August Event Log

[magicademymods]

August Event Log Speed of Lightning, Roar of Thunder The latest rage in Diatu: portable lightning generators! These little spheres, compact enough to be held in the hand, can launch a miniature bolt of electricity out with flair and pizzazz and surprisingly nonlethal effects. Getting zapped is like getting bit by a horsefly, not much worse. Naturally, all sorts of sports and pastimes have grown up overnight. The new sports of Lightning Tag, Lightningball, and Zap Each Other With Lightning Till Someone Collapses Because We're Tough Guys Dammit routinely break out on campus, while people who think they're funny can't go ten seconds without bolting someone's posterior. So what's your role in this? Eager participant? Sportsman? Buttzapper? Or is your idea totally new and wild? And Break the Laws That They Should Fear A rash of thefts plagues Anastara and the Magicademy both. Nothing huge, nothing heavy -- little things, like food, jewelry, trinkets and knickknacks... because the perpetrators are rats. Large and obviously clever rats, who have somehow wormed their way through defensive enchantments and mundane security both with the fearsome tenacity of their species. Look around at just the right time, and you might spot a rat scrambling for the safety of the caverns, something clutched in its jaws. Maybe something of yours? The Cry Goes Up Both Far and Near Finals draw ever-closer, and right about now students start realizing that maybe they don't understand this or that; maybe they could do with some outside material; maybe a second viewpoint would come in handy. Thus this week brings the Diatu Book Exchange! Outside of the Great Hall, students of all sorts brings books they no longer need and exchange them for books they do. The Book Exchange goes past merely scholarly works, though; time has grown it to encompass books of all sorts, from genre fiction and unlikely stories about seemingly ordinary kids attending an engineering boarding school to comics to philosophical works and more. Come to trade, browse, or lust -- there's something here for everyone! Research on the SUNDERDOG! (Sunderdog!) SUNDERDOG! (Sunderdog!) The research team has learned one important thing: Conflict is the key. The Codification of Sundering is the door. Somehow, of late, something has changed the nature of Sundering magic. They do not know why or how, but the very existence of the concept of Sundering magic now causes summoning anomalies that focus on other worlds, resulting in the transport of the Sundered here. This is, well, bad. The Codifications should not be slipping, not unless something has the power to completely overwhelm the entirety of human thought and will... To test theory more deeply, this month's Research has the Sundered locked in a room with another Sundered, a pair of chairs, and nothing else. The goal is to observe the warp and weft of magic around them with minimal interference from any other source save perhaps each other. So who did you get shut in with, and how long can you just sit and talk without going crazy?

Comments

[marchmadness]

Speed of Lightning...
[March Hare isn't very keen on this Lightning Tag game. It seems kind of foolish, even to him - but then again, there was little time for fun and games growing up on the farm. But no matter! Certainty or no, this a game he's been invited to play. He's not going to refuse the offer.

He also doesn't totally have a handle on who's playing and who isn't, yet. So, regardless of if you're playing... Zap!]

Tag! You're it!


The Cry Goes Up...
Books!

[March Hare can be found positively frolicking around the piles of books being offered for exchange, checking out this one and that one - with an eye out for fiction. Eventually, he looks up at someone nearby, and they'll get a little March Hare History.]

I wanted to be an author as a youth, you know! It just couldn't be, but oh! What could have been!


Research
[Well, this is one way to get to know one of his new classmates. March kicks his legs back and forth; they're far off the ground from the chair in which he sits.]

And how are you today? It's quite the room, isn't it? A certain charm to it...


Wildcard
(ooc: Something else in mind? Or you can message me to plot!)

Research

[perfectenn]

The boy in the colorful Valhudor robes doesn’t pay much attention to his roommate at first. He's here to study, sitting still in the chair with eyes closed as he focuses on his inner well of magic. The reports from the researchers hadn’t been reassuring. Especially now, he needs to maintain a sense of calm.

When nothing shifts immediately, Tenn looks up, brow furrowing just a little. It's funny, but the rabbit-like gentleman sitting across from him resembles... no, of course not. Pushing childhood memories aside, Tenn offers a welcoming smile.

"I'm quite well, thank you." His gaze follows the hare‘s to the barren walls. "Charming? In comparison to... what?"

[marchmadness]

March smiles sheepishly, prominent front teeth on full display. "Well... In comparison to other rooms, I suppose," he says after a moment of trying to figure out what he'd meant, exactly, himself. He's completely unaware of Tenn's wonderings, but he notices that briefly furrowed brow - a telltale sign of curiosity - and his simpering changes over to grinning.

"Do you have a curious mind?" he asks, enthusiastic but not too much so, and not all sounding like he's aware of how odd the question sounds.

[perfectenn]

That furrowed brow is joined by a tilt of his head. What kind of question is that? Certainly not one he's been asked before. Not in those words, at least.

After a moment of consideration, Tenn supplies in a polite, neutral tone, "I do prefer to understand. It's natural to be interested in new things and perspectives, isn't it?" The room seems cold and off-putting to him, cell-like, but he didn't expect warmth in a laboratory environment. "If I didn't ask, I wouldn't know what you find appealing about the room, for example."

[marchmadness]

"I think it's entirely natural," March agrees, "but not everyone does! So, that answers my question - you are indeed of a curious mind!"

He folds his hands under his chin, and his nose gives a distinctly hare-like series of twitches. "But you explain in so carefully, with so much logic. I find it better just to accept the curiosity, myself. It's more fun that way."

[perfectenn]

Tenn's fingers interlace in his lap. For all that he appears calm, the enthusiasm has his interest. "That's true. Where I'm from, we are expected to have a reason for asking." Indeed, he barely thinks of it anymore, he's so used to explaining things.

"I have visited places where curiosity for curiosity’s sake was more acceptable, and even looked on well. Sometimes people express care with their questions, so I don't mind. But I do feel it's important to consider the purpose behind it."

[marchmadness]

"And that-" March points a finger in Tenn's direction, suddenly quite serious, "-is the problem with most places! I came from a place where logic was expected, so I went somewhere where there was no reason at all! And look at you! Now you're somewhere that rather defies reason, too - we both are - and you can make the best of it! I hope you will."

[perfectenn]

Tenn stiffens, taken aback; pointing was not a socially acceptable gesture in his homeland. But he leans into his argument.

"Diatu doesn't defy reason." Tenn returns. "The academy has its own sense of logic, or codifying magic such as Modification and Sundering would not be possible." Case in point, this experiment is because someone or something broke Sundering. Which he is still trying to wrap his mind around. "Even if it doesn't match what I would consider conventional methods of reason, that doesn't mean there isn't structure. That is what I'm here to learn."

[marchmadness]

March Hare's ears droop as Tenn argues back, because he hadn't really realized he was starting a debate. Being none too fond of conflict, he folds his hands in his lap and gives a little sniff, complete with some nose-twitching.

"Ah, well, then," he says, in lieu of pointing out that the fact that the Sundered are there in the first place implies a lack of structure, at least in his eyes. Besides, this raises a bigger question to him...

"I wonder if you'd be able to find a logic to Wonderland, too. What a thought!"

The Cry Goes Up...

[shiningkindness]

[For a moment, Fluttershy couldn't help staring at the gentleman, but when he glances up she realizes she's being rude.]

Really? What kind of books would you have written?

[marchmadness]

[March just smiles at her, as the tips of his long ears tap together over his head.]

Stories of great, fantastic adventures! Those were always my favorite to read, after all. And what about you, my girl? What kind of books do you like?

[shiningkindness]

Well, I really like fantasy stories. Especially ones about animals.

[And maybe a romance one or two, but that she keeps to herself.]

[marchmadness]

Now, by that, do you mean you like stories about fantasy animals, or fantasy stories about everyday animals?

[Not that there's a better or worse answer in his mind, but he likes asking questions.]

[shiningkindness]

Well, both! It's fun imagining what kind of animals could exist in fantasy worlds, but it's also fun to see animals I know in fantastical settings.

[marchmadness]

[He nods.]

Well-said, young miss! There's certainly merit to each. Although I, myself, am perhaps a bit more inclined to think of what happens when you put something - or someone - who seems normal in a place where they're free be just the opposite.

[shiningkindness]

[She giggles softly with a nod.] Oh yes. Those kinds of stories can be a lot of fun.

Given the circumstances, I feel those kinds of stories are ones that a lot of us can relate to these days.

Speed of Lightning

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa barely feels the spark, thanks to decent grounding -- but her sensors detect it and the declaration as well. She whirls in place, eyeshields wide-open as she analyzes both the attack and the statement.]

I am it? [Her database search returns the appropriate results a moment later.] That means I have been designated the aggressor!

[With that realization, her eyeshields snap shut so that the light of her eyes, now a bright red, shines brightly through narrow slits. Orisa rears up, her front legs pawing at the air -- and when they slam back down to the ground, she breaks into a gallop, charging at the Hare at full speed.]

YOU DID NOT DECLARE NO TAG-BACKS!

[marchmadness]

Oh, dear...

[March begins to run as fast as his short legs will carry him - he doesn't hop at all, perhaps surprisingly - all while calling out frantically over his shoulder.]

I'm not sure such speeds are, ah, necessary to catch me! Good heavens, you're a quick one!

[stillnewatthis]

You are lucky my Tobelstein reactor is offline!

[Kicking up dirt behind her, Orisa reaches out with her arm, trying to prod him before he can turn suddenly and shake her. Must... tag!]

[marchmadness]

[The entirely unfamiliar pair of words has March stopping in his tracks, and even turning around to face Orisa, fear forgotten. It's just now setting in that Orisa is unlike anyone he's ever seen before.

Of course, he's also probably really easy tag-prey right now.]

[stillnewatthis]

TAG!

[Orisa prods him with a finger, more gently than a huge omnic looks like she could.]

No tag backs!

[marchmadness]

Ah, nicely done, but...

May I ask you a question?

[stillnewatthis]

Certainly! So long as it is not a trick in order to get me to allow you to tag me in some way.

[Orisa is a young and naive omnic, but not THAT naive!]

Research

[couldabeenturbo]

[Dewey's kicked his chair back against the wall - see icon.]

Sure, if by "charm" you mean actual spell to keep us stuck in here...?

[marchmadness]

[March does laugh a little at that.]

Well, at least it's clean, yes?