what time is it?

[authorships]

Who: Andersen and you!!
What: An unpleasant pop quiz, office hours, and general sulkiness.
When: July 7th - July 31st
Where: Around campus, downtown Soleil.
Warnings: Some heavy drinking, nothing else. Will update as necessary!

1 | I'M OFF THE CLOCK, THE PRESSURE'S OUT

[A vacation is sorely needed after the hullaboo surrounding the academy. The Herald's fall has significantly dampened whatever festive atmosphere summer might've had. In Andersen's opinion, it was but a taste of future battles to come. Such horrible sights were to be expected. Still--

Sometimes, the best thing for a troubled mind is work. At the end of June, Andersen posts notice that he'll be hosting an accelerated summer course for Advanced Runic Inscriptions, with classes four days a week. Despite the title, anyone's welcome to join, so long as they prove they have the passion and talent for the subject...]

A. OFFICE HOURS
[Andersen's strict about his no meetings without appointments rule. If you're a student, he'll turn you away and scold you. If you're a faculty member... well. He'll let you stay if you drop by unannounced, but he won't be happy about it.

His office is a tidy room, furnished with the bare minimum. Several of Andersen's books are on display, while notebooks are stacked on his desk. A coffeemaker sits in the corner, which he switches on once you sit down.]

All right. [He has his back turned to watch the water brew.] What do you want from me? Don't dance around the issue, tell me straight out.

B. POP QUIZ
[You think he's gonna skimp on tests? BRRZ. WRONG. Andersen's a firm believer that experience is the best teacher. And what better way to learn than to take your art outside?

The focus this week is on area-of-effect runes. He takes his class outside for his lecture. Andersen struts and gestures as if he's an actor on a stage, not some 50-something year old man with illusions of grandeur on the lawn.]

A rune inscriber is like a writer. Material is everywhere! Creativity paired with specificity is what differentiates an inscriber from a magus. Their magic comes from the blood. Ours comes from the structure we create - from the verses we compose. Flesh and blood are exhaustible. Objects are not. The very ground beneath your feet - [here, he stamps his foot] -can be yours to command. None of you are at that level yet. You're all amateurs.

[that's,]

That's why we're out here. Show me that you're willing to break your back like a workhorse. I want you to construct a 100 square foot boundary with your runic verses with at least one successful effect. Harass passerbys. Invite the friends you secretly hate. Use whatever guinea pigs you wish.

[He takes on a falsetto.]

"But Professor! It's summer vacation!" Bullshit. Time is a false concept. I'll grade you as hard as I please! Now hop to it!

(OOC NOTE: you're free to come up with whatever effect your field has! you can also determine how well it works!! GO BUCK WILD. set things on fire. i guess. if you really want to you crazy pyromaniacs,)

2 | I WANT FABULOUS

[On the weekends, Andersen procrastinates on his grading. In the mornings, he stays holed up in his dormitory scribbling his novel's draft. Come the afternoon and evening, he's wandering about town...]

A. PERFORMANCE CENTER (FACULTY ONLY)
[Without fail, Andersen attends the center every Saturday night to see whatever's playing. He's fond of operas and plays - not so much musicals - but the experience of seeing the actors on stage is what he enjoys. If you're a faculty member, you'll get a text one weekday night...]

There's a good show tonight. You free?

B. DOWNTOWN SOLEIL | CW: HEAVY DRINKING
[And, without fail, every Saturday night, Andersen gets drunk. His alcohol tolerance is incredibly high and it takes a good couple of classes to get himself tipsy. He frequents whatever bar is convenient, which means he hops from bar to bar in the search for something new. If he makes eye contact with someone he recognizes, he'll scrunch up his face and immediately turn away to hunch over his six or so glasses like some awful, six-foot tall goblin.

leave him alone he doesn't know you]

Comments

Office hours

[ahew_kha]

[Given her ridiculous nonsense about not wanting to upset anyone basically ever, of course she's made it a habit to make appointments for his office hours by now.

She's a little nervous about going over this whole mess, but it's... better than the alternative by far if she just let things play their course. No one wanted to deal with a pissed off rampaging dragon after all.

Once she's inside she's taking a seat and slowly blinking at him.]

I thought we sort of spoke about it before? Something that might help keep my dragon side under control instead of... rampaging every time?

[authorships]

[The first time he spoke with Kisara, he found it difficult to believe she was a dragon. She's not exactly what you'd call prime real estate for a dragon. She's well-mannered and a little too timid at times. He won't ever voice it aloud, but her personality increases the pity he has for her situation.]

Right. That.

[He doesn't turn around just yet. Instead, he asks:]

Let's get down to work, then. Do you take coffee?

1b, OTA!

[highelves]

[ ana is opting to try out a rune that can cause flight for 10 seconds. she is not touching any nature-based runes, so fire's out, unfortunately. she can easily do 100 square feet with water, but...that's not happening, and she's here to learn and impress, not one or the other.

she successfully creates a boundary that's approximately 100 square feet, but as for the effects being successful...

well. let's just hope you're not the passerby who stumbles into the boundary and starts jumping up and down like a pogo stick for a whole minute. ]

[authorships]

[And here comes Andersen, hands tucked in his coat's ridiculously large pockets as he glances at the runes of her boundary.]

Flight? Interesting choice. Why?

[Yes, he's grilling you.]

A. Office Hours

[improbablenotimpossible]

["Arthur Bell" had a bundled of folders in his arms. It was the late afternoon, and while he can walk around in the sun fine, it's not his idea circumstances, given he was stifling a yawn in that artful way of avoiding a flash of fang]

Paperwork, the usual - signing off on supplies, time tables. Bureaucratic upkeep.

[The man glances to the side, looking irritated]

Got roped into dropping it off 'since it's on your way'.

[authorships]

[The mention of paperwork draws a dramatic groan from him.]

I told them I wouldn't be touching that crap today. Look at how much I have to grade! [He gestures at the stack of papers that he obviously didn't procrastinate on, no sir.] They're running me to the ground. Everything's been helter-skelter as of late!

1B, OTA

[buddinghopes]

[Oh good god who thought this was a good idea. Who thought letting her decide on effects was okay.

Sure, the effect she came up with is successful, but anyone who passes through this 100 square foot area she's taken from her own is now sparkling for the entire duration.

Who let her pick this effect.]

[authorships]

[.......................................]

Are you finished with your work?

[S Q U I N T S]

2b - 27th

[yokeye]

[Toki only recognizes Andersen as "some professor", having not attended any of his classes. He has yet to catch one of the professors at a bar though, so he has to invade.]

Professor~! You look like you've had a little too much there~! Six glasses!? How many times has each of these been filled!? I know it's a Saturday, but aren't you still supposed to be representing our illustrious academy off the clock!?

[Trolling feels good. He's missed this.]

[authorships]

[HE HATES HIS LIFE RIGHT NOW!! Why is this brat approaching him! Andersen scowls and hunches down even more.]

Watch your mouth, boy. The same goes for you. No student of the prestigious Daybreak Academy would run around town, heckling the elderly.

1b, ota

[lovebreaker]

[ Oh hell yes.

Aiko successfully sets up the required boundary, but her effect is... well, it leaves quite a bit to be desired. She's going for little pillars of flame but what actually ends up happening is, in certain places one may step, tiny flames erupt.

Very tiny flames. ]

Nooo, you're supposed to be bigger...!

[authorships]

[Andersen, who's testing everyone's fields by tossing in a sacrificial stuffed animal, watches impassively as the teeny-tiny flames scorch the toy's fur.

He doesn't look impressed at all.]

Your composition's as sloppy as a greased pig. This outcome shouldn't be a surprise.

BAR BAR BAR

[strings_theory]

[You know who else likes to go to dive bars and get drunk? It's Jolyne. She's nineteen, shut up, she can drink here. But she's just plopping down near Andersen, not having yet even noticed him as she's ordering some shitty American beer that they have here for some goddamned reason.

If he's paying attention in the slightest he'd notice her hands and lower arms have sporadic burn scars and there's a particular rune to combat against fire literally stitched into her skin of her right arm above the elbow.

How the fuck she did that is anyone's guess.]

Everyone's so fucking sloooow tonight, goddamn.

BAR TIME BABEY

[authorships]

[That's the unfortunate thing about Europe. Teenagers can go and get shitfaced whenever they like. More importantly, why the hell is she ordering American beer? In Europe? Are you kidding him? Andersen eyes her with great judgment and - really, he can't speak, he's like a couple of pints away from the floor - but...

Wait, hold up. Is that a rune stitched in? Oh my god.]

Who the hell did your arm?

2a

[nor_iron_bars]

[Did you actually mean to include Jail in that faculty texting, Andersen? Because that sure is her username on your phone now...]

i'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess you meant to send this text to literally anyone else.
but i actually am free & bored tonight, so sure.
no takebacks lol.

[authorships]

[well fuck]

How do I block you.

[Three seconds later:]

Don't you dare come.

1b

[notbornguilty]

[Weiss' runes are carefully crafted, and everything within the boundary is coated in a layer of ice. She looks incredibly pleased with herself, both for creating this field and cooling the classroom down a bit.]

I've also put some thought into a weaker variant that's basically a glorified air conditioner, but I decided that this version would be more appropriate.

[authorships]

[Ah, this student also has prior experience. Andersen admires the handiwork of the inscription before he takes out the classroom sacrifice. Tosses the toy into the boundary and, with (maybe?) a little too much glee, watches it freeze over.]

An air conditioner, that's rich. If you sold the patent for that inscription, you'd be a millionaire. Good! Your writing's impeccable. I may give you a run for your money - there's a lot more beginners in this class than I thought there'd be.

[says the guy who let them in]

Pop Quiz | Take a Dip. A Double Dip, if you would.

[inkedspell]

[Like Sarona would skip out on an advanced inscription course when she'd already lost months of schooling earlier that year due to things back home. Even if the teacher was some hack from the Runesmith guild, she'd at least see what he had to offer and maybe help her classmates learn something despite his potential failings.

So when he comes up with an outdoor pop quiz she is mildly surprised, having expected something droll and boring. But then he called them all "amateurs" and she decided she would do whatever she had to in order to show him up. She doesn't take well to people looking down on them like that just because they're students.

So she set up her first area of effect to be completely unnoticeable using a two layer inscription to mask itself. It's set in a location of the sidewalk that receives a fair amount of traffic near one of the ponds on the grounds. Anyone who saw her while she was putting down the secondary inscription might have even thought she was cleaning ink away as the runes slowly disappeared as she went across them. Nothing left to warn those who walked by of what was to come.

But once they crossed into the area of effect, they would blink and find themselves on the other side of the pond, having been teleported to another area of effect inscribed there. But stay more than a second and suddenly the ground beneath them will glow before they are teleported once more--

--right into the pond itself. Hopefully the fish won't be too upset.]

[authorships]

[You can tell which students have confidence in what they're doing, and which ones don't. There's a hodgepodge of skills among his students. It's more or less what Andersen expected. Runic inscriptions typically are used to enhance objects, not places - he'd be surprised if anyone caught on quickly enough.

And surprised he is.

He's glimpsed some of Sarona's work as he paced between the students, eye sharp and watchful as a hawk's. The technique is good, the runes are well-drawn, and the way the combinations are assigned speak to prior knowledge.

And when he sees the effects? He actually winds up barking out a sharp laugh.]

Ha! Creative, very creative. Layering the inscriptions upon themselves - that's the sort of work I like to see, young lady.

1b | ota!

[thatsmymagic]

[Akko isn't experienced with runes, but she wants to be. So many people seem to use them and excel with them that she really can't help but be envious. And after the Herald fight, she realizes how limited her skills are. She needs more. She needs to be able to go on the offensive.

But she doesn't want to hurt anybody just practicing, so for the very first rune she's ever made in her entire life, she aims to make a harmless water effect to combat the sweltering heat of summer. Ideally, one stepping into the rune (which blends into the lawn save for faint blue lines only visible to the keen-eyed) will be sprayed with a light misting of water from beneath their feet.In practice, it either launches them airborne with a forceful jet, produces a wave that sweeps across the whole rune in pursuit of its target, or successfully mists them like she intended.

So her rune isn't perfect. Sue her.]

[authorships]

[And Andersen, who's been going around sacrificing helpless stuffed animals for this cruel quiz, has finally swung around to Akko's field. She gets a special one that poses as if it's some sort of hero.

Alas, even a heroic pose won't save it from being launched into the sky by a powerful wave of water.

Andersen shades his eyes as he looks upwards, his expression unreadable.]

An actual cat would be dead from a heart attack by now.

[He says, deadpan.]

1B

[descolation]

[Desco has passion for anything that can be used to achieve her goals and Andersen's class is definitely one such thing. She's spent several days studying the material and practicing runes, but one can never truly be prepared for a pop quiz. It's one thing to learn how runes work and do some practicing, but it's another to make one that big with a specific purpose, a practical application, AND creativity thrown into the mix.

After a few minutes of brainstorming and some crumpled up papers, she gets to work. After picking up plants from anywhere she could, her project can truly begin. By the time Andersen pops by, Desco has gotten herself pretty dirty, but she looks both exhausted and proud.

The runic area she created is one primarily made for trapping an enemy. She largely got the idea from Avery, because of course she did. Aside from the runes, the area seems pretty inconspicuous. Numerous plants of different shapes and colors have been added to the patch of land. When anything lands within the area, the stems of these plants will grow at an alarming and coil around their target, bringing it down to the ground and holding it in place. There's not as many as she would have liked to set up, and the restraints aren't as strong as she would have liked, but the idea is at least there.]

[authorships]

[Andersen, who's personally testing everyone's fields, eventually makes his way to Desco. Her efforts haven't gone unnoticed. It's sort of hard to when she's gone out of her way to pluck all the plants within reach. Not to mention how she's covered with dirt. He gives her a cordial nod before he plucks out the sacrifice from his satchel and tosses it in.

The poor thing doesn't stand a chance when the plants erupt. Andersen's eyebrows shoot up.]

Ha! Not bad at all! How long did it take you to come up with this idea, young lady?

2a

[inflictwounds]

[Oh!! Oh, he's being invited to do something. That...does not happen often?

He feels like if he doesn't say yes, Ekkehardt is going to descend from the ceiling and knife him in the back because he "works too hard" or something like that.]

Unless somebody does something incredibly stupid, I should be. What's the show?

[authorships]

[You gotta expand your social circle more, Hieke... which, coincidentally, is what Andersen is trying to do. He self-isolated for way too many years before he came to Daybreak. Socializing is hard, blah blah, bluh bluh!]

Don't say that, you'll speak it into existence. We had students setting shit on fire not too long ago.

Die Fledermaus. A classic comedy.

2b

[shadowmaster69]

[Oops, you've landed yourself at the Hog's Swill at the start of Jill's shift, professor. She's wondering why the last employee is leaving with such a sour expression right up until she sees those six glasses. She debates preemptively cutting him off, but it's too early to pick a fight with a patron.]

Er...G'evening, sir. Are you, uh. Do you need me to call you a cab?

[authorships]

[Ah, a waitress. Andersen lifts his head to blearily squint at her. She looks... somewhat familiar???]

Do I look like I'm finished? [He says, words slurred. Andersen sweeps out his arms.] The night is still young, and I'm still breathing! I'm far from done!