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

[darkenedmoon]

[Yotsuyu listens. That in and of itself may be a miracle, but she takes up her teacup again, sipping thoughtfully as the girl relays her troubles. She had signed up for this, after all, though her eyes narrow ever-so-slightly.]

I cannot see you causing trouble, alive or dead. You seem sorrowful, but sweet-natured, fundamentally. [And shouldn't she know?]

Dead or alive, though, girl--you need to reach out and if it is what is necessary, take what you want! Claw and fight for it! I understand this is another new beginning for you, and such things can be difficult, but do not sit back and let life come to you--even if it is an unlife of sorts.

And if you find yourself needing help, I suppose the least I can do is attempt to help you. I am Yotsuyu goe Brutus, formerly of Doma. A pleasure.

[Not quite yelling, perhaps, but definitely a passionate speech. Even if following its like is precisely the reason Yotsuyu is here, herself...]

[revidolize]

[She watches Yotsuyu get worked up— somewhat; she's so passionate as she gives her advice, and Sakura is instantly taken with admiration. What's more is she makes no attempt to reassure her of supposed "talents" or "potential." She doesn't say that Sakura, too, has a reason to be here— or rather, a reason to exist. Her solution is so much more simple than that. If you want it, take it. Is that really okay? Is it okay for someone like her to do so...?

What she wants is... to go home, to be with her friends, to perform together with them as an idol group. She clasps her hands together, trying to well up the passion inside of herself. Closing her eyes for a moment, she breathes deeply, trying to remember that feeling, the feeling of the stage and the feeling of her friends by her side to support her.

She then opens them and places her hands on the table as she stands up, filled with resolve.]

I'm Sakura Minamoto!! [She declares this loudly and proudly, but it does serve the additional benefit of introducing herself.] As Number 1, I'm a member of Franchoucou, and with my friends, we're going to revitalize Saga!!

[darkenedmoon]

[Not that any of that makes any sense to Yotsuyu, but a slight smile touches her lips anyway, and she nods her encouragement.]

See? Set yourself a goal, and then do it! How do you feel now?

[Not that she'd missed the faint expression of confusion on the girl's face, either. What could that have been about? Though she might have an inkling...perhaps.]

If you do not want to hurt anyone to get what you want, child--don't. Follow your heart. There usually is more than one road to get to where you want to go, eh? You shall make it. And then you shall have every right to be proud!

[revidolize]

[How does she feel now? A little... embarrassed. Other passengers certainly took notice of her outburst, and she settles back into her seat, slinking into it a bit to make her presence more scarce.]

I want to have that pride in myself... Even just saying the words—! That felt good, but it's nothing if I don't back it up.

I-I'll probably keep messing things up, but— I want to keep trying. I want to be the person that my friends believe me to be!

[darkenedmoon]

The only true failure, my dear child, is to give up if you do not succeed. [Yotsuyu's smile is a bit resigned, perhaps, but there's no mockery in it. Perhaps a bit of regret, there?]

Your friends--and you, as well. It won't hurt to have a bit more self-confidence, I should think. You certainly have a good deal of determination. Or so I think from our brief interaction.

[She shook her head then, offering a sheepish smile.] Forgive me for calling you a child, that was patronizing of me, and I have no desire to do that. I am...unused to being terribly supportive, but I am trying!