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diatuooc2021-07-23 03:56 pm
magicademymods) wrote in diatuooc2021-07-23 03:56 pm
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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.)
no subject
"Atem. I missed him, of course I did. But...it's over. It's a waste of time to keep fooling myself."
He sighed. "Don't waste a second chance if you were lucky enough to get one."
no subject
And hell, he needed her, whether he'd admit that or not. Probably not. But she was like a burr, hard to pluck off.
"I--no, I talked to him. Seto, what if you get one? There are more worlds than these, like Jake told Roland in The Dark Tower. What if another Yugi shows? Even if he's not exactly yours? What then? Are you gonna blow your candle out because it's not the hearth fire you planned for?"
no subject
"I'm not going to just revert to being cruel to him. I know better now. But...if I'm overly familiar, won't that confuse him? And if I were to tell him why, he'd never believe it."
He shakes his head. "But moving back to reality, with the people who are here...having almost everyone I'd come to accept leave, willingly or not? It didn't feel great. I had you. But it's too much for one person."
no subject
Why?
Because he was tough. He was resolute, and wouldn't break under the strain. He hadn't. They'd comforted each other. So they were maybe some sort of weird family. Oh, she'd never replace Mokuba, and she didn't want to. Truly, Isabel held out hope he'd show up. And Seto was like a brother, but not like her younger sibs, either. But to deny it, to her, was not something she was willing to do, either.
"Just be yourself, Seto. The truth never hurts. And if he's confused and asks questions? Same deal. Truth. It can be hard to swallow, but I've never found it to be wrong, in my experience."
no subject
"Part of me wants things to go back to the way it was. To the way I was. But I can't turn back time around him."
And this was of course still a hypothetical. He raked a hand through his hair.
"You've never regretted telling a hard truth?"
no subject
His next question got her thinking, and she sighs. "Regret...no, I haven't regretted it yet, but I mean. Not like I've had tons of chances to tell or talk about hard truths. Have I been happy about telling them, though? No. Most often all they do is hurt, even if the outcome turns out to be good. You know I don't like hurting people."
Not that Seto's getting away that easily. He brushes her arm, and Isabel slings it over his shoulder to give him a quick, one-armed hug.