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lunaecalamitas2024-04-04 11:33 pm
promittere) wrote in 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.
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.
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.
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!
3/3
[And much more importantly:]
They're not going to turn into ghouls, right.
no subject
... No. Humans can... get fed on by vampires without it doing anything to them.
( Well, there can be a sense of shame, but... Other than that, )
As long as they recover from their injuries and blood loss, they'll be fine.
no subject
I mean, I think back home they can either become vampires or ghouls... I don't think we had a third option.
[But he gives a sigh of relief!! It's nice to know that they only have slight(??) hanger on their hands.]
If the whole manor turned into ghouls I'd have to become homeless already... We should have an emergency plan for these things.
no subject
( Wry snort. )
... A human only becomes a vampire if they drink a drop of vampire blood. At least - that's the type of vampire I am. I don't know if a vampire like Malice can turn people into ghouls, though. But he can't turn them into vampires.
( Not to throw Malice under the bus or anything... But if Cid is that worried, these are the facts. )
no subject
They're not too bad otherwise.
[Or he got the whole story and he forgot?? Vampire lore is so confusing (he just didn't pay attention), and also he was way too busy fighting them but that's not relevant or anything.
Wow, there goes Malice....... right under the Mika-driven Greyhound...... goodbye. Cid blinks a couple of times. Looks at the door. Squeamish vampire??]
.... Ooohhh. That explains a lot! [does it] Vampires are a lot more complicated than I thought. I didn't think we'd have a bunch of them? But I guess they -- you guys?? -- are super magical or something.
no subject
( NO vampire apologism or nuance in this house!!!! )
I don't know about "magical." Malice said they can't normally use magic... and we're just cursed. I'd consider us incompatible with the type of magic here... given vampires lose their feelings with time.
( so much for casting with the heart... )
... We were probably summoned by mistake. Another sign of things being wrong, I guess.
no subject
... She's way scarier than me.
[He says all of this with the same conviction as you'd say the sun rises in the East (but maybe not this East). #justsiblingthings
The men in the Kagenou household are whipped and they know it. It's all good.
Cid is listening to this with some interest, though. He also pulls out a somewhat wrinkled handkerchief and hands it to Mika like, bro at least clean your face. Half the time he forgets he has this thing but talking about Claire has a way of making him remember his manners......]
Ehh, Malice has magic now, though, right? I think our vampires are kinda cursed, too, but these things happen. [just super casual about this] What's this about feelings, though? That the curse?
[Can't believe the East is being de-emo'd with time.....]
no subject
Sometimes, discrimination is deserved. If you try to forgive something that shouldn't be - you're just asking worse things to happen.
( He is gonna be de-emo'd, he just doesn't know it yet!!! Anyway, he doesn't like Cid's understanding attitude toward vampires - at best, it's naive; at worst, it's apologism, to Mika. )
... Vampires are undead. We don't get to be part of the living world. Part of our curse is that... we lose our feelings and sensation over time. Even drinking blood does nothing for most vampires, eventually.
( He sounds grim when he says it - a terminal diagnosis he has no means of avoiding. )
... Our senses are really good. I can see shades of color and nuance of sound I never could as a human. But it doesn't provoke... anything in me. That just makes it more hollow - knowing something is there, and feeling nothing for it.
no subject
I mean, it's not like they did anything to me (besides the ghoul apocalypse), so if Claire wants to forgive them, I'll just go with it.
[Sometimes your sister is a considerably larger problem than a vampire-led apocalypse, honestly. He also totally owes the Vampire Queen for sundry reasons but that's also not relevant. He just figures this vampire is having a mid-life crisis (quarter-life crisis? late-life crisis?? maybe this is one of those 1000-year-old teenagers?????) and he, as a fellow creature of darkness, totally isn't here to judge.
Live your best temporarily-emo buffet life. It's just too bad he can only participate as clean-up crew, but that's life sometimes.]
That all sounds pretty grim, but I guess you've got to have something in exchange for being undead and other powers... [the problem is that his inner mad magic scientist (or whatever you call it) is totally into this; when was the last time he ran into a really interesting curse? he should probably make sure his face is still like, a good balance between head down and head empty] But now you've got like, extra extra magical power. Curses are meant to be broken, right?
no subject
That sounds great in theory, but, unless there's some hocus pocus that can bring me back to life, there's no way to "break" it. Dead things decay. That's just kind of how the world works. Even here, I'm pretty sure.
( Ever the optimist he is. )
In the end, I should be dead. And the dead need to be moved on from. I don't really think I should have the same... privileges, I guess, as the living.
no subject
A curse is only unbreakable until it's broken.
[Irrefutable logic!!!! He is definitely using his head empty Cid voice here--
That and he has definitely broken unbreakable curses before with a surprising amount of ease (it wasn't easy, even by his standards, but if a 10-year-old can do it...), so it's a solid theory; but that's not proof that he's going to use on this side of things. And so:]
Dead things only decay if you don't freeze them, so maybe we just need to get you some really good ice.
[Is he joking. He mostly sounds like he's joking but it's a tossup. His mental gears are whirring but it's also a tossup as to whether they'll come up with any useful solutions instead of just spitting up wild non-human experimentation he wants to try. Anyway.]
You've been a human, a vampire and now a wizard but you're still really stuck in one way of thinking, huh? I'm starting to think that's what happened here too.
no subject
What's that supposed to mean?