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

[nobodys_puppet]

Someone who wasn't Roxas or Axel wanting to help her made no sense unless they wanted something from her, like Naminé and Riku did. But she had tried to do what they had wanted. She really had tried to. She shook her head, eyes on her gloved hands in the snow as she tried to untwist herself. Maybe if she didn't speak whoever this was would go away.

[shiningkindness]

"O-Oh wait...you might hurt yourself."

She held her hands up, but didn't move forward, not wanting to frighten her even more.

"Please, just...let me help you get untangled. You can...You can leave afterwards if you want, and I won't follow if you don't want me to."

Fluttershy would really like to make sure she was okay, but she also understood wanting to be left alone.

[nobodys_puppet]

She wasn't sure she could trust this. "Why would you want to help a Nobody?" she asked, voice full of suspicion.

[shiningkindness]

She couldn't help frowning, not completely understanding what she meant. "Because you're...somebody? And it just looks like you need help."

[nobodys_puppet]

"I am not a Somebody," Xion said firmly. Telling her she was was kind of cruel. Xion would have given nearly anything for her and her two best friends to have had hearts, to have gotten the chance to be actual people. Well... at least Axel could remember having been a person. All there was to look forward to for her and Roxas was vanishing inside of Sora.

[shiningkindness]

Her frown deepened with worry, and she was beginning to pick up on the fact that she might be missing something.

"Wh-Why do you say that?" she asked softly. She wanted to understand.

[nobodys_puppet]

"Because I am a Nobody. Or I was supposed to be. I was made to be a Nobody, and I failed to even exist that much properly." A simple statement of sad fact.

[shiningkindness]

Though still worried about the other girl's foot still tangled up in the roots, trying to move any closer could make things worse. So she tucked her legs to sit down, despite how cold it was in the snow.

"So, are...Nobodies common in your world?"

It sounded strange to say, but she could feel that this was significant somehow.

[nobodys_puppet]

She hesitated, then saw no reason to answer, maybe it would help this Somebody to avoid becoming like Axel and Roxas.

"A Nobody is created when a Heartless steals a heart. Those with strong enough wills become sentient Nobodies and join the Organization. Everyone else becomes a lesser form of a Nobody, like a Dusk." And Xion.... Xion was an anomaly.

[shiningkindness]

That...was already a lot to take in, and Fluttershy had so many questions from that alone. But right now didn't feel like the best time to ask them.

"Th-That...sounds like a difficult existence," she said slowly, because she wasn't sure what else to say. "B-But...this world is different, isn't it? I don't think this world has...Nobodies, like those in your world."

[nobodys_puppet]

"The Sentient Nobodies can and do travel from world to world," she said, softly. "There is no reason to think that they could not follow me here, if they remember I exist."

And that was the one thread of hope in all of this. That Namine did her part well enough that everyone had forgotten her.

Not that she was capable of feeling hope, of course.

[shiningkindness]

So they knew about other worlds as well, and had the ability to travel to them? That was pretty concerning, and Fluttershy hesitated a moment, not sure what to say.

"...well..." she finally began slowly. "I-If they do come...you'll need to be able to protect yourself. Which you won't be able to do properly if you're hurt." She then gestured to her tangled up foot. "S-So...if it's okay...I can help you, so you won't get injured."

[nobodys_puppet]

She shook her head. "Depending who comes... I either need to hide... or to let them kill me. The ones I would need to hide from, I've never been strong enough to defend myself against. And now none of my magic will work. Being hurt won't actually change anything."

Unless it was Axel who came to get her. And he remembered her. Because then her being injured... would change everything.

[shiningkindness]

"Oh...your magic isn't working either?"

She hadn't really thought about it, but she knew the Equestrian magic she and Sunset used wasn't working. Sunset had thought that it was because they were too far away, but if someone else's magic wasn't working...

"Maybe if they come...their magic won't work either."

[nobodys_puppet]

She almost laughed. It would have been a bitter and dark sound. Except possible Zexion there wasn't a member of the Organization that couldn't take her down with ease if it came to pure brute force. Axel could knock her out with a single blow, and that was with him trying not to hurt her.

"They will not need their magic to end me."

Returning home, however, would be a different story.

[shiningkindness]

She sighed softly. This really wasn't getting anywhere, and it felt like it was starting to get colder (or maybe that was just because she was still sitting in the snow).

"In any case, you can't stay out here. If I could just help you get your foot untangled, you'll be free to do what you need to."

[nobodys_puppet]

"And you would just let me do what I wanted? You wouldn't try to drag me anywhere?"

She didn't trust it.

[shiningkindness]

She shook her head.

"I won't drag you anywhere. I mean, I'd suggest going back to campus so someone could take a look to make sure you're not injured, but...I'm not sure where campus is at the moment either."

She had been following the footprints to try and get back to campus, after all.

[nobodys_puppet]

"I don't need anyone's help." Though it sounded like this girl did. But she couldn't help her. She couldn't help anyone.

[shiningkindness]

"...Right."

They were really just talking around in circles at this point. She couldn't say she was surprised by how stubborn the other girl was being, though. Trapped animals often acted the same way.

Besides, Fluttershy could be stubborn too.

"...What about your foot?"

[nobodys_puppet]

"I can get that free...." she was sure. And if she couldn't she could just break it and heal it. Right?

Someone might be ao used to magic she's forgotten her spells aren't working.

[shiningkindness]

She gave a soft hum, still a bit uncertain and worried.

"It'd...be quicker if I could help you get untangled. We've already been talking for so long...if you'll let me, I could get you unstuck, and we can both be on our way."

[nobodys_puppet]

"And then you'll leave me alone and forget me?"

[shiningkindness]

She hesitated, because she wasn't sure if she could really promise that.

"...after you're tangled, I won't follow you."

[nobodys_puppet]

"Fine."

She would have to find a way to make them all forget. Somehow.