Let The Games Begin

[magicademymods]

February Event and Intro Log Orientation Week/Magic Mayhem The campus of Diatu Magicademy stretches out before you, confused and chaotic and surging with energy. Where are you headed? To your dorm or suite, to get settled? Maybe you need some food now? Wherever you head off to as your first stop, you have to deal with the snow. Helpful or proud students are passing out various magical remedies to get you where you need to be -- umbrellas with a nasty tendency to dump snow directly onto other people nearby, an iron tube that projects fire but appears to have no off switch, snowshoes that keep you slightly too high off the snow and thus provide no friction for stopping... Familiar Follies Familiars do not harass or harm each other as a rule -- but that doesn't mean they have no pecking order, and the week of Orientation finds them all jockeying for status and position as suits them. This can take the form of pranks, displays, competitions, or simple physical assertiveness towards each other. The goal is simply to be seen as superior by the student body. New wizards especially may find themselves surprised at this behavior of their familiars... 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 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.) Furthermore, they request to perform a few spells on you for testing purposes. It is, quite regrettably, possible that if you consent to this testing, you will come away with a temporary side effect -- a slight change of hair color, traveling two steps for every one you take, one hand moving about a second behind the arm it should be attached to, or being ridden by a penguin. No need to worry, these changes won't last more than a day! Wonders Await Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Have fun!

Comments

Louie Duck | DuckTales (2017)

[talkyourwayout]

Orientation Week/Magic Mayhem (I)
[This Valhudor student is quick to make a beeline through the snow and straight for his dormitory. Cold is bad - and he isn't sure about this specific kind of magic, either. Besides, while he's not new to sharing a room, he's new to sharing a room with new people. All his life, he's roomed with his brothers, after all.

He's excited to meet new friends, even if he won't admit that, because it sounds way too cheesy. Besides, with that excitement comes nerves, and it's easier to act detached. Potential rejection will be less harmful that way.

So when he enters the room where he'd be staying with up to four others, he avoids saying anything right away. Instead, he just settles into a chair with a contented sigh.]


Orientation Week/Magic Mayhem (II)
[He's got to leave the dorm eventually, and that means facing the snow... He's very short. This isn't going to be pretty, and a simple slip finds him lying on his back in a snowbank. He groans.]

Help?

[What a great way to start things off.]

II

[gender_neutral]

Have an odd looking stick figure elf with what looks like a parrot masquerading as a raven on one shoulder. Snow was not a thing one dealt with much in a stick figure comic, except in backstory. Still, it beat the plane of ranch dressing.

An odd three fingered hand was offered down to aid the odd strange creature.

V was still new to this teamwork thing, but hey, someone was trying.

[talkyourwayout]

Humans - or people who looked like they probably were human to him - were still something Louie was kind of getting used to. But V? V took the cake, so far. Still, Louie took their hand to help pull himself up.

"Thanks for that." He paused, trying to think of a good way to keep the conversation-ball rolling, and eventually asked, "So... Which House are you in?"

[gender_neutral]

V had been perfectly ready to just walk away and was mildly irritated at the attempt to verbally engage. "In such as these things matter, and I assure you that they do not actually matter as much as we are clearly meant to believe that they do, I have been assigned to Aet et Calculum, which I presume to be some badly mangled attempt to imitate Latin in the hopes of sounding both more arcane and more academic. In this the creators have failed miserably, of course."

[talkyourwayout]

"So... Aet et Calculum, then." Louie said, less than impressed by V's verbosity. "I'm in Valhudor, but I guess you're kind of right about it not mattering. We're all just working to get home, right?"

[gender_neutral]

"It has thus far seemed rare to find another who understands, as I do, the import of returning home sooner rather than later. Yes, we should all be focusing on our mutual concern of returning home. As of yet, however, I seem to be rather the odd elf out in actually attempting to discern a way to do just that. If you have some theory or method we could further investigate I would be pleased to add my boundless stores of arcane knowledge to the task, and hopefully we can wrap up this pointless side plot and be back with our respective parties by the end of the book."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie just stared for a moment. This was for real, then? Okay. He shrugged. "Nope. No theories here."

He wasn't going to ask about the side plot or book stuff - if V was crazy, he didn't need to hear all about it. However, there was one thing that he felt earned further question. "Elf, huh?"

Nope, can't type that with a straight face. Can't do it.

[gender_neutral]

"Well yes, is it not obvious from my pointed ears," V gestured to one such pointed ear, "And my slender elven neck?"

Ha, I wonder why that is. ;)

[talkyourwayout]

Louie stifled a snort of amusement. "Sure, I guess," he offered. He was humoring them, but there was no need to be a jerk. "I've never actually met an elf before. Wait, I don't think so, anyway?" He's quiet for a moment, mumbling inaudibly as he goes over past adventures back home. "...Yeah, no. No elves."

II

[shiningkindness]

O-Oh gosh...are you okay?

[While normally she would have been excited to about meeting Louie - a duck with a hoodie? How adorable was that? - it was curbed by her concern after seeing him fall.

Making her way over - carefully - she offers a hand to help him up.]

[talkyourwayout]

Yeah, I've been through worse.

[He takes Fluttershy's hand and pulls himself up.]

Thanks, though.

[shiningkindness]

[Once he's up, she backs up just a bit. She still lingers though, because aaaaaaaaah.]

My name's Fluttershy. What's your name?

[talkyourwayout]

I'm Louie. I'm guessing you're not from here, either?

[Although... It's hard to be sure. She does have a pretty unique look to her.]

[shiningkindness]

[Ugh she just wants to ruffle his hair, but that seems rude so she holds back. Barely.]

That's right. I came from another world too.

[talkyourwayout]

Uh-huh.

[Okay, it's getting hard for him to ignore that something seems kind of off, here.]

Are you okay?

[shiningkindness]

[That's probably because she's staring which, when she realizes that, she at least looks a bit sheepish.]

O-Oh...yes, I'm all right. Sorry, I...

[She debates about how to explain it to him, but eventually she just gives up.]

You're just...so cute!

[talkyourwayout]

No, I'm not!

[The words are out of his mouth too quickly; sound too indignant - he feels like a small child the moment he says them.]

I mean - ugh! - why would you say that?

II

[stillnewatthis]

[Oh! A call for aid! This is her chance to be a hero and protector as Efi designed her to be.]

[Orisa hurries that way at a canter, four metal legs sending snow flying every which way as she draws up to the duck-shaped imprint in the snow.]

I will aid you!

[One massive metal hand reaches down for the duck, aiming to seize him about the waist.]

[talkyourwayout]

[Despite Orisa outright saying she was there to help, Louie found himself flinching away from the large, metal hand.]

Please don't hurt me!

[stillnewatthis]

[The hand pauses. Oh dear! Perhaps this strange being expects omnics to be hostile. That is an understandable misconception, but Orisa can begin putting it right here and now.]

Do not be alarmed. I will not cause you harm. My purpose is to protect and defend others, and I will not fail it here.

[talkyourwayout]

[He relaxes, if only a little. Orisa could have probably squished him by now, if she wanted to, so...]

Big robots just seem like bad news... Sorry.

[That GizmoDuck guy who helped him find the remote and stuff was pretty cool, he supposed, so maybe he should give this robot a chance, too - though this robot clearly wasn't just the suit for an actual person.

Ah, well. He reached out for the hand hovering near him, and used it to pull himself to his feet.]

Thanks.

[stillnewatthis]

Given the history of human-omnic relations, I know many who would agree with you. However, my purpose is to defend and protect humanity.

[Orisa is steadfast, supporting his weight without so much as a micrometer of give.]

I have extended that definition of purpose to include you.

[talkyourwayout]

So you're an omnic robot? I don't know what that is, but if your job is to protect people... I'd say we can be friends.

[He'll take protection in a strange, magical world.]

And, uh... Cool. I realize I don't look like the people where most of the others come from, apparently, but I'm not like -

Oh!

[Not an animal like the rat familiar he's been assigned. Who he can't feel up the sleeve of his hoodie anymore - which means Cash must have fallen right into the snow. With no explanation, he begins digging through to find him.]

[stillnewatthis]

Have you lost something? I can assist you!

[Orisa turns her body around in place, plants her forelegs, then begins kicking snow away with broad swipes of her rear feet.]

[talkyourwayout]

[Oh god no.]

Um, you should probably not do that! I can't find my pet - or familiar, or whatever. He's a rat, so - please don't kick him!