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

[noasark]

[FOOD]

"Mnnn..." Noa's penguins, fortunately, have offered to help their charge in his great time of need. The boy needs food! Good food!

He is not, however, entirely certain about this. Noa can be seen cautiously squinting at what Could be a very nice sushi dish...if there were only a bit of rice to be seen. It's all nicely cut raw fish, and Noa isn't entirely sure if this is going to be healthy.

(It is, naturally, but hey)

Maybe he should have just gone for the pie. "...Eventually, we should find a way to cook this you realize..."

"AAaaaauh !" says the penguin.

[DEFENSE]

"FfwwwW T!" Know what's hard? Defense, with a mouth-based ocarina. That's hard.

Noa is practically fuming in some of his lessons, and dancing in others. But a defense class seems like a stellar idea after the last little while, so he's doing his best to stick to it.

"FFWWWT FWW FWWT!"

You know, if everyone's ears survive long enough. Wow, Fantastics, baby,

[RESEARCH ON THE SUNDERED]

This was a mistake.

A huge, horrible mistake.

He asked of course if it would mean he would have to go back- and he was told no. From there he helped entirely because, ultimately, getting Some of the others home at some point is very much to their benefit, and isn't he connected to the same world as those people anyway?

This was a mistake however, and now there's a hyperventilating cabbage-headed boy behind a pillar, behind a bush, behind Anything at any given point in the next three days as he covers his ears and screws his eyes shut.

He didn't think danger would mean something on this level.

But now...

'A traitor of a son...'

Noa strains to ignore the sounds, eyes watering despite his wishes.

'You should have STAYED dead, boy!'

"Nhh...Khhh..."

research

[blue_ice]

Seto is hearing the same voice, if not quite the same words. He's been convinced by now that it's a trick, and he's trying to resist, but that's harder than it sounds. As he's trying to shut the voice out on his way to the dorm, he spots a familiar head.

"Noa."

You never lived up to him, Seto, the voice taunted in his ear. The poorest possible substitute, a failure in every way.

He growls and kneels in front of Noa, trying to gently get his attention---but that's not too possible with his eyes and ears closed. After a moment, he reaches and touches his arm gently.

"It's an illusion. He's dead. Don't listen."

This...could end very badly.

[noasark]

"NH-!" Noa, perhaps predictably, jumps when touched. He uncovers his ears and breathes rapidly, looking first to Seto in terror and then a little ways behind him. "Hihh...hhhhaaahahaaa..." It's a broken laugh, a false laugh, and not really much of a laugh at all, that escapes him. "Even knowing that... ...Illusions always manage to feel so real, don't they..?"

He was the master of it after all.

[blue_ice]

"I know. That's how we met."

Kaiba takes a shallow breath. He wouldn't ordinarily touch him, as the definitely not touchy-feely guy he is. But even his solid holograms don't feel entirely real, so he thinks maybe keeping a hand on his wrist will help. His gaze is serious, but even as exhausted as he looks there's a glimmer of compassion there.

"But he doesn't own us anymore. Remember that."

[noasark]

It does help. Somehow- Noa closes his eyes again, as if that alone would block out the sounds of what he thinks he hears.

"He... ...I didn't think I'd see him, somehow," he manages with a hoarse swallow. As if somehow he didn't have nightmares, or 'enemies' to fear.

[blue_ice]

There's so much he could say. Too much to say. But that admission from Noa comes as a surprise.

"He didn't come to mind as an adversary?"

But why would he? The evil man had treated Noa far better, at least at first, and even after being abandoned Noa had been desperate to win him back. Even at the end, father and son had still been intertwined. Kaiba tightens his grip.

"You're better than him, Noa. You're free. You don't need the cruelty he calls parenting."

We don't need him, he thinks.

[noasark]

"I don't know if it clued in," he bitterly hisses, "But it wasn't exactly a very drawn out moment of time for me..!"

There is too little malice in his words for it to mean anything however.

For the most part...

"...That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."

...For the most part he finds himself mourning the memory of what he thought he had.

[blue_ice]

Kaiba doesn't flinch. He's used to their spars by now, and neither of them can really be at their best with the looming spectre in the distance. He presses his lips together and listens, hovering at first.

But when he hears the pain in that voice, suddenly he understands. Kaiba's stubbornly avoided acknowledging his own pain until now, but faced with a look in the mirror, he can't. He shuffles forward the slightest bit and grips Noa's shoulders.

"I know...believe me, I know. You're not alone."

And after another moment of thought, he very stiffly attempts to give his stepbrother a hug. It's...kind of awkward and pointy. He's very out of practice. The voice tells him that he's terrible at this, that he's nothing, but he only closes his eyes and holds tighter.

[noasark]

Noa's breath catches with shock, and if there is one thing he can't ignore it's that. He knows how distant Seto tends to be. Frankly the only one the other has likely tried to hug is Mokuba, and that's a fact his brain cannot ignore.

(And quietly, briefly, he wonders if Mokuba is why the other participated because with this sort of act there's no way he isn't participating himself.)

And then between all of that Noa breaks. While the voice of his father spits about him falling so far from where he was and what he could have been, sneering in the background, he breaks, unable to forget about the times they had also gone boating, or talked about how horse riding had gone, or even simply sat down for a quiet round of chess.

The boy's eyes water, and then begin to overflow, a quiet, half-restrained sound the only other proof of it.

[blue_ice]

Seto's heart clenches painfully. He'd had no idea it could still do that. No matter what had been in their past, they'd still lived parallel lives, were still stranded together...and he still cared. At first because Mokuba cared, but now...

He couldn't ignore his stepbrother's cries. He tucked Noa's head under his chin and clutched him tightly, as if such an action could protect him from the effects of the spell.

He wasn't the best at comforting words...but this he could do.

"You'll be fine."

[nobodys_puppet]

Research

Xion had been fleeing her own spector when she stumbled upon Noa curled up and making pained noises. She turned to stand defensively in front of him. "Whatever you are doing to him, stop," she said to the Xemnas only she could see, trembling with fear. "I won't let you make him a nobody as well. Leave his heart alone." She refused to call in her weapon, so she stood with her hands poised for a thunder spell, though she didn't want to use magic anymore either. Where was a good stick when she needed one?

xion omg are you so selfless that your enemy hallucinations are attacking OTHERS...

[noasark]

"Hahh....hhhahahaahaa... Don't tell me you see him then," Noa manages quietly, having uncovered his ears once he realized Xion was standing there at all. "...It's no good, you know... ...It's an illusion," he continues with a broken voice.

"...The most I get to do is face the music until it goes away..."

She is a good kid, even if she doesn't think she ever could be.

[nobodys_puppet]

"Of course I see Xemnas, and I won't let him take your heart," she assured him. Illusion? Couldn't be, he'd been chasing her all day, after all. "Just stay behind me until he attacks, when we start fighting run. Get to Axel and stay with him." Axel could protect Noa while she did whatever she could to try to at least slow Xemnas down.

sobs

[noasark]

Haha....hahhh...

"Xion.... ...I hate to tell you this, but...the one I see, and hear right now, isn't your 'Xemnas'..." He lets a bitter, pained laugh escape, curling in further on himself all the while. "...The one I can see and hear...is my father, Gozaburo. ...And attacking either illusion won't help."

When in doubt....

[nobodys_puppet]

She could see Xemnas before her clearly, and figured that Noa couldn't because he was looking down. Except....Except that Axel told her about how Xemnas took a lot of different forms. Maybe they were seeing the same person but with different names. That... was probably it.

But she didn't know just how bad things were with Xemnas being his father since she was missing one crucial bit of information. "What is a father?" she asked, standing as tall as she could against the disdainful glare Xemnas gave at her for being so clearly defective.

[noasark]

Oh.

Oh of course.

He has to explain what a father is. That's...

Aha....

"...There are a few definitions. ...For me...he is both the one who helped bring me into the world, and the one who raised me. ...And when I was blind, I looked up to him as if he were the sun."

[nobodys_puppet]

So.... Xemnas. "How could you look at something if you are blind?" She is still standing ready to defend.

[noasark]

"....It's not literal," he murmurs. "It's an expression. To follow something, to believe in something, without knowing the truth. ...Even if it's right in front of you."

[nobodys_puppet]

"Oh..." She wanted to ask more about that, but this wasn't the time. Xemnas was laughing again.

You think you can protect him? Pitiful. A failed experiment like you can't even save yourself.

Her hands closed into fists, but she refused to call her keyblade in. Refused.

[noasark]

"...Oh indeed."

He grows quiet- but not so quiet that he ignores what is happening.

"...Did you also agree to this month's 'research' Xion?"

[nobodys_puppet]

"They helped me with answering questions last month so I helped," she said. She regretted it now, though, since she was a danger to Roxas as things now stood.

She slashed her branch where Xemnas had darted forward, but missed as he danced back, laughing at her.

[noasark]

"...You're attacking an illusion then," he notes. "...It's the common thread, at least- all of us who agreed this time, have suddenly found the ones whe consider the 'worst' before our eyes."

[nobodys_puppet]

"And what if you're wrong? It's not worth the risk," she said, slashing at,. and missing, Xemnas again.

[noasark]

"Test the theory then. Has he done anything to you yet? Physically?"

[nobodys_puppet]

"If I let him get that close he could turn me into a Dusk!" Or worse.