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

[woo_oo]

Alas, this was not the right thing to say.

"You're being haunted by a ghost?" That was AWESOME! Well, not good, but STILL! "Maybe we can exorcise it! Just get some holy imagery and bless some stuff and we'll sent it to the great beyond!"

[darkenedmoon]

All Yotsuyu heard was laughter. She wasn't certain that Asahi would be so easy to foil. And she damned well didn't want Webby attracting his ire--bad enough he was already taking an interest in the duckling.

"He should have been there already...or one of the seven hells, if he'd stayed where he belonged." Not that Asahi had ever done anything properly--the smug bastard had always done whatever he had wanted, usually with Yotsuyu suffering the consequences.

[woo_oo]

"So, is it a poltergeist?" She refused to take the hint, walking circles around her buddy. "Or a vengeful spirit? Maybe if we can trick them, they'll go away! Uncle Scrooge managed to get rid of a swashbuckling pirate ghost that way!"

[darkenedmoon]

Go away? Optimistic child, is she not? To think I would leave you alone so easily! No, Yotsuyu had no belief that Asahi's whispers would depart anytime soon. She watched Webby warily, keeping her hands balled to her sides.

"Webby..." In her way, Yotsuyu was vaguely hopeful as well, but...the first and foremost idea in her mind was get her away. She'd deal with her brother on her own terms. It wasn't that she didn't want or need help--the last thing she wanted was Webby to be harmed. She'd told the duckling that before. It had not changed.

"I need you to go." Send her away, yes, but to whom? To where? Asahi's mocking laughter echoed in her ears. Yes, try to fight! It does not mean you will win, sister mine!

For a moment, Yotsuyu hissed in a breath, staring at someone who wasn't there. "I do not need to win, Asahi. I just need to keep the ones I care for away from you!" Which meant telling Webby to go get Hendrik, or Jecht, or Eleven--none of those were good ideas. "Professor Trammel. Or mayhap Professor King. Go see if you might find them. I...shall remain here."

[woo_oo]

"Huh? Why?" Webby blinked up at her, though she was starting to get a good idea about things.

"Whoever it is, they're just a ghost! If they don't have a physical form, they can't do anything to me." She crossed her arms, full of confidence. "They're just using your good heart against you!"

[darkenedmoon]

"They can use more than my 'good' heart..." Yotsuyu growled. As for Asahi? This was, to him, an absolute laugh riot. You? A good heart? You lied? To a child? Yotsuyu's cheeks flushed at that, and she ducked her head.

"He could attempt to take that as a challenge. I am not certain what abilities he possesses, but this is the result of Sundering..." Not that Asahi had had much power in life--he was a simple Doman, as was she, though he'd had the benefit of schooling through the Empire. Schooling she had not been given the chance to undertake. It was good that Webby did keep speaking to her, but she honestly wasn't sure how long that would last.

Perhaps she simply should have locked herself in her quarters. That had been the plan, until she'd run into Webby...

[woo_oo]

"I don't care, I'm not afraid of them!" Them, with utmost confidence and love, she grabbed hold of Yotsuyu's hand.

"I don't abandon my friends! Not now, not ever, no matter what a spooky jerky voice says. So I'm staying right put!"

[darkenedmoon]

Spooky...jerky...voice? Asahi sounded rather taken aback at that description. That alone had Yotsuyu laughing her fool head off. She should have been more upset--in truth, she really was still upset, but it wasn't at Webby. But she greatly appreciated her friend's apt descriptor of her dear younger brother.

"Ahaha...you must admit, Asahi, if the shoe fits, you must wear it, must you not? You are little more than that, for the moment! Are you going to try to manipulate me into harming her somehow? If you suddenly appeared before me, I would know, now! Bother me another time, you fool!"

She did not feel his presence depart, but it seemed as if he drew back, chastened. Or at least somewhat cowed. Yotsuyu took a moment to breathe, then.

"He is not gone, but I think you have sent him with his tail between his legs, for the moment. I thank you."

[woo_oo]

Friendship really is magic! Webby beamed, and then went in for a hug - or at least hugging Yotsuyu's legs, given the height difference.

"Told you! The weaker a spirit is, the bigger a bully they wanna seem. Nothing and nobody can ever tear us apart!"

She had lost a friend to Magica, and that was never going to happen again.

"But, you're welcome!"

[darkenedmoon]

A hint of Yotsuyu's familiar self reasserted itself now that Asahi had decided to be...less of a pill.

"I suppose you do have the right of it. He was much the coward and bully in life, and he seems to be so now, as well."

That was a thought that seemed to bolster her.

"Come, let's go to the cafeteria and see if it's open again? Otherwise, I shall have to find you a treat from the city--the kami know you are certainly deserving of such this time!"

Not that Yotsuyu wasn't usually pleased with Webby, but this seemed to call for something above and beyond mere gratitude.

[woo_oo]

Hell yeah, Webby wasn't going to turn down a treat!

"Okay, let's go! All that ghost-fighting made me pretty hungry anyway!" With a hop, she grabbed her friend's hand, happy to walk with her.