. Or fists or.

[ lmao he sounds so nervous about this ]

J-just. If. If it goes super wrong, I have some, y'know, healing matches in. In my pocket, haha, so, yeah, great, sounds good, right?

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

Why the training dummies?

[He knows what training dummies are for, but he never expected Bruno of all people to be near one. There's Kiryu, examining the corn cobs on the third dummy, curious about why this all had to look similar to people they know, haha]