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

[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.

[paradoxical_personality]

"I couldn't have known it was useless beforehand." Resisting the urge, just barely, to roll her eyes.

As much as she would love to turn the tables and place this pleasant individual on the spot, just to catch her in one little lie but that would take more effort than she truly wished to waste. The researcher seemed unmoved though so it looked like the session was still in progress.

So fine. You want questions, here's some questions. "What function did you serve in your world?"

[daughterofclay]

She's surprised when the other girl continues the interview instead of ending it -- it's not what she'd expected. It's not a bad question, though.

"I was seneschal to the High King of Elfhame." She pauses, then clarifies: "His... right-hand woman, I guess, in plain terms. Someone to protect him, and to keep him on the throne."

Welcome to YA literature Faerie, where a teenage girl can somehow con her way to a position like that.

It's also a half-truth, and predictably the crystal lights up, which is -- annoying. Jude sighs.

"He didn't want to rule. So I did." There. That should satisfy the damn thing.

Speaking of political systems...

"What's ruling the Underworld entail?"

[paradoxical_personality]

Hel assumes the explanation is for the researcher's benefit and it's just as well that she did. "You're a little... young to hold such a position, aren't you?" Eyes looking over the girl scrutinizing her once more. If she had been Princess Senna of Nordica it might have made sense, but this girl had been nothing but insolent since the interview began. Would a king truly trust someone with so little control over their mouth to stand beside him?

Senna was the youngest of 13 daughters, she would likely never inherit the throne. She acted as a knight because she still wished to do something great for her people, and she wasn't to be taken lightly.

A smirk tilted up one corner of Hel's mouth. "The crystal seems to be taking exception to your tale." As if it needed to be pointed out. "My condolences to Elfhame." Said after the correction was made.

"About what you would expect...." Probably. "If the realm comes under attack, I'm to protect it along with my skeleton minions, Garm, and Fenrir. If souls try to escape and return to the living I prevent it. You wouldn't believe some of the tactics people will try to talk their way out of their final end."

[daughterofclay]

Unfortunately for Taylor Swi Hel, Jude doesn't let her finish. As soon as the "condolences" comment leaves Hel's mouth, Jude just... sighs, shrugs, and rises from her chair, ignoring whatever else Hel might be saying to address the researcher instead.

"I think we're done here, don't you? This clearly isn't going anywhere."

And Jude doesn't have any desire to sit around trading insults. Especially not on a voluntary basis, when she could be doing other, better things.

Instead, she adjusts the sword at her hip, wishes the researcher good luck, and strides towards the exit without another glance at her "partner".

[paradoxical_personality]

Hel doesn't really get why the girl could dish out the hostility but couldn't take it herself but fine, let her walk. It isn't like it would matter either way. She might be overly prideful that she was running a kingdom, but Hel was running an entire realm. It wasn't comparable.