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

Lena De Spell | DuckTales (2017)

[outofyourshadow]

The Airship There

It was one thing to realize that she was still entirely conscious. It was another to wake up and realize that she hadn't been vaporized, though it certainly had felt like she had.

But finding herself in a world entirely separate from her own, and being told she would be learning magic was too much. If it hadn't been for the simple fact that she, quite honestly, most likely had nowhere else to go -after all, it wasn't like she could go home - she would have just walked away and left it at that.

Right now, though, she kind of wished she had. She knew there were some strange beings back home, but the airship seemed to be full of creatures she had never seen before...actually, they made up a majority of the passengers, which only served to make her feel even more alone than she already was.

Finding a window seat to hunker down in, she resigned herself to what she knew was going to be a long ride.

Rain Rain...

Rain. Of course.

She was already soaked by the time she reached the gate where the students are creating symbols in the air with their wands. She was pretty unimpressed with the magical display, at least until one student caused it all to go wrong.

She quickly scrambled inside with the other students to get out of the cold, chilled and still dripping wet.

Brushing the hair from her eyes, she then started wringing out her sweater. "Well, I sure do feel welcomed now."

Thaumaturgy 101

While she didn't have a lot of practice using magic with a wand, she was familiar with the idea at least, from the little bit she had gleaned from...certain people here and there. And while she didn't have that magic anymore, she remembered enough to be able to recreate the symbol on the board.

"Sense Magic."

She could feel the magic spark within her as the air shimmered in a similar way to the professor's spell, and she couldn't tell if she liked or hated the feeling.

Someone had to make this joke

[bridge_princess]

She wasn't the only one sopping wet, drenched and covered in slush. Parsee wasn't even attempting to get the look of disgust out of her face when she looked back at the entrance and started to wring her clothes out to get the worst of the water out. "Isn't water supposed to go off of a duck's back better than that?" she said, perhaps a touch acridly, as she looked over at the other girl.

Had to be done

[outofyourshadow]

She glanced at the other girl with narrowed eyes, tugging a bit at her sweater.

"Sorry, you must be thinking of the kind that don't where clothes that soak up water and transfers all that to their bodies."

[bridge_princess]

Parsee snorted. It was as close as the youkai ever came most days to laughing. She wasn't jealous yet, but deep down she knew that she'd find an excuse to be jealous of the young duckling. Taking her coat off, she shook it out into the open air from the porch and grunted.

"It could always be worse. At least it'll get off your face instead of getting stuck in your hair. I'm kind of jealous of that." There, there she went. She knew there was something.

[outofyourshadow]

Lena just happened to be brushing back the hair still sticking to her face when she spoke again, and this time she gave her a flat look.

"Sorry, you know about me how?" The response came out more snappish than she had intended, but with everything that had happened to her back home, along with being soaked and freezing after being dragged here left her in a less-than-stellar mood.

[bridge_princess]

Parsee smirked and then shrugged. "I don't, though I know I wish I had feathers right about now." Really, she could always find a reason to wish she was someone else. "All I know is I'm soaked and want to get warm again. Might as well use this place for what it's worth." She wasn't really the apologetic sort, not naturally. Still, she'd stop poking fun. She was never very good at it.

"There's probably a fireplace in here somewhere." God, she hoped there was.

[outofyourshadow]

If anything, her frown tightened. "FYI, I'm still dripping wet and cold too. Whatever help you think my feathers are, you'd be wrong."

Especially since all she had on was a thin sweater and a shirt.

"If this place is so magic, why can't they just poof us dry or something?"

That wasn't really how it worked and she knew it, but she was going to complain anyway.

[bridge_princess]

She snorted, which was basically an acknowledgment that Lena was clearly right, about both things. She didn't feel like admitting more than that. "You would think they could. But we're probably not important enough for that. I know I'm not, so let's find a fireplace." She was already starting to move figuring Lena'd join her, or she'd come to her senses and head somewhere else to warm up. Either worked for her.

[outofyourshadow]

She responded with a scoff of her own, following her to find someplace to warm up. "Yeah. I'm not exactly high-class society myself."

[bridge_princess]

"Well, I guess that makes two of us. Couple gutter trash in their pretty little halls," Parsee said, making her way straight for where she heard the crackling of fire. It didn't take long to find the place, thankfully bereft of other people. One person was almost always enough for her to handle.

"It's almost nice to know I'm not the only one who won't fit in this perfect little world of theirs."

[outofyourshadow]

She took a seat in front of the fire, the warmth spreading over her already doing wonders for her mood.

"No kidding. I guess this school doesn't mind riffraff."

[bridge_princess]

The warmth wasn't really improving Parsee's mood, but it also wasn't dampening it further. It took a lot for her to be in a good mood, after all. She did, however, chuckle. "They're going to regret it. But before they do, at least there's supposed to be a cafeteria, right?"

Three square meals a day didn't sound awful.

[outofyourshadow]

"There better be. If not, I'm issuing a lot of complaints."

The Airship There

[talkyourwayout]

Louie definitely recognized that shock of pink feathers, but that didn't make it easy to believe what he was seeing. Then again, nothing about... This was exactly believable.

He was happy to see Lena. Of course he was... But he wasn't exactly comfortable broadcasting that, considering she shouldn't be - well, alive. He didn't want to set himself up for disappointment.

So he watched her for a while before approaching, his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie. "...Hey?"

[outofyourshadow]

She jumped at the voice, and while it was partly from surprised, it was mostly because it was a voice she recognized. Looking up only confirmed what she'd heard, and for a moment she could only stare.

Though she had spent most of her time with Webby, she had occasionally hung out with the triplets, so she was more than happy to see him. But she knew she didn't deserve to, considering the part she played in Magica's revenge scheme against their uncle. So she wasn't sure how exactly to act or what to say, now faced with even just one of them.

...Maybe the universe was punishing her after all.

Eventually she looked away, and not sure what else to do, responded with a soft, "...hey."

[talkyourwayout]

Oh man, this was the kind of uncomfortable situation that usually required some kind of delicate emotional conversation to be resolved. And that was only going to make Louie more uncomfortable over the course of things... And probably Lena, too, when he considered it. Maybe he could lighten the mood with a joke?

"It's Louie. You're not the first one who can't tell us apart."

Inwardly, he groaned. That hadn't been funny, it had just been awkward.

"Can I sit?"

[outofyourshadow]

It wasn't funny, but the attempt was enough to get a small laugh from her anyway, just enough to relieve some of the tension in her chest.

Then she motioned to the seat beside her, though still couldn't bring herself to look at him. "It's a free airship," she replied, despite not knowing if that was true or not. Either way, neither of them were paying for it.

[talkyourwayout]

Louie nodded - she wasn't wrong, and being polite wouldn't normally be quite as high on his priorities list. This was just a really... Strange situation. Still, he took her statement and gesture as permission, and sat beside her.

"So, you're here," he stated. He took his hands out from inside his pocket and clasped them together over his stomach, twiddling his thumbs. "How. Uh. How is that, exactly?"

[outofyourshadow]

She didn't answer for a long while, still staring out the window. Then with a sigh, she shrugged.

"You got me. One minute I'm getting zapped by- Magica, and the next, I'm here and being told I need to learn magic."

She still wasn't entirely thrilled by that prospect, all things considered.

[talkyourwayout]

Oh, no. She'd just been zapped by Magica? That meant she didn't know - Great. How did he break something like this to someone? Huey should be the one having this conversation, or - duh - Webby. Definitely Webby.

Man...

"Yeah... That was really brave of you."

[outofyourshadow]

Another shrug, and this time she was resolutely not looking at him.

"Figured it was the least I could do for helping her get that far in the first place."

Especially since Magica had been aiming to hurt the one person who actually cared about her.

[talkyourwayout]

Louie hesitated. Lena wasn't wrong, exactly. She'd messed up, but things had ended up okay, and she'd saved Webby's life.

Besides, if Webby could (more than) forgive her friend? Louie figured he had no right to hold anything against her.

"I guess. Still, can't really imagine if I'd been in your place."

[outofyourshadow]

She snorted, and despite her best efforts it still sounded slightly bitter. "Just be glad you'll probably never have to."

Unless he was also the shadow of one of Scrooge's greatest enemies.

[talkyourwayout]

"...Yeah."

This was going just great. God, he'd probably be better off handing this conversation over to Uncle Donald, if he could.

"So, is Magica still with you here, or like...?"

[outofyourshadow]

She shook her head.

"Nah. Seems like whatever was connecting me to her was severed by coming here...so there's that, at least."

So on the one hand, she was at least away from Magica, free like she'd always wanted to be. On the other...

"...Is Webby okay?"