bakerstreet | THE MAGICIANS A.U. MEME

THE MAGICIANS A.U. MEME

Welcome to Brakebills Academy. Three year course of study, begins immediately. At the end of it, you'll be a fully trained and qualified magician. But beware: magic is addictive and you might not like the consequences of its overuse...

(for more information, see our official website)

Your place in the school/course of study:

1: Physical Magic: Manipulation of the physical world, including levitation, temperature, etc
2: Natural Magic: The manipulation of physical life, the growing (or destroying) of plants and animals.
3: Psychic: Astral projection, telepathy and other magic of the mind
4: Healing: The use of magic in medicine
5: Knowledge: Extracting knowledge from the world, including that of the past, future and events far away.
6: Illusions: The manipulation of light to make projections, turn things invisible, or even start fires that would make the Physical kids jealous.
7: Other: Your talent is one that doesn't fit neatly into one of Brakebills' disciplines. You'll still take classes with the rest of the students but also receive private tutoring from specialists.
8: Teacher: You instruct the wizards of tomorrow
9: Other Staff: Even Brakebills needs janitors, and it hires a number of freelancers, such as for scouting talent or maintaining the illusion spells that keep it hidden.

Scenario:

1: Entrance Exam: prove your magical aptitude
2: Welters: This magical game was originally developed as an alternative to dueling but has evolved into the magicians' sport. In it, you use spells to "take" four foot squares. Most of the school turns out to see the inter-discipline Welters' matches and it's a popular pastime.
3: Haunting: Ghosts and spirits are a frequent hazard in any place as magically charged as Brakebills. Some might even pertain to the ocassional missing class...
4: Party: Brakebills is still a university, and with that comes the students' way of blowing off steam. The Physical dorm is especially renowned for its ragers...
5: Incursion: Something has secretly entered the school and you're one of only a few who know. Run or fight?
6: Test Time: Some of these are written, but the most interesting exams at Brakebills are practical
7: Study Buddies: You've been paired off in class, so work some magic together
8: Graduation: Your time here is at an end but the memories will stay forever. Unless you did something horrible and we have to wipe your mind, of course.
9: Other: Conjure up your own scenario

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[The most physical of the physical kids and a superstar at Welters]

OOC: Mun finished watching Utena literally last night.

Lydia shivered. The binding spells on the doorway, preventing the demon from escaping, were flawless. Or at least they would be if they weren't pure illusion covering her invisible stick of chalk that she was using to draw the runes she was claiming were there. And if it broke out her knowledge with a minor in illusion combination was useful, but about as much use as a chocolate fireguard in a straight up fight. She'd have run like the rest of the study group, or so she told herself, if she wasn't limping.

"I don't know why you even tried manifesting here." Her voice and eyes both showed confidence even on a pure bluff. "The walls are all sealed. And the doorways were inscribed with barring runes after the last incursion. All I needed to activate them was one chalk mark to complete the runes." She was lying through her teeth - even inactive barring runes degraded each time someone crossed them so the school simply hadn't bothered. All Lydia needed was thirty more seconds.

Angrily the thing lashed at the doors and walls with its tentacles - and the tentacles thrust straight through the door, followed by mocking laughter shaking the halls. Lydia's scream was ear-piercing as tentacles shot out, aiming for her waist.

OOC2: Does Utena want to save a damsel in distress?

OOC: That is what she lives for~

Utena was moving immediately, stumbling through the slippery caverns, when she heard the scream. Her fingers moved as she ran, tracing out Fergus's Spectral Armory, her most prized spell. Abruptly, she was plated up in light, rapier ready. Her face felt hot, and the batteries of her muscles buzzing with readines.

She collided with Lydia, shoulder to shoulder, hoping to knock her away. Would probably hurt a bit, but there was nothing to do for it. She swung a hacking downward cut...

Lydia was thrown off her feet by the rescuer she hadn't heard coming, catching her fall on her hands as the illusionary ward on the door vanished. And she knew tha tthe smart thing to do would be to run as Utena's enchanted sword barely scratched the surface of the tentacle although it did flinch - she could get help and the other girl could hold it.

But it was pride that made her stay she told herself. She almost had it contained even before the rescue, and she wanted to finish the job. Pride as she pushed hersef onto one hand, reached out, and nicked her little finger on the blade. And possibly a little thankfulness although Lydia did not owe anyone anything. Ever.

The entire length of the blade turned red momentarily, a mix of the colour of blood and the colour of her hair, and Lydia collapsed seemingly unconscious as the red settled into a collection of enchanted runes that moved the blade slightly out of phase with this reality. It was now half way between this one's and that of the incursion for as long as Lydia could maintain her focus on the maths to keep it that way. The sneering tentacle monster now drawing itself to full height was in for an even nastier shock than that first cut as the blade could cut through the core of the tentacle it thought was safe in its home dimension rather than simply the skin it had manifested here. Despite that, there were about a dozen tentacles for Utena to worry about; the fight against what looked like an MC Escher version of a squid would be far from easy.

Lydia meanwhile lay unmoving, maintaining the blood-based enchantment on Utena's sword even as she made the invisible chalk dance down the floor to finish the ward she'd been creating. And her hand with the self-inflicted wound she clutched to her chest over her heart, a blood red spot spreading on her white blouse.

This complex interplay of dimensional magic, a kind of phasing of her blade, went completely over Utena's head, save as a kind of familiar buzz at her skin and the blade going from stubborn resistance to suddenly through. Whatever it was didn't just seem to want to pack up and leave after that though. More of those things were now after her. She started sprinting right, leading them away from Lydia. She had their attention, at least.

It didn't matter that she didn't particularly like Lydia, who had the haughty attitude she despised in her fellow Physicals. Right now she was in the position of person in trouble, and Utena would risk herself with near suicidal bravery to keep her safe. That was what a magician-prince would do.

She swiped at the first tentacle to overextend itself, pivoting on the ball of her foot to take it from the side. She was already breathing rapidly but didn't notice.

And Lydia was in the same boat. The brash and oblivious girl would hardly have been her first choice of rescuer and person to work with. Or even in her top five. But right now who cared? Utena was good at what she did and was trying to rescue her, as long as Lydia didn't let her concentration slip.

Drawing the tentacles away down the corridor was a brave plan, but not necessarily the best one - one of the problems with tentacle monsters is that there are too many tentacles, so Lydia knew that her best chance was playing possum close to where she was placing the binding on the doorway. Movement was something it would detect so Lydia didn't - even if she was in easy reach if and when it stopped going for Utena. She'd have laughed off the idea she was being brave - after all she was just playing possum while Utena distracted it. And was almost there with the binding.

Meanwhile the monster really didn't like Utena swiping at it, wounds glowing black and the blackness each time she connected spreading over the blade as more tentacles targetted this disruptive foe. Lydia flinched slightly the first time the blackness touched one of her runes, the rune itself turning black as sweat beaded on Lydia's forehead and she bit down on her lip.

Utena's pivot had seemed effective, but no matter how quickly she turned, she wouldn't be able to keep from eventually getting wrapped up, and then it was curtains for her. And something was happening to her blade...and since the blade was, technically, part of herself, it was happening to her too. Her fingertips were getting blotchy-black.

She ended up on the other side of the tentacle, stepping over its slimy goo. She was in a bind. She couldn't abandon her sword to rid herself of this blackness, but she also couldn't let it keep spreading. She decided on a compromise, holding it out one-armed. The next hack was accompanied by a sign against evil made with her left hand, the kind of thing still taught to children in some parts of the world for warding off the evil eye. It slowed the blackness but didn't stop it.

"Damnit!" She said, with blotchy lips. She couldn't even see where Lydia was. Hopefully she'd gotten away.

Lydia's fist clenched in triumph as she completed and then sealed the ward although she moved little more than that. With the tentacled monster crossing it and being at least vaguely magically aware it had two choices: to retreat back to its own plane or to fully move into this plane and be bound here, powerful but vulnerable.

Unfortunately, with a scream of rage, it chose to come all the way through, tentacles lashing out wildly in all directions and one of them landing on Lydia, followed by several more wrapping her up.

Lydia's scream was ear-splitting as she was hoisted into the air by now fully maninfested tentacles. And as she screamed the blood-runes she'd put on Utena's sword flared, driving back the blackness until the blade glowed a burning red.

Also at the sound of Lydia screaming a green haired crew boy with a crew-cut grabbed his sword and dashed towards the stairs.

[Sorry this took so long! Akio being Lydia's teacher, I mean. It's exactly the sort of thing he'd do.]

It was coming through! Only one chance know. Utena doubled back, dashing towards where she'd left Lydia. The thing would be distracted picking her up. She'd have a moment to strike at...well, wherever was vulnerable.

She saw her tied up by those things. She felt her body flush hot. Her muscles were vibrating. She thought she might be glowing. She was doing something princely. She didn't want to weigh the risks of this attack, or pay attention to the distant sound of footfalls. She wanted to leap in. And so she did.

Lydia's eyes widened as Utena lept in, stabbing all the exposed parts. Right through the rubbery skin and into vital organs.

"Lydia!" Jackson, a crew-cutted jock with hair that had been newly dyed green and biceps the size of Utena's thighs came charging down the corridor and started hacking away tentacles with a katana that glowed the second it touched the black blood, turning it into calamari rings fast.

"Lydia, you're safe now. And I believe that's a life debt you owe me." He smirked at her.

Lydia, still disentangling herself from the tentacles, rolled her eyes. "If I owe a life debt to anyone, it's Utena here. Who almost killed it before you arrived."

[OOC: Suits me. Although Lydia isn't so likely to swallow Aiko's nonsense as even Juri. Not that she isn't being set up here.]

As she lost control of the spell, Fergus's Spectral Armory dissolved into light, which was, at the moment, the only pretty thing around them, given the amount of monster guts everywhere.

"Yeah, don't take credit for that one!" She said, eyeing the green-headed jock, a demographic she'd had issues with before. She still looked ready to rumble despite cuts, bruises and unidentifiable gunk. "...You're alright, there?" She said, glancing at Lydia.

"Just about." Lydia's voice was shaky. "And at least that thing didn't escape." Utena would notice that as she stood up and brushed herself down Lyida always kept Jackson in the corner of her vision. "But I've words to have with people and I'm very glad you were there. And I didn't have to wait for Jackson to turn up five minutes late."

"So that's how it is Lydia, is it?" Jackson frowned, hand on the hilt of his sword.

Definitely the type to watch out for. Utena's eyes followed Jackson in the exact same way.

"What kind of words?" She said. She was not good with words herself. She tended express things physically. Like by clenching her fists in reaction to what looked like a threatening posture from him.

Lydia rolled her eyes and stepped between the two sword wielding jocks on the grounds that neither of them would actually hit her - at least not with witnesses. "Short ones about how he let that thing out. And how he's an idiot that would have got some of us killed."

"Got you killed anyway if you were stupid enough not to wait for me. And then denied me the kill. I don't know why I put up with you." He glowered.

"Then don't." Lydia turned her back on Jackson and made a combined bow and curtsy. "My Lady Utena. Your sword is keen and your heart strong. I would be honoured if you were to become my protector that I may help banish the incursions from beyond the stars." The words had a ritualistic quality and while Lydia made her offer Jackson turned pale.

Utena still glared over Lydia's shoulder, but she was right, she wouldn't hit her, witnesses or no. This guy seemed to be all about counting feathers in his cap, which made Utena ~~hypocritically~~ even more irritated.

Those words though...Something jolted inside her when she said them. There was some kind of spellcraft going on but what, she didn't know. She stood transfixed, then replied in the same tone, sword raised in front of her.

"My sword is yours as long as you need it, Lady Lydia. I pledge this as your knight."

Her free hand sealed the compact with a finger-twisting arc.

Jackson's uniform faded and lost some of the gold trim as Utena completed the ceremony, although Lydia hadn't yet given Utena any illusionary trim to her uniform - but Utena might feel slightly stronger and she might notice that seeing through illusions would become easier and possibly almost unconscious.

"Lydia you can't do that!"

Lydia turned and shot him a smile. "I just did."

"She can't protect you and I'll prove it. Utena I challenge you to a duel. The winner gets Lydia."

Lydia's face fell. "I'm sorry, Utena."

If there had been any more distrust between the two jocks, they would have started growling and marking territory.

"Buddy, you really don't respect her very much, do you? But if you want a Vespers match, fine."

Utena assumed Jackson meant the school's magical game/sport, as battle magic was forbidden. She generally didn't indulge in the illicit stuff her classmates did.

Edited 2016-03-23 01:25 (UTC)

"I'm not talking about Vespers you silly girl. Ask Lydia to show you where the arena is. At sunset. And I'll give you a lesson on how swords should be used, little girl, that will end with the flat of my sword on your ass."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Sorry to get you into this, Utena. You can back down if you want."

Utena pulled one eyelid down and stuck out her tongue at him, an irreverent gesture from her home country.

"No, I'm gonna show him what's up! But what was that about an arena?"

In response Lydia just smirked. "The veil of illusion covers the world. Those who can shape the veil can remake the world." Another smirk. "You'll know the arena when you see it." Of course she'd been in the dining hall hundreds of times at lunch, but never at sunrise or sunset with the rays of the sun catching perfectly placed crystals to create the markings of a duelling arena drawn out in light.

Utena rolled her eyes, a sign that she was coming back to normal after the ritualistic high. That was such a typically Illusionist thing to say.

"I'll meet you there, then. I think..." She looked down at her clothes. "...I'd better clean up a bit first."

There were reasons illusionists went for the cryptic. Both when telling the truth and when not - and Lydia was learning a lot from Akio. She knew a lot of his nonsense was just that, but that didn't put her off learning from a master of nonsense even if she didn't trust a single word out of his mouth. Some hooks were subtler than others.

"I'll see you in a couple of hours for your duel then?" Lydia smiled. "And if you've anything stronger than a spectral armoury bring it."

"I'll be showing up, won't I?"

Utena had always been a big believer in the power of will. She'd learned magic as a means of expressing it. Of course, this was probably the perspective of someone who had the proverbial hammer, thinking all problems were nails.

When she met Lydia, she was wearing a top that was vaguely uniform-esque, shoulder boards like an officer's rank but not corresponding to any known military. She'd amassed her small collection of charms in her pockets, but she was aware that none of them were enough to stop truly powerful battle magic. Her sword was wooden. She didn't care and was unafraid. She was doing The Right Thing. Who challenges someone to a duel to...possess someone, anyway?

An entirely different approach to magic from Lydia's which, far from being the slipshod work of distracted ditziness she tried to pretend it was, was all about the triumph of finesse, of charm, and of the intellect.

Which was why there'd be a sharp and well made steel rapier with red and white crystals at the end of the cross-guard waiting for Utena outside the door, Lydia having rolled her eyes as she'd left it there - and an illusion so that Utena would see it glow and with her name over it while no one else would see much more than a paperknife.

Yes, Lydia could manifest a heartsword if she had to. It wasn't going to happen if she had a choice - and even then she'd prefer to be the one wielding it.

Beside the sword was a sign and illusionary archway, only visible to chosen people. "Truth is rooted in trust. Sceptics fall." And an invisible bridge at an angle that would sway and then break if Utena looked down at her feet rather than stepped forwards confidently along the bridge. Of course Lydia was prepared to rig Aiko's little game straight back if she needed to and create an illusionary fog bank so Utena didn't fall.

OOC: Thanks! Although I'm a little short of RP partners who know Utena at all.

I'm being tested! Utena thought with glee, the exact opposite of her usual reaction to tests. Noone was asking her to write an essay this time, just move forward without looking back or down, clearly not a problem for her. She put the sword through her belt, on the opposite side of the wooden one and boldly stepped out onto apparent nothing.

~~Somewhere, choral rock played~~

Lydia smiled, watching. It would get harder if she stayed duelling - but right now she had exactly the right attitude to get through this part and up to the arena. "Told you" she smirked at Jackson as Utena walked up over apparently nothing to the arena.

She then turned to Utena as she arrived. "Is either duellist prepared to apologise to the other? If not the duel shall commence when the disk of the sun touches the horizon. It shall end when the first drop of blood is shed on this sacred ground. If this is not acceptable you may apologise. Jackson?"

He drew a katana. "I'm going to spank the little girl like the brat she is."

"Utena?"

[Natural magic, specifically the visualization of and interaction with microbes, with enough Psychic thrown in that he has to visit their dorm often]

[Dual major, Knowledge and Physical. Son of one of the most infamous hedge witches ever to exist.]

[Knowledge. The Brightest Witch of her Generation]

[Natural Magic - but especially with AI for familiars.]

[The other very short person in the Natural dorm, who you've been assigned to show around and help settle in, is weirded out by all the hippies and their "sacred plants".]

This place is so weird! And what's that smell?

--Various plants, and you really shouldn't be calling a place weird right away. [Waver frowns, choosing to focus on the concept of walking tour. Hopefully walk fast enough to avoid stupid questions.]

It's rude to fellow students.

[One of the few for whom shapeshifting is his natural discipline, and it runs in his family. This places him very technically with the Physicals (and with their parties, which pleases him greatly) but he spends most of his time being privately tutored. Talented but very lazy.]

[Teaches magical art, how to use your discipline to create. Barely older than most of the students but secretly protective of them behind her cynical persona.]

[ A Psychic with a minor in Illusion magic. Or possibly a teacher in the same. ]

[ Probably an instructor. Physical (primarily elemental) magic with a focus on mental discipline. ]

[Illusionry, and other: the creation of things from other things. Transfiguration, if you will. But somehow it works better with metals.]

Edited 2016-02-18 04:29 (UTC)

[OTA for gen. interaction. Molly scores high in the psychic category & illusion. Also a bit of a party-girl.]

[Got an aptitude for Illusions. He prefers to keep to his own.]

[ ooc; either a physical or healing magician for the fact he keeps staying alive. ]

[[Cheerful, slightly ditzy character. A pretty strong healer aiming for the master class, though she's learning some better attack spells.]]

[Post-canon so please say if you'd prefer no spoilers.]

You're the King of Fillory?

[Forgive Utena her skepticism. She's not exactly the subtle type and so doesn't expect her magical royalty to be either. God knows her 'prince' wasn't.]

I'm not the King of Fillory, I'm a king of Fillory. I'm not the High King, for one.

[Teacher, mixture of Physical and Illusions.]

[Teacher at healing magic, but scarily competent in physical magic. Beware of lightning to those whom harm his students]

[Teacher of Illusions and Healing.]

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THE MAGICIANS A.U. MEME

Utena Tenjou | Revolutionary Girl Utena | OTA

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What if Akio's her illusions teacher and he manipulated her into this just to see how Utena'd react?

Manipulated which of them into this? Good either way.

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feel free to pull other players into this, it's a fun fusion

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Tadayasu Souemon Sawaki | Moyashimon

Liir Thropp | The Wicked Years | OTA

Hermione Granger | Harry Potter

Waver Velvet | Fate/zero

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Yasaburo Shimogamo | Uchouten Kazoku

Reki | Haibane Renmei

devon forrester | oc

Hawke { Dragon Age }

Neutral!Chara | Undertale

Molly Carpenter | The Dresden Files | FM

Corey | Teen Wolf

james bond | craig!bond

Konoka Konoe | Mahou Sensei Negima | OTA

Quentin Coldwater: The Magicians (novels)

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lucius malfoy { au } | harry potter series

Libra | Fire Emblem Awakening | OTA

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