World Traveler

For Country and Princess (WT & KW)

For Country and Princess

D'artagnan walked out from the tunnel and across the arch bridge to the massive castle ahead of him. It was late evening, with sunrise closer than sunset, and the moon and its reflection seemed to light up the lake. The city surrounding the lake seemed to sleep with most of the hills and cliffs quiet and dim with only every other street torch lit. Only the sound of the waterfalls could be heard, but though they raged even they felt muted. He made his way to the guarded gateway and was stopped by a heavily armored guard. Their exchange was short with the guard mentioned that he was expected and he should make his way to the throne room. The guard also made a quip about how D'artagnan should remember how to make it there. Without retort the mage made his way into the castle grounds.

It had been almost a year and a half since he had been to the center of the kingdom. The last visit had been one of a contemptuous dismissal from the Magical Military Intelligence where he had been placed after his graduation from the Military Magic Academy. His time with the MMI was volatile to put it mildly. A disregard for tradition put him immediately at odds with many of his superiors and a stubborn personality he inherited from his mother never helped. D’artagnan was dismissed from the ranks after barging into an intelligence meeting with what his mentor called a doom and gloom theory or as his late father would describe as "cockamamie".

Since his dismissal, D'artagnan had worked as an independent contractor of sorts for the rich. The military had given him a set of skills and he knew how to play the cards he had been dealt. At times, even now, he could be seen working with the military in an unofficial capacity but a vast majority of his day was spent helping solve the rich and powerful of the city's problems.

Some anti thief work for a local dukes art was D'artagnan's in with the wealthy clientele and since then they had paid enough for him to live a mediocre lifestyle and keep his bed warm and glass full. Before he had gotten the summons from the King he had been doing some readings and research on a rather troublesome haunting of a house that he suspected was more of a cloak and dagger situation than a full on haunting. The distraction of the summons was wanted, but the degree of the disruption was not.

In his lifetime the only time D’artagnan had ever ‘met’ the King was at his inaugural show of arms where the military paraded around for a visiting dignitary. Really it was just him and others helping the King puff his chest out. Outside of that, the man might as well be an unknown.

Thankfully it seemed D'artagnan would not be facing off against his Royal Highness alone. Waiting for him at the top of the stairs, but before the doorway of the throne room was his old mentor Oliver Stone. "Stone." He said with a half smile. Since his excommunication his old mentor had done his best to stay in touch, but a mage of his magnitude was busy often and it had been some months since their last meeting over ale.

"It is good to see you D'artagnan. I wish it was under better circumstances" The older man said with a faint smile. His body language showed clear as day that it was a forced smile. This was the first of several hints that this call was not made with pleasantries in mind. Skipping the small talk the two walked into the massive throne room which was eerily quiet. Normally followed by two scores of royal guards and even more assistants and councils the King was standing by his throne with two other people making the room, which had enough space for 200 was very quiet and very deep.

"Your highness I present to you D'artagnan Bardot, former Intelligence Agent of the MMI." Stone said quickly once they reached the three. D'artagnan recognized the King; however, the two with him were not known to him. Familiar with protocol he went down on one knee and thanked the King for his summons. He waited until he was given permission to stand and quickly looked to Oliver to hopefully begin whatever explanation was needed to make sense of this situation.

The Academy: Mission Control

20 Minutes Before Students Arrival

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Clank.

Rabinder had taken his hand and smashed it down on his alarms snooze button as quickly as he had come to realize what the sound was. He groaned as another day apologetically seemed to be starting. He stayed in bed another five minutes before finally making his way to the bathroom. A quick shower lead him to his dresser where he threw on some underwear, a plain white t-shirt and some sweats. He then made his way up the stairs to the first floor of the Shoe Box and over to the kitchen. There he started to pour himself a bowl of cereal when his watch started to beep.

Is there no end to this torture... he thought as he too his bowl and made his way into a back meeting room where the student guides awaited distribution. He set his cereal bowl down and spoke out load to the room "Show me outside cameras - front." He said and several of the mounted monitors sprung to life showing the front part of the house. He watched as one by one the new spies to be arrived quickly and on time. He noted that just like last time everyone started off by standing around until a last arrival decided to simply walk up and ring the doorbell.

"You have 5 guests at the front door. Some are armed and there are several unknown electronic devices on their persons." The somewhat automated voice had little in the way of tone, but Rabinder knew what the computer was really trying to say as he picked up his bowl and made his way to the door. He unlocked the chain lock and opened the door to see a young man standing at the doorway with the rest a few paces back. All of them were looking at him as he took a bite out of his frosted flakes. "Come on in." He said through the sugar cereal. He then turned and walked into the living room and put his bowl on the counter top that separated the kitchen and casual room.

"So this is the Shoe Box. My name is Rabinder Singha. You can find four bedrooms in the second floor and 3 in this floor. I'm not your dad so you can figure out how you want to go about selecting your sleeping quarters. First meeting is going to be..." He paused until the home smart system spoke.

"Briefing will begin at 10 AM with William Stephenson, Elizabeth Lew, and Nathan Hale in attendance. They have said that they expect it to last no more than 3 hours and that attendance is mandatory."

"Awwww...." Rabinder muttered when he heard the name Elizabeth would be in attendance. "Thank you." He said in a dismissive voice. "Anyway you can leave your bags here until you figure out your rooms. Just don't come to me to help settle anything."

The Academy: Mission Control

Some other things came up this evening so I will be posting the scene move tomorrow afternoon!

The Academy: Mission Control

Reykjavik Airport

The tarmac outside Reykjavik, Iceland was cold with a brilliant sun overhead. Colin knew they had a word for days like this as he had seen it on a YouTube video once. Gluggaveður was the word and it fit the situation perfectly. From the inside while going through customs Devin saw through the window the wonderfully light Icelandic countryside. It was easy to see as the airport was basically in its own part of the island removed from most everything including their capital city.

The flight that he had been on needed to take a pit stop to refuel. The travel from Vancouver had been somewhat dull due to the lack of human interaction. Unknown to him his ticket wasn't for an economy seat to London, but in fact a private plane that was taking him straight to Oxford. The stop in Iceland was planned, but his requirement to go through customs was not. It was fine for him as he had everything he needed, but what did feel weird was that every time he spoke to someone new they asked him the same question "Are you the only one traveling on this plane?"

His answer was as civil as their repeating of the question. "No."

In Transit

Finally after what felt like an hour, but was really only 20 minutes he and the flight was released to take off. The bright Iceland sun was still above as they took off at 4 AM. The rest of the flight was as mundane as the first half. When the final clearance to land was given Colin secretly thanked God as he was starting to get stir-crazy in the small metal tube. As soon as the doors to the plan hit the tarmac he was out and made his way out of the small airport. His small duffel bag was in one hand with his other holding his phone.

Five clicks later he was in an Uber taking him to the requested address. The ride seemed to twist and turn, but he kept a close eye on the map and asked the driver a question or two so as to keep things focused on what he wanted them to. He knew he was nervous as it would have been better for him to remain silent and simply study the map so as to be able to navigate around himself. Still not every day you can say you are starting the rest of your life...

Shoe Box

When the drivers cell phone announced that they had arrived at the destination Colin thanked him and got out of the car. Standing next to the sidewalk he looked down at his phone to confirm and then over at the three people standing in front of the address. As the car pulled up he noticed the one of them had seemingly only just arrived and started to talk to the others. Oblivious to them and simply saying "Excuse me" he walked right past them and up to the large black building and saw that there was a doorbell. 'Home looks inviting.' he thought as he then rang the doorbell and then glanced back at the three before turning back to the door.

Slow Burn Romantic Adventure (MxF)

Hider

Let's play bump HORSE.

Fresh Prince Shake... Into a kick flip... and finish with gold medal worthy hops.

Here we go!



Excellent Start!



Good FORM!



AND HE STICKS THE LANDING WELL DONE!

Meme Isekai Interest Check 2.0

I find myself interested in this as well. I would be interested in playing a character with some interest in hiking and camping and becomes a sort of scout for the team and cartographer almost (maybe back on earth he had an affiliation for language as well.)

Just spit balling at this point.

Slow Burn Romantic Adventure (MxF)

Hello Role Play PEEPS!

I am in the mood for a nice long 1x1 role play or two

I am wondering if there is anyone out there looking to maybe get some creative words going and see if we can't make something happen. I don't need the role play to be smut or extend into any sort of explicit scenes (I am not against it, but I want to make sure people know that isn't my sole aim.)

I am more than happy to hear plot ideas or answer any questions you might have. Everything from Slice of Life to grand adventures are fine with me for the most part. I don't often find myself into the more dark / horror type of role plays.

The Academy: Mission Control

Alright gang the IC is up! Please note that this first post will have you getting your character from the airport to Oxford, England (Specifically the team dorms as listed in the OOC extra details post).

At this time no one is allowed to take the same mode of transportation so I will be assigning them now. This has been done in a random but not random order. You can guess how for extra points!

Bus from airport to Oxford. This is assigned to Jesse Conners.@vertigh0st
Car from airport to Oxford. This is assigned to Cairo Lalatovic.@Infernal Flame
Helicopter from airport to Oxford. This is assigned to Madeleine Lau. @Hitman
Plane Directly to Oxford. This is assigned to Colin Sheehan. @World Traveler
Train from London to Oxford. This is assigned to Lucy Watterson.@sassy1085

Upon arrival you will be in front of the black building with nothing of obvious note. Feel free to have a character or two ring the doorbell, but until everyone has arrived (posted) nothing will happen.

I don't normally set deadlines, but would it be okay with everyone if we set an expectation of getting their posts up by Thursday? if not that is totally fine. Just wanting to get an idea of my calendar and single out some time to write.

The Academy: Mission Control

Night Before Orientation

Sitting with his back to the view, William Stephenson held a large manilla envelope in his hand. He used his butter knife to open it from the side and wiggled the photos out onto the plate in front of him. Each picture was a snapshot of a person going about their day at an airport it seemed. None were connected or had any specific perspective other than they weren’t looking at the camera. In fact each seemed blissfully unaware of the photograph being taken. Looking at each one carefully and then flipping them to look at the back he saw a multitude of numbers.

It looked through them as if he were reading them. He quietly put them back in the envelope and then set it on fire using a candle. The action seemed to catch no one’s attention as the clamor and chaos of a busy high end restaurant ran around him. A few minutes later he was joined by a woman in her mid 50’s. Her elegant black and white dress matched his suit and tie perfectly with an obvious touch of coordination between them. “You never could stop with the theatrics.” She said after she saw the ashes from the burnt paper on the white table cloth. Her accent was a mix of South African and something else that was hard to hear if you didn’t know her.

“Yes, well, this time it isn’t me who seems to be the ringleader…” Stephenson let this thought linger as the table fell into silence. When he finally continued it was only after he saw no movement in his tablemate to break the silence. “The Academy has been mine to oversee for the past 7 years. I see no reason that the recent incidents should reflect on me.”

The woman seemed to break as she looked down at her purse and then back at the man. “You may see this as an overreaction; however, you would do well to remember that this pet project of yours is not viewed so highly. It took more than a few tense conversations to allow you to continue as overseer.” A phone in her purse started to ring. She gave a polite smile and pulled it out.

“I am needed in Istanbul. I trust you will see things as they are and understand what position you are in.” The woman then stood up gave a curt nod leaving Stephenson just as food was being brought over to the table. He silently watched her left and then accepted his meal while sending her plate back. The rest of the night he was lost in his own thoughts…

In this world you always know what position you are in… even when you’re dead.

The Academy: Mission Control

Currently On Chapter 1 - Campus Orientation

Each Student was given a detailed itinerary laying out their travel arrangements to Oxford, England. As most have arrived in the country via plan they were each assigned a different method of traveling the roughly 1 hour trip from the airport to the university and their new home. When they arrive at the address provided they are simply told to 'await further instructions according to the itinerary.