Test Drive #5 Is Alive

[magicademymods]

Test Drive #5



Class Is In Session

The Metacurriculum of Glyphics contains within it the fine and honored art of potionmaking, in which glyphs scribed into a cauldron are distilled within a liquid especially prepared to hold the enchantment. The task is remarkably finicky, and thus not particularly utilized outside of the classroom; generations of teachers have been forced to deal with the question of "when will we ever use this in real life?!", to their inevitable despair.

A pinch of cilantro, a dash of goat hoof, stir carefully and apply liberal amounts of electricity -- and you foolishly used alternating current instead of direct. Rather than a Potion of Supreme Might, your mixture has turned a vile grey, and a dark spirit has arisen from it to tell you that your personal hygiene leaves much to be desired and that your soul is so black with sin no heaven will ever accept it. This is no good -- the syllabus explicitly states that profane manifestations of magic are only worth partial credit at best. Can you and your partner rectify your mistake before the professor pops by to see how you're doing?

Shady Business

"'Ey! You!" calls a voice from the Merchant District Alley, coming from the throat of a pop-eyed, scraggle-faced man that couldn't be a shadier character if he was real slim. On catching your attention, he motions you over. "Sees that you're wizard-likes," he says, rolling his words around in his mouth in a particularly rhythmic sort of way that doesn't disguise his inability to hold one accent for more than a phrase. "Well I've got summat'll knock your bonzer socks off. Behold!"

Sweeping one hand towards a ratty old table, he whips off a cloth to reveal a rack of weapons. Pointy swords, massive maces, warhammers that resemble the smaller historical version rather than the fantasy types one pictures dwarves with, a bow and arrows, a stiletto, any number of different implements of death. "Priced as marked," the shady guy says, "and sold as is. No refunds! Some of them are probably cursed, is what I'm hinting at. Full disclosure."

The price is so good, the risk of a curse might be worth it. Did you purchase the Sword of Flaming Death, or the Dagger of Wedgies-to-the-Wielder? Is the greataxe mighty and potent, or actually foil-covered chocolate? Choose your weapon wisely. We -- we recommend you don't pick up the one that causes you to attack the nearest person in a rage of bloodlust, but what do we know?

Etreia Day

Everyone looks forward to Etreia Day in the dining hall, that special day when the food delivered to students and staff comes from that landlocked nation deep in the Tier Mountains. Little cultural blending and spices unique to the deep peaks and valleys of the isolated country have lead to a unique and renowned cultural menu that everyone is eager to partake of.

The effect isn't magical, merely biochemical, but no one can deny that Etreian food affects human emotions significantly. Light sauces and dry-rubbed fowl are terrific for energy and mood, pushing the eater into a flurry of cheerful activity that their body will likely pay for later. Sour dishes and dark bastes produce solemn moods and inhibit playfulness. Spicy foods are something of a wildcard, pushing different people to different extremes, be they happy or sad, angry or joyous. To those who expect this, experiencing these different emotions is as much a part of the meal as the taste and texture of the food itself.

To those who don't expect this, well, it's a bit of a surprise.

Labwork

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.)

Comments

B

[hard_talker]

At his question about the habitual availability of the food, Mark looks up from his plate, a daub of sauce still at the corner of his mouth from the dish he was sampling. It looked vaguely Indian, and he'd missed good Indian food since his family had left New York. While it hadn't been korma or masala after all, it was still damn good, and he smiled a little.

"I haven't been here more'n' a week," he replied. "So beats me. But it's better than the cafeterias from home, that's for sure."

[bananaspeedrider]

"Heh! No wonder everyone got so excited about the food for today then!"

Though he entirely missed the conniving giggles and whispers about what else is so special about Etreian cuisine. All the better since so far there hasn't been anything that feels out of the ordinary to worry about.

Yugo's a few plates into the buffet at this point, so he's feeling much more conversational as his rate of consumption slows down to a normal pace. "And what's your home like?"

[hard_talker]

The dish Mark had chosen hadn't seemed spicy until he'd had a few mouthfuls: it was the sort of heat that crept up on you. So it would likely be with his mood ... the effect had yet to hit him. Even so, he found himself a little more eager to talk to a total stranger than usual.

"Originally I'm from a big city - but a couple months ago, my parents packed us up and moved to Arizona, in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing to do, nothing to really care about. At least, I didn't think there was. Until they gave me the radio."

He realizes he's talking more than he'd care to, now, and shoves another forkful into his mouth. Maybe if he spends the rest of the time eating he won't have to talk. Of course, that's not how this works...

[bananaspeedrider]

"Sounds rough." Not that he has anything to compare it to for a proper mental image. This is his first time having to grasp the idea that there's a whole ton of other dimensions and/or entire worlds outside of the four he's familiar with.

"I'm from a big city too, from what everyone knows over there as the Commons." Not the nicest place, but it was home. "My name's Yugo. You?"

[hard_talker]

He really had wanted to just keep to himself, but for some reason, he couldn't help it. Suddenly he really did want to talk to Yugo: and not just the usual small talk. He felt like he wanted to have the kind of long conversations he used to have with his New York friends, the ones that lasted for hours and covered everything. Was it just because he'd been displaced from a city, too? Maybe? He wasn't sure, but he was too comfortable in the present moment to fight it.

"Mark." He grinned. "You know, where I'm from, there's a car called a Yugo. I've never seen one, but I've heard of 'em. Wouldn't it be funny if they call something else a Mark where you're from? Especially since the cars are German, and Germans call their money marks..."

He was really going to be embarrassed with himself later...

[bananaspeedrider]

"No way, really? Is it a good car?"

Cue a laugh track if there was one. Nonetheless, the teen seems easily impressed. Though aside from the first new thing he's heard in his life about his name, everything else doesn't quite mean much to him, again.

"As far as something being a Mark, I've heard it used for things like different versions of D-Wheel models, sports cars, and a few series of duel disks."