May Event and Intro Log

[magicademymods]

May Event and Intro Log DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY May I Have This Dance? Though Diatu Magicademy has its share of social events, few capture the attention of the student body quite like the Twilight Ball -- that magical once-a-year dance that crosses the change of day into night and is given over entirely to the dance itself. The focus is not on political visitors, rival schools, local government, or hitting up alumni for money; it is entirely about the pleasure that comes from accompanying a charming and attractive person onto the dance floor and cutting the proverbial rug. It is entirely possible the Twilight Ball is beloved because the general student body is aggressively amorous, but no one admits that out loud. With the dance on the horizon, the mission of the day becomes finding a partner -- or asking the prettiest or nicest or most tsundere to the ball before anyone else does. The Sundered are particularly popular by virtue of being new, so students may find themselves fending off invitations or even crowds of people interested in being seen on their arms. Even the younger Sundered have a few people in their age group who'd like to pretend they're just as adult as the older students. To avoid the mob, one strategy is to find someone else in dire straits and agree to be their date, thus giving both of you protection now and then. Another, stranger, vastly more unorthodox strategy is to actually ask someone out legitimately... if you've got the guts. (The third strategy is to go with Headmaster Birony, who has been occasionally heard to bemoan loudly and publicly that she has nobody, HINT HINT. But who could possibly be THAT desperate?) Love Is In The Water Love potions are absolutely, positively, one hundred percent forbidden, on the grounds they tread far too close to the supremely black Curriculum of Dictation. This ultimate and unforgiving ban is every bit as effective as Anastara's rules limiting the speed of carts in the street to a horse's walk. So, yes, there's love potion in the water. Someone spilled an entire bucket in the river. These things happen. Luckily, as diluted as it is, the potion doesn't reach the levels of obsessive compulsion that the worst of them can; a person drinking a unfortunate draught instead simply finds themselves attracted in a weird and sharp sort of way to the first person they lay their eyes on, for a period of about thirty minutes. Diatu Magicademy is an inclusive and progressive institution, and consequently these potions affect and can target all manner of beings, from ducks and wolf-shifters to robots and dragons. They are pretty convenient about failing to bring about really skeevy pairings, though, so don't worry about being Hot For Professor. Special Delivery (aka the Least Embarrassing Prompt, which is a sad state of affairs) A quick, easy, profitable way to make some money this time of year is by delivering messages, packages, parcels, and treats to students who've caught the eye of another. Whether anonymous or gloriously identified, small token of esteem or bristling bundles of roses and chocolates, the population of the Magicademy takes particular delight in letting others know their feelings. Not always positive feelings, either -- glitter-bomb rejections have only recently begun to diminish in popularity, being replaced by Pie-To-The-Face spells. An enterprising student who adds their own spin to this hallowed ceremony of delivery can make bank; singing and performance are popular ways to enhance a message among Valhudor students, and a recent trend finds quartets delivering acapella harmonies to the recipients of love notes. But simple note hauling can still be worth your while... so long as you don't find yourself delivering a creepy confession from a weirdo to one of your dear friends. What are the odds of that happening, though? Research On the Sundered With the arrival of the Sundered come those wizards engaged in research on their presence here, now set to investigate what brought them here and how to get them home. All newly-arrived Sundered students are asked to meet with representatives of the research team, to introduce themselves and relate what they will of their homes. In addition, the team requests samples of blood, hair, and skin -- carefully magically collected, and the researchers will sign in the presence of the Sundered a Glyphed contract that forbids them from using the samples for a purpose they know will be harmful. (They quite understand your reasons to be suspicious of this collection! And they will not compel anyone who refuses even given these conditions.) This month, however, the research team informs its applicants that there is no magic being performed. Instead, they ask you to participate in partnered interviews, in which two Sundered compare their worlds and ask each other questions while the researchers take notes. They explain that they wish to find commonalities and differences between worlds, in the hopes that this will help them identify a larger pattern in how the Sundered were brought here. How is this bad enough to merit earning a reward this month? As it happens, the researchers who sit with the pair have an Intimation Crystal, which shines red every time someone speaks to deceive in its presence. Lie or omit information or cover with half-truths and the interviewer will ask you to go back and try again -- and they encourage you to speak on everything you can. You might end up venturing into dark or unpleasant territory in these interviews... DAWN OF THE SECOND DAY Welp, This Happened A quiet weekend morning is abruptly quiet no longer. With a tumultuous shuddering and an eerie, whistling roar, the first tendril of a far mightier being surges out of a wall on campus, venturing into the cloud-shadowed outdoors for the first time in its existence in this plane. Then, like a cloak shrugged off, the outbuilding it emerged from rises up only to crash to the ground as the Sundered creature rises up to claim it glory. It is a nightmare, a horror. A terrible, indescribable thing as large as a small building —a shapeless agglutination of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of light. For some inexplicable reason, it is colored in bands of purple, black, and gold, and several parts of it sprout white feathers. That's the bad news. The bad news is that this existential threat to reality does not go unnoticed, nor unchallenged. Mere moment after the Sundered creature makes it presence known, a cold wind begins to blow. The temperature abruptly drops thirty degrees, leaving those around in a clammy and miserable chill that feels like they've passed their whole body through one of the ghosts of Makerion Keep. This estimation is not too far wrong, for the pale off-white dragon that emerges from the clouds above is translucent and ethereal, save for the shining eyes of coldest blue that fix on the beast like pinpoints of fire. What a ghost dragon is doing here is anyone's guess, but when it opens its jaw to unleash a withering cone of necrotic energy at the Sundered creature, it demonstrates plainly that it will not brook this interloper on its domain. In other words, Diatu Magicademy is now home to a kaiju fight. That's the bad news. The BAD news is that both these creatures are, by their very nature, incredibly resistant to magic. So even as the professors spill out and split duties of getting students to safety and fending them off, the two beasts barely notice the arcane energy flashing through the air as they begin vigorously brawling. Thank goodness this is a weekend, or else you'd all have some serious trouble getting to class on time. Wonders Await? Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. But maybe you should deal with that mess first? We're just saying.

Comments

Re: NOW IN THE RIGHT PLACE...

[sevenyearsasleep]

[Now, that was an interesting question. Link brightened slightly.]

I'm not sure. We had the Great Deku Tree--he was sort of my adoptive father. He protected the Forest and the Kokiri.

So, if a World Tree is a Guardian Spirit, then, yeah, we do. Or, uh, did. And do again. Sort of a reincarnation thing.

[bearshermark]

[Something in his heart lightens. Reincarnation. He's never thought of it that way. If the Luminary can reincarnate, could Yggdrasil?]

It sort of is like that. Yggdrasil watches over Erdrea. She's the source of all life in my world, and every one of us is a leaf upon her branches. Your Great Deku Tree sounds similar.

[sevenyearsasleep]

[Link nodded.] All of the Kokiri are his children.

[So, Link could picture that on a larger scale without too much difficulty.]

But, the Goddess Farore is the one who created all life in Hyrule. We have Guardian Spirits who protect different regions. The Great Deku Tree protects the Forest, and Lord Jabu-Jabu protects Zora's Domain.

[bearshermark]

[Eleven is fascinated, and as the researcher jots down notes and encourages the vein of conversation, he's more than happy to]

A Goddess and Guardians. Although Yggdrasil is the source of all life, different parts of my world pray to spirits as well in a similar way. I grew up praying to the Spirit of the Land to bless and watch over my home village. Do you pray to any of yours?

[sevenyearsasleep]

[Link is slightly amused at the researcher's diligence. It's a little bewildering to see his words written down.]

Ah--yeah, we have three goddesses. Farore, Nayru, and Din. I started doing a lot of praying to them after I left the Forest and even more when I woke up as an adult.

[Hyrule's idea of an adult, other worlds, and rational people's opinion on the matter might vary.]

What protects Yggdrasil?

[He figured something along the lines of magical seals and such.]

[bearshermark]

[His stomach flips abruptly, heart racing]

Th-the Arborians guard the First Forest, where Yggdrasil lies. [The crystal tinges to red and he's encouraged to answer the question directly. Heat floods his face and he swallows]

..The Luminary is meant to protect Yggdrasil.

[sevenyearsasleep]

[Link felt a pang of guilt.]

Oh. Sounds like there's, um, layers of protection? Kind of like the Triforce.

[He taps the golden triangles on the back of his left hand.]

[bearshermark]

[Eleven stares intently at the marking, color fading, then turns wide eyes to Link himself]

Are you... a protector of your world?

[sevenyearsasleep]

[Link blinked, then gave one of his awkwardly goofy grins and rubbed his neck.]

Th-that's what they keep telling me. That I'm the "Hero of Time". But, really, anyone would do the stuff I've been doing.

[And he firmly believed that.]

[bearshermark]

[Relief and tempered elation leave him in a rush. His fixed smile from before turns genuine; softer and more sympathetic than forced cheer]

A Hero of Time.. Is that a mark you were born with then?

[sevenyearsasleep]

[He shook his head.]

No. No, the Triforce split and I'm only the bearer of the Triforce of Courage, and I only received it when that happened.

[Gosh, Zelda had only just explained that situation before he arrived here.
It felt odd explaining it to someone else, as if he understood it all along, when really, he only understood exactly what his princess had explained.]

See, a really...really bad man was trying to get the Triforce. And my friend Zelda and me thought we could stop him if we got it first. But...all we ended up doing was leading him right to it.

It's supposed to grant the heart's desire of whomever touches it. Well...if they have a balanced heart. And he didn't. So...he was left with just the Triforce of Power. Wisdom went to Zelda and I got Courage....and sealed away for seven years.

After I woke up, I was older, and I've been kind of cleaning up all the chaos he's made since then.

[He winced slightly.]

Sorry, I know that's all pretty confusing.

[bearshermark]

[The tale has him riveted, abbreviated as it surely is. He shakes his head]

No, I understand- for the most part. I don't know what the Triforce is beyond that it can grant the heart's desire, but its power was split three ways, and one part of is being misused. The only thing that puzzles me is that you were.. sealed?

[sevenyearsasleep]

Yeaaaah, see, there were a series of safeguards in place. You had to have three spiritual stones, the Ocarina of Time, and be able to pull the Master Sword from its pedestal, in order to access the Sacred Realm where the Triforce is.

I could pull the Master Sword, because it recognized me as its owner, but, I wasn't old enough to wield it. So, it sort of put me to sleep for seven years until I was old enough.

[He and Zelda really screwed up. Although, Link would sooner die than blame her.]

[bearshermark]

[A bit like the six colored orbs, he muses. ...How did he forget about those after chasing them down to every corner of Erdrea?

While it sounds odd that a sword would come with an age restriction to be wielded, it isn't his place to question it]

So you were asleep for seven years.. And the- the Triforce fell out of balance? So you're trying to restore it?

[sevenyearsasleep]

Hryule's out of balance. Ganondorf--that's the man I was talking about--he decimated it, with the strength of the Triforce of Power. He wants the other two-thirds, but, that would be bad...I'm not sure it would split again and he'd have to go chasing after it, or if it would just accept him as Master of all three at that point.

[Link twisted his fingers together.]

I was out of it for seven years. It was like an instant for me. One minute Hyrule was normal and the next...just infested with Evil.

[bearshermark]

[A shiver races down his arms. He doesn't want to imagine seven years of evil reigning over Erdrea.]

..I'm sorry that happened to your world. Your friend with part of the Tri-Force- did she.. is she all right?

[sevenyearsasleep]

[Link nodded with a small smile.]

Zelda's fine. She'd just been hiding for seven years. Well, in disguise, at least. She's safe though.

Right when I showed up here we were going to fight Ganondorf and fix everything.

[bearshermark]

[Eleven breathed a quiet, almost disbelieving sigh. His next question left him with an air of something hushed and uncertain]

..Do you think you were ready?

[sevenyearsasleep]

I--well. Zelda and I working together, I think we'll be okay. It probably won't be easy, but, there's strength in numbers, right?

[bearshermark]

[He nodded, sitting back a bit. Two powers against one seemed more likely than the other way around]

..Yes. It's important to have allies to help you. I don't think I would have gotten very far without my friends either.

[sevenyearsasleep]

Yeah, I know that feeling. I--I really miss my friend Navi. I kinda wish she was here with me sometimes, but, it's probably good she's with Zelda. They can help each other.