Welcome to Gaia! ::

Stuffed in a corner nook in the library, Julian sat among several stacks of books, some old, some new. Well, new was something of a strong word, newer than the others was probably a better term. He was frowning as he scanned the pages of the book in his hand, the talons on the opposite hand making a soft drumming sound on the edge of his seat. With everything that had been going on since he'd gotten back from his trip home, and everything that had come before it, he realized he needed to work harder at becoming a better protector. And just as he had always done, he fell back to books. There had to be some knowledge to be gained from them, some way to help them.

He'd already gone through a few of them by now, but the one he was currently scanning by far showed the most promise. It was vague and no more than a few pages on the subject that had sparked his interest, but the idea of talismans containing beneficial powers that they could use certainly intrigued him. It reminded him of the amulets the Death clan makes, when he'd had the privilege to make one of his own. But there being old ones out there, made by someone other than a little second-year student... He was more than a little bit interested.

The information wasn't enough, though. The book talked about how artifacts, though rare, were scattered. What he needed was to find information on of of these places. But there were just too many books to look through.
So he did the next best thing.



Almost as an afterthought, he took his phone back out and sent Sin another text.

Lumikki stared at the disaster that was her room. It wasn't that bad seeing as how all her valuable items were safe. Her own musing were cut short as she heard her spell phone buzzing. Her ears twitched slightly she hasn't seen or talked to Julian or Sin in a while. In fact the last person she had talked to was Rosc. So who was sending her messages today it didn't even dawn on her Julian might want to talk with her.

Pushing the hair from her face she dropped the bag of trash and bounced over to her phone. A smile slowly crossing her lips. It was Julian so her rushing away during the scarentines tents didn't make him mad. Reaching for her first aid kit she stopped dead in her tracks as she caught her reflection in the mirror. Eyes wide she decided that the oversized shirt with a pair of shorts was probably not a great outfit to go out to see the general public.

Changing in to a pink tank top with a black blazer over it. A pair of blue pants and some heels. She wasn't normally one to get all dressy but she WAS going to see Julian. Her pouch and phone in hand she was more than glad to leave her room. Calling over her shoulder

"watch the place Elektra don't let any more shadows eat more books OK."

"Well I'm sure Julian wouldn't call us over just to do reading on a Spiderday and if he did we can just drag him and Lumi put to lunch instead. Like a double date wouldn't that be fun?"

She glanced at Rosc hoping to see some sign of minor enthusiasm for mingling with friends. She knew he had to like Julian at least a little, after all the boil had saved her skin a few times. At least Rosc didn't know that Juluan had also...no no she couldn't think that way. Julian was her friend what had happened in Om wasn't...it couldn't be a true reflection of things, Julian wouldn't betray her ever.

Sin quickly slipped her arm through Rosc's and flashed him a quick smile not wanting him to sense her unhappy thought. She walked into the library and went quiet heading to the back where Julian had said to meet and silenced her eyePhone so the shrill yowl of cats or eerie howls of wolves wouldn't disturb anyone.

"Hey Julian...so what did you find and what are you doing in this musty corner? It's such a nice day out." Her voice had dropped into a whisper that made every word into a slightly sultry invitation, not intentional simply how Sin had been born and raised.

He looked like a scareling in a candy store.
Julian had replaced most of the books he'd taken off of the shelves (Back in their correct places, mind) and gotten a whole new mountain of them. His hair was a little disheveled from running his hand through it and there seemed to be bits of dust here and there, likely for the same reason. But his eyes were wide, excited, his feathers ruffled, and when he saw Sin and Rosc walk up, followed closely by Lumi, he gave them all a wide smile.
"Ancient artifacts!" He all but shouted the words before he came back to where he was. He flinched and sunk back down behind the pile on the table he was sitting at, hoping he hadn't been too loud.

"Ah, I mean... I don't know. I found something here," he paused there, taking one of the books and placing it on top of the stack between them, opening it to a marked page. "It talks about things imbued with power, old things. And how so many of them were lost. There's some speculation of places where many were gathered and forgotten about, but it doesn't say enough about them. I took all these books down, thought they might have promise, but I can't look through them myself and even if I found anything, I don't want to go running off by myself and I think it'll help all of us in the future and I thought it would be something we could do together and I know we can do this, we just have to find more information."

As he spoke, the speed of Julian's words increased with his enthusiasm, until, frankly, he began to sound like he was a raving loon. And his appearance didn't help that at all.
When he realized he'd been rambling, his face flushed a bit and he sat rather solidly back down, his fingers once more threading thought his hair.
"Do.... You think it's a good idea?" His gaze flicked from one friend to another, ending with Lumi and giving her an affectionately shy smile. Her teasing was actually kind of amusing and it made his smile grow a bit. They hadn't spent much time together lately, things always seemed to be getting in the way and he still hadn't really talked to her like he wanted to. But... maybe he didn't need to, didn't need to talk to her or Sin about it. Just go on and put things back to normal. Maybe, if they found something, it could set that plan in motion.

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No doubt to Sin's disappointment, Rosc showed no signs of enthusiasm. But then, he didn't look annoyed by the prospect, either, so that had to be a good sign, right? Frankly, he didn't mind either way. They hadn't been really doing anything, he'd been just dozing while Sin studied, so going down to the library was no skin off his back.
Now, the idea of a double date... He wasn't sure he liked that one. He preferred dates be a private time, just the two of them. But he supposed it couldn't hurt, and it would make Sin happy. Lumi wasn't too bad as long as she didn't go on and on or pry and Julian was usually rather quiet.

So it was certainly a surprise to him when they got to the library, Sin and Lumi spoke to Julian, and the harbinger went off, his words coming out a mile a minute. In fact, Rosc was so surprised, he actually showed it, both eyebrows suddenly rising as if they wanted to join his hairline as soon as possible.
"You're suggesting we go running off into something where we have no idea what's waiting for us in the hopes of finding artifacts that might be able to help us?" he asked and watched as Julian's look turned a little sheepish.
"Well, I was hoping we'd be able to find information, so that we wouldn't be going in unawares..." Rosc let out a soft sigh and turned his head towards Sin, giving her a questioning look that basically said it was up to her.

Lumi felt her ears twitching as she heard Julian. Her fingers touching the ring on her finger.

"Like death..."

Her smile faded as she remembered her selfishness because she had kept the trinket she had kept to remind her of Julian. Hearing Sin she smiled again and nodded at the ghoul before walking closer to Julian and taking his hand

"dont expect much from me as far as fighting goes but I'll help in any way I can."

Still concerned that this was all going to be a silly dangerous treasure hunt...with no treasure Sin sighed softly and sat down to open the first book Julian had thrust in front of them. He was so excited she couldn't bring herself to say anything negative, she just gave a slight nod. She finally worked up the courage to glance at Rosc and smiled at him, good he seemed okay with it all. Having him along would help her feel better, she'd seen him patch up the students who'd been injured by those shadow spawn at the gates and his abilities were growing. Not to mention the simply comfort of having her boilfriend along.

She stretched her wings a bit and then settled them against her back again and started to read. Her eyes moved left to right scanning down the information as she flipped the pages slowly looking for something pertinent.

She paused and read carefully before blinking and looking at Julian mildly surprised.

"It says something here about ancient guardians in The Ancient Necropolis....is that the place?"

She glanced at the time surprised, so much for an early lunch, but she doubted she'd pry Julian away from the books until they finished finding every scrap of information they could. This bit about guardians made her more willing to look as well, if something was worth guarding then maybe it was worth trying to find after all. Perhaps this silly treasure hunt might yield something to protect them...of course if these things were being guarded it could also be rather dangerous.

Julian seemed lost in what he was reading for a moment. He glanced up and blinked at both ghouls, as if he hadn't heard what they'd said. Guardians? Necropolis? Death? What...
He glanced back down, blinked a few times, and smiled.
"That's it," he whispered, then looked up. "That's it! This book says there's a portal to a necropolis full of ancient wonders in a desert. I think it's the same place. The portal's somewhere near the Weeping Forest. So we just go there and see if we can find it."

Death, he was so excited. The idea of going on a quest, it was like gathering the Joy for Jericho, or... well, his quest for Om, but he didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think how it was like finding a mount, either. Just keep thinking about finding items of power that would help in the future.
"I don't know, Lumi... But it's worth finding out, don't you think? I think we have what we need, we know there's guardians to be prepared for and if it's under a desert, it's probably sort of a maze tunnels and caves. We have an idea of what we're after, how to get there, and probably what to expect. I say we do this as soon as possible, before anyone else finds out about it."

...portals? frowning slightly she knew what portals were like that class she took with professor Selene...there was portals there. And then the other one where her and Julian went to help gather joy that portal did not let them down so nicely, absently she rubbed the back of her neck remembering the stiffness from falling out of the portal.

She just nodded slowly when she heard Sin talk, there seemed to be something the ghoul was worried about other than the insane idea of going out and finding this portal. But even still it seemed like Julian was set on finding these artifacts. Giving Sin a smile she turned back to Julian.

"I uh I have my first aid kit too...and I've got a little more room if we want to check a few of these books out just as a extra measure to have with us in case we do run in to something..."

Touching her necklace she wondered if her abilities would be enough to help them. At least her first aid kit could help Rosc if worst came to worst, he knew how to use it better then she did at least.