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

May I have this dance!

[treno_nobleman]

[To be certain, the invitation had not come from him. Kuja has sent no invitation and expected (hoped) to receive none in kind. But he can't help hearing the rejection as he checks his own mail and peers over at the man curiously.]

These... are quite bothersome, are they not?

[Beside him, Califleur watches the man with ears perked, looking between her master and the stranger. Will they be friends? She must know!]

[nomoremistergneissguy]

This is insane. Nobody cared if I was even alive back home! It feels like I'm some sort of--I don't know, status symbol! "Be seen with a Sundered, that's cool!"

[Cliff snorts at that. If the sphere had eyes to roll, Rounder might just be doing that, although he gives Califleur a wave that's friendly enough.]

Besides, I don't know any of these people. [There was one person he'd consider asking to the dance, and he had to get up the gumption to actually ask first. But then, he notices Califleur.]

Is that your familiar? She's really pretty!

[treno_nobleman]

[Califleur can't speak her feelings on the matter, but her chuff and the little wiggle she does to scoot closer to the man say all she needs. She approves of this, yes she does. And Kuja is not paying her any mind, as is his wont, so she's going to ham it up while she can.]

She is, since she will not leave me alone, though I am hardly in a place to need one. [He finally looks down at her, but though there is no disdain in him, there is no interest either. She's simply there, and nothing he has done will dissuade her.]

You are a status symbol, it seems. We are exotic here, and people are attracted to the exotic. Whatever else they might like, I intend to decline all of these invitations. [He raises a hand and presses fingers over the bridge of his nose.] Though I suppose I should make an appearance at the event.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

[Well, she's a pretty baby, and he'll pay attention to her, at least a little. Cliff keeps his gaze on her master, but he leans down a little, hand extended, so he can let her get a good whiff of him--familiar she may be, but polite is polite, and she probably wants an introductory sniff before she lets him pet her!]

Eh, they come in handy, sometimes. Rounder does, at least. [Though his is clearly not the average, run of your mill familiar. Now Kuja gets a wave from the marble sphere. 'Sup?]

As for being a status symbol...ugh. I hoped I left that behind on my world. Unless I see a name I recognize, I'm trashing the written ones, too. I probably will go, though. Can't imagine it'd have the same meaning here it does when my parents throw one.

[treno_nobleman]

[Oh, he won't even need to really give her a sniff. He offered, and she'll give a greeting whiff just to familiarize herself with him before tilting her fluffy head right into his palm with a deep purr. Kuja watches, uninterested, but she knows he wouldn't let anything hurt her, because she would do the same for him. She is, after all, an Oh Leopard.]

[When the... other's familiar waves at him, he stares at it and, hesitantly, lifts a hand and lowers it.]

I see. If nothing else, it breaks the monotony of class and study, though there is little guarantee we will enjoy it. The students are bold with their letters now, but I wonder if they will be so brazen when we meet. They rarely are in the study hall. [He shakes his head and sifts through a few letters he will end up tossing away himself. Ridiculous.]

[nomoremistergneissguy]

Aww, you're so cute! [And she's far more personable than even Rounder is, though he tries. Especially for something without an actual voice. Still, the marble sphere does well enough in making himself understood. Even if, and when, it's at Cliff's expense.]

Yeah, these are easy to write, but if they asked me face to face---[Yeah, Cliff knows what would happen. He'd do his best tomato impression, mumble something like "no", and scramble off if they were female. And he's not interested in guys, really, as anything but friends.]

I didn't enjoy the balls back home, either. At least if I go to this one, there'll be some novelty, because it's here and not there. So you have a point that far, it does break up the day to day.

[treno_nobleman]

[Ignore her though he tries, Califleur's purring won't be tamed. She is loud and incessant, and part of Kuja is sure she's doing that to taunt him, the little priss. He'll let her soak up the attention for now, and may shuffle his letters a few more times to pretend that he's not doing it so that she can enjoy it.]

Were the ones back home as boring and gaudy as the ones I knew? Oh, do please tell. If nothing else, we'll have something to work toward improving the next time. And they will hold another one, mark this. One won't be enough.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

[Cliff muses over that a bit.] I'll have to reserve judgement until I actually see the ones here, but they were pretty gaudy. Every one of the guests ran around making the ateliers practically tear their hair out because they had to have new clothes, all that nonsense.

I didn't have to worry about it there like I do here, but I at least seem to be a size where I don't need to find a tailor to make a dozen alterations. That and I can probably get away with one suit, so long as I make sure it's House colors. No one can argue if I wear that and look dapper.

[And there's the doubt coming in] Well, I hope.

[treno_nobleman]

[Having had enough of the letters, Kuja sighs in no quiet manner and looks back down to the fluffy leopard familiar still purring at his companion.]

Yes, I suppose so. Fashion and all that ranking so high on the list of things to consider, not that we Sundered are any better off with a new shirt or jacket, one must have priorities.

[Because a new shirt or outfit or anything of the sort was really going to help them with their predicament any more, but he couldn't complain too much. What sort of life did he have to go back to anyway? Maybe someone else would appreciate that though.]

Must you match your house colors? It seems rather drone to me.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

Eh, I look good in my House colors--which is more important than being all matching, if you ask me. Now if they clashed--I'd probably ignore it. I can't see myself pulling off Valhudor well, for example, but thankfully, I don't have to. I'm in Gekronus Maius.

[Cliff shrugs and grins at that, shamelessly rubbing the leopard's ears if only to make her purr louder.] Also, currying favor with Professor Trammel couldn't hurt, I figure. Beyond that...I don't think anything will help me not stumble over my words.

[But his tone there is rueful, and he shrugs again.] I learned diplomacy well enough, but I admit my twin was better at it. I guess we all have certain talents and flaws. Just got to learn to live with them.

[treno_nobleman]

[If Califleur could have gone home with the man just for more of those ear rubs, he was sure she would have. And he might have let her. He hadn't wanted a familiar, but here he was, stuck with her, and she with him.]

Ah, the art of speech. How vital communication still is, though it gains us so little in this world. Or has, whatever that case may be. I consider myself new enough to this academy, but I can't help noticing others have been here much longer. Have they thought of staying, or are you aware?

[nomoremistergneissguy]

[Cliff isn't averse to giving her a few more ear rubs, because why not? She's adorable. He wasn't sure what Rounder would think, though, if she followed him home, so it's probably better that she stayed with Kuja.]

I'm not sure. I mean, I imagine there are a few people who are considering staying, for whatever reason--me, if I had a chance to go home, I probably would. [Cliff pauses there a moment, thoughtfully.] Well. Eventually, I would. I miss my family and my real powers, but this is like...for me, it's an adventure all my own, something I don't have to either share with my siblings, or worry that they'd take it from me, you know? They mean well, but I'm one of the youngest siblings.

[treno_nobleman]

[She's eating that up, and as much as she likes it, she knows who she's going home with, though it might or might not be what she wants to do sometimes.]

A holiday, then? With the events coming up, it does seem like it. It won't help us get home any faster, but in truth, I don't know which I would rather be doing.