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Test Drive Reloaded! #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.)
Marik Ishtar (child) | Card Games On Pyramids
Mmmph!
[ Thus spake the small boy seated in a corner of the room, who has somehow managed to wheedle himself a whole pie. Hogging a hot commodity, this kiddo. Who also apparently has no idea how to EAT a pie, because he's tearing into it with his hands and making an absolute mess cramming it into his mouth. ]
Hey, have you tried this? There's fruit in it, but it's not all dry!
[ THIS IS THE MOST EXCITING DISCOVERY EVER
EXCEPT FOR LITERALLY THE ENTIRE REST OF THIS ROOM ]
[ A Triple Dog Dare in the Life ]
Agggghhghghgh....
[ Marik's quest to sample the entirety of the outside world has run into a roadblock. More specifically, it's run into an iceblock, as his curiosity about this GIANT COLD THING has gotten the better of him and he's stuck his tongue to it. Which feels really neat!
Not being able to detach his tongue is less neat. ]
Nnnn...NnnNNNNNNnn. MMMMMMMMMMRRRRNNNN!!!!
[ Marik hops up and down, trying to get the attention of anyone not dealing with the golem problem. Someone! Help!!! Him!!!! ]
[ Three Dragon War ]
[ To his immense (?) credit, Marik has not put the trading cards into his mouth. He is, however, peering at a game in process - not as a player, but around the shoulder of someone else playing. Excuse him. ]
Fuse those two dragons and then attack the cockatrice. That way the enemy wyvern won't be able to activate its special ability.
[ He frowns at the person he's "helping". ] Are you even thinking?
triple dog dare
He spots a young one with his tongue stuck on the ice and sighs. There's something oddly familiar about this kid. ]
Hold still. I'll have to turn this ice back into water.
[ It's a simple mathematical formula, and he just needs a few moments to draw it up. Marik is lucky Seto's had plenty of time to practice, minimizing the risk of screwups.
But it's about to get very wet with all that ice melting at once. ]
no subject
[ Marik's curiosity about this statement is gratified soon enough! He gasps for air, shivers as the water splashes all over him, and stands there in blinking astonishment.
Then he bursts into a big grin, drippy and loving it. ]
That was incredible! Ice really can become water! How'd you DO that?! Can I do it too???
--Oh, but we shouldn't waste water. So I will just do it a little bit.
[ Marik is a good(?) boy. ]
no subject
He sighs. But if he's this young, he hasn't wreaked havoc on his tournament yet. ]
All matter is made up of tiny little...building blocks called molecules. When the molecules move normally, they have energy and flow, making it a liquid. When it gets too cold, the molecules slow down, and the water becomes hard---ice. And if it gets too hot, the molecules speed up so much that they go flying into the sky and become steam.
I used Modifcation magic to speed up the molecules of the ice block...though I suppose I could've magnified the calculation and made steam, and you'd be dry. But here---
[ He digs in his gym bag and hands Marik a towel. Better than nothing. ]
no subject
[ Marik thinks about this, stares at the towel, figures out what is expected. He grabs it and starts tousling his hair and face. ]
I've never heard of that magic before!
no subject
[ Seto smiles. ]
I study Modification. That's the branch of magic that rewrites the world by understanding it all as formulas. Basically...by understanding how something works, you can change its form.
[ Still...why is Marik here, and so small? With that rumpled hair he looks cute and not menacing. ]
My name's Seto Kaiba. You're a new student, right?
no subject
[ Or, well, everything is new to him. Marik is enthralled by this "Modification" idea. Understanding things helps you CONTROL them? SUPER COOL! ]
My name's Marik. Do I get to stay in school until I'm old like you?
[ No one's going to send him home? Really for real? This Setokaiba guy is like, ancient like Rishid, and he's still here... ]
no subject
[ Okay. Okay, what. Seto has to restrain himself from exploding. Kids are just like that. Mokuba was this age fairly recently, he remembers...]
Depends on how long the 'magic' chooses to keep you here. Most of the other sundered were sent home a while ago, they're just starting to come back. I've been here the whole time, because I managed to sever my connection to our world before coming here.
Welcome
I'm a little busy right now. [
smol child. After a moment to rethink it, he at least answers the question] .. but yes I have, a long time ago. [When he was last inside these walls.][Scooping up a half empty pie tray, he hurled it expertly towards his would be assailant lips creasing into a smirk when he saw it make contact. With that situation handled he could spare a few moments for the boy.]
I think it would be wiser if you... [Eyes settling on the child, his tongue temporarily lost the ability to form cohesive sentences.] You?! [The shock evident on his features and his attention now fully zeroed on the familiar looking face. At least he had sense enough not to follow up his peculiar behavior by calling the boy by name, since if they were truly here from alternative time periods the experience would have been more jarring for the younger of the two.] Ha- I mean, what I was going to say is that it would be best if you took your pies and vacated the vicinity unless you want to get caught up in a food fight. [Though from the looks of it there wasn't much more damage that could be done. Eating pies with your hands, as Marik had apparently done, had already led to disastrous results]
no subject
[ But Marik, wide-eyed and curious, is taking in the scenario. He knows what food is, he knows what a fight is....so a food fight must be....
This guy is smart. Marik thinks. Marik squints at the guy, too. He's a smart, FAMILIAR guy. How does he....how does...
Well, let's try something. He grabs a fistful of his pie and, with the air of someone testing a hypothesis, tosses it at this person's chest. This guy looks like the carvings of the Nameless Pharaoh! But that's silly. The Nameless Pharaoh isn't in another world, because if he were, then Marik's family would be sitting around waiting for nothing. And the Nameless Pharaoh definitely also doesn't do food fights.
Ergo, if this pie hits him, he's not the Nameless Pharaoh!
.......Unless he WINS the food fight. Marik seems to recall that that Nameless Pharaoh always wins. ]
no subject
[Look- having to describe this to a child is making him feel all the more guilty for participating. Here they were wasting copious amounts of food, and for what? A little fun? Weren't there other, less wasteful ways to fill that void? Water balloons for example which would be similar and not a bit more dignified.
There isn't much time to puzzle over alternatives when he spots the underhanded motion.]
You're not seriously going to...
[Arching a brow, Atem was forced to respond. Had the questioning been meant purely as a distraction or had Marik really not known what a food fight was? The name gave it entirely away. Not wanting to go down without some resistance, he masterfully flung off his robe revealing his ancient egyptian attire underneath as he then used the wizarding robes as a shield. Then he replied smuggly]
Thought you could get the upperhand by distracting me?
Three Dragon War
Anyway, it's just a game so stop hissing in my ear.
no subject
[ Marik pouts. He is a smart and clever boy! She should be happy to get advice from him, because it will help her win!
He does not understand!!!! ]
no subject
[she slaps the wyvern together anyway to see if it does work]
How come you know so much about it anyway?
no subject
[ He doesn't...seem?...to be trying to be rude? He's making an observation? But he does go on. ]
You just have to think a few steps ahead. Like Duel Monsters. It's easy.
Welcome
This is my first time trying it, actually! But I don't think you're supposed to eat it like that!
[ As she speaks, she holds up the plate her pie slice is sitting on, and the fork that had a piece of it on the end. ]
A Triple Dog Dare in the Life
You're only going to make it worse if you keep moving like that.