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!
lustro: (129)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-25 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ Is bacon sweet? 🤔 Mission accepted. ]

Alright, I’ll do my best.
positivize: (pic#17104120)

[personal profile] positivize 2024-04-25 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
Huh?

[She'll just turn around to see where he's pointing at, but because directions are fake in rp--]

...Wait, is that the tree I crashed through?

[very :|||||| vibes right here.]
jorunna: (comet11)

[personal profile] jorunna 2024-04-25 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
[ A nod! By that they just conjuring up one of the kitchen towels into their hands. They don't know this yet (that they actually warped one of the towels from there into their hands), but that's what happens when you conjure up things in Mahoyaku-land.

It's has a sort of subtle cool glow, when embued with healing!

They'll put it gently into Ginger's hands.]


Like that?
dyingtohealyou: ([Think] if I can't see any love songs)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-25 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
Mm.

Anyway, I better get going. Later.

[More work more work more work!]
foresightis2020: (23)

[personal profile] foresightis2020 2024-04-25 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ginger is quite the worrywart, isn't he? Well...that's not surprising; he thinks back to the outburst that happened a moment ago, wondering still what caused it. Simply an idle thought as he mulls over his own answer, beginning to unpeel the orange. ]

Haha. Well, I will simply say that I am one of those capable of bearing such heavy burdens.

However, I am taking whatever I can out of this 'break', for better or worse. Someone can take care of my duties while I am here—temporarily. But, even so...

[ Somehow he's already gotten enough to slip a slice for a taste. ]

...why not indulge a little? Nothing wrong with that. You agree, don't you?
positivize: (pic#17104120)

[personal profile] positivize 2024-04-25 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
[It's almost promising when the mist actually begins to move in tandem with his words; even if the salesman was pretty sketchy about it, there's a few precious seconds where she thinks this might even actually work. But when it settles... huh. Hm.]

Wait... is this like one of those 8 ball toys?

[The mist starts swirling again, and--

Signs point to yes]


Oh. Okay. I guess that settles that...?

[Disappointing...!]
annihilator: (➤ 12)

[personal profile] annihilator 2024-04-25 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
Eight ball toys? What's that?

[The mist goes back to swirling around aimlessly as if waiting for another suitable question.]
positivize: (pic#17104058)

[personal profile] positivize 2024-04-25 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't say anywhere. But if you live in a city, you can usually use this to communicate with someone else who has a phone, even if they're on the other side of the world.

[There's a glance down at the screen.]

It's no good in a place like this, though! I can turn it on, but that's just about all I can do with it here.
positivize: (pic#17104136)

[personal profile] positivize 2024-04-25 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh, right, too modern. Backtracking...]

It's toy that people use to tell fortunes for fun. Usually they're a lot smaller than your crystal ball, but basically you're supposed to ask a question and it gives you a random response. People don't usually take it that seriously, but you can get some pretty funny answers!
chronosynthesis: (❖ Signet of Humility)

[personal profile] chronosynthesis 2024-04-25 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
[Syrlya purses his lips.] I suppose not. Still... starving yourself is clearly not sustainable.

[But Syrlya is unfortunately useless to Mika in this regard, and he can't exactly offer up other people. Nor would now be a good time to make a plan for it.

But a timetable, at least. A solution. A prevention so this doesn't happen again. They're only lucky nobody was killed.]


How long do you have before you'll be required to find blood again?
positivize: (pic#17105365)

[personal profile] positivize 2024-04-25 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
Then we'll find a way, and we'll do it without hurting you.

[It's said firmly, like she's not even willing to entertain the other option.]

You shouldn't have to die for this when we have an alternative... Even if call yourself a monster, I can't think that when you tried to help them. So having you killed because of something you can't control is...

[...too sad.

Is she projecting her feelings about something else here? Maybe. A little bit. But still, seeing someone who seems like a teenager resign themselves like this doesn't sit right with her regardless.]
revengier: (98)

[personal profile] revengier 2024-04-25 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
Judging by the missing leaves, yes it is.

[ If he's smiling a little as he says that... no he isn't.

But while Maya is distracted by her new nemesis, Kurapika walks past her to pick up the little trinket. It's a small compact mirror of some sort, the polished outsides catching prettily in the sunlight. ]
shadowkin: (002)

[personal profile] shadowkin 2024-04-25 06:21 am (UTC)(link)
[This is absolutely a win-win in both their minds, which probably makes it a win-win-win-win quadruple bingo -- Cid's a fairly easy fellow to fire up, perhaps even more so than his own alter-ego, so he'll just put this camcorder back together (perhaps a bit faster than someone in a first encounter with it would warrant?) and tuck it away somewhere.]

... I get the feeling I'm going to need a few spares. I wonder if this Lazuli's got any samples in stock........

[At this point I have no idea how timelines work but I don't think he's met Wanderer yet so he probably thinks he is some kind of shopkeeper.]

But yeah, yeah! You've got it. I'll work on this and keeping it all in one piece, no problem.

[..... did he say something untoward there, all casual-like. Nah, it's probably nothing! There he goes, off into the wild blue yonder...!]
chronosynthesis: (❖ Temporal Enchanter)

[personal profile] chronosynthesis 2024-04-25 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
[Syrlya follows the line of Yamato's finger, squinting to the distance.]

Oh, good eye! That certainly looks like something hard to reach without magic. [...] Are we meant to fly up?
fullspbar: (64)

[personal profile] fullspbar 2024-04-25 08:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ A flex of his arm and roll of his head, just to test- it tugs at the skin a little, but it feels almost good as new. ]

Good enough. [ For him, anyway. ] Thanks.
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] with memories I)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-25 08:23 am (UTC)(link)
...That sounds incredibly useful.

[The fastest they have are birds, and the people who have trained ones are few in number.]

Too bad we don't have more of them here.
dadsandals: (yama19)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-25 08:45 am (UTC)(link)
I...I think so? But do we even know how to fly yet?

[ Because he sure doesn't! Is Syrlya leagues ahead? ]
shortleash: (pic#17121573)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-25 10:14 am (UTC)(link)
( Her conviction is - what troubles his decayed heart most, just as much as what she says. )

... And what if it happens again? Is it fair to everyone else— is my life really worth the life of any other person's here? I...

( He doesn't think so.

He can't understand why no one rejects them the way they should - seeing... something in him that can't be there. He might have tried to fix them, but that doesn't mean - he isn't - he was just afraid for himself. He was being selfish - that was it, he thinks. )


... I was just thinking about myself, when I tried to get help. That's all. ( He's not a good person. Don't look at him with - kindness. It's better served toward others deserving. ) Because... then I'd be the sort of monster I've always hated. Even if I already am a monster, I...

( He trails off, not sure how to finish that thought. He - just... doesn't want to lose himself to this curse, he thinks. He wants to hold onto what scraps of himself there are left, but—

It isn't fair to ask for the chance, when it puts others at such risk. He's already dead, but the people here— )


... It isn't fair to take that chance away from the living.
shortleash: (pic#17120206)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-25 10:28 am (UTC)(link)
( Surely there's a spell to turn your sap to blood... :)

A beat. Mika purses his lips. )


... I can get by on a little bit... every three days. A vial's worth. ( The way he says it suggests this is the minimum to drag himself along - but it's a much more achievable goal. ) I... to not be so hungry, I'd have to have a small amount every day. I don't know how much. Maybe a mouthful. I've never... fed regularly.
Edited 2024-04-25 10:29 (UTC)
leewards: (008)

[personal profile] leewards 2024-04-25 10:50 am (UTC)(link)
Heheh! [That's a giggle in place of a you're welcome.]

Call me Ithaqua. You can come to me for training assistance in magic any time.

[Now he's just being a bit too full of himself.]
leewards: (007)

[personal profile] leewards 2024-04-25 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Heheheh. You're welcome for the idea.

[Even if it only worked for Ithaqua once because of strange circumstances-- it wouldn't work again if he went back into the town in the Plateau with his face bare.]
specialinquisitor: (glare)

[personal profile] specialinquisitor 2024-04-25 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
It suits all the more for that.
specialinquisitor: (military)

[personal profile] specialinquisitor 2024-04-25 05:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[Saying 'no' would be against her nature, so regardless of her actual opinions on the subject, she lifts her left hand.]

For Mor Ardain!

[At her command, magical energy swirls and coalesces, into --]

[...sugar.]
annihilator: (➤ 72)

[personal profile] annihilator 2024-04-25 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Huh! That's pretty cool!

[Is it?? Well, Malice certainly thinks so!!]

Let's see... How 'bout this: are we gonna be successful in our mission here?

["Try again later."]

Seriously? C'mon, that ain't an answer!