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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!
words to live by
Wow, that's pretty bold! You must be quite the heartbreaker back home then, huh?
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[But the fact that he's preening like a proud bird is confirmation enough. If he could get away with it, he'd have eighty girlfriends.]
And what about you? Got your incantation all figured out?
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Hmm, I'm still thinking on it. But since it should be something cool [according to Akira, anyway--] how about, "It's whoop-ass time!"
no subject
[You can whoop his ass any day, ma'am.]
Coming from anyone else, that would sound super lame, but you've got swag. What's your name?
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Maya Amano, journalist for the hottest teen magazine, Coolest! And how about the name of our resident lady-killer?
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[No judgment here, of course. Akira's been known to bend an ear and listen in on a juicy story or two himself.]
Akira Kurusu, but you can call me Akira. Sounds like you're from Japan too, buuut I've never seen your magazine on shelves. Is it a niche thing?
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No, it's actually pretty popular back home, but you wouldn't be the first person here to not recognize it. We're based in Sumaru City, and we focus on a lot of local trends, rumors--stuff like that. Our publisher has pretty good reach, but I'm not too surprised if hasn't hit other parts of Japan.
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Either I live under a rock or you're hyping this magazine up a little too much, but it's probably the mysterious third option. What year is it in "your" Japan?
[Don't tell him you're actually like, eighty years old, Maya. Akira has some standards.]
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Anyways, it's not hard to see where he's going, and considering the whole 'being pulled from different worlds thing' -- why not have an element of time involved.]
It's 1999... [And she'll just show him the current date as tracked by her cell phone, and honestly, is Akira even old enough to recognize this type of model. Either way, it sure says 1999!]
What year is it for you?
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[Shock and disbelief! This woman doesn't look a day over twenty-something. Nineteen ninety heckin nine........... No way. Akira takes a look at her phone and recognizes it for what it is, but just barely. He squints at the date on the tiny led screen and sighs.]
2015. Not even my grandparents' landline is that old. [Akira whips out his phone out and hands it to Maya.] This is what phones look like nowadays— this is a smartphone. Yours is a dumbphone.
no subject
Hey, this is one of the newest models, I'll have you know!
[it's very reliable and useful and she paid for it with her own salary!!! But okay she will look closer at the smartphone and she has to admit--it does look pretty slick and futuristic. She'll turn it around looking for more buttons before flipping it back to the screen side.]
Though I guess anything I own would probably look like an antique to you, huh. ...How are you supposed to use this thing, anyway?
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It's simpler than it looks. You see all those squares? Those are apps.
[And, just for funsies, he opens up the camera app and switches on the front-facing camera. A pair of cat ears hovers over both their heads.]
Our cameras have gotten way fancier too. Say "nya~"
no subject
Wow, it's like a Print Club booth! ...Wait, those still exist in 2015, right?
[Or did she just date herself more... And nya? Nyot today, apparently, but he can definitely snap a photo with her looking amazed at the camera while Akira does whatever an Akira does.]
no subject
His phone is totally going to die soon with no way to charge it, but that's fine. If Akira ever gets to go back home, he'll have a picture of himself with a girl from 1999 as a memento to show off to his friends.]
Kinda? You're talking about the booths high school girls get all dolled up to take pictures in, right? Polaroids are all the rage right now.
no subject
Yeah, those! Although I'm pretty surprised Polaroids are still around, too... I guess things haven't changed as much as I thought they would've.
[It's reassuring in a way, even if this might not be the same Japan they're talking about.]
no subject
[That white square frame? Iconic. All the better if the flash goes off and gives everyone in the photo red demon eyes.]
But people are always getting nostalgic over the past. I bet that's true in 1999 too.
no subject
[There is something charming about being able to capture a moment on paper instantaneously, without fussing over edits and things like that.]
Mmm, you have a point there. It's only human to look back and long for a more idyllic time... The surroundings might change, but I guess people are still people when it comes down to it.
no subject
[Akira doesn't sound too fussed, quite certain they will find a way back to their respective times and places once they've accomplished whatever mission they were brought here for. That's just how these things go.]
Is that what got you into journalism? Archiving the idyllic parts of life?
no subject
I'm sure we'll manage somehow! Wouldn't want you to miss out on a chance to get one, after all.
[That question though... There's a hum as she thinks it over for a moment.]
Maybe that's one way to look at it, but what I really want to do with my articles is inspire people. If what I write can bring someone one step closer to achieving their dreams, I'd be happy.
no subject
[And sure, he's only met one directly, but the goal of their work is usually more self-fulfilling than beneficial to the world at large.]
But when you've got a platform like you do, you can touch so many people's lives. I'm sure you've got no shortage of fans.
no subject
[Such is the way of a business. But if she can still make a difference in someone's life, that's a net positive.]
But wow, Akira-kun. You really know how to flatter someone, huh? If I were your girlfriend, I'd be getting pretty jealous right about now.
no subject
Oh, don't worry. No girlfriend here.
[so like, call him maybe—]
Applications are open. I'll put in a good word with my hiring manager.
no subject
Hahaha! Sorry, I’m already married to my job. But tell you what: I’ll pass the word along to anyone who seems interested, okay?
[thumbs up!! she believes in him!!]
no subject
Actually, maybe don't do that.
[Nobody needs to know. They'll think Akira's running around and hitting on anyone who breathes in his general direction (hm), which just isn't true (hmmm). Don't do him like this, Maya.]
If rumors start flying, you're suspect numero uno.
no subject
Oh, it'll be alright. I can even leave out the part where you hit on me, no biggie! ...Unless you've already got your eye on someone at home?
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