diatuooc | Test Drive Reloaded! #1

Entry tags:

test drive

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.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I like Swords. And knives. And boomerangs. But not horrible geese.

Hard to look cool or mysterious while lurking along the walls of the school... when he had feathers sticking out of his hood and clothes. But Erik was trying, listening to the chaos of the arrivals as people worked themselves into a flurry over possible reasons for being here. Honestly, he should probably be worried, but being kidnapped for a magical-possibly-murder school was pretty low on the list of weird things that had happened to and around him recently. Could've done without the murderous birds campaigning for stuff, though.

"Look, don't ask. You don't wanna know. Trust me. But I'd suggest staying out of there until the honking stops." He blew away a falling feather before it could land in his face.

"Since you're here, though, what's your take on this whole thing? You don't really think it's aliens, do you?"

tre drakekrig - three dragon war

Erik had been watching the gameplay for a while to get a grasp on it before stepping in with an interest in trying it out himself. He shuffled the deck with the inexpertness of someone who had to remember how not to shuffle a deck, and then drew his first hand.

As he played his first move, he looked over at his opponent with a sly grin. "So... what're we playing for?"

"Erik!"

Heedless of who he was talking to or what he was doing, or why there were feathers sticking out of his clothes, Eleven lit up the moment he spotted him and made a swift beeline for his friend.

"I wasn't expecting to find you here. How are you?"

Erik told the person rattling on about an alien conspiracy and theorizing about something called 'kaiju' to hold that thought, and stepped away to greet Eleven with an easy smile.

Good to finally see a familiar face in this weird world.

"Hey now, what's with that emphasis? You don't think I go in for a bit of higher learning?" He gave a nonchalant shrug in place of answering to his status. "So, what do you think? We're enrolled in some kind of fancy school now? With uniforms? And magic?"

Eleven laughed, feeling at ease for the first time since arriving.

"It's not so bad," he assured, "The magic is strange and the classes were something to get used to, but it started to make sense after a little while, I think."

How long had it been since he'd been here? And why did it feel like he hadn't seen Erik in years, when he'd only just left some hours ago? ..Or, well.. Eleven frowned to himself, tapering off for a few moments. But the thoughts felt too big to digest in the moment, so he shook them off for the present.

"And don't worry, you're allowed to modify your uniform, at least."

Or, Modify- that was a branch of magic here, right? He was reasonably sure he was remembering correctly.

"Yeah, but it's still a uniform. I kind of prefer wearing my own clothes, you know? Still..." He plucked a feather out of his shirt and grinned slyly. "At least it doesn't have a fan of tailfeather's coming out of the rear, huh?"

It was easy to hide behind the teasing quips and cool attitude when things were uncertain. And boy were they uncertain, here and at home. He wasn't sure if he was grateful yet for the reprieve or not; they had things to do, a world to save. But if anything was certain, it was that being near the Luminary was where he was supposed to be. So... gotta have faith, he guessed.

"But how long have you been here? I just arrived and you've already taken classes? Talk about an overachiever."

He laughed again, though this time it was more uncomfortable than anything.

"Something like that," he said with a sheepish smile. "Time is a strange thing."

Eleven cleared his throat. "Have you been put into a House yet? Though it probably isn't the same one."

Erik flinched. "Isn't it, though. So I've heard."

The hall was filled with students in different colored robes, signifiers of their allegiance to different houses. "I guess I have, but I couldn't tell you anything about it. Can't even remember half the names yet. Why, which one are you in?"

Eleven looked Erik over, wondering, but that was something he'd ask after later. For now, the question turned back on him and while he'd never been embarrassed about his house before, now, it- well, he wasn't too sure what Erik would think.

"Ah.. Ether or.. Either- something like that." The name in his memory was still vague- small wonder Erik didn't recall his- but he could remember the focus of it well enough. "It's ah, well, specializes in prayer magic and such.."

"Prayer...?" Huh, well, that did make sense, didn't it. Serena and Veronica were essentially like priestesses in a way. It would make sense to tap into a higher power for your own power, Erik guessed. Not that he did much with magic himself, but looks like it was time to learn.

"Ah, well, that's fitting, I guess. So, what, you go around praying to Yggdrasil or the Goddess for help with your magic? Just be careful you don't make a pact with the wrong sort of thing, you know?" Don't go trying on any questionable jewelry or anything, understood? "Though prayer magic seems like it'd be better for Serena, really. Speaking of, anyone else here, or is it just us two?"

"Divinely imparted knowledge, I think," he surmised from memories that felt closer the longer he lingered here. "Asking questions of this world's Goddess, receiving answers- that sort of thing. I remember.. this world has a few Gods, and the Goddess held a benevolence similar to Yggdrasil's."

Her name started with an R. He'd actually worked in the temple before, as an acolyte. He'd kept quite busy then- however long ago that was.

"..For the others, I know Hendrik is here somewhere, but I haven't seen anyone else, I don't think."

"Well, hopefully I'm not that, because it sounds like a lot to have going on in your head." He should probably look into what magic would require of him. Did he have to carry a big wand, or was he going to be playing a harp or doing a dance? His own magic seemed so simple by comparison: throw an earth glyph under some baddies, watch them get hit every time they so much as think about hitting someone.

"And Hendrik's on our side, right? Or did he not get that memo yet?" If time could pull shenanigans, it stood to reason it could have pulled them here from whenever. And Hendrik would be a dangerous enemy in such a small place.

Eleven smiled, almost certain Erik wouldn't end up in the same place. He'd never been the devout sort.

But he examined his friend for a moment, looking for something. That had been an odd way of asking after the situation. 'Yet', like he already knew- or suspected- a flux in time somewhere.

"He's sworn to me," Eleven assured. There was a time he hadn't known that, himself. "But ah, what do you remember, from our world?"

Erik tapped his chin, as if trying to remember. In truth, he was trying to figure out the best way to tell what happened without recounting the worst of it. If somehow El didn't know yet, he didn't need to know yet. There was no sense burdening him with all that, especially since it wasn't like they could do anything here anyway.

"Well, we beat Mordegon. You got his big bad sword. Why, what do you remember?"

The answer fueled more questions than he knew what to do with. When? He was desperate to ask, as though that would make anything clearer. The first time, or.. was there a second time, yet? He had yet to experience it himself, but that didn't mean a great deal. Goddess, when had his life grown so complicated as to involve alternate dimensions and timelines? A headache threatened.

More pressingly, what could he say that wasn't a lie? But that wasn't the whole truth? Would Erik believe him if he told him? The words came haltingly.

"I remember.. leaving everyone, after everything.."

Edited 2021-07-25 05:30 (UTC)

Did he know? Or was there a time, sometime after it all, when El would leave them again? Maybe the Luminary had to merge with Yggdrasil (weird, but he could see it happening), or El went home back to Cobblestone, or just decided to heroically go off on his own. In any case, it sounded almost filled with some regret.

Erik put a steady hand on El's shoulder and gave a squeeze in reassurance. "Buddy, I know you. You wouldn't leave everyone without a good reason. And I know us, too--you can't get rid of us that easily. So wherever you went, whenever, you better believe we'll be there too. It's never going to be goodbye, not by a longshot."

The words caught in his throat. He remembered them; the last things he'd heard before he lost sight of the world his companions belonged to, swept away in a rush of time and memory.

Eleven settled beneath Erik's hand with a soft smile. "You're right. And here you are on the other side- just as you'd said you would be."

In that smile, he knew. El knew. They both knew, and even though somewhere, sometime, there was an Erik who was a lucky enough bastard to know what it was like to succeed without losing a teammate, at least El didn't have to carry that burden alone.

And wasn't that what Erik was sent to do? To help his friend, the Luminary?

"See? Exactly. You should really listen to me. I know a thing or two." His expression softened. "Hope you gave her a hug from all of us. Just...don't tell her I said that."

(no subject)

bearshermark - 2021-07-26 05:54 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

sentbytheseer - 2021-07-29 02:26 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

bearshermark - 2021-07-30 21:25 (UTC) - Expand

Hendrik turned a corner and saw a familiar sight skulking along the walls which of course confused the knight. They were in no danger here, but mayhaps the other considered them as such which would definitely explain the odd behaviour.

However, with the feathers sticking out of the other's clothes, Hendrik couldn't help but to at least smile as he shook his head. "I will not ask. But if I recall, the geese are quite fierce and not to be trifled with."

He did recall his mission with one or two other people here before and the birds put a pretty fierce warrior to shame.

"We have no reason to believe they are..aliens."

"They need to come with warning labels," he groused, mildly embarrassed but mostly just annoyed at being bested by some birds.

"No, but do we have reason to believe they're not?" he asked, just to be contrary. For his money, he was pretty sure they were just ordinary weirdos with magic who had gotten carried away and conjured up residents from other worlds, just like they said. He had seen weird; this seemed totally in the realm of possible.

"How you doing? El told me you were around here. Did they get you signed up for classes too?"

"The last time I was here, they could use magic so that is a warning label in itself." And with the way some of the feathers were lodged, it almost looked as if they were fired out of a crossbow and used almost like arrows. So the blue headed boy should consider himself warned.

A small smile then appeared on the taller knight's face at Erik's musings. "In this place things are not always what they seem. So it would be wise to act is if that is still indeed the case." He'd seen some pretty weird stuff and had dealt with stuff that came back to him in flashes. No doubt more of those memories would come back as he spent more time here.

This whole place was more home to Jasper in his mind as it had been before. But he was the one here, not his lifelong friend who had fallen to the darkness.

To Erik's inquiry he nodded. "It is good to see you and yes I have been assigned to classes." Not that he wanted to talk about magic because he would never be the magic wielder Jasper was so he wanted to change the topic. "Tell me, have you been assigned a house here as of yet?"

"Oh great. Demonspawn geese." He did consider himself warned. Very warned and very likely to give the geese a wide berth.

The issue of the house again. El had asked about that, and Erik still couldn't really remember what the houses were called, let alone which one he had been told he was in. "Well, I guess I am in some house, but I'm not sure yet which one."

"Hey, you said you were here before? How was it? We are still allowed to all hang out if we're in different houses, right? Classes won't be much fun if I don't know anybody in them."

"We have faced far worse."

And although that was true because they'd faced and defeated Mordegon from his time frame, the geese were at the very least amusing here. These geese weren't going to try and take down the world tree and cover the world in darkness and destroy it.

Erik not recalling his house wasn't troubling to Hendrik because there were a few of the names that just were..what was the term used here that he'd heard? Oh yes, extra. Even with his own house he wondered sometimes if it could be simplified some.

But with the question of hanging out and his past here, the tall knight nodded. "Yes, it was..quite the interesting experience to be taught formal lessons in a formal setting." Knighthood lessons were plentiful by Don Rodrigo but book learning wasn't focused on. That had all come to him through Jasper's informal instructions.

And he wasn't ever talking about all of the ducks he had met and protected.

"Also, it is permissible for us to relax together though I cannot say for certain as to who will be attending class with you."

What're they playing for? Hm. Vio hadn't any experience with this game at all. He wasn't particularly looking to play to win. But now? Now he gave a thoughtful look, genuinely considering the question.

"Winner's choice? Of a card or favor." Because really, that's all Vio could think of if he lost. Which...he wasn't about to, but best to make sure.

"Perfect." Erik had no desire to lose, and as a former thief maybe he wasn't entirely against cheating a little. He'd watched enough games he had a feeling he knew how this all was supposed to work. But as he drew his next cards, he had to wonder if he'd made a mistake. What was he supposed to do with all these? Who had time to memorize, strategize, and keep track of what all these little paper slabs could do?

"Uh." With some uncertainty, he played a character card onto his field.

It's ok, Erik. Both of ya are new. Though... Vio would have the time, if he ended up liking it enough to keep up. Maybe the former hero would get upset at the cheating then.

"...Hm." Vio knew enough to know that uncertainty wasn't great in a game like this. From what he'd seen, it was just as important to bluff as it was to have a strategy. Though if the bluff worked was usually another story.

So he calmly studied his hand, idly paying attention to Erik for his next move, or if he'd end his turn.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive Reloaded! #1

Erik | Dragon Quest XI S

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Tre Drakekrig

Re: Tre Drakekrig

no subject