July Event Log

[magicademymods]

July Event Log A Reading Rainbow Though the publication is ordinarily drier than dry toast Modified to be drier than dried toast, this quarter's issue of Thaumaturgy Today is all the rage around campus. The reason: a series of advances in motile spells! Easier and more powerful than those found in your standard book of spells (any grade), these spells achieve their power by specificity. One spell for lifting fruit, one for lifting laundry, one for lifting books, the list goes on. Though Professor Loshakle is deep at work writing a blistering reply criticizing every nuance of these spells, outside of his wrathful gaze the spells flourish as people practice them on everything they can. Copies of the issue are easy to get your hands on, if you want to give these new spells a whirl. On the other hand, your stuff or you yourself might fall victim to the spells of other students, whether by mistake or cruel jest. And woe betide those not human -- since no spell explains how to lift an anthropomorphic duck or a robot, for example, enterprising students are particularly eager to come up with one on their own, and there's only one way to test such things... It's Raw, You Donkey! There was an incident. Mistakes were made. Rice balls were detonated. Puddings were animated and sent on rampages. A cheesebread was found lodged in Makerion Keep, sunk to a depth of three feet in the walls. Whatever happened, and no one seems to have details... the Great Hall is closed and no food is being served. So... what're you going to eat? Several pop-up stands have emerged, as enterprising students try to cash in, but that costs money and who knows how the quality is. Headmaster Birony keeps showing up with pies, having made several savory ones that taste really good, actually, but can you really live on pie alone? (And do you really trust Headmaster Birony?) Some students have taken to the ultimate last resort: cooking. As it happens, the skills of the chef and of the aspiring mage are not exclusive in principle, but generally learning the one means little time to devote to the other. Faced with an oven or a grill, can you muster up the capability to make something edible? Or will you burn the water and turn bread back into grain, and thus have no choice but to avail yourself of pricey booth cooking or Cam-pies? Of course, the Great Hall will PROBABLY be open again soon, you might be able to last until then... The Defense Association In light of certain recent activities, like horrible monster attacks, Professors Trammel and Kith have teamed up to provide self-defense lessons to students who so desire. Purely optional, this extra class at the end of the school day promises study in shields, wards, basic attack spells, and mobility spells (because sometimes the best thing is to run like heck). Needless to say, these classes are quite the adventure! Students find themselves in dueling circles quite frequently, expected to carefully deflect each other's spells. Hopefully you've got the knack of it; the practice spells they have taught you don't cause any harm, but they sting like the dickens! Research on the Sundered Conflict. Conflict seems to be key. As near as the researchers can tell, all the Sundered lead lives that are simply not ordinary, and their experiments in conflict from last month produced results they didn't expect (as you all have learned) but that are most promising. Professor King herself has taken the lead on this experiment, and she warns anyone who volunteers that it is likely to be very dangerous, and they will be taking this very slow. They are, she explains, going to try to bridge the gap between you and the world you came from. A SMALL bridge, a proof of concept, no portal home and celebrations yet. But they hope it will work, and be the first step towards getting you back where you belong. If you agree, they get to work. Any student who undergoes this process immediately regains a power of their choice. It does not have to be on their application, and you do not have to provide proof during AC. It's here now. Only if you do not have a power to regain, you may regain an item instead. The price? For the next three days, you will be haunted by visions of your greatest enemy, your most hated foe, or the person you least wish to see in the world. Perhaps you hear their laughter in the darkness of your room at night. Perhaps you see a fellow student as them. Perhaps they are taunting you from just behind your shoulder... Whatever form it takes, for three days, you will be at their mercy. Or the mercy of your own mind's imagining them. Or perhaps a combination of the two. Who can say...?

Comments

Closed to Isa- Leadup to Sundered Research

[hotheadwarmheart]

The chance to get back his fire magic or the ability to summon one of his weapons. Another step closer to being able to go home. He should be jumping at the chance, no matter how much it was bound to suck. And when he'd first arrived here, he would have. But now...

Now Isa, Roxas, and Xion were all here. Now he knew that Xehanort would be beaten. Now he'd actually somewhat gotten to like having a semblance of a normal life; no creepy old guys trying to start potentially world-ending wars, no Heartless, no massive crises that demanded everyone's attention. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed having homework of all things being one of his biggest worries. Plus he'd made other friends here too, like Webby and Eleven, and they wouldn't be able to follow him back home no matter what happened.

He knew he should want to go home. And he did! Kinda. But he also wanted to stay, about equally as much. Under most such circumstances, he'd just follow his heart... but it was his heart that was part of the problem in this case, and it was just as divided on the issue as his mind was.

Meanwhile, back in the world outside of Lea's mind, Isa would probably notice that his friend had become uncharacteristically silent, staring out the window pensively, their latest study/conversation session seemingly forgotten.

[afterthemoon]

"Something on your mind, Lea...?"

Isa knew the answer already, of course, Lea isn't typically so pensive. He was just trying to gently coax Lea back from getting lost in his own thoughts.

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Huh?", Lea said, the sound of Isa's voice drawing him back to reality. "Yeah... Sorry for kinda zoning out there. I was just thinking about that latest research thing they announced earlier. Was wondering if I should do it or not, you know?"

"I mean, it's bound to suck; don't think anybody's debating that," he said. "But when I first came here, I'd have jumped at the chance anyway. I mean that was pretty much all I wanted then; to get my normal powers back and to find a way to go home. But now... I'm not so sure."

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I still wanna go home. ...Eventually. But... I've kinda gotten to like it here too, you know? Weird as it is, it's the closest thing I've had to a normal life for quite awhile. It's... nice. And I've made other friends here who are from other worlds; they wouldn't be able to go back with us no matter what happened."

"I just...", he started. "...I want to have it both ways, and I know it's dumb and impossible, but I still feel that way, and just... ugh...!" He facepalmed and sighed.

[afterthemoon]

"Lea..." Isa starts, not quite sure what to say to all that, "I understand why it may be difficult for you but... my mind's already made up."

His mind had been made up the moment this month's research had been announced, consequences or not. To hear that Lea hadn't made up his mind yet? That didn't surprise him in the slightest, but it also... well, he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little disappointed by that.

"I'm participating in the Research, I have to."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Yeah, Lea figured that Isa would be a bit disappointed regarding his indecision. That was part of why he hadn't mentioned it til now. It should be an easy choice! But... it wasn't.

"I know better than to try and talk you out of something like this, so I won't bother," he said. "I just wish it was that easy for me to decide."

He paused, then asked, "What makes you think that you have to do it? I mean there's plenty of people already in on it, so it's not like they'll have a shortage of people or information to work with if you don't." Or if he himself didn't.

[afterthemoon]

"Because..." He hesitates, "Because it feels like the right thing to do. And that's not something I can just ignore...

Besides, you're needed back home."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"But if you and Roxas are from after where I am, time-wise, and you remember me being there, doesn't that mean that I've already gone back?" He paused. "Or is that, that I already will go back? Or... maybe it's both? Or..." He frowned as he tried to make sense of the temporal situation they found themselves in. After a long moment he gave up, shaking his head. "I dunno, man. Time travel is weird."

"But anyway, my point is, you and Roxas both remember me being there after the point when I was brought here," he said. "So doesn't that mean we already know that I'll get back there somehow, no matter what I do?"

[afterthemoon]

Isa frowns, and looks away.

"Perhaps, you're right.

But I simply can't risk the possibility of us being wrong."

Neither of them understood how time travel worked, and the oddity of this place complicated matters.

"But even if we're right about the temporal aspect of it. I still think going home would be the best all of us."

[hotheadwarmheart]

The particular way Isa phrased his concerns stuck out to Lea. 'I' not 'we'. Why was he so certain that he himself couldn't risk it?

"You said 'you' can't risk it,", he said. "Not 'we' can't risk it. I mean 'we' I could sort of understand, even though the evidence all points to us being right. But why can't you, specifically, risk it?"

[afterthemoon]

He blinks at Lea, it had been something of a Freudian slip, honestly.

"Because... I want to make sure my plan still succeeds."

He looks away in a huff, not giving Lea a chance to answer yet.

"I know, I'm being irrational, but I don't want anything to go wrong."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea gave a small, understanding smile. "Yeah, I get that," he said. "I mean I know my whole problem with deciding to do this or not isn't rational either. And it bugs me because even though I know that, logically, it doesn't actually help anything."

"I mean, you know me," he said. "Normally if I couldn't decide something, I'd just opt to follow my heart, no matter how dumb it seemed at the time. But it's mostly my hearts that's being pulled in two different directions here. I mean, you, Xion, and Roxas are finally all here. We're all here and we're reasonably safe; no one's after us, no Heartless, no crisis we need to fix immediately, nothing. And even though I know I know that we'll all eventually be together back home too, I just... I'm afraid to risk this, you know? I just got all of you guys back I don't want to lose any of you again. Even temporarily."

[afterthemoon]

"Lea..." Isa's voice is surprisingly gentle as he places a comforting hand on Lea's shoulder. "I understand, but... I promised you we'd meet again, and I intend to keep that promise, we'll be together again before you know it."

Isa's grip on Lea's shoulder tightens

"I just want us to finally be able to go home" Isa's voice falters.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Isa didn't tend to emote a whole lot, and when he did, it was often subtle. Being his best friend though, Lea had long ago learned to read the signs. So that brief faltering voice and the hand tightening on his shoulder said a lot more than they might have with someone else.

"Isa..." Lea said gently, returning the gesture of gripping his friend's opposite shoulder. "I want that too. You know I do. I'm just dumb and also want something that I know I can't have, ultimately."

"But even though I'm still not sure whether I really want to do this or not, since it means so much to you... I will," he said, before leaning in to pull his best friend into a proper hug. One they both probably needed. "I'm not gonna make you go it alone. Not this time."

[afterthemoon]

"You mean it...?"

It was like a dam broke in his heart, all the feelings and thoughts he had been trying to repress suddenly rushed forth.

"I don't understand what I did to deserve a friend like you." Isa's voice was shaky, like he was dangerously close to tears. "After everything I did..."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea didn't let go of the hug, so Isa couldn't properly see his friend's smile. Though Lea's voice also sounded a bit tight when he replied. "Like my hand are any cleaner than yours are," he said with a shaky sounding chuckle. "But we've got a lot of lost time to make up for, and this... is a start."

[afterthemoon]

"I want to make up for lost time too, you know I do, but--"

He takes a shaky breath, trying desperately to keep from crying, it made him feel foolish and childish. He wished that his heart didn't have to come with such treacherous emotions.

"I'm tired... tired of feeling like I'm just some pawn in a game..." His grip on Lea's shoulders tightens, twisting the fabric of Lea's shirt.

"I want my life back..."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea personally thought that crying would probably do them both some good, but stubbornly fought the urge himself too. He didn't need those marks under his eyes any more, dangit.

"It's...", he began, but cut himself off and started again. "No, it's not alright. None of what happened to us is alright, and it probably won't be for awhile, if ever. But we're gonna fix things. Got it memorized? We're gonna fix things and get our lives straight and then we'll all go for ice cream. All of us."

[afterthemoon]

"Lea..."

Isa pulls himself out of the hug so he can curl in on himself. He'd been getting out of the habit of closing himself off, but he's slipped back into those old mannerisms. His legs are crossed, and he's hunched over himself, hiding behind his long hair.

"...How are we going to fix this? I wouldn't even know where to begin. I'm no longer the boy I was when I lost my heart, but I'm not who I was as a Nobody, either.

How do I reconcile these disparate pieces of myself?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea shifted over to sit right next to Isa so that he could still wrap an arm around him, even in his current position. "I wish I had a good answer for that," he said. "Really all we can do is take it a day at a time, figure it out as we go. We both missed a lot of growing up, and that's not gonna get fixed overnight."

"But like I said, this is a start," he said. "Just... not pretending we're alright for once. Not pretending to be adults who have it all together, because we feel like we have to or we'll go nuts. Or because other people need us to be whole and to have all the answers."

"Every so often it's... OK, to not be OK. I think we tend to forget that."

[afterthemoon]

Even as a child Isa had tried to be the mature, grown up one, so admitting that he actually had a lot of growing up to catch up on was difficult for him. He had a specific image of himself he tried to maintain, even in front of his best friend.

But Isa couldn't deny his vulnerability any longer, and he couldn't keep fighting the tears, as they started streaming down his face. It's hard to tell if the sound he makes is a laugh or a sob. "Well, you're sounding pretty grown up to me..." He could tell Lea was speaking personally.

[hotheadwarmheart]

When Isa of all people started crying, Lea finally lost his own battle against the tears as he held his friend against his side. He chuckled roughly, though like Isa's it also came out as half sob. "Had lots of practice faking it with Roxas and Xion...", he said thickly. "Not sure how sometimes though..."

[afterthemoon]

"Faking it?" He scoffs through his tears, "You need to give yourself more credit."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea shook his head. "Feels like faking," he said thickly. "Haven't really had a clue what I was doing this whole time..."

[afterthemoon]

"...We'll be clueless together, then."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea chuckled faintly, though it sounded less shaky than before. "Yeah...", he said taking a deep breath to try and collect himself a bit. "Yeah, I think we can do that."