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<<if $despair is 10>>\n\n[[You can't remember what happened next, exactly.|You can't remember, anymore.]]\n\n<<elseif>>\n\nNo. If there is something out there - and if it isn't just a storm - you want no part of it. You're staying in your cabin, where at least you know the area. It's familiar ground.\n\n\n[[Wait it out.]]\n\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $despair is 10>>\n\n[[You can't remember what happened next, exactly.|You can't remember, anymore.]]\n\n<<elseif>>\n\nIt's a strange wand; you swear you can hear the ocean. And not in the sense of hearing waves against the ship and its gentle rocking, no. You swear you could hear whispers, and smell ozone and water, like a thunderstorm on the open sea. Yet you can also sense the gentle coolness of it, like the azure-blue water you saw at Fairhaven, and how beautiful it was. The sea is fickle, and unrelenting, and yet people love it so. \n\nYou marvel at it. Yes. Yes, this suits you best. \n\nYou practice lighting up your bunk to do homework with, simple light spells, and it emits a pale blue light. Somehow, it comforts you, and you sleep better and more deeply than you ever had before - helping you to be more refreshed the next morning.\n\nAs long as you ensure you don't oversleep, that is. If only you knew a way for it to emit a brighter light to wake you up, but for now, you use an alarm clock, just like everyone else.\n\nWhich is good. You have midterms coming up, and you need to study.\n\nSo sleep you get, and study you do.\n\n\n[[Midterms.]]\n\n\n<<endif>>

"Do you need help?" you ask in return, about the tea party, and get greeted with nods.\n\nWhile there is a teaching assistant called Bonnie helping set up the tea party, the Herbalism students that approached you are trying to help everyone be at ease, while having enough tea for everyone to at least have one cupful; you slide into the role of host, doing inventory for the tea, telling Bonnie how much tea to requisition, and trying to arrange seat lists. It's hard work, and work that you're not used to, but in return your Lore teacher offers you extra credit. \n\nYou performed a role, and nicely at that, after all.\n\nBut you smile thinly. Of course you did; performing, in some way or another, has been a part of your life since you could remember. At least with the tea party, you could help people be at ease with it.\n\n\n-\n\nSpeaking of performances, you learn that the stories you've been using in Lore class are actually ghost stories collected from where Crossroads Academy travels through. There's information on the ports of call, too. Your Lore teacher assigns reading one of these; which do you read?\n\n\n\n[[Ghost stories?]]\n[[Read about Fairhaven Island.]]\n\n

Their names are Callista and Christopher Li, and they are in fact twins; not identical twins, obviously, though they do play up their similarities sometimes. \n\nThey are Mages - not just any wizard, Mages can fight against Powers and Echoes. It seems silly, as the rationale behind this is that Mages use the power of hope and optimism to try and counteract the sheer emotional forces of anger and despair, but then again, you figure that magic itself doesn't make much sense either, and this makes just as much sense as learning magic. And if magic is real? Well. Perhaps this whole "hope counteracting despair and anger" thing is real, too.\n\n\n<<if $despair > $anger >>\nYou see Callista Li after midterms, standing on the deck, on the prow of the ship getting splashed by water. She's wearing cargo pants and a tunic; simple, effective clothing. Her wand seems attached to a leather binding, which is in turn attached to a carabiner at her belt. You marvel at this - when she was wearing her robes, she looked like an old fantasy wizard that could store anything under those robes. Not much had changed - she could probably store all sorts of things in those pockets. The modern meets the magical. \n\nShe turns to you.\n\n"A storm is coming," she says. "Please, beware."\n\n<<elseif>>\n\nYou see Christopher Li do some sort of yoga stretches on the deck, after midterms, as the sun is setting. They look like a cross between yoga and tai chi, at least; you can't place it, but it makes you think of old martial arts movies. \n\nDo Mages really fight against anger and despair?\n\nChristopher turns to you. His voice is quiet.\n\n"Want to join me? I can teach you some stretches if you want."\n\n"Sure."\n\nYou spend the next thirty minutes going over three simple stretches, and talking. He's softspoken, but firm, and you like him. \n\nBut would he really win in a fight against a sea monster? \n\n\n\n<<endif>>\n\n\n[[Storm's coming.|What storm?]]\n\n

It's a strange wand; you feel flames of righteous anger boiling in your heart. How dare things not be fair. You'll spread your wings and fly, and soon.\n\nBut at the same time, it's comforting, like the bonfires you remember from Fairhaven. The idea of being close to warmth soothes you when you go to sleep, and you sleep better than you have before, full of energy the next day.\n\nWhich is good, because midterms are approaching even faster than you thought, and while you're confident in your ability to pass them, you're more concerned with what happens after.\n\n\n[[Midterms.]]

You study how to summon a pipe-fox; you don't use pipes, but you learn how they're called that because these little summoned-foxes used to be captured and carried in little pipes. \n\nYou think you'd just pick them up and carry them, because - well, foxes! They're canine, but not dogs, and they're more independent, a bit like cats. You think that this suits you very well; you're in between and neither already!\n\nSo, congratulations. You have your very own Pipe-Fox!\n\n-\n\nThe little fox is sleeping on your lap as you're reading your assigned reading one day, when three classmates come up to you. One also has the blue and black cord around their waist, but the other two are definitely girls; from the Herbalism class, you figure, but you instinctively reach to pet your fox.\n\nOne of them speaks. Hesitantly. \n\n"Um... we're from the Herbalism class-"\n\n-so you were right!\n\n"-and since the three herbs we're learning about right now make good teas... um... we're thinking... of hosting a tea party. For the unsorted students. So... um... since you're in our class also, we thought we'd invite you..."\n\n\n[[Tea party!][$anger = -1; $despair = -1]]\n[[No thanks.][$despair = +1]]\n[["Can I be the host?"|Host!][$anger = -1; $despair = -1; $hope = +1]]

A story about gender, magic, and emotion

You read more about your next port of call, Fairhaven Island, and come across this interesting little gem:\n\n"The governors of Fairhaven Island have been long loathe to greet anyone except with politeness and smiles, for they do not want the responsibilities of knowingly creating Powers or Echoes on their consciences."\n\nWhat does that even - you remember that some words got winces when you brought them up, like "witch", and you wonder if these words - Powers, Echoes - are related to that. \n\nIt also would explain why people like Fairhaven Island so much, if politeness and smiles were enforced by the governors themselves! \n\n\n\n[[Ask about Powers and Echoes.|Powers and Echoes.]]\n[[Leave it alone.]]

Welcome!\n\nYou've been selected to attend the prestigious and secretive Crossroads Academy, a summer school on a magical cruise ship where you can learn the basics of magic!\n\nIf you're just starting the game and haven't played it before, here's some guidelines:\n\nYou have Hope, Despair, and Anger meters. \n\nIf you're a boy, you start out with Anger 6, Despair 5, Hope 5.\n\nIf you're a girl, you start out with Anger 5, Despair 5, Hope 5.\n\nIf you select the "do I look like I'm 12?" option, you start out with Anger 5, Despair 6, Hope 5.\n\nGood luck making your way through Crossroads Academy!\n\nTo start off with, are you:\n\n[[A boy|You're a boy][$gender == "boy"; $despair == 5; $hope == 5; $anger == 6]]\n[[A girl|You're a girl][$gender == "girl"; $despair ==5; $hope == 5; $anger == 5]]\n[[...do I look like I'm 12?|You're a vaguely sarcastic person][$gender == "nb"; $despair == 6; $hope == 5; $anger == 5]]\n\n

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You're glad to help. Honestly and truly, glad to help. \n\n<<if $hope is 10>>\n[[A shining beacon.]]\n<<elseif>>\n\n\nYou go down the corridor, with your wand held high, announcing that the emergency is over.\n\nSlowly, cabin doors squeak open.\n\nYou reiterate this with promise of food.\n\nThe doors open more, and your classmates start asking questions. What kind of food? Is it hot food, or just crackers? \n\nYou look at the teaching assistant.\n\n"Hot food, definitely," you say. "Chili, quite possibly."\n\nAnd the doors open. \n\nYou have to get out of the way a bit, manuevering tactically to get past people, but you quickly feel accomplished. You hid, but it seemed everyone else did too, and it was the safest thing you could have done in that situation. \n\nAnd now you'll be getting food. \n\nYou knew Crossroads would be exciting, but not THIS exciting! Such excitement is bad for the heart. \n\nBut you're not alone, and that means something. You just want an ordinary life, but at the same time - you want things to be okay. You want something more.\n\n-\n\nAt the cafeteria, Callista Li requests a quick word.\n\n"Do you know what a Mage is, yet? Have your teachers brought them up?"\n\nYou shrug no, but do say that you read about Powers and Echoes earlier. Mages fight those, right?\n\nShe smiles, a little, at that. \n\n"We use our magic to try and better lives," she explains. "Anyone can become a wizard, if they can use magic. But to become a Mage, to devote your life to make sure the world improves bit by bit... that can take a toll only a few people are prepared to pay."\n\nYou nod at this, understanding. But there is chili to be had, and you don't quite see the point of where she's going with this.\n\n"My point is... do you want to become a Mage? You do not have to, of course. And it will change you, over time."\n\n-\n\nYou want:\n\n[[An ordinary life.]]\n\nOr is it that you want to be [[a shining beacon for others|A shining beacon.]] after all?\n\n<<endif>>

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You ask around - trying to be discreet - and ask about Bonnie.\n\nYou don't have a lot of information, but it's clear she can come across as arrogant, even as she can be bubbly about things she knows (or thinks she knows) about - and then you realize that you were pretty much like that, too. After all, weren't you trying to learn more about Fairhaven Island to show off?\n\nMaybe there isn't so much difference between you and her, after all, you start thinking; after all, she did help you, and from the sounds of it, helped organize the tea party, too - to get all the approvals needed, the space, all the paperwork and checking with teachers. She did all of that herself.\n\nSo maybe she isn't that scary?\n\n-\n\nSpeaking of scary things though, you find people talking about ghost stories. It's summer, and of course people tell ghost stories all the time in the cabins and bunks of any camp and whatnot but... these sound like ones you COULD encounter, as if Crossroads keeps books of these stories on hand. Is it really that wise to keep a bunch of ghost stories, ostensibly from the very areas Crossroads travels through on the school ship, near hormone-addled magical school students?\n\nThat's a bit irresponsible of them...\n\n...but the stories seem to be really good, and really scary. \n\n\n\n[[Read some?|Ghost stories?]]\n[[Too scary!]]\n\n

You decide to read some ghost stories, taken from the area Crossroads Academy travels through; and including some stories that Crossroads itself has. Some are pretty standard - the tale of the young bride whose ship was destroyed, so she never married her love - while some seem to be elaborations for magical students. \n\nThe tale of the young bride, for example, is told at least twice; in the first one, it's billed as a simple tragedy. She never got to marry the one she loved, after all; she died at sea.\n\nThe second one?\n\nHer name was Rose (why did all ghost stories have names like that?) and since she died in confusion and despair, became an Echo - in this version, a type of sea-witch, echoing screams and cries back to the living until the living, too, were overcome by sadness and tragedy. Either pulled underwater, or through - other means. Suicide. Or a ship just being lost at sea and the ship being taken over by despair.\n\n...you shiver, despite the warmth of the sun beating down. \n\n\nBut you continue reading.\n\n\nAgain, you encounter a story that has multiple versions: one about a ship captain who died at sea, left on small sandbar after his crew mutinied.\n\n\n[[Continue reading?][$despair = +1]]\n[[That's enough ghost stories for now.|Too scary!]]\n\n

\nCallista and Christopher sit you down and speak of many things.\n\nNot cabbages and kings, though. \n\nThings of the sea, and of the sky, and of hope.\n\n"We can teach you," they say as one. "But only after you are done at Crossroads."\n\n"Have to make certain you've got the basics down," Callista adds. Is she smiling? Christopher is, but you do not remember Callista being the easygoing sort.\n\n"Yes."\n\nAnd that is it. \n\nIt'll be settled by the administration, but instead of going back to Crossroads as a teaching assistant, or joining the wizarding world as a wizard... you're on track to become a Mage. \n\nBut that is another story, your struggle to become a Mage - one that, perhaps, you will tell in detail later.\n\n\n[[A shining beacon.]]

- Credits - \n\nSpecial thanks goes to [[the Interactive Fiction Fund|http://iffund.net/]], without whom this little game would not be made.\n\nCSS stylesheet "Warm Cabin" courtesy of Leon's Twine Stylesheets: [[http://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/node/5163]]\n\nHaiku for end routes courtesy of Ink. \n\n\nGame designed and written by Makki.\n\n\nAll rights reserved.\n\n-\n\n\n[[Restart Game?|Start]]

Mmm, sunshine.\n\nIt reinvigorates you a bit, just taking the time to relax in the sun like a normal person and not wearing the same old robes all the time. \n\nYou're still alone, though. And not having acquaintances, not having friends, is starting to get to you. \n\nYou learn the next port of call is a place called Fairhaven Island; did you want to read about it?\n\n\n[[Speaking of Fairhaven...]]\n[[Surprise me.]]

You think nothing can get you down, and you find out that there's some ghost stories that Crossroads Academy keeps in its small library room. Just a paperback collection; in fact, it doesn't even look like a proper paperbook book, it looks more like a binder of loose papers printed off at a printer somewhere. But you figure it probably was printed off at a port of call and in a hurry, and hey - with the warmth of the sun, it can't be too bad, right?\n\n<<if $gender is "nb">>\nBesides, you've heard about this book before; it's used in the Lore class as a textbook of sorts. The idea is that you make your own copy of this, retell the stories, and use it for your performances; internalizing the stories and then adding your own twists to them. But reading them outside of a class lends you time to actually enjoy them, and maybe practicing telling the stories to people other than your immediate Lore classmates.\n<<elseif>>\n<<endif>>\n\n\n[[Ghost stories?]]\n[[Too scary!]]\n\n

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You forget about Callista and Christopher and go back to your studies (and by studying, you really mean also reading about cool things wizards did in the past, because that's awesome to read about and it counts as studying, right?), but then the next morning, you feel waves crashing against the ship. \n\nIn your cabin, you feel more cramped than cozy. You feel less safe. \n\nSomething - something out there - is going to get you.\n\nYou know it.\n\nThe question is: what will you do now?\n\n\n[[Hide.][$despair =+1]]\n\n[[Investigate.][$anger =+ 1; $hope =+1]]\n\n

You wait.\n\nAnd in the dim light of your cabin, waiting seems forever. The cabin seems cramped instead of cozy and small; your trunk of clothes and sundries lies next to your bunk, and as the ship rocks in the water, you can feel the weight shift too. \n\nIt's not just any storm.\n\nSomething big is out there.\n\nSomething big, and it seems to want the ship.\n\nThoughts flash through your mind, but they return to a common theme: you didn't sign up for this, but what can you do about it? This is the safest spot for you right now.\n\nYou didn't sign up for this, but you did.\n\nYou remember a waiver about liability, and that magic is inherently dangerous. A great adventure, yes, but dangerous.\n\nYou wonder how your family is doing, what they're doing now. Your father's probably cooking up some chili - he uses his own tomatoes for it. You recite the ingredients to yourself, almost like a mantra - tomatoes, beef, bison meat. Jalapeno peppers. A stout beer, one bottle. Always one bottle. \n\nYou shall not fear. You are thinking of chili.\n\nYou're on the third recitation of how he cooks it when the shaking eases, and the ship's rocking returns to the rhythm you associate with normal.\n\nIt's over.\n\n...now you want chili, though.\n\nYou curiously - and hesitantly - move to the door of your cabin and peek out. \n\nA teaching assistant is there, shining a green-yellow light in the corridor.\n\n"All clear. Emergency over. All clear!"\n\nHe looks tired.\n\nBut when you go up to him, he smiles. "The Li siblings did it! They stopped the monster. Well, them and what we've got for the adminstrators also, can't ever go at it alone." He grins, now. "Tell the others on this floor for me?"\n\n"What's in it for me?" you ask.\n\n"I'll see what's cooking in the ship's kitchen for ya and everyone on this floor." He winks. "Bit of food helps ease a bit of a scare, yeah?"\n\nYou have no idea how he knew what you were thinking, but agree with him nonetheless. You're hungry. And that was scary.\n\nBut first - \n\n\n[[Tell the others.][$hope = +1]]\n\n

So, you're a girl. Great!\n\nYou look around you and observe: not everyone has the same classes. In fact, some of them are wildly different: where yours includes Herbalism and Pain Reduction, some of your classmates have Ceremonial Magic and Summoning. Even some more of them have a combination of the two; Herbalism and Summoning, for example. There seems to be a pattern to it, but to be honest, it's your first few days at Crossroads Academy and you're nervous. \n\nYou did, however, figure out the pattern to the robe sashes given out upon entry as a student into Crossroads Academy:\n\nGirls wear blue and white cords around their waist;\n\nBoys wear black and gold cords around their waist;\n\nPeople who just want to identify as people, or who don't care about gender, wear blue and black cords. \n\nTeaching assistants - who are advanced students doing this school multiple times - wear red ribbons, in addition to their sashes/cords.\n\nYou're called a wizard; you made the mistake of asking "Why not a witch?" at your first class, to the wince of the teacher. Wizard it is, then.\n\nYou hear about working with familiar animals, but you're not allowed to summon them yet. \n\n[[Raise a ruckus][$anger =+1; $despair = +1;]]\n[[Go with the flow|You're new here][$despair =+1; $hope = +1]]

<<if $hope is 10>>\n\n[[A shining beacon.]]\n\n<<elseif>>\n\nIt's not much, but helping is helping, and you want to help.\n\nThe teaching assistant lets you pass, and you run down the other end of the corridor with your wand held high and shining bright.\n\n"Emergency! Please stay in your cabins!"\n\nYou shout, and in an effort not to destroy your voice, try to keep it at minute intervals. You remember the voice amplification spell, and use that too. \n\nIt goes slowly, and sometimes you see people peek out of their doors.\n\nYou start wishing for water. Water, water everywhere around you and not a drop to drink - or at least, not that you can see, anyway.\n\nBut nobody else is in the corridor, so you figure something's working.\n\nThe ship rocks hard to port and you brace yourself against the walls of the corridor; but then -\n\n- nothing. \n\nJust normal rocking on the normal ocean.\n\nYou smile, and lean against the wall, exhausted. Your throat is sore, even with the voice amplification spell on. Or maybe that's just from stress.\n\nEither way, you want to lie down, and sleep. But is the danger really over? And what happened, anyway?\n\n\n\n[[Back to your cabin?|Sleep.]]\n\n[[Stay where you are.|Stay.]]\n\n<<endif>>

It seems a lonely wand, but you pick it up and it feels - soft. Gentle. \n\nComforting. A bit, in fact, like a favorite dog easing his head underneath your hand, knowing you're still there and wanting the contact.\n\nWhich is good - that feeling helps you sleep, and helps ease any feeling of isolation you might have been feeling. Things are good. You might have midterms coming up, but you can see why Crossroads has such loyal assistants and administrators now.\n\n\n[[Midterms.]]\n\n

So you're a boy. Awesome.\n\nBecause of this, you have a different schedule than some of your classmates. You notice that while some of them have classes on things like Herbalism, or Pain Reduction, you have classes on Ceremonial Magic and Summoning. \n\nSounds pretty cool! You're also addressed as wizard, and you get a little sash for your robes. You think it's meant to be black and gold thread. So you see different people are wearing different colors: girls wear blue and white, boys wear black and gold, people who don't identify in that binary (or who don't care) wear blue and black, and the student assistants to the teachers - TAs - wear a red ribbon on their robes. \n\nIt makes you think of other schools: do they have classes like this? Is everyone called a witch or a wizard? Or - \n\nEh, why worry about that when you can potentially learn to summon your very own familiar animal to follow you around? Cats are traditional, but dogs are more helpful. You won't get up to dragons for... well, a good while. Which do you choose?\n\n[[Cat][$hope =+1]]\n[[Dog][$hope =+1]]

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Crossroads

Back to the sea!\n\nThe ship feels more confined now that you've had time to enjoy the relative luxury of Fairhaven Island, but that might also be the fact you put off your homework for a day or two, too. You didn't have to wear your robes. You didn't have to wear the cords. \n\nThe next couple of days are a relative blur; going to class, doing homework, doing everyday things like laundry and wishing you were back at Fairhaven. But at the same time, Crossroads is exciting; you've just about finished some introductory material, and you get to pick out your very own wand!\n\nYou don't have much to choose from, though. Starter wands aren't personalized; you get your personalized ones after the program ends. For your own good, the teaching assistants say; and after reading about Powers and Echoes, you wonder if there is more truth to that than Big Brother style "benevolent" dictatorship.\n\nWhich will you choose?\n\n\n\n[[Choose the red one.|The Flame Wand.][$anger =+1; $hope =+1]]\n\n[[Choose the blue one.|The Siren Wand.][$despair =+1; $hope =+1]]\n\n[[What's this grey one you see, off in the corner, that no one seems to want?|The Light Wand.][$hope =+2]]

You sleep a deep sleep.\n\nYou have strange dreams: dreams of feminine forms with long hair and inviting lips that morphed into the eldritch suckers of kraken and the smell of death on the sea.\n\nBut you know that things will be okay, in the end. Somehow, they are always okay, in the end.\n\nWhen you rouse yourself from sleep several hours later, it is midday, and you hear a knocking at the door. \n\nIt's Christopher Li, you find out. "We heard you helped," he said. "We want to know if you know what Mages are."\n\nYou shake your head. You have only a little idea. "I just wanted to see if I could help." Your throat still hurts a little. \n\nHe takes out some throat lozenges, as if anticipating this, and offers you one.\n\n"It's not a thing most wizards talk about all the time," he admits. "Mages are wizards, but... they're like civil servants, too. Those who take up magic to help for the greater good, to serve as lights in the darkness. ...to be all poetical about it, anyway."\n\nYou take the lozenge.\n\nIt's mint flavored. Cool against your tongue.\n\n"If you want to learn more, just let myself or Callista know." And that's it. No selling, no talking points. Just - an offer of information.\n\nAnd like that, he is gone.\n\nThe mint flavored lozenge still is cool against your tongue.\n\nCome to think of it, weren't you reading about Powers and Echoes before? They mentioned how Mages could somehow fight against them. \n\nBut you didn't fight against anything. You just helped in an emergency. All this is new to you; studying magic in the first place, all this talk of wizardry, this talk of Powers and of Echoes and kraken and mysterious murmuring mermaids who drown others in their emotions.\n\nYou could [[just be a wizard|An ordinary life.]]. An ordinary - if there's anything ordinary about them - wizard.\n\nOr you [[could be a Mage|A shining beacon.]].\n\nWhich do you choose, in the end?

You don't feel up to the tea party; it feels forced, and you crave something else. Coffee, maybe. Or something more sugary.\n\nIt's summer, after all. Summer's not a good time for tea parties! And you're not the type for them anyway. Now, once you're in port, maybe playing on the beach or something might be nice...! Or even starting a bonfire on the beach and telling stories. That sounds a lot more appealing than trying to drink tea and attempting to break the ice right at this moment. \n\nBut in the end, a lot of your classmates end up going to the tea party, leaving you no option but to stare at your textbooks and at your homework, alone.\n\n-\n\n\nYou hear that your next port of call is Fairhaven Island. It's a small island with its own governor, and apparently one of the most loved stops Crossroads Academy makes each year; the teaching assistants are looking forward to the trip, especially one called Bonnie who seems to gush about her favorite shops and restaurants there, how everyone smiles and is friendly, and how - \n\nAnd how, for once, her attention is not on managing order in the classes or in the cramped corridors of the ship.\n\n\n\n[[Read about Fairhaven Island.]]\n[[Read some ghost stories instead.|Ghost stories?]]\n[[Cut a class and lounge on deck.|Lounge on the deck.]]\n\n\n

You figure you'll read about your next port of call, so when you stop there you can act as tour guide, or at least show people where interesting things might be. It's an idea, anyway, and you can read on the deck, so it sounds like a pretty good way to pass the time in between homework assignments.\n\nUnfortunately, it means more research on your part, and talking to the teaching assistants - which means talking with Bonnie. Voluntarily.\n\nShe almost gives you the slip, saying about how she has to prepare for another event, but when you ask her about Fairhaven Island, she bubbles over with information.\n\n"It's my favorite port!" she says. "There's plenty of shopping to do whether you're interested in magical stuff or not. The Lore students are going to take a field trip out there, they do it every time. And even if you just want some excellent food, there's..."\n\nShe lists down several restaurants and cafes by the harbor for you, in careful writing, even drawing little maps for them. "And here's the clock tower; you can't miss it, it's the highest point in Fairhaven! They say time passes more slowly in Fairhaven, after all, so it's become their tourism tagline, I suppose... in any case, if you ever get lost, just find your way to the clock tower and reorient yourself! Easy!"\n\nMaybe Bonnie isn't so bad after all? \n\n\n[[Learn more about Bonnie.][$hope = +1]]\n[[Speaking of Fairhaven...]]

Callista and Christopher smile.\n\n"We'll be here." \n\nAnd that's that. You're left to work through the rest of Crossroads Academy, and the administration regards you with a sort of quiet respect. \n\nBut you're left comfortably alone, which is what you wanted; peace, quiet, and the sea. You're not lonely; you have friends, you have what you want... \n\nDo you content yourself with [[an ordinary life|An ordinary life.]] or [[find yourself a beacon of hope|A shining beacon.]] anyway?\n\n\n

Aside from Crossroads Academy, you lead a life remarkable in that it is not remarkable; at least, by wizarding standards. Certainly your time at Crossroads was memorable, and you return to be an assistant and learn more specialized magics; but you go to college. You wash dishes with spells to make it easier. You keep your wands - your student wand, and your "graduation" wand - on hand, in case you need them.\n\nBut you don't. \n\nYou're just you, and that's all you wanted.\n\nJust an ordinary life. And an ordinary you.\n\n\n-\n\n\n(You've reached the Neutral End! Did you want to check out the [[Credits]] now?)

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This isn't fair.\n\nThere's a long tradition of girls with familiars, particularly cats: why do guys (okay, and nonbinary/agender folk, but still) get to learn summoning right off the bat?\n\nYou make pins. You distribute buttons.\n\nNot many people wear them. They're more focused on doing their homework, or nervous about getting used to the ship; or they're busy planning for tea parties, or they're simply longing for home. \n\nBut one of the teaching assistants notices. Her name is Bonnie. You've seen her before: aside from her fiery red hair, she looks the epitome of prim and proper. Skirt down to the ankles, sensible ankle-boots, robes that end where a tunic usually would - but it manages to not be drab. She's 19, and it shows, not what you imagine a 88-year-old might dress like.\n\nHer flame-red ribbon is pinned snugly at the chest front and center so everyone can see, not at the cord for the waist, or even at the lapel like every other teaching assistant.\n\n"You don't want to raise any trouble, do you? These buttons aren't authorized for any club or other extracurricular activity, after all."\n\nARGH.\n\nYou try explaining, but she won't budge either.\n\n"It's probably best if you save your... passion for DIY and crafting, for better uses at Crossroads Academy."\n\nYou keep the buttons on hand, and the button-maker.\n\nYou'll try again. You don't know when, but this has only irritated you even more - how can things change if no one speaks up?\n\n-\n\nAfter Bonnie talks to you and leaves, nobody talks to you for a couple of days - no one from the new students, at least. No one like you. You're received with shrugs, or silence, or the vague "too busy".\n\nYou decide to explore and see if there's anything to do. If they won't come to you, you'll try and seek out friends yourself.\n\n\n[[Tea party!][$anger = -1; $despair = -1]]\n[[Lounge on the deck.][$anger = -1]]\n[[Read about your next port of call.|Read about Fairhaven Island.]]\n\n

In fact, in this school, you have to be at least 18. \n\nBut that aside.\n\nYou learn quickly that Crossroads Academy both genders people and not; while there are single bathrooms, and you get your very own single cabin (yay, you can pee in peace!), the hopes of a school that might finally accept you get dashed when you learn that the blue and black cord you received upon entering the school also has something to do with your schedule. You don't have the "girls" classes or the "boys" classes, but rather, a mix of the two, and a new one: Lore.\n\nIt's... not quite right, but not quite wrong, either. You're just not sure what to think.\n\nYou also hear about working with familiar animals, and find out you're allowed to summon:\n\n[[A dog|Dog][$hope = +1]]\n[[A cat|Cat][$hope = +1]]\n[[A fox|Fox][$hope = +1]]\n\nWhich shall you choose?

Woof!\n\nYou study and learn how to summon a dog. Unfortunately, it's not a mastiff or some other great dog; or more precisely, it's more of a fluffy puppy than a great hellhound. \n\nBut hey, a puppy is still a dog, right?\n\nAnd since it's a Summon, you don't HAVE to take it out on walks; but you find yourself taking your puppy out on walks on the deck of Crossroads Academy anyway, joining the others who had managed to Summon their canine companions, if nothing else because the puppy seems to really enjoy being with others.\n\nAnd why not? Maybe you can make some friends while you're at it.\n\nMaybe being at Crossroads isn't so bad.\n\n-\n\n(You now have a Pup!)\n\n-\n\nWhile you're out and about, some classmates approach you - hesitantly, but the puppy likes them and sniffs them happily.\n\n"...would... I mean, that's a nice dog! ...but would you like to attend a tea party with us? We're from the Herbalism class, and..."\n\nYou almost don't hear them, but once you stop paying attention to the very excitable puppy and finish chastising said puppy for jumping up on their legs, you figure out what they're asking.\n\n[[Tea party!][$anger = -1; $despair = -1]]\n[[No thanks.][$despair = +1]]

Fairhaven Island is many shades of green. Approximately fifty - from the shades of the grasses to the trees. It's a volcanic island, even though the volcano in question has been dormant for close to a millennia; it's a mountain now, and it looks inspiring in the light. \n\nA fair haven, indeed.\n\nThe coffee is some of the best you've tasted, and you walk around the shops; buying one or two things to take home with you. You write a postcard. Drop it off in the mailbox. Your legs aren't used to land, but they seem grateful for being on solid ground anyway. \n\nEven if the smiles here are mandated, it truly is a pleasant place, and you feel refreshed, at least for a little while.\n\n\n-\n\n\nThat night, you join up with your classmates on the beach, and listen to the teaching assistants tell stories in front of a roaring bonfire. The bonfire smells of woods and of barbecues and of good things - speaking of barbecue, there's also snacks to be had. \n\n<<if $gender is "nb">>\n\nYou put on a mask and help tell stories in front of the bonfire, using it to practice storytelling. Each mask has to do with the story, whether it be a mask of a fierce dragon or that of a sea-witch with her long hair; they're simple stories, but people seem entertained nonetheless, and the Lore teacher seems pleased.\n\n<<endif>>\n\n\n\n[[On your way!]]\n\n

You study and learn how to summon a cat. Unfortunately, it's not something like a panther or a lion; due to just starting out with summoning, you get a rambunctious little kitten.\n\n...it's still a cat, though!\n\nAnd on the bright side, because it's a Summon, you don't have to set out a litter box; you do, however, find out that you still have to clean up after it sometimes, if the kitten gets into your textbooks, knocks quills down, and otherwise does very catlike things.\n\nBut seeing a little kitten curled up by one of your books or sleeping in your bed at night makes you think it's worth it. Maybe things here at Crossroads won't be so bad after all.\n\n-\n\n(You now have a Cat!)\n\n-\n\nYou're still new, but some other new students approach you one day. They're hesitant about it, and from their cords you can see that the vast majority (of all 3 of them) are girls.\n\n"Um... if you have time... we're from the Herbalism class, and we're thinking about throwing a tea party for people... the three herbs we're learning about make good teas, after all! So... um... would you like to come?"\n\n[[Tea party!]]\n[[No thanks.]]

You have no idea why the Crossroads faculty included such stories for people actively learning magic, but you figure - maybe it's for the Lore class? The Lore class involves storytelling and performance, after all. So maybe it's like reading out passages of plays, or trying to read speeches dramatically, or even reading poetry - things you're used to doing for English or Drama classes back home.\n\nCompared to those passages and poems, reading ghost stories sounds more effective to you. Just not your thing.\n\n\n<<if 6 < $despair <= 9 >>\nYou sink down into a chair. You can't go home - you're stuck here. Not even the ghost stories hold any interest for you. But you remember reading something about Powers and Echoes - maybe trying to get more information on them will shine some light on your plight? Knowledge is power, after all. \n\n[[Powers and Echoes.]]\n[[Leave it alone.][$despair = +1]]\n\n<<else>>\n\nYou realize that soon the ship will make port at Fairhaven Island and you have an opportunity to be on proper land again! - if only briefly.\n\n[[More about Fairhaven!|Speaking of Fairhaven...]]\n\n<<endif>>

You remember walking to your cabin, and then - you forget.\n\nIt happens all the time, obviously, but this time, you forget why you were there. You try - you struggle to remember, but all that's there is that you're alone.\n\nSo very alone.\n\nAnd you're cold. Why are you cold? \n\nYou hear voices around you - faint whispers, like a radio in the next room left on. "We need to find a Mage, quickly." "There's no time. We're going to have to-"\n\nYou're so very cold.\n\nTime passes, after that, slowly and muddled. But you see others come towards you; girlish-looking figures, with long hair. The hair looks weird, fanning out like it does when people go swimming - they look perpetually underwater.\n\nBut it's still beautiful. \n\nAnd they come to you, and they embrace you - but you do not feel warmth at all. Just a cold, distant numbness. Long hair, rippling in the water. \n\nYou are an Echo now. \n\nAnd you will always be alone.\n\n\n-\n\nboat after boat to\nthis spot; I have drowned them all\nwringing clouded sleeves\n\n\n(You received the Despair End! Did you want to check out the [[Credits]] now?)\n\n\n

They give you a blanket, and some time to rest, but Callista and Christopher Li both come by and ask how you're doing.\n\n"You shouldn't have done that," Callista says, matter-of-fact. "The administration will not be pleased; students were told to stay away."\n\nChristopher smiles a little at this, and just punches you slightly in the shoulder. You don't bruise. You don't even mind.\n\n"They're going to question you," he says. "But we'll stick up for you. Sometimes... sometimes you do have to bend the rules, just a bit, for the greater good."\n\n-\n\nThey do.\n\nYou're asked to change into your formal robes, and you stand there in front of the administration and the teachers, thirty-three of the thirty-six of them, with your cord and your black student robes and you're sweating and it's hot and quite frankly, you're trying not to have a panic attack. Luckily, your classmates aren't present to see this. (You figure that's where the other three of them went; to make sure the classmates in question weren't seeing this.)\n\nBut Callista and Christopher are there, and sitting on a bench by you, and while the administration talks about Rules Being Broken - the teaching assistant (who you find out is named Jacob) is there too, and gives his account - Christopher clears his throat.\n\nThey fall silent.\n\n"Thanks to the hard work of this young wizard, we could defeat the Kraken more easily. While they have broken the rules, I do not recommend any harsher punishment than, perhaps -" and here his eyes twinkled, even though his voice remained soft - "- helping Jacob with his duties for three days."\n\nJacob grins at this. \n\nYou get the feeling you're being let off lightly.\n\nBut the administration agrees to this. You sign a paper to the effect, stating that as a disciplinary measure you're helping Jacob with his duties, you admit wrong, etc., etc., etc., further infractions punishable by more disciplinary action - but you're glad you're not told to leave, or told never to practice magic again.\n\n"You'd make a good Mage," Callista says to you, as people are leaving. "If that's what you're interested in."\n\n"But how would I become-" Everything you've read basically treated the Mages as something that just happened. They sprang out of the wizarding world fully formed, or something. Not something anyone could just learn!\n\nCallista smiles. "Anyone can learn to, it's just a matter if they have the propensity to. Would you like to?"\n\n[["Sure!"|Accept!][$hope =+1]]\n[["I don't think I can."|Decline.]]\n\n\n\n\n

The students who approached you explain what teas they're using.\n\n"We decided on Mint, of course, for alertness. And Chamomile, for relaxation. And Hibiscus - well, we're mixing rose in with all of these but it's summer, after all. And hibiscus tea is a nice summer tea, especially when iced!"\n\n...they really thought this through, trying to break the ice among the new students. \n\nYou have your tea and talk with your classmates - and with others from different classes. You do learn that Lore is a separate class, and concentrates on performance and storytelling; Summoning is for guys and nonbinary folk; and it seems Pain Reduction is solely for girls. \n\nSpeaking of pain reduction, the teacher's assistant from the Pain Reduction class is there - her name is Bonnie. She looks around the room, drinking her hibiscus and rose tea, looking proud - though you can't tell if it's proud of the other students, or proud of herself.\n\nAll in all though, it's a fun little tea party, and the Herbalism students get commended by teacher and student alike later on their teamwork and ingenuity. \n\nIngenui-tea, even.\n\nThe teachers are fond of puns.\n\nBut it helps break the ice, and everyone seems more relaxed afterwards!\n\n-\n\nThe next few days are loaded with homework, but you find out that you'll be going to a port town known for its friendliness - Fairhaven Island, in fact. Bonnie - the teaching assistant you saw at the tea party - keeps going on about how everyone is full smiles there, and how there's plenty of shopping and sights.\n\nYou also hear about the ghost story books that Crossroads Academy keeps in its small library; you don't know why Crossroads keeps things like that when there's students learning magic on board, but it seems like a great way to learn more about the area in which you're traveling.\n\n\n\n[[Ghost stories?]]\n[[Read about Fairhaven Island.]]\n

<<if $despair is 10>>\n\n[[You can't remember what happened next, exactly.|You can't remember, anymore.]]\n\n<<elseif $hope <= 5>>\n\nEnjoying Fairhaven Island should also help bring up your spirits, you think; that makes you even more determined to enjoy Fairhaven Island when you get there. And at this point, you'd be there after your second class - the ship will make port, and you'd have some time to explore and walk on proper land again.\n\nMagic is forbidden to use outside of Crossroads Academy, but theoretical homework still got assigned - and for those in the Lore class, actual homework. \n\n<<elseif 6 <= $hope < 10>>\n\nYou can't wait to head out and enjoy Fairhaven Island - not that you won't be careful, especially if the stories about the enforced smiling are true, but that it'd be a welcome break from classes. And who knows, maybe you can come back to things with a fresh eye and mind.\n\n<<endif>>\n\n\n[[Land!|Fairhaven.][$hope = +1]]\n\n\n

The second story you come across describes a ship captain moored on an isolated sandbar. A deal went south and the crew mutinied; however, they did not leave him at a port, nor did they kill him outright.\n\nThey left him with one pistol, and laughed. "Make your own decisions," one said - "You only have six shots in that, after all!"\n\nThe captain died of anger, they say; anger festering in his stomach, in every one of the few bites of meat he took, for he knew those bites would be his last.\n\nHis last shot was for himself, and he swore vengeance upon his treasonous crew. \n\nThat night, a lightning storm struck the very ship he had been captain on; she rocked to and fro horribly, and the crew - seasoned sailors all - felt sick and superstitious. Some whispered this was their penalty for getting rid of an otherwise good captain and leaving him to die like they did; but their whispers were drowned out by the anger of the sea.\n\n...and by a monster from the depths pulling at their faces with its suckers, leaving naught but unrecognizable eggshell-smooth corpses rotting in its wake.\n\nA Kraken, it was called; a Power of the sea. \n\nYou shiver at this story, and hope one does not come to you. You check the crew logs - surely, there is a Mage on board? Surely one of the teachers? Administration? Maybe even the Captain himself?\n\n\n<<if $despair is 10>>\n\n[[You can't remember, anymore.]]\n\n<<else>>\n\nYou don't want to die. Not like that. Not like this. \n\n-\n\nWhat brings you out of your panic is the news that Crossroads is approaching Fairhaven Island, an island full of smiles. \n\n[[Fairhaven.][$hope = +1]]\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $anger is 10>>\n\n[[You can't remember what happened, past that.|Flames.]]\n\n\n<<elseif>>\n\nIt might be just a storm, but at the same time, you want information. \n\nSo you leave your cabin, navigating the corridors a bit unsteadily. Luckily, the narrowness of the corridors actually helps you in this situation: you're more easily able to brace yourself as the waves crash against the ship and rock it.\n\nA teaching assistant is out on your corridor, blocking your path, his wand shining a bright red. \n\n"Emergency!" he calls out, and his voice is amplified, reverberating through the corridor, off of the beams, and down every nook. "An emergency has been declared, stay in your cabins!"\n\n"An emergency?" \n\nHe tones down his voice. "An emergency. They're calling available administration to the topmost deck. Students should stay in their cabins."\n\n"...that doesn't tell me anything."\n\nThe assistant repeats his emergency call again, and then looks at you. "We get storms, but nothing this big - if you want to help, though, you can help tell people on this floor what's going on. Like me."\n\nYou recognize the spell now; it's a simple light spell, the same as what you've been practicing with, to make a beacon. And to amplify the voice? Well, you've done that in class, too, to help be heard.\n\nYou could do it. You could do it, easily.\n\nBut do you?\n\n\n[[Fight and get past.][$anger =+1]]\n[[Help.][$hope = +1]]\n[[Go back to your cabin.|Wait it out.]]\n\n<<endif>>

You stay in the corridor, bracing yourself against the wall. \n\nJust in case.\n\nYou hear murmurs, snippets of songs you can't place. \n\nYou realize you've fallen asleep; Callista and Christopher Li are both by your cot. You're not in your room, but at the little med center onboard ship; the nurse is tending to other patients. \n\nYou want to describe your dreams, but manage an awkward "huh" instead. \n\nThey smile, a little. It looks a bit eerie how they do that at the same time, in the same manner.\n\n"We wanted to thank you for being so diligent," Callista says. "But Jacob - the teaching assistant that was out there - reported that you passed out. He's the one who took you here."\n\n"Blarghle?" You respond, getting a bit more coherent. \n\n"You need rest," Christopher explains. "Just rest. We took care of everything else - well, us and the rest of the administration."\n\nThey smile again. Rest sounds really good to you, in fact. You even have a little pillow on your cot.\n\n"But before we leave, we wanted to tell you of Mages. If you're interested in becoming one... you certainly showed your bravery today. So just let us know what you decide."\n\n"When you awaken, of course." Christopher smiles this time, and they leave as one.\n\n\n[[Sleep.]]

<<if $anger is 10>>\n\n[[You can't remember what happened, past that.|Flames.]]\n\n\n<<elseif>>\n\nYou can fight! You can be useful!\n\nAnd the devil take whoever tells you otherwise!\n\n\n\n\n...and you run, pushing past the assistant and booking it as best you can. You get screamed at, but the assistant has his own job to do - protecting more sensible students, hopefully - and you brace yourself on the corridor beams when you have to, but you get to the topmost deck eventually.\n\nBy the time you get there, you're trying to keep down your nausea.\n\nIt gets worse when you realize what's causing the storm.\n\nA sea-monster. A real, honest to god sea-monster; a Kraken, specifically.\n\nYou see Callista and Christopher there, and they're... throwing something at it. Not fireballs, really; it's softer than that. Golden. Not exactly puppies and sunshine, but whatever it is they're doing seems to be effective.\n\nThere are administrators trying to keep the Kraken's tentacles from latching onto the deck. THOSE administrators, however, are launching pretty much what you imagine to be fireballs, and there are scorch marks on the rails. \n\nWhat can you possibly do now?\n\n\n[[Use a light spell to highlight areas.|Light spells?][$hope =+1]]\n\n[[What is the Kraken actually going for?|Discernment.][$anger =+1; $hope =+1]]\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $anger is 10>>\n\n[[You can't remember what happened, past that.|Flames.]]\n\n<<endif>>\n<<if $hope is 10>>\n\n[[A shining beacon.]]\n\n<<elseif>>\n\nIt's a bit chaotic, but you're trying to figure out a method to this madness; does the Kraken want the ship itself? The people? Or - \n\nThe people, you decide. The squamous tentacles are crawling up the ship, but you're seeing that the damage to the ship is... actually fairly minimal. The administration is trying to keep it away from the Mages, and from damaging key areas.\n\nYou end up amplifying your voice. "It's going after people!" you shout, using a spell to make it easier on your throat. "Take cover!"\n\nAnd you light up the night, using the light spells you learned in your first days to spotlight people being attacked. \n\nIt takes a while.\n\nYou stop counting.\n\nThere are administrators recovering from suckers on the floor of the deck, but otherwise okay. \n\nThe Mages - the twins Callista and Christopher - are dancing a fine mist, their wands seemingly tapping out an invisible tango only they can hear. But you can feel it; memories of hope and of light surge through you. \n\nThe Kraken dissolves into a fine purple-silver mist into the night, and for some reason you feel at peace.\n\nExhausted, but at peace.\n\nYou don't remember much past that. You vaguely remember trying to explain what you did, trying to explain your decisions, and Christopher Li telling you not to talk now.\n\nYou sleep.\n\nDeeply.\n\nBut everything would be okay.\n\n\n[[A curious condemnation?]]\n\n<<endif>>

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Surprisingly, you see two people helping proctor your midterm exams: they pass out the papers and little manuscript books, and otherwise are silent. But they are clearly not students or teaching assistants: even their robes are different. Your robes are black, and you wear the cords assigned to you upon entrance: their robes are silver-grey, like you imagine old mirrors were, or a fine mist.\n\nThe two people are a man and a woman, and look very similar to each other. You guess they're related, somehow; probably brother and sister, if not twins.\n\nEven the teachers seem nervous - albeit, reassured - around them. They do project a sense of calm that even you can sense, though, and you work through your midterm exams without panicking at all. \n\n\nWhen you are done, you ask about the pair.\n\n\n\n[[Who are they?|The Mages.]]\n\n

You don't remember walking to your cabin.\n\nYou don't remember walking anywhere.\n\nYou remember getting mad, and then - \n\n...and then what?\n\nYou're alone, now.\n\nThough you feel full - sated, like you had a big meal. Did you eat a big meal? Did the lounge or cafeteria have some sort of special buffet - \n\nYou raise a hand to reach for your wand, and when you flex your fingers, you're flexing - \n\n-Tentacles?\n\nThey're too flexible to be fingers.\n\nAnd you feel full.\n\nDamnably full.\n\nOh well. The sea is yours now; you will command it, and the devil take the rest.\n\nPerhaps you are the devil.\n\nYou certainly feel - on edge. But you aren't made of edges anymore. You are made of sponges and of blood and ichor; you are made of the sea and of pressure and of magma. The fire that lurks under water.\n\nStrangely, it does not bother you.\n\nYou are a Kraken, now, and let no man look to the sky with hope. \n\nYou will destroy it all.\n\n\n-\n\nsmooth, suckered faces;\nonly night now where lightning\nonce warned you of me\n\n\n\n(You received the Anger End! The only thing left to do - aside from destroy all who come across you - is to check out the [[Credits]].)\n\n\n\n\n

You come across this passage, holed away in an appendix;\n\n"Powers are multitudes of things, but we call them Powers because of their affinity for destruction; on the seas, they can range from Kraken to lesser monsters. In the mountains, they can be ogres. In the caves, goblins; and so on and so forth. But they seem to be trapped in their own rage, and only seek out the destruction of what is around them. Powers are to be fought against if possible with Mages, and so any traveling company tries to recruit a Mage for this very purpose."\n\n<<if $anger <= 9>>\nPowers? Kraken? Nonsense. Everyone knows those monsters don't exist, and even if they did, you wouldn't become one. \n\nNot you.\n\n<<endif>>\n\n\nYou see a similar passage on Echoes:\n\n"Echoes are called Echoes by the magical communities due to their tendency to lose their own identity and latch on to the identities and magical abilities of those around them; in simpler terms, they lose themselves to despair quite literally. Echoes are to be avoided if at all possible, though on a sea voyage, a group of Echoes - known as sea-witches - are a very real danger. These particular Echoes latch on to ships and try and drag the vessels and their crews underwater, where the Echo can feast off of the identities and souls of the crew - and turn the hapless crew into Echoes themselves. A Mage can counteract Echoes, and so traveling companies try to recruit at least one Mage with them, so Echoes can resolve their own problems through contact with the Mage and thus not prove a hindrance to the crew. However, many Echoes - such as the sea-witch problem described just above - can overpower a single Mage."\n\n<<if $despair <= 9>>\n\nEchoes? \n\nSea-witches?\n\nWell, then no wonder the term "witch" wasn't being used for girl wizards here at Crossroads - who would want to be called a spirit parasite? \n\nBut it does make you wonder. You're at sea: and even though the teaching assistants have been on previous trips, none have mentioned that being on Crossroads was particularly dangerous. You remember signing a waiver, but - \n\nThen again, you are learning magic. So does that mean that these sea-witches, and these Powers, do have the possibility of destroying everyone on this ship?\n\n<<endif>>\n\n\nIn any case, it's about time to go to Fairhaven Island! You hope it'll help with your mood, especially as you hear it's popular with the staff and assistants at Crossroads.\n\n<<if $gender is "nb">>\n\nNo magic is allowed, though you and others from your Lore class are going to help with some of the storytelling. You've already picked out the mask you will wear for it!\n\n<<endif>>\n\n[[Fairhaven.]]

Makki

You might not remember everything in detail, but you remember enough.\n\nYou remember wanting to help others with your magic, and that being enough.\n\nIt takes some learning, but Callista and Christopher Li are the ones to give you the fine robes of a new Mage.\n\nYou bow, and smile.\n\nYou feel at ease - and finally, yourself. Whoever you are, whatever you are. You're not just any wizard, but that's not important; you are a servant, just as they are.\n\nOver time, you notice - you are less prone to anger, less prone to despair. And the stories of Powers and Echoes - you realize that anyone can become a Power, or an Echo. A male wizard could easily become an Echo if he fell into despair, just as a female wizard could become a Power by allowing anger to overcome her. That would explain why Echoes seem always female, and Powers always male; it's not that men are always Powers or ladies always Echoes, but the act of turning into a Power or an Echo transforms them in more ways than one.\n\nCallista teaches you this point, and holds up a hand. "We almost fell to that. Christopher and I used to switch places often as children: it makes sense that we would nearly fall into our own emotions... but we held out hope that we would not. And that very hope is what saved us."\n\nYou do not ask further, but you wonder.\n\nAnd there are many things in this world to wonder about, now.\n\n-\n\ngreen not of sucker\nor sea, a new mage reflects\nFairhaven’s promise\n\n-\n\n\n\n(Congratulations! You received the Hope End! Only thing left to do is to see the [[Credits]] now.)

<<if $anger is 10>>\n\n[[You can't remember what happened, past that.|Flames.]]\n\n<<endif>>\n<<if $hope is 10>>\n\n[[A shining beacon.]]\n\n<<elseif>>\n\nYou do what you can, which basically is throwing light spells around like a spotlight - you make out squirms of shadows on the rails, and you highlight them. You hear the pull of a sucker on the ship, you try and distinguish where, so the other administration can destroy it.\n\nIt's tiring work, but after an hour of doing this - of running around and throwing light spells, of getting drenched by runoff from squamous appendages - the matter is done.\n\nDone.\n\nThe Kraken dissolves into a fine purple-silver mist into the night, and for some reason you feel at peace.\n\nExhausted, but at peace.\n\nYou don't remember much past that. You vaguely remember trying to explain what you did, trying to explain your decisions, and Christopher Li telling you not to talk now.\n\nYou sleep.\n\nDeeply.\n\nBut everything would be okay.\n\n\n[[A curious condemnation?]]\n\n<<endif>>

You just gulp at it and bemoan your lack of familiar. Hopefully it changes - after all, aren't there plenty of traditions of witches with familiars? - but you want to do well at Crossroads Academy, so... you stay quiet, for now.\n\n-\n\nIn your Herbalism class, you are asked to keep a journal of the herb garden plants - you start out with Mint, as that's one of the most useful plants. Your teacher seems kind enough, but firm, and has wire-rimmed, half-moon glasses. \n\n"Mint can be made into a tea, or eaten, or used as a garnish..." he drones on, and on, about the history of mint and its uses. Fascinating stuff, if he wasn't so dry about it. If you wanted to hear it, you'd just read your textbook aloud. In fact, the textbook is probably more interesting and easier to follow than this teacher.\n\nA couple of classmates approach you hesitantly. By their cords, you can see that they're both girls. \n\n"Do... do you want to have a tea party? We figured the starting herbs can all be made into teas, so..."\n\n[[Tea party!][$anger = -1; $despair = -1]]\n[[Don't accept.|No thanks.][$despair = +1]]