Test Drive #7

[magicademymods]

Test Drive #7



Air Apparent

The fundamental principle of Sundering, that of breaching the barriers between here and there, often manifests as summoning. Simply open a portal and then bring through that which you desire to command. Today's lesson in the magic went slightly wrong, and now a strange creature called an "air imp" stalks around the campus, causing mischief wherever it can. Its powers are not terribly dangerous, but it is a trickster with the swift gusts of air it can conjure, and almost impossible to see since it is the very color of the air itself.

The faculty has made two important announcements. First, do NOT go commando under your robes while this thing is out there. Second, whichever student or group of students catches the imp shall earn five points for the Colormarch for their House or Houses, and shall be taught a special spell of Discovery personally by Professor Trammel.

This reward has the student body in a tizzy, and groups of eager imp-hunters stalk the campus after classes, each of them with a clever idea to get the prize for themselves. Quickly, find a partner and join them!

Only Shooting Stars

Thanks to some horrible twist of fate, a body-swapping magic has caught you in its claws and wrenched you into a form that is not your own. Perhaps you're a familiar now, a blobby owl or a sneaky cat. Perhaps you've taken over the body of that student next to you, who's now looking at you from the eyes that ought to be yours.

There isn't any easy answer for this. You're stuck, for the moment, anyway. All you can do is try to make the most of it... or just get through.

Another Fine Mess

The fervor of the day down Anastara way surrounds a shop that just released their new special product: Airsquiddlies. These curious little toys take the shape of a squid, and through some little trick of magic they catch the air when held up above one's head. Tethered by a string, they drift about a few feet up with their tentacles waving most realistically and slithering around to curiously investigate whatever, or whoever, they find.

By luck, you've managed to get one of these -- and as delightful as it might be, it does come with a couple of quirks. Has its tentacles gotten somewhere you'd rather they not -- a merchant's wares, the hair of a fellow student perhaps? Or maybe you're stuck dealing with a few people who are intent on getting their own Airsquiddly, any way they can since the stores are sold out?

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

March Hare | OC

[marchmadness]

(ooc: Information on this OC can be found here for those who are curiouser and curiouser)

Another Fine Mess
March Hare had known straight away that he needed an Airsquiddle - it was every bit as curious and prone to get into things as he was! However, those traits were proving just as much a pain as a delight.

He'd taken his Airsquiddle to a class, and the toy was getting its tentacles into potion ingredients stored in the cabinet overhead. And so all sorts of odd things, from frog legs tocrow feathers, were falling down onto March Hare's head.

He was doing his best to be a proper and patient gentleman about it, which usually came naturally to him - despite the Madness. But when a chillingly cold liquid was poured over him, he'd had enough.

"What an absolutely manxome thing!" he shouted up at the Airsquiddle, teeth chattering as he did so. "Of all the wastes of money...! Maybe I should just let Nottingham have at you!"

The tuxedo cat sitting at March Hare's feet looked up with wide and eager eyes.

[couldabeenturbo]

Dewey looked up from his own station and pulled out one of the towels he'd learned to keep on hand.

"Here, dude. If you need a good temporary petrification glyph to keep it still, I might have one."

CHRONOS, hovering nearby, began to tick just a little louder at the suggestion that Dewey actually had any glyphs in his notes worth casting.

"C'mon, man, don't start."

[marchmadness]

March Hare took the towel with a grateful smile, and was ready to accept the offer of help... When he took notice of CHRONOS for the first time, and beamed.

"What a marvelous clock you have!"

[couldabeenturbo]

"Hey, thanks. His name is CHRONOS! I have to holler it every single time, or he gets really mad." He shot their professor an apologetic look. "But he comes in really handy because, well ..."

CHRONOS floats down and starts picking up some of the dropped items.

"... Extra hands."

[marchmadness]

"How remarkable! A sentient clock." A pause. "Actually, it's more remarkable that I've never met one before, I suppose."

March Hare chuckled warmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."

[couldabeenturbo]

"You, too! And I'm Dewey. Did you just get here with your letter?"

Meanwhile, CHRONOS ticked a bit more quietly, pleased at being called remarkable, and began to pile the Hare's dropped belongings in a barricade around the cat.

[marchmadness]

"I am the March Hare, and yes! Quite a strange thing, coming to a new world without going down a Rabbit Hole," he smiled, though, as he spoke. He liked strange things, after all.

[couldabeenturbo]

"You say that like you've been to other worlds," he said, excitedly. "WHat're they like? How do you get back?"

As they spoke, he started helping the Hare rearrange things, putting them where they belonged and glancing down at his spellbooks to see which lesson plan he was on, and if he knew any ways to help.

[marchmadness]

March Hare smiled warmly at the boy, nodding his appreciation for the help, but focusing on the answers the young one seemed more interested in than a verbal thanks.

"First of all, I didn't. I don't think I could... But yes, I have been to another world. Just the one, mind! But what a world Wonderland is... It would suit you, I'm sure. You already look the part, at least."

[couldabeenturbo]

"Wonderland." He rolled the word around in his beak. "It sounds like it's full of really neat stuff, the kind of stuff you'd only be able to see if you imagined it. Do I look the part because I'm an animal? I'd never seen ... humans before I came here. Everyone's an animal in my world. Lots of birds, but there are bears, and tigers, and foxes, and dogs..."

[marchmadness]

"Oh, yes, very much that way! And... Hmm." March Hare paused, needing to focus to explain this one to someone who wasn't a Wonderlander. "There are humans in Wonderland, too, but it's the only other place where I've seen animals like us. Nothing like this where I come from."

[couldabeenturbo]

"Humans are kinda weird," Dewey remarked, glancing around the classroom. "I mean, yeah, they're taller, which is great for them, but ... their ears are so funny. And those things they call noses are just ... squishy beaks?"

[marchmadness]

"Squishy beaks, or a short snout," March said as he nodded, before sighing lightly and continuing with, "I do miss the height, yes. But these ears hear far better."

That casual drop was nothing calculated, of course, just a spot of Madness.