diatuooc | Test Drive #5 Is Alive

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.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Alright. So either you can't say anything or you've lost all your intellect and don't even understand me. Oh brother," The Pikachu shakes his head as he climbs up next to Noctis. Since they're both small, they manage to fit on the chair somehow, though there's very little leg room.

"Can I throw you on the table? I want to throw you on the table. Not that I have any interest touching your... mucusy body... but I need you to show me where and how you messed up, kid. Got that? Uh... tap your front leg twice if you did."

Noctis isn't sure what this mouse is doing at the moment, but then realizes that the other is climbing up. And while he could definitely understand what was being said, he can't seem to make any sort of coherent human noise.

Once he heard the bit about being thrown on the table though, all Noctis could picture was the mouse attempting to throw him and the two of them ending up landing on the floor or worse. Neither of them were cats, so he figured they wouldn't exactly land on their feet.

So instead he hopped the very short distance onto the table itself, and went over to the book and empty flask, turning to look at the mouse expectantly.

Edited 2019-05-20 09:19 (UTC)

"... Oh great. Then what was even the point of me coming here? Especially if you could just hop on over there like it's no one's business?" Pikachu's the embodiment of done. The Pokemon rubs his temples before he backs up. Since he doesn't have to worry about knocking over the table with his weight and force like he would have to with the chair, he backs up and jumps.

Despite how utterly lackluster his first jump was, his second one is a lot more salvageable.

"Gah. Curse these small, stubby, adorable legs of mine," Pikachu groans as he heaves himself over the ledge to join Noctis on the table. "Okay, boy. Show me what you did? Show me where you messed up and then hopefully whatever you did has a reverse spell or potion."

Noctis hopped away a bit to give Pukachu room and was relieved when the jump was made safely. He hadn't even been sure the other could make it in the first place. And he would have helped, but given the current state of things, he couldn't do such a thing.

Once the mouse was near him, Noctis looked over the book. There was no way he could rightly tell Pikachu that it was due to the mispronunciation of a word but with his front legs up on the book now, he looked from words on the page up to the other.

At hearing the word boy though, if the toad could say how much of a surprise the mouse was in for when he changed back, Noctis would've.

At least to be fair, Pikachu had given Noctis no reason to believe in him.

Pikachu waddles over and has a look at the book. He skims the pages and then looks between the brew Noctis had prepared and the words.

"Hmm... I'm guessing a mispronunciation then. It smells like a Psyduck's foot so I can only assume that's purposeful." Pikachu pauses.

"Okay. I think I got it. Stand back, this could get messy." Pikachu rubs his paws eagerly and he flips the pages. One reverse incantation should do the trick...

"Deja de ser una rana!"

Noctis has no idea what a Psyduck is and so has nothing to go on as to what its' foot might look like. And since he can't rightly turn his head, the toad can't really stand back.

But once the mouse starts his incantation, the webbed four legged creature decides to try and make a leap for cover. Just as the incantation is completed, a loud thud is heard and a groan is coming from somewhere on the floor in front of the desk.

"Ow."

"Woah... I can't believe that actually worked. Guess I'm a better wizard than a fighter," the Pikachu says, perking his head up. He scampers to the side of the table and looks down at the man.

"Wow... you're a lot bigger than I thought you'd be. You alright? Or you still got a frog in your throat?"

Blue eyes blinked up at the mouse and after Noct is done rubbing his head it shakes. Mispronunciations and the king happened to be old friends. It happened was when he was little and couldn't fully say LunaFreya's name though he tried. Then there was that time when he was travelling by train ten years ago.

The name of the place for the royal tomb had been Fodina Caestino but Noctis had pronounced it Fostino Menudo. So something like this was definitely nothing new for him anyway.

Slowly standing up to his full height, Noctis couldn't help but smile and laugh a little at the frog part. That laugh is still heard in his statement.

"Thanks to you that's not a problem anymore."

Words were hard. Pokemon had it right by just understanding and interpreting intent and 'speech' instead of actually knowing words.

Pikachu blinks as the tiny frog from earlier stands up to a fully fledged man. He's not nearly as old as Lt. Yoshida but he's certainly no kid.

"One. You're welcome. And two... Woah. You're not some small kid. You're a big kid. Man, I'm assuming. Or a very hairy kid. Not that I'm judging. It's really hard to figure out in this mishmash of worlds."

"Have to say though, hearing kid really took me back." Like ten years ago and literally a lifetime ago but Noctis isn't going to even get into all of that. Nor was he touching on the hairy comment.

There was some small measure of satisfaction at hearing the other back up on that word, which he knew would happen of course. It was a matter of time, a mouse and some correctly pronounced words.

Pikachu's one to talk. He has nice, thick fur, though he definitely cannot get that good beard going that Noctis has.

"I'm Pikachu. The Great Detective Pikachu. Nice to meet you, not-Frog." Give him a name, buddy.

The king had a small chuckle at Great but hey this mouse saved him from the unfortunate status effect that he'd found himself in.

So he folded his arms across his chest and nodded at the other.

"Noctis, and thanks for helping me out."

Test Drive #5 Is Alive

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