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.)
burningbrighter: (feeling the strain)

[personal profile] burningbrighter 2021-07-24 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, these geese are such a bother. "Stop!" Sunset calls, chasing one particularly stubborn goose sending papers and pens everywhere.

The goose, of course, does not stop. Meaning Sunset has to resort to Plan B. She starts to sing a calming lullaby, infusing it with magic. Be calm, goose. Go to sleep, goose.

...yeah, it's not working too fast. She runs over and tries to yank the still-squirming goose away. "Sorry!"
travelpants: (9)

[personal profile] travelpants 2021-07-24 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, it will be fine," Lena sighs as she tries to help Sunset in taking the goose off her, "I didn't anticipate the geese here to be this aggressive."

Now Lena was not told that the geese would help in flyer distribution, so it's partly her fault for not seeing it coming. Still the young lady did apologize for the mishap, so it wasn't all bad.

"I wasn't that lucky to back away and run when that goose decided to come after me," she admits to Sunset, "I'm currently new here, so I'm still learning a lot about this place."
burningbrighter: (this worries me)

[personal profile] burningbrighter 2021-07-25 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
Once the goose is secured, Sunset gives Lena an apologetic look.

"I'm really sorry. Kind of a terrible impression to make on a new student, right? I'm Sunset Shimmer from Eiather...I really wanted to organize a short play to welcome everybody, but look how that turned out."
travelpants: (4)

[personal profile] travelpants 2021-07-25 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
Lena then gives her a shy approving nod as she slowly gets up from the ground.

"That's okay, at least you tried to keep that goose in check from shoving a flyer onto my mouth," she tells her, "I'm Lena Kaligaris, originally from Bethesda, Maryland in the United States, but my parents were from Greece and I was visiting my grandparents in my dad's old hometown of Santorini when I found myself in the arrival lobby."

She was about to mention having to apologize to Kostos for the miscommunication that nearly ruined their grandparents' friendship and hand over the Pants to Bridget, but she didn't, fearing that it could confuse Sunset.
burningbrighter: (Default)

[personal profile] burningbrighter 2021-07-28 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh wow, sounds like you've been all around your world!" Sunset smiles. "I love adventure. There's so much I want to explore...so I didn't have a school like this in mind, but I hope we get to take field trips to different towns sometime."

She looks much happier now that the goose is under control. "Anyway, I really hope the rest of your day goes better. I promise it's not always this wild."
travelpants: (2)

[personal profile] travelpants 2021-07-28 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
“Oh why thank you, Sunset,” she could have sworn that she must have blushed at the compliment the other girl has told, “It was the first time my family were able to take a trip aboard in a long time. My parents, especially my dad, thought it would be a good time for me and my sister to reconnect with our roots and meet our extended family, especially our grandparents.”

“I do wish the same for you too,” she smiles with a shy tinge as she picked up some of the flyers that were scattered all over the floor, “Is there an art club in this school? I’ve been doing some art practice back home and during my trip in Santorini.”
burningbrighter: (Default)

[personal profile] burningbrighter 2021-07-31 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
"...it was really good of them to do that," Sunset murmurs softly. "I haven't seen my parents in a long time, and I kind of regret that now. But I'm okay, I have a lot to learn here."

For example...she shakes her head. "I don't know, but if not we could start one? I'm not the best at if, but I've done some art! And I bet it looks great infused with magic."
travelpants: (3)

[personal profile] travelpants 2021-07-31 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Wait, you can try to infuse magic into art?" Lena couldn't contain her surprise for long, "Why I haven't thought about it since coming here? That does sound like a great idea to start one really soon."