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.)
serpentinthegarden: (Eyes for you)

[personal profile] serpentinthegarden 2021-08-08 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
How perfectly scandalized Crowley would have been if he had been let in on those particular remembrances! His ever so innocently demonic thoughts were in stark contrast to those wickedly angelic ones which were hinted at only with a bite of apple, a coy expression, and a touch of verbal jousting. He was simply happy that they could sit here together and banter like old times, that all that angel and demon business was, for a while, forgotten in this quiet tender moment.

"Usually a call will do it."

He was only ever a ring away.

"But are you saying you've never been tempted? You could... I don't know, summon an imp to help you reorganize the library or scare people away from your flat when you are reading?"
serpentinthegarden: (Contemplative bench)

[personal profile] serpentinthegarden 2021-08-08 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"Just about."

Though the hidden charitable side of Crowley's nature was about to rear its ugly head.

"You are capable of so much. You are the only species on the planet that has mastered the art of building great big wonderful cars, skyscrapers that pierce the clouds, and rockets that can go up into the stars... If only you didn't spend so much of your time using those talents to build machines to destroy each other."
dulcet_cellist: (Quiet Refusal)

[personal profile] dulcet_cellist 2021-08-09 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Sebastian felt like his emotions were the tides, the ebbs and flow of the ocean. They hit him in waves too big to keep his head above them and he would get pulled down into the undertow. Once pulled under he questioned his will to live and couldn't find the strength to care either way.

That's how it had been since he got the call from Jack's father.

More recently the emotions would recede enough to let him breathe again. Just enough to get out of bed and shower or find something to eat. Just enough to consider what he should do now, like going back to school, because he knew something had to change.

Then he found himself here and for a brief moment after the initial crashing of waves and questioning his sanity he found he could breathe. Loki had provided calm in the storm of chaos.

He should have known it wouldn't last. The worst part was he wasn't very good at hiding his emotions. Even worse was not really knowing how he felt. And even worse was knowing there wasn't a way out. No escape. No going home. No rescue. No Jack.

Sebastian closed his eyes, so very carefully holding himself still and barely daring to breathe, tears slipping down his cheeks despite the effort he was making to hold back the tide.

After a moment, when he could manage a deeper breath, he said quietly, "I don't think I want to die."
whose_son_am_i: (Avengers--watching wary)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-09 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
Had he known, Loki would've been mildly insulted that he was the 'calm' in a storm of chaos. As it is, he just studies the other carefully. Saying nothing, just observing. "Then don't. That's why we're here. To learn how to control this magic."

Something awful had happened to this young man. It was recent, and Loki suspected it was one in a string of things that had happened. He had no reason to care, and honestly he didn't. At least, not more than recognizing the signs that someone else had had a *really* bad couple of days and was in danger of breaking from it.
dulcet_cellist: (Sad)

[personal profile] dulcet_cellist 2021-08-09 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
Then don't.

Simple. Straightforward. But the fear and uncertainty, the hole inside of him where all the happiness he'd found the last few years had been torn out, wanted to say something. A chaotic tumbling of words and thoughts so overwhelming he couldn't open his mouth and then they were inconsequential.

It was simple. Don't die. And to not die he had to learn how to control magic. The rest didn't matter. It was his world before Jack all over again. He just had to remember how he survived it without him all those years.

It hit him so suddenly how very alone he'd been then and how very alone he felt now.

"Thank you. For sharing your magic and for your kindness." His words came out shaky and he couldn't stop the tears, but he was trying.
whose_son_am_i: (Avengers--watching wary)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-09 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
Loki tilted his head, still studying the other man. "Kindness isn't something I'm usually known for." Said with an almost puzzled quality to his voice.
dulcet_cellist: (Tears)

[personal profile] dulcet_cellist 2021-08-09 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
"Kindness isn't something I've experience very often until recently."

That nearly broke him again thinking about Jack's kindness, his smile, how happy he'd been with him, but Sebastian held his breath for a moment and attempted drying his face. He needed to stop thinking about Jack. Jack was gone and he'd taken everything with him. Thinking about him wasn't going to make what he had to do now any easier.

"You didn't have to warn me about the pie and you could have turn me into a frog, but you didn't."
ronstadt: (disco mystic)

[personal profile] ronstadt 2021-08-09 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, exactly. Which house did you get, anyway? I got Valor - I know that's not it, but I keep forgetting to put in the extra syllable and I'm probably gonna look like a total dink for a month before I get used to it."

He rolls his eyes a little in self-mockery. At least the man knows his limits.
whose_son_am_i: (Loki of Asgard)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-09 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"I have no reason to turn you into a frog. It's hardly entertaining and you haven't annoyed me or made me angry." As for the warning about the pie... The other had not quite been a sitting duck--and that wasn't enjoyable either. Watching someone who couldn't fight back get pummeled.
souls_of_roles: (Kyoko - Animated - Shojo eager)

[personal profile] souls_of_roles 2021-08-10 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Wherever you think we'll find information that will help us find Faeries!"
nobodys_puppet: (A Hooded Confrontation)

[personal profile] nobodys_puppet 2021-08-10 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
She nodded. "The train. So we can all be together."
wagerofloki: (008)

[personal profile] wagerofloki 2021-08-10 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
Val was thoughtfully quiet after he finished speaking. It was clear she was bitter.

"None'f our lofty ambition means shit 'less you can squeeze jack out'f it. Easiest way's to deal in death." She'd was growing more detached the more she spoke.

"Never figured out how corps made profit off turnin' half the city to a war zone'n lettin' the bodies pile up." Her eyes flicked sharply up to the man, the fear in her body language turning into angry defiance as if he were somehow to blame for it all. She knew he wasn't, but he was here, and the people who were to blame weren't. "You got any clue how that works?"
dulcet_cellist: (Excuse Me?)

[personal profile] dulcet_cellist 2021-08-10 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
"Thank you."

It was a relief to be out of that room. At the moment he wasn't capable of handling any more enthusiastic chaos. It was confusing to him that anyone was actually enjoying themselves when they'd just discovered they'd been kidnapped and forced to learn magic.

"I don't understand. You left. You can leave this place? And now you're back?"
dulcet_cellist: (Going To Cry)

[personal profile] dulcet_cellist 2021-08-10 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Regardless of your reason, thank you."

If Loki turned out to be just like any other bully he'd met before it wouldn't surprise him. He had that kind of luck. But there was something about the man that made Sebastian doubt he was a bully. At least, not like the bullies he was familiar with. Not like Christian and his side-kick.

"I'm sorry...for..." For being an emotional wreck. "For any trouble I've caused."
whose_son_am_i: (Avengers-side-amused)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-10 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
Loki blinked, then chortled softly. One hand coming up to his mouth, and he really couldn't help it. "Child, you have not caused me any trouble. I assure you--you would know it if you did."
dulcet_cellist: (pic#8385268)

[personal profile] dulcet_cellist 2021-08-10 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
"If I did you'd turn me into a frog. I'm not fond of frogs, but I've experienced worse."

Sebastian took another deep breath, desperately trying to steady himself, and pulled his shirt up to dry his face. There was something about Loki's amusement that seemed to help bring things back into focus.

"I'm 19, not a child."

Of course he's perfectly aware of how childish that sounds and how childish he appears with tears running down his face and with his need to have magic proven to him.
whose_son_am_i: (Avengers-side-amused)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-10 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
"I'd do far worse than turn you into a frog." Loki responded, still amused and one brow arched in amusement. "I'm over a thousand years old. You are a child."
serpentinthegarden: (Gallery)

[personal profile] serpentinthegarden 2021-08-10 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know anything about the corps."

All he could do on that was look for parallels he had seen in conflicts past.

"Could be anything; backroom weapons deals, illicit drugs, battlebots, as long as you are providing something that some one else wants you can make a profit from anything. Wars can be especially profitable."
dulcet_cellist: (Trying to Hide the Pain)

[personal profile] dulcet_cellist 2021-08-10 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
"Of course. Why should you be any different." At least Loki was honest. It was more like a promise than a threat and given the magic Loki had shown Sebastian before he didn't doubt he could do worse than turn him into a frog.

He wasn't surprised, just disappointed.

"You look good for your age."

whose_son_am_i: (Default)

[personal profile] whose_son_am_i 2021-08-10 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
The remark, and hint of fire it showed, just made Loki smile and lightly bow his head in a gesture of thanks. "Another one who has been ground down by life, then?" His tone conversational, and genuinely curious.
textbookcase: (005)

[personal profile] textbookcase 2021-08-10 03:32 pm (UTC)(link)
There's always going to be someone who doesn't get the joke. That was what Mister J would say-- But no. It doesn't matter. And maybe, in this case, the joke really isn't so funny. So Harley thinks as she hears the teen's explanation. Her smile fades away as she nods.

"Hard times, huh?"
wagerofloki: (082)

when i read mister j i just heard "mista j" in my head

[personal profile] wagerofloki 2021-08-11 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
"No more'n usual." It was pretty clear from the way Val didn't skip a beat that food insecurity was probably rather familiar to her. It didn't even seem to register as something that

"Gotta admit: this probably's the best eats I ever had. Never had pie 'fore."
temptationaccomplished: (rodens  (211))

[personal profile] temptationaccomplished 2021-08-11 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Alright."

Contact was a human thing, and he felt Alec denied himself too many of the things that made human life better. Still, he was respectful of his friend's wishes and left him there with just the lightest of touches to his arm in reassurance. (And to reassure himself that Alec was very much here and not going to blow away.

A few minutes later, he returned with a cup of tea made, if memory served, how Alec seemed to prefer, as well as a plate with a sweet biscuit (for Alec, or for himself, whichever it came down to), and took a seat.

"Well, then, let's have look at you, shall we."
scotch_egg: (sip)

[personal profile] scotch_egg 2021-08-11 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
It was fine. If you had something and took advantage of it, you didn't deserve to have it anymore. Especially when others did not. He had managed to clean most of the blood off when Fell returned, revealing bruises and shallow cuts and an exhausted Alec-- but then he always was.

"If you heal me I will never forgive you." Just throwing that out there. He took the tea and actually took a sip of it to pacify Fell-- then closed his eyes. It was sweet and hot and perfect and when he let out a breath it was probably too long and too deep so when he opened his eyes again he felt vaguely disoriented.

"I'm fine. Really. Just tired."
temptationaccomplished: (mm that's a funny taste in my mouth)

[personal profile] temptationaccomplished 2021-08-11 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
Usually a call will do it. Except for a short while, a call couldn't do it, so Aziraphale had gone to lengths to attempt to bring him here. But that was all in the past, and he had shown up back then, and he had shown up now, and Aziraphale was pleased to have him a ring or a few halls away.

He wrinkled his nose to the suggestions. "They'd do more harm than good. And, yes, I know, they're demons, they don't do good, but I don't trust many with the safekeeping of books or my things. I'd hardly trust an imp. They seem rather prone to mischief."

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