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

[stillnewatthis]

She tilted her head slightly.

"You are saying that you did not observe him through any means? But you were assisting me against him!"

[daughterofclay]

Ah, yes. About that.

Jude has the decency to look slightly sheepish, though only for a moment; she almost immediately tightens her jaw and squares her shoulders.

"I wanted to get us somewhere less busy."

[stillnewatthis]

Orisa understood the logistics of that, but...

"Why did you not simply tell me?"

[daughterofclay]

"I didn't know whether you would believe me. This seemed safer."

She shrugs, and finally lowers her hands. She didn't like lying to Orisa, but it's not like she wouldn't do it again.

[stillnewatthis]

Orisa considered that, simulating all possible outcomes to the perceived scenario.

"You are correct," she said after a moment. "Your course of action was correct. Thank you for assisting me."

[daughterofclay]

That's not the reaction she expected -- and though she should be relieved, she's...

"You're not angry with me?"

...feeling weirdly off-kilter about it.

[stillnewatthis]

"While I am not pleased to be deceived, I calculate that I would most likely have not listened to you, since most outcome analyses would have concluded that operating as if Doomfist were real would be the response with the highest probability of safety and security for all concerned. Therefore your decision was correct. Becoming angry over it would only be a matter of pride, and I cannot learn and develop if my pride prevents me from accepting my own mistakes."

Orisa was very logical about this sort of thing, in her cheerful way. She knew what mattered. Jude had helped her fulfill her primary function!

[daughterofclay]

That explanation gets Orisa a mild, if slightly rueful, smile.

"I wasn't pleased about deceiving you either." She pauses, looks away, and then adds, quieter: "Thanks, for understanding."

[stillnewatthis]

"You helped me fulfill my purpose when I was in danger of unknowingly violating it. Thank you, Jude!"

Life, Orisa thought, was not a very complicated mess like so many people seemed to think it was.