March Event and Intro Log

[magicademymods]

March Event and Intro Log Golem On The Loose The rain never stops. Water and mud track all over campus. Diligent cleaning golems stomp about, mopping and scrubbing and polishing and then going back to do it all over again, and again, and again... One of them seems to have had it. The renegade golem bursts into Kedrigan Hall -- interrupting classes and disrupting labwork to furiously seize students and scrub every last scrap of mud and dirt off of them. All the halls have been locked off with "Under Cleaning" signs, and anyone who enters them meets with the golem's wrath, as it violently plays a pre-recorded message about not interfering with groundskeeping and deploys a giant claw-like tool to grab the interloper and put them back on unforbidden ground. The professors, who are after all completely immune to the golem's attention by its very design, seem to think this is a good learning opportunity for students. Is it? Horrible Spell Doom? "Are you sure you're ready for the test on Advanced Gaseous Discovery?" one upperclassman asks the other. "Of course I'm sure," the second says confidently. Whipping out a wand from a holster on her belt, she sweeps her wand through the air gracefully, pronouncing several Osmarian sigils as she draws them. Probably. "See, that's a blue cloud--" Said blue cloud, which puffs into being as the last syllable left her lips, abruptly doubls in size. Then it doubles in size again. And again. The upperclassmen, who have been in Diatu for several years and know exactly what this sort of thing means, don't hesitate. Not even stopping to share a glance between them, they run like crazy, leaving the growing cloud behind just as classes let out and students begin to enter the halls. But... surely it doesn't have any weird and wacky side effects, right? The Bala-inlota Parade (aka The Non-Horrible Prompt) To celebrate the start of the Bala-inlota season, Anastara spares no expense. The great parade and associated festival stretches the whole weekend, and the whole city puts on their colors and turns out for the fun. Enterprising vendors sell food, drinks, and souvenirs ranging from small and crude figurines to magical constructs that shine field displays onto flat surfaces so you can watch the action up-close! (Good luck affording that, students.) Practically any sort of entertainment you could want appears on the streets and canals of Anastara, and food and drink flow freely. Research On the Sundered With the arrival of the Sundered come those wizards engaged in research on their presence here, now set to investigate what brought them here and how to get them home. All newly-arrived Sundered students are asked to meet with representatives of the research team, to introduce themselves and relate what they will of their homes. In addition, the team requests samples of blood, hair, and skin -- carefully magically collected, and the researchers will sign in the presence of the Sundered a Glyphed contract that forbids them from using the samples for a purpose they know will be harmful. (They quite understand your reasons to be suspicious of this collection! And they will not compel anyone who refuses even given these conditions.) This month, the team has developed a Sundering spell that they warn is crude and unpolished, because the Curriculum is so unpracticed. They hope it will connect to your home worlds and establish a magical link they can build off of to open further passages. No promises! And to those who do undergo this spellwork... it has a certain side effect of confusion, as brief images from your home world flicker across your vision for a few hours afterwards. Wonders Await Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Have fun!

A Special Note

If you thread out one or more scenes based on the confusion from "Research on the Sundered", respond to the comment on this post with a link to that thread. The results of this will be revealed next month! (It is, we're afraid, not a regain, lest your participation be based solely on that hope!)

Comments

Wonders Await

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa is quieter than most people expect -- which is not terribly quiet, but not the massive thudding tromp a huge hippotaur robot probably seems like she should have. Which means she can get closer than "same city" without being obvious about it, explaining how she managed to witness this feat.]

You have created copper! How remarkable! On my world, that would be a most impressive feat!

[pawper]

Really? I wasn't sure if I—

[A glance over her shoulder, surprised and pleased. And then just plain surprised, blue eyes going wide as saucers. It's rare that she ever has to look up for one thing, but of course the real distraction is coming face-to-face with, to wit, a huge hippotaur robot. Only the "huge" part of that equation is even remotely familiar.]

...if I could....uh.....hi!

[Train of thought: destroyed.]

[stillnewatthis]

Hello!

[Orisa's quad eyeshields contact and rotate, giving the yellow slits of light a distinct ^^ expression, as she lifts her left hand to offer a little wave.]

Please forgive my interruption. I was very impressed with your ability! I have not had nearly so much success in magic.

[pawper]

[She just stares for several moments longer, blinking, rooted to the spot not by fear or panic but simple astonishment. Who knows what gets her neurons in her brain firing off again; maybe it's just the rhythm of conversation, social reflex kicking in. Lys shakes her head, paps her own cheek, and sucks in a quick breath.]

....Ah, thank you! [Her mother taught her not to stare, but maybe she'll forgive her youngest daughter just this once.] That's really nice of you to say. I'm, uh, honestly just glad nothing went wrong.

[She makes herself glance at the small length of copper chain, picking it up to toy with it.]

Are you....do you know what you've been having trouble with?

[Better to lead with that, she thinks, than "what the hell are you???"]

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa has become used to being an object of curiosity. Some people, such as the more knowledgeable wizards here, take only a moment to compare her to such magical constructs as golems. Others stare and stare and stare. Orisa is nothing if not patient, occupying her processing power with some ruminating on the nature of souls and the Iris while she waits.]

[But then a question comes, which she can answer!]

'Willpower'. That is a key component of magic but one I have difficulty understanding the direct use of.

[pawper]

[Tug tug tug on the little chain, careful not to snap the links. The focus on something physical helps. So does the reminder that neither of them are human; just because she can hide it better didn't give her any right to act awkward. And maybe that line of reasoning wouldn't make sense to anyone else, but for Lys it's like a hand on the back of her neck, pushing her forward.]

Willpower, huh? Maybe I can help. [Ah.] —My name's Lys, by the way! Sorry about that.

[stillnewatthis]

My name is Orisa. [She lifts a hand brightly, eyes snapping and whirling back into a ^^ configuration.] If you are wondering, I am an omnic. My body is machinery and circuits, but I have a full and complex artificial intelligence! But I am not familiar with many things, yet, including just how to use 'willpower'. I have dedicated all processing abilities to performing magic, but with minimal success, so I must be missing something.

[pawper]

[Honestly, she understood maybe one word in three of that. Technology in her world hasn't progressed very far beyond, say, the waterwheel, and let's not even get started on the scientific disciplines. But Lys can at least grasp that Orisa isn't a Thing, some kind of oversized metal toy, and maybe that's enough for right now. Her assorted and sundry questions (all of them stupid, she's sure) could wait.]

....okay! Well, it's definitely nice to meet you, Orisa. I hope I can explain things in a way that makes sense.

[A moment's pause, then she holds out her feather for Orisa to take.]

What are you usually thinking about when you're trying to cast a spell?

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa takes the feather.]

[Honestly, the feat of engineering in her doing so is awe-inspiring. Her hands are metal, after all, without any give as flesh and skin have; the razor-thin gap between 'not enough pressure to hold on' and 'crushing it ruthlessly' is all the smaller for that. But her precision is such that her artificial fingers close perfectly on it.]

Initially, thorough analysis of all involved Factors. Since I am focusing primarily on Modification, this is not difficult, since the math involved is no challenge. Once that has been calculated, all available processing power is set to run a loop program of "succeed".

[pawper]

Huh?

[Oh no, even more five-dollar words. This was definitely shaping up to be a conversation where her little brother would have excelled — he had always been so smart, grasping new ideas so easily, blazing through the battered handful of books his family could find for him. But it's not Tobias standing before Orisa today; just Lys, without any sort of natural genius to back her up.

Dwelling on that wouldn't do either of them any good, however. She focuses instead on the delicate play of Orisa's mechanical fingers as they accept the feather, fascinated in a way that defied description: there's a perfection to the movement that Lys has never seen before, exacting and deliberate like the finest work of a master blacksmith.]

Oh, um......so the Factors are the easy part for you. [She laughs, sheepish.] I'm not any good at math, myself. Being able to work out equations like that sounds....well, incredible!

[Already she senses that this next question might be a weird thing to ask, but really — when has that ever stopped her?]

And what are you usually feeling, right then?

[stillnewatthis]

And I am sure you are good at many things I am not good at. [That is just the difference between human and omnic; they are two different creatures. But they should appreciate their differences, and their similarities, not worry about them!]

I am attempting not to feel anything. Would that not be a distraction from focusing all available resources on getting the spell to work?

[pawper]

Aw, well....

[Hoping that Orisa won't belabor the point, but feeling just a tiny bit pleased regardless — it was nice to at least imagine that she was useful, valuable — Lys rubs the back of her neck and keeps going, trying to put what she felt into words that made sense.]

Sometimes, yeah. But for me, that's also a really important part of spellcasting — the emotions of it. I need that feeling of...of wanting to do my best, no matter what. That if I just try, I can do it.

[A pause. Then, with quiet determination:]

That I will do it. Even if I messed up the last time, or a hundred times — I'm gonna succeed now.

[stillnewatthis]

Oh!

[Orisa understands immediately. She knows that feeling -- how could she not, when she still is new and makes so many errors? But the drive to keep trying, to get better, to improve... the determination to succeed. It isn't a matter of focusing resources. It is a matter of focusing self.]

Thank you! You have made it much clearer to me!

[pawper]

[A bright smile that's happy, a little relieved, and entirely for Orisa.]

Hey, that's great! I'm glad at least some of my rambling made sense, heh....

[She gestures to the feather still delicately clasped between Orisa's mechanical fingers, leaning forward hopefully.]

Why don't you try casting something now?

[stillnewatthis]

Hmm. Very well.

[Reaching behind her, between her back proper and the supercharger mounted to it, Orisa brings out a large toad. Said toad lets out a loud croak as she sets him on the ground, then traces a series of geometic figures with astonishing precision as she outputs the underlying math verbally.]

[Then, in abrupt silences, she focuses on the spell with the same determination she puts into doing her best, into being a hero, into making Efi proud.]

[The toad suddenly becomes blue.]

[pawper]

[Lys watches quietly, perfectly attentive and genuinely curious, startling only a little at the toad's sudden appearance. When the mildly unlucky creature (there are worse fates to befall a test animal, surely) suddenly turns blue, Lys gasps. And then immediately starts clapping, grinning not a touch stupidly.]

Wow, that's incredible! You did it on the first try and everything!

[That was what Orisa meant to do, right? Sure it was!]

[stillnewatthis]

[It must be, because Orisa seems very delighted! The effect is small and simple, and possibly easier because it is being performed on her familiar, but nonetheless Orisa claps her hand against her fusion driver, delight practically radiating from her.]

I did! Your advice was very helpful!

[pawper]

Hey, it's no problem! I'm happy to help.

[A pause. Then, a little hesitantly, not wanting to bring the mood down but feeling pushed to be honest.]

I know what it feels like, to try really hard and not quite get there. So....I'm glad that the pieces are clicking together for you.

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa considered that for a second, her eye shutters rotating around with a faint noise.]

I am still very new at everything I do, and I still have a lot to learn. About everything! Magic, my own purpose, life in general. But Efi told me that so long as I keep doing my best, try to learn, and never give up, that I will be the great hero and champion she designed me to be. I think that is true for everyone!

[pawper]

[Something unfurls in her narrow chest as she listens, a warm and tender emotion that felt too delicate to be named. Maybe pride comes closest, secondhand and immature though it surely was. Not for herself, but for the brave person standing before her — because a person she obviously was, despite the metal shell.]

Ha.....this Efi of yours, she's definitely got the right idea.

[That Lys doesn't, can't quite believe that "everyone" included herself, well. To admit it would serve no purpose, only invite questions for which she had no answers, at least none that were both safe and true. It was enough to be happy that Orisa had been told something so kind, and believed it.]

With that attitude, I bet you'll be a great wizard too!

[stillnewatthis]

Well, I certainly will be better than those who just complain about their circumstances all day. [Orisa's eyes narrow, both horizontally and vertically, for a second. Seems there were a fair few of those among the Sundered, weren't there?]

[pawper]

[Was there? Lys wouldn't know, being 1) dumb and 2) dumb. Or really just too ready to believe in the best of perfect strangers and lend a sympathetic ear to petty whining. Complaining was only annoying when she did it, after all.]

Eh? Well....yeah, of course! But that's just common sense, isn't it?

[She gives the now-blue toad familiar a gentle pad on the head.]

We do our best with the cards we're dealt. Or something like that.

[stillnewatthis]

[The effect of the spell is dissipating even as they speak, restoring Lucitoad to his propery toady color. He looks utterly unbothered by any of this.]

Exactly. We cannot change what we cannot change, so we must address what we can instead!

[This is battlefield tactics, but easily generalized to life in general. Provided she stops being so quick to change what she can with her fusion driver.]