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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.)
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"I'm familiar with Earth, though I know it as Midgard. One of the nine realms." Fortunately for Sebastian, Loki was not inclined to offer his hand for an introduction either.
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Nine planets.
"Does your Earth have magic?"
Because obviously they were talking about two different Earth's. Right?
"Did you visit...Midgard?"
"If you're not a professor and you already know about magic why are you here?"
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But Sebastian didn't say what he was thinking because he was starting to understand this wasn't an illusion or a dream, it was real. It was real and magic was real. And he wasn't going to wake up from a dream only to remember he was living in nightmare.
A world without Jack wasn't a world worth living. He knew logically he might feel different someday when he had time to heal, but he couldn't imagine healing, not from this.
But this....
This, he decided, wasn't necessarily a nightmare and it wasn't a dream. It was also a unique distraction from his grief because somehow he had found himself following a stranger and curiously asking questions and forgotten just for a moment how much he hurt, how much he missed Jack, and how much Jack would have loved this kind of adventure.
Also, part of this new understanding was that he didn't want to alienate the only person who was being nice. Jack hadn't let that drive him away, but Loki wasn't Jack. And Sebastian wasn't the same person he had been when he met Jack.
"I know I'm naive about a lot of things, but I can learn and understand the difference between a realm and a planet if there is one."
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He was being ridiculously shy all of a sudden which reminded himself he hadn't changed as much as he'd thought. Jack would probably be smiling and laughing, carrying on a conversation with Loki. He was always so friendly and easy to talk to. Everyone loved Jack. And Jack had loved him.
He'd forgotten how lonely it felt to be without him.
Taking a deep breath he quickly searched for something else to say, something to keep the distraction.
"What do you think happens to us when they finally get everything sorted?"
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Sebastian thought there was more, that they hadn't gotten the full story or explanation, that someone here knew something more reassuring. A work in progress? Now the chaos made more sense. It wasn't like a party where people who hadn't RSVP'd suddenly arrived and now the staff and host were scrambling to make room. This was more like a volcano had erupted unexpectedly and everyone was evacuated to a single space that was still in the path of the potential lava.
Okay so maybe his brain was exaggerating things and it was making him feel like a panic attack was emanate.
"What if we...if I can't learn how to use magic?" There was no we. Loki had experience with magic. He understood it, could use it easily enough already. But the only thing Sebastian had been good at was swimming and music and he doubted either of those talents would help here. "Then I die."
He answered his own question and it reminded him that a few moments ago, when he'd first met Loki, he hadn't been sure he cared if he died or not.
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"The magic I've shown you so far isn't from this world, either."
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That's how it had been since he got the call from Jack's father.
More recently the emotions would recede enough to let him breathe again. Just enough to get out of bed and shower or find something to eat. Just enough to consider what he should do now, like going back to school, because he knew something had to change.
Then he found himself here and for a brief moment after the initial crashing of waves and questioning his sanity he found he could breathe. Loki had provided calm in the storm of chaos.
He should have known it wouldn't last. The worst part was he wasn't very good at hiding his emotions. Even worse was not really knowing how he felt. And even worse was knowing there wasn't a way out. No escape. No going home. No rescue. No Jack.
Sebastian closed his eyes, so very carefully holding himself still and barely daring to breathe, tears slipping down his cheeks despite the effort he was making to hold back the tide.
After a moment, when he could manage a deeper breath, he said quietly, "I don't think I want to die."
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Something awful had happened to this young man. It was recent, and Loki suspected it was one in a string of things that had happened. He had no reason to care, and honestly he didn't. At least, not more than recognizing the signs that someone else had had a *really* bad couple of days and was in danger of breaking from it.
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Simple. Straightforward. But the fear and uncertainty, the hole inside of him where all the happiness he'd found the last few years had been torn out, wanted to say something. A chaotic tumbling of words and thoughts so overwhelming he couldn't open his mouth and then they were inconsequential.
It was simple. Don't die. And to not die he had to learn how to control magic. The rest didn't matter. It was his world before Jack all over again. He just had to remember how he survived it without him all those years.
It hit him so suddenly how very alone he'd been then and how very alone he felt now.
"Thank you. For sharing your magic and for your kindness." His words came out shaky and he couldn't stop the tears, but he was trying.
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That nearly broke him again thinking about Jack's kindness, his smile, how happy he'd been with him, but Sebastian held his breath for a moment and attempted drying his face. He needed to stop thinking about Jack. Jack was gone and he'd taken everything with him. Thinking about him wasn't going to make what he had to do now any easier.
"You didn't have to warn me about the pie and you could have turn me into a frog, but you didn't."
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If Loki turned out to be just like any other bully he'd met before it wouldn't surprise him. He had that kind of luck. But there was something about the man that made Sebastian doubt he was a bully. At least, not like the bullies he was familiar with. Not like Christian and his side-kick.
"I'm sorry...for..." For being an emotional wreck. "For any trouble I've caused."
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Sebastian took another deep breath, desperately trying to steady himself, and pulled his shirt up to dry his face. There was something about Loki's amusement that seemed to help bring things back into focus.
"I'm 19, not a child."
Of course he's perfectly aware of how childish that sounds and how childish he appears with tears running down his face and with his need to have magic proven to him.
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He wasn't surprised, just disappointed.
"You look good for your age."
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Sebastian couldn't fault Loki for being true to who he was--which turned out to be a 1000 year old magician who didn't sugar coat things--and expecting anything from a stranger was just asking for disappointment. But Loki was still talking to him and hadn't actually been unkind so he had no one to blame but himself.
"Most of the people I've known have done far worse than turn me into a frog, but Jack..." Jack made him smile and laugh and had taught him what it was to be wanted and liked and loved. "Jack was a dream. A very...happy...dream."
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Yet. There had to be a way, and Loki would find it.
"...I lived my dream for four years, before it was stolen from me again." Amusement was gone in his voice, expression somber. There was actual sympathy in it, surprising even Loki himself.
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"Was it recently?"
His father tried comforting him by saying he would heal and with time it would hurt less even if the pain never truly went away. But he knew looking up at Loki who shared a similar pain of losing someone that there was nothing anyone could say or do to make it hurt less. And time didn't heal all wounds.
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Wrapping up soon?