You Asked For It: The Beach Trip

[magicademymods]

Be Careful What You Wish For: A Beach Adventure Crowded Quarters To the joy and delight of the Sundered students who feel joy and delight over going to the beach, the Sundered students get to go to the beach in celebration of their completed midterms! Professor Trammel has graciously paid their way on the local airship, which runs regular routes on summer days to the ocean some 45 minutes away, and so every student who so desires can pack up and head onto it to enjoy a fantastic day of fun and adventure! Slight downside: the airship is small and packed, as it keeps its fees low by relying on volume to turn a profit. The crowded travel compartment is standing-room-only, and even those who are lucky enough to get seats won't find themselves with much shoulder room. Some people may even find themselves in the lap of a fellow student, which only the most cynical and bitter of minds would abuse as a way to ship-tease (right?). The trip isn't long, just hot and stuffy. You can make it, students! Wave Your Hands If You're Shore The beach at last! Though the hot sun beats down from above, a gentle breeze blows in from the ocean and the water itself is delightfully cool without being icy cold. Waves run about five to six feet in height, enough to be forceful without dominating like some giant curl suitable only for surfing. Though scores of people have set up tents, umbrellas, blankets, and towels across the sands, the Diatu contingent has plenty of space to conjure up tables and chairs, an awning and plenty of shade. Professor Trammel politely deploys Spells of Sunscreening, as well as directing students to the swimwear the school has obtained and the screened canvas changing areas where they can don them. Helpfully, he's obtained all manner of suits to fit any taste, so... choose wisely? Baskets of sandwiches and drinks kept magically chilled offer sustenance for the busy swimmers, and all manner of balls, nets, and beach toys to enjoy. The Sand Castle Contest Early in the afternoon, Professor Trammel announces that a sand castle contest is open to all participants! The rules are as follows: 1. Headmaster Birony is forbidden from competing. (At this, Headmaster Birony sulkily turns Makerion Keep back into stone and sends it back to the Magicademy Campus. Ka students will be finding sand in odd places for a while.) 2. Students may work in teams of no more than 2. 3. You will have an hour to work with any of the sand-castle tools available. 4. Judging will be on creativity, quality, and durability. 5. 'Bedmaster Hirony' is forbidden from competing. (Headmaster Birony rips her fake mustache off and throws it to the ground in frustration.) You have a few minutes to form pairs and get ready. Who will win the competition? Teachers' Day Off Some of the Professors, too, have taken the day off! Students are treated to the sight of Professor Trammel digging a hole in the surf so his own knocked-together sand structure goes up against the waves, leaving him to improve its walls and channels each time to make for a better hope of surviving. Professor King is teaching anyone who will listen about a new game she calls Sunder-inlota, which involved lobbing a ball through portals to get it into the other team's goal. Headmaster Birony occupies herself doing a Sorcerer's Apprentice thing with the waves, making them smash and crash against each other with glee, while Professors Porfsin and Trent fail to put campus politics aside and both spend the day trying to attract an audience with their own personal performances. And Professor Kith just... swims and enjoys herself, like a normal human being, which is probably in violation of the Adequate Wackiness In Teaching Staff Proclamation, but no one seems inclined to call her on it. Fire in the Sky As darkness falls over the beach, swimming comes to an end as the gathered people move to get home, their day off done. The Magicademy, however, still has some tricks up its organizational sleeve. With fires conjured along the sands, the Professors take turns cooking -- simple fare like sausages and hamburger patties, that even the less adept among them (coughCamBironycough) can't screw up. And as the last vestiges of sunlight vanish behind the horizon and the beach and ocean are both swept in darkness, Professor Trammel pulls off his final flourish: a Discovery of beautiful lights exploding in the sky, a mixture between fireworks and aurora borealis that paints the night in glory. All in all, not a bad day.

Comments

rofl nope

[sevenyearsasleep]

"Uh. Well, most of us don't have gills," Link replied. "So, it's a possibility?"

[magicademynpcs]

"If I must confess," the Professor says, evenly, "I had hoped that such a possibility would be warded off by common sense, for the most part."

[sevenyearsasleep]

Link blushed, ears flicking down ever-so-slightly.

"Ah. I--uh...accidents happen. Sorry to bother you."

[magicademynpcs]

"It's no bother at all." Professor Trammel turns his full attention on Link, clasping his hands as he does. "I should give you a more full explanation, I think. The position of Diatu Magicademy is that a certain amount of risk is necessary to truly learn. That is why you see accidents around school, where spell mishaps may cause difficulty for others, for example. We could constrain learning, and make it so there were no dangers of such things, but your education would take twice as long and be a quarter as useful. So here, too, we allow a minor risk, for much the same reason."

[sevenyearsasleep]

"So...I should try fixing one myself?"

If that was what his professor was getting at, Link was all for it. "Because, it's really hard to walk underwater without something."

He figured he could probably weight his boots with rocks.

[magicademynpcs]

"Walk underwater? Gracious, I hadn't considered that." With the proper spells it'd be as nothing, of course, but doing so as opposed to swimming? "Now that depends on your intent. To just walk, certainly, weights and breath, but what about sight?"

[sevenyearsasleep]

"I never had any problems seeing underwater back home," Link said a little uncertainly.

[magicademynpcs]

"Really. Gracious." Looking from Link back to the ocean, Professor Trammel taps his chin with a finger for a moment. "Tell me, if you'd be so kind. Are your oceans like this one? Vast stretches of salt water?"

[sevenyearsasleep]

"We have a lake."

Link shook his head, confused by the term 'salt water'. It was one of those times that growing up in a secluded forest and missing seven years of his life was a problem.

"Not sure what the difference is, except for size?"

[magicademynpcs]

"Come with me, and we'll examine that."

Rising, Professor Trammel beckons the boy over as he steps out into the surf proper, letting the water swirl around his ankles. Sand and small stones drifted in the waves, washed up by the breaking surf.

[sevenyearsasleep]

Link followed, obediently, somewhat distracted by the stones and bits of shell as they washed up. It was fascinating to see.

[magicademynpcs]

"Let's start at the beginning. Tell me what obvious differences you see." There ought to be some, and if there weren't, he needed to ask more questions about the lakes in other worlds.