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

[stillnewatthis]

[One disadvantage of Orisa's shape is that she is not really made to 'catch'. Nevertheless, she does her best, hurling herself forward to try to seize the rat in the one hand she possesses.]

[The end result? A heavy crash as she hits the ground, her rear legs way up in the air, and a rat skittering away as her hand closes on empty air.]

I should have just shot it!

[twilightskey]

[Oh no! Ignoring the rat for a moment, Roxas goes to the robot's side.]

Are you alright?? Here, let me help you up...

[stillnewatthis]

I remain at full operating capacity. [Though she'd skidded enough that pushing herself up out of the ground is a bit of a feat. How Roxas intends to help her, given her mass, is beyond her.]

[twilightskey]

[That's a very good question. Roxas takes a moment to ponder this before he just steps forward, getting into a position to try and help push her up to her feet.]

Okay, one, two... three! [And he pushes!]

[stillnewatthis]

[Between her own servomotors and Roxas's aid, Orisa's back legs thump down onto the ground again, and she unfolds her front legs to resume her upright position.]

That was not good for my dignity.

[twilightskey]

[He helps her until she's upright, and then lets her stand on her own, panting with the effort of pushing. When she speaks, he chuckles softly.]

It's alright... I won't tell anyone. [He can understand keeping his dignity intact. Once he catches his breath he stands, looking around.]

...ah. Sorry, I think the rat got away.

[stillnewatthis]

This is no good at all. Although I do not need money to get by, it is useful to have, and moreover I cannot approve of theft.

[But without apparent recourse, she looks downright heartbroken -- her lowered eyeshields remarkably communicative.]

[twilightskey]

Yeah. This really isn't good. This isn't the first time I've seen a rat steal something, but it's mostly just been junk. I wonder what's going on?

[stillnewatthis]

Not long after I arrived here, I had to deal with geese that could use Forged items. They were very troublesome. Maybe this is similar!

[twilightskey]

Geese that could use Forged items?? [That was something before Roxas's arrival, but he could only imagine how crazy that could be.]

You think it's something similar as that time? But... what would the rats want?

[stillnewatthis]

It may be. The geese simply wished to cause trouble. [Orisa sounds distinctly offended by this.]

[twilightskey]

Maybe the rats are looking to cause trouble, too.

[stillnewatthis]

But unlike geese, rats are not giant jerks.

[twilightskey]

Yeah...

Maybe some rats are tiny jerks?

[stillnewatthis]

That is not normally true, but perhaps drawing on knowledge of Earth wildlife is serving me poorly here. Hmm.