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

Orisa | Overwatch

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa is online!]

Magic Mayhem

These devices do not appear reliable.

[The massive hippotaur robot dismisses the offerings after considerations (and seeing a student or two get their bottom burnt). Instead, to those considering them, Orisa offers a cheerful wave as her four-paneled eye shields swivel to give her a ^.^ expression.]

I will gladly be of assistance to you instead!

Research on the Sundered

[Orisa steps out of the examination room very carefully, ducking her head and tucking her legs in as much as possible to fit her huge frame through the door. On the other side, she straightens up, uncurls her legs -- and her left arm promptly falls off.]

Oh dear. This is very inconvenient.

[She nudges at it with her fusion driver, trying to work the massive weapon underneath it with exactly as much success as one would think she'd have.]

I must remember to inform Efi about this. A magnetic retrieval option may be necessary...

Aet et Calculum Tower

[Orisa had been somewhat worried that the dormitory would not accommodate her. Other students had been placed in a different building because of special considerations, hadn't they? But surely the wizards here knew what they were doing...]

[With some trepidation, Orisa steps through the front doors of the tower, looking around, then up. If she projected her voice, she could communicate with everyone from here...]

Commencing greeting protocol. Hello, fello students! My name is Orisa, and I shall learn by your side!

Wildcard!

[so tell me whatcha want whatcha really really want]

Research

[bornebygrace]

A very pink haired Aaron is walking past the research area - a bit lost - when Orisa comes out and her arm falls off. He reaches her as she finishes her idea of a magnetic retrieval option, making it a point to get into her field of vision (you don't want to surprise someone with a weapon for an arm, after all).

"That may be useful, but maybe I can help you for now?" He takes a moment to pull his hair so that his ponytail is tighter, then removes Purble from his hoodie and sets the little platypus a small distance away from them so that he would be safe. He lifts the arm up, letting Orisa get her right arm under it.

"Okay. Will it attach if we get it up to your - uh - shoulder? Or do you need help carrying it somewhere to get repairs?" He doesn't really want to pick the arm up fully until he knows what he's doing with it.

[stillnewatthis]

"That is correct," Orisa said, still quite cheerful despite her predicament. She shifted her fusion driver to support the arm in midair, slowly lifting it up. It wasn't quite oriented properly, but maybe Aaron could spin it? "My body parts are held together by localized electrotransmissive magnetic fields. Ordinarily only extreme force can break those fields, but magic appears to offer a unique exception."

[bornebygrace]

That was... a lot of very big words. He recognized some of those words, but he certainly couldn't tell someone what the meaning of that sentence was. He knew someone back at home that would know exactly what those words in that order meant, but... All of that went directly over his head.

"I'm gonna be honest with you - I have no clue what you just said..."

Aaron noticed that the arm wasn't quite oriented, slowly spinning it so as to not disturb the balance of the arm on the fusion driver. (He was not about to be responsible for dropping what looked like an expensive piece of machinery.)

"...But you seem to be taking this quite well. I think I would be quite more panicked if I were in your situation." He at least knew that the magnet part is why they wouldn't need some super scientist to fix her arm up, but the science behind it all was lost on him. He would watch as Orisa reattached her arm, making sure the arm stayed balanced and didn't fall off the fusion driver.

[stillnewatthis]

The arm indeed popped right back into place, the magnetic field reconnecting as soon as it approached its joint. Orisa closed the fingers of her hand, then reopened them and twisted it at the wrist.

"An electrotransmissive magnetic field is a magnetic field that electrical currents can pass through. That means I can move my hand and arm and receive feedback from it, even though there are no physical connections between the joints. As you can see, omnic engineering is quite different from human physiology, so our responses to different things will be very different."

Aer et Calculum Tower

[king_of_egypt]

[Well, this was unexpected, was the first thing that popped into the pharaoh's mind when he first gazed upon his fellow dorm mate. Machines were not uncommon in duel monsters, a popular children's card game in his dimension, but this was the only time he'd seen one enter as a student before. Still, he should reserve any sort of judgement. All the sundered were from different dimensions and each dimension followed it's own unique set of rules]

Nice to meet you Orisa, I'm Atem.

[stillnewatthis]

Atem. Hello! [Identification added to database. Updating! Orisa pops her hand up, waving brightly as her eyes go all ^.^]

You are also a Sundered student, correct?

[king_of_egypt]

Yes, hello. [He gave a firm nod as he placed a book he'd been looking at aside. He hadn't gotten very far into it, and he wasn't quite sure what it was about]

That's right. [With that confirmed he felt free to ask the following:] Where exactly did you come from before you found yourself here?

[stillnewatthis]

I am from the city of Numbani. My intended purpose is to be its defender, guardian, protector, and hero.

[Is that a meaningful answer? Only Atem can answer that! But she certainly seems proud of it.]

[king_of_egypt]

[The place didn't ring any bells but the list of functions piqued his interest further]

Those are all important positions to hold. I hope your absence will not be problematic for Numbani. What- exactly do you protect everyone from?

[stillnewatthis]

Primarily? Doomfist.

[Heck of an answer, huh?]

[king_of_egypt]

[The answer was succinct, but it didn't reveal much.]

Just what is "Doomfist"? [A person? A robot? A complicated organization consisting of an an entire infrastructure? It could have been anything really]

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa's eyes narrow to red slits, as her fist clenches.]

Doomfist is a criminal, one who did immense harm to Numbani. He is a danger to all people, human and omnic both. He must be stopped.

[king_of_egypt]

[So, one person then. Must be a particularly tenacious one at that]

What is it that this Doomfist wishes to accomplish?

[stillnewatthis]

To generate a conflict which will engulf the world.

[Strong, tenacious, powerful, and horrible.]

Magic Mayhem

[delusionsofleveilleur]

[Alphinaud is taken aback by the offer— and more appropriately, by the one extending it. It appears to be a magiteck device... but he can't tell if it's an automated one such as a mammet or if there is a person within controlling it. Nonetheless, he nods his head.]

I shall be grateful for your assistance; thank you very much.

[stillnewatthis]

Tell me your direction! I shall forge a path!

[Orisa is already bringing up her internal map of the campus. From here she can calculate an efficient route to any tower or building she is aware of!]

[delusionsofleveilleur]

[Forge a path? That does seem like it would be a simple task with those armaments...]

I am headed for the spire of Gekronus Maius. Though admittedly, I'm not exactly certain which direction that is...

[stillnewatthis]

It is THAT way!

[Orisa whirls, leveling her fusion driver at the tower off in the distance. She begins tromping forward, deliberately stomping down the snow with dramatic thrusts of her legs. A path will be forged!]

[delusionsofleveilleur]

[Alphinaud isn't aware of what certain assistance means to be provided, but when the suit stomps forward, louder than anticipated and using its full strength to plow the way, it startles him a moment.

He isn't sure how long he should wait to ensure that he doesn't get caught in its path, but he slowly steps onto the flattened ground before him. That is... one way to manage this snow, certainly.]

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa makes a fairly quick progression, even as she makes sure to grind the snow down into a walkable surface. In fact, she's pleased enough by her chance to do a good and helpful job that her steps become lighter, almost playful as she adds a little extra twist to her legs.]

Everything is okay back there?

[delusionsofleveilleur]

[They seem to be having fun... Alphinaud is glad that he isn't putting them to work begrudgingly, thought they first offered the assistance. He jogs a bit to try to catch up, his legs considerably shorter than the armor ahead of him.]

Yes, this is much more preferable! I cannot thank you enough for your troubles.

[stillnewatthis]

I am simply following my programming. [But the almost bashful response hints that such compliance is voluntary. Orisa is a complex AI who, while programmed for a purpose, can still choose her own fate.]

May I ask you a question? It might be a bit personal, for which I apologize.

[delusionsofleveilleur]

[Programming? Then, a fully automated being...? He wants to ask about that as well, but he stops in his tracks, working to catch his breath, as a question is posed to him first.]

Of course. I don't mind at all. What is it?

[stillnewatthis]

Are you a human? Your appearance has slight deviations which I have no accounting for in my database, and I have observed others here who are not human in more obvious ways.

[The question is a bit insensitive, but she doesn't know how to phrase it more tactfully.]