02 - week two

[afflictionmods]

WEEK TWO

When the glitter settles and everyone returns to their dorms - or wherever they intend to sleep for the night, if you’re planning on sleeping at all - your first week of school officially ends. Perhaps it was better than you expected, perhaps it was worse.

Hopefully you learned a bit more about teamwork and school spirit.

Still, this course is going to run for longer than a full week, and come Sunday morning you’re still exactly as you were when you settled down for the night. Still in Estelline, still with that mark on your wrist, still connected to your partner. There are some changes, though. The bookstore has received quite a few books, and those of you who added to the bulletin board and pep rally tasks in the first week will find an envelope taped to their dorm door (or themselves, if they spent the night elsewhere). Inside of the envelope is some kind of voucher! Furthermore, the common area is covered in a bunch of glitter.

Also, there are a ton of eggs in the kitchen – at least 10 dozens.

Florence or Lorelei are still available, should you wish to speak to them.

Finally, you've got some new locations to explore.


SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

TASK LIST

CLUMSINESS AFFECT DETAILS (BEGINS TUESDAY ICLY)

W2 CYOA SIGNUPS
CYOA Signups for Week 2 close Sunday, May 29th at 6pm EST.

THREAD SURVEY
Google form for partner threads, due by Friday, June 3rd at 6pm EST. Optional.

W3 CYOA SIGNUPS
CYOA Signups for Week 3 close Friday, June 3rd at 6pm EST.

OOC NOTE

OOC: Anyone who performed in the Pep Rally (Sabo, Madara, Riku, Shizuku, Herlock, Idia, Flat, Miach) task will be able to redeem a voucher for a prize with one of the NPCs. This can be handwaved, and the prize selection is below.

-Single-serve coffee machine wither a selection of creamer. Comes with packs of coffee beans.
-Popcorn maker and kernels.
-High-quality tea kettle with a selection of just as high-quality tea.
-Carbonation machine (think Sodastream, etc) with flavored syrup.

Any coffee, tea, popcorn, etc. will last characters up to two weeks.

Anyone who participated in the Bulletin Board task will receive a voucher for your choice of two pairs colorful socks with cute animal designs. (Worry frog design available.)

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

[partymagician]

Who knows?

[ Yes, yes he can. Or he can use a spell that has similar effects to a poisoning. ]

[sicklysweet]

[Well, fair enough.]

That's basically saying yes without saying yes.

[partymagician]

You caught me.

[ Fai smiles, but there's a casual air about it. ]

I don't really have a reason to lie about that right now.

[sicklysweet]

Then why even bother beating around the bush in the first place? Just say what you mean.

[partymagician]

You make it sound so easy, Owen. To tell you the truth, I was hoping you'd just change the subject after I answered that way.

[sicklysweet]

[He will very rarely do what people hope for. That is the one promise he could safely make.]

It is easy. Isn't it a burden on your heart to obscure the truth?

[partymagician]

Telling the truth is more of a burden to me than anything.

[ It hurts so, so much more. ]

[sicklysweet]

[...]

Are you afraid of the truth itself or what people will think of the truth?

[partymagician]

[ Both. ]

I have nothing to be afraid of.

[ ... ]

Want another cookie?

[sicklysweet]

Maybe not here, where we’re all strangers you’ll never have to see again when this is over… But back home? There’s plenty of things that could make you afraid.

[…]

Sure.

[He knows it’s just to shut him up, but.]

[partymagician]

...You do have a point, but that doesn't make it easier to talk about either.

[ A lot of his trauma is just too much for him to put into proper words. ]

[sicklysweet]

[That is also a fair point, but Owen feels gross being all sympathetic. He hates this place.]

It'll never get any easier if you keep holding it in.

[Shrug!]

But I don't care who you spill your guts to. It's just stupid to hold yourself back from your full potential.

[partymagician]

Full potential… you sound like our lovely instructor.

[ He smirks. ]

[sicklysweet]

[cat no banana face]

Absolutely not. Don't make me sound like her.

[It's amazing how he's more willing to actually explain things more to Fai... smh]

Life in the North... It's not a place you can survive if you're not at your best, and you can't afford to get comfortable. Other wizards will always be getting stronger, or greedier, and you never know when they'll be stronger than you. Power is the most important thing to a Northern wizard, so it's absurd to think that someone is purposefully holding back. Either you're an idiot with a death wish or you're looking down on everyone around you. That's how people would see you, if we were there.

[partymagician]

[ Fai’s power…

There’s a long moment where Fai doesn’t say anything as he weighs what he wants to say. ]

To me, power doesn’t mean very much. I was targeted for my power as a child, when I didn’t even know how to use it. I’d rather not have it at all.

[sicklysweet]

[...]

...Were you targeted because people wanted to use it, or because people were afraid?

[It's... a question that's surprisingly free from Owen's usual jeering.]

[partymagician]

[ The change in Owen’s tone is surprising, and that’s what compels Fai to answer honestly. ]

They were afraid.

[sicklysweet]

[It's not a surprising answer, to Owen. It seems like that's one thing his and Fai's worlds have in common - the fear of people with magic. While it doesn't tell him if it's a fear of all magic or simply the fear of people who were born powerful, it's...

Familiar.

He's met countless people who were afraid of him - afraid of all witches and wizards. He also knows what people will do to children who were born with magic because of fear and the hatred that comes from that fear. (And then, of course, how humans act like it is the fault of the wizard when they look down on humans in turn.)]

So people were afraid of you, and targeted you out of the fear they held towards you while you had done nothing to earn that fear...

[...]

And that's why you don't flaunt your magic or constantly try to improve it?

[partymagician]

Yes. Although my magic will grow stronger just from using it, I don’t make an attempt anymore to study just to grow stronger.

[ He studies because he’s interested, and partly because he still clings onto the hope that maybe he’ll find a healing spell that he can do. Perhaps one day. ]

There are… a few other things that caused them to target me, but my power was a major factor.

[ It’s too painful to talk about the other things—being an omen said to cause destruction, his brother, everything he’s lost. ]

[sicklysweet]

[Other things? That gets Owen's attention, but... he chooses to let that slide for now.

(Mostly because it's hard to focus on Fai right now, with something that's not quite a memory on his mind, a moment in time preserved in the fluttering of a bat's wings, a voice crying monster...)

His lips press together.]

It sounds like something that would happen in my world - has happened in my world. It's not unheard of for humans to throw aside their children simply because they were born with magic. Or worse.

[It's not quite sympathy in his voice, but it's... close enough.]

[partymagician]

That doesn’t surprise me.

[ And he wonders… hm. Does Owen have some sort of experience with this?

Fai won’t ask, not now. ]

People do anything to destroy anything they deem as something worth being afraid of.

[sicklysweet]

[Yeah don't make the mood any worse than it has to be, Fai.]

Even if they haven't actually done nothing to be afraid from. Magic - powerful magic - shouldn't be a reason in itself.

[He shrugs.]

That's what humans are like, though, but if the wizard is lucky they might actually live long enough that the humans who tried to kill them have died of old age.

[partymagician]

And it brings a sort of satisfaction, right?

[ Fai's tone suggests that he thinks he wouldn't feel that way. All things like that brings are a feeling of emptiness for him. ]

[sicklysweet]

I wouldn't know.

[Shrugs! There is something about what he says that... doesn't sound like he's being entirely truthful, but it also doesn't quite sound like a lie.]

There's not many humans around who would even dare to imagine doing anything to harm me, much less actually try to do anything. Other wizards... I can't speak for them.

[partymagician]

[ Hm. And here he thought Owen had some personal experience... but maybe there's more to it.

Fai decides to leave it alone for now. ]

I see. I bet you see a lot more trouble from other wizards anyway. Somehow I can see you provoking them...