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!
dyingtohealyou: ([Look] The temperature of)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-22 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
...

Is your family, like, okay?

[Imagine having a family that has expectations for you... sounds terrible tbh.]
jokey: (pic#14562329)

[personal profile] jokey 2024-04-22 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
[Fucking around and finding out, as teenagers do... Can he get a do-over? If he knew Comet was going to tip over and fall into his arms, Akira would've been prepared to catch them and looked badass doing it. He'll be on guard next time.

Anyway, thanks for getting off of him?? Akira wobbles upright and dusts himself off, sitting sidesaddle beside Comet on the broom.]


Are we pretending that didn't happen?

[Because it sure felt like it happened. And— hold on a sec. Comet can't see it, probably, but Akira's eyebrows just made a mad dash for his hairline.]

Wait. You did that on purpose.
dyingtohealyou: ([Look] The temperature of)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-22 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
Lightning? ...Isn't that pretty inconsistent?

[How often do y'all get lightning...]
themanwhoerasedhisname: 8 (8)

[personal profile] themanwhoerasedhisname 2024-04-22 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
Central. The one with the brown coat.

[Brown coat he's not wearing but given how the coats look like, it's easy to guess Kiryu would look...pretty funny with it on. If Solomon has a decent enough imagination he can picture it and probably realize he'd look silly]
jokey: (16)

[personal profile] jokey 2024-04-22 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh? And now he's playing keep away with his many pockets and belts and flowy layers of fabric? No fair! Not that either of them are playing fair to begin with. Akira snorts, settling back to slot his hands into his pockets and size Robin up nice and slow.]

Attack you? That's a bold accusation. If you're scared, call the cops.

[Ye Olde Police can't do shit!!]

But if underhanded tactics won't work on you either, I propose a game of chess. Winner takes all.

[Please tell him you know how to play chess.]
jokey: (pic#14562329)

[personal profile] jokey 2024-04-22 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Talking about rations and surviving off the land tipped me off.

[And like, please don't call him rude for this, but it has to be pointed out:]

I didn't know broccoli people could fight. If I were you, I'd be running around worried about someone picking me up and dunking me in cheese fondue.

[As for himself, Akira shakes his head.]

I'm your ordinary average student. Do I look like I know the first thing about combat?
revengier: (109)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-22 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
Until you slip up on some unspoken rule.

[ But even then, he can usually find some way to cover. ]

Though the written ones usually outweigh those.
positivize: (pic#17104058)

[personal profile] positivize 2024-04-22 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
I feel the same. That's why I want to get to the bottom of this, too.

[But first, they'll need to figure out what's happening in this world if they have any hopes of getting back home. With nothing to show for their current rooftop search, Maya turns back to Kurapika.]

Anyway, I haven't had any luck over here! Did you want to move on?
revengier: (50)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-22 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I would consider saving this world a "great thing", so yes. I'd be surprised if they weren't expecting it.

[ He glances over at Ahito, a little smile on his lips. ]
revengier: (53)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-22 04:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ He gives her a nod, idly thinking that maybe he could poke her brain sometime for whatever information she happens to gather.

But, finding trinkets is on the top of their list for now, so he summons his broom. ]


I think we should. [ He points at the rooftop just adjacent to them. ] Let's try there.

[ With that, Kurapika wastes no time in hopping on his broom and flying right over. ]
fullspbar: (50)

[personal profile] fullspbar 2024-04-22 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ Join the club, buddy...but food's food. ]

Stew's pretty versatile, so probably. You need to be watch it, though; not everything goes well together.

[ Not that they'd be BAD, but some combos are far better than others.

Well, since they're pretty much at town, now- ]


See if there's anything you actually wanna eat since we're already here, and add it to the pile. Might as well, not like the kitchen doesn't have enough room for it.
positivize: (pic#17104058)

[personal profile] positivize 2024-04-22 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
[She sees he'll need a little more convincing here, so maybe a different angle is warranted...?!]

Hmmmm. Let's put it this way, then: do you have a particular reason for not wanting to help?
shortleash: (pic#17077612)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-22 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
( "Pretty little head".......... squints..................

He half snorts - not derisively, but this guy seems like a bit of a joker (as happens,) )


Then you'll want to look elsewhere. I'll never be that grateful to a human.
Edited 2024-04-22 04:41 (UTC)
lighthaus: (025)

[personal profile] lighthaus 2024-04-22 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
I know, but thanks anyway.

[ sorry he's a little shit smh. ]

You're better than I thought you'd be.
lustro: (041)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-22 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
Why a secret, I wonder? Just because someone can’t use magic, doesn’t mean they can’t help innovate its growth or that they don’t have the ingenuity to expand magical research to another level.
impacter: (075)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-22 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
Mmm. While I agree, I think it's not for lack of trying. The world decided a long time ago how it feels about magic. Outside of those who still study, it's kept to the realm of fantasy and parlor tricks now.
Edited 2024-04-22 04:58 (UTC)
lighthaus: (1)

[personal profile] lighthaus 2024-04-22 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
Noted. I won't even call it a date.

[ the seriousness might just be encouraging him more tbh. or maybe he's just infuriating like this. ]

For now—we have a report to finish.
revengier: (106)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-22 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
Good. You wouldn't want to attach the wrong label to it.

[ Must he suffer by the hand of all these menaces???

He flips open another book. ]


Let's get this turned in as soon as possible.

[ He's got magic to practice, after all.

and we can call it a wrap here🎀 ]
jokey: (IPk58FA)

[personal profile] jokey 2024-04-22 05:05 am (UTC)(link)
Oh really?

[Don't mind a snort in return, though it's really more of a huff and vaguely challenging at that. He's a harmless jester, please pay him no mind.]

Not even when you need them to sustain yourself? Humans are at least grateful for the food they eat. No offense, but your logic's flawed.
lustro: (089)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-22 05:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ What does that even mean? He understood the words individually, but together, they form a huge question mark. ]

?
fellheart: (тell мe)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-04-22 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
So it was potentially something targeted, then. [ ... ] Is being marked as one of the Sage's wizards a matter of title and brand alone, or is there a more tangible link to be found?

[ can they be targeted in a similar manner? ]

How likely is it that that us being here is because of the disappearances creating a metaphysical power vacuum, so to speak? [ a convenient power void left in the universe that needs to be filled, even with the other mages in the world still present. ] Though we're not quite rushing in to declare our own claims so much as having it done for us...

[ but which one caused the other, or is it yet another thing that's responsible for both? both their would-be mentor and sage preceded the disappearances, after all. the order of events is wrong for straight cause and effect, but... hmm. ]

I suppose that the two of you were expecting the summoning ritual to call from the remaining witches and wizards native to the world, given that you seemed somewhat surprised to have us arrive.
Edited 2024-04-22 05:07 (UTC)
jokey: (20 - vnSdzzO)

[personal profile] jokey 2024-04-22 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
[Huh. Somehow, Akira has no issue believing that. Still, that has him curious about Kiryu's background. It's none of Akira's business, but can you fault him for wanting to know more about the people he'll be living and working with? He'll just. Traipse around this issue delicately.]

You must've lived a rough life. Stressful job?

[Yeah. ""Job"".]
impacter: (009)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-22 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
[Pff.]

Is that really such a surprise?

Ah, but anyway -- it's not progress that can be made any more in public without a lot of consequence, I'm afraid, but there's still plenty of magical organizations that operate. I just don't see it being a part of a normal human's life any time soon.
fellheart: (gιve мe yoυr naмe)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-04-22 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ Is the obvious sizing up supposed to be intimidating? How ... cute (derogatory). Cute in the way that a yappy dog you tolerate and sometimes indulge is. ]

Hm? Now there's a game I haven't played in quite a while.

How odd to think that it's one of those things that seems to persist across timelines as different as ours apparently are.

[ Call the cops? Please. As if either of them puts stock in that. ]
Edited 2024-04-22 05:13 (UTC)
jorunna: (comet05)

[personal profile] jorunna 2024-04-22 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ Maybe in some sense they are if you split hairs, but /wheezes ]

Oh. The people who live on the Moon. They go by Lunarian, but it sounds... silly?