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

[darkenedmoon]

Yes. They do. The beast tribes summon eikons--they call them 'primals'--in their desperation. And then, usually, the Warrior of Light cuts them down, because they are dangerous and vengeful...

[And there, Yotsuyu goes silent, looking away.]

As I was.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Around Spira... they summon Aeons. And people rely on summoners, they're heroes and people to look up to. The Aeons are on people's sides.

[Must be different things, then. Same term of summoning, but way different results.]

[darkenedmoon]

In Eorzea, they summon egi...that sounds much the same. There is a young man here who I believe had those talents--he came from Hydaelyn, as I did. Alphinaud Leveilleur. As for me, I lived in the Garlean Empire, and they looked down upon summoning. And any other magic, as well, for those who came from there, they had no magic of their own to speak of.

[Yotsuyu assumes that Jecht missed what she'd said, but she really has no desire to go over it again, or go into it at length if she doesn't have to. She's touched on it before with others, and certainly Alphinaud knows practically all anyone might want to know about her. But she'd be damned if she broke the truce. She had her pride in that, at least.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

[Lady, there's so much to unpack in the stuff you're saying that a guy doesn't know where to start! Give him a break on trying to work through it all.]

Heh. Bet those 'egi' didn't come from people, though. Aeons came from the fayth. People who'd been frozen, basically. Gave themselves up so they could dream up things forever. Except for the Aeons that used ta be people themselves.

[darkenedmoon]

I do not know. I am no student of magic to know where the egi come from. That is why I directed you to young Master Leveilleur. If any here would know, it is he.

[But this fayth he speaks of is troubling. Frightening, maybe. She wonders if this, or something like it, is why the Empire looks down upon eikons. Certainly they know things she does not. Nor does Yotsuyu like it. She scowls slightly, but it isn't much before she simply resigns herself, frowning.]

You do not seem like a fellow who ought to know so much about these things. Blitzball facts seem more your style.

[It's not meant as a distraction, but it is a very lame attempt at a jest. She glances up at him again, quizzically.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

You ain't kidding. [Scowling, Jecht shifts his weight to one leg and shoots a look back in the general direction of the Great Hall.] But this is my second time around. Got yanked into a world I never knew once before, ended up on some huge adventure trying to get home.

[darkenedmoon]

Second time around? [She's a little mystified by what he means, here. Technically this is her second time around, too, in a way, but she's never been to a world outside of Hydaelyn, and her eyes widen.]

I take it you did not make it home? I am not sure I would have asked for an adventure myself--not that I was given an option.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Uh, maybe I shouldn't tell you that part. Totally different circumstances, so, uh, there wasn't a way back.

[Jecht figures she wants to go back, as most people probably do.]

Actually I'm not even sure how I'm here.

[darkenedmoon]

[Oh, how wrong he is. At his uncertainty about how he is even here, Yotsuyu offers a petite snort of agreement. Unladylike, perhaps, but it startles her.]

Neither am I, if you must know. Where I was...people do not come back from that, usually.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

[Jecht's frown is more thoughtful than angry, and his gaze on Yotsuyu understanding. He gets it, and he agrees with her with a slow nod.]

Magic's some weird stuff, huh.

[darkenedmoon]

Yes. There is a part of me that comprehends entirely why Garlemald wants naught to do with it.

[She just sighs at that. Mostly relief, but there's some sympathy there as well.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Well, hey! [Straightening up, Jecht pulls a grin out.] The way I see it, this is kinda like a reward! Nothing to worry about but learning some magic, and otherwise no pressure, no responsibility, no heavy stuff!

[darkenedmoon]

[Yotsuyu glanced up at him with a mix of shock and confusion, eyes widened. She...had never given it consideration in that fashion before...]

Your...vision has merit, I think. I had never thought of it like that. For I could have been given much worse, I think...thank you.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Aaah. S'nothing. [He shrugs one shoulder, waving off her thanks with a little embarrassment. Ain't like he'd been trying to do a meaningful thing, after all.] Just kinda important, y'know?

[darkenedmoon]

Perhaps not for you, but-- [She shakes her head, here. Jecht probably wouldn't understand, not with more clarification. Yotsuyu is not sure she wants to go into that detail, now.]

It is, and I need to be shown a better way. You have at least tried. It is important to me, all right?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Heh, yeah, I get it. [Here he goes, rubbing at the side of his head awkwardly.] You just... got thrown here right after all your fun back home was done, huh?

[darkenedmoon]

Yes, exactly that. Or near as such to make no difference. There is a young man here from my world, I may have spoken to you of him. But he and I have called a truce...not that I had a great deal of enmity for him, either.

[Yotsuyu shrugs; no, her enmity had been saved for Doma, its people, and especially her family. The Eorzeans were mostly nuisances, in her mind.]

But he knows who and what I was, so it is not as if I truly have secrets, any more.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

I getcha. [At least if the kids showed up here -- well, the kids and Auron, but Auron's probably in worse condition to pop up than Jecht himself was -- they'd probably keep his secrets if he wanted. They weren't enemies.] Me, I had a lot of time to think about stuff. Guess what I really like is doing stuff again!

[darkenedmoon]

I suppose that if I had been trapped for a while, or even...facing judgement, I might be eager to do things again, as well. So I cannot blame you.

[She doesn't even sound grudging, for a wonder.]

So what are you thinking of doing?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

I'm a guy who plays sports. [And a legendary guardian, and a monster, but he'd prefer to carry on neither of those legacies here.] So I'll study what I've gotta, play what I can, and enjoy.

[darkenedmoon]

I suppose if there is a thing I can help you with, study wise, you may let me know and I shall do what I can.

I also suppose that I can do my best to support you. It is what...a friend does, yes? [She's still very uncertain about it all, but Yotsuyu is fairly certain that she shouldn't be stinting on who she calls a friend.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

We'll see. Stuff like this comes easy to me. [That's the claim he makes, anyway. The appearance of a natural gift is part of his pride and his cultivated mystique. Never let 'em see how hard you work to be good, and it comes off as more impressive.] The math stuff sounds like hell, though, ain't gonna lie. If you're any good at it, teaming up might help a lot.

[darkenedmoon]

We shall see. I...will attend classes, and see what happens, I suppose. [As she hadn't given much thought to what to do if she had a blank slate. She does now. She's still not quite ready to think about it, though.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

[Jecht nods -- solemn, though definitely not somber.] Yeah, not much else we can do, huh? Take it as it comes and keep on headin' forward.

[darkenedmoon]

Yes. That seems to be all I can do, at least. So be it. [Yotsuyu can be the solemn one. Most of her bad memories are surfacing, and she's doing her best to just shove them down and ignore them. They happened, but they're not Jecht's fault. They were just speaking to one another...]