Mod Account for Diatu Magicademy ([personal profile] magicademymods) wrote in [community profile] diatuooc2021-07-23 03:56 pm
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Test Drive Reloaded! #1


Test Drive #1




Welcome to Diatu (I Like Swords)

The Arrival Hall is all aflurry with activity! No one had expected so many Sundered to suddenly pop up, the staff find themselves desperately scrambling to keep up with the influx, and a bunch of new arrivals find themselves hanging out in the Hall lobby, waiting to be seen, sent home if possible, or counseled and prepared for student life if not. Rumors run like wildfire: some people believe they've been kidnapped by aliens, a worryingly persistent suggestion that this is a setup for a murder-tournament keeps circulating, and one or two nutcases insist that a dragon tinkered with the rules of magic and now they have to study at a magic school to survive. Pie stocks are grievously low, and thought Headmaster Birony herself appeared and began violating the rules of space and time to summon pies from the future, a second Headmaster Birony with an eyepatch, several war scars, and a wild hairdo appeared and promptly yelled at the first Headmaster for stealing her pies. A pie fight erupted. Pie stocks are even more grievously low now.

Still, here's your chance to talk to your fellow arrivals. Or aggressively attack the nearest target in an outrage (they set up a target dummy and labeled it VENT AGGRESSION HERE, and are trusting you guys on the honor system). Staff don't have time to talk, but they promise they'll get to you soon!

A Day In The Life

The sun is bright, the air is warm, a cool breeze blows across Anastara, clouds keep drifting directly through the island and engulfing people... it's summer on Ascelion, and the day is ripe for learning. Or as ripe as Diatu Magicademy ever can be -- though no one would trade the character and charm of the lively campus for some stodgy, regimented school more interested in forcing students into the mold than encouraging them to be their best, sometimes conditions in the Magicademy are a little inconvenient.

A toilet in Kedrigan Hall keeps clamping onto the butts of those who attempt to use it. Thus far, half a dozen students have been freed from its clutches by their friends, while reports of singed buttocks have increased twofold. (Yes, only twofold. Think about that for a minute.) Staff are on the lookout for a prankster rather than a commode, so as of yet the treacherous toilet has gone unpunished...

Not far away, a group of cleaning golems has occupied the promenade as part of an ongoing strike. As they possess only rudimentary intelligence, they believe this involves seizing objects from anyone who passes nearby and hurling them at a set of bowling pins. Meliandre Tomekin, Head of Groundskeeping, has set up shop across the Promenade; any student who wanders too close gets a big block of ice shoved into their hands, along with instructions to hold it still while she shows those reprobates what-for...

In the Great Hall proper, school clubs and activities have, as was inevitable, escalated competition for new students to yet another level which only isn't a war crime because it isn't part of a treaty yet: they've conscripted geese. Horrible geese, to be precise, who dispense flyers for various clubs with less subtlety than a nuclear holocaust. Some of them fight for dominance, others have teamed up to pin down innocent students and stuff leaflets down their throat, and one has a wand and is somehow casting Discovery spells?!

A Forgery!

"I tried a mass-Forging technique," the older student says, showing off the briefcase full of identical wands and a sign that says 'FOR $ALE CHEAP'. "Some of them are exactly what I intended, they self-correct runes, but the rest, well.. . I don't know, I can't tell, and I'm not really interested in finding out one by one, so... you buying?"

All sales final. No refunds. Caveat emptor. As for what the wands do, well... there's a reason he answered with an ellipsis when asked. On the other hand, maybe the effect isn't too terrible? Maybe it's even beneficial! Maybe the wand shoots out rainbows and muffins! Or maybe it just animates and strikes you vigorously about the head and shoulders...

Three Dragon War

Someone, we're not naming names, canons, or the color of eyes and the dragon to which they belong that forms said person's obsession, may or may not be indirectly responsible for the latest game craze sweeping Anastara: Three Dragon War, a collectible card game that features players as dragons, deploying spells, creatures, and Sundered against each other to destroy each and avoid the machinations of the Third Dragon. The awesome thing about the game is that the Third Dragon comes in all different forms: classic bundled-with-the-starter-pack Ire, super-rare Anastara Diatu, suspiciously-rare Cam Birony, ultra-common Large Eagull, and more. The concept of an outside force adding randomness to the battle and being manipulated in turn by cards means Three Dragon War is the hottest card game that's come along since the last card game that was the hottest that had come along came along.

Face-to-face, you find yourself in a duel over these cards and the magical images they summon. Can this untested deck come through if you believe in it? Or are statistics and probability actual things that actually happen? Dragon Battle! Jiao Long Fu!

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.)
sciencegirl: (038)

[personal profile] sciencegirl 2021-08-01 07:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"Work isn't work if you have fun doing it!" She holds up one of the wands in a twist of her hair, grinning at it.

"Finding differences in similar things is fun to me. You can make a dozen similar model robots and I could find personality in each of them based on their flaws and success of various functions. Give me clones and I could I could see what makes each one different. Theoretically these are all similar, but the differences are extraordinary!

She's obviously absolutely delighted with it.

"So how are we defining good or bad here?"
schoolingfish: (Neutral human)

[personal profile] schoolingfish 2021-08-01 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, that sounds right. I've never had...actually, I've never had pie before."

So this is entirely new territory for him. Of course, he's also never had apples, either, or a lot of human things, really.
wagerofloki: (031)

[personal profile] wagerofloki 2021-08-01 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Sure, but if I don't gotta open a textbook it's already gotta be a lot better'n this."

If he thought that his name and where he was from would pull some sort of reaction from her, well, he might find himself disappointed. There was no recognition on her face as he gave it to her.

"I guess that makes me of Night City, then." The style of speaking wasn't hers, but she could mimic him. "Loki's a cool name. Different. Sounds like somethin' a netrunner'd pick."
whose_son_am_i: (Default)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-01 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
That she showed no recognition at all was interesting to him. He'd have to learn more. "I'm unfamiliar with what a netrunner is. Enlighten me?" Loki suspected neither of them had come up to this high point looking for someone to talk to, but they'd already had their 'shared-space-while-silent' moment.
wagerofloki: (019)

[personal profile] wagerofloki 2021-08-01 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
She didn't mind talking. It kept her from thinking too much about all of this, which spared (delayed) the headache that was forming somewhere in the back of her head. She had to play it cool now, freak out about this all later.

In keeping with their conversation thus far, the confusion on her face was hard to miss. This was, again, something that was so basic to her.

"So kinda like how I can download stuff from computers or whatever with the jack on my hand, uh, people who're netrunners can jack into a system with a port like this one," she pulled her hair back and showed him two chip slots and a port, "and they can upload themselves into the net? It's, uh. From what I been told it's a lot like bein' in VR but instead'f bein' in a game you're in a real system."

She was making a lot of assumptions that he already knew a lot of things.
whose_son_am_i: (Do you hear how you sound?)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-01 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Leaning closer as she pulled her hair back to study her ports. "VR meaning Virtual Reality, correct?" Loki wasn't unfamiliar with the concepts she talked of. "Then you're from a society that prizes 'technology' highly. How common are jacks and ports like your own?"
serpentinthegarden: (Sofa brooding)

[personal profile] serpentinthegarden 2021-08-02 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
"VRcades, yea, I'd cut class to go to one of those."

So saying before ever actually being in a class before but hey, it sounded like a good way to spend an afternoon. He had been itching to try out one of those Oculus systems.

"Magic isn't bullshit. Some of us have always had it. I'm not so sure how I feel about all these humans getting magic... Maybe they will use it to create something amazing but more likely they will just find a way to blow something up."
serpentinthegarden: (You can do proper magic)

[personal profile] serpentinthegarden 2021-08-02 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
The hand bounced harmlessly off the shield and disappeared back into the wand-created portal.

"Mn, it probably just wanted to get a high five."
ronstadt: (Default)

[personal profile] ronstadt 2021-08-02 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
"Legit? Damn. ... Is it a part of the whole, you know..."

He felt lame before he even said it. There wasn't much of a way to be tactful.

"...being dead thing?"
ronstadt: (in a weird place now)

Wanna make this game canon?

[personal profile] ronstadt 2021-08-02 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
"I met a guy the other day who might appreciate it, yeah." He immediately thought of Crowley and his comments about his idea of an ideal party.
wagerofloki: (049)

[personal profile] wagerofloki 2021-08-02 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
She nodded to confirm that she meant virtual reality but didn't give a verbal confirmation.

"Um, just depends on the jobs you do'n the kinda money you got, but everyone's got at least a little'f somethin', usually. Some people'r still pure 'ganic but that's really unusual."

"So, for example, my ripper doc's got his workin' arm all cybered up'n then he's got a cyberhand that's got all his tools built-in. Makes his arm real steady when he's workin', 'n all his tools are just right there. Don't need any assistant."

A pause. "Made me feel better knowin' he had that when he implanted these chips in my head'n shit."
whose_son_am_i: (Ragnarok--Dark-Suit 2)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-02 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
"I can imagine it would make it better." Better for the doctor, and for her. "Then all of this" A hand gestured to the grounds below them. "will take some getting used to for you especially."
Edited 2021-08-02 01:49 (UTC)
mal_contented: (Um no.)

Re: OU version here for funzies

[personal profile] mal_contented 2021-08-02 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
"I am waiting for you to leave," she said, flatly.
wagerofloki: (003)

[personal profile] wagerofloki 2021-08-02 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
Val relaxed some when it was revealed that her pies were safe. She glanced down at herself to double-check which shirt she was wearing, then smiled back up to the woman. It faltered a little at the approval of wasting food, but Val tried not to let that sink her mood.

"Helps weed out who's worth talkin' to'n who isn't, y'know?" Being divisive had some perks, might as well run with them.

"Not a fan'f wastin' food, though. Won't know the next time I see it; gotta enjoy it while I can."
creepyoldguy: (thumbsup)

Re: OU version here for funzies

[personal profile] creepyoldguy 2021-08-02 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Cool."

He took another bite of his cup, chewing thoughtfully as he sat mid-air.
mal_contented: (Ugh)

Re: OU version here for funzies

[personal profile] mal_contented 2021-08-02 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
"And here I was thinking it wasn't possible for you to get any stupider. Go. Away. No one wants you here."
wagerofloki: (051)

[personal profile] wagerofloki 2021-08-02 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
She nodded. "It's real quiet here. Not many people." The air here was clean and she really liked that. It almost made up for the constant nervousness she felt by the quiet.

"What's Asgard like?"
wagerofloki: (016)

[personal profile] wagerofloki 2021-08-02 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
Val nodded a little in agreement at the sentiment. There were certain jobs she had that she never found much of a chore because she did genuinely enjoy it. Most of the time.

She blinked at the explanation of finding differences, almost opening her mouth to interrupt on the topic of robots, but falling quiet at the mention of clones. That was interesting, and something that she wasn't so sure was possible. (Not that she knew a lot of science or anything. She'd just think it'd be plastered all over the screamsheets if it existed.

"Well, the good ones'r the ones that correct the runes like they're s'pposed to. The bad ones'r the ones that don't do that'n do somethin' else instead. Not that all the bad ones are, uh, bad - one guy got me pretty good with a wand earlier, it was kinda funny - but surely they're not what people'r wantin' to buy."
whose_son_am_i: (Avengers--watching wary)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-02 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Asgard...shines. Of the nine realms, it is the most beautiful." Loki brings one long leg up and wraps his arms around it while he speaks. "It floats surrounded by water that cascades into waterfalls off into the cosmos, and one can see all the stars of the nine realms in the sky. In the center, arching high in a fan-like series of columns lies the golden palace. Along a path that leads from the palace, out through the capital, the path connects to the Bifrost, in shimmering rainbow colors. The Bifrost itself stretches out into the surrounding lake towards the edge. It is rich shades of green and brown with forests and crags, deep blues and whites of the water, warm sunny days that are pleasantly cool without being cold."

Not that he felt the cold anyway. "Lots of open-space, even within the capital." He picked up that that might be important to her. As he spoke, it was also clear that he was fond of his home, while also having a wistful quality to his voice.
Edited 2021-08-02 02:43 (UTC)
wagerofloki: (081)

[personal profile] wagerofloki 2021-08-02 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
Val didn't particularly get the appeal herself, but her interests lay elsewhere. VR was something so ubiquitous that it was hardly anything special.

"The hell you mean 'these humans'?" She took some offense to all of this. "You tryin' to say you're somethin' else?" She crossed her arms. "You got somethin' against blowin' shit up?" She hadn't even considered blowing anything up, but now she might. Just because he said something.
serpentinthegarden: (Sofa brooding)

[personal profile] serpentinthegarden 2021-08-02 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Beings are being pulled in from all over. Not all of us are human."

He looked up wondering that it wasn't obvious that he wasn't something else. Course he was in human mode, trying to make himself look as much like one of them as possible. Why his eyes might even for the moment have looked very human indeed if not for the shades which shielded them from view. He rather admired humans in spite of their tendency to blow things up.
Story of his life really, inspiring humans to blow things up while secretly wishing that they wouldn't.

"Guess that means you are one and you have never been to a world with magic or otherworldly beings before? How are you taking to it?"

temptationaccomplished: (intim(id)ate moment)

[personal profile] temptationaccomplished 2021-08-02 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
His coolness levels certainly had Aziraphale convinced. Then again, he thought Crowley was the height of modernity and popular style even when he was inarguably at his absolute oddest, most childish or nerdy. The demon was multifaceted creature. But he also didn't have the angel fooled one bit that he was handling the offer without being affected.

"Yes, exactly. I'd hate to incur a late fee."

He bit back a fond, adoring smile, but it fought its way forward anyway, and he kept his eyes on the path rather than look at Crowley and give away everything.

"We'll have homework too, you know. Lots to study for in school, tests and the like." He couldn't help himself: "We could study together."
temptationaccomplished: (you go too fast)

[personal profile] temptationaccomplished 2021-08-02 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
Let's not bring Her into this, but yes, Someone, he worried that if Alec slept, he might actually not ever wake up, and though Aziraphale was more than aware that humans came with expiration dates and that Alec had been pushing the limits on his for a long while, he wasn't quite ready to think about how easy it might be for someone so dear to him to disappear on him so casually.

So he swallowed back that emotion and nodded. "He remembers me as I was before." If there was anyone he could tell this to, it would be Alec. "When I said some hurtful things to him. I think he has forgiven me--but I worry I may never be able to properly heal that wound for him."
scotch_egg: (cannot deal)

[personal profile] scotch_egg 2021-08-02 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
He rolls his eyes.

"It's Anthony. You're Fell. He'd forgive you even if you cut out his heart in the marketplace. He's an affection sponge. Or was... I don't know. I don't know what's real anymore but, Christ, it doesn't matter does it?" He shakes his head.

"Anyway, don't worry about it. Soon neither of you will even remember."
serpentinthegarden: (Paintball time)

[personal profile] serpentinthegarden 2021-08-02 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
"Are the Librarians here super fierce?"

It really didn't matter that Aziraphale wasn't looking at him. Whenever he smiled as happily as that everything he said held that same thrilled-to-bits joy to it. With a glow about his face and a pleased little bounce in his step... Why the angel practically glittered!

It was such a far cry from the last time Crowley had seen him and endlessly puzzling! And the hits just kept coming as the angel figuratively sucker punched him again with that, 'We could study together'. This was not entirely the same as Crowley's suggestion that they run off together but from an angel, one so set upon books and reading, it was just as powerful.

Only those little reminders about all the homework and tests he was going to be expected to do managed to keep his demonic feet on firmly on the ground.

"Nnnnk! They won't make us do tests, will they?? That's just for the kids!"

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