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!
discomposer: _ɴsᴋsʜᴜɴ@ᴛᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ (ᴊᴏᴇ ʜɪsᴀɪsʜɪ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-10 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
Whoa~! Senpai! But then, have you done any spells outside of all that?
shadowkin: (S: little madder riding hoodlum)

[personal profile] shadowkin 2024-04-10 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Shadow looms, but that really is mostly because his cape and the night wind are in agreement and also he's got an inch or so of heel. Very important aristocratic addition to a wardrobe, highly usable for anyone else who wants to look imposing.

There's a tilt of the masked and hooded head, ostensibly to see all the chalking a bit better -- the aura isn't hostile, just thoughtful and a little out there.]

Your sparrow. I take it that's one of those two boisterous ones that were here first... before the spirits answered another call.

[We regret to inform you that anytime he talks about spirits it's because he thinks it sounds cool, not because he can hear them.]

Do you not feel yourself caged, here in another's castle?
dadsandals: (yama53)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
Oh? Musashi?

[ What a question. Thanks for asking him, too, Leo.......

He'll entertain this.
]

Uh, I think he liked it. Probably. You should do it again when he's more alert.
discomposer: (ʏᴜsᴜᴋᴇ ᴋᴀᴛᴏ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-10 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
[ Marks down in my planner that Yamato wants to be woken up by Leo serenading his Roomba one day - ]

Musashi-tan~!

[ Grabby hands, let him hold the roomba please! ]
impacter: (99)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-10 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
Me?

[Is Solomon feigning his hesitancy? It's hard to tell.]

Mmn. You can if you'd like, but... only if you'd give me your name.

I'll give you mine in return, of course.
dadsandals: (yama47)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ He sure is human! Arguably one of the most human of humans here. Sorry, Ithaqua. ]

Believing that this isn't some kind of bad dream, yeah.

[ People who dress like this guy don't really exist where he's from -- as far as he knows, anyway. The stilts are a new one, that's for sure. ]

I just wanted to know if you managed anything yet. That's all.
troublereduction: (day45)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-10 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ Day reaches into his training coat to pull out a string of prayer beads. The beads are in five different colours, almost matching Leo's markers, the only difference is that orange is swapped out for black. ]

Right here.
Edited 2024-04-10 03:47 (UTC)
impacter: (053)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-10 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
[He certainly looks human enough!

Solomon pauses in the middle of careful, deliberate motions, a momentary open look of surprise before his smile settles, easy and calm, hard to read intention.]


Just a little bit of a test.

Here I thought the witching hours would be a good time to work. It seems we have quite a few night owls among us, though, don't we?
fallingsand: (55;)

[personal profile] fallingsand 2024-04-10 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ Under no circumstances tell him. It would be devastating. ]

Huh, I guess as long as you're having fun with it.
dadsandals: (yama27)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
Ah.

[ Somehow, he thought that'd be the kind of answer he'd get. ]

So, you're another one who's familiar with magic. I've heard that it doesn't necessarily make it any easier to learn the kind of magic here, though.

[ A small shrug. He couldn't confirm or deny either way -- he's completely new to all of this. His eyes are at least still scanning the perimeter, but...nothing. There's nothing that seems more unusual than what they can already access. ]

Either way, sorry to drag you into this. We may be searching for a while.
impacter: (030)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-10 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Aw... was he expecting something a little more nostalgic? Oh well. If only he'd asked ahead of time!]

Is that a friend of yours?
fallingsand: (53;)

[personal profile] fallingsand 2024-04-10 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ More like using a full-sized toothbrush. Cute and hilarious. ]

Not that any of this addresses the whole... we've been kidnapped into a completely different world and may or may not be dead or in comas problem?
dadsandals: (yama42)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
Oh? Is that an offer?

[ Hmm. ]

Sure, then. I'll make sure to pester you if I have any questions.

[ He may, he may not. But he appreciates it nevertheless. ]
discomposer: (sᴀʙᴜʀᴏ̄ ᴛᴀᴋᴀᴛᴀ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-10 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
Sure am~! Those guys are my favorite people in the universe after all. ♪ Well, if we don't count Ruka-tan.

[ His sister. ]
dadsandals: (yama51)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, because I like to pretend mine is a pet.

[ It gets lonely when your room has nothing in it--

but he lets out a sigh. If he doesn't want to get that checked, that's fine. Some of these kids are just stubborn about that kind of thing, he thinks, at 22 years old.
]

Anyway, that means you should be even more aware of your surroundings.

[ Says the guy who just. Let his pet roomba loose. ]
discomposer: ᴋᴡɪɪ_𝟷𝟷𝟷@ᴛᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ (ᴍᴀᴜʀɪᴄᴇ ʀᴀᴠᴇʟ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-10 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
His sweets...are the best...

[ Yes...he wanted those horribly weird things! ]
dadsandals: (yama52)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm. Is there a storage room in here?

[ The likelihood of there being any basketballs is so low. Yamato knows this. Maybe he just finds this entertaining. Who knows. ]

I don't think everyone would be familiar, but that's just an opportunity to teach them. That seems like a good bonding activity.
impacter: (092)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-10 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
[So the parent was the start, then, or perhaps one of the siblings... or even this man himself. This is the first generation he's speaking to, regardless... no wonder he seems a little insecure in his answers.]

So it comes naturally to you, and you refine it with another means. Not every type of magic follows that sort of rule - I think it may be one of the trickier ones to adapt out of in a pinch.

When you're "looking for" things... is it something tangible in your mind that you try to bring into existence? Or do you just reach out blindly until something comes to you instead?
fallingsand: (10; always left abuela)

[personal profile] fallingsand 2024-04-10 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
Ha, yeah? And who's Ruka-tan?
dadsandals: (yama48)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Uh...

[ That's. That's a very good question, Miss. ]

I haven't thought that far ahead, to be honest.

[ He is still in disbelief. Please excuse him. ]

I think you were a lot more prepared than I was.
impacter: (079)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-04-10 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, then I was fighting a losing battle no matter what I made.

[He can't really take offense at that.]

You can never really outdo something you get from a good friend. There's heart in it you can't replace.
dadsandals: (yama50)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, that's kind of endearing. ]

Haha, a little bit. I've seen him try it before.

[ Musashi, number one daredevil! That's him (no). ]

Hmm. Did you want to see him in action again? You seemed entertained.
discomposer: (ᴍɪᴄʜɪʀᴜ ᴏsʜɪᴍᴀ)

[personal profile] discomposer 2024-04-10 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
My cute and lovely little sister~! I'd show you a photo, but I don't have my cellphone!

[ Even if it had been in his inventory he wouldn't have it. He never has his cellphone. He always loses it. ]
dadsandals: (yama29)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ Good deal. She looks friendly enough to handle the roomba with care (??) so he's not super worried. ]

I grabbed him at [ redacted ]. It's a store in Japan.

[ ...Wait. ]

If you know where that is. Different worlds and all that.
dadsandals: (yama49)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-10 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ Damn...can't believe Yamato already has a knight....

Just kidding. He looks pretty pleased about that.
]

Haha, alright. I'll keep that in mind, sir. Ah - I'm Nikaido Yamato, by the way. You are...?