Prologue: The Commission

[Carthrat]

Arkian shakes his head as he replies, "No, nothing was disclosed to me.

Meeting the Queen.. I can't wait, for one. My mother told me many stories about her when I was a child, and from everything else I've heard, well.."

He chuckles. "If only a quarter of what I've heard is true, she's quite a remarkable woman. I hope I make a good impression... are my boots polished enough?"

He glances down at his footwear, a worried expression creasing his face.

[Ebiris]

"I think they're fine," Rowan smiles. "Has your mother met the Queen?" she asks, going on, "My own mum's been nagging at me ever since I reached the final stages of selection for this about how I need to make a really good impression on the Queen if I ever meet her."

Shaking her head, she goes on, "Everyone I've talked to that's actually met her says she's really nice, but... I just can't help feeling nervous."

What if she's really nice to everyone except me?

[Carthrat]

"I don't know," replies Arkian. "She might have. I think she worked in the palace once, some time ago..

They say a monarch is a mirror of their kingdom, and I believe that that bodes well for us."

[Ebiris]

"Heh," Rowan chuckles, "That is true."

Deciding to learn a bit about who she'll be working with in the near future, she goes on, "So, what made you sign up for this mission? And what's your specialty?"

[Halbarad]

"Watson," the guard says with a slight frown - this one a different one from the one who helped Rowan and Arkian. He shuffles through the paperwork inside the booth for almost a full minute, ignoring the proffered letter. "Watson... ah, here we go," he finally says, withdrawing a sheet from a pile next to the door. Glancing at it for a moment, he looks up at Michael a few times before nodding. If he noticed the young archaeologist's hand, he's not commenting on it, at least.

"Everything seems to be in order, Mr. Watson. If you'd follow me?"

[Carthrat]

"Oh, me? I'm a geomancer," replies Arkian, blushing a little. "Well, an acolyte, anyway. I tried to get into the Lunar University to learn magic, but couldn't, and, well, ended up learning from an elf."

He glances off, away from Rowan. His voice, however, starts to grow in volume, and it's clear he's really excited about what he's going to be doing.

"And I wanted to come, because.. well.. I'm just so interested in seeing other planets! It's a great experiance. I could lie, and say professional interest drives me.. after all, there's surely much to learn on a different world, with a different system, but.."

He shrugs. "I can fly, too. And I'm a geologist, but those aren't really anything special.

How about you? What brought you here?"

[Ebiris]

Rowan smiles, a little caught up in Arkian's enthusiasm. "I developed a talent for manipulating dimensions in my early teens - surprising, since no one else in my family's ever had a drop of magical talent. I got sent to Mugen so I could learn control before causing some horrible accident," she blushes, well aware of the somewhat dark history surrounding her magical specialty.

"I decided to focus myself on summoning, since, well... it's generally a lot safer than other things I could do, so long as the rules are followed." With a faraway look, she goes on, "After school I got my degrees in Magical Theory and History from the Royal University around the time early selection was going out for this mission..."

Chuckling as she focuses properly on her companion once more, "In all honesty, I'd be content spending the rest of my life researching in a secluded library somewhere, but one of my professors pushed me towards applying. Said I needed to get out there and see things for myself instead of just reading or hearing about them secondhand. And he was right."

Rather enthusiastic, herself, as she concludes, Rowan finishes, "I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can find on the other worlds, among the remnants of the Silver Millenium."

[Carthrat]

"I couldn't survive in a library," comments Arkian with a wry grin. "There's not an ounce of magical theory I learnt from a book. I'd still fail the entrance exam to the University if I took it.

Quite frankly, I'd rather be writing books than reading them. After this expedition, I'll certainly have some good material.

You know, though, that there's a good chance much of our work will be drudgery? We'll probably end up digging holes and sorting rocks. Anything that existed all those years ago is probably gone by now."

[Jon]

Michael follows the guard, looking back and forth at the scenery around him. He's seen the palace and its surroundings on the tri-d, of course, but this is his first time visiting in person. He tries not to present too much of an image of a country yokel, though.

[Halbarad]

The guard doesn't seem too talkative as he escorts Michael up to the waiting room, merely nodding here and there to various people as the pair make their way through the many corridors honeycombing the palace. Within a few minutes the two have arrived at the waiting room, where the guard deposits Michael with a nod.

"We're only waiting on the last two members of your party now," he says, glancing at Arkian and Rowan. "Good luck on your meeting with her Majesty."

With that he bows, leaving Michael with the other two awaiting their audience.

[Ebiris]

"If you're writing, then a library is a good place to be," Rowan says defensively. "Building on the prior work of your peers and cross referencing can help show a more complete picture. I've already had some of my work published - getting information from summoned beings that were alive during the Silver Millenium has revolutionised how we look at the past."

The young summoner looks to be getting rather into her spiel before she collects herself, blushing. "I'm sorry, I got a little carried away."

Moving on from that, "As to what we'll find on other world... that remains to be seen. I certainly don't expect anything to be as intact as this palace," she gestures vaguely around, "Was back in the 20th century, but I'm confident we'll find plenty of interest."

As the new arrival enters, Rowan looks up distractedly from her conversation. "Hello?"

[Jon]

"Hello. Name's Michael Watson. I'm; or, I guess, I was a grad student in archaeology at New Denver U." He holds out his left hand; always the left  hand. The right one doesn't see much use anymore.

Apart from the hand, which is blatently obvious, Michael doesn't really stand out much. Mediumish height, blond, slightly reddish hair. Blue eyes too. He's thin, but that's more from poor nutrition than from exercise.

OOC: hey, Hal? Is that last bit a little too much? I'm not quite used to this format yet.

OOC(Hal): That's fine. Might not need to drop quite so much information all at once though; there's no real rush.

[Ebiris]

"Nice to meet you, mr Watson," Rowan stands and bows, proffering yet another business card. "I'm Rowan Lammermuir."

She does raise an eyebrow at his right hand, but decides not to let it bother her. He must have it under some wacky enchantment or something... can't imagine why he'd do that before meeting the Queen, though...

[Carthrat]

"Arkian," says Arkian, extending a hand.

[Jon]

"Good to meet you two," Michael says, accepting the business card and glancing at it briefly before stowing it away in some random pocket. "So. She's a summoner, and you're, hm, a mage of some sort?" He shakes Arkian's hand.