June Event and Intro Log

[magicademymods]

June Event and Intro Log Diatu and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Sundering Midterm Results It turns out that inadvertently summoning a horrible demon of immense and terrible power is still worth a passing grade: minus a lot of points for summoning the entirely wrong thing, but enough extra credit for successfully doing something so incredibly over-the-top to make up for it just a little. Meanwhile, something something power of running water, there's a demon imprisoned in the fountain, locked behind a massive magic circle of protection. Its flames neither evaporate the water nor are quenched by it, its lashing pointy tail stabs futilely at the stone in an attempt at petty vandalism, and otherwise it squats with otherworldly patience, claws drumming on its thighs. Till someone comes close, and then it calls out. "Come! It is in my power to grant a wish to those who ask! Speak your desire and I shall grant it!" Of course, the demon's ability to interpret wishes in an extremely jerkass manner is unparalleled by mortal malice. Still, this doesn't stop those students who think they're clever, can outwit a demon, have a background in legal jargon, or just want a turkey sandwich on rye bread with lettuce and mustard and-and they don’t want any zombie turkeys, they don’t want to turn into a turkey themselves, and they don’t want any other weird surprises. Needless to say, it has gone well for none of them -- but will you be the one to break the streak? As for the circle, it is specifically warded against meddling, so no freeing the demon (accidentally or otherwise). Those who try to touch it or cross through it are promptly hurled with pinpoint accuracy into a nearby pond that has been put there explicitly for this purpose. (Except for Minamimoto -- if HE messes with it, his pants rip themselves off his body, wrap around his head, and haul him away while shouting the multiplication tables incorrectly.) Potent Potables Students work hard, and they play hard. Around midterms, this often takes the form of picnics with unreserved and unrestricted access to not just copious amounts of barbecue and potato salad, but also alcohol. From fine wines to barrels of beer to Liverpunch Whiskey, all sorts of offerings pop up at the parties that occupy space along the Walk or outside the Towers and Keep. Anastara, you see, has no legal drinking age; like most of the Tenscore Kingdoms, children grow up with alcohol, and generally its consumption is seen as no major event and no special treat. And it simply hasn't occurred to anyone that other cultures on other worlds might not function the same. So enjoy a picnic, but also enjoy your free access to the wonders of intoxication. Physical Challenge (aka the Prompt Least Likely To Cause Suffering) Healthy body, healthy mind, the saying goes. Professors Trammel and Kith, adherents to this philosophy, have begun holding extracurricular exercise groups during the off hours. Students can learn proper weightlifting techniques for endurance as well as strength, jog around the campus in groups, play impromptu games that get the body moving, or even just practice slow stretches and what other worlds might call 'yoga'. Captain Lominia aggressively prowls the area, looking for people to scoop into bala-inlota exercises -- far more grueling and dangerous to succeed at if you don't want to be badgered onto the student team, but amazing workouts either way. And Headmaster Birony has set up a fairly extreme obstacle course straight out of a ninja challenge, overseen by Professor Porfsin from behind a cannon which magically flings beanbags at the participants. Those who make it through receive a pie from the Headmaster, who it turns out apparently can make a really darn tasty pie. 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, the researchers wish for you to engage in some sort of conflict, clash, or battle with your fellow Sundered. Spars with blunted weapons are the obvious choice, but games of strategy like go, shogi, or Fantastic Foils are also an option. A rousing debate will do as well -- anything that raises passion and energy. The team explains that they've found many of the Sundered who they interviewed have recently been through some sort of conflict or trouble on their world, and they wish to see if there's any magically-measurable aspect they share when challenged. Wonders Await Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Except for the fountain. You can't swim in the fountain till they figure out how to banish the demon.

Comments

[treno_nobleman]

If it were any of those games, Kuja might find himself learning under Noctis's expertise. As it was, they would both be learning, he thought, and he was okay with that. He isn't concerned about the blade the man carries around, and by Califleur's lazy ear flicking, neither is she.

He can't help but notice her interest in it though. Normally shiny things caught her attention, and that blade certainly was. She was smart enough to know not to pounce random strangers' belongings, but he still wondered at it as he headed back, following the former warrior of Materia to the boards.

"Which do you prefer? I've only read the rules to them, but I've never played any. The advantage will be neither of ours."

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis shook his head as they got back to the boards. He hadn't figured on playing games or anything to get back home. But at least the man beside him (or who had been following him) wasn't someone he was going to have a problem with.

"Doesn't seem to be anything I know so whatever works really."

Blue eyes are still scanning the place. This was even weirder than being dead, except the king is sure that he's not dead anymore. And he's not sure how that happened.

Turning to Kuja now, he had to ask. "So whoever wins goes home?" It can't be that simple.

[treno_nobleman]

Looking at the games now, Kuja still had no preference as to which he would play, so he settled himself at any random game that took his fancy, tail curling to accommodate the seat he was in. He wasn't committed, but he had been walking all day, and really, he was a little tired of it.

"Not quite. Whoever wins, somehow that provides these researchers the insight the might need to figure out why we were chosen to be pulled here instead of others." He shrugs and chuckles without any real humor.

[fatedsacrifice]

Once Kuja decided wherever he was going to sit down, Noctis took a seat opposite the silver-haired man.

"Researchers." This is said with a slight scoff and his hand goes back into his hair. Right, he remembered who they were, wanting to hear some story about home and get a hair sample or something or other. Noctis had walked right past them, not even answering anything that they were asking about.

Yup, it was as he'd figured, winning wouldn't make him automatically go home.

"Well, that's just great." This somewhat echoes Kuja's humorless chuckle.

[treno_nobleman]

He reaches out and takes ahold of one of the game pieces on the board, examining it closer.

"That's about as much enthusiasm as I hold for the idea. Personally? I don't feel they're researching the right aspects of this mystery, but what do I know? I'm just one of the poor, lost souls dragged into this world by their magic. Alas." He shrugs and sets the piece down, sighing loftily as he looks over the rules again.

"In any case, let them watch us learn this game. I have no intention of putting much effort into this."

[fatedsacrifice]

"Seems like that's the story with everyone." Noctis said with an exasperated sigh. He then read the rules but wasn't really paying attention. Playing games wasn't on his agenda for the day, going home was.

What could this world possibly want with a dead king? What was he going to do here while he waited to go home? If fighting wasn't an option, he had no idea.

Apparently playing games with a former warrior of Spiritus was on the agenda.

[treno_nobleman]

The game piece is set down and nudged around the board with his fingernail, though he isn't truly playing the game, not how it was intended. His interests are in the man sitting across from him, and solely because his is the only face he recognizes from his past.

Part of him wonders if the gods who summoned them are here too, somewhere, but it's a thought easily dismissed. If they were, surely he and this man would be doing more fighting than talking. "Hear it enough and you might well be able to recite it in your sleep."

A few more minutes, staring, in thought, and he looks down to the board as a diversion. He doesn't want to make the man wary of him. "Twice, I was brought into a world to fight for a god whether or not it was what I wanted. The fate wasn't mine alone, but of everyone else who shared it, I knew only one. He who came from my own world."

He looks back at the man again, nudges the piece to a side. "Now here I am again, pulled away to another world with another request of me, another set of chains held over my head, and yours is the only face I know, but barely. When we last met, I never even knew your name." Califleur looks up at him, unsure of this conversation and the sudden interest, but she stays silent, and he ignores her. "There are many questions I have about all of this, and I'm sure you share that sentiment."

[fatedsacrifice]

Blue eyes looked at the other man as he pushed around the game piece, and he was pretty sure that wasn't how this was supposed to go according to the rules he'd read. But he said nothing about it.

So while he had nothing to do and was listening, that's when the king noticed a few things as he sat there.

They had things in common was one. Like the other former warrior, Noctis himself had been brought to fight for Materia though he knew no one from home. The other time was when he met Sarah and the Hiso aliens. She'd had to translate their words for him because he didn't understand them.

Another thing was that this guy liked to talk certainly and the king kept his gaze averted most of the time.

Also noted was that while he himself had dark hair and clothing, Kuja wore some white and had silver hair. And idly it was wondered how it was kept like that.

But when the thing about the name came up, the dark head lifted.

"I never got your name either."

[treno_nobleman]

He picked up the game piece again, watching the other rather than what he was doing with it. The others with Materia hadn't all been so quiet, so reserved, but he didn't know them personally and hadn't wanted to. Maybe this man was just one of those types, one with walls built up so high around him very little could be seen past them.

It made him a mystery, and Kuja didn't like that, but couldn't explain to himself why. After another minute of staring at the man, he decided it was only because this was the only person he could even somewhat recognize, and he had been in the middle of unfamiliar and hostile worlds for so long, the relative peace of this place was getting to him.

He looked away again, to the game piece, and set it aside, tail tip twitching. "Not much time for proper introductions in a place like that, at each other's throats to power a strange world."

[fatedsacrifice]

The other hadn't revealed his name either and the king sighed softly, looking back down at the game piece in his hand that he was now flipping over and over.

Noctis could feel himself being stared at and he wasn't sure why such a thing was being done. But he figured it was probably just because he looked older or something like that. His own hair wasn't spiked anymore nor did he obviously have his youth so maybe it was just the other taking notes of things like that.

There was the reminder again of how they knew each other, but maybe that would just always be a thing. They had agreed they didn't have a problem with each other so one of them would have to show trust and good faith first. And the king already had experience regarding something like this with Camelia in Altissia.

So he raised his gaze again to look at the silver-haired man.

"Noctis."

[treno_nobleman]

It was clear to anyone that they weren't interested in the game or in the fighting. Kuja couldn't help a light, amused smile at the other game piece getting tumbled over the other man's fingers. They had invented a game of their own that was far better than the rules of how this was meant to be played, and he had no qualm with it.

This time, he left his own pawn on the board and let it stay as it was. He had lost all interest. "A name to go with the face. I am Kuja." Instead of a bow, he simply inclined his head. "So then, with that aside, why do you think you were brought here, Noctis?"

[fatedsacrifice]

He wasn't sure what that smile was for though it didn't seem to have any malice behind it. It almost seemed genuine for some reason though the king couldn't fathom as to why.

Noctis nodded to acknowledge the other stating his name but his expression darkened at the question. However, it was in no way directed at the man himself that sat near him.

He sighed and thought of Ardyn though that man had been defeated. Setting down the white king piece in front of the pawn, he looked back up briefly and shrugged.

"Maybe someone is getting a kick out of playing games with people's lives."

[treno_nobleman]

Since the research party a month ago, Kuja had given the hypothesis more serious consideration. Here he was in a world where he wasn't needed, hadn't been called away by some god seeking to use his power. It wasn't his first time, and it wasn't a first for at least two others on the campus grounds that he was aware of.

He didn't know about the rest of them, but he had a suspicion that not all of them were here because they could fight. Having done what he had in his past, Kuja refused to believe they were here because they all deserved a second chance. So then he was left with the idea that maybe they were here because their worlds had once been in peril.

"That is the going theory. I am not aware of the full results of all of this research they say the locals are doing, but it appears that some or most, if not all, of us are here because our people or even our very worlds were threatened."

[fatedsacrifice]

Well, that pretty much sealed it. No one really knew why they were here and at this point, it was anyone's guess. So the king looked back down at the board, mulling over Kuja's words.

His own world had been threatened, but he'd fought and fought and had defeated Ardyn. Had that all been for nothing? No, he fulfilled the crystal's prophecy, he'd done what was required in order to bring back the light. Or had somehow coming here prevent that future?

The dark head shook as he picked the white king back up and looked at it as if it would give him the answers that he sought.

"If our worlds were in danger, it would stand to reason more people would be here, not just a chosen few." This was the king worried about his people and the people who were dear to him.

[treno_nobleman]

He tilted his head, nodding agreement, then watched the man continue to play with his own piece. The white king. He had no idea how fitting that choice was, but it was all just a board game to him, just pieces carved of wood to entertain them, though they had no interest in it.

"Yet another mystery for the ages. Why should we be so special when entire civilizations are at risk? Or were, as the case may be." And as the case was, in his own world, now that the biggest threat to it had been removed. But why put him here, where he could cause harm, even though he had no intention of doing so anymore? And why bring one of the heroes of another world to this one? He had been surprised not to see Zidane.

He looked down at the board and moved a pawn, not caring which, in a way he thought was within the rules of the game. In truth, he didn't know and didn't care if it was. It gave him something to do other than mull on the where and the why. "But here we are, whether or not it makes sense, trying to make as much sense of what we're doing here."

[fatedsacrifice]

The king's jaw clenched. "And no one knows anything of a way to get back." He's frustrated certainly but is keeping a calm veneer over the worry. A hand goes over his stomach, which was a gesture he did back home.

His death was supposed to bring back the light and save the people. Now he finds out he's possibly being saved? He died and this made no sense whatsoever. If this was true though, then his death accomplished nothing, it served no purpose. That just couldn't be right.

Needing something else to focus on, Noct picked up the Black Queen and set it next to the White King, just to distract his mind. He almost wished that he was back on Materia's side. At least there he'd know what to expect.

[treno_nobleman]

Kuja watched as pieces were moved around on the board that he was fairly certain, even in his limited knowledge of how this game worked, wasn't legal, but he did nothing in protest. The narrative held his interest, proving his thoughts and the researchers' hypothesis all the more true with each passing moment.

But it didn't make sense. Not all of their worlds and not all of their people were in danger, were they? He hadn't spoken to every one of the Sundered, but it wasn't exactly a worthy conversation starter. "They claim they still have no idea how we actually got here, only by what magic it was done. The most I have seen that same magic do with my own eyes was to bring creature here from other parts of this world."

Far more socially adept than her master, Califleur knew those signs just as well, and also had an idea of what to do about them. Independent of Kuja's orders, she lifted her hefty fluff off the ground and left Kuja's side to go settle beside Noctis's chair in quiet support. Kuja watched her, then ignored her, as was his wont. She wasn't in danger and she knew not to cause trouble, so he let her do as she wanted.

[fatedsacrifice]

There were many configurations of the pieces that Noctis made, just trying to think and straighten his head out. These were made slowly and deliberately, still just trying to wrap his head around being brought back from the dead.

Luna, Ignis, Prompto, Gladio, Cor and his father passed through the king's mind as he made these configurations, and he sighed quietly. So when Kuja spoke next, blue eyes lifted from the pieces.

"If there's a way to bring people here, there has to be a way to reverse it." He didn't really want to ask about what kind of creature was brought here along with them by the same magic. At least, not right now anyhow.

Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Noctis lifted and moved his head. There was another kitty here and he couldn't help but smile at it. His own cat familiar was home in his room.

[treno_nobleman]

The pieces on the board, set and reset and reset again, continued not to make sense to him, but Kuja only watched, uninterested, when he wanted something more to look at than the man across from him or the familiar now at Noctis's side.

He shrugged a shoulder, tail curling the other direction. "It stands to reason, but if there is yet a way to do so, no one here has found it. If you want it badly enough, as I suspect you do, you will find a way. But what if there is no way? What if the magic only works in one direction?"

Califleur looked back at Kuja then, chuffed, and tilted her head in against Noctis's arm. He let her do as she pleased.

[fatedsacrifice]

The dark head shook lightly. "Materia and Spiritus sent us back when they were done with us." So Noctis figured it would pretty much be the same situation here.

Califleur got another smile and this time the king reached his other hand over to pet her. He hadn't wanted to disturb the arm that she was laying against because he was a big sucker for cats.

As he pet her, his blue eyes turned back to Kuja. "This is your familiar?"

[treno_nobleman]

"They were also gods in the middle of a petty war and apparently above fighting it themselves. This world is not the same; there is no war, only displacement." He looked back to his own game pieces, some of them moved about by Noctis, some still where they had been. "I take it you need to be back in your world sooner than you would like to be?"

The Oh leopard was absolutely eating up the attention right from the first headbutt. Having fingers scritching on her now, her purring only intensified, eyes closing as it did. Though he would never admit it, Kuja took some amusement from this. "Yes. Her name is Califleur, and you can see she is quite affectionate. She will not harm you."

[fatedsacrifice]

Kuja's words grated but Noctis knew the man meant nothing by them. He just wanted to go home and back to being dead. He would marry Luna and get to rest and he would be done with everything.

"Ya."

This is said almost moodily, but luckily he now has another unexpected companion, this one furry and purring to distract him. Well, might as well be kind to those he could be while he was here.

Noctis couldn't help but smile at the cat as he learned her name. He hadn't figured he would come to harm since she had come over to him first, but it didn't hurt to have the knowledge at any rate. So he kept petting her and realized Pouncer was going to kill him.

Turning back to Kuja now, he was curious. "I haven't seen one of her kind here, how did you get her?"

[treno_nobleman]

It went without saying, given the man's dark expressions, but Kuja ignored it for the moment and took their attention to the fluffy familiar who followed him around. Much as he didn't like stroking Califleur's ego more than his own, the conversation had taken a turn and he wasn't sure he wanted to chase after it, considering the collateral damage it might offer.

Then again...

"She was assigned to me, much the same as anyone in this world is given their familiars. For all I know, her species comes from another land in this world, but they tell me she is a rare sort. An Oh leopard." He shrugged and gestured to her. "She can become many things, as long as what they are called rhymes with the word 'oh'. I find it near to impossible that such a creature should exist at all, and yet here she is."

[fatedsacrifice]

The king listened as Kuja explained. And he really didn't know what was meant by 'she could become many things.' The closest thing in his mind was a Coeurl. But he wasn't sure that was meant by the phrase.

So he continued to pet this Oh leopard as the other had termed her. "So you're a mystery." Noctis proclaimed softly to the cat as he kept the attention up. Well, she fit her owner that way really. The former warrior of Spiritus was much the same as an enigma to the older former warrior of Materia.

He shrugged. "Shouldn't really be that hard to believe." After all, he himself was dead in his world. He shouldn't exist at all, yet here he was.

[treno_nobleman]

Thoroughly entranced, Califleur nudged her head against the man and let her eyes close, purring like a small motor while Noctis entertained her. Kuja might have found it annoying if it wasn't almost endearing, in a small, light part of himself that he refused to admit ever existed.

"And yet it is. I have seen many things change and become something else they were not, or change simple appearances. They were not without limitations, but to be restricted in such a way as she is?" He paused, tossed a hand lightly in gesture. "This is the first I've encountered. For instance, if I ask her to become a pillow, she will do it because she can. But if I ask her to become a book, maybe one full of the secrets of this world, she cannot. Neither of these things are creatures at all, but inanimate objects. It doesn't make sense for something of her physical nature as a living, breathing animal to be able to do this, yet I have seen her do it."