promittere: (Default)
lunae calamitas mods ([personal profile] promittere) wrote in [community profile] lunaecalamitas2024-04-04 11:33 pm

if you say it's magic, then you're my wizard

WANING GIBBOUS OVERTURE
The seconds tick by, the elevator rattles. There's a soft, musical chime announcing your arrival before the elevator doors creak open, leaving you and a number of others in the courtyard of a stone manor. The manor is large, looming over the trees surrounding it, and the gardens are well maintained, rows of hedges and beds of blooming flowers as far as you can see. The doors linger open until you clear the threshold, as if waiting patiently for you. Dawdle too long and you’ll feel a gentle push, nudging you out into the yard. The doors shut with more rattles and a cheerful ding!, and if you turn to look at it there's nothing to be seen behind you but the milling strangers.

Then there's a sting, mild at first. But soon, the spot where your sage's crest is starts to burn. It's as though you have been branded, and the searing heat clings to your skin. Should you look at your crest, you'll find it glows a faint red, like the dying embers of a fire, but given enough time it will cool to black and no longer hurt.

Once the pain fades, you notice is that the air around you feels distinctly different. It's hard to say exactly what makes it different, or how. It feels brittle, but malleable. That perhaps if you said or did the right thing, you could command reality to your liking—

The wind blows, stirring leaves and flowers, and that's when you notice there are two people in the courtyard that did not emerge from the elevator like everyone else. The taller of the two looks briefly shocked, before a warm smile blots it out, while the shorter of the two looks remarkably unimpressed—for as much as you can make out his expression under the large hat he wears. He glances at the taller man, the charms that hang from his hat clinking, and crosses his arm over his chest.

The taller man nods, turns to the group, and says, "Sorry. I know you were probably in the middle of something important. But...I need you. My name is Tatara Totsuka. I'm your sage, and you are my witches and wizards."

He looks up to the moon hanging in the sky, still pale and visible despite the light of day, and lays it all out for you: a wizard under the sage's guidance is supposed to fight off the Great Calamity—the moon—when it nears. But you are not meant to carry out this task. The original sage and twenty-one wizards suddenly vanished not long ago. No one knows what happened to them, or where they are. They aren't dead. They are gone.

That you are here, that there are so many of you, that you came from different worlds, means that this is a mistake. Something, somewhere, isn't right. Yet the world has decided to claim you in a frantic attempt to keep itself together.

This world is breaking. If you don't fix this, then you'll be stuck here fighting the Calamity yourselves.

When Tatara looks back down to the rest of you, there's a smile on his face, tinged with apology. "But I think it'll be okay. We'll figure this out... Right?"

The golden light of sunset is oddly cold. It settles over you not in a welcoming embrace, but in a possessive hold. There is a sinking feeling in your gut: whatever your home was before matters no longer. Welcome to a world on the brink of destruction—let's hope it's not for good.


The day begins to draw to a close. You're given the rest of the day to process Tatara's words and to familiarize yourselves with the manor. There are plenty of empty spaces in the manor with sparse furniture where you can rest and try to unwind, and hopefully get some sleep. Everything about today might be a lot to unpack, but surely you can at least relax and prepare for the next day.

The morning starts with the sound of bells. A cacophonous racket of them, ringing in your rooms, in your head, jolting you from whatever slumber you can grasp. The source seems to be a note, unassuming if not for the way it shakes with each toll of the bells, and the noise only stops when you read it.

"Go to the courtyard," it says, and if you try to ignore it the noise returns, growing louder and louder until your vision swims and you find yourself standing in the courtyard with everyone else—and the shorter of the two men from yesterday.

"Practice starts right now," he says, looking bored and just as unimpressed as he did yesterday. The sun has barely started over the horizon—it's early, almost absurdly so. "You need to learn magic sooner instead of later, unless you want to die like miserable worms. If you do, just quit now so we can replace you with someone useful."

His explanation on magic is brief—he explains that magic is a deal struck between caster and the spirits of the world, using a meaningful word or phrase to communicate your will to the as-of-yet unseen spirits of the world, who will respond to your desires and power your magic. A focus, an object of significant meaning, will help strengthen your ties to the land and direct the magic for your spells. If you have nothing that would work as a focus right now, he says, chances are the perfect thing will find you anyways.

While he looks unhappy to do so, he emphasizes that magic—as it works here—is all tied to your emotions and your convictions, and then he assigns you a challenge for the week. He wants you to come up with your incantation—the words you'll use to cast all of your magic—as well as find or draw forward your focus, with the final task being summoning a magic broom you'll use for transportation.
Threading out magic practice and ICly discovering your characters' magic words, manifesting their foci, and summoning their broom will count as three different jobs, and will be eligible for a set of rewards each. While not technically classified as a job this time around, this is a special circumstance. When you've accomplished any of these things, please submit them to the rewards page as a job submission.

If you're having trouble coming up with a focus or incantation, think about your answers for the first and third mandatory questions on your app! Your focus of choice does not have to be in your character's inventory—if what works best for them as a focus did not come with them, then they can focus and reach across universes to bring it here with them.

JOB BOARD
You may have just gotten here, but people across the continent still need the sage's wizards to do things for them. The job board will typically have 2 - 3 requests each event that can be turned in for rewards when completed.
Sugar delivery. Confectionery shops and pharmacies put in regular orders for wizard sugar to the manor, and despite the unusual circumstances, now is no different. Wizard sugar—sugar spontaneously created through a wizard's magic—is said to have restorative properties and said to bless those that consume it, so it's no wonder it's in high demand. It also happens to be one of the first things young wizards learn to do. So once you've perfected your sugar, go deliver it to the shops in Central capital and to the Southern merchants waiting for shipment near the Central tower.

The Southern merchants, in particular, seem rather anxious to receive as much sugar as possible, as soon as possible.

WANDERER TASKS
The wizards' new mentor knows that this must be an incredibly overwhelming experience, so he has a list of things that should help break down the process of learning and understanding magic. Or that's what he says, at least, but it feels like he's trying to make things more difficult...
Nobody is going to hold your hands for you, and the best way to learn is to understand the root cause of an issue. Use that paper being left around for something actually useful and do some research on the spirits of the countries you've been tasked to represent. I'll be expecting some actual thought out papers within the week.

For the idiots who can't research to save their lives, prove you can actually manage the bare minimum. There's a spot you can't reach without magic within the manor grounds—bring me one of the trinkets you find there.

For the even bigger idiots who are overconfident, come find me and we can spar. I won't go easy on you.

TATARA ACTIVITIES
Tatara knows things are tense and uncomfortable for his new wizards, so he'll offer up a few activities each event post to help them relax if things get too tough.
We're all new here, but we'll be friends before long, I know it! There's a table in the dining room with paper, pens, markers, glitter, and pins so we can all make name tags and get to know each other better. We'll go from strangers to neighbors to besties before you know it!

Oh, you should probably get a feel of the manor, too. This IS your new home, after all! And what better way than...hide and seek?! Sounds fun, right? I'd tell you MY favorite spot to hide, but then that wouldn't be fair!

I don't know how long we're going to be here, so it probably wouldn't hurt to settle in. Grab a friend or two and head to the market in the Central capital to stock up on whatever food you like and stuff for your room. May as well get comfortable!

OOC NOTES
🌙 Welcome to Lunae Calamitas's first event post! Yer a wizard, whether you like it or not.
🌙 While not technically jobs, ICly working out your character's focus, incantation, and broom are all separately eligible for rewards. Good luck on your basics, little wizards! You'll need them...
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here! Please keep all your plotting on the plotting post, since not everyone uses discord or plurk.
🌙 The South will be going on their mission next week to get this party started. Keep an eye out, Southies!
discomposer: (ʜɪʀᴏᴍᴏʀɪ ʜᴀʏᴀsʜɪ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-11 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh? ]

Need me to sing through it first?
lighthaus: (007)

[personal profile] lighthaus 2024-04-11 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Sensei? Is that a title in your language?

[ well he sure looks like he knows what he's doing at least! ]
troublereduction: (day12)

Magic

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-11 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Day has been kind of mulling and experimenting with his magic, so he looks up from his prayer beads. ]

Kinda? Still tryin' to figure out what I can or can't do.
troublereduction: (day45)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-11 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd appreciate it.

[ Which is a roundabout way of saying that he can't read this notation, but he trusts in his ability to work with what he gets. ]
discomposer: (ʜɪsᴀᴛᴏ ᴏʜᴢᴀᴡᴀ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-11 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Second place is Sena...

[ Solomon, you are place 957. ]
discomposer: (ғᴀɴɴʏ ᴍᴇɴᴅᴇʟssᴏʜɴ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-11 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep! It means teacher, so teach me everything!

[ Basically Leo has no idea what he's doing...? ]
discomposer: (sɪɢɪsᴍᴏɴᴅᴏ ᴅ'ɪɴᴅɪᴀ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-11 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ THEN LEO SHALL SING THE KONPEITO SUMMONING SONG...

...It's light and cute? ]
lighthaus: (4)

[personal profile] lighthaus 2024-04-11 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
That's pretty studious to do that on your own.

[ khun sounds curious about it, his own education wasn't exactly a formal process either, but they should keep moving with the task. presumably they're in the library by now: ]

Any spirits you want to focus on in particular? My country is the West, but I plan on reading up on all the countries and spirits eventually, so I'm good with any of them.
lustro: (018)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-11 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I’ve never had to explain my job before. Don’t overthink it - or just forget it.
impacter: (122)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-11 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Evasive? Is that really how I'm coming across?

[He looks slightly sheepish for a brief moment, but it's gone pretty much immediately. He just continues with his drawing, unbothered.]

Anyway, I'm exploring something I'm a little more familiar with. The lack of history of magic when it comes to the library was a little disappointing. If we're meant to figure it out on our own, why not start on the base of what we already know?

I didn't want to do this near the personal rooms in case it backfired, and I wanted less foot traffic to keep the area undisturbed.
lighthaus: (061)

[personal profile] lighthaus 2024-04-11 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Well if you're going to follow my orders, I don't mind.

[ handwavey explanation of the sugar spell goes here. it is. pretty detailed yet concise, for someone who is also, presumably as new to magic as leo. ]

And that's that, plus your magic words, of course.
troublereduction: (day68)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-11 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Fitting for summoning sugar, then. After listening for a bit, Day takes a seat to get in a proper playing position, then experimentally plays a tune. Something light and lilting to match Leo's singing. ]
shadowkin: (010)

[personal profile] shadowkin 2024-04-11 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[Digging up esoteric ancient knowledge of Earth (it's only been 15 years but still) is funny at this point; he used to do it a lot more in his younger days, come to think of it.

Sometimes Cid marvels at his own good memory for anything other than schoolwork and the mundane.]

I don't remember the continent's actual name-- [is there an actual name??] --but there's no Europe back home that I know of? But the buildings here definitely have a familiar style, 'specially the castles. Maybe some of them are more like the Oriana Kingdom, but I don't know the place that well...

So you're saying you've got all this stuff but it's called Europe?
impacter: (106)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-11 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahh, just a participant, then. That's perfectly fine. Your reaction was enough justification for me.

[Let's help you into the dining room, buddy. Have a chair.]

I can bring you some more, if you'd like.
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] I haven't been able)

DURING THE WEEK

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-11 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[Resting]

[In general, Ahito isn't in as top form as he was the first two or three days - he can be found resting in shade here and there, whether that's leaned up against the trunk of a tree or simply relaxing in a shady patch of grass. Thankfully, even a brief respite is enough to give him some reprieve, his features relaxing from the faint strain while he was on the move.

So really, if you think about it, it's the best possible time to bug him!
]

[Research]

[Magic isn't really something he's super interested in researching, but he can be found in the library nonetheless - given he's got some paper and an ink pen set out on a desk already, it does look like he's taking this seriously.

...Just ignore the way his hand occasionally swerves from a book that's plainly about spirits to titles that look infinitely more interesting. It's great that he's reading at all, right?
]

[Trinket Hunt]

[Later still he can be found in the courtyard summoning his broom with the incantation "The End Of The World", stepping onto it like a goddamned skateboard. And if anyone shoots him a look for it, he just grins.]

Something wrong?

[Nametags]

[Honestly - he's not too cool to pin a (very plain, black ink on paper only) nametag to his blazer. If anything, it just means he doesn't need to keep repeating his name for each person here.

For those who also donned the nametags, he's keeping an eye out, squinting a bit obviously if they're too far away - his eyes aren't really good enough for this these days.
]

One big, happy group of friends, huh.

[Unlikely, he thinks, but whatever.]

[Hide and Seek]

How old does he think we are, anyway?

[This Sage, istg - still, he's gotten a couple rewards already, might as well see what else he can get for some relatively easy tasks. So, to the nearest person:]

Hey - think you can find me?

[Wildcard]

[Poke me on plotting and we can make up a tl!!]
impacter: (059)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-11 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmm? Possibly. That would be easy enough to test. [He could see how they interacted, too... oh, he's getting so many ideas...]

Have you been able to make any sugar for yourself yet, mister... sorry, what was your name?
lustro: (058)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-11 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Wait, wait, wait -

[ April 4th? It wasn’t April when he’d got himself caught in this world, but the calendar in his room said - ]

That was just a couple of days ago!
meanspirited: (pic#16390289)

[personal profile] meanspirited 2024-04-11 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
No, I wouldn't say that I am.

[Or that he's much of a "person"...]

I didn't volunteer for this position, if you're wondering.
impacter: (013)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-11 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[Must this sassy child be so aggressive]

No, I'm quite intact of my mind, thank you. How else do you expect me to get it out of the pan to show you that it's safe?
lighthaus: (016)

[personal profile] lighthaus 2024-04-11 09:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I see. [ in the tone of filing that information away for later, but it's fine this isn't a murdergame and clearly khun is just the endlessly inquisitive type. ]

My role back where I'm from is light bearer, by the way. [ he spins the cube still in his palm with a little flourish, though there's sadly no light effects to go with it. ]
impacter: (068)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-11 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Hm? Well, sugar is just an ingredient like any other, isn't it? You have to be able to understand it at all levels to truly excel with it, whether it's molding it into candy or caramel or using it for desserts, or even in main courses.

[Science is great, send tweet.

He'll give Syrlya a polite amount of room to observe. Hope you enjoy smoke in your eyes every now and again.]


Sort of! The colors that it burns off are so unique.... it reminds me what rainbow pearls can do to the ocean. The consistency it's reached at such a high temperature as well feels more like a custard in the mouth.

Once it's truly boiling, I'd like to rapidly cool it and see what happens.
discomposer: (ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ ʙᴀ̨ᴅᴀʀᴢᴇᴡsᴋᴀ-ʙᴀʀᴀɴᴏᴡsᴋᴀ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-11 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
What a clear explanation~! ♪

[ Leo hates anything that complex, so concise works...! When it comes to school anyway. He's going to give it a go with CASTRUM REGIS! here, so. ]

- oooh! Konpeito!
discomposer: (sᴇᴛᴛɪᴍɪᴀ ᴄᴀᴄᴄɪɴɪ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-11 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ TIME TO SUMMON SOME SUGAR - is this how magic works. Leo doesn't know. He just likes to sing. ♪ He'll add in his incantation in case he needs that, too. ]
discomposer: 𝟷𝟽𝟹𝟺𝟹𝟷𝟾𝟽@ᴘɪxɪᴠ (ʀɪᴄʜᴀʀᴅ ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-11 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ CONSIDERS ASKING FOR WATER - no he'd probably mess that up somehow...? ]

Nope, I'm full for the next year~! I'm a special creature that only needs to eat during certain times.
impacter: (082)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-11 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Do I, now?

[He cocks his head a little, an open note of compliment in his smile and the way his eyes sharpen.]

I'm glad to hear it. Trusting in yourself can take you a long way, especially in unfamiliar places.

Curiosity can, too. And you seem very, very curious.