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

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

[Jecht turns from his study of "Fantastic Plays and Fantastics Plays" to look at her offering.]

Yeah! Now that's the stuff! Good catch!

[darkenedmoon]

I know what I am looking for, you know. [She has had six months' experience in the libraries, here, and Yotsuyu is nothing else if not swift on the pickup. It would be more troubling, to her especially, if she could not find a book she was looking for.]

Anything else, then?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Hmm, well, you know. More like this. [Just one ain't enough! And isn't encouraging him to read good? Mastering some bala-inlota tricks ought to help him master some other tricks too... maybe even finally make the connection in his brain that he can get a lot better by mastering more magic.]

[darkenedmoon]

I am not certain that Fantasticks is the best idea for you. I cannot imagine you playing music on the field--unless you drum with your heels or some such.

[Then again, for Jecht, that just might work. Perhaps she ought to tell him to take it under advisement. She couldn't sing, and dragging around a shamisen or its like borders on sheer ridiculousness. Even she had thought of bells or a penny whistle--things small and portable--to use, for her own part.

She just couldn't see Jecht with bells on, though the thought amused her and brought a smile to her lips.]

If there are no more books on a beginner's level here, I could always check the library for you. But you would have to remember to take the books back!

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Naw, I'm no good with music. Ain't my style. [Show and flash is all him, as well she knows. Speaking of...] Hey, how about some Discovery stuff? Not really complicated but rarer, stuff you don't see every day. See anything like that around?

[darkenedmoon]

Insamuch as singing is mine, I imagine. [Yotsuyu does not sing. She often likes her singing voice to ravens croaking, in truth. She narrows her eyes at Jecht, however, and quirks an ebon brow up at him.]

'Tis not as if you've not said 'anything goes' before, why do you not simply Discover dice or jacks or some such to act as caltrops? I do not suggest actual caltrops only because I imagine permanent damage is frowned upon...

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Aaah, most everything gets healed at some point. Something small and subtle, huh? Yeah, it'd either work or make 'em use a lot of effort to catch it before it happened. Just gotta think of how to give it to the ol' Jecht spin.

[But he already has a couple of ideas ticking in his head for that, to judge by his rather wicked grin.]

[darkenedmoon]

I believe 'tis the 'mostly' that is my concern, there. But yes. Who would expect small and subtle out of the Great Jecht? He of the flash and show, doing something clever? 'Tis not as if you don't have it in you, at times.

[okay not all the time, by any means, but sometimes.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Yeah, but I can work with that. [But to judge by his frown, he takes the subdued nature as a point against the trick. It IS small and subtle, not the sort of thing that draws crowds or catches eyes -- and drawing crowds is important, make no mistake. That doesn't just mean winning, it means making a show worth watching.]

Heh, maybe if they burst into light or smoke or something when someone triggered 'em.

[darkenedmoon]

Attempt both. Try to make them do such in the proper situations. I should think that would give you something of a boost to your reputation. Not that you need such, but it does not hurt, of course.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Yeah, yeah... [He's starting to get excited about this idea. It's defensive so he's gotta give it an offensive twist, but that's easy -- when suddenly a guy stumbles and colored smoke shoots out of his shoes, no way anyone can mistake that as a signature technique.]

Ha! I get a variant where they pop when I snap my fingers or something. Then at the end of the play once the goal's made, I do that and everyone knows how I got through 'em all.

[darkenedmoon]

[Yotsuyu is amused, but also pleased--this has Jecht more interested in magic, if slightly, and he's thinking for himself. She only planted a few seeds, and they seem to have found fertile soil to grow in. Normally she'd make a snarky comment about it, but she doesn't want to salt the earth here.]

That is a good idea, yes. You should perhaps ponder what else you might do. Crimson sparks. Something. Showy, because that is you, but nothing that might cause a fire.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Yeah, they got too many plans for fire. [Jecht might not think of other reasons fire should be avoided...] Sparks and smoke and symbols maybe. Huh, but that'd be tricky, wouldn't it?

[darkenedmoon]

Yes. But not impossible. Discovery is not Modification, you simply must speak the proper words with the proper inflections. [Though Yotsuyu is well aware of Jecht and how well he's done with his studies. Or not done, really--she was the one tutoring him through midterms, and she's going to be doing the same through finals, she is certain.]

I imagine four words or syllables; one for the sparks, one for the smoke, one for the symbols, and one for red or crimson, as I imagine that is enough of a signature color for you. No?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Uuuuuugh. [Starting to lose its appeal, here, but despite his groan of protest he hasn't given up yet.] Guess I gotta go look up all that stuff, huh?

[He doesn't think for a second she'll do it for him. He imposes on her enough as it is!]

[darkenedmoon]

Yes, you must. If you become completely lost, I will aid you, but until then, 'tis best if you do it yourself. You will be more invested then, no?

[Where he is wrong: Yotsuyu likely would if he asked, however, she really does feel Jecht would be better off doing it himself. Besides, he works for his bala-inlota and blitzball anyway. How is this different?]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Yeah, yeah. [He knows the score. She's always gonna try to make him do the work... and by now he's starting to feel a little guilty and a little unmanly, what with the work she's already put in. So he might protest, but he's gonna do it with just that.] 'Course you'll keep an eye out for other stuff, right?

[darkenedmoon]

"Yeah, yeah". [It's tossed back at him, somewhat mockingly, but Jecht really ought to expect that out of her, by now.]

Of course I shall. I do look forward to seeing what else you might come up with, but if something seems...like you, I shall let you know.

[This is Yotsuyu. He may end up buried under a pile of notes and diagrams, and regret his life choices!]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Heh, thanks, Tsu. You're the best.

[Uh-oh. A NICKNAME REVEALED.]

[darkenedmoon]

[Just this face for a long, long moment. Enough to make Jecht squirm.]

What was that, now? [Oh no, you didn't.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

You're the best?

[darkenedmoon]

No. Before that. [Narrowing her eyes, now.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Thanks?

[darkenedmoon]

That is not the sum of what I heard. As well you know. [As her annoyance grows, she folds her arms over her chest. Really, Yotsuyu might be less angry if he'd just come out with it, instead of playing the innocent. Jecht does it so poorly.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

So... the 'Tsu' part, huh? [Yeah, don't mind him idly rubbing at his neck.]