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.)
temptationaccomplished: (mr. bingley ain't got nothing on me)

[personal profile] temptationaccomplished 2021-07-25 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
"No, this is wonderful." He touched the mended bowtie with relief. At least it was back to where it should be, not some gaudy disaster. Isabel had always been such a clever girl and good with magic. Young people picked things up so quickly.

"I don't know how you undid it, but you worked a miracle. Not your strong suit, really. I think you're too modest. Are you sure you haven't been practicing in the time we've been away?"
hyperdrivemonalisa: (bemused)

[personal profile] hyperdrivemonalisa 2021-07-25 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"I don't know if I'd call it a miracle!" Isabel laughed. Just a little bit of home-style magick, really. If he hadn't failed in his attempt, she wasn't sure she'd have been able to work on it. "But you are right, I've been working on my studies as diligently as I could."

Which wasn't to say she didn't play hooky from time to time. All work and no play made Homer something something, after all.

"Maybe you could try doing it in stages? Like put the stars on first, and then change color? Doing it all at once might have been too intense. I don't know for sure, but it's worked for me so far," she said.
temptationaccomplished: (tickled pink)

[personal profile] temptationaccomplished 2021-07-26 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
Isabel was always such a diligent student, even if she did play hooky (one had to, now and again. Aziraphale had been playing hooky from work for almost as long as his job existed). He knew first hand that she was a very reliable teammate in a pinch, too, so her studies had been paying off. Perhaps a small blessing wouldn't hurt, just something to make sure she always had a friend to borrow notes from, should she not show up to a class.

"I hadn't thought of that." Piecing it out did make sense, now that he considered it. After all, a painter didn't just throw color on a canvas. There were layers.

He wrinkled his nose with concentration. "Let's try this again." When he completed the motions of the spell, the bowtie was dotted with stars. They weren't exactly what Ms Yotsuyu had done, but it was much closer. He laughed in triumph and clapped his hands together. "Marvelous!"
hyperdrivemonalisa: (bashful)

[personal profile] hyperdrivemonalisa 2021-07-27 10:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Isabel wrinkled her nose again, and then laughed. "See! I knew you could do it! Just a little smidge of patience! I'm sure you can recreate it from memory, if that's what you wanted. And you'll be just as dapper as ever!"

Yes, even if he'd been in his sort-of-shabby-chic, Isabel had thought Mr. Fell was dapper. It was how he carried himself, a mindset, more than the clothes. That was what made the man--the clothes only accentuated what was already there.

Her dad had told her that, but her cousin seemed to adhere to that thought, too. "So do you want to keep going, or is that enough for now?"