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

[paradoxical_personality]

[Love Is In The Water]

There was a noticeable change that swept over much of the student body that already had Hel leery. There were more couples in the hallway holding hands and leaning against one another as if they were alone and not in a very public space. The amount of love letters seemed to have dramatically increased and there could be only one explanation for it.

Valkyrie Svipul.

Asgard's own would-be cupid who liked to unleash her arrows on an unsuspecting populace. She desired to become known as the Goddess of Love and her unorthodox method of trying to obtain said title was purely a nuisance. The only problem with this theory as that Svipul hadn't made a public appearance so it was unlikely to actually be her doing. That being said, Hel still assumed there was magic involved so she was being extra careful not to touch or ingest anything until the source could be ascertained. It was a good thing that Aesir didn't really require to eat or drink should they choose to skip it.

[Special Delivery]

The task was simple if not borderline demeaning, but let's face it Hel didn't have much if any cash to play with here and there may come a time when she actually needed to barter. So it was with this thought in mind when she took to delivering notes and packages around the school. It seemed harmless enough although there had been a few times when misunderstandings needed to be corrected.

"What is that look for?" She questioned the most recent recipient as she forked over the letter. "It's not from me." Said with an eyeroll, as she moved on. There were likely more pleasant couriers about than Hel, but... at least when she accepted a task it was guaranteed to be delivered. She drew the line at singing telegrams though. Stopping at the next recipient. After she handed over the box she crinkled her nose. "The person who sent this has very bad taste. You'll understand when you open it."

[OOC: Feel free to make up what's in the package if you go that route! Or I can make it up just as easily. Just have fun with it :3]

[Research on the Sundered]

Hel's icy-green blue eyes shot a cold stare at the researcher taking notes off to the side. "I can't tell you why the crystal keeps glowing like that- perhaps the spell cast on it was done incorrectly." For some reason whenever certain subjects came up, that involved Hels dislike of the human populace, or certain Gods the whole interview would grind to a halt and she would be asked to revisit the subject. The whole thing was getting tiresome.

Then she looked to the other sundered in the room for an out. "I've dominated enough of the conversation so far..."

"Why don't you talk about your world instead." Though dubious that these patterns would offer them much aide she added, "Is your world similar? Are the realms not bound together by a world tree? Can it boast as many races of elves, dwarves, therians, aesir, humans, jotun, and demons?"

[Misc]

[Got an idea of something else our characters could get into? Let me know!]

Love is in the Water

[talkyourwayout]

(ooc: I'd apologize but I just think this is funny. ;P)

Hel might not have fallen under the love potion's spell, but she wasn't getting away that easily. A certain duck friend of hers - friend? frenemy? annoyance? - happened to come across her after drinking some of the effected water.

"Hi!" Louie was right beside her, staring up fondly, in an instant. He cleared his throat, a bit awkward, before continuing. "How's the studying going? You... You said something about studying the other day, right?"

[paradoxical_personality]

[ooc: All my amusement XD, no need to apologize]

It was hard to say how she categorized Louie, but that was not uncommon for a lot of her relationships towards the beginning of them. He was a familiar face, and sure he didn't always do what was expected of him but neither did some of her other close compatriots. So yes, in a sense he was a friend. Certainly not enough of a nuisance to qualify for an enemy. Getting her to say as much would be as difficult as trying to sneak past Heimdall while he was guarding the rainbow bridge, so the ambiguity would linger between them.

The exuberance of the greeting gave her a start, then she looked down her eyes settling on him. Raising an eyebrow, she answered the question, "Fine." Though the subject was hardly an interesting sort so she didn't embellish it. You could only talk about pouring over scrolls and tomes for so long.

"What's with this sudden interest...?"

[talkyourwayout]

"Is it sudden?" Louie replied, still speaking too quickly; too enthusiastically. "I mean, we did talk about it before. Um, but we can talk about something else! Like... The Twilight Ball! Have you heard about that yet?"

[paradoxical_personality]

Hel gave him a look that said seriously, before conceding,"Since it's one of the only things we've ever spoken about I suppose not."

"The Twilight Ball?" Feigning ignorance, she gave it a moment before revealing that she had indeed heard about it. "Of course I have. It's all these idiots in the hallway want to talk about now. That or their misguided attempts at flirtation..."

"You should be careful. Something strange must be going around.."

[Research]

[daughterofclay]

"Sure," was Jude's dry response. "Dwarves and pixies and mermaids all around. Sometimes the occasional crone, if you're unlucky."

Not for the first time, she was wondering whether this had been a mistake. She'd been reluctant to participate, but if it could help her return home, well...

Well, it had still been a bad idea, in retrospect. Nevertheless, Jude's face had remained impassive through most of the interview, even if her shoulders and jaw never quite fully relaxed, especially not when... certain... subjects had come around.

"And humans, of course." Of course, because any fool could see she was one. Her tone was carefully mild. "The fey hate us about as much as you seem to."

A guess, granted, but given the crystal's (and Hel's) behaviour, it seemed only obvious.

[paradoxical_personality]

This girl's world sounded more like Hel's own.

That was also one of Hel's concerns whenever she decided to assist in the investigation. It was obvious that they had no idea how to handle the situation and were trying anything that came to mind.

If that was how Jude decided to interpret the blinking of the crystal then good. Hel's mask of indifference was held firmly in place. The real reason she had to keep revisiting those subjects is because she was open about her mistrust and dislike of humans, but the crystal kept saying the opposite must be true. Of course she didn't truly hate the people she was working so hard to protect. But good. Do read it that way. Hel wouldn't wish to appear too soft. "Why is that What cause have the Fey to despise your kind?"

[daughterofclay]

Jude spread her hands. "You'd have to ask them."

Which wasn't a real answer, granted.

"My guess is that they're beautiful, and cruel, and immortal, and it annoys them that we're none of those things."

Her turn, now. She fixed her eyes on Hel, considering her multi-coloured hair and delicate features. She would have fit in with the fey courts; certainly more so than Jude had.

"What are you, if you aren't human?"

A rude question in a normal circumstance, sure, but the researchers had asked them not to hold back.

[paradoxical_personality]

"Without knowing the reasoning than how can you be sure that it isn't justified?"

Making assumptions about it could lead you to some place far from the truth. Being immortal could certainly lead to a disconnect from the mortals. Goddesses like Hel lived for seemingly endless human life spans. The things she had seen over the years and experienced would be hard for an average human to fully relate to.

There were fairies present in her world's realms but many of them could be annoyingly cheerful.

"I'm an Aesir, or in other words a Goddess- of the Underworld specifically. That is the realm that I rule." So she had to oversee the afterlives of any creature that had passed on.

[daughterofclay]

A goddess, huh. That's a new one, even for Jude. But gods back home aren't so godly here; she's learned that much. It's refreshing, if unfamiliar, to be on an even playing field for once.

There's another issue, though. She knows she shouldn't let herself be baited, but she can't -- doesn't want to -- help the sharp, unfriendly smile she throws Hel's way.

"When did I say it was unjustified?"

[paradoxical_personality]

It might be refreshing to Jude, but it wasn't so to Hel. Being stripped of powers she'd cultivated over countless centuries was alarming and terrifying in more ways than one. Still, she would uphold her strong front.

".................." There's only a brief pause as the Aesir assesses the girl and her response.

"It was implied." As if it should be obvious to anyone.

[daughterofclay]

"Was it? Or did you just hear what you wanted to hear?"

How to Be Snide 101: about the only lesson Jude's fairy godmother stepmother ever successfully taught her. That said, it's probably not the time to be bickering -- she catches the research scientist's exasperated expression and sighs.

Yeah, time to rein it in.

Jude leans back in her chair, making an effort to relax her shoulders. Her face is back to being carefully impassive.

"What else you would like to know?"

A peace offering, of sorts.

[paradoxical_personality]

"You're human, are you not? If you think so poorly of yourself as a people that you don't take exception to the Fey's revulsion of your species it matters not to me."

So there. Hel was more than capable of giving as much as she got, so pushing her wasn't the smartest decision this girl had made today.

A sigh, please. That wouldn't have deterred this Goddess of the Underworld had she really wished to get into it.

".... .How long we must prolong this session..." Shooting a glance to the researcher.

[daughterofclay]

Well, there was an attempt, she supposes. It wouldn't be the first time Jude's attempted to be marginally civil only to have it thrown back in her face.

No point in being mad about it. No point in caring about a girl she could easily kill, either. This is the other nice part to no longer being in Faerie, after all: she needn't find herself restrained by the need for courtly pleasantries and status, even with her Diatu house being what it is.

"Maybe if you quit lying, we'd all get out of here sooner," is all she says, in reference to the crystal's reactions. Her tone is dry.

[paradoxical_personality]

Being marginally civil after the level of animosity that had grown between them could have only yielded such results.

Excuse me? Easily kill? Hel would have taken such exception to that.

Bristling at the girl's words, one of Hel's eyebrows seemed to twitch. "I am not lying, this spell was cast incorrectly." Again the crystal lit up, and it was all she could do to suppress her frustration. "Besides..." Taking a moment to flip a few strands of hair over her shoulder. "I don't see the point in any of this. This won't get us back to our worlds."

"What does it matter what species we do or don't like in relation to where to open a portal?"

[daughterofclay]

"If you don't see the point, you shouldn't have signed up. Do you enjoy wasting time?"

Civility: completely out the window now. Jude leans back in her chair, her hands clasped in front of her on the table.

Even if she doesn't look it, she can't deny that a part of her is relieved: she isn't particularly fond of the idea of discussing the candid truths of her world and life, and particularly not with this new... acquaintance.

This is probably just as well.

Research on the Sundered

[darkenedmoon]

"I do not know if we even know all of the races that populate Hydaelyn," Yotsuyu mused, mostly to herself. "Hyur, Roegadyn, Miqo'te, Elezen, Au Ra...and all those having at least two tribes to them, with physical differences..."

Her eyes smolder a bit as one of the researchers asks her to elaborate, though the crystal has remained inert. Yotsuyu purses her lips at the man. "If you are curious about the races, I suppose I can give you a written synopsis--later! One on the races speaks nothing of the monsters that populate the world!"

Yotsuyu sighed, longed for her pipe, and smiled weakly at Hel. "I imagine you regret succumbing to this nonsense about as much as I do."

[paradoxical_personality]

"If they do- then I have to assume they are called by a different names." Since all of those sounded foreign to her.

Hel recognizes that look, in fact she likely has mirrored it in some of her own responses. She listened quietly as Yotsuyu humors the researcher to an extent by offering to write up a report. Said researcher doesn't seem to take her up on that prospect.

"How well you know me in so short a period of time." This research didn't seem like it was really going anywhere, like most of the things that had been attempted so far. Besides, even if there were some similarities between worlds it was clear by now that these places were also quite divergent from each other.

[darkenedmoon]

The only thing that they seemed to have in common so far to Yotsuyu? They had all harbored some form of sentient life.

"We seemed to have similar viewpoints on this. I am not sure I know you at all, though you do flatter me by saying so." Not that she was used to giving complements--but that blasted crystal would be a tell, were she lying, and it remained blessedly inert.

Though she shifts her gaze over to the researchers again. "Well? You cannot tell me you have no other questions to ask..." That is when they remind her that she is supposed to be asking them, and Yotsuyu sneers at them a little--but again, she humors them.

"Very well. So what function did you perform on your world? I was the acting Viceroy of Doma, in service to the Garlean Empire and its prince, Zenos yae Galvus."

[paradoxical_personality]

There didn't seem to be much in common, no.

Hel casually glanced to the crystal without shifting her body for that one, and was pleasantly surprised. This was not a person who just spoke without thinking. Besides Hel had thought she had found someone she could easily communicate with when it came to Yotsuyu, and this was further feeding into those assumptions.

It was hard masking her amusement as her current companion called out the researchers. The process could have been made more streamline had they bother to prepare a survey for the participants or something of the like.

"Viceroy, hm?" That was one of the many titles the humans of Midgard might call themselves by. Impressive in it's own way that Yotsuyu had held such a position. "I am.. " Making a point of using the present tense. "The Queen of Helheim, Goddess of the Underworld. I see to the afterlives of all who pass on." Missing the irony that in her world, Yotsuyu was no more. It wasn't information that she was privy to. "My world consists of nine realms, how many are in yours?"

[darkenedmoon]

"What do you mean by realms?" Curious, though certainly if Hel meant kingdoms, there were likely more than Yotsuyu knew of. Though when she named herself Goddess of the Underworld, Yotsuyu's lips thinned briefly.

"Most of the gods where I am from have no hand in the business of mortals. They are still paid homage to--or lip service, I suppose, in my case with the kami--but for the most part, they are merely names, now."

She gave a short chuckle, then. "Though I suppose were I to be in your realm, you might have the handling of me--if you did not simply cast my soul to the abyss for the cruelty I committed in life."

The researchers muttered--let them, Yotsuyu thought. She just leveled a glare at them. THEY had asked her here--and she would ask what she wanted to ask. Otherwise, they ought to take it as a learning experience, and have a questionnaire ready.

[paradoxical_personality]

Apparently this was something Hel had taken for granted. "They're essentially different planes of existence all connected by the world tree but significantly different and distinct from one another." Come to think of it, she had only heard one person mention Yggdrasil here. "Alfheim is known for it's lush forests, and greenery- Muspelheim for it's mountains of fire, and oppressive heat."

Hel knit her eyebrows momentarily at that. "You are not the first to make such a claim. I don't understand why the Gods of the other dimensions are so.... negligent in their duties." It wasn't hard to tell that she took some offense to their inaction. "The Kami, did you say...?" Now there was a word she'd heard used before in reference to some of the Gods. "That is how the Gods are referred to in Yamato. You wouldn't perhaps of heard of Amaterasu- or perhaps her twin sister Tsukuyomi?"

"......................................................................................" The silence stretched between them at that admission. For some reason Hel had never once made that leap in assuming Yotsuyu was of the deceased. "I suppose I would have." Once more her expression seemed to darken. "What sort of magic is at play here that would rob someone of their eternal rest...?" The dead should remain that way. Conveniently she made no mention of what became of those who were cruel in life. Once she got her ire under control perhaps she would inquire further.

[darkenedmoon]

"From what little I know of such things, we have no World Tree on Hydaelyn." Yotsuyu had never heard of the Gridanians' Guardian Trees, but there were more than one of them, and likely it had no significance anyway.

Her look turned sharp when Hel mentioned Tsukuyomi. "What do you know of Tsukuyomi?" Brows furrowing, she gave something of a scowl--but that was more at the crystal, and its oh-too-accuate judge of truth or lie. "Not only have heard of Tsukuyomi--I have become Tsukuyomi, divinity of the night and goddess of the moon, ere I came here. I know nothing of Amaterasu, however."

Yotsuyu was not proud of that, no--but the crystal did not flash that she had lied, either.

"I am not proud of what I did," she continued, frowning somewhat. "I was...goaded into it, perhaps. My mother and father--they set me upon the path, and helped make me into the monster I had become in life. Yes, monster!" Not that she was certain Hel would naysay her, despite how they had met. "I chose a different path, here, and I have done my best to tread upon it."

[paradoxical_personality]

".... Peculiar." It was difficult to fathom how any world could exist without one. It was possible that there was actually a world tree but those who resided upon it were oblivious to it's existence. That or Yotsuyu's dimension might actually have an entirely different system altogether.

Noticing the change, Hel briefly narrowed her eyes as it looked as if Yotsuyu had taken some exception to her words. Her expression soon returned to it's usual mild disinterest a few moments later. "I know that she is rarely in Takamagahara, collects rabbit goods, and has a great dislike for mice that borders on psychotic. Why?" There was more she could say about the Kami, none of it good. Hel was not a fan of Tsukuyomi's superior attitude or how she had the gall to refer to a certain Aesir herself as quote "scumu". Many of the Kami that presided of Yamato seemed to suffer from this haughty personality. What was said next gave Hel pause, not understanding how anyone could make such a claim. "That's just great..." Said more to herself. The last thing she wanted was to run into other dimensions versions of the gods and goddesses she was familiar with in her own. There could be other Lokis out there.....ugh

That still didn't explain the sort of reaction displayed by Yotsuyu. The level of uneasiness she was projecting and revulsion.

"........... The power went to your head... " Or so Hel assumes. That is why mortals did not often ascend to become Aesir. "..............." Hel grew quiet at those next assertions. Just what was it that Yotsuyu did in her previous life? She hadn't really questioned it before, since once you were deceased it should be well behind you. Also by and large she wasn't one for words. This is one of those times when it would be useful to have a noisy valkyrie about. They were usually better about responding to people when they divulged traumatic portions of their past. Hel- was not so good at empathizing, but she felt as if she should say something after all that which in itself said something .....

"Sounds rough." #nailedit

[darkenedmoon]

"I only wondered if you knew of her. Or an example of her. Which, of course, you do." She frowned, then. Maybe the power had gone to her head, at least a bit, but...that was not the entire truth, and Yotsuyu spoke quickly, before the crystal could flare to ugly life.

"I was manipulated before I gained her power," Yotsuyu said. "My brother goaded me into taking her power, so I could destroy the peace talks between the Garlean empire and Doma. The greatest hero of our world and his companions slew me, because I intended to drown Doma in darkness and make it the swamp I felt it was. And I? I would reign above it as acting viceroy, cold and uncaring. Just as Asahi had planned."

She'd said those words then and meant every one, but now? Now she just felt empty. As if they had been spoken by another person, in another time.

Hel earned a slight, amused smile at that--it wasn't as if Yotsuyu did not understand. Sympathy was not always her strong point either. But she gave the Aesir a nod.