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

[intellectualstrategist]

Not the most reliable method out there. It seems like most of the stuff getting passed around is crap. [ ok, maybe not crap per say, but it's not all working as intended. or maybe it is. she shouldn't be surprised the newbies are being hazed. sigh. ]

Just invest in a pair of platform shoes or something. [ ... ] But who cares about being tall. There's nothing much doing up here.

[logdates]

[Peridot can't argue that point - but she can ignore it, with a disgruntled little sound. She's not one to admit when she's been foolish, after all.]

It's not about what there is to do up there, or whatever. [She sighs.] But size and status are connected. I guess humans are kind of different about it... Maybe, I don't really know.

[intellectualstrategist]

[ she arches a brow. ] It kind of seems like it. [ a little skeletal mouse had been perched on her shoulder and she turns to address it. ] But those stupid hexed objects are just going to make things worse. I doubt getting hurt is on your list of to-dos for your first day. Bonesy... [ but it seems like he already knows what she's going to ask, the small mouse leaping to the ground and shifting with a clatter into a skeletal horse. ] Want a ride? It might not be the most comfortable, but it beats falling flat on your face. Not comf'rtable? Lady Saya, bid me thou art joking.

[logdates]

Um...

[Peridot isn't sure where this is going, at first, and her confusion is only increased when the bony mouse becomes a bony horse. She tries to recover from own shock, but does a poor job of it.]

...Sure. I mean, you're right about me not wanting to get hurt. Why can your mouse shapeshift?

[intellectualstrategist]

We can head inside in style.

[ she clearly doesn't seem fazed by her shapeshifting pile of bones, but she can definitely understand the shock and confused. ] This is Bonesy, my familiar. He can change into just about anything.

T's nice to meeteth thee. Thee might wanteth to picketh thy chap off the flo'r though, I knoweth I'm most wondrous.

Yeah yeah yeah. [ saya climbs atop her familiar and decides to ride sidesaddle to keep from being too uncomfortable. she offers a hand to peridot, so she can climb aboard too. ] Pretty cool, huh?

[logdates]

[Peridot hesitates for a moment - she's never ridden a horse before. Also, why can this thing shapeshift when she can't? Sometimes things are so unfair. All the same, she's more awed than she is bitter - though she does pointedly ignore Bonesy's bragging. She does, however, take the offered hand to pull herself up.]

He's impressive. [The agreement comes with a small smile.] I'm Peridot... By the way.

[intellectualstrategist]

[ maybe she'll be able to learn how to transform through magic. it certainly won't be anything like what the other gems can do back home, but it'll be something at least. and ignoring bonesy is what saya's doing too. he's too mouthy for his own good. ]

[ she helps peridot up and tells her familiar to head towards the front of the school. atop him they hardly have to worry about the snow and he's careful enough that he doesn't slip or sending them all hurtling into a snow bank. ] Don't let him hear you say that. [ she chuckles, kidding. ] Like the gem? [ that would certainly explain her color. ] I'm Saya.

[logdates]

[Peridot's smile grows, and she nods. Sometimes an ego needs to be kept in check, after all - although some of her friends back home would likely say the same about her.

They're wrong. Of course.]

Hyeh, very good, Saya - exactly like the gem. [She points to the Gem on her forehead.] A Peridot. Um, me, actually.

[intellectualstrategist]

[ some might say saya's own ego needed to be kept in check too, but she'd tell those very same people to get bent. she couldn't help being right almost all of the time. ]

So you're actually a gem? [ she looked to the gem in peridot's forehead and then swept her gaze over her in her entirety. ] I never knew gems could be sentient, but, then again, I didn't exactly think magic was really real either. [ and yet here she was. ] Is where you're from made up entirely of gems?

[logdates]

[Peridot gave an eager grin.]

Yes, exactly - and I understand that feeling; I'd barely heard of magic before getting here. [But her smile faded quickly, and a faint edge of embarrassment found her way into her voice.] Um, actually, I was created on Earth. So no.

[intellectualstrategist]

Well now we have a chance to learn, I guess, and that'll give us a leg up on the competition. [ she gives her a smirk, which fades when peridot explains herself. ] Still, that's pretty damn cool. It doesn't really matter where you're created, it's what you do with the life you were given.

[logdates]

Yes! That's exactly how I've been thinking about it! [She laughs to herself, nodding her approval... But the laughter slipped away at Saya's final statement.] Y-Yeah. So I've been hearing, lately.

[intellectualstrategist]

I think being able to cast magic is really going to help me back home, though I guess that's also assuming we retain everything when these idiots get their shit sorted. [ they finally reach the front of the building and she hops off bonesy, offering a hand to peridot. ] I'm not really sure how you can mess up a spell this badly, but they managed. [ shakes her head. ] And yeah? Well good.

[logdates]

We'd better! If this was all for nothing, I'm going to be furious...

[She's already nearly there, but the idea of all this learning - and the excitement that had surrounded her early days here... They helped offset it. Peridot takes the offered hand and half-jumps, half-slides down.]

Thanks, by the way. For the ride. [And the wisdom.]