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

[shiningkindness]

That gets a small laugh from her, letting her release some of the lingering tension in her chest. "Hopefully it won't be something I'm still scared of."

[mithrarin]

"Who knows? I haven't come up with anything so far. Not that I really want to."

[shiningkindness]

She nodded. "Yeah. It's not something you really think about either. It just...kind of happens. So if it doesn't, that's not a bad thing."

[mithrarin]

"And if it does, it is nothing to be ashamed of," Ahrah said, the blue runes on its blade flickering with his words.

"Right. Everyone has to deal with some fear in their time."

[shiningkindness]

"Right. Some more than others, but it happens."

[mithrarin]

"That is true, but never judge yourself based on what you see in others. Those who show little fear may feel more than anyone else, yet be good at hiding it. Those who show their fear may well know that fear should not be feared."

Dust nodded slightly. "It's all about what you do when you're afraid, right?"

[shiningkindness]

"I suppose so. But even then, I...fall a bit short. Most of the time I freeze up and can't really do anything."

[mithrarin]

"So your problem isn't fear," Dust mused. "It's that fear rules you when it comes."

[shiningkindness]

Hesitating a bit, she nodded. "Pretty much."

[mithrarin]

"This might be a stupid question, but why?" Not that he didn't understand -- but maybe he could help if he knew what was going through her mind at times like that.

[shiningkindness]

"I...don't really know," she admitted softly. "When I get scared I just...tend to freeze up. Especially if I'm onstage by myself, with a crowd of people watching me..." She shuddered even just thinking about it.

[mithrarin]

"It sounds like you don't have much confidence in yourself." To Dust's surprise.

[shiningkindness]

She shook her head a bit. "Not really. I mean, there are things I know I do pretty well, but...I get kind of nervous around people, and thinking of people watching me is really terrifying."

[mithrarin]

"That surprises me a little." He'd long ago shed the effects of that wayward potion, but it still had etched an impressive picture of Fluttershy in his brain. "But if no one is watching, does it still happen?"

[shiningkindness]

She paused a moment, thinking about that. "Sometimes," she said. "It depends on what it is, really."

[mithrarin]

At least this conversation was doing a very good job of distracting her. "Well, what gets you and what doesn't? Not a complete list, but I'm trying to understand."

[shiningkindness]

"Well, I usually get stage fright when performing in front of other people. So when I'm by myself or performing with my friends, I can sing just fine. If something is really scary, though, like if it's really dark or if it's storming and there's a lot of thunder and lightning, I can still get freeze up a bit."

[mithrarin]

Dust nodded, drawing the gesture out a bit long as he turned that over in his mind and considered it.

"It's hard for me to... know just what to say, because I never had to deal with stuff like that. I wouldn't say I was 'born fearless' or anything, but I woke up with the strength and the will to fight. So nothing ever slowed me down, not like that anyway."

The strength and the will.

"So I guess my advice is to train your body."

[shiningkindness]

Glancing at him, she nodded. "I want to, but...trying to figure out how or where to start is...difficult."

[mithrarin]

Dust had to smile. "Sure you do. You ask a friend who knows more about that sort of thing for some help."

[shiningkindness]

"Well...that is true," she said with a small smile.

[mithrarin]

Of course, that had been an offer... but Dust also wasn't going to push himself into the role. She probably had plenty of other people who could do it as well or better than he could...

"And you have a pair of familiars who have to have trained a lot to be able to do what they do, right?"

[shiningkindness]

She did have many friends who would help, but she already included him among them.

"Yes, that's true too."

[mithrarin]

"So if you want to, you have a lot of options. And if my opinion counts for anything, I think you should."

[shiningkindness]

With a small smile, she nodded. "It does...thank you. You've really given me a lot of help."