A Dragon's Tail (Part 2)

Thursday, Nov 17th, Assistant Headmaster’s Study, Whateley

The wrap-up of the trip from Montreal, oh boy. At least Jeanne McDonald and Thulia aren't in trouble since Thulia didn't know the rules about fighting off campus. Thulia is getting off light with some reading up on the rules about fighting off campus.

Such luck is not to be depended on, and I have made an appointment for you both to see Ms. Dennon, who will go over what you did in detail and explain all the mistakes you made. You will take her instruction to heart."

Gulp, there is the kicker, not let off so light after all. A basic show and tell for Thulia and then to Dickinson, Who did they get to show Thulia around?

Jeanne sighed. "She's one of the senior combat instructors, she's very good at it - and unmerciful when it comes to tearing apart how your fights went. And then making sure you get trained to do better the next time. She's very much into the 'train hard, fight easy' school of thought."

Has Jeanne dealt with Ms. Dennon before or just heard about her from word of mouth?

They sent Hannah Samish aka Assy to give Thulia the show and tell tour. I hope Thulia has a lot of patience for those with a lot of energy. You are about to get your ears talked off, Thulia. Whoa, Assay's power is more impressive than I thought to get all that off Thulia. I think the Assistant Headmaster chose Assay on purpose to test Thulia's patience and possibly temper.

An hour with Assay! Okay, Thulia has more patience than me. Figures a dragon would think that about a huge pile of gold. Nope, Assay is in a class all her own when it comes to levels of energy, I swear she is secretly an internal energizer that uses it all talking and moving around. Greeted by Mrs. Selkirk, goodie, Thulia can have a tour of her new dorm without being dragged around. And no, Mrs. Selkirk is a woman you don't wish to disobey.

Room 219, I wonder who she will share it with. Nefertiti Copeland, aka Copacetic. A thumbprint lock to the door is a simple lock to Thulia, just how complex is she used to? Smart move checking the luggage, she is right about some of the students at Whateley. Good, Thulia is getting along with her roommate. Meet and greet with the girls downstairs, I hope none of them have any experience with similar beings to Thulia.

Erica and Cally escorting Thulia to dinner, oh crud, Nefertiti still has issues with Cally because of the brainwashing by the Amazon b. A surprise for Morgana that Thulia has become a student at Whateley today, Oh boy. Morgana's super SQUEE! I hope no one with enhanced senses is temporarily deafened. The explanation for how her being a student was all arranged, do they still have time to eat after she is done? Oh, everyone finished eating by the time she was done, dang.

Tiime to figure out a codename for Thulia! Heh, I wonder if it requires a split tongue or something else to properly pronounce a dragon's true name? Thulia is wise to be worried when the mischievous ones of the group smile like that.

Ouch, so many dragon-suitable names are already in use and the rest seem to suck. Dracaina, interesting origin for a codename. And I hope Thulia's power testing is soon, so curious.

Something to do at Poe that Thulia needs to do, ah, must be the spell to keep the secret of Poe that everyone in Poe has to have placed on them so they won't accidentally let it slip out. Boy, Thulia is going to be different from regular students, show her respect, and help those she cares about, and she will always show you respect in return. Oof, a binding spell on a dragon, sounds like it could be as bad an issue as for an Artificer.

Not sure how it would affect a dragon, already talking about the things the spell is supposed to keep secret, sounds like there is no need for it. A binding oath, smart move, Mrs. Horton. Yeah, I have no idea why some people have an issue with such things either, it doesn't affect you so live and let live.

Cally still has issues from being outed, I would still like to strangle those a**holes for that.

Friday, November 18th, Dickinson - Crystal Hall, 8am

Dragged to the Crystal Hall for breakfast by Erica and Cally, Thulia has to suffer the pain of Power Testing today. Start classes on Monday, ouch, only a weekend to relax. Wah, light breakfast because testing right after it, just isn't right.

9am, Start of power testing, Doyle Medical Centre.

Ah, seeing Dr. Tenent for testing first, the full medical and I hope she warmed up at least one of the tools she is going to use. 3, possibly 4 forms and Morgana will have the same once she can control her form properly, very interesting. Oh, good, Dr. Tenent is planning ahead with the testing, figure out what tests need to be performed in which forms.

Good reasoning for using codenames during testing. Hehe, hair looks cool in fire form, can't argue with that. Dragon clothing being fireproof makes a lot of sense. The upgraded dragon form is awesome! Ah, the same dragon form but keep the wings and tail not manifested when not needed, cool. I'm calling this last one her true dragon form, dang, I would hate to go up against her in that form.

Late morning, Power testing Underground Labs

All that testing and one of the testers decides to see if she has a danger sense or not while she is in flight, someone smack that guy upside the head, please. 3 times for the physical test, brutal. For the non-physical tests, I wonder if she will rate as a Gadgeteer or Devisor due to the magical nature of her creations.

A small amount of resistance to mental effects will come in handy at Whateley. No psi abilities, no warping. Heh, stop before reaching the sensors' melting point, that is more than Morgana did, those poor testers. The gadgeteer and devisor traits testing, boy, I wonder why the looks on the tester's face? Is she something rare or unusual?

Heh, after being spoiled on the Devisor coffee Thulia now doesn't want anything less.

Ms. Grime's Office, Magic Arts in Kirby Hall, afternoon.

Ms. Grimes is doing the testing for Thulia's magic herself and is excited about it, rare to see her this excited. Always the humble one, Ms. Grimes. Thulia, a lot of us humans don't get some of the human customs and we were raised around them.

Ooo, no longer recording and talking to Thulia about things off the record. Thulia does not want to modify a BIT again, not after the last time. Oh boy, Grimes has a point, so many students were eager to use the BIT Splicer when it became known before it got shut down. The 2nd option seems the best.

"Thulia... you can't work on an existing BIT, can you?"

Thulia started slightly, broken out of her semi-trance by the comment. "Ah... not really, ma'am. Not with any sensible chance of any sort of success."

Very restricted files in the secure files, if reading those doesn't discourage someone from experimenting on a BIT nothing will.

Ah, worried about Morgana developing her own skills in magic, a reasonable concern. A working knowledge of the Draconic language is going to take some time for Morgana to learn. Dojo for testing her combat skills, well, at least Ito has retired at this point. Some of the results of her power testing are interesting, eep.

Whateley Dojo, late afternoon.

Tolman, Beaumont, Ms. Dennon, and she brought back Ito to help in the evaluation of Thulia's combat skills! Most of her combat training is in her intermediate form, oh boy, this is going to be brutal. Hehe, she has already figured out that Ito is the most dangerous teacher there by his reaction to her summoning her staff. Thulia, I would listen to Ms. Dennon about the staff, some of the students here are stronger than a grown dragon in their final form.

The human form is between 2-3 Exemplar physical, dang. Normal form or as Morgana calls it her dragon form. Her final form, Ito got a small smile tugging at the corner of his lip upon seeing it, I'm scared for Thulia now. What does that sadistic old gremlin have planned for her?

Staff, a long knife for hunting, and her bow, good weapons to have skill in.

"About... 1200kg, sensei."

That is the draw weight of her bow, no wonder it seemed so insanely powerful in the previous story she used it in. First time a bow is getting tested at the Ranges, or is it?

Final Power testing interview

Sensei Tolman, Ms. Grimes, and Dr. Tenent, time for the Power Testing results. For the time being, arrgggh! No student wants to hear that. I hope the information Thulia can provide Dr. Tenent about the changes to Morgana will help in her future treatment. Some of the mental traits of a mutant, interesting. Gadgeteer, probably around 2, but hard to truly gauge since it is aimed at the use of magic, cool!

Faux-Exemplar 2 in human form, intermediate form Energizer 5 with power levels similar to Morgana, 'combat' form much more physically power than her other forms, hhm. Aww, the people at Whateley are no threat to you or your fellow dragons, Thulia. Well, most of them, don't trust a certain group in security.

Dr. Tenent scribbled some more notes on her pad. "Fascinating. We do have some similar cases in the literature, but nothing quite like what you achieved."

No confusing the girl.

MIDs aren't very accurate at all.

Do tell, do tell. MID as a mutant to help cover up her true identity, Thulia, there are a lot of nuts in the magic track at Whatley who would come after you for your blood, scales, and more for their magical properties if they knew what you were. Boy, I can see why Ito could retire in peace with Tolman as the Sensei for Martial Arts now. Whoa, from the way Tolman is talking Thulia's 'combat' form is a lot stronger and tougher than I previously thought. Ms. Dennon's Brick class, Thulia is going to become an ever more dangerous combatant.

Wait, that is the purpose of the magic courses, but what if a student doesn't want to specialize? Just how big a difference is there between Earth's essence levels and that of the Plane of Fire?

Grimes had to hide a chuckle at the ways Thulia brightened up at the idea of learning more and different magic.

She is a girl who would have given Fey a run for her money in the race to see who would be TA in the magic class.

The Imp's Office, early evening.

Hehe, Thulia, you are in for a surprise with Imp. Finding out she isn't an actual imp, priceless. Imp is her academic counselor, Thulia got very lucky. No wonder Thulia is having troubles, a translation spell taking everything literally would make navigating many cultures on Earth hard, but especially the United States.

"Uh...well, it's literal in that it just translates, it doesn't give me context, it's just a magical translation program, and it has real issues with things like slang. I have a little English now - using it a lot has a learning effect - but my language skill is pretty poor. If I lose it, I'd be pretty useless at English right now."

It is worse than I thought. Boy, not relying on the translation spell all the time is going to be interesting to see.

Wait, Gadgeteer and mage have classes on Saturday, yikes. Paper for her classes, I hope she can keep her flames under control.

Saturday, November 19th, Crystal Hall, Breakfast

Erica, no teasing the dragoness. Especially when you eat almost as much. Thulia experimenting with what breakfast foods she likes, and I wonder what she will settle on eventually. Nice of Vic to explain the teasing to Thulia. Nice schedule for the day, hope nothing goes wrong at the Weapons Fair. Oh, who am I kidding, something always goes wrong at those.

Saturday, November 19th, Costume Class, 0900

Custom parts for her costume, just what is Morgana up to? Beware of defective devises being sold by desperate students.

Mrs. Ryan has been good at showing us how to style and adjust the costume so that it doesn't really hinder us.

One of the most important skills in costume design, too many heroes and villains have messed that up and regretted it, if they lived long enough. Ah, yes, the folly of only using a magic forcefield for protection. Mark 1 costume to test it out and what works best for the next itineration, smart idea. Crud, the costume isn't fireproof, that is a huge issue if you don't want to flash everyone again, Morgana.

Saturday, November 19th, early afternoon. Whateley Weapons Fair. A supposedly secret location in one of the tunnels that everyone really knows about.

Don't worry, Thulia, after a few weeks you will get used to it too. Follow the smell of the coffee, don't tease the dragon girl. Bianca, the kind of guns they sell at the Whateley Weapons Fair are like nowhere else. Erica and Cally were there out of curiosity, oh boy, the more of them in one place the higher chance of trouble. Vic and the rest of the girls too, good grief. We are at Kimba code red, I repeat, Kimba code red. Tia dragged along as well, Morgana, are you trying to get the whole Weapons Fair shut down due to a huge incident? Huh, sounds like Gwen and her boyfriend are playing security to keep anything from happening, good luck.

Shutterfly's Stall

Great idea, Morgana, having your mask outfitted with those protections, too many people overlook flash protection in masks. That quick and at a reasonable price, Shutterfly deserves more work coming her way.

Cherry Bomb's stall

Twitch talking to a guy, and an ogre with dayglow hair arguing with Cherry about some of her wares, oh no. The boy with Twitch just saved the day by taking the ogre down.

Icejack, you are a bad influence on Twitch. Hey, the fight in Berlin wasn't Cherry's fault! Oh boy, Icejack, what do you have planned with all that especially the pyrolant rounds? Twitch's dad hasn't heard of Icejack's parents but has heard of Icejack, uh oh. Twitch knows where the Secure IT Labs are! Run for the hills! Peter! *smacks him upside the head* No staring down girls' shirts like that!

Non-lethal loads, always good to have more holdouts. *facepalms upon reading the name of Cherry's booth* Dang, she has all the good non-lethal loads, area taser would have come in handy in the Boston fight. 3,500 C pyrolant, good lord, that shouldn't be in the booth. Smoke bomb, glitter bomb, and flash-bang, those will be great in the combat final.

Aww, Laura's booth has to have a notice like that because of the chocolate incident. Aww, still hasn't given up on designing the PFG for Morgana. PFGs for Tia and Morgana, yay.

Smith's Table

Sprite talks to Smith about making some things she needs due to his metalworking skills. Ouch, much harder than it first sounds due to the size of Sprite, the magic metals involved, and the magic Sprite wants to be imbued in them. Malefis aka Caro, I think after the ring incident she might not want to craft a magical item for a little while. Maybe ask Artificer?

Helsing's Table

If the students knew about the kind of entities in, around, and near Whateley Academy they would be buying up her spirit stuff like hotcakes. Huh, she actually sold a few things. Shisa sleeping at the table, but actually awake and alert, sneaky, will Pastel call her out? Oh, Petshop's petting zoo is not too far away, Shisa, give the girl a break for one day. Gah! Eating them gives Shisa horrible gas, and poor Nyx is her roommate. Emiko is not into weapons and when did she get a boyfriend, trying to remember if it was in a previous story that was revealed, stupid head cold. Someone who uses weapons, but only in classes, a guy with common sense, no wonder Emiko likes him. Shisa, don't do it!

M3 at Petshop's table of cute and colorful small creatures.

With the emphasis on the level of cute that would send a normal person into insulin shock.

Okay, I understand why Shisa eats them, just so she doesn't have to look at them anymore. Thulia wishes to cast a small spell to check out Petshop's creations, why does a bad idea keep screaming in my head? She was checking them for magical potential, but why? Ah, because Morgana is going to need a familiar at some point, good enough.

Crud, I knew this was going to happen. Stark arguing with Cherry, sends one of her bombs flying on accident, a training dummy, but people scatter anyway. It lands close behind Shisa and makes a loud firecracker bang startling Shisa into leaping right at a table leg supporting Petshop's display. The creatures scatter and chaos ensues due to the various reactions from students.

M3 in the path of a mob of students trying to escape, are forced into a corner and Morgana going to help Laura. Laura packing up and once she is finished it is time to find a way out of this mess. Idiots firing out weapons without a care who they hit, scared creatures. Great, the creeps who made the robot that injured Bianca made an updated version and it is activated and searching for something. Going straight after Bianca, those idiots didn't learn with the last robot!

Glad that Thulia stopped it with an impressive spell. Time to escape the chaos, another Whateley Weapons Fair down, one of these years they will get through one without an incident. Vic, just ignore what Shisa is doing, it is for the best.

Late Afternoon, the Quad, after the end of the Weapons Fair.

"It's rather traditional for everything to go to hell at the Fair. But they always hope for better..."

I swear there is some chaos imp camping in the section of the tunnels they use for the Weapons Fair, it lies dormant and awakens each year just to mess up the Fair and feed on the chaos to satiate its hunger for another year.

Time to shop and they don't wear bras in the Plane of Fire, oh boy, Thulia is in for a painful experience being sized for one. Interesting tools of the trade that Thulia needs for magic. Good lord, that is going to be some of the most expensive ink in the world. I have to agree with Thulia, they need to change the colors of the school uniforms already. Under Armor, okay, that is definitely better than a bra.

Thulia shook her head. It's not enough they invent bras, then they have to be colour-coordinated. Humans!

You will get used to our quirks in time, Thulia.