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: (yama16)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-20 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ He's right in that golf sounds like way too much work. Frisbee, though, is something he's on board with. Soccer, too! Baseball would require a little more equipment.

However.

The 100-meter dash...
]

H-hey...don't you think that's a little less interactive?

[ Please... ]
dadsandals: (yama43)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-20 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
Of course it is. It's designed to listen to your commands.

[ Press a button and profit, essentially. Cats are built very different. ]

Musashi, at least, hasn't been faulty at all.
shortleash: (pic#17120818)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-20 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
( He's not surprised a human would brush off Crimes just because they didn't personally affect him... typical human. He scoffs. )

That sounds great in theory, but, unless there's some hocus pocus that can bring me back to life, there's no way to "break" it. Dead things decay. That's just kind of how the world works. Even here, I'm pretty sure.

( Ever the optimist he is. )

In the end, I should be dead. And the dead need to be moved on from. I don't really think I should have the same... privileges, I guess, as the living.
annihilator: (➤ 63)

[personal profile] annihilator 2024-04-20 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Considers this...]

So by bein' borin', you'd get to have a less stressful life? Guess I can see the merit in that. Not really my style, but then, I've never lived a normal life!
revengier: (88)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-20 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
I'll be doing reading anyway. Why not add to the list of things I'll be looking out for?

[ It really isn't a big deal, not to him. ]

Be prepared for me to take you up on that if I manage it. I don't waste favors.
annihilator: (➤ 44)

[personal profile] annihilator 2024-04-20 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
'Course, wouldn't offer it if I didn't mean it.

[You look out for those willing to look out for you, that's just how it goes. Even if it's not out of Kurapika's way, it's still benefiting Malice, so the least he can do is repay that somehow!]
revengier: (104)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-20 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know that we need one.

[ He points to a man standing near a stall, anxiously staring at their bags. ]

Look at him. I think he can tell what we're here for.
troublereduction: (day59)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-20 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
I think so, yeah. And maybe past a certain point, it's best not to overthink it and just go with what feels right. [ Since it seems to him that too much fussing ends up being counterproductive. ]
shadowkin: (012)

[personal profile] shadowkin 2024-04-20 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
[That's him!! It's him!! Typical Human A!!!!]

A curse is only unbreakable until it's broken.

[Irrefutable logic!!!! He is definitely using his head empty Cid voice here--

That and he has definitely broken unbreakable curses before with a surprising amount of ease (it wasn't easy, even by his standards, but if a 10-year-old can do it...), so it's a solid theory; but that's not proof that he's going to use on this side of things. And so:]

Dead things only decay if you don't freeze them, so maybe we just need to get you some really good ice.

[Is he joking. He mostly sounds like he's joking but it's a tossup. His mental gears are whirring but it's also a tossup as to whether they'll come up with any useful solutions instead of just spitting up wild non-human experimentation he wants to try. Anyway.]

You've been a human, a vampire and now a wizard but you're still really stuck in one way of thinking, huh? I'm starting to think that's what happened here too.
shortleash: (pic#17072496)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-20 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
( Narrows eyes slightly when Robin speculates as to the pace of his degradation - it draws a stronger reaction than does Robin's remark that compares him to a mutt. He hasn't pride, but he does have anxiety about losing who he is, eventually. )

... Physiological. It's part of the curse that this is. A transformation that completes itself in time, inevitably.

( A beat. )

... You're not wrong that monsters are made, but... these things work in conjunction. The more my empathy falls away, the less sympathy I'll be granted. And the less forgiveness I'm offered, the less reason I have to care. What makes a monster a monster is that they can't overcome their nature, in the end.

I will never be able to overcome my hunger, and I will never be able to cease my decay. The rest is just a matter of how long it takes for me to become what was always nascent... no matter how much I "cling."
shortleash: (pic#17103544)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-20 06:47 am (UTC)(link)
( Eugh, a protag. )

What's that supposed to mean?
lustro: (029)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-20 06:47 am (UTC)(link)
So quick to assume I have powers. [ He does though. ] I have non-human abilities. Why?
lustro: (044)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-20 06:49 am (UTC)(link)
It’s a relief - but doesn’t that mean they’re quick to put themselves in danger, too?

[ Worry, worry… ]
lustro: (077)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-20 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
Did he?

[ Ginger wonders what Mika actually told everyone as he gathered them. ]

You don’t seem to be upset at him. Or scared. I’m glad…

[ That was also a worry. He didn’t want anything to validate this terrible idea that Mika - and others like him - were monsters. ]
lustro: (091)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-20 06:59 am (UTC)(link)
It’s not a secret.

[ He’s not worried about that. What he is worried about is Solomon’s strange delight. ]

What is this - what are you doing… [ He stares at where their hands touch. ] Why are you so - hard to understand, ugh.
lustro: (040)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-20 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
To give him my blood. I can - um, I can only speak for myself, so…

[ Please don’t assume any of this was chosen by the others. Except kinda. Stares at Tatara, stares at Mika. ]
troublereduction: (day58)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-20 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ There's a small chuckle, well-meaning but somewhat dryly amused. ]

Maybe, yeah. But you're also the guy fussing about them when you offered up your blood to a— [ A brief pause like he had to correct himself midsentence. ] vampire.
lustro: (096)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-20 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, alright. I try to notice people’s boundaries, but keep letting me know what yours are and… Feel free to call me out if I overstep?

[ Go ahead and punch him if they want. ]
lustro: (008)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-20 07:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ Very quietly: ]

A person, who needed help. A person, who had few options.
jorunna: (comet01)

[personal profile] jorunna 2024-04-20 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
Is there something here you're missing?

[ A willing food source-- ]
lustro: (009)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-20 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
[ Overenthusiastic is a bit of an understatement. ]

… How fast do you read…?
troublereduction: (day77)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-20 07:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Day's quiet for a moment. ]

...I figured it was something like that, yeah.
lustro: (078)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-20 07:22 am (UTC)(link)
He’s standing over there like he deserves to be punished and - I hate it.

[ It’s hard to watch. It hurts to watch. ]

Have you ever disliked yourself, Day?
dadsandals: (yama37)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-20 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ He's quiet for a moment, taking in Day's advice, contemplating the choices he has. He doesn't have many. There's really only one thing he can think of that he'd consider summoning here.

He holds out his palm...and tries to remember how he felt when he made magic happen for the first time. It's enough to summon something: A necklace with a sharp (#) pendant on it.

Huh.
]

...Oh.

[ He looks at Day. Are you seeing this, too??? ]
fullspbar: (30)

[personal profile] fullspbar 2024-04-20 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
...Who said I'm cooking for all these guys?

[ So he says, like a liar. ]

10 people's a lot already, but over 20? Sounds like a pain in the ass.