shylarah

Over

@xodus Except they're /not/ in the same class, because classes should go by skill level generally (past the first few years, I'd think), otherwise you're not teaching effectively. Also the min age for graduating is 18. Elliot isn't that old yet, and Cam is /definitely/ not that old. Besides, a last-year test should be only for those actually /in/ their last year. If it's their last year, and they've spent several years there, and not using alchemy all the time and their mortality is such a big deal, they should be taught this much sooner, perhaps even alongside how to use their alchemy in the first place. If not, and AMRO /does/ teach it, it seems to me that they're setting the students up for failure. Important concepts are taught ASAP, generally, not last-minute. If it is taught sooner, then the test would come sooner, though perhaps without the rogue alchemists, and maybe with a basic weapon. Also not even giving a basic weapon in this situation seems rather stupid unless you've taught them hard-core survival techniques, especially with large predators and rogues.

Basically, you've been giving one impression of AMRO, though admittedly not the clearest one, and now you're reversing it considerably. I've been asking "why don't they emphasize not using alchemy for everything", and "why don't they encourage using common sense and mundane approaches". There was absolutely no indication that many teachers did.

Upon a second reading, I see the following:

When do we push our selves beyond what is humanly possible? In times of desperation, when we are backed against a wall and ingenuity is what matters.

Alchemy is a bane, A.M.R.O knows that and it cannot allow its Asylums to revel in it. You must be able to control it, to pacify it and the only way to learn that is if you can prove to be able to live through an impossible scenario without the use of alchemy. For Asylums every day is survival, against alchemists and insanity.

The objective is to teach them the most necessary ideology which is they are not alchemists. They must prove themselves better, rise to deny the impossible, rise above desolation and not be bent if alchemy is taken away. Else you are disposable.

@xodus

Not breaking when alchemy is taken away should be taught early, especially if it's important and even moreso if there's an all-or-nothing test.

This isn't the sort of impossible situation they will be faced with. Yes, you need to surpass your limits, and be clever, and find better ways. ...I'm having trouble framing what I mean. Basically, either you're putting the students in a situation you expect most of them to fail at, to see how they do, but without a safety net, in which case I'd think the survival/graduation rate for AMRO is pretty low. Which I suppose could be a thing, but this would be known, and I don't think my characters would be okay with this. Even Sparks would go against a system that kills more than half the people because you have an unfair test. Or they've been appropriately trained, and this is a test of their skills, in which case most should survive and it's not a stress test at all, really. Or you put a safety net in place -- like the Kobayashi Maru in Star Trek, it's a no-win scenario, but the goal is to see how a person reacts when faced with the worst. But it's a simulation in that universe, and nobody dies.

Am I making any sense? @Ryver et Rhine, can you give me a hand if I'm not?

Over

@xodus Doesn't that sorta defeat the point of training? My impression was that a lot of emphasis was placed on using alchemy. Now you throw the idea of a no-alchemy exam. Asylums don't need wild-survival, they need fighting survival. Their missions are generally locate and neutralize, or recon. It doesn't seem to fit.

Also using rogues seems risky, as what if the rogues flee? Why would they keep rogues alive? It's easier to take them out than capture them usually, I would imagine.

Still the general idea is fun, but I'd think something like this would come earlier on in training than the final year. It'd be at least as early as midway, maybe earlier. Additionally, we have people at different levels of training here, from final year to those with several more years to go, to vets, so throwing them all out there wouldn't make much sense either.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Riverside

Amuné shrugged at Ethan's questions. She knew what amnesia was but not why it happened, and even that was only because she'd shown a talent for her mother's trade of village healer and midwife. The girl didn't have the magic gift to go with it, but even a mundane healer was a very useful person in a little village such as where she'd grown up. Her jaw dropped when Cecil said he was less than a year old. She scrunched up her face. "Are you sure? Maybe you forgot more than you think, because you don't look like a baby." The whole Machina-as-a-person concept was very confusing to her, and the girl kept trying to apply living-people rules to what wasn't technically alive.

"Mommy never needed to heal any Machina," she told Ethan. "So I dunno if she could if she needed to or not. And..." her shoulders hunched a little as the image of the villages surrounding her mom and dad resurfaced in her mind. She shoved it away with a shiver. "And she's not here now," Amuné finished a bit lamely. "But Saint Edos can heal anyone, that's why he's a saint," she added, trying to regain a small amount of positivity.

"Yeah, I can walk," she told the man, with a slightly brighter smile than before. She let him set her down and turned her attention to Wyth, who demanded his due by shoving his head into her chest and making rumbly noises. He was glad his girl was feeling better, though still not sure what to think about the man that had made her sad and the other child who smelled like metal, oil, and ozone. "I've never caught a fish," Amuné said, looking at the river. She'd seen a big river before, with her father on the way to a fair, and there was a little one, more of a creek, that ran near her village. The village children loved playing and splashing in it. It wasn't big enough to swim in, but that didn't make it any less fun. "I mean, I've seen people fishing, but I've never actually caught one myself. But if we can catch one, I can probably clean it." She supposed cleaning a fish was a lot like cleaning a small rodent.

At the word "fish", the moorcat's ears lifted, and he looked at the water, then away in distaste. It was big enough to have the swimming prey, but experience told him that catching them in a strong current was more trouble than it was worth. Not that he exactly had a lot of practice. The water in the village was much calmer, and the fish there were usually on the small side.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

On the Road

Wyth hissed at Ethan, but stopped when his girl choked out, "Wyth, d-down." He paced around the man in agitation. The mixed signals confused him. The man had upset his girl, but she still thought he was okay, and now she was letting him pick her up? He was concerned, and maybe a little jealous. Comforting his girl was his job, why was she letting this stranger do it? He made a few small noises of complaint, but obeyed the command to stop being aggressive about it.

Amuné wrapped her arms around Ethan's forehead and wept into his hair. She had a terrible sinking feeling when he said they'd see her father again, and she resolutely turned her mind away from any hint of her magic, doing her best not to invoke it despite how desperately she wanted to see her daddy alive and well. She wouldn't be able to bear it if he wasn't. As much as she loved her mother, Amuné was her daddy's girl. She loved watching him carve wooden things, or just listen to the sound of his voice.

Her sobbing quieted after a minute or two, and by then she was worn out by the intensity of her outburst. She was content to let Ethan carry her, and rest her head against the back of his. She gave the distressed moorcat a watery smile. "It's okay, Wyth. We'll be okay." She listened curiously to Cecil speak of what little he remembered. It was funny, thinking that Machina might have memories. But he seemed nice enough, and he'd helped her and Ethan when the man was worn out from using his magic. "Sounds like he has amnesia," she said at last, her voice unsteady but thoughtful. "Maybe he hit his head? My mommy says that can make you forget things. Old people forget too, but you're not old, Cecil, you're barely older than me. But amnesia, there's no mundane treatment. You'd need a healer, one with the blessing of Saint Edos, and even then there's no guarantee...." The girl trailed off before looking down. "And most Magi are not using their magic now, so finding one would be hard," she finished, her expression glum. She didn't really understand /why/ Magi weren't liked anymore, only that it had something to do with the Church.

She'd never been to an actual Church building. Her village only had a small public shrine with an altar to the Nine Saints in the meeting hall, though she had been there. Her mother preferred praying there, though she also had a small shrine to Saint Edos in their house. Her father had tiny figures of Saint Oranoak and Saint Kedo, since he was Ydran and had Kedo's blessing, but no actual altar. He never went to the public altar either, saying that a person's relationship with the saints was deeply personal. It was a matter of where your heart was, not where your body was located. That memory made her eyes sting again, so to avoid crying she tried to focus on Cecil. "Um, I've never met a Machina like you either. We only had a few in my village, and they were old and pretty simple. Do you think most of the ones in the cities are more like you are?"

Over

@Xodus WOO POST! Though you mixed up Vail and Maeve again. Not that it isn't really easy to do. ^.^ *bounces around happily*

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campground

The girl's hand tightened where it was tangled in Wyth's fur, the best she could do at the moment to tell him Ethan wasn't a threat. The cat looked at her, then at Ethan, and stood down, giving a soft "maow~" and butting his head against her chest in his own bid to comfort her. Amuné struggled to explain why she was so upset between tears.

"W-want my d-daddy!" she cried, the sobs still ripping through her despite her best efforts. "They h-hurt him...and h-he said go r-run...d-don't come back...b-b-be brave...but I'm s-scared and I...w-wanna go h-home!" She looked at Ethan, her vision swimming with tears, and for a moment it was her father standing there, reassuring her. The child grabbed his hand and put it back on her head, clinging to it like a lifeline as her wails redoubled.

Over

@Rumplestiltskin Doesn't someone have beast form or self-transformation already? I remember being mildly annoyed that my idea for a second set of chars was taken, but Iunno who it was.

Over

@Ink Blood

o/`
But there's no sense crying over every mistake;
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
And the science gets done and you make a neat gun
For the people who are still alive~
o/`

@Rumplestiltskin because cake

Over

@Ryver et Rhine I AM HERE WHERE IS EVERYONE ELSE? Just kidding, I'm here and ready to rock!

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

Up to this point, Amuné had been a very strong, very brave little girl, as her daddy had asked her to be before telling Wyth to take her and run. She'd come so far on her own, farther than she'd ever been without an adult around. But when Ethan knelt down and patted her head, her lip trembled. Her father would do that too, often adding a hair ruffle for good measure, and the weight of a hand on her head made her think of him. The struggle against the feeling was swiftly lost. The girl burst into tears, just standing there and sobbing like the world was ending, and in a way for her it had.

Wyth was at her side immediately, letting his bulk serve as a reassuring pillow as he bristled and hissed at Ethan. All the moorcat knew was that the man had touched his girl, and now she was making sad sounds. It had to be his fault, and that meant he was bad. Amuné buried her face in his warm fur, trying to muffle her wails a bit so they wouldn't attract unwanted attention, but she couldn't get them under control. Her whole body shook as all the tears she'd held back since the day her life took an unexpected turn poured out of her.