Thursday 20th October, early, Spy Kids clubroom
Back with the Spy Kids at their clubhouse.
"Well, Mouse, I'm glad you could make it. We're going to get some more data to back up and clarify what you got the other day, and then hopefully we'll have enough to make some proper plans."
Good grief, they are worse than the G1 Spy Kids, instead of going to the authorities with their suspicions they act on their own and act like they are the law. Bug Morgana to spy on Bianca, without a warrant anything overheard would be thrown out in an instant.
A watchstrap, a copy of the one on Morgana's watch, this could work but how much trouble will these idiots get in for going this far? Switch out during BMA, Tolman would be very cross if she caught you. Mouse, you have thrown in with a bunch of idiots who think because they consider themselves spies and working on the side of right that they are above the rules and laws.
Thursday 20th October, BMA Period 3
Ouch, Morgana getting stared at because of her scars. Morgana, Mouse being late like that should make you suspicious. And Mouse goes through with it, I just hope the wards on the room or something picks up the switch sooner rather than later.
Morgana and four other girls, what are you up to, Tolman?
Now as some of you will know, Coldsnap's spirit has issues with men. Not so much fighting them, as doing so with reasonable use of force and control. Cerulea, you will serve as the lead trainer, and Invictus, Ms. Omega, and Dragonsfyre will be her practice opponents.
Eep, just how many students have issues with students of a particular gender due to past trauma or something to do with their powers like Coldsnap and her spirit?
Poor Noelle, keeping her powers under control in a fight, I hope she is up to the task.
I suppose it made sense - while Noelle seemed to have got a reasonable level of control of her power, I knew how pushy her Frenchy-sweary spirit could get, and it would be pretty easy to lose control of it if she were fighting a boy. Best to let her get into good habits first, or we'd have to give most of the guys in the class cold-weather gear to fight her.
Darn it, Geniève, behave yourself and let Noelle have the life she wants.
Morgana versus Hardnose, great detail about observing the other's matches in class, love seeing fighters who just don't charge in and fight smart. Hardnose charges her so Morgana charges him right back, didn't see that coming. Bwahaha, knocked each other down and disoriented, priceless. Glad to see no lasting damage from the charging impact.
"I do despair sometimes. What on Earth made the two of you think banging heads like a couple of rutting buffalo was a GOOD tactic?"
Hey, you have horns, at one point in your life this is bound to happen. Weeks before Morgana can use magic in a match, aww.
Thursday 20th October 4 pm, Magic Work area
Morgana practicing light spells in Dragonform and Noelle practicing fire spells, interesting description of the difference in casting between her regular and Dragonform. Ink like that, I bet it and the spell it's used for will be tested well on the trip. Explaining how she got the marks on her, and yes, the whole thing sounds pretty wild even by Whateley standards. Thulia, can't wait for that visit to happen, wonder how some of the other students will react to her.
"The spells are harder to work than the book says! I keep trying, but sometimes it's just like trying to juggle water! The moment you stop paying attention, it just goes right through your fingers."
I gave her a sympathetic nod. "Yeah, I remember. All I can tell you is that it gets easier, once you've worked out how to use your essence everything becomes a lot easier."
Huh, sounds like Noelle is one of those students who could use some unconventional help with her magic like Morgana.
Thursday 20th October, early evening
Morgana going to see Mr. August about something, hhm. Darn it! The whole chocolate mess better not make it so Laura can't go on the band trip. Sneaky, Morgana, very sneaky. I hope, for once, that the band trip can just be a band trip and nothing else happens.
Thursday 20th October, late evening, Morgana's room.
Shopping trip on Sunday and invite Laura along to cheer her up. *begs for it to be a normal shopping trip* Those three in Victoria's Secret, someone take Bianca's credit cards away! Oh, who am I kidding, this is going to be a shopping none of them will forget anytime soon. Especially with how Morgana is selling it to Laura. That last thought of Morgana, this is the Whateley Academy universe, now I'm curious if Victoria's Secret has a tech department as it seems like it would be a hit with the gadgeteers and devisors.
Friday 21st October, Crystal Hall, after breakfast
Catching up to Tia, need a driver for Sunday, Tia is running with a club and then something secret, hhm. Planning for a ride in Tia's car, man, these girls can be devious. An illusion to make Tia's car red and hide the logo, now that is a handy spell.
"I appreciate it," Tia answered with a smile. A smile that rapidly slid off the girl's face. "Sorry, got to go. I'm late for...."
Morgana spoke before she could resist the urge. "A very important date?"
Alice in Wonderland reference, classic.
Friday 21st October, lunchtime, Grave Digger and Scrye, the quad.
Digging up information on another student like this, Gravedigger and Scrye will regret it if caught. Betraying a fellow Poesie like this, Scrye, Mrs. Horton is going to read you the riot act if not worse. *facepalm* Gravedigger, you moron, thinking Morgan is a demoness and wasting money to find out. Incidents in the past, what does he think because Sara Waite was a baby GOO that means Morgana might be a demoness just because of her appearance and powers, talk about jumping to conclusions. Finding out Gravedigger's motive is a good start, Scrye.
Some of what she was, the Poe secret protected, and she wasn't going to out any of her cottage mates without a much greater amount of compensation, doing so would make her life far too complicated for comfort.
So she will out her cottage mates if paid enough, ugh.
Friday 21st October, a boringly typical Office building in New York City
Carol Halifax, this poor woman, no one should have to put up with workplace abuse like this, glad she is resigning. What changed with Mr. Granier? Have the Tears of Poseidon affected him mentally or is something else going on?
More odd gems, crystals, and other objects on his desk, more magical items possibly, he is acting like a man possessed or obsessed.
She looked around, noting some very old maps and documents with weird writing and odd symbols hanging all over the walls and more piled on a work table. Even the ceiling had the same strange markings, and the floor tiles had a weird, intricate pattern etched into them.
All this, plus the fact he had a map with the location of Whateley Academy marked on it in a previous story, Mr. Granier is after something kept in the most secure of Whateley Academy vaults is my guess and going crazy trying to figure out how to obtain it.
Crap! Spellbook of unknown origin and he is forcing Carol to stay, this just went very bad. A Fool's Circle, right in his office, I hope he is destroyed by his obsession. Oh, she can still talk and respond in fear, not a thrall spell like I first fear, but still extremely dark magic to control someone like this. Mr. Granier has gone so far off the cliff he is falling and no telling when he will hit the bottom.
Friday 21st October, after classes, Doyle Medical Centre
Ooo, learn healing magic from Dr. Tennant.
"Oh no, Doc - while that did sort of push the fact I can't heal myself, I've been thinking about this for a while, both for my teammates and for me. There's no one on the team with any healing ability, and it would be really useful." I gave her a lopsided grin. "Especially as I seem to have to keep using my blood in rituals and magic, bleeding all over the floor is such a nuisance!"
Always smart to have a healer on a team. Once more Morgana shows how sensible she is, healing magic without any idea of what you are doing, the thought brings to me ideas of stuff right out of body horror. *shudders*
"So while Healing Magic is a huge and complicated area of study, so when we start out with the basics, we break it down into two parts.
First is the actual healing spell itself. There are a lot of these, and they fall into two main groups - spells which accelerate what you can heal yourself, and ones which heal things you can't."
I must have looked a bit puzzled because she carried on. "The reason for there being a lot of spells is that the more specific the spell, the better the effect and the less essence you need to cast it. It's not much different from the magic you've learned so far in that respect. Say you had a cut on your finger - I could heal it by casting a general heal on you, but that would be costly. Or I could use a specific spell for healing epidermal cuts, which would be faster and consume a lot less essence."
I thought about that. "I guess that means a lot of spells to learn?"
She nodded. "Oh yes, why do you think it takes years to become a specialised Healer? But to start with, we teach you the most basic, general ones, plus a few that we find you tend to use a lot." She grinned at me. "Like cuts to supply blood for spells. Over time you can add to your knowledge base, but remember you also need to practice the ones you know - as with any magic, practice makes spells more efficient and use less essence."
Healing magic sounds like one of the more complex forms of magic, with a level of training to be a Healing Specialist equal or greater than a normal M.D.
"Now the second group of healing spells is ones we usually call the 'surgical' class of spell. These are usually specific and are used to fix issues that your body can't manage on its own. They are not only complicated, and often very specialised, but you need a lot of knowledge of what you are doing, or the consequences can be severe, or even fatal. Whereas your magic helping the body to heal itself - just a lot faster - normally doesn't have a lot of bad consequences."
"Uh.. normally, Doc?"
She looked at me seriously. "There are some times you shouldn't apply one of that group without understanding what you're doing. If you just cast a spell to heal a cut on your hand, there isn't much to go wrong. But if, say, you were to try and heal broken bones in your hand, you could end up with a malformed or misplaced bone, just as you could if you allowed it to mend naturally without proper care. So to start with, we teach a subset and let you know which ones you shouldn't try until you know a lot more. There is also the issue of Exemplars - you have more freedom there, as their body will correct small issues by themselves. But if in doubt, assume you are healing a non-exemplar"
Gah! Okay, definitely training equal to an M.D. in multiple fields including surgery. No wonder Doyle is the best medical place to be with the likes of Dr. Tennant and others on staff.
"Now, those are the healing spells. But there is another big area you need to learn, which is how to diagnose the injury in the first place. Many of the 'natural' healers we train have an instinctive knowledge of this to a varying extent, but you will need to start from scratch. The good news is that while there are quite a few classes of spells, used to diagnose all sorts of conditions as well as injuries, we start out by teaching you just the basic ones for injuries. Again there are still quite a few you'll need to know, but like the general healing spells you can substitute a less specialised diagnostic spell. That will mean using more essence to fix the problem, but better that than no fix at all, right?"
Healing Specialist magic-users sound more and more impressive the more she talks about the field. All that and Morgana is still determined to learn, even if just the basics, she is one determined girl.
"On your own head be it!" Her rather ominous words were a bit belied by the smile on her face.
I like Dr. Tennant, she's silly. An hour and a half long class two days in a row each week, Morgana, you need sleep!
Friday 21st October, Laura's Lab, early evening
Oh brother, the boys checking out Morgana and not even a bit discretely. All that for the devisor coffee since the chocolate incident, paranoid doesn't cover it, that coffee has been drunk without any real trouble for years. All this to get a cup of coffee, arrgggh. Bwahahaha, all that to prank Morgana due to her drinking the devisor coffee so much, even I couldn't tell until the door was opened.
A meeting with Mrs. Horton about the trip.
"Nah, apparently everyone has to do this the first time they go out, it's supposed to warn you what to do, what not to do, that sort of thing. You know, no mass-mind-controlling the native with one of your devices. And yes, I know you've been out with the kids, but apparently, that doesn't count. "
Aww, no mind-controlled minions, love the lab crew can joke around about this.
Friday 21st October, late evening, Poe Cottage
Mrs. Horton takes her job seriously, she is the house mother and like a mother/2nd mother to all these kids, always happy when she shows up.
"I will be wearing clothes that mainly cover me, ma'am."
"However you have to be prepared in case something happens. Please consider some normal makeup - nothing like Laura has to use, just the usual makeup they've been showing you in the classes. Make sure to take some spare, in case something rubs you. There's nothing more obvious than a bare patch!"
And with Whateley students on a trip outside Whateley something always happens, I swear the odds of something not happening are below 5% at least from all the trips we've seen. Sound advice all around.
"Yes. Well, just remember, its fine to have fun, but keep any displays of powers or abilities to an absolute minimum. None at all is best. And if anything DOES happen, you should have the school's emergency numbers on your phones. In the worst case, call us and we'll tell you what to do."
Hey, she lived through Team Kimba, that warning became standard after Team Kimba's first two trips into town for all students to hear from then on.
Saturday 22nd October, morning, Costume Class
Hehe, Morgana is the only one out of her, Tanya, and Bianca who hasn't chosen a predictable color scheme for their costume.
In one or two cases, the impolite one being more 'likely to induce projectile vomiting'.
Are we sure Jericho doesn't have any young relatives who are going to Whateley by Gen 2? Or did they see pictures of him somehow and took his style of dress as inspiration? *shudders*
[She pursed her lips as she looked down the list. "All standard materials, I see. You aren't going to something better?"
"Not for my first attempt, ma'am. I'd like to see how it works before I pay for the more exotic stuff. It's expensive, and it's not like I need it urgently."
Something about my statement must have amused her - I wish I knew what it was - as she half-smiled. "Not a bad reason."[/quote] Amused probably because most students don't put that much thought into why to not use the more expensive materials in their costumes. Whoa, Morgana put a lot of thought and reasoning into the design of her costume, and why to use the less durable materials for her first attempt, impressive. Asking Mrs. Ryan for suggestions on a secondary color and the teacher shows what years of experience can do. Some highlighting in red on the black costume, nice, suggest fire to me.
Good mask design and a great reason for not covering up her hair, only someone fireproof or properly protected would risk grabbing it once they knew what she can do.
Everyone always assumed mages would stick to magic, I saw no reason to pander to their preconceptions.
More mages need to do this, then it would be the rare magic only mage who catches someone off-guard.
Then she turned to Bianca, who as expected was displaying a white overcoat over a white not-quite leotard. I tried to pretend I was concentrating on my own costume as I listened to what Mrs. Ryan was telling her about her walking advert for all the best washing powders.
Bianca needs to figure out a color that compliments white while not advertising her identity for all to see.
Saturday 22nd October, afternoon, Mystic Arts building.
Summoning up Thulia and Morgana is nervous, she doesn't want to mess this up and not get to see Thulia or worse. Grimes assuring her she will be there to help. Even with the circles mostly ready this is still a lot of work left for the summoning. Symbols written in blood, yeow, more marks to explain. Very awe-inspiring summoning magic and yay, Thulia is back!
"Thulia, by the blood we share that defines us both, I bind you to be released from this circle with the demand that you swear not to use any of your powers unless ordered by myself or one of the staff, until such time that we return here and dismiss you back to your own realm, or until the hour of midnight strikes here."
Darn stipulation by Grimes, Thulia saves Morgana's life and is still not fully trusted. Three drops of blood, three seems to be common in magic.
Aww, this visit just so Eldritch can get all she needs from Thulia to attune the amulet she is making for her. I was hoping Morgana could show Thulia around campus, see some of the reactions of the students to them together.
More waiting, you'd think there was some sort of plot stopping us from spending time on our own.
*continues reinforcing the fourth wall with mithril i-beams*
"It seems weird that your Artificer has a name and her own free will, all our stories of them describe them as servants with no free will of their own. Odd enough itself that she's here, our stories say they all left this plane eons ago."
I wonder where those stories came from.
I grinned. "You know, Grimes is just a teacher, not a lady. She'd probably be surprised as hell if you called her that."
This time I got a quite old-fashioned look from her. "You do realise just how powerful and skilled she is? In my home, someone with those abilities would be accorded that title, deservedly so."
In other words, show your magic teachers respect, kids.
I mulled that over as I gestured to take the left turn in front of us - the corridors under the magic department were less well-marked than the main tunnel system, though thankfully not laid out by the same Esher-inspired drunk architect.
Sssh, no one is supposed to know the tunnel system was designed by an Esher-architect specialized devisor while they were drunk. You know that is one thing we have never learned. Why and how did Ms. Grimes come to teach at Whateley Academy?
"Enter freely and of your own will."
I didn't know Caitlin was a Dracula fan, nice reference. Treat Caitlin like a human and an individual, calling her Artificer reduces her to a role.
I was just about to ask her what we should do when I was distracted by a buzzing from a small box sitting on one of the shelves. Caitlin looked up sharply, her eyes narrowed as she looked at it, then stepped over and grabbed it. "Stay still, both of you."
I looked at Thulia, who was obviously surprised as well, as Caitlin waved the box around, then homed in on me. I tried not to pull back too obviously, as she gave a small satisfied sound, pointed the thing at my wrist, and pressed a button on it. There was a small sizzling noise, and I felt my watchstrap get warm.
"What the hell, Caitlin!?"
She relaxed, giving me a considering look. "Were you trying to record what I was doing?"
I just looked at her in surprise. "No, of course not! Why would I?"
"Then why was there a bug in your watch?"
I blinked at her, then held up my wrist to look at it. The band was slightly discoloured, so I slipped it off and looked at it again, which didn't really tell me anything.
"It wasn't me! Why would I bug you? I mean, you're letting me watch, so I don't need to record it, do I?"
She looked at me closely, then nodded thoughtfully. "No, that wouldn't make much sense. So it looks like someone has been bugging you!"
Caitlin having a bug detector that can destroy them, I should have known, she values her privacy too much not to have one of those at Whateley.
Once Laura checks out the watch strap, the Spy Kids are going to be in trouble one way or another.
Caitlin just nodded. "Of course, it's a fairly straightforward thing to make." That brought a raised eyebrow from Thulia, which gave me to wonder just what Caitlin could do, that was definitely a look of 'it really isn't that simple!'
Thulia, when it comes to the abilities of an Artificer to make magical artifacts don't overthink it.
Using them to melt mithril for some of the parts, I love Caitlin. Powering it up during the new moon, Caitlin is going all out for this amulet.
Caitlin nodded. "Damn right you shouldn't! At least someone here recognises that!" She must have remembered at that point she was complimenting the demoness she'd been unhappy with, as she stopped and changed the subject pretty quickly.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows you don't rush someone crafting a magical artifact, especially a craftsman of Artificer level.
Never gotten to have others see Caitlin crafting before, a very interesting perspective. Ouch, painful memories for Morgana just from seeing the mithril bar. Hhm, I wonder what material Thulia's robes are made of that has Caitlin wishing to ask questions. *eyes bug out* Thulia could teach classes on fine control over flames, any more precise and I think she could affect things at the atomic level. Nice getting to see Caitlin working her craft so closely.
"So, Caitlin, what do you think of our two love-struck firebirds?"
Caitlin snorted in derision at Grime's words but did think about her answer.
"They are so obviously teenagers in love, or at least in lust. So of course, what could possibly go wrong?"
Grimes raised a cynical eyebrow. "Probably a hell of a lot, or hasn't your time at Whateley shown you that?"
Grimes, you need lessons on recognizing sarcasm. Ooo, Caitlin wanting to annoy Grimes, what will she do this time?
Caitlin shook her head stubbornly. "I don't take chances with demons. Yes, she may be what she says she is - although there are more than a few glaring gaps in what she's actually told us - and so far she's acted normally, but until I know a lot more, I'm not going to trust her. And maybe not even then!"
*bangs head on desk* Caitlin, not everything from another dimension that appears to be a demon is a demon. Bella is right, their feelings for each other are true, don't you ruin it for them, Caitlin.
Saturday, late evening, Morgana's room
Bianca made spell cards for tomorrow, Morgana making a complex one herself, guess they are prepared for trouble. Ooo, the protection spell, now I want to see it in action. Magically active blood and Grimes gave Morgana no idea of what that might mean, way to make the girl worry. Vic getting into trouble on his trip to Berlin, yeah, Morgana has a good point. Flashy light spell to blind and disorient opponents, now that is a very useful non-lethal attack spell.
"Showing her around... Oh, is that what it's called now?"
I gave her my severe look, which had absolutely no effect. "Bloody hell, you're getting as bad as Laura!"
Gasp, Laura is a bad influence on Bianca! Alone time with Thulia, at Poe. I fear that might not be possible with the number of gossips in that cottage.
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Note: My story comments can't nor are trying to replace reading the stories, simply my way of enjoying them and letting the authors know I enjoy them.
Hey Karma, go play with the Tela Tubbies.
