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.)
sweetsummerchild03: (pic#14904799)

A Day in the Life

[personal profile] sweetsummerchild03 2021-07-27 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
The goose honking behind Gobo suddenly lets out a startled squawk as something lands quite heavily on it, before flipping up and landing to where Gobo is.

"That's what you get for not giving me a flyer!" June said with a huff.

[personal profile] gobetween 2021-07-27 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Hearing the commotion behind him, he skidded to a stop, bouncing on his heels a few times before he turned around. Seeing this- scene? -now, he stared in wonder. But hey, he wasn't one to ignore help.

"Thanks!" A little breathless, but sincere all the same. "I don't know what I would've done if that thing had caught me." He paused and glanced up at a squawk, but the goose had gotten all the desire for this knocked out of it along with its air, and it seemed to be limping back to roost.
sweetsummerchild03: (pic#14904790)

[personal profile] sweetsummerchild03 2021-07-27 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
Picking up the flyer that the goose left on the ground, June stuck her tongue out at the retreating waterfowl before walking over to Gobo.

"It was probably just trying to give you this," she says, offering the flyer. "They've been doing that for a lot of others, but they're really mean about it. And then when I tried to get a flyer, they wouldn't give me one!"

Probably because you just tackled one to the ground...never mind.
gobetween: (Gobo27)

[personal profile] gobetween 2021-07-27 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
He took the flyer, and looked at it for a few moments, scratching his head with his other hand. Then he looked up at her and offered the paper.

"Aw well, why don't you take it, then? It doesn't do me any good," he's over clubs after what happened last time thank you, "and you really wanted one."
sweetsummerchild03: (pic#14904793)

[personal profile] sweetsummerchild03 2021-07-28 11:07 am (UTC)(link)
She tilted her head a little. "Are you sure?" she wondered, surprised. How could someone not want one? "I could take one of those." She gestured to the stack of flyers that the goose had left behind after June had tackled it.
gobetween: (Feeling chatty)

[personal profile] gobetween 2021-07-28 12:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"Positive!" He half-shrugged, waving toward said stack. "I was never really looking for one in the first place, that... whatever-it-was just decided I needed one."
sweetsummerchild03: (pic#14904801)

[personal profile] sweetsummerchild03 2021-07-30 12:25 pm (UTC)(link)
She slowly took the flyer from him, though her expression was still a little confused. "You don't wanna join a club? But they seem fun!"
gobetween: (Delegation)

[personal profile] gobetween 2021-07-30 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"They are, if you find the right one!" He shrugged, albeit still smiling. "I'm just not looking for one right now. Last time I was in a club it had a pretty disastrous happening, so I'm okay being without one for now."
sweetsummerchild03: (pic#14904793)

[personal profile] sweetsummerchild03 2021-08-01 11:35 am (UTC)(link)
She tilted her head. "Really? What happened to the last club you were in?"