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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!
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Are you going to kill him?
[ Yes, Malice said it's something to worry about later, but he's curious. There's no judgment in his tone either.
Killing is dishonorable, but it's understandable when it comes to revenge. ]
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[As far as Malice is concerned, Lotisse deserves to die. The expression softens after a moment, though.]
You gonna tell me that I shouldn't kill him?
[That's curiosity, not judgmental or confrontational. Humans always have such interesting points of view, so he's curious what Kurapika thinks.]
no subject
[ He says it matter-of-factly, as if it's the most obvious answer. ]
I would kill him if I were in your position.
[ Someone better might not. Maybe they would try to move on and turn that trauma into something positive.
Not Kurapika, though. He holds onto grudges too tightly to do that. ]
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Hell, my name's Malice, I'm kinda already the worst.
[But he says it in a tone that's sort of joking. Really, he doesn't consider himself the worst. Lotisse exists, after all!!]
Glad to know you get it, though.
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[ But he sounds amused more than anything. ]
I've killed before. It would be hypocritical of me to protest against it, no matter how much I detest the act.
[ And he doesn't mind being a hypocrite, but he would do the exact same thing, so that's a line too far for him. ]
no subject
[He grins at that, clearly pleased. His edgelord name is near and dear to him, of course.]
Hah, fair enough. [malice says, despite being a big ol' hypocrite] Mind if I ask what happened that lead to you killin' someone?
cw genocide
I don't mind. It's only fair, since you told me.
[ And Kurapika very much believes in fair exchanges of personal information. He keeps his tone neutral, treating it as simply a delivery of information. ]
A group known as the Phantom Troupe killed every member of the Kurta Clan. I'm the only one that was spared, and that's because I was away at the time. The people I killed are part of that group.
cw genocide
[Malice nods at that, good eye narrowing.]
I'd do the same damn thing, so I get why you did it. They were your people, yeah? Can't imagine how hard it must've been to lose 'em, 'specially like that.
no subject
I heard about it on the news instead of seeing it for myself, so there is one blessing amongst all of it, I suppose.
[ Kurapika pushes open the front doors to the manor, holding it open for Malice. ]
Shall we use our brooms to get to town?
no subject
Uh. Haven't really succeeded at summonin' mine yet. Still kinda strugglin' through this whole magic thing, honestly.
[He doesn't exactly sound embarrassed by it, but it is a bit hesitant because most people seem to have gotten it down by now...]
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[ To Kurapika, it makes sense for some here to have trouble adjusting. New power systems, and even powers at all for those who have never had them, can be a lot to tackle at once. ]
no subject
[He gestures vaguely with his good hand. It's just not possible for him, so he's starting at zero.]
I'd appreciate anythin' you can help me with, it's been... a lot? A lot.
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[ And while they've had it explained to them, it's been a very self-taught sort of process. ]
Do you have an incantation yet? Or a focus? We can start with that.
no subject
[He wiggles a hand as if to say "so-so".]
Got the incantation down, at least. The focus, though? Not so much. Most I've managed is to make it burst into smoke.
no subject
Is what you've chosen meaningful enough for you?
no subject
[Malice pauses, frowning.]
It's like it's tryin' to summon somethin' else? Like...
[And that's about when the realization hits.]
...Like maybe there's somethin' else more important that I should be tryin' to summon.
no subject
So it's not the right fit... Is there something more recent that you have?
[ Recency might be what helps, but... hm. ]
Or, what about something that brings out a visceral reaction from you?
no subject
[He doesn't sound embarrassed, exactly. That involves Malice actually being embarrassed, which may or may not even be possible. It's hesitant, though, like there's more to it than just being dumb.]
Lemme see if I can get it this time, if it's what I think it is.
[He holds out his good hand and focuses - instead of thinking about the necklace this time, he's thinking about something else. It's the bracelet Cody gave him, isn't it? A stupid thing; who gives a friendship bracelet to a vampire, particularly one who's been adamant that you can't trust him? The other humans hadn't exactly been all that eager to accept theirs knowing Malice had one as well, but Cody had insisted and they'd all given in eventually - that's just the kind of guy he was. You always gave into Cody's demands eventually. And Malice had kept that bracelet, even after he'd betrayed them, even after he'd gotten so many of them killed—
And there it is, forming in the palm of his hand - a dark string with a silver star charm dangling from it. The craftsmanship is a little shoddy (Cody always said it was a good thing he was never an artist) but it's just as worn as it was the last time Malice saw it despite that. He exhales slowly as he tries not to think about what it means that this is what he was trying to summon all this time.]
Ugh. Well, at least it worked, I guess.
no subject
That slow exhale has him thinking he might've been right to suggest it after all. ]
It's a good thing it did, though... I don't know that you're exactly happy about it either.
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[And then he buried any feelings he might have had about all of that and ran off with Lotisse, thinking that maybe starting anew (again) would help. And look where that went.]
Kinda stupid for it to be so important to me that it's what'd end up bein' my focus here, but I guess I shouldn't complain since I did figure it out.
[He closes his hand around the bracelet, but his grip is remarkably gentle despite the harsh words.]
Thanks, though. Needed a push in the right direction to figure it out, an' it is important that I have it, so.
no subject
[ He pulls his hair back, revealing a drop earring with a ruby attached to the end of it. ]
The individuals I got this from died as well.
[ And Malice should know who by now, so he doesn't elaborate. But they're in a similar boat. ]
no subject
I'm sorry 'bout your loss. It's... It's gotta be difficult.
[Mine's different, he nearly says, but he stops himself. There's no real point in thinking about it here, is there?]
no subject
I've gotten used to it.
[ The pain is real and raw and very much still there, but he's simply learned to deal with it. While he won't shy away from talking about it, he wonders if that would be a good idea when they're supposed to go out shopping. Wouldn't that put a real damper on the mood?
It's that line of thinking that has him immediately pressing onwards. ]
Have you decided on an incantation yet?
no subject
Malice is perfectly fine with the topic change, and he nods at that.]
Did manage to figure that one out, yeah. Still havin' a bit of trouble with the broom, but that's at least goin' well enough!
[He's making some progress now...!!]
no subject
[ He holds out his hand. ]
Pro populus meus. [ "For my people." Out pops a broom with blues and yellows and a shock of scarlet in the form of bristles, hovering neatly beside Kurapika's hand. ] Since you're still having trouble, we can use mine.
[ ... ]
I hope you don't mind a bumpy ride.
[ He still has issues with controlling, it after all. ]
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