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

[king_of_egypt]

[Research On the Sundered]

It was amusing in a sense, how the researchers were taking a similar approach to what Atem had attempted over the bulletin board. His findings from his own investigation was that most people, or their worlds shared little in common unless they had somehow arrived here from the same place. Sure, Earth itself was common as a setting but the times and technologies varied, even some of the fundamentals about how the world functioned. So he was only too willing to share and participate in this more sedate version of research.

"That's interesting," Said while crossing his legs and leaning forward, clearly engaged in the conversation. "Was there more to that story, or would you prefer to keep it to yourself for the time being?"

[Found object]

Sitting in one of the mostly empty classrooms, Atem was turning over a peculiar set of goggles in his hands. Not having the occasion to need nor use night vision goggles he wasn't 100% sure what to make of them. Sure, he might have seen a set before in one of the movies Yugi had watched back in Domino but it didn't explain why they had spontaneously appeared nor why it was before him. He had heard that some students acquired magical items when they had arrived but this didn't seem to possess any magical properties.

So..... what to do with them now?

[Misc]

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

[woo_oo]

Webby had been on her way to her next class, humming her own little tune as she passed. As she went on, she spotted Atem, and being the friendly sort, waved -

And then she spotted what was in his hands.

"ARE THOSE MY NIGHT VISION GOGGLES?!" She sprinted inside, having no indoor voice to match it.

[king_of_egypt]

So engrossed in the item he was holding, Atem nearly missed seeing the wave but somehow the motion got him to look up. He gave a more sedate hand wave back though every bit still as polite.

When her other exclamation sounded, he nearly fumbled the goggles. Sure, they wouldn't have far to fall between where he was holding them and the desktop but he still secured his hold around them as if he were holding an object made of fine porcelain so that wouldn't happen. His breath caught momentarily in his throat until he was sure that the item was safe, then he expelled a breath and looked back towards Webby.

"You recognize these?" She must, since she clearly was claiming they were hers. They did seem to be about her size at that. "I'm not really sure how I ended up with them."

[woo_oo]

Webby was already at his side, making grabby-finger-motions toward the beloved object.

"Recognize them? Those are mine, I'm sure of it!" She said happily as she bounced up and down on her heels. "Granny got them for me on my last birthday! See the little scratch on the left lens? That's when I tackled Dewey over the last chocolate chip cookie."

Fond memories. "I didn't have them on me when I came to this world, so I've got no clue why they're here now."

[king_of_egypt]

The insistence of her actions was a little intimidating, so he relinquished the goggles easily. He had no reason to doubt her assertions.

When they were no longer in his possession, he cracked a smile and shook his head. All this excitement over night vision goggles? It wasn't until she added the sentimental value they held before he truly could understand it. "It's no wonder that you are so eager to reclaim them." Trying not to laugh all the same. "Dewey?" There's a name he didn't recognize. "Have... I met him before...?" Sounding unsure. "I mean- he didn't happen to join you here at the academy too did he?"

"I suppose the important thing is, that they are here now."

[woo_oo]

Once she had them, she attached them to her head, though didn't flip them over her eyes. She just wanted to remember how they felt.

"No, he's not here. He's Louie's brother - but Louie's other brother Huey is here! They're triplets!"

[king_of_egypt]

The goggles looked like a perfect fit for the inquisitive, and excitable duck.

"Did he arrive recently?" Otherwise Atem had missed counting one of the ducks before. That wouldn't have been difficult to do. "Triplets- ha I don't know what I would do if I have that many brothers to contend with." Complicated by who would have succeeded to the throne more than anything else. "I'm glad that two of them have been reunited."

[woo_oo]

"Yep, pretty recently!" A happy chirp. "I've never had siblings myself... but the triplets are kind of like my family now."

If it was possible, her smile got even brighter than before. "They're the best brothers anyone could ask for! Louie's always got some kind of clever scheme at the works, Dewey is braver than anyone I know, and Huey is a real genius!"

[king_of_egypt]

"Then perhaps Dewey will not be far behind." Trying to sound optimistic. "I have an idea of what that's like." Yugi's grandpa had been like a grandpa to Atem as well.

He'd heard a little about some of the ducklings escapades before over the bulletin board so it was little wonder that they had grown closer through their shared adventures. "... and together you make an ideal team."

Research

[plusfivedex]

Having a willing and genuinely interested audience to hear stories about her new superhero adventures was a dream come true for Kamala, honestly. She grinned at Atem before going on.

"Oh, there's more. See, I had the powers now - I could grow and shrink and all that - but I didn't know how to make them work until I saw one of my friends, Zoe, was going to drown in a nearby lake. I guess I still didn't really know how to work them, then, but I managed to do that well enough to save her!"

[king_of_egypt]

It was an interesting subject to be sure. Especially in her case, since from what he could gather gaining her abilities had come as more of a surprise, though he could have misinterpreted her words. As for his involvement with magic, it was always something that was around even during his early childhood, Not that he could have fathomed the depths of the Millennium Puzzle's powers even after it had been forged until it was placed in his hands.

"... Because there was a need, instinct took over." He nodded to that pleased at the outcome of the tale, but still ready to hear more. "I imagine that the first time you changed your size it was a bit of a confusing experience." Oddly recalling how his friends had been shrunken once in order to play a shadow game.

[plusfivedex]

He had, indeed, understood her - the abilities she'd gained in the fog that night had been completely unexpected.

"Yeah, I think that was it exactly! And it was... Super weird, yes. I was pretty freaked out."

[king_of_egypt]

What a fascinating and jarring moment it must have been- also empowering once any initial fears subsided.

"I bet. Plus there was likely uncertainty about whether you would be able to return to your actual size as well."

Research

[shiningkindness]

Fluttershy shook her head a bit. "No, I don't mind. See, apparently the world I come from is connected to another world, one that's filled with magic and creatures that are only myths in my world. And apparently a lot of us have...um...pony counterparts in that world."

[king_of_egypt]

"Fascinating." Trying to imagine what that would be like, to run into your own equestrian counterpart. "There is something sorta of similar in my world- an alternate dimension that is filled with monsters of all shapes and sizes." Not sure how to explain that these monsters were the projections of someone's Ka in his dimension since the Egyptian philosophy about the soul being divided into two parts was so foreign to most. "They also hold connections to people from my dimension."

"How did you discover the existence of this parallel dimension?"

[shiningkindness]

"Actually, the pony version of one of my friends, Twilight Sparkle, came from that world. That world's Twilight Sparkle is an alicorn princess, and she came to my world looking for a magical artifact that had been stolen."

Though she tried to avoid talking about who had stolen it.

"We actually met Princess Twilight before we met our native Twilight."

[king_of_egypt]

"So they can exist concurrently." That was different. The subject wasn't an entirely pleasant one so Atem didn't explain it. For example, his most faithful monster in the modern era had been the Dark Magician which was the manifestation of Mahad's Ka. Mahad had been one of Atem's closest friends and advisers. The two (Dark Magician and Mahad) could not exist at the same time, it was either one or the other. It was such a relief in to be reunited with Mahad in the afterlife.

At the moment he hadn't guessed that she knew the identity of the thief. Though he did know someone with a guilty conscious that was also attending the academy

"How peculiar. Did they still act relatively alike?"

[shiningkindness]

She nodded. "Oh yes. They're actually really similar. They're both very smart and love to read and research, and they're both very caring and sweet. They both even have a dog named Spike. Although..." she added with a giggle, "Princess Twilight's Spike is actually a dragon, but he just turns into a dog when he comes int our world."

[king_of_egypt]

"Remarkable. I wonder how many parallel dimensions there could be in existence..." If there was a dimension for every sort of outcome then they could each have innumerable versions of themselves. "I wonder what is in place between the two realms that allows for such a transformation to occur."

"A powerful magic must be at work."

[shiningkindness]

"It would definitely seem so. Though part of it might also be them changing to better fit in with how the people appear in one world versus another. After all, if he'd come as a dragon, I think there would have been a lot of confusion, and maybe even trouble."

Research on the Sundered

[stillnewatthis]

"That is when they updated the OR-14 models to OR-15 and produced numerous." Orisa's tale of the origin of her chassis began in the midst of war, but now they had moved on to some twenty years later. "They were intended to protect Numbani, but did not succeed at their task."

[king_of_egypt]

"I see." Some of this history regarding the development of the Omnics would have likely made more sense to someone that was a bit more technologically savvy like Kaiba, but Atem was following most of it just not the intricacies of what some of the upgrades entailed. He nodded a bit solemnly at the later implication, war was no stranger to his time period nor the ugliness of it. "Were their any survivors of the Numbani?"

[stillnewatthis]

"A few units survived, but were decommissioned." Orisa naturally assumed he was speaking exclusively about the omnics involved, rather than the city at large. "My chassis was not overly damaged in battle. The majority of failures were in the head and associated processing cores."

[king_of_egypt]

"Only a few..." and even those were not permitted to carry on. The Omnics might not be the same as humans but being decommissioned still sounded like something that should warrant mourning or a feeling of loss. "Oh.. uh .. yes." Her words shaking him out of the thoughts he'd lost himself in. "I'm glad the damage for you was minimal".

[stillnewatthis]

"If you are concerned, I should explain that OR-15 units did not have full and complex AIs. They were designed purely for protective purposes, not as independent existences. My current personality is due to extensive upgrades to my AI by Efi. She wished to create a 'hero with a heart'."

No question that omnics could achieve that; their full AIs were at least equal to humans in that respect.