diatuooc | Test Drive #10

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Test Drive #10

Test Drive #10

Disaster Response Training

Even Diatu Magicademy must acknowledge, however reluctantly, that with the Sundered around things might be a bit zanier than most people like. Even Headmaster Birony has been persuaded that some sensible education should be taken (and by "persuaded", we mean the other Professors challenged her to a pie-fight with that as the stakes. Look, they know how to manipulate her when necessary, don't judge).

So lessons in disaster management begin in the afternoon, open to all who might wish to join. Prospective students face down a tree on fire, a contained flood that threatens an innocent janitorial closet, a localized earthquake, and a miniature model of the school which features one student playing as the Evil Dragon while a team of determined responders tries to minimize the damage. (Sponsored by the Anastara War Games Association!)

Do you have what it takes to handle these problems with nerves of steel and veins of ice? Or are you part of the problem rather than part of the solution?

The Long-Distance Spell Battle

Anyone can duel at ten paces. Dueling at ten thousand, however, takes real skill.

Unlike a normal duel, the second plays a really vital role in a distance-duel: they provide Intimation and Fantastics support to help target the enemy duelist while obscuring their own, while the wizard flings Thaumaturgy and Discovery incantations towards the other position. Teamwork is critical, spell knowledge is vital, and aim is really appreciated by the bystanders.

Meet your opponent in a duel for the ages, or partner with someone to try to come off victorious. Even target dummies can be a struggle when they're nothing more than a distant speck, after all...

Wizard's Brew!

Lightning in a bottle, they call it! A crackling-blue drink that tingles on the tongue and in the stomach, wizard's brew is the new drink of choice for stressed-out students who need to put some zip in their zap, some presto in their digitation, some blabbering in their blatherskite. It does all this and more!

Of course... controlling that extra energy may be a bit tricky, especially considering how hypermaniac the brew makes those who consume it...

There's One in Every Test Drive

Not every magical disaster is caused by some wayward student you don't know. Many of them are caused by you instead. To wit: you're on the spot in one of the magical labs, being called on to demonstrate a technique more advanced than others you've mastered so far. Failure is expected, and the wards should prevent any injury to others from a miscast spell. But will the sparks of your magic just sputter out and die? Or will you inadvertently mispronounce, misform, misshape, or miscalculate in a way that brings chaos to you and your lab partner?

(You could also manage to succeed in casting the spell, but that isn't very fun.)

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Ah, Shit, Here We Go Again
Tyzias stares down her foe, taking a deep breath. Once. Twice. Three times. This whole routine is old hat for her by now. It should be, at any rate. She double-checks her papers, then grabs a sheet out of an irritated young wizard's hands and looks it up and down for two minutes and thirty-seven seconds.

She hands the sheet back to her opponent, scans the board, and rifles through a different stack of notes. Normally she wouldn't bother with this ridiculous bullshit. There are more important things for Tyzias to spend her time on; namely making sure that this world isn't due to unravel itself into another Calamity. Something about this scenario caught her attention, though.

It's stupid, really. Tyzias won this fight on Vaikuntha. This shouldn't be bothering her. But... what if something like this dumb wargame did happen at Diatu? The likelihood of getting dozens of tries to pull off a perfect win is extremely slim. Having the time to meticulously consider all the variables in play isn't all that likely either, but that isn't the point here. She needs to prove herself that if everything falls to shit again, she can save everybody without the cushion of a noncausal time loop.

Tyzias exhales, putting the mountain of notes and calculations that she's made down. "Alright. I think I've got it. Jeremy, you..." Tyzias looks to her left. Apparently Jeremy left while Tyzias was deep in the tank. The others, thankfully, are either too busy gawking at Tyzias's horns and/or grey skin and/or burn scar and/or eyepatch or catching up on their own studying to mind her extended thinking cap session.

"Fuck me."

She turns to the nearest passing bystander and puts on her best infantile barkbeast eyes. Or, er, eye. And that singular eye isn't very good at it. "Heeeeeeeey, do you have a minute? I really need a fourth to pull this off, and fucking Jeremy ran off for some stupid reason while I wasn't looking. Could you lend a hand?"

Teenage Rebellion
"Fuck no."

The TA flinches. "I, uh. What do you- do you need help? I mean, it's a basic spell, so..."

Tyzias narrows her eyes, staring down the hapless TA. Menace rolls her off in waves; if this was a stylized East Alternian comic, the kind that reads right-to-left, a bunch of "rumble" symbols would be surrounding the troll like an aura.

"Oh, I sure get the principle of this bullshit. Pretty simple application of magical force, yadda yadda yadda." Her voice stays calm, almost disinterested. "But there's no way in any punitive afterlife, take your fucking pick, that I'm going to bend a knee to a nonexistent god just so I know what card you're holding. It's the Nine of Spades, btw."

"H-how did you know?"

"You're really bad at shuffling. I'm pretty sure I could've seen what you drew from the hallway. Now, as I said: fuck. No. There's got to be some sort of alternative curriculum. Not doing this shit." Now that Tyzias is on a world where she can actually protest the content of what she's being taught, there's no way she's not going to exercise that right.

Tyzias stares daggers into the TA, and somehow they find in in them to stare back. Somebody needs to defuse this situation before the real professor gets back. But who?

Edited 2019-10-17 02:56 (UTC)

"Uh."

Why him? It... was because he just happened to be here, didn't it.

He had no gawking to do, because a teal tailed Warmblood didn't have a lot of reason to think horned grey whatever-she-was was in any way unusual. Sure, the humans here did, but that was them.

"What are we doing?"

Guess he was on-board to help?

Tyzias doesn't register his appearance as odd either. If anything, he looks like Red, which is more comforting than anything else. "Eh, somebody down in Ana-whatsit figured that a security scare was the best time to promo their stupid game here for free. Pretty savvy business move, I guess."

Realizing that she'd been unconsciously sprawling her legs across Jeremy's seat after he left, Tyzias wheels her gangly legs away and settles into her own chair.

"Anyways, the goal is to take that," she points at the highly-detailed dragon mini, "out ASAP and with as few casualties as possible. I already got this on lockdown, I just need people here to roll the dice for their characters because somebody," she glares at the wizard controlling the dragon, who glares back, "no, I legit don't know your name, won't let me take care of it on my own. Something about teamwork or whatever."

Dust looked over the map, from the dragon to the surroundings to the other figures. Tactical battle like this wasn't his strong point, but he knew enough about fighting in general to get the gist of how this needed to be done.

"All right, I'm in."

Tyzias runs down the game's rules rapid-fire and with a surprising amount of clarity, considering how she drawls out her ms and ws and that the game is heinously complex. Who thought it was a good idea to give a complex scenario like this to a bunch of beginners? Sheesh.

After a few minutes, she finishes. "Aight. Let's go. Uh... fuck, what was you name?" She gestures in Dust's general direction. "Head over to the quad and cast Lure Lv. 10. The rest of you do the same. I begin setting up Demo. 6 here." She double-checks her notes for another full minute then points at an entirely different building a good distance away from the site she's directing the rest of the group to. It... hardly seems tactically sound.

Long Distance Spell Battle
Being a Shadow Demon had a lot of perks, but the deadly allergy to sunlight wasn't one of them. As such, Pallidus constantly found himself reduced to waiting... and waiting... until finally the sun dipped below the horizon so he could take to the practice field at last and join whatever students were willing to take the evening to accompany him in his lesson. Pickings for practice partners were scarce, as expected, but a few students were more dedicated (or else bored enough) and willing to stick around.

"Good evening," he says in greeting, attempting to add some warmth to his stiff smile. "I hope you didn't mind the wait. Now, shall we begin?"

If his partner was in need of more preparation he was all too willing to allow them the time.

There's One in Every Test Drive
This had to be a joke. A cruel test set to mock the Prince of Cavernae. Lips set in a grim line, Pallidus tried to focus in on his magical core, trying to produce even a hint of a spark. But all he got was nothing.

It mattered not that he had practiced well into the morning hours to correct his diction. Or that he tried to keep his hand so perfectly steady as he inscribed the sigils required. Had he gotten one wrong? No, he didn't think so but the possibility was still there.

Damn it all, Pallidus cursed inwardly, sinking down into his seat while the professor moved on to the next student. Embarrassment gave way to shame, and his already blush-blackened cheeks remained as they were. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Pallidus hissed and tried to bring himself back from the brink of... crying? Oh, devils below, how mortifying would that be!

Pride kept his eyes dry, but the sour, cold look on his face probably didn't inspire much friendliness. Whoever his lab partner is today was in for a rough ride.

"Oh that's alright," his lab partner, a kind-looking man-like person with a bowtie said as Pallidus took a seat beside him. "Can't be helped, really. No one gets it right on their first few go's. The important thing is you tried. ...Biscuit?"

He produced a small tin with cookies from his bag when the professor wasn't looking and offered it under the table.

Dust absorbed the explanation with only a little difficulty, and most of that didn't come from the way she spoke so much as his unfamiliarity with games like this in general. When she gave him orders, he nodded and reached out to move the miniature that apparently represented him?

"Should've asked for a swordfighter," he said, to himself but he always tended to carry enough to be heard. More directly to Tyzias, he added, "I'm Dust."

"Tyzias Entykk." The other students also comply with Tyzias's orders, mostly because they just want out of this game but they also don't want to risk her wrath. Half of the Lure team's energy is wiped, and with that high of a combined level, the dragon is stunned in addition to lured to the exact location.

Tyzias nods, satisfied. There. Now for the finishing touches. "Aight. Rest of you, cast Mass Evacuate including yourselves. That clears out all the civilians in the quad. Now, assuming that goes through... I activate the Demo charge and use Metamagic: Last Flare on the top floor of the Alchemical Supplies Depot with my remaining mana, KOing me. I aim the charge at a, uh, fuck, lemme double-check my math here," Tyzias rifles through her papers, muttering equations under her breath, "78.9275 degree angle towards the dragon. Blowback breaks every bone in my body and rips my lungs out through my throat—holy fuck why are the rules for anatomy so detailed—but the roof contains a bunch of dangerous materials in safe storage. Not safe enough to block a Demo Lv. 6 with a Last Flare charge, though. Anyways, the roof is sent on a collision course with the dragon, and even if it misses the explosion should be big enough to wipe it out. No civilian casualties.

"Anybody object?"

"Once we Mass Evacuate, we don't need to strike that hard or that fast," Dust said, fingers pressed hard on the edge of the table as he leans over it. "It might win but we've still suffered a loss. That's not a victory as far as I'm concerned."

Both tactically and morally. Especially not when Tyzias described the figure as her, which made it all the more unacceptable.

Tyzias paces in a small circle around the practice field, mumbling under her breath as she twists her fingers to form a small javelin of scintillating periwinkle light before making a different gesture with her other hand, shattering it with a streak of red lightning, and casting the spell again ever-so-slightly faster. In her view, it's not how powerful you are that wins you the fight. It's how fast you are. Sure, Lance is a really basic Thaumaturgy spell, but its name is short enough and its gesticulations are fast enough for her to launch loads of them in a very little time. Likewise, the counterspell only applies a marginal amount of counterforce to the targeted evocation, but it's quick and precise enough for Tyzias to apply that pressure exactly where it's needed enough times to break the spell entirely before it reaches her.

She grunts in response, stopping her practice to look her partner up and down. Something like a smile tugs at the edge of her face. He almost looks like a troll. Hell, if she was new to this whole thing, she'd assume he's a mutant, but Tyzias has seen enough at this point to know that it's likely not the case. "Tyzias Entykk. Pallidus, right?"

Tyzias shakes her head vigorously, agitation leaking into her languid movement. As far as she's concerned, this is the perfect scenario. Everybody else gets to live, the dragon is dead, what is there to complain about. "Nah. The Lure only stunned the dragon last turn. It's active again this round, and I don't want to fucking risk it leaving the only place that has a wide enough area to hit with the roof and cause no damage anywhere else just so I can detonate the charge while running like a coward. Don't know about you, but I'd much rather sacrifice the dear, sweet, innocent shrubbery instead of some oblivious students screaming their heads off in one of the other areas. One casualty is the lowest that number goes unless we get a miracle roll. Trust me, I've done the math on this one."

This older-seeming gentleman was really much too optimistic-sounding for Pallidus' liking after that abysmal failure. But no, no, that was just the frustration talking. His tutors back home would be disappointed if he failed to keep it together after just one ~~complete and utter~~ failure. Plastering on a cold, but no longer angry, smile Pallidus gave a nod to his tablemate.

The offer of the cookie surprised him, and suddenly Pallidus was back again with his tutors, scolding Viribus for secreting in treats while Genus and himself tried not to laugh at their brother's lack of propriety. By all means he should not be indulging in class but... well, the man seemed friendly enough and turning him down seemed somehow more rude. And perhaps Pallidus was also feeling a bit miffed at their professor as well, enough to show the tiniest bit of disrespect.

"That's quite generous of you. My thanks," Pallidus said as he selected one of the thin cookies from the tin. Breaking it in half, Pallidus chewed thoughtfully on the piece and regarded his partner for a slow minute. After swallowing, he made note that their professor was back to having sadistic fun of challenging another student, and spoke up again. "I don't suppose this is a common practice here? Pushing students to fail and struggle?"

"Who cares about causing damage?" Dust said with a smirk. His eyes weren't visible beneath his hat, of course, but his regard on her came through clearly nonetheless. "Structural damage is meaningless both in this scenario and in the larger state of affairs. Even if they weren't wizards, buildings still get fixed eventually, people don't. And since they are wizards..."

He waved a hand, then flicked his fingers outwards. Poof, all better, see?

"Whether it's the game or real life, the sacrifice play isn't worth it unless it solves the problem for good. This is just one dragon."

"Quite correct. And you are Miss Entykk, I presume?" She wasn't the only one to notice the similarities. In fact, he had made a few inquires after seeing her face across campus from time to time. It seemed she was already a talented student, and while he would guess she's a few years younger than himself in age, he could readily admit to himself he was a bit intimidated by her prowess.

"I do hope you don't find my lack of skill bothersome," he said amiably. "My own magic back home is quite different than what is conjured here. I'm afraid I tend to slip back into old habits, but that is why we must practice."

He would get home eventually, and maybe all of this would turn up moot. However, Pallidus refused to just sit down and laze about until that came to pass. What sort of example would that be setting for any other demons that happened to show up?

Brushing his dark bangs to the side with his black-tipped fingers, Pallidus gave a bow to his opponent. "Shall I take up a position at the field edge, then?"

Aziraphale--or Mr. Fell, as he introduced himself these days--gave a happy sort of wiggle in his seat and nabbed a biscuit for himself. Pallidus had no idea how generous the offer (Aziraphale did not share food easily) but he thought the sweet might help the nice, demonic looking young man so it was worth it.

"I suppose some feel struggle is necessary for a lesson to be learned," he said after some consideration. At least here the rules were clear, the professor challenged them with too great of tasks but did not play games with them. "That one's limits must be pushed to redefine and grow them. Failure happens, though, whether it is courted or not, and maybe it is better to have some mistakes in the safety of a classroom where nothing is at stake, than when you are depending on a success."

"If it were just about the structural damage I would be all for letting the dragon wreck some shit. But there are people inside those buildings, numbnuts, and we only have one Mass Evacuation charge each that we already used to get the quad clear. TBF there's a decent chance of evac'ing the students if at least two of us work in tandem, but the faculty go down with the ship and that ruleset is designed for failure. We can't rescue everyone, and the more people we leave behind, the more panicky the students get, the harder they are to rescue, the more we leave behind. It's going to be a cascade of clownery if we try to get the students out manually. If we want to minimize casualties, we need to bring this thing down hard and fast," Tyzias argues, arms flailing. She has experience with this sort of thing. Evac efforts can only do so much when people are afraid of getting left behind.

She has to admit, she's getting a bit too hot under the collar. It's just a stupid game, after all. No real stakes. But... she bites back the urge to growl as she recalls the leadup to the Calamity. No. She has to see this one through.

Someone to defuse the situation? Look not to this one, by any means. She's laughing, but not at Tyzias, no. Her pitiless laughter scathes the poor TA, who seems to be getting redder by the moment, even as he turns his glares to her. Luckily the teachers aren't allowed to discipline the students, or Sadu would be earning it right now. (As if the troll hadn't been doing much the same, herself, a few short moments ago...)

"You are not good at this, are you? However did you earn this position? Licking your master's boots? Oooh," the Dotharl pouts at him. "Do you need salve for your bruised ego? I think not--though if you truly wish it, I could cauterize your wounds for you!"

Generally speaking, Pallidus much preferred savory to sweet but gifts of any sort should always be graciously taken. And in this case, he definitely deserved something to console his pride.

“You make a fine point, sir.” His brain was mollified even if his heart was still grumbling. “I’m afraid I haven’t been in school for quite some time and it has dulled my endurance of academic failure. If it were just myself and the professor, I may not have felt so...”

Pallidus hums, unsatisfied with his own excuses. He was a prince and all his movements and choices were under scrutiny. Just because he didn’t have the eyes of his peers directly upon him he should treat it as one and the same. Something to push him to rise up above the standard.

He sighed. “I need to train more in this type of magic. It’s nothing like the magic back home.”

What the heck was 'tee bee eff'?

"You weren't here when the actual dragon attack happened." Dust remembered that -- way too many students running straight for the thing, including himself. But he also recognized, and really, respected the impulse that led her down the path she was going down...

Just, rather hypocritically as he well knew, Dust reserved that sort of sacrifice for himself.

So what was the answer?

"If at least two of us work in tandem..." Hold on. "Wait, I can use Intimation to predict its movements for one round. We Mass-Evac everyone who'd be threatened, then next round the others get the last ones out and I throw up Greater Shield to protect you from the blowback."

Tyzias barks a short, harsh laugh. "Trust me, I'm probably worse at this than you are. Just because I'm the fastest hand at slinging wiggler spells in the West Tower doesn't mean that I'm halfway fucking competent." Harsh, but true. She misses being able to toss swords of light and orbs of darkness across the battlefield at the drop of the hat, but Tyzias has to admit that she's enjoying actually learning how to cast spells instead of literally learning them through osmosis. There just wasn't any real challenge in wielding at asterisk on Vaikuntha. Other than death by monsters.

Not that she was complaining about the shortcut to not dying, but... Tyzias never thought she'd miss the weeks of digging through ancient archives just to find a fragment of a precedent that she needed to support a small piece of evidence for her supplementary essay.

Her head quirks to the side when Pallidus says he's her opponent. "...you do realize that this is a partner duel, right? That's what I thought I signed up for, at any rate."

"You. Shut the fuck up."

You weren't there when the actual dragon attack happened.

Tyzias has to stifle a laugh at that. Oh, if only he knew. She freezes up, her hand reaching towards the burn scar running up her cheek before she forces herself to take a deep breath and it comes back down.

Then Dust starts making an annoying amount of sense. She opens her mouth to protest and punch a hole in his logic, but... that was an angle she hadn't considered. Tyzias's mouth snaps shut, and she finds the handbook beneath her piles upon piles of notes to make sure that it'll work.

"Yeah. That... that'll sure fucking do it." She bares her teeth. The expression has just enough goodwill in it for it to be nonthreatening, but Tyzias's fangs are too sharp and there are too many of them for it to be a real smile.

Despite her diminutive stature, she just blinks big, blue eyes up at the other horned female, baring her teeth in a sharp grin.

"No. Make me." Meanwhile, the TA, having lost all control of the situation, beats a hasty retreat. He could always be looking for an actual professor...which in this case, might be a good idea...

As the TA flees, Tyzias takes a good, long look at Sadu.

Then she shrugs.

"Eh. Not worth it." The troll kicks her feet up on her desk and begins flipping through the textbook, underlining and diagramming the prayers. Maybe if she finds some sort of consistent logic between all of them, Tyzias can deconstruct the spells into their composite parts and reconstruct them into something that didn't deeply annoy her. She starts muttering a few individual words under her breath, testing out their magical output, and continues making notes.

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Test Drive #10

Tyzias Entykk | Melodies of Eternity CRAU | Open

Here We Go Again

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Prince Pallidus | OC | Open

Hello you!

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Long Distance Spell Battle

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Well hello~ ;3

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8Dc a wild homestuck appears!

Sorry about these rushed break/ lunch tags

sorry for her being a stubborn jackass

Teenage Rebellion

Lol it’s fine

I'd expect nothing less!

OHOHOHO a hiveswap technically but that's close enough

i'm sorry for the short tag but i couldn't resist

i am finding it amusing just how quickly tyzias's civvie act is falling apart

oh no that's fine!! she's going to enjoy herself.

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