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: ([Sweat] I forgot that day)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-23 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I have self-awareness.

[So. Yes. But we aren't getting into the weeds of it right now.

Once the flesh is healed up (even if the bloodloss is... not so much), he'll finally relent, pulling away again.
]
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] that I don't forget)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-23 07:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Not always. But you don't exactly paint yourself as such a trustworthy guy, either.
jorunna: (comet02)

[personal profile] jorunna 2024-04-23 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd like that!

[ Taking the anthropomorphization of a robot very seriously... ]

It's nice to see something familiar. You use him a lot back where you're from, right?
troublereduction: (pic#17020440)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-23 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ At that, Day pauses, apparently to seriously consider his answer... ]

Right now? Pretty cute.

[ What the hell, Day. ]
foresightis2020: (21)

[personal profile] foresightis2020 2024-04-23 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
What a coincidence, I was thinking the same.

I'll grab some croissants, and you can order that for yourself?

[ It's okay to say you like sweets, Kurapika. ]
dadsandals: (yama52)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-23 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Mm...not quite-

[ Hang on.

He sees...something? Something floating up above the mansion. It's feint, but it's there. Yamato will point toward it.
]

Do you see that?
dadsandals: (yama17)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-23 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
...He did that, huh?

[ Oh, Mika. You're a good kid, he thinks.

But on the topic of curses:
]

Yeah? Is that your thing back at home or something?
lustro: (059)

/2

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-23 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
?!

[ A-AAAA?! HE’S SO CONFUSED WHAT’S GOING ON ]
revengier: (77)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-23 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Works for me.

[ And off they go! We can wrap here! ]
revengier: (20)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-23 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Kurapika looks over at her from where he's already begun examining a few shingles. ]

Oh, is Lazuli the name of our mentor?

[ But tracking, huh... he wonders if he could use something like his Dowsing Chain from back home as a spell here. It's a thought, that's for certain. ]
lustro: (003)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-23 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ What is this - what? How did it get to the point where Ginger has to hide his entire face - ]

Stop, stop!! I - I give up!

[ HAVE MERCY ]
revengier: (91)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-23 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
So you must do that often, then.

[ Or, at least, it sounds like Ithaqua has experience there. ]
revengier: (53)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-23 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ No!! It isn't!

But he knows when it would be embarrassing to put up a fight, so he doesn't, choosing to nod and step up to the counter and order two slices. Once he's done, he hands one of the packaged slices to Jing Yuan. ]


You said it looked good, so I went ahead and ordered one for you too.
troublereduction: (pic#17020440)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-23 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
It's more... if I can bless someone with good fortune in certain things, then it ain't that hard to curse them with misfortune the same way.

[ That's the best way to describe it, he thinks.

(Continued here.]
Edited 2024-04-25 00:42 (UTC)
troublereduction: (day63)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-23 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
You ain't helpin' your case, Ginger.

[ If anything you're just proving what he said! ]
troublereduction: (pic#17020440)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-23 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well he could, technically, but it would be unpleasant, ]

Makes sense. I guess for vampires, blood wouldn't really taste like metal either.
annihilator: (➤ 12)

[personal profile] annihilator 2024-04-23 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep, I've heard humans say that but it doesn't? Though maybe that's to keep humans from drinkin' blood.
lustro: (116)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-23 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ginger makes a sound that is most definitely a whine because he’s an adult. ]

Daaaaaaaay.

[ Please, hasn’t he been embarrassed enough??

This, at least, is a distraction from his sadness. All the worries are still there, but - it is nice to have someone who feels comfortable enough around him to - to do whatever this is. A ray of light.

Tiny.

But good. ]
specialinquisitor: (glare)

[personal profile] specialinquisitor 2024-04-23 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[She doesn't respond for a moment, briefly lost in contemplating the crystal she holds. Lifeless, without heart or spirit, certainly nothing compared to the core crystal that is the very essence of a Blade.]

[It's a rather sick joke.]


That leaves my... broom, then.
divineth: (🌒 3)

[personal profile] divineth 2024-04-23 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[Yeah, the reluctance is palpable.]

...Thou dost not like feeding in the first place, I take it.
lustro: (006)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-23 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Is that what it is? Well, thanks… For showing up and helping.

[ And since he’s been using ‘you’ this entire time… ]

I don’t think I ever got your name?
foresightis2020: (29)

[personal profile] foresightis2020 2024-04-23 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Shinjiro is certainly right. From Jing Yuan's perspective, he hasn't exactly come with much. But, it is certainly more than he thinks he might expect. ]

If there aren't a lot of options...wouldn't you say that makes it easier?

[ At least, that's what he thinks. ]
shortleash: (pic#17072496)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-23 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
... Would you, if you were me? I wasn't born like this.

( Not accusatory, nor asking for sympathy - he's just... frustrated. To him, it feels like an situation with no solution. )
meanspirited: (221)

[personal profile] meanspirited 2024-04-24 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
[He raises an eyebrow at Syrlya. He better not be about to make a power of friendship speech, it's way too soon for that.

At least he seems to be accepting that he needs to adapt to this world, and not the other way around.]


That would be because I don't have one. You can call me whatever you want.
lustro: (050)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-24 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
Um…

[ He smiles sheepishly. ]

I guess? It’s complicated. I need to go back as soon as possible, but - being here kinda feels like… all my - um - personal problems are temporarily on hold?