if you say it's magic, then you're my wizard

[promittere]

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!

» NAVIGATION

Comments

ginger juice half empty

[lustro]

[ If anyone approaches Ginger, he'll wave them away to someone who's more injured first. And honestly, he looks... fine. Ish. He has the most color in his cheeks out of everyone, despite the bloody mess at his neck, the stains around his collar. His clothes are in-tact and he doesn't have any visible defensive wounds.

He just looks tired, in all the ways.

He's the one seated closest to Tatara, slumped and scowling if the other man even dares to wake up and smile at him. Occassionally, he'll toss Yamato, Shinji, and Mika some concerned glances. ]

... Thanks for coming out.

[impacter]

[Solomon's one of the ones immediately headed for Tatara, and though he gives a nod towards Ginger, he stays silent in concentration outside the firm repetition of his incantation.

Manu Propria.

Manu Propria.

Manu Propria.

...

The tension is building in his brow after a while, frustration aching and digging at how difficult this magic is in comparison to what he knows. But he lets it settle. Frustration won't bring the power they need.

Additional hands present at least gets some of the urgency under control. Whenever Tatara has started to get a small amount of color back, Solomon will finally raise his eyes in Ginger's direction, mouth thin.]

Ginger.

Once he's stable, you should let someone look at you, too.

[lustro]

But he will, right. He'll be stable. You're sure.

[ Questions he says as statements, mouth tight with worry.

Ginger hopes so, of course. He hopes this frustrating man, who put up candles all over the manor for them, will be okay. ]

[impacter]

Ginger.

[Repeated, a little firmer, before his eyes soften with a sigh.]

The spirits respond to a calm and confident soul. Someone who's sure of what they want and feel. That's what our sparrow was telling us.

I can't tell you he'll be okay. Promises like that aren't wise. But you have to have faith that it's possible.

Okay?

[dyingtohealyou]

We weren't exactly given a choice.

[There's not much humor to his voice, however, as he looks at the wounds with uncovered eyes, unusually bright cyan - sees what he can add to, with Solomon healing.]

...

The End of the World

[Trying to push aside the worry and tension and memory of the metallic smell of blood. Trying, instead, to petition the spirits with feelings of concern, of hope, of a desire to help and heal.

He can only hope, too, that they listen, and assist.]

[lustro]

What, did he dragged you here against your will?

[ He imagines Mika had been frantic enough to. ]

I know what Solomon said, but you can use that healing on someone else instead. I’ll be okay.

[ Part of him is curious to see if the end of the world can heal, but he’d rather just avoid the fuss. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

[Too bad, he's casting and can't stop won't stop - hopefully stemming the blood at least.]

Shame everyone else is insisting we heal other people first, too.

[He sounds distinctly unimpressed. But also, he'll cast again to try to heal more, bit by bit.]

[fellheart]

[ Robin is another of the ones headed for Tatara, which means that puts him into close proximity with Ginger. he'd spared Ginger a slightly more lingering glance on first entering, but otherwise paid him no more attention than anyone else in the room until Ginger speaks.

it pulls Robin out of his spellcaster's reverie, the trance of focused concentration he'd sunk into as he'd spoken his incantation.

(omnia mors aequat. death will eventually come for all, the ultimate equalizer, but they have no need of it today.)

Tatara's stable and improving. there are enough hands present to see to any potential mishap, presumably. he can take a moment, and only a moment, to again examine and address the speaker. ]

... You would offer thanks for this?

[lustro]

Well, you came without me begging?

[ It’s not really a joke, more like half an explanation that he expects Robin to understand. ]

I do appreciate it. [ He glances at Tatara and glances back at Robin. ] Really.

[fellheart]

... I wonder how little you think of those here.

[ he does understand. it's a conversation the two of them had not long ago, but likewise he doubts that every single one of the others here is as removed as he.

it's not a judgmental statement. more contemplative, measuring. Robin doesn't acknowledge the thanks, the words having as much effect on him as if they'd never been spoken at all. ]

How low your expectations, how much you don't think they'll be willing to give. Would you give thanks for every little courtesy?

[positivize]

[He may look better than some of the others, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't still be a good idea to check him over regardless. So she'll toss a heal at his neck anyways (cool, soothing like a splash of water on a hot summer day) before looking him over a little more closely. It might not heal all the damage--she may be a Southern wizard, but they're all still relative novices at this--but it should help, at least a bit.

There's a shake of the head at the thanks.]

I'm just glad that all of you are safe... What happened?

[lustro]

[ He looks relieved to see her. If he could, he’d offer her a grateful smile. He tries - and manages something.

It quickly falls away once she asks about what happened. He hesitates to say it - is he allowed? Eyes flicker to Mika, then back at her. ]

Ah… a very, very hungry… [ He gestures at his neck. ] Yeah.

[positivize]

[Ginger is doing his best, and honestly she wouldn't blame him if he couldn't muster a smile; this is a pretty stressful situation to be caught in the middle of. But it takes a moment for the whole thing to click, although it's obvious when recognition dawns in her eyes.]

A hungry... Oh. Ohhhh.

[Her gaze goes to Mika for a second too before returning to Ginger.]

I... guess that's just another thing we'll have to address when we're finished here, huh? But it looks like we've got plenty of people helping out, so I'm sure things will turn out fine!

[revengier]

[ It looks like Ginger has been taken care of by a few others in terms of healing, so Kurapika is pressing something into his hand instead.

Namely, a little snack. ]

Eat.

[lustro]

…?

[ What’s this… ]

Thanks… You had this on you?

[ He obediently starts to nibble though he’s not sure why he’s been given a snack at a time like this?? ]

[revengier]

[ A little snack bar! Or whatever the equivalent for that here happens to be. ]

I went back to my room and retrieved it. It's important to replenish the nutrients in your body. We may as well cover all the bases we can, right?

[shortleash]

( Mika just glances down when Ginger glances at him when speaking to Maya, but doesn't protest any move toward reveal.

He just keeps his distance from the injured and watches those attending to them closely, including Ginger's treatments. )

[lustro]

[ Periodically between his healing(s), he goes over to give Mika’s sleeve a subtle tug, no words. Still here.

Then he’s gone, back to being healed with full judgement on blast, sitting like a student in trouble and taking it all. ]

[shortleash]

( He glances at him, expression softening slight in those moments Ginger approaches; his heart strained but ... still acknowledging. Still appreciative.

He lets Ginger return to his treatments, not happy if anyone scolds him for offering blood willingly (even if he agrees with the sentiment), but he lets Ginger handle it himself. )

[troublereduction]

[ After at least healing Yamato (while desperately trying to look like he has any idea what he's doing), and possibly Tatara because triage, Day approaches Ginger. ]

You should at least get something to drink. Or eat.

[lustro]

[ The irony of Ginger being the one covered in blood this time is not lost on him. ]

Is that the normal thing to do?

[troublereduction]

Is wakin' up in the middle of the night to a small bloodbath normal?

[ Is there a normal way of going about this, ]

But you did lose some blood. And frankly, you ain't lookin' good right now either.

[ He gestures at Ginger let him have a closer look at his injuries though, so he can add to the healing. ]

sips some of the juice

[jorunna]

[ Comet has a damp towel to offer Ginger. It has healing magic imbued in it if needed! ]

A... Feeding frenzy...

[lustro]

[ Right, there’s still blood. He nods at Comet, giving them a brief smile. ]

Oh - this is nice. I can kind of feel it… doing something.

[jorunna]

I hope does a little something.

[ Dab dab. ]

It's good to clean up bites so they don't get infected. And blood because it's unpleasant to see a lot of.