April Event and Intro Log

[magicademymods]

April Event and Intro Log Plants Off The Path Green grass and radiant flower gardens bracket all the major walks on campus, and fragrant scents fill the air all around. Note the key words "major walks" there. Move off the common paths and onto 'shortcuts' or less frequented areas of the vast campus and things are quite different. Here, the plants grow just as experience with this chaotic and often dangerous school would lead you to expect. Broad-leafed stalks stretch upwards, petals unfolding to reveal long jets of fire instead of a sensible stamen. Bushes have large toothy mouths, and viciously swallow anyone who comes near (though they are still just bushes, and the victims end up on the their other side just a few scratches worse for wear). A tree grows quills instead of needles; another sprouts paper airplanes instead of leaves. An extremely aggressive pitcher-plant wanders the pathways, mugging students at knifepoint. It's a jungle out there. Bullies, Of Course Surely a Magicademy, with many students already adults and with such an emphasis on learning and control, wouldn't have those who used their magic for such petty ends as making others suffer? Uh-huh. A pack of bullies with more spell experience than wisdom has banded together to take delight in the suffering of others. They overtly pick on the small, the meek, and those with less magical skill; they torment the larger, the bold, and the powerful in secret. Worse, they are the clever sorts of bullies, who go out of their way not to get caught and not to do anything that can't be played off or explained away. Maybe you attracted their attention by looking weak enough to pick on. Or strong enough to need to be taken down a notch. Or weird enough that you were the Other and thus lesser. Or pretty/handsome enough that you needed to look less attractive so they would look more so. They are pretty good at justifying picking on anyone, really. Are they pestering you by magical tripping or property destruction? Playing keep-away with your class books? Better be careful how you respond; their fathers might hear about it. Wind At The Docks (aka The Prompt Where You Don't Get Mugged) The winds of spring bring something of a dark pastime to Anastara -- dockwatching. Aware that a sudden blast of air can rip across the island at a moment's notice, crowds gather at the docks with the air of those expecting spectacle. All too often, they are rewarded -- in the wake of a sudden wind, airships list violently, or bump into each other, or desperately pull sails and power up their flotation cores to avoid a worse collision. Curses fly through the air, and sometimes even spells. With luck, the audience might even see a pair of vessels engage in an all-out air duel, as two captains driven by pride or vengeance refuse to back down. Now, to their credit, the assembled people aren't heartless. If a ship truly looks to be in trouble, or if it's smashed to the ground or into a dock, the people of Anastara don't hesitate to help those on board to safety or ensure that they don't go down with their ship. But mostly it's watching the chaos. It IS quite a show... 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 newly-arrived 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.) This month, the team has developed a Sundering Glyph designed to detect any influence of the magic on you. Painted on your arm, it will shine with a bright light when a Sundering effect attempts to influence you. They explain that they believe the Sundered are still subject to either the spell that brought them here or new ones, because they have detected remnants of Sundering magic in the wake of students who have mysteriously disappeared. They ask only that you report back when it lights up. Problem: when the Glyph erupts, either because of the Glyph itself or the spell it has detected... those who bear it find themselves no longer where they started. Perhaps they find themselves in a classroom late at night. Or the wrong dormitory. Or in the Great Hall in their nightshirt. Or for the utterly lowbrow amongst you, a restroom occupied by the wrong gender. Whatever the case: sorry. Wonders Await Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Have fun! A Special Note If you thread out one or more scenes based on the confusion from "Research on the Sundered", respond to the comment on this post with a link to that thread. The results of this will be revealed next month! (It is some sort of regain this month!)

Comments

Research on the Sundered

[hotheadwarmheart]

Before he uncovered his eyes, Eleven would hear a sigh, followed by a familiar voice. "Looks like you're not the only one," Lea said. "Let me guess; one of those experiments by the staff here regarding us, right?"

"Oh and you can open your eyes, by the the way," he said. "In fact, It'd probably be a good idea before you tried to go anywhere." Once Eleven did uncover his eyes, he'd see way; he'd materialized standing on one of the large desks in Lea's dorm room. And hot just that but on top of several sheets of paper that could possibly be homework, if the fact that Lea was just then getting up from sitting in front of the desk was any indication.

[bearshermark]

"Yes.. Sorry."

He let his hands fall from his face and took in his surroundings. He was somewhere high again, but he could see the floor, so that was something.

His foot moved and something tore. He glanced down, then blanched.

More carefully this time, he picked up his feet and hopped off the desk. The tear and dirty bootprints remained however.

"Was that your- Yggdrasil above, I'm sorry. I'll help you rewrite it."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"See, this is why- as much as I want to go home- I'm not about to let them use me as a guinea pig," Lea said. "Since it was illegal for so long, they're almost as clueless about this whole 'Sundering' thing as we are, so every time they try something, it has random wonky effects."

Lea looked down at the damaged papers on the desk and sighed. "It's OK," he said. "I'm pretty sure I messed it up already before your feet did; History of Wizardry isn't my strongest subject."

[bearshermark]

Eleven managed a smile. He didn't know much of anything about that, but it wasn't Modification so he might be able to help.

"I don't really want to go home, but I feel like I should do what is within my power to help anyway- as long as it doesn't seem terribly dangerous. So far it's been more embarassing than anything. I am sorry about your homework, though. History is just facts, right? I'm sure we can do it."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Well thanks then," Lea said. "Though honestly, I think you're the first 'Sundered' I've met here who doesn't want to go home."

"And yeah it's just facts," Lea said, getting a fresh sheet of paper out. "Dry, boring facts about people whose names sound confusingly similar half the time. Like Elrick the Irksome and Urich the Oddball; one of them supposedly invented a spell that made eggs come out of the shell already scrambled, but darned if I can remember which."

[bearshermark]

Eleven picked at the ruined sheets to see if he could find anything useful from them.

"I wonder what you'd need to know that for? It doesn't seem important. I thought it would be more the history of the founding of the kingdoms, the battles that were fought and Kings that led them."

And yes, history of important inventions, but there were some things that magic just didn't need to do.

"..And I do know I need to go back eventually, but.. not until I'm ready."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"See, that's exactly what I thought," Lea said, glad to have his thoughts echoed by someone else. "But apparently it was one of the first cooking-related spells, so that makes it a bigger deal than that sort of thing would normally be. Or something." He shrugged. Clearly he still didn't see why he needed to learn about it, but at least that made it slightly more memorable.

"And how will you know when you're ready?", he asked, curious. "Is there some kind of goal you've set for yourself, or some kind of skill you need to get back or something?"

[bearshermark]

Eleven stopped to give Axel a searching look, then nodded. He held up the back of his left hand, where a trident-looking tattoo branded his skin a few shades darker.

"This mark will glow when I've regained the power I lost before I came here. Then I will know that I'm ready. And.. maybe then I can help Xion, too."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea leaned in slightly for a moment to get a better look at the making before straightening up. "Huh," he said thoughtfully. "Will it only glow for those particular powers, or would an equivalent amount of power from this place also activate it?" If the former, he might be waiting a long time. The latter might be more doable though...

[bearshermark]

Eleven turned his hand back over to inspect it himself, humming shortly.

"It activated under certain circumstances.. I.." he hesitated, looking to Axel's homework with a torn expression. He should focus, but now that he'd thought of it, he couldn't stand not asking. "..Do you know if anyone has lost their soul in your world before?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Lost their soul? No, can't say I do," Lea said. "At least, no one who did and was still around to worry about it afterwards."

"See, where I'm from, a soul is just the force than animates you and keeps you alive," he explained. "You lose that, you die, plain and simple. It is possible to survive losing your heart, though, at least partially. The heart is what lets you feel things, connect with people, and basically holds everything that makes you you instead of just a living body."

"That's what a Nobody is; a body and soul, with no heart. Or at least that's what they start out as. Turns out, a person who loses their heart and gets turned into a Nobody can sort of... grow a new heart over time. Xion and my old boss Xemnas knew this all along, but kept it to himself, since his plans required the Organization to be a bunch of empty shells, and for them to think that following him was the only way they could ever be whole again."

[bearshermark]

Eleven blinked and spent several silent moments working to digest that information. All he knew of souls was that they endured after death and returned to Yggdrasil.

"..It sounds like that might be opposite of my world. But then, if it's possible to regain a heart in your world, then Xion can..?"

That should be 'Xigbar' in that last tag, not 'Xion'. >_< Sorry for any X-based confusion.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea nodded. "Most likely, she already has one," he said. "Convincing her of that might take some doing, though. You've probably noticed, but she has trouble thinking anything positive about herself; no matter how many times you might say something good about her to her, it just doesn't stick."