[OPEN]

[marmoron]

Who: Keith and OPEN )+ closed prompts for Kisara and Lance)
When Post-Herald - July 8th
What: A network post + doing some research. Closed prompts involve hijinks in the Outlands
Where: Library, around campus, various places in the Outlands
Warnings: There may be some battles goinng on in the Outland prompts. WIll add warnings as necessdary

A. Network Post
[The post is made the day after the students and faculty return to the Academy following the fight with the Herald and the messy "clean up job" of the U.N forces. Keith's been watching the rumors circulate on the internet and watching news coverage of the incident in Australia with increasing annoyance.[

anyone else wondering what the fuck the un was thinking?
how the hell was detonating a nuke the better option?
just how far are these guys gonna go to keep the existence of magical society a secret from everyone?
are people here seriously okay with this?



B. Library
[Anyone that happens to be in the library will find Keith hunkered down in the library with a stack of boks piled up on a desk in a more secluded area. Finals are long over and summer classes definitely got cancelled so what the heck is he doing in here? Well for anyone curious and potentially lurking close enough to rea the spines of the books he's pulled out, they're all topics relating to the history of the Outlands and Outland factions.]

C. Around campus
[As campus activities start winding down for summer vacation and students are preparing to go wherever their summers take them, anyone still around may find Keith laying out in the quad giving his wolf some well deserved ear skritches. But when he's not doing that, he's looking at his phone looking contemplative. On his screen, he's looking at plane tickets to Arizona. After a long moment of staring, he turns to the wolf, muttering a little quietly.]

You probably should see it, right?

D. wildcard
[Feel free to hit me up if you've got any other ideas in mind!]

Comments

a;

[thegoofball]

It's pretty messed up.
Makes you wonder how far they're going to keep going as more of this stuff happens.
Wouldn't it just be better to find an excuse that doesn't involve setting off a bomb?

[He Hates agreeing with Keith, but...]

[marmoron]

[Ah yes. Tide goes in, tide goes ou. Heralds rise then Heralds fall, and this guy will also always be a baby thorn in his side. Christ he almost forgot he was ticked off at Lance, too.]

why do they need to make the excuse in the first place
the outlands arent gonna go away

[thegoofball]

idk they probably want some reason to keep people away from there
but there's a better way to do it than blowing the place up
it's just stupid

[At least he's not...trying to fight him about this?]

[marmoron]

starting to wonder if nightfall's actually just a nuclear winter caused by people trying to cover up the existence of magic
someones gotta go talk some sense into the leaders at the un

[Then a minute later:]

wait why the hell are you agreeing with me

b

[stavros]

[Kokoro looks up from a thick encyclopedia volume -- is she actually reading that or does she have some other book stuck up hidden behind it?]

Are you researching, then?

[marmoron]

[Keith is giving that encyclopedia a skeptical look because yeah... he honestly wouldn't put it past her to be reading that thing cover to cover, but....]

Something like that.

[He keeps the book open and doesn't put it away, but she does have his attention for now.]

What about you?

[stavros]

Studying! The mind cannot go to waste over the summer holidays, after --

[As she sweeps out a hand to illustrate this, she accidentally knocks over the encyclopedia, leaving up the smaller book standing behind it, a teen mag with a bright pink logo touting articles like "Best Summer Movies," "What Your Friends are REALLY Thinking," and "The Stars Have Spoken: Your Summer Bikini Horoscope!"]

...it's research.

[marmoron]

[You know. He was perfectly ready to just take her at face value on that one, but then she knocks over that encycloppedia and well... let's just say Keith's not laughing outright, but there's a raised eyebrow and what is definitely an amused grin.]

"The mind can't go to waste over the summer" ...huh. What kinda "research" [Quotations audible.] are you doing?

C....Eveningish???

[betheman]

[The sun has Set.

Gongenzaka is a Good person who doesn't look at phone screens over people's shoulders, so that is exactly what Gon does not do. However, it probably won't take much to draw attention to himself anyway given that he's a bear doing a jog up and down the stairs at the quad.

There's plenty of weird things at this school, but that's a little...Hrm.

it's just, it's a bear,]

[marmoron]

[..... yeah, that's catching Keith's eye pretty readily and is doing an A+ job of holding his attention. Lots of strange things happen at Daybreak and right now he's thinking the bear is someone's familiar, but then again it's not like there's anyone else in the area? Wolf pup's headtilting a little too.]

..hey?

[Ordinarily trying to draw a bear's attention would be uh... loldumb, but the wolf pup can teleport them out. It's probably fine.]

[betheman]

[If it's a familiar it's a Weird one. It's wearing geta. It has a headband, and a sash around its shoulder and back.

Also pants.

The bear has pants.

Gongenzaka pauses as someone's voice breaks the quiet air, and he turns.] Auh....

...Hello?

[There is a small, hesitant wave.

So the bear Talks apparently.]

A; un: Galanthusnivalis

[buddinghopes]

I'm definitely wondering what was going through their heads. A nuke's MORE dangerous in some ways... also, I'm honestly a little scared what the radiation might do to that area?? Or anything that pops out of the Outlands into it

[marmoron]

yeah. pretty obvious they didn't think this one through
which begs the question what are they gonna do to cover up nightfall when that actually happens
i dunno about you but i dont think these guys can be trusted

[buddinghopes]

I feel like they're incompetent at best and way out of their league at worst... Trusting them to handle stuff seems like a gamble I'm frankly not sure I'd want to take.

B

[ahew_kha]

[The library is probably the calmest place in the school and a regular haunt for her at this point, which is exactly why she doesn't expect to see Keith here. She's quiet for a moment, merely trying to get a look at those books and their titles before taking a seat across from him.]

What are you doing?

[marmoron]

[He glances at Kisara as she approaches.]

Hey, Kisara. Just doing some research before heading into the Outlands for the summer.

[Stated pretty mildly, like this is not at all a reckless or potentially bad idea. But then again, she's probably pretty used to this from Keith at this point...]

[ahew_kha]

[Unfortunately, she absolutely is used to this by now. But almost anyone in this school is pretty reckless at this point.]

You're going to go out there by yourself? That... seems like a bad idea? [She's frowning at him, because of course she is. There's some things she wants to see if she can figure out and if the theory is correct, then it'd be the best place to find her answers.]

... If anyone should go with you, I think I should. Because, um, if I really am a dragon, that'd probably... help if you come across something a little too unfriendly?

closed to kisara: week of the 9th

[marmoron]

[Keith's been in the Outlands before, but only on supervised missions. This is the first time he's gone on more of a personal quest to gain information and learn about what's out here. He was never going to travel alone, he has Cosmo with him, after all, but having Kisara as a traveling companion to keep an extra eye out for things isn't so bad either.

It takes some getting used to traveling around in the mist filled overworld, and it's easy to start losing your sense of direction as the magical energy of this plane distorts and paths that may have seemed linear don't end up being linear. Still, they have supplies between them and encounters with various denizens of the Outlands has pointed them in the direction of what appears to be a small settlement. As the reach the outskirts of this town, Keith turns to Kisara.]

Think you're gonna find anything here?

[ahew_kha]

[It's so strange out here, it's weird in its own right but it also feels like she's been here before in some capacity. Like she's supposed to be here, but she's keeping that mostly to herself other than the fact she doesn't appear to have as many issues navigating the mists as her companion seems to.

Stopping at the outskirts she's frowning a little to herself, something feels a little off about this but she can't quite put her finger on it. Nothing... terrible, but something in her gut that's telling her they should either be really careful or avoid it entirely.]

I don't know, but something in me is saying we should be careful around here. More... than normal, that is?

[marmoron]

Any idea what's giving you the creeps? A particular smell or anything?

[Other than this generally being the Outlands and the fact that this place is potentially inhabited by dangerous folk.]

I can try turning into a wolf to scout it out.

[Lycans, he's learned, have a mixed reputation at best, but a single werewolf without a pack shouldn't register as overtly threatening. Humans, on the other hand, might just register as food.]

A

[partiallysquirrelblood]

I don't think anybody here is, but it already happened. There's also not a lot we can do about it now.

Other than hope it doesn't
cause radioactive monsters to start coming out of there. Which they probably are.

[marmoron]

given the way things seem to go around here?
yeah probably
would have to laugh if any hypothetical monsters that radiation creates are what actually end up causing nightfall

closed to lance; 7/20

[marmoron]

[Keith has gotten pretty used to navigating around the Outlands by now. Though the mist continues to be disorienting, and the way the parallel plane tends to feel as though it's constantly shifting and breathing with magical energy, he's learned to tap into his senses better. He is, after all, an Outlander himself. Arguably this is his home -- perhaps even more so than small town Arizona. So even though he's relied on human senses for almost his entire life, the wolf in hin has worked out where to go.

The white castle on the top of a mountain had been visible from a distance, seeming almost out of place somehow amidst the wilderness that surrounds it. But that isn't what makes Keith take a detour from trying to track down a certain necromancer -- no, there's just some odd energy that he can feel emanating from that area. Like something's calling to him somehow.

And by the time he gets to the mountain top (which doesn't take long as he's got a teleporting friend with him), he wastes no time trying to locate whatever's calling to him. As he heads towards a vast courtyard, he pauses dead in his tracks. Five massive robotic lions are arranged in a semi circle just outside the castle doors. Though they're still for now, Keith has seen statues come to life in the Deathspire. He knows better than to think something won't happen if he gets close.

But all the same, he's approaching.]

Hello.../

[thegoofball]

[Lance is...concerned. About the future. About himself. He knows he's not doing enough, that he's not strong enough, that he needs to get stronger. And what's a better way to get stronger than jumping straight into the fire? It's easy to get into the Outlands, and he manages to get around pretty okay on his own.

And then he stumbles across a towering white castle, and, okay, there's definitely something going on here. He approaches it slowly, taking in the guardians of the castle in awe. Then he realizes he's not alone. There's some one else there, approaching the castle, just in front of him. He cups his mouth over his hand and calls out to them.]

Hey! You might want to be careful!

[marmoron]

[That sure is a familiar voice and it's also the last voice Keith was expecting to hear right this second. He pauses mid-step, then turns on his heel in utter disbelief. His disbelief quickly just turns into exasperation when a visual just confirms what he already suspected.]

....Lance.

[Set with all the enthusiasm of a deflating balloon.]

What are you even doing here.