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!
fellheart: (gιve мe yoυr eye)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-04-13 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps that's for the better. Already there are many who would blindly follow creeds and tenets without any true understanding, and more yet who might claim to adhere— but solely for self-serving purposes, and nothing more.

[ traitorous hierarchs who would turn on those they'd known and raised, rewarding faith and trust with a knife in the back, kindness with blood.

robin shrugs, the motion at odds with the tone of the words he's speaking. there's no actual judgment in his voice for day, and though his words speak of a criticism for the subject of them his overall demeanour is neutral, if somewhat dismissive. ]


There are already too many who will abandon their fair weather faith as the winds change. If you didn't care for it then, the monks might have been right not to push.
Edited 2024-04-13 20:42 (UTC)
lustro: (055)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-13 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah. So you made his day. Not sure if I made my mom's day, but she just thought my hair was the color of ginger juice, and that's it.
foresightis2020: (26)

[personal profile] foresightis2020 2024-04-13 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Another chuckle escapes him at that.

Ginger is kind of a funny dude. It's not a bad thing, of course. ]


How about this? Short of the end of the world or some other catastrophic or apocalyptic event, you won't ever have to be concerned with myself looking so terribly at a loss.

Does that sound acceptable to you?
Edited 2024-04-13 20:36 (UTC)
troublereduction: (day02)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-13 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I think she was pretty mad that someone would leave a kid on the shrine steps. [ Things Ginger will be learning: it's always "monks" whether it's male, female, or otherwise. ] But Ginger's got a nice ring to it.
lustro: (043)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-13 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
No. Because people like you only make that face when they think they're alone in shouldering the burden.

[ That the stakes are so high, the ground seems like an impossible abyss and the sky is cracked. ]

It's so stupid and lonely.
fellheart: (perнapѕ ι can мaĸe yoυ)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-04-13 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ... ]

Those sound like the words of a man looking for a career change. Or perhaps one who is already in the process of trying to reinvent himself?
foresightis2020: (10)

[personal profile] foresightis2020 2024-04-13 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A sheepish look comes over him at that. So serious all of a sudden...

And he is right. Which makes him want to laugh it off. He doesn't exactly want to necessarily get too serious about it either, so in the end...

Jing Yuan settles for a middle ground. ]


What made you come to that conclusion? That all of those making such a face would believe they're alone in shouldering the burden?
lustro: (066)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-13 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
You seem pretty reluctant to do that, though. Unless I'm just reading too much into it.

[ He thumbs the earring on one ear, a black six-pointed star. Impose a more symbolic meaning, huh... ]

Or maybe reluctant isn't the right word.
divineth: (🌒 81)

[personal profile] divineth 2024-04-13 08:51 pm (UTC)(link)
The magick of this world appeareth quite broad, with some disciplines coming more naturally to some wizards over others.

[Goodness, how much studying has this guy done already?]

Based upon mine understanding, drawing upon the power of thy focus shall allow thee to craft thy spell. It may not possess a large amount of power yet, but that should change with enough training.
lustro: (054)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-13 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
If the hair color fits... Haha...

[ He will be learning. He enjoys their conversation enough that it's 100% likely he'll strike up a conversation with Day the next time they happen to meet. And the next. ]

But... whoever left you knew you would be taken care of. They chose that location for a reason, right? Some people, I think, aren't meant to be parents, and they know it.
divineth: (🌒 75)

And then surprise, Urianger doing Urianger things

[personal profile] divineth 2024-04-13 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[Sir what is this reaction. Urianger's eyebrows raise slightly, but he ultimately makes the smallest of shrugs.]

Very well. If it pleases thee, then simply Yamato it shall remain.
lustro: (033)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-13 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ What makes him think that? ]

I've only lived past a century and that's enough to witness at least one war. Enough to learn from my millennia elders how many wars they've witnessed and fought personally. We live history.
divineth: (🌒 42)

[personal profile] divineth 2024-04-13 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[Urianger's expression descends deeper into thought as the Wanderer explains. He's rubbing his chin by the end of it all.]

A large emphasis on Magitek, is it...?

[And military might. It sounds very Garlean, and he can't say it excites him all that much. Magitek can be an amazing tool in the right hands, but this country doesn't seem to be applying it all that well.

His thoughts on the magical folk go unvoiced, though he can't help but feel a little called out. He's never going to beat the sussy allegations, is he?

Anyway, he breaks away from his thoughts to return to the Wanderer.]


Thou hast my thanks for the summary. I shall spare thee from further questions, as this is plenty to build a foundation with.
troublereduction: (day59)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-13 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Really. Sounds like the kind of name you'd hear back where I'm from, too.

[ Day's enjoying the conversation with Ginger too. There is a non-zero chance that one day he'll show up at Ginger's room with some alcohol, just for the company.

For a moment, he's quiet, like he's thinking on this.]


Maybe. I've never really had to think too much about it. [ Whoever his birth parents were, it's been long enough that the topic doesn't bother him. ]
shadowkin: (026)

[personal profile] shadowkin 2024-04-13 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[Westerner with Japanese roots, reporting in! As apparent reinforcements for Japanese with... a bleach job?? Actually isn't blondie the biggest Westerner here--

That's neither here nor there though, probably. Cid blinks at their back-and-forth (it's almost nostalgic, but probably 500 times weirder than Skel and Po could ever be), blinks slower as he notices the handholding (definitely not Skel and Po-coded), and then blinks again with a face of sort of slow-dawning realization.

Oh. Ohhhh. Did he interrupt something. He got so distracted by the attempt at magic and the fact that this is indeed the piano man. Awkward. Like, he's all for free love, especially in the mysterious country of wizards, but how does he extract himself.]

I don't think it's totally a musician thing! [it's maybe sometimes a musician thing] Michael, you should listen to not-Michael, I think he has your best interests at heart and everything. Now that we're at the end of the world, it's important to know who to keep by your side.

[A pause for thought and then, offhand:]

Now that you mention it, I think our vampires had mostly red eyes too. Huh. Well, not everyone who has red eyes is a vampire. I think. So it's fine.
Edited 2024-04-13 21:21 (UTC)
lustro: (089)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-13 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ah, parents... Ginger, whose mom is more like his sister... Then there's his dad, who he doesn't want to think about right now. So slamming that door shut. ]

Like you can't miss what you've never experienced?
discomposer: (ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ ʙᴀ̨ᴅᴀʀᴢᴇᴡsᴋᴀ-ʙᴀʀᴀɴᴏᴡsᴋᴀ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-13 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
? I'm just speaking normally! [ He's not even at his most flowery right now. Being from Enstars means you can Always Get More Purple Prose-y...Leo finishes his current line with a flourish and stands up. ]

Anyway, this guy is right! While Rei and Rittsu have red eyes, plenty of not-vampires in Japan have them, too. Nazu, Ryuseitai's red guy, and so on~! But, more importantly, my incantation is ready to be sung! Hey, random guy, you're on backup vocals!
shadowkin: (004)

[personal profile] shadowkin 2024-04-13 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ah, so it's about the vocabulary. This man....... has good attention to detail. But he has dealt with far worse! Take this!]

Hmmmm, are you sure? Are you sure about that? Human trafficking's a pretty big problem where I come from, not just in the slave trade but in all kinds of other areas.

What would you call that, then?

[He totally says this with a faint note of challenge. ☆]
Edited 2024-04-13 21:33 (UTC)
lustro: (026)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-13 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
No! [ This guy... ] It's about your reaction, your reaction. The tone of your voice when you said it.
Edited 2024-04-13 21:35 (UTC)
shortleash: (pic#17103489)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-13 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
( Ginger's fortunate that Mika's drug of choice is Yuu— dumb as a rock and stupid emotional. He's probably the only other person who'd cry over him, too; Mika wouldn't have expected to find a second person who would.

He misses Yuu. He misses Yuu a lot. And his chest seizes when he thinks about how he's not going to see him again. But he's... here right now. Figuring out what sort of feelings he has to offer in the here and now, scraping beneath the layers of his calcified heart. )


I'm not worth crying over. Come on. ( His smile is a little less wry this time. ) If you feel that bad for me, don't kick yourself out before I say anything. I'm so antisocial I won't speak a word to anyone if I don't have to.

( He doesn't mean to say this to obligate Ginger to stick around him, or anything. He's fine if Ginger leaves and lets Mika stay a loner. He just means to say he... is what he is. Saying what he thinks, without much disguised. Not speaking, not acting out of obligation, not— really, existing as part of this world, because his time has been long since up. And he's fine with that. (Is he?) )

Here. Couch's free.

( With a tug, he'll let them into his room; it's. dark. Muttering his spell—donec moraire—the candles and fireplace crackle to life and provide some dim lighting. The couch he's referring to seems to be this thing (since he doesn't really use it as a bed...). )
troublereduction: (day25)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-13 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Kinda. The monk who found me was pretty much my mom, even if she said we shouldn't call her that. [ "We", like there was more than just him. ] And...well, realistically, ain't no way I'm ever gonna find out who my birth parents were, so thinking 'bout it would've just made me mad. Then after a while, I had other stuff I'd rather think 'bout.

[ He might have thought about it when the other kids decided to try striking at some nerves during dumb arguments or fights, but that feels so long ago he doesn't really think it's relevant. ]
divineth: (🌒 58)

[personal profile] divineth 2024-04-13 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh? And what might it be?

[Malice might not be confident in it now, but maybe that can be changed!!]
troublereduction: (day80)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-13 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"For my people"... It's a good one.

[ Both the incantation and the reason for it. ]

You wanna try it out?
shadowkin: (003)

[personal profile] shadowkin 2024-04-13 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Completely flatly:]

It's the tone of a mere student who hasn't quite caught up to the fact that he's been kidnapped to another world and is stuck here until maybe the apocalypse happens. I'm in shock. It's all so unbelievable.
shadowkin: (010)

[personal profile] shadowkin 2024-04-13 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
A horse!

[He thinks it's a good analogy, but perhaps it is a good thing they don't have the wherewithal to argue on the broom, whether about horses or anything else.

Cid nods and sort of lines up his arm with one eye..... and points to a nearby rooftop. He makes sure to point slightly left-of-center of where he saw the thing so that there can be plausible deniability. Small details like that are important.]

That one. I can't say it's not just the sun being really strong or some litter, but it's as good a place as any to start.