Loose Ends: The Royal Mugen Institute

[Ebiris]

"Well, I guess not everyone will take the slightest excuse for a party," Rowan offers, taking a bite of cake herself. "Any idea what her big project is?" she asks, always eager to learn about the work of her peers.

[Halbarad]

"She's been rather tight-lipped about it," Dr. Alexander replies. "Just that it's something involving linked planes."

[Ebiris]

"Hmm..." Rowan mulls over that, thinking of a few projects she might run on similar lines, and then increasing the risk/reward by several degrees to get an idea of what someone less timid might try. "I suppose I'll find out all about it when I get back. What about everyone else?" she asks, "I haven't kept in as close touch here as I might over the last few months. I saw someone was doing something involving shaping magical fields with inert materials down in the lab?"

[Halbarad]

"That one's mine," Hiro pipes up. "I'm running a few experiments to see how a distorted magical field affects the completion of different types of invocations. It's going kind of slow so far, but I'm hoping for some interesting results."

[Ebiris]

"That sounds interesting, Hiro," Rowan nods, although a part of her thinks it could be really dangerous, she squelches it. Obviously if the experiment is done in the university lab, the failsafes will keep everything on the level. "What kinds of invocations have you tested, or is it still in the setup stage?"

[Halbarad]

"Still getting set up," he says with a slight frown. "The materials I'm working with aren't exactly precision-tuned, so it's hard to maintain the field shape I'm looking for."

As he speaks, you notice someone else enter the room. Tall, light-haired, and wearing a pair of round glasses, it's not hard at all to recognize the dean of the university, Professor Tomoe himself. He glances around the room for a few minutes, then smiles as he spots Rowan. "Ah, I see the guest of honor has arrived," he says.

[Ebiris]

"Oh!" Rowan looks surprised as Tomoe approaches. "Hello, Professor. I didn't expect to see you, today. How are things?"

[Halbarad]

"Quite well," Tomoe replies smoothly. "I'd gotten the memo about a farewell party here for you, so I thought I'd stop in." He smiles a bit. "It's a good excuse to get out of my office for a few minutes, as well as catching up with you. How has the training gone?"

[Ebiris]

"Surprisingly brief, actually," Rowan admits. "I don't think I'm expected to handle any of the technical aspects of the mission, although that does make me worry in case something happens to the person who DOES handle those aspects..." Shaking her head, she goes on, "I read up on the 20th century Apollo missions to the Moon for an idea of what to expect, but it's been nothing like that."

[Halbarad]

"I've spoken quite a bit with the Queen about the mission," Tomoe explains. "While it's true that you won't be doing much in the way of getting the ship to its destination, you should have plenty of work to do in determining the state of Mercury in a magical sense. And in the event that you do come across any magical artifacts, you'll be better suited to determining whether they're any danger, more so than the other members of the team. You were chosen more for your broad understanding of magical theory than anything else."

[Ebiris]

"I know," Rowan nods, "We discussed possibilities of what might be encountered on the planet during my meeting with Cyprine and Ptilol the other day - the Queen contributed a good deal to that discussion as well."

"I'm just rather nervous about the time I'll be spending between the Moon and Mercury on the spaceship. One of the team members - an archaeologist fron New Denver U - has an uncontrolled and rather destructive magical talent thanks to an artifact that recently bonded to him..."

[Halbarad]

The Professor frowns a bit at that. "I've also looked into that matter a bit," he says. "Apparently, from what I've been able to gather so far, the item that seems to have bonded itself to his hand grants him some measure of direct elemental control over earth and stone. It also seems to be completely inaccessible to him except under periods of extreme stress - he was tested with it over the course of a month, and never once did it activate again intentionally OR inadvertently. I wouldn't worry too much about any accidents with him."

[Ebiris]

"Oh," Rowan blinks. "That's something of a relief, then." Just so long as things don't get too stressful, I guess...

"Still, I am really looking forward to seeing what we'll find on Mercury. From what Dr Mizuno explained, the underground cities should be mostly preserved in the state they were following the Dark Kingdom attack. It should provide for a fascinating insight into life there during the Silver Millenium, as well as answer questions about exactly what went on away from the Moon during the Fall..."

[Halbarad]

"That's the hope, especially for Mercury," Tomoe replies with a smile. "Very little in the way of intact structures are expected on any of the other planets, but just one of the underground cities of Mercury could be a treasure trove of information. I envy you - you'll be among the first to see them personally."

[Ebiris]

"You can be the first to see my written reports once we get back, Professor," Rowan offers with a smile, not at all thinking of the extra prestige it will add to have Professor Tomoe listed as a proofreader, not at all.

"It's just a pity that the mission timeframe doesn't allow for a truly in depth study. An entire city, preserved for all that time... it would take decades to examine it all..." she says, slightly awed.