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

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

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...?

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ wrong version of him ahito... ]

I did not. [ have amnesia, that is. that's certain other variants of him from different timelines and the mobile game, ] That doesn't mean I was born remembering everything that had happened in the past.

Then... you remembered it all after living long enough to get married?

[Because if so... whoof.]

I did explain what all was involved in reawakening me at that party a couple weeks ago, didn't I?

[ you know, when solomon solomonned. ]

It's a rather specific set of circumstances that doesn't exactly happen by accident. Had it not occurred, I daresay it'd be quite a different person standing in front of you all at this moment.

Perhaps someone who could introduce themselves as I have, ignorant and unconcerned about the titles I decided to omit?

[ so .. yeah, that's a yes to remembering only after living through a significant amount of life beforehand. ]

[He tries to think back to the party only to get sidetracked by memories of how fuckin shit he felt the morning after. Rip.]

...But you still recognize the marriage even now, huh.

[ someone didn't pace themselves, huh. ]

... Is there a reason I shouldn't?

[Someone didn't bother getting any tips on avoiding hangovers before his first time drinking. Oops!]

It's just surprising, that's all.

[Furi: it's cute how even after remembering all the despair dragon stuff, love wins, or something.]

[ hm, something... about that... ]

How so? Just because I am a widower doesn't mean it was ever annulled. I might not have known, but those years were real.

Just because that bond was severed ...

[ Man from Bureau of Serenity sure has been listening intently to the talk about marriage but is especially listening to that second sentence. ]

[Wait his spouse is dead???

Oops. That makes Robin's question even more awkward.]

I guess... you just didn't seem like the sentimental type, with how matter-of-fact you usually are.

I suppose that was my fault for not stressing more that the 'formerly' there applied to all the titles I was listing.

[ he was talking in past tense for a reason, but ahito ... can be forgiven for the mixup, since it's clear enough to see what sort of misunderstanding might have occurred. ]

... I lived as human until I awoke. Surely you didn't think me to have always been this unsentimental, as you put it.

[To be fair he also doesn't know what an Exalt is to begin with honestly.]

It's not that part, more... It's surprising you still think back fondly enough to hold onto it now, too.

... if I were human, perhaps I would have been able to live among you.

[ if that dream had been true, instead of having to end... it was something he'd wanted above everything else, once upon a time. wasn't it? ]

But the truth of the matter is— I am not, and I can't.

[ in the peaceful world he even now barely admits he wishes to see, there's no place for something like him either. doom personified, a future of despair come to be, harbinger of terrible fates. ]

...

Not even as a fellow wizard?

I can't abandon that world either. Or, rather...

[ it's not his world. it's not even his own timeline. he'd jumped back to the past, after all, to make sure fate played out the way it should.

shouldn't it? ]

The long shadow I cast over it ... must properly be put to rest. If I simply vanish, they will live in fear of my return for however many millennia it takes for them to forget.

Humans have done terrible things to each other for less.

...I mean, yeah, but they always do?

[He is not seeing the problem here.]

Why's it up to you to fix it for them?

[ for a long, long several moments, it doesn't seem as if he's going to respond at all. ]

... Because I would never be able to live with myself if I didn't try. It would be a betrayal of my very self to not attempt to lay the foundations of something better after what I've already done. The wars— all of them in my lifetime— were because of me.

[ because a vengeful dragon in the throes of betrayal once swore to return one day and mete out the world's end, and cleanse it of all that was unjust. because the heart of grima was born again into the world, and an exalt previous could not that abide and so crusaded forth in holy genocide, razing another country and starving his own in hunt of it. because those desperate and bitter people laid low by their scars, years later, engineered and steered the course of several wars from the shadows all to see their god's return. ]

I am what humanity made me to be. Damn you all for reminding me of what it was to be 'Robin', even as a shadow of who he was; if I were my previous memories alone I would raze the whole of that world to the ground and call it a mercy.

[ but the heart of grima who had been called robin had cared, and a wizard who betrays their heart might as well not be a wizard at all. ]

[Confusion is clear on his face, though it soon gives way to a certain solemnity. There's honestly - much and more he doesn't know about the ancient, but...

Is it too late to learn?]

...And what solution would 'Robin' have to that problem?

What would a Robin who doesn't know anything of ourselves do, hm...?

[ the answer is simple. he knows exactly what the mirror of his younger self intends to do. whether he will be allowed the opportunity to attempt it or not is the only question.

it is so terribly easy to predict an opponent when the opponent is yourself, after all. ]

Remove himself from it— visibly and unquestionably. If he has thought about it for more than a few minutes—which he has—then he will have realized that the common problem in our lifetimes is us. If the problem is that his existence itself has presence enough to sway the world to such a degree, even in potentia, no doubt he would certainly move to bring an end to us both. That would be the only end he'd consider acceptable, and guilt would wrack him if he were to choose himself over the world.

[ he's aware of how odd this might sound, talking about 'robin' as if he's a separate person. but given the time travel involved... well. he still doesn't bother to explain. ]

And it would work, too. It is the only thing that would end us for good.

[Ahito will just assume it's some other situation relating to the reincarnation. That said:]

...And if he knew more?

Seems to me if he's a strategist like you, between you both you should be able to come up with some alternate plans.

[ mildly: ] Speaking to him would require the army he's at the heart of to not attempt to kill me on the spot for daring to approach or threaten their precious tactician.

Oh, I'd be able to handle it, of course, but the injuries and deaths potentially incurred in the act of me defending myself would hardly endear me to any of them, much less the mirror of my younger self.

Now there's a younger self in the picture?

[Dude... would it kill you to just tell him what's up.]

You at least have more resources here, don't you? You might be able to do something with that... it depends on how it works with getting back to our worlds, though.

[ a small laugh. that's the part that gets him, hm? ]

I am something revered as a god, Ahito. Time and space are things I can cross through, within reason. When I was summoned here, it was not from my own time. I had originally traveled back to correct the influences of several ... interlopers, but ...

Well, the details of that don't matter. Suffice to say that they have ample and justified reason to distrust me. My younger self, accordingly, seeks to avert me, and his means will most certainly be what I've already told you about. I could simply return to the future that was, if I should be so inclined, but that carries with it the same issues that simply staying in this world would.

[ namely that people are going to wonder where the fuck the giant evil final boss dragon suddenly went and probably do stupid things out of paranoia. ]

[Magic in his world is so weak compared to everyone else's world, while costing so much more... man. As usual, this sucks.]

If it's so easy for you, then what's stopping you from bringing along a crew to help you stage a big, dramatic "death" for everyone to see?

[ tilts his head. okay, that's not something he expected. why are you so invested in this, ahito.

hmm. ]

... The challenge is in convincing them it was not, in fact, staged. A blade wielded by someone blessed by a specific other god can lay me to slumber, but it's merely a temporary seal. They should know is that the only power that could end me for good is my own... Naga will tell them that when they seek her blessing, if she hasn't already.

[ hmm. hmmmm. ]

Of course, if we're bringing others into this, then I wonder ... Naga will know you do not carry my blessing or power, and those returning from the future will not recognize you— that leaves too much room for doubt and them to wonder what's actually going on. Set you up as representatives of another god or world...? No, that would invite even more questions as to why you're intervening and where you came from...

[ lucina and her cohort had personal stake in coming to the past, after all. shall he pretend to have ruined another world now while in the middle of doing so to theirs? what a busy god he's been.

why is he entertaining this. a grand play of some sort appeals to the theater kid in him, but...

musingly, not entirely serious: ]

... If we're already setting you up as envoys of some sort, I almost want to see what it'd be like if you acted as go-betweens between us. I suspect it would make for quite the scene.

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1/2

2/2 cw: genocide mention......

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