you opened your eyes, spreading it wide

[promittere]

THIRD QUARTER ALLEGRO

While our newly-arrived wizards have been settling in, learning their magic, and getting to know one another, the sage and their mentor have been busy with a different kind of work behind the scenes—bureaucratic work. It hasn't been particularly exciting, but it has paid off.

Because now, the world is ready to receive them.

Put on your finest clothes, because Granvelle Castle invites you to a welcome ball in your honor.

Didn't bring any fine clothes with you? No need to worry—specially chosen tailors from Central Capital have been commissioned to take care of you, and they will be visiting the manor to get you gussied up in the fashion of your choice for the day (by this, we mean feel free to pick whatever fancy clothes you want for the ball).

As the sun sets on the designated day, all the residents of the manor make their way to the castle. Granvelle Castle stands proud in Central Capital, its lights a beacon in the darkening city, and its doors open to outsiders for the first time in weeks. Upon arrival they're greeted by brightly lit halls, welcoming staff, and a grand ballroom, windows flung open to let in the spring breeze and pale moonlight. Everyone and everything seems determined to make this a cheerful affair, despite the underlying sense of dread and tension.

Live music fills the air, played the greatest musicians in the world. There are some larger ensembles, solo acts; some pieces are of more traditional folk dances, while some are slower, and some are upbeat and avant-garde. Regardless, the floor is open for dancing—grab a buddy and dance the night away!

Lining one wall is a long banquet table, filled with plenty of food and drink, both alcoholic and non to sate the new arrivals. The hors d'oeuvres and small plates comprise an array of delicacies from around the world, with everything from savory lobster bites to the sweetest portions of tres leches you have ever tasted. It seems someone has also put in a specific request for Japanese food—a part of the banquet table has been set aside specifically for Japanese dishes, and this includes small portions of ramen. There also seems to be a plate on the far end of the table filled with lovingly stacked pieces of charcoal... Is that meant to be food?

You aren't the only ones in attendance tonight. Representatives and dignitaries from around the world are also present—they have quite a lot to say about the unusual situation, and they are most curious about these otherworldly individuals tasked with fending off the moon under their national banners. The most dignitaries are from Central, West, and East, while there do seem to be a few representatives from the less populated North and South. Those from Central, West, and South in general seem to be the most social, while the rest are more reserved. There are also a few of the castle staff that seem (begrudgingly) willing to speak with the new wizards. Most are here to chat and mingle—lend them an ear, you may learn something new...

For those tired of socializing, the ballroom opens out onto a breezy, spacious balcony. It looks out over the main thoroughfare leading to the main castle entrance, and the nighttime lights of the Central capital twinkle in the near distance. For those that would rather take a breather, there is a small patio table and a couple of chairs. Despite the waxing moon in the sky, it is a very nice evening.

If you would like to have a chat with an NPC, then please respond to this comment. NPCs will be assigned randomly if no preference is given. While everyone has something valuable to say, they're not giving potentially sensitive info out for free—let's hope your diplomatic skills are up to snuff. We're doing our best to give everyone meaningful conversations, so please bear with us!

JOB BOARD

Rejuvenation. Thanks to your Southern friends' hard work, the South has been saved from a potentially devastating crop failure, and these fledgling towns can continue to grow as they're meant to! Give them a pat on the back and a round of applause.

But the South is not without its scars. While the root cause has been taken care of, the damage has been done. A town's wheat field has been partially destroyed—help them tear out the blackened, dead wheat, till and fertilize the soil, and replant what can be replanted. The City of Clouds, the most prosperous of the Southern settlements, have also offered extra tools, hands, and seeds to help set the town back on the path to recovery. Transport these supplies to the town. Let's hope your broom skills are up to snuff too, because it's a long ride.

Shadows in the night. The residents of the Central capital have recently been reporting eerie sightings after sundown: shadowy figures lurking in corners, the constant feeling of being watched, and, in some extreme cases, these shadowy figures attacking when traveling alone at night. Many reports seem to indicate an odd concentration of these creepy figures lurking around the Granvelle Castle moat, as though trying to find a way into the castle. Residents are understandably frightened and unnerved and cannot go about their nightly business—beat back what shadows you find and make the streets safer for the Central capital residents.

While physical attacks don't seem to do much against them, they dissipate rather easily under magic. Try not to wear yourself to the bone, though—there are a lot of them.

Escorting nobility. The Eastern Blanchett noble family have called an important meeting, inviting nobles and others of import from across the Eastern Country. However, their castle lies beyond Sherwood Forest, a very large, dense, and deep wood—while a fine natural defense for the Blanchett family, it's a bit of trouble for those looking to visit. While the Blanchett's own forest guard is absent, it is your job to safely escort these nobles to the Blanchett abode, and back out. But be careful: lurking in the shadows amongst the trees are all sorts of territorial predators like bears and wolves, not to mention the magical beasts that sneak up on unsuspecting prey. You may come across a brigand or bandit or two, since the forest is a near perfect hiding place for illegal activity. And please—try not to get lost.

Typical of any Easterner, the nobles are reluctant to make much small talk and are a bit suspicious of the new wizards, but they are otherwise pleasant and will generally comply with most requests.

WANDERER TASKS

Can you go a week without ruining food or the pots and pans? Stop being so wasteful and learn how to cook or stop trying.

Learn how to use magic to repair things. Again, if you're going to keep ruining the kitchen at least learn how to put it back together.

TATARA ACTIVITIES

I need milk. I'm trying to perfect latte foam art, but I haven't really gotten the hang of it yet... I used up all the milk (oops, sorry!), so I need more. Actually, could you grab me other kinds of milk while you're at it? I want to experiment! I'm sure other markets in the farther reaches of the world will have weirder milk... Please!

We should start a veggie garden! Or an herb garden? Doesn't matter! I found a nice sunny patch of grass in the training forest—we could dig up that spot, right? Help me get it set up! I need people to dig, and till... Oh! We need seeds to plant, too! Please and thank you~

OOC NOTES

🌙 Welcome to your second event post! Get out your snazzy outfits. It's time to party.
🌙 As you grow into your magic, your character might start realizing they can differentiate between everyone's magic. Everyone has a unique signature, and you may be able to start sensing who cast what, where. Someone put a magical seal on the kitchen door? Smells like Shinjiro's magic. Akira had some of Solomon's sugar? You can sense that, too!
🌙 As you start getting past the basics, your character might realize they have a much easier time with certain kinds of magic over others. For North, this will be offensive and attack spells; for East, this will be intricate seals and curses; for West, this will be manipulative magic like illusions and transformation; for South, this will be healing, purification, and protection. Central? A little bit of everything. Read up on your country if you need a refresher!
🌙 It's been peaceful at home in the manor thus far, hasn't it? Do you think that will last?
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here! Remember to keep all wider plotting contained to the OOC post, since not everyone checks plurk or discord frequently.
🌙 Our next group to go on their mission is Central. Be ready, heroes...

» NAVIGATION

Comments

[meanspirited]

at the ball;
[Perhaps, unsurprisingly, he is not much of a people person. The wizard's beloved(???) mentor can't escape his duties, though, so he's at the ball with everyone else. He's even left his hat back at the manor and is dressed up for the occasion. Not that it means he looks happy to be there, with how he hovers around the edges of the party. He makes no moves towards any of the food or drinks, casting disparaging looks at most of the offerings, and doesn't seem interested in approaching any of the dignitaries...

But he's here, looking bored out of his mind. He won't turn down anyone who approaches him for conversation, but he will turn down most offers for drinks or food.

Dancing... Well. Who knows? There's only one way to find out if you can get a dance with your mentor!]

the manor;
[He is not generally a hard person to find, considering his distinctive appearance, and he doesn't generally drift far away from the manor. At all hours of the day he can be found in the manor library, skimming through the accounts of the previous Sages. It never seems like he's looking for information, but more that he's just... browsing through them out of boredom.

(Can he actually understand every tome there? That's a good question!)

He also stops by the kitchen, frequently, to clean up any messes that haven't been taken care of. Very, very occasionally he can be found cooking, though he usually cooks things to leave for others to eat. Unfortunately, he has reasons to not let all of you starve, but he can't just leave feeding everyone to some mopey teenager.

Another one of his frequent stops is the roof, where he finds the highest spot he can to relax. It would take quite some skill with the broom to join him, but it's entirely possible.]

wildcard;
[If you want to do a job with Wanderer or want to do something else, my arms are open! If you want a custom starter or a room post just lmk and i can work on something!!]

kitchen

[dadsandals]

[ One day, Wanderer will enter the kitchen to leave some food out for everyone...but it looks like there's someone already at the counter, bringing out miscellaneous ingredients.

Yamato looks up from his work – he's in the middle of chopping a tomato – and sees Wanderer. He greets the mentor with a little wave. ]

Good afternoon. Did you need to use the kitchen? I might be a while.

[meanspirited]

By all means, carry on.

[It's not like he needs the food for himself, anyways.

More importantly...]

I'll just watch to make sure nothing gets ruined.

[:)]

[dadsandals]

Hey...I'm not a bad cook, you know. I'm no Solomon.

[ That man has committed CRIMES in here. ]

But watch all you'd like. Maybe you'll learn something.

[ :)

Anyway, he's finishing with this tomato, and then he''ll go ahead and grab an apple. The apple is being chopped into bunny-like slices. Hehe. ]

[meanspirited]

Calling that man a cook is like calling an executioner an engineer.

[He knows about the crimes!! Unfortunately.

He will watch, though, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed.]

Are you cooking for a child?

[He does not appreciate the apple bunnies... Sadge.]

at the ball

[lustro]

Oh, you look like an anemone tonight. I like it.

[ Looking good, mentor. ]

Say... do you think...

[ Ginger hesitates... and doesn't finish his question. ]

[meanspirited]

[Looking up at him...]

There's a lot of things I think, so you might want to be more specific.

[He at least doesn't snap at him?? So, you know. Could be a worse reaction.]

[lustro]

... About tying Tatara to a tree so he can't get into trouble anymore.

[meanspirited]

What did he do to piss you off so badly?

Kitchen

[dyingtohealyou]

...Whoa. So we have another cook after all.

[Cool, less work for him,]

[meanspirited]

You say that like you're not one of them.

[Looking at Ahito... Accusatorily, even.]

[dyingtohealyou]

I'm not. I barely know anything about cooking.

[This is not something he's saying out of pride, it's simply facts.

He will help himself to food!]

Do you happen to know what "parboiling" means, by the way?

at the ball, before Akira hits the floor bc weeps

[impacter]

You look like you'd rather be anywhere else, little sparrow.

[Solomon's been making his rounds, gently drawing the wallflowers out for conversation or dances. It doesn't surprise him that their mentor is among the many, many elusive of their group, but the absolute boredom is sure a change!]

Do you need something else to do?

[meanspirited]

What are you offering, Solomon?

[It's hard not to be bored when you've seen things like this happen countless times before!

But he's not exactly sure what this man could be planning, his first thoughts jumping to other people he's known. He doesn't seem like the sort of man who wants to brawl, though.

Which is almost a pity.]

[impacter]

Just a moment to get our mentor out of the crowd.

["In exchange for something" goes unspoken, but he'll get to that eventually.]

Would you prefer a dance, or some fresh air?

roof

[leewards]

Mm~ [Let's be real, Ithaqua did attempt to complete their mentor's challenge previously, but he just couldn't figure out a place that matched the-- admittedly barebones-- clue.] You're actually up there, eh?

[He wonders if that's the place the little guy was talking about...]

[meanspirited]

[Oh, it's stilts-guy.]

Well, it's a nice place for some peace and quiet since most of you haven't figured out how to get up here yet.

[Eventually he'll have to find a new haunt, with people getting better at flying and snooping.]

[leewards]

[Never issue challenges to Ithaqua's face, because he's compelled to prove people wrong.]

Mm~ [He drums his fingers on his chin, claws clinking against the mask.] I may just try.

library

[troublereduction]

[ Day is also in the library, trying in vain to read anything in there (it is not going well), when he sees Wanderer. ]

Oh, Wanderer. I've got a question 'bout magic.

[meanspirited]

[His attention doesn't move from the book in his hands.]

What's your question?

[troublereduction]

What ways are there to boost magic power?

[ Let it be said that Day knows how to get straight to the point. ]

roof u cannot escape

[fallingsand]

[ Bruno has a long history of getting to places people are not typically meant to be and, so, when he discovers he has a reason to track down Wanderer, no height will stop him. There is no broom involved in his ascent. Instead, he finds a series of windows and sills to scramble up, maybe a drainpipe here or there, and then he's on the roof himself.

Wanderer will hear him huffing and puffing as he clambers up the roof tiles before he gets to where he's hanging out, only to flop over the spine of the roof once he's there and let out a great, big gasp for air. ]

Oh, god, why did you... have to be... all the way up here?

[meanspirited]

[He watches Bruno flop across the roof, not looking terribly impressed.]

Because not a lot of people bother trying to follow me up.

[He's an edgy loner, Bruno! That's just how he is!]

[fallingsand]

[ Edgy loner? Never heard of it. Sounds fake. ]

Yeah? Ha, well... welll... just. Just gimme a second here...

[ Oh god, he is not as young as he used to be, maybe he should have tried brooming it up here. He takes a minute to simply breathe before trying again. ]

R-right. Anyway. Um, Yamato mentioned you knew stuff about, uh, engineering? Things like that?

the roof where nobody uses a broom ☆

[shadowkin]

[Bold of you to think somebody living on the 5th floor needs a broom for anything.

(The real question is how many people even use their room doors.)

Cid's head pops up over the eaves, and then he casually just sort of. Scuttles onto the roof tiles. It's so casual that you can probably tell this is not his first rodeo at this point, though he makes a bit of a face when he sees that the roof's already occupied. Wow........ all these manor grounds and there's regularly people on the roof. Terrible. Discrimination.

Anyway, he's got a book under one arm and a book stashed in his pocket and as he rolls to flop across the lowest part of the sloping structure another one sort of rolls out of his weird wizard coat. Yay.]

Can't a guy find a nice quiet spot for anything? [tucks the stray book under his head as a pillow just because] Didja just float all the way up here like a dandelion or something?

[He is totally amusing himself with the mental pictures here.]