diatuooc | Test Drive #4

Test Drive #4

The Scary Door

The classroom door looks different today, bearing a few small but noticeable scratches on its upper corner -- and also it happens to tremble, as if with excitement, the moment anyone reaches for the knob. That gives it away. This isn't the classroom door at all!

And it isn't the bathroom door. And it isn't the door to the staircase. And it isn't the door to the hallway. But wherever you go, there's this door that really, really, really wants you to open it, and it doesn't seem to take 'no' for an answer...

Acting in Concert

One thing anyone sharing a campus with Valhudor students must accept is that every once in a while a performance just appears out of nowhere, much in the way of a tornado and with the same ability to suck in anything nearby as collateral damage. Today what looked to be an innocuous group of musicians heading back from class turned into a flash concert without warning. Not a bad thing for a music-lover, actually, and listening to their pleasant tunes only got better as more students saw the opportunity and joined in.

Right up until the drama students showed up and promptly hijacked everyone nearby into a play.

So here you are, in Fantasticked finery, trapped in a bit part in front of a growing crowd. The two ringleaders of this disaster appear to be putting on an entirely improvised performance about two warring houses, because apparently they love stage-dueling (and have had three different scenes of it so far, each of them so sexually charged the allegory is barely allegorical), while the orchestra merrily matches music to action. As for your role? 'Improvise!' they said brightly.

And like that you're up, across from a partner who clearly did not enter this voluntarily either. Better think fast... the one thing uglier than a crowd who have a performance ruined is Valhudor students who have had their mating-dance-slash-play ruined.

Definitely Not Worrying

The spring day is perfect. Bright blue sky without a cloud in sight, sunlight that pushes the perfect temperature just onto the side of 'pleasantly warm', a gentle breeze that drifts over the grass and cools what the sun warms... it's bliss, if not outright soporific, and almost everybody is outside lounging in the grass and enjoying just how wonderful it is.

Then Headmaster Birony comes tearing around the corner of a building like the hounds of hells are at her heels. "Hello, students!" Despite her bright smile, she doesn't break her stride for a second as she zooms past. "Run like hell! Chaos bees!"

And that's when the swarm of chaos bees races around the corner after her, wings filling the air with a deafening buzz.

Now the thing about chaos bees is that they resist magic of all forms, and they have their own particular magic that makes the results of their stings... highly unpredictable at best. You might have your hair turn white, or your skin turn blue. You might blow up like a gum-chewing girl in need of juicing, or feel the uncontrollable urge to form a gang, snap your fingers, and have a dance-fight to drive the Jets out of town. Whatever happens, the effect is never permanent, but maybe Headmaster Birony has the right idea.

Late Night Party

Without a curfew (and with good sound-protection spells on the Towers), students don't always go to bed like responsible adults. This party is still going strong at 3 in the morning, lit by balls of color that float in the air and full of music and dancing and just-for-fun mage dueling that is just a little more dangerous than it should be thanks to it being far easier to talk someone into a late-night mage duel when they're tipsy. As spells crack against each other and feet slide over the grass in time with the beat, everyone's having fun! Even party-poopers can find another wallflower to talk classwork with while enjoying the snacks and the drinks. What a great place to meet fellow students and socialize!

((alternate post image))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hendrik had seen a lot of strange things here, but he would mentally file it under magic because he wasn't about to pretend to even understand even if his mind fought to work on it at times. Something odd was occurring in one form or another here it seemed almost daily, so he would try and take it in stride. The key word there was try.

And at seeing a new face appear suddenly in the courtyard as he was practicing with his sword, the knight mentally recalled his conversation with Louie about feeling collected and he sighed. This place had no end in sight of doing just that it seemed.

Kazuma stares ahead in stunned silence. Birds twitter happily through the sunny courtyard as the teen's face begins to twitch with annoyance.

"Are. You. Freaking. Kidding me!?" He cries out suddenly. "All that crap, for the whole friggin' morning, for this!?" He suddenly spins around, a finger pointed accusingly at... nothing?

"Wait, what?" Another 180 degree turn brings him back to facing Hendrick, who Kazuma seems to notice for the first time.

His pointing hand shifts into an awkward wave. "Yooo.. hey there."

Hendrik wasn't sure what was going on exactly, but to the young man that had suddenly appeared, he nodded and sheathed his sword.

"You must be new here."

And the knight wasn't sure whether to say that he was sorry the youth had shown up or in this crazy place if he should be more welcoming and start explaining how things like that happened around here regularly.

"Well, I guess I'm new here?" He replies. His tone sounds closer to a question than a sure answer.

"I was trying to get to class, but there was a weird door following me everywhere and getting in the way, and it was quivering with excitement like a perverted crusader I know, and then it was lunchtime, so I finally gave in and opened her- er I mean it, and now I'm here?" Kazuma explains himself in one long breath, as a hand awkwardly scratches at the back of his neck.

Edited (capitalization ) 2019-04-15 05:03 (UTC)

The knight listened as the boy explained. But he couldn't help but frown at the insinuation that a door was being equated to a woman. And he wasn't discussing perverted crusaders.

"You find yourself now in the courtyard of the magic school."

Kazuma instinctively crouches low, his eyes warily scanning he skies and their surroundings. "Are there still bees!? Anything but more bees!"

Wide-eyed with fear, he reaches out an arm to grasp at Hendrick's own. "Have you seen how big those things get? And I thought flying cabbages were ridiculous enough!"

Edited (formatting) 2019-04-24 03:25 (UTC)

Now he's worried for the boy that's latched onto his arm. First the boy appears out of nowhere. The next, he's talking about a very odd door and a perverted adventurer. And now the boy is hallucinating about bees.

But then again, this place isn't the kindest to newcomers, so maybe a magic spell hit him wrongly. This place could be brutal like that, and not to mention the very aggressive wildlife that sprung out of nowhere recently. Maybe he'd seen something about that regarding those flying cabbages he was mentioning.

"You are safe. Nothing will harm you in this courtyard."

Because the knight is on duty.

Kazuma looks up towards the concerned knight, the slightest sign of tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

"Does your great, big sword have +2 attack against giant swarms of Chaos bees, mister? Cause even Headmaster Birony was practically running scared form those things."

At first the plus two comment confuses him but then he remembers hearing about that during forging.

"I am afraid that I do not." the knight replied with a shake of his head. "But you do keep mentioning them and you say the headmaster has run from them?"

Again he's not sure whether this kid's just had one hell of a first day, is hallucinating or something is wrong. But the headmaster comment has him concerned all the same.

Test Drive #4

Scary door

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