diatuooc | Test Drive Reloaded! #1

Entry tags:

test drive

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.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Loki tilted his head, still studying the other man. "Kindness isn't something I'm usually known for." Said with an almost puzzled quality to his voice.

"Kindness isn't something I've experience very often until recently."

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."

"I have no reason to turn you into a frog. It's hardly entertaining and you haven't annoyed me or made me angry." As for the warning about the pie... The other had not quite been a sitting duck--and that wasn't enjoyable either. Watching someone who couldn't fight back get pummeled.

"Regardless of your reason, thank you."

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."

Loki blinked, then chortled softly. One hand coming up to his mouth, and he really couldn't help it. "Child, you have not caused me any trouble. I assure you--you would know it if you did."

"If I did you'd turn me into a frog. I'm not fond of frogs, but I've experienced worse."

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.

"I'd do far worse than turn you into a frog." Loki responded, still amused and one brow arched in amusement. "I'm over a thousand years old. You are a child."

"Of course. Why should you be any different." At least Loki was honest. It was more like a promise than a threat and given the magic Loki had shown Sebastian before he didn't doubt he could do worse than turn him into a frog.

He wasn't surprised, just disappointed.

"You look good for your age."

The remark, and hint of fire it showed, just made Loki smile and lightly bow his head in a gesture of thanks. "Another one who has been ground down by life, then?" His tone conversational, and genuinely curious.

"The only person besides my mother who thought I was worth something is dead."

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."

Sebastian's first statement hit Loki harder than he expected. He was not expecting to feel anything like sympathy. And even though Frigga's death had been four years ago, it still pained him. Considering the whirlwind few days with Odin's death, and then his own... Thor, who had come to believe in him again, was as good as dead--and Loki could do nothing to save him.

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.

Sebastian looked up at Loki. No pity, no surprise. He may be wrong about some things, but he wasn't completely wrong. Loki understood without having to fully explain.

"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.

"My dream wasn't a person." Loki clarified, making sure his expression was neutral. Schooling himself, so his tone was neutral too. "But you could say I have lost everything most recently."

Edited 2021-08-12 01:56 (UTC)

"Even if it isn't a person it's still painful."

Everything could mean something different to different people. Sebastian wondered what 'everything' Loki had lost and thought about Jack.

"I still have my parents, a home to go back to, so most people would say I haven't lost much and I should be grateful when so many others don't even those things. But Jack was my everything."

Sebastian wiped the fresh tears from his face, "I can't get him back, but is there any way of getting back what you've lost?"

Edited 2021-08-12 02:08 (UTC)

"Before coming to this world? When the seemingly impossible happened?" Assuming this wasn't still some cruel Hel or trick of the afterlife. "I'd have said no." His expression never wavered from it's neutral state. "But if there is, I intend to find it." Blue-green eyes were intense however, as this was a being who would do whatever he needed to achieve his goal.

Even as he stood there watching Loki--his own emotions shifting from overwhelming heartache to numb acceptance to fear to panic and back to being overwhelmed to the point of curling in on himself--he could see something in Loki's eyes change. The way his own perception of Loki continued to change. Kind and not kind. A bully and not a bully. Not the kind of bully he'd known. There was a huge difference between Christian Scott's arrogance and threats and Loki's.

Loki was over 1000 years old, he'd earned it. If his age was to be believed.

But there was something about the look in Loki's eyes now that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and faint voices whisper warnings in the back of his mind.

Loki wasn't anything like anyone he had ever known.

"If you help me learn magic I'll help you find whatever it is you're looking for."

Both brows arched up dryly. "Oh? You would bargain? You should be careful with your words, and how you phrase things." It was a chance for Sebastian, as the other had opened so clumsily with this.

Loki let his expression shift more thoughtfully, head tilting and moving to pace around Sebastian. Assessing him. "Tell me, did your Earth ever have a people known as the Norsemen?" A little kindness now would not hurt at all, and might just help further.

Sebastian frowned slightly, he was being serious. Even if, as Loki said, he should have been more careful with his words. He hadn't thought about it, just blurted it out. But he wasn't taking it back.

Especially now that he was being stalked by a predator who was judging whether or not he was worth the trouble of eating. He thought of the snake and the frog conversation and watched Loki circle him before focusing on the question.

"Norsemen. Vikings?" He was trying to remember everything he'd ever read or heard about Vikings. "I know a little, I think."

"What do you know?" Probably better for Sebastian's sake, Loki stopped when he was in front of him again. Still studying him carefully, but no longer pacing at least.

"They were formidable warriors." Sebastian thought about what he knew and tried to separate stereotypical information from facts. "Vikings, or Norsemen, sailed the seas before most explorers, trading with some, attacking others. I don't know specific historical facts, but the most common thing I've read was about the Norse Gods. They buried their dead in boats. Oh! And they had excellent hygiene."

Poor child. Loki chuckled at him, and moved so his hands were obvious. One arm crossed while the other moved up and he rested his head on it. "And yet, my name is not familiar. I should be insulted."

Fortunately he didn't sound insulted, as Blue-green eyes all-but-glittered with mischief.

Loki had said he was more than a thousand years old. Was he a Norsemen? An original Norsemen. The ancestor who came to Earth and started the first clan? No. That didn't feel like the right possible answer. So he thought about what he had said to Loki.

Warriors. Sailed the seas. Burying their dead in boats. Hygiene.

Gods.

If Loki was expecting him to recognize his name did he mean to suggest that he was a God or that he'd lived long enough to have left an imprint in Norse history?

"I didn't study Norse mythology so I'm not very familiar with their Gods. Are you telling me you're a God or that Norsemen believed you are a God because you're old enough to have actually met them? You have magic. It would make sense they would believe you a God if you used magic."

More laughter, and this time Loki's expression was half-way between pity and amusement. "Poor Child." Perhaps a hint of mockery. "My people visited Midgard yes, and were worshipped as Gods." Moving his hands back to rest them behind his back, Loki turned as if he'd start to walk away. "Perhaps when you've learned more about that, you can come and bargain. I hope you'd be a better magic student than you're proving so far."

Loki's people were Norse Gods.

It wasn't too surprising considering Loki had magic. He imagined anyone with real magic could be worshiped as a God by a culture who couldn't possible know about planets and other worlds beyond their own. That would mean Loki really was more than a thousand years old.

He was wishing he'd paid more attention to the stories.

"I've been reading since I was four years old. I'm sure I can manage the research."

The only concern he had was that the library here wouldn't have books on Norse Gods from another world.

"Books alone, especially since we're in a completely different place, won't help you much." Sebastian would probably get the info more quickly by talking to people. But Loki wasn't going to offer any more advice than he already did.

It was a kindness, to the other who was clearly grieving and hurt. Who bargained so carelessly. Kindness was rare from Loki, but did not harm him or make his goals any less difficult in this instance.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive Reloaded! #1

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Wrapping up soon?