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

Lloyd Irving | Tales of Symphonia

[idealistic]

► Orientation Week/Magic Mayhem

[ gathering his bearings in such a strange place took a bit of time, but eventually Lloyd was able to manage just fine on his own. it was disconcerting to not have his friends around, and he did wonder if they noticed he was missing in the first place, but worrying about those sorts of details will come after dinner. Lloyd's starving and he hasn't had any luck with finding the mess hall.

thankfully, the other students here were more than willing to lend a hand… in a way. almost as soon as he stepped out into the halls, Lloyd was given an umbrella to keep the snow off. he actually didn't mind the snow too much, especially since he didn't get to see it all that often, but he wasn't one to turn down someone else's kindness!

it's just a shame that he never seems to notice when his umbrella dumped a stupid amount of snow on any poor sap that happened to cross paths with him. his poor brain's been overtaken by his stomach. ]

Where's the cafeteria around here…?

► Research on the Sundered

[ if there's one thing Lloyd is all for, it's about getting home as quickly as possible. it's not that he dislikes the school or (perish the thought) is actually bored of it! but he does have a mission to do back home, one that's fairly important and a little time-sensitive. so while playing the role of magic student, he will absolutely be helping the wizards do what they can to help those like him -- so long as it's humane.

he's fresh out of a spell session in this instance, none worse for the wear… except those who were around him when he first went for the tests will notice his hair is becoming several shades redder — and thanks to his hair sticking up in every direction away from his face, he doesn't even notice.

he spots a familiar face as he lingers in the hall: one of the folks that also volunteered to help with spell testing. perhaps you? ]

Hey! You just got done?

► Wonders await

[ the wildcard option! i can do either prose or brackets; whatever you're comfortable with! ♥ ]

Research

[logdates]

Yup.

[Peridot is similarly focused on returning home. She also doesn't see how much actual damage a spell could do to her, longterm, considering her unique form. So she'd volunteered. She recognizes Llyod from waiting to be called in, though she hadn't paid enough mind to him to really notice that his hair color has changed - just that something looks different - so she just kind of squints at him for a bit. She moves to take a step closer to further investigate, but her legs seem to involuntarily take an additional step when she does so.]

...What just happened?

[idealistic]

[ Lloyd recognized this girl-- to be honest, it was hard to not recognize or notice her. while he's seen some weird things on his adventures, it wasn't everyday that someone would meet a green person. he didn't have a chance to approach her while they were waiting to be tested on, so he's actually kind of glad to be able to catch her right after.

and then her legs do that weird jig-thing and Lloyd finds himself hopping back with a quick "Whoa!" to avoid a potentially awkward collision. at least he still has his reflexes. ]

Weren't you like three steps back a second ago?

[logdates]

I - thought so? That's what I was asking about.

[She's quite confused by this, and takes an experimental half-step backwards. Of course, it becomes a full step back.]

This is very inconvenient.

[idealistic]

[ Lloyd is quite confused, considering it doesn't even occur to him that her actions weren't voluntary this whole time.

until now, at least. ]

Wait. So you're not doing that on purpose? [ a+ questioning, there. ]

Orientation Week/Magic Mayhem I am so sorry.

[darkenedmoon]

[This 'poor sap' is now following the poor, hapless boy, yellow eyes flashing with anger. Oh, Yotsuyu might have been offered an umbrella, or (Kami forbid) a flame tube, or snowshoes, but in her ire has disdained all these things to practically stalk young Lloyd, following him where he is going.

Poor Lloyd.

The drenched and shivering woman doesn't make much noise, and her anger has pretty much taken all sense from her. He's following his stomach. She's following him. Surely he has to notice her eventually...]

NEVER BE SORRY I LOVE THIS

[idealistic]

[ it takes a little while, but he does feel it. the raw ire. the daggers practically at his back. absolute fury that could rival even the most terrifying of demons.

that, and Lloyd kind of has really advanced hearing.

so once he's out of the snow and is putting away his umbrella (and inadvertently lobbing yet another pile of snow in Yotsuyu's direction) he finally turns around and finds the poor woman covered head to toe in snow. and he has no idea he's the one at fault! ]

Oh-- jeez, are you okay?!

oh dear no I'm still sorry! partly for being slow

[darkenedmoon]

[ Her eyes flash yellow fire, and she bares her teeth at him, despite the shivering that has overtaken her. If she had sharpened teeth, he might think that Yotsuyu was about to bite off his head.

She still might. ]

No. I am not 'okay'.

[ She pauses, lifting a hand to pull a gob of melting snow out of her hair and lob it at him. Her aim isn't terribly good, though, probably because she's still shaking. Anger or cold, hard to tell at this point. Taking a deep breath, she continues.]

Do you have any idea what you have been doing all the way across this campus?! [Since Yotsuyu realizes he probably does not, courtesy of his question, she points to herself.]

Your umbrella has been dumping snow everywhere! And I am one of your victims! What are you going to do about it??

shhhh it's ok i'm way slower :')

[idealistic]

[ y i k e s .

even if the aim ended up being true, Lloyd's quick reflexes would have been enough to dodge the gob of snow getting hurled at his face. that's about as much movement as he does, though, because he finds himself kind of stuck where he is, confused and maaaaayyybe a little bit scared. it's her explanation that gets Lloyd back to his senses, and he looks between her, the umbrella, back at her, then back at the umbrella.

oh. oh. ]

Oh… Oh! I'm s-- here, hold on. [ dropping the umbrella as if it was on fire, Lloyd quickly pulls off his winter coat — Eiather colors, which had been hanging off of his shoulders the whole time — and drapes it over woman. he feels warm enough in his Dwarven wear, he'll be fine without it. if allowed (and if she doesn't bite his hand off in the process), he'll even rub her arms to generate friction and brush some of the snow off her head. ]

Ugh, I'm really sorry! I got that thing from one of the students here, I didn't even know it was dumping snow everywhere! [ he looks around the campus hall, as though searching for something, before turning back to the woman. ] Is there a fire around here…?

Orientation Week/Magic Mayhem

[shiningkindness]

[Finding snow suddenly dumped onto her is not something Fluttershy was expecting, and she lets out a surprised cry.]

Aaah...!

[She is also not dressed for winter weather, and it is cold!]

[idealistic]

[ he doesn't pay much mind to the girl as she passed him, fully set on finding the cafeteria in this veritable labyrinth. at least, until she cries out. ]

Hm? [ well, that sure is a lot of snow on the poor girl. ] You okay?

[shiningkindness]

I-I...I think so.

[Luckily, she wasn't paying attention, so she didn't see where all the snow had come from. But now she's soaked, and shivering, and trying to brush off a pile of snow off herself.

The snowshoes she's wearing don't help much either, as she suddenly wobbles and nearly falls over.]

O-Oh...!

[idealistic]

Whoa--!

[ oh, no she doesn't! Lloyd's quick to move to grab a hold of Fluttershy in an attempt to steady her before she ended up faceplanting into the snow. thank goodness his abilities weren't too heavily dampened… ]

You don't look okay. Don't you have a coat?

Research

[bornebygrace]

Aaron had already found a hair tie in one of his pockets and had pulled his now very long hot pink hair into a messy high ponytail, though he couldn't get the front pieces of hair to stay kept up. Aaron was also gifted with some very dark freckles (compared to his very light skin), though he doesn't seem aware of this.

"I did - and so did you, it seems!" Aaron squinted as he looked at Lloyd. "Your hair is changing color."

[idealistic]

"Is it?"

A gloved hand reaches up to run through his hair, still completely unaware of the actual effects on it despite it being pointed out. He tries to tug some of it down to get a good look at it, but without a mirror of sorts, there's no real way he can see its actual color. At least he can tell that it is, in fact, a lighter shade.

"Man, I can't even see it…" He murmurs to himself before smoothing his hair back and gesturing to Aaron. "But hey-- so did yours! Was your hair always that long?" In all fairness, he didn't really get a good look at Aaron when they were being tested.

[bornebygrace]

Aaron pulled his phone out and took a picture of Lloyd, then held his phone out so that he could see himself. Not as good as a mirror, but Aaron wasn't going to hand his phone over to some stranger.

"It's a bit bright out here with the snow, but I hope you can see it." He put his phone away after Lloyd had a good chance to look, chuckling as he twirled one of the front pieces around his finger. "Definitely not. Not even close. Hair was shorter than yours before the 'research'. It was also white." Finger quotes with the word research.

[idealistic]

Lloyd could only stare in confusion as the man pulled out what looked like a rectangular piece of something from his pocket. What was he even… oh! Lloyd starts a little as the rectangle was turned around to reveal a picture of-- wait, is that him? It looked like he was staring in a mirror, except the image wasn't moving along with him and his hair is definitely not brown. A painting? No, the picture's too small and all he did was press a button. Lloyd's familiar with cameras, but only the kind that generated moving pictures. Or maybe he saw something like this in Altamira?

…Why does he look a little like…?

The whatever-that-was is put away before Lloyd's thought could fully process. He scratches his head a little. Maybe it was a trick of the light? "Was it really? The pink actually looks pretty good on you!" A beat. "How'd you even do that, by the way? With that picture."

Research

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa is pretty easy to identify as one of the Sundered, thanks to being a massive hippotaur robot -- but a one-limbed one at the moment, as her left hand presses against what a human would call a temple as if she is in thought.]

I suppose I did. Have you seen a fusion driver arm around here? Their spells caused it to go missing.

[idealistic]

[ Lloyd has seen robots before, he's more than familiar with them. talking robots? he's seen his fair share of them.

talking robots asking him where its arm went? can't say he's met any of those. ]

A who-the-what arm?

[stillnewatthis]

It is like my left arm. [Which she helpfully lifts to show it off. It is unmistakably an arm.] But rather than a forearm, it ends in a fusion driver.

[idealistic]

Whoa…!

[ he still has no idea what a fusion driver is, but he also can't deny that's a really cool-looking arm!

in fact, all of whatever-this-is looks freakin' awesome! ] I didn't see anything around here like that-- but I can help you look, if you want!

orientation

[spellswords]

[She's cold and miserable but at least she made it inside. The melting snow has made her damp too despite her coat. She has a towel draped around her shoulders so she's thankfully a bit drier than she was but she still feels awfully cold. For now she is heading in the direction of food. She had passed it earlier but had first sought to dry odd.

Now on her way back she overhears Llyod's question. She stops a few paces behind him.]

Not that far from here, actually. I was on my way there. Would you like me to show you?

[idealistic]

[ for a moment, Lloyd almost thinks he's looking at a much smaller Raine when he turns to the voice behind him. you know, what with the white hair, blue eyes, and brown coat. the voice doesn't quite match up, however, and while the Professor was shorter than him, it wasn't this obvious.

but that's neither here nor there, at the moment. she knows where the cafeteria is. ]

Can you?! This place is gigantic, I've been looking everywhere for it!

[spellswords]

I would not have offered otherwise. This way.

[She motions for him to follow and turns on her heel, heading down the hall. Knowing where to find the desserts was arguably the most important thing in any location and anyone who knew her would not be surprised she found the cafeteria as fast as she did.

True to her word it isn't very far, located at the end of this particular hall. She pushes open the doors to reveal it.]

I've yet to try anything myself but there's plenty to choose from. I'm quite certain there is something here for everyone.

[idealistic]

[ the umbrella's pretty much all but abandoned once the girl offered to show him the way, and he follows obediently, making note to keep his pace slow enough so that he's trailing behind her. no need to get ahead of himself since he can't even find the cafeteria himself.

just as she said, it was blessedly close to where he was, and Lloyd can already smell the food before she even opens the door. ]

Holy cow, there's so much…!! [ NOT EVEN THE BANQUET HAD THIS MUCH FOOD. he nearly makes a beeline for it, but he's considerate enough to just barely pause and turn to her. ]

You want me to get you anything?