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!
dadsandals: (yama25)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-18 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I am. I've got no clue, honestly.

[ The roomba is probably here! It's on the ground, most likely. ]

It's something that's important, right? Maybe I can just find a replica of it here, or something like that. I don't think I can get the real thing.

[ He can, but. Logically, he doesn't know how he would. ]
dadsandals: (yama42)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-18 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
Would it make more sense if I told you singing was part of my profession?

[ Probably not, but Yamato is from the Before Times (tm) so the arts are still going very, very strong. ]
dadsandals: (yama16)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-18 05:49 am (UTC)(link)
Bread? And strawberries? Are you making a dessert sandwich?

[ Honestly, the ice is secondary at this point. Yamato's more fascinated by this...interesting set of ingredients he's got going on. ]

"Cult leader"...er, I don't think it will be, to be honest. Electricity doesn't exist here. That's Musashi's power source...but I'll figure it out. I'll probably go talk to Wanderer about it. He's the mentor, after all.

You know what electricity is, right?
fullspbar: (7)

[personal profile] fullspbar 2024-04-18 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
[ What Akira wants to do on his own time is his business, and certainly none of Shinjiro's. As long as he doesn't burn, destroy, create abominations or otherwise cause notable property damage to the kitchen, he won't complain.

Yeah, that's about what he expected, at least. This place seems so...western in nature in just about anything, so the lack of Japanese fare doesn't surprise him. The rice substitute is...alright, fortunately, but it seems a lot of essentials are gonna have to be substituted. ]


Can work with Western fare, depending on the heat. Some of these guys might not be able to hand a lot of spice, and who knows how weird the spices themselves are if just the seaweed is acting up....

[ He does know how to make some Western food, in comparison, so at least it won't be too much of a struggle...life would be easier if he could read the cookbooks, however, rather than playing it by ear.

Hm. His brows furrow. ]


...There's a few that're pretty big. Not sure if it's 'over 20 people' big, but it might do the trick. [ Eyes flicker around, before he turns and points at one of the nearby bottom cupboards. ] All the pots are under there, if you wanna judge for yourself.
troublereduction: (pic#17020440)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-18 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ Day keeps looking at it with the kind of air that says, "what the fuck is this?", even if he's not commenting on it yet. ]

'Bout that...you prob'ly could summon the real thing, but if you don't see yourself being able to have it, then I'm guessing it's a lot harder. [ He's mulling over exactly what it means by how magic is "cast with the heart" here. ] And maybe it doesn't need to be literally something important to you, if what matters more is the meaning. Like...a representation, or something.
troublereduction: (day12)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-18 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ Day seems to be pondering on this for a moment... ]

Both, sorta. [ It's funny how even though he doesn't consider himself religious, both of those things ended up coming from some kind of spirituality. ]
shortleash: (pic#17106767)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-18 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
( "Mount"...? )

Then what are you used to?

( Not cars, he's gonna assume. )
lustro: (096)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-18 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
N… nooo… But we can make certificates!
lustro: (088)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-18 06:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ The problem with Tatara is he was being himself. ]

Ah - no, no. [ He waves the idea away. ] Mediation is probably more accurate. I talk to them to understand their point of view - and, uh, try to make them feel better about. Things.

The choice is theirs if I do a good job. And uh, my partner's if I don't.
lustro: (068)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-18 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
Mmm... I think I just don't care enough.

[ A pause. ]

Sorry, am I noticing you too much?
shortleash: (pic#17121080)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-18 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
( Well, it at least explains that he's a performing arts guy, )

... You don't seem like someone who'd be in a band.

( Is he saying that because of the glasses? Maybe. He barely knew much about bands before the world ended... )
lustro: (007)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-18 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
Are you strong... internally?

[ Isn't there a limit to how much someone can step up for the world? ]
lustro: (091)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-18 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
What's edgy about my attitude?

[ No edges on him. He's more like a wall. ]

... Ginger.
fullspbar: (65)

[personal profile] fullspbar 2024-04-18 07:10 am (UTC)(link)
Not like we got much choice...all the food here's weird somehow.

[ It was unsettling, though, he agrees with that. Not the most UNSETTLING thing ever, considering what he deals with, but...y'know. ]

Yeah, there's some. Although most of the ingredients are Western-style.
fullspbar: (97)

[personal profile] fullspbar 2024-04-18 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
Rules, huh.

[ Well, that could be true...he had stayed up late, sitting by the window, just to see for himself if the sky would turn that familiar eerie shade of green at the stroke of midnight. He was greeted by nothing but the bright glow of the moon. Things likely did work different here, in that case.

Still, it's a lot to swallow. Other dimensions and wizards and magic and what have you. ]


Not like it's the first time, but whatever comes to mind first ain't exactly right for it. That stuff's not my forte.

[ He no longer has one, judging by the calmness in his chest, so speaking of a Persona would only feel out of place. Never mind it's not like he ever really wanted to do so in the first place. ]
jorunna: (comet03)

[personal profile] jorunna 2024-04-18 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
We have something in common, it's okay. It's hard to ignore when it's brought up, and here it's fine. Probably.

[ Looks at Mahoyaku moon. Loads gun. ]
dyingtohealyou: ([Smile] Where you are)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-18 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
Go ahead.

[Though once he's counting, Ahito's going to job a bit, mumbling his incantation to summon his broom and take off!

...So he can fly up and around the building to slip through a window into the bar, moving a trashcan so he can duck behind the counter - and pull it back in to hide himself as much as possible.
]
dyingtohealyou: ([Think] if I can't see any love songs)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-18 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
That matches with a lot of what I've heard.

[Why crosses though what's a christianity]

So those kinds of rumors aren't unique to just my world... Interesting.
fullspbar: (90)

[personal profile] fullspbar 2024-04-18 07:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ Shinjiro is, for a moment, incredulous. And it shows! ]

...You're just saying you wanna natter in my ear?

[ Of all the things he could have offered, that wasn't anything close to what he was expecting. It's ridiculous enough that after a brief moment, he exhales slowly as the tension slowly leaves his shoulders. Not all, but a goodly amount. ]

Do what you want. I'm not gonna stop you.
dyingtohealyou: ([Um] would even forget)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-18 07:47 am (UTC)(link)
-Betraying me already?

[Mock hurt tone.]
dadsandals: (yama24)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-18 07:56 am (UTC)(link)
Heh, I'd still consider that a pretty high ranking... At least, in my eyes it is. I'm just a regular citizen.

[ He's...a celebrity, technically, but details! She sounds like an official, so, you know. That counts for something. ]

Thanks for giving this old man the time of day. I'll come by for some pointers soon.
dyingtohealyou: ([Serious] Then that must be)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-18 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
[Honestly what the hell did he just walk into.

You would think the shades come off at night, but they don't; instead, they're a bit lower on his face, that bright cyan of his eyes glinting in the dark over the rim. He silently places a hand on the butt of his pistol, not yet drawing, but certainly prepared to do so because this is so incredibly sus.
]

...To figure out just how we're supposed to avert it ourselves, of course.

Who are you?
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] your face)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-18 08:09 am (UTC)(link)
What kind of weird? Can we get away with different stews, maybe? Gran made a lot of those for us.
fellheart: (gιve мe yoυr lυng)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-04-18 09:51 am (UTC)(link)
I think that will be all for now. After all, it isn't as if you're going anywhere, now are you? And you'll do no one any favors by answering queries with sleep-deprived nonsense.

[ just imagine: what's the main import of the south? uh.... snzzz.... something sweet... eepy... ]

There'll be more time for later questions as relevant ones start to arise.

[ though whether or not their hosts can answer them is another question in itself, given their apparent circumstances. ]
leewards: (008)

[personal profile] leewards 2024-04-18 10:07 am (UTC)(link)
Heheheheh! [It's a brighter laugh than he's given so far.]

There was a witch in the woods who taught me almost everything I know. Everything else? I supplemented on my own.