Test Drive #1

[magicademymods]

Test Drive #1



The Airship There

By carriage or coach, spellwagon or ship, perhaps even on the wings of magic, the Sundered heed the call to gather at the Tenzin High Dock of Vulbaria. On this, the appointed day, a great passenger airship sits in the dock, the seals of the six Houses fluttering from flagpoles along her length and her wooden planks atremble as if it is eager to be off. At last, the gangplank descends, and the Hand of Diatu opens her doors to the Sundered so they can take their first step on the path towards protection and salvation.

Inside, you may choose from long comfortable couches, broad circular tables surrounded by straight-backed, cushioned chairs, or viewing seats at the glass front of the ship. Sundered who need special accommodations are quickly provided for, ensuring everyone travels in comfort. Trays drift through the air periodically, offering snacks and drinks to the passengers.

This may be the first chance you've had to truly relax since being swept to this strange world. Certainly it is the first chance you've had to meet your fellow Sundered. As the airship lifts gracefully off from the High Dock, your journey to Diatu begins. Excited? Nervous? Simply angry? Or perhaps searching among the crowd here for a familiar face or some sign of hope?

Rain, Rain...

Welcome to Diatu Magicademy. It's raining.

Seriously raining. One of those downpours that feels like a curtain has dropped on you, that soaks to the bone within a second of stepping into it. Obviously, this won't do, and a civic-minded cluster of Purifeul students has taken it upon themselves to solve this problem. No sooner do you step through the gates then you practically run into a giant and complex runic diagram being drawn out with long staffs by several students, all of them speaking seeming nonsense about derivatives, limits, and equations. Magic! In action right before your eyes!

And yet, just as their mathemagics wind towards the center of the diagram and they all make their final stroke -- one student slashes his line off on a weird tangent, speaking an equation that sounds nothing at all like what his fellows utter. The spell completes... weirdly, as the students look in horror at each other. The temperature abruptly drops seventy degrees, and a cold wind begins to blow.

Welcome to Diatu Magicademy. Please get out of the blizzard before you freeze.

Thaumaturgy 101

After some fifteen minutes of grumbling from Professor Loshakle, followed by half an hour of theory and basics, the grouchy old man finally gets to drawing a magical symbol on the board. "This is straight out of Fundamental Principles of Wizarding," he says, writing Sense Magic next to the symbol. "As is everything you'll learn here. I'll emphasize yet again, you MUST know the name of the spell and the proper gestures. You can't simply wave your wand in any old pattern and say any old words. That isn't how it works," he says, glaring around the class as if daring someone to question him.

But he gives no one the opportunity, instead producing a wand and making the gesture to trace the symbol he'd drawn in midair. "Sense Magic," he intones, and the air and his wand both shimmer.

"Now. You all try." Just like that. What the Professor doesn't mention is that this spell can produce some very interesting results if the symbol is off, or the timing...

Bala-inlota Practice

Bala-inlota is the main interaction the Magicademies have with each other -- the sport of wizards! Two teams take the field, with the goal of heaving a ball through their opponent's hoop. The rules primarily revolve around not inflicting lethal injury, because bala-inlota is a free-for-all at best, where each team relies on both physical and magical might to win the day.

You kind of wish someone had told you this BEFORE you got hauled onto the field so the coach could see if you've got what it takes.

Now half a dozen players are charging down the field at your ragtag group of semi-willing recruits, while another half-dozen are preparing spells that you've been absolutely assured aren't as nasty as the ones deployed in actual play. On your side: the ball, your wits, your physical ability, and maybe three classes's worth of magical education.

On the upside, magic is pretty good at healing.

Comments

Yotsuyu goe Brutus | Final Fantasy XIV

[darkenedmoon]

Rain, Rain

[As a rule, Yotsuyu did not necessarily mind rain. It fed the fields, made the crops grow, and generally, she did understand its importance. But usually she was shielded from the unpleasantness of the associated chilly downpour. It made her hair into a drenched black veil, soaked her silks, and turned her into a shivering mess.

Thus, she hated it. Pale eyes snapping with anger, she nearly stumbled over a student or two as she staggered through the gate, and she could feel the rope of her temper fray a few more strands towards snapping. The fact that she nearly messed up the diagram, clearly magickal, did not help, either...]

What in the name of the Emperor...?

[And then the other student skews his part of the drawing, the spell completes, and instead of rain, it's snow that's falling, and the kimono she wears is slowly becoming sheathed in ice. And that is when her fraying temper snaps.]

You idiot eikon-summoners, what is the meaning of this?! You should be fed to beasts, the entire lot of you! No wonder the Empire wanted this entire foolish practice abolished! Are you trying to kill us all? Out of my way!

[She aims her delicately sandaled foot at the nearest student lacking the wits to scurry away in time, and turns to go inside, clearly shivering by now.]


Thaumaturgy 101

[It's true, they gave her an option to study anything she'd wanted. And thaumaturgy was supposedly useful back in Eorzea, wasn't it? The sort of thing that gave those accursed black mages their terrifying destructive power. But had it really been like this? Yotsuyu rolled her eyes and glared at the back of the ancient's head. This was boring. At least until the old man got around to drawing an actual magickal symbol on the chalkboard. She straightened and leaned forward in her seat, yellow eyes narrowing in an attempt to memorize the symbol, since she had no example before her, save for the one on the board and the one the professor was providing.

It seemed simplicity itself...so Yotsuyu took the wand provided, tracing the symbol in the air. Utterly unaware of how her hand dipped, twitching briefly at the end...so. Just enough to throw it off.]

Sense Magick! [Or maybe it's her insistence on pronouncing a definite 'k' on the end of the word magic that's her downfall. In any case, something does happen. Yotsuyu is unaware, however, that her hair has turned stark white, and thus she thinks it's failed. It takes an act of will for her not to throw the wand across the room.]

Oh, what rubbish!

[burningbrighter]

[Hey, Sunset isn't all that happy about this either. She has a life to lead, and while the possibilities of new magic certainly enchanted her imagination...this is a nice, cold dose of reality. She pulls her jacket tighter around herself and cautiously sloshes her way inside....

...when someone much angrier than she had been storms by. The sight is painfully familiar. For some reason, Sunset dares to lift her voice.]

Uh, are we really in a position to be threatening the ones who have all the magic?

[darkenedmoon]

[The trembling hasn't stopped yet--and it may be due to more than the mere chill that had been brought on by the students' spell. The anger has not yet left her eyes, either, though the sight of a young girl delivering a rebuke has her pause. Yotsuyu's lip curls briefly and she opens her mouth to deliver a scathe of her own, but pauses, still scowling.]

You do not understand. I must begin as I mean to go on, and I cannot show weakness.

[To do that, Yotsuyu knows, means to court becoming a pawn or a tool again, and that, she will not do.]

Deny me to keep yourself safe, if you need. I will be no one's plaything again!

[burningbrighter]

[She can almost understand that. But it still worries her. She clutches her necklace in a fist.]

I know we've all had our lives turned upside down. And this isn't the first time. And it's...pretty scary that this happened, actually.

But they probably wouldn't jump right to hurting us after going to all that trouble to bring us here? Maybe?

[darkenedmoon]

[There is a good deal of truth to the girl's words. And she seems so earnest, doesn't she? Yotsuyu wants to believe such innocence from her. And this definitely is not Eorzea. Perhaps there's nothing to fear...

Yet perhaps it's just a trap.]

Yes. We have. [Acknowledging that, at least.] They might, they might not. What have they got to lose? And they have said that they did not mean to bring us here. That it was an 'accident'. [THAT has Yotsuyu seething, at least. How dare they. Never mind that this has given her a second chance--one she never really achieved on Hydaelyn. She needs to live through this, however, and the misfired spell has rattled her to the core.]

What if they simply mean to use us, and all this churning magick they claim we now have? [Though Yotsuyu can feel that inside, too, and it frightens her as well.]

[burningbrighter]

You're right. It could be pretty bad.

But what choice do we have? Do we have any hope of learning how to control this power without them?

[darkenedmoon]

I do not believe that they do this out of charity. What will they ask of us, then? [It's almost a hiss, and it is somewhat vicious in its tone; but the vitriol is directed generally, not at the girl herself. She's young. She's allowed a bit of naivete; Yotsuyu is older and damn well ought to know better.

And perhaps there's a bit of her, buried deep, that sees a far younger Yotsuyu in this girl. What she could have been, perhaps, had her parents not sold her to a drunken miser, in what seems so long ago.

That was then. This? This is now.]

You. Girl. What is your name?

[burningbrighter]

I don't know, but...I'll keep my eyes open.

[She takes a deep breath. She's not sure how she feels about this, or about the woman...but it wouldn't hurt her to be a little helpful. At least, she didn't think so.]

I'm Sunset Shimmer. I know. I come from a bit of a weird place.

[darkenedmoon]

Yotsuyu goe Brutus. [And she pauses, then, a short bark of laughter startled out of her, eyes widening again.]

Why, 'tis no stranger than what some Roegadyn name their children! A...why. Yes. It is a pleasure, I think, to meet you.

[Which startles no one more than Yotsuyu herself. Though she nods at Sunset's words. The girl is wise, or at least, willing to be cautious. Yotsuyu approves.]

And should I see anything I think might be a danger, I shall do my best to appraise you. So we have an accord, of sorts. A truce.

[ Should anyone from her homeworld be within earshot, they'd truly be catching flies...] I shall keep an eye out for you. And thank you for your...kind words.

[If nothing else, they gave her a much needed modicum of calm, and Yotsuyu finds that she is truly grateful for that.]

Thamaturgy

[utopiae]

I'm not sure this class is for me.

[Elanor, a tall, lanky girl with short black hair who dressed in a white shift for lack of better clothes - her armor was a bit too heavy for being topside - murmured as she moved to sit next to Yotsuyu. She put her head on one hand and reached out to pull some of the woman's loose hair forward.]

You did an admirable job of changing your hair color, though. I think if you could get the inflection and wrist twist right you'd be very good at this.

sorry had to dart outside a moment!

[darkenedmoon]

I beg your--what?

[Yotsuyu draws back at that, and seeing the white lock the girl holds, smacks it--her hair, not Eleanor's hand--with the wand.]

Ugh! I'd ask that old dodderer what the meaning of this is, but I suspect I know. [Especially since Eleanor was so helpful in pointing it out to her. She'd made a mess of the spell--but it did not come as a surprise, considering she hadn't had a smidge of her own magicks before picking up that Kojin mirror.]

Here. Let me separate it. I dare say that old fart won't be helpful to either of us, so we may as well practice the parts and then I suppose I'll try again.

[Mind, Yotsuyu doesn't seem thrilled about this class and its tenets either, but allows she ought to make the best of it while she's stuck here, or so she supposes. With a bit of luck, she might not need to search out a dye bottle after this is all over...]

it's all good

[utopiae]

I've found I'm much better at what they call 'Discovery'. Magic in it's rawest form doesn't come so easily. But lobbing fire at someone does.

[She had put her wand down when she sat, but took it up again, carefully studying the symbol on the board and trying to trace it as precisely as possible.]

I think your affinity has more to do with what you're familiar with in your own worlds than anything to with common sense. Both classes teach in a very similar manner, the whole focus, symbol, and word combination...

[She leaned over, moving her wand into Yotsuyu's line of sight so she could watch the wand movement.]

But one works for me and one doesn't. I'm not sure if it's the wand movement you need to get right or not. There maybe some wiggle-room, as it were, for one's 'hand writing'. Or it might be the pronunciation. Say 'magic' again.

[For all that she was being just a bit bossy, she was actually trying to help. She just had very poor examples when it came to the whole teaching and learning thing. Her mother had been a monster and her father she could only learn from by watching through his eyes. And the rest... well, she preferred those memories remain silent.]

[darkenedmoon]

[Yotsuyu makes a thoughtful noise, there.] Discovery. That is what the Gekronus Maius house practices, does it not? I am not certain of my aptitude, but it's certainly something I've an interest in.

[Because it's always useful to know what your rivals might be up to. At least, in her book. She allows herself a short bark of laughter, then.]

I was not truly familiar with any sort of magick, as I did not practice it where I was from. I had some small skill with pistols. [And talent at a number of things she'll refrain from mentioning. But she did say "magic" again! And there's that stubborn "k", too. However, the wand movement is both proper, now, and quite graceful. If Yotsuyu has registered the bossiness, she's letting it pass, as the tone is more helpful than a direct order.]

[utopiae]

You stress the 'kuh' at the end a bit much, I think.

[Eleanor said it with another frown, her face scrunching in thought and frustration.]

I had thought my theory sound. But that proves it wrong on the very first step. That's such a... bother.

I never used pistols. I don't really like them. My father had more experience with heavy guns. Shotguns, rivet guns, short ranger missile launchers.

And yes, that is what they practice. Sorry. I did not mean to ignore your question. Try a softer touch to the end of 'magic'?

[darkenedmoon]

Do I? Huh! Accursed Doman accent!

[Spat out there with more than a bit of vitriol, but she shakes her head and scowls a little, though it's self-directed more than anything.]

Your theory? [That earns the girl an arched brow. Not that Yotsuyu couldn't sympathize, what with her own well-laid plans going so awry. But her lips twist when Eleanor mentions her father, and she practically drops her wand on her book. Though that is, admittedly, safer when one is showing a fit of pique.]

Those sound like something either the Eorzean machinists or the Garleans might use. And the man who called himself my father had no use for such things. Or for a child who he had no grand plans for.

[That's growled, though the anger, again, is expressed more at the past than at the present. Yotsuyu reaches for the wand again, clasping it in a white-knuckled hand, and pauses.]

I think I shall need a moment. I cannot imagine it being wise to cast a spell whilst one is angry.

[utopiae]

Likely not. At least until you know the spell well.

[Eleanor pulled her hands back toward herself and ducked her head, looking quite sheepish.]

My apologies. It seems you have much the same relationship with your father as I do my mother. I did not mean to bring up something that would trouble you.

[darkenedmoon]

Both of my parents--step-parents, really, and my stepbrother. [Lips twisting bitterly for a moment. They are not here. And hopefully, none of that unholy trio are alive, either. Well. As they say, two out of three is not bad. Right?] It does not trouble me, per se, though I find it difficult to remain calm when I speak of them.

[Which may go to show just how much they fill her with rage.]

And that much I am entirely in agreement with; since I do not know this spell well. [Yotsuyu pauses for a moment.] Curious. I do not particularly want to cause anyone harm, so yes. I shall decline for now. Perhaps you ought to try? Though I should hope you have more success than I...though this is nothing a dye vial cannot cure.

[She lifts a hank of white hair, then drops it, chuckling ruefully.]

Rain

[bluebloodyblazes]

"Oi, Oi, I get it's cold, but everyone makes mistakes," Rin catches the sandal that's been lobbed ever so gracefully in the other student's direction. He looks annoyingly unaffected by the temperature despite being drenched through. If Yotsuyu looks at him out of the corner of her eye, she might even see blue flames dancing off his form, but that's neither here nor there.

"They're suffering with us, you know?" He grins, offering her sandal back as they walk into the nearest building.

[darkenedmoon]

"Are they suffering?" Yotsuyu hisses, yellow eyes narrowing at the boy. "Or was that one merely put up to playing pranks on the Sundered? They don't want us here, they're just tolerating us. For some reason."

One Yotsuyu hasn't figured out yet, and that doesn't help her anger at all. Though she takes the sandal with a mutter of thanks. The warmer air in the hall is helping a bit, but it's still leaving her a sodden mess, which doesn't sweeten an already sour temper one bit. She knows what she would do, if she were the one in charge, and something happened.

But she isn't. Thankfully.

The glimpse of blue flames has her shaking her head. Maybe she's coming down with something, too. And is that a tail

Definitely coming down with something. "I need some tea. Or perhaps something stronger."

[bluebloodyblazes]

Rib looks over to the shivering and harries students frankticslly trying to right their spell. One of them is flat out crying.

“Yeah, I think they are,” he says, moving into the relative warmth of the building and shaking off the rain water. He thinks that probably, be could let his flames out Andy dry them both off pretty quickly, but then this isn’t the Excorsict school and that would probably scare her, angry as she is.

“Well, There’s probably somewhere here that does tea, right?” He casts his eyes around, tail twitching in curiosity. He;s running slightly hotter than your average human, and so little by little, there’s steam rolling off his body as the water in his uniform starts to evaporate.

I see your phone autocorrect hates you as much as mine hates me...

[darkenedmoon]

His assessment is probably correct. Though if he frightens her, there's always the chance that she'd simply get more angry...which is probably not a good thing for anyone involved around them. As it is, Yotsuyu is eyeing the steam rolling off him with a somewhat startled expression--though there are a few others who have some wafting off of them, so she can pass it off as somewhat normal. And so she does.

"Tea. Yes. Kami, I should hope so, but I am not entirely certain where it would be." Yotsuyu hasn't bothered with her uniform yet. Oh, she'll head to class eventually, but spending a day or two simply exploring is definitely on her List of Things to Do, it seems.

"Have you any idea where this tea shop might be?" If her mood were better, she might offer to treat, but at the moment, alas, no.

Autocorrect keeps the Hubris of Man in check

[bluebloodyblazes]

Rin won't ever admit to holding his breath as Yotsuyu looks at him a bit too closely for comfort, looking anywhere but her eyes as she watches the steam roll off him. Thank god she looks away without asking any questions.

"I have no idea, I can ask though," and without further preamble, he yells to the closest person.

"Oi! Hey, yeah you! Where can we get some tea?" Well... That's one way of doing it, and surprisingly, it works.

"Alright well, there's a shop like, just the other side of the square but... we'd have to go outside again."

[darkenedmoon]

Yotsuyu grimaces. No, she really does not want to go back out again. She's already cold and wet, and even if she's dried off a little, she'll only get colder and wetter before getting dry again.

But the boy is trying to make amends, at the very least. So with a very deep sigh, she resigns herself, steels her resolve, and nods.

"So we must, I suppose. Let us hurry. I do not want to be out in the cold for any longer than I must!"

[bluebloodyblazes]

"Woah, wait just a second, would ya?" He gripes at her. "Just, hold on, geez." He points at her, trying to convey the notion of getting her to stay, wait.

He quickly turns to find one of the members of staff, who after looking at the sodden mess the both of them are in, agrees to Rin's Request. Grinning, the teen heads back to Yotsuyu and stands there, waiting. Not a second later, they're both buffeted with warm air from the Wizard in front of them, drying them off in a storm of warm winds. It's not elegant, but it sure works.

[darkenedmoon]

"Easy for you to say, it does not seem to affect you so much!" Her teeth are starting to chatter, but with a bit of goading, she does stand still and, indeed, waits.

The warm windstorm does do wonders--but her hair will take hours to get to be the silken fall it once was, so there's a bit of exasperation there. Though considering this is one of the teachers, most likely, she ought to be on her best behavior. And so Yotsuyu bows gracefully to said Wizard.

"That was a good idea," she acquiesces to Rin. "Thank you...I think."