Science Rules! The Science and Knowledge Expo Kicks into Full Force!

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▼ Consider the Following......

 

Who: Anyone
Where: The entire city
When: June 8th-15th
Summary: Science and Knowledge Exop in the Leo Ward.
Warnings: That depends who is there. Remember to mark your titles clearly if any warnings need to be issued!

▼ You know what rules?

 

Science. Science and the inquiring mind has kept humanity on the path of progress for hundreds of thousands of years. What could make science rule harder?

A science showcase, of course! What better way spark the curiosity of the young and old by showing off the scientific achievements of the community. You have your things for the kids, your potato batteries and baking soda volcanoes and what-have-you, you have your higher-brow showcases of what the Department of Wands has been working on, your informative panels delving into biology, physics, chemistry and astronomy. There's even free food, including some molecular gastronomy creations for the...adventurous. There are even topics your average Visitor wouldn't think fell under the realms of science.

Such as? Why, like how Personas work (with explanations that aren't just "It's Magic") or discussions about demons, where they might come from, how they're different and similar to humans, how they use magic, and so on.

What kind of things will you and your friends discover? Perhaps you or someone you know is setting up an exhibit?

Regardless, enjoy the science fair and have fun!

[OOC: You are allowed to start a thread if you want your character to have a booth / hold a topic in a private room, or just do threads where you go around visiting. Projects and seminars are varied! Share your knowledge! Enjoy the science! Eat some really strange food! Try not to mix too much baking soda with vinegar!]

Comments

[justanoutsider]

[And, some yards ahead, there's a sudden flash of dull white light. It's mostly a dot really—small but noticeable, and blooming into life like a firework until a body materializes out of the fading luminescence. Zael's.

And Zael, startled and disoriented, abruptly finds himself falling again, plunging downward at a far more merciful distance than he had been only moments before. He plunges into the river with a startled, abrupt yelp. He sinks below the surface for a few seconds, but swims to the surface again. The river's body, at least, is calm and far different from an upset ocean.]

[mementodagger]

[That flash has Yurick instantly on guard, even when he saw a person materialize from the light. It's the shout that throws him, something familiar about the voice... though it's only when he jogs to the edge of the river and squints out at that drenched head and shoulders that it clicks.]

Zael?! Is that you?!

[Well, his comrade certainly got a far less pleasant entrance into this odd place than he did. The mage walks right up to the edge of the water, ready to dive in if he needs to but reluctant to get wet unnecessarily.]

[justanoutsider]

[He had been expecting some uncomfortableness, so he hardly feels cheated. When he spots Yurick at the bank, his face twists into into something that's as equally relieved as it is confused. He feels disoriented. He doesn't know where he is, but he remembers falling. Though sudden teleportation isn't as foreign to him as it might have been weeks earlier, but there's nothing about his surroundings that he recognizes. Even the lights ahead, glittering in the darkened light, seem wrong and foreign to him.]

Yes! [He says it, hurriedly, as he looks up and down the river and its banks, worry beginning to eat away at his confusion and surprise when he doesn't spot Calista anywhere nearby—though she had been falling too.]

He won't, however, make Yurick swim for him, and he soon crosses over to the bank, looking like some sort of wet dog in armor and holding a sword. His gaze meet Yurick's own for a split-second, though it soon lists away to further scour the river banks for anyone familiar.]

The others aren't with you?

[Because last he remembers, everyone had been together.]

[mementodagger]

[Relief spills through him along with concern. It's only the two of them but at least Yurick doesn't have to face this strange place all alone. The idea of that is horrifying, a time when being left to his own devices is stressful rather than comforting.]

No. I woke up not far from here, all alone. If the others have been brought to this place, I haven't yet seen them.

[He should build a fire so Zael can dry off, but fire always attracts nearby predators. Until they know what they might face here, setting up camp is a risk they can't afford to take.]

Are you sure you're alright?

[justanoutsider]

I'm sure, [he says, only slightly out of breath from the fall and the battle from what was only minutes earlier. But he feels almost impatient now as worry surfaces like something hot and living, shifting a few steps along the grassy bank.

If Calista isn't here, maybe she will be. And the others. Or she's back in the ocean. Both worry him.] Just wet is all. Not that that's anything new lately.

[mementodagger]

You kept fairly dry on the shipwreck.

[Yurick tilts his head slightly. Something about Zael is different... wait. Had he managed to alter his armor before that strange light brought him here? Whatever, it can wait until they get off the streets.]

We should find shelter soon. Who knows what we might encounter here? [He glances around, frowning at the lights in the distance in the direction of Leo ward.] There seems to be quite a commotion going on over there.

[justanoutsider]

And you know how to keep dryer.

[It's a half-hearted retort, though a small pixel of a grin tugs at the corner of his otherwise deepening frown. Zael follows Yurick's gaze. He can hear dim commotion, certainly, and see even more. He doesn't know what all those lights are—like overly bright candles or a particularly vibrant magic spark—but they go up much higher than they should. It engulfs the level skyline. It confuses him. Those can't be buildings, can they?]

Maybe. But wouldn't it be better to look around here first? [He says, feeling the coil in his stomach metaphorically twist around his words like electric wire. Part of him just wants to stay, to see if maybe Calista is going to follow him here. ...The others he's less worried about. They hadn't been falling halfway towards an unhappy ocean. And together. Minus Yurick.

But if he were in a more joking sort of mood, he's sure Yurick would be at least somewhat pleased at the idea of not being next two a couple of joking loudmouths.] ...Just in case the others follow, I mean?

[mementodagger]

[Yurick understands. Zael's thoughts are focused on the others, especially Calista. He'll wander this foreign place looking for her, even at risk of his own life. The swordsman's need to help others had always seemed to overrule his reason. The mage sighs, knowing it's useless to even try convincing Zael to keep moving.]

The sun's going to set soon. If we don't see anyone by then, we have to find shelter.

[The lights aren't as confusing for Yurick. He'd seen plenty of them when he woke up. His only concern is whether or not the locals are friendly. The last thing they needs is to be overwhelmed by Gurak or worse.]

[justanoutsider]

[There's a small, if somewhat reluctant nod, too used to the feel of water seeping through his clothing to be much bothered by it. He doesn't want to admit it, but Yurick's right. You dont stay out in unknown territory long if there are only two of you.]

All right. Let's keep to the river. You can see things clearer.

[His entrance had been fairly obvious, after all. He's still blinking some of the light out of his eyes.]

[mementodagger]

[With a faint sense of dread starting to gnaw at his stomach, Yurick takes the lead, following the river with both his good eye and his sensitive ears alert for any signs of either comrades or trouble. He doesn't like how quiet things are, seemingly no one around. It's too open for ambush, and there's no way to know if they're on an unknown continent or another world entirely... wait. Maybe there is.

Yurick stops and turns his attention to the sky, only to grit out a sharp curse under his breath. Of course it would be too cloudy to see the stars. If only he could identify constellations, he could figure out their position. His father had taught him the sailors' ways, and the stars were a navigator's greatest tool. Now that tool is failing him.]

[justanoutsider]

[Zael, for once, isn't at his most attentive. His focus is elsewhere. His senses are spread out to search along the river's grassy banks and upwards towards the darkening sky, looking for the slightest eccentric pinprick of light that might lead him towards his goal. Though he lets Yurick take the lead at first, searching the area behind the two of them as if he might be missing something, he soon picks up the pace until he's moving at a very wet half jog.

But he's still close enough to hear Yurick's curse—his senses are focused and his hearing is sharp—and it startles him for a few seconds, and he moves almost defensively, preparing for a possible fight when he turns around and finds Yurick looking up at the sky. He relaxes then, though the sharp curse wasn't exactly a reassuring sound. He blinks back his attention to his new target of focus.] ...You see something?

[mementodagger]

No, and that's the problem. The bloody clouds are blocking the stars. If I could just get a look, I could try to figure out where we are.

[Because the more he thinks about it, the more he prays some constellation will be familiar. He refuses to accept that this is a different world entirely, because the implications are absolutely chilling. No, they could deal with something that had the power to carry them to another continent, but to be spirited away to another world leaves them with one huge problem with a solution well out of their reach: how to return.

Somehow, Yurick doubted even the Outsider would be enough, not in its current form, channeled through Zael's mortal body.]

Let's keep moving.

[justanoutsider]

[He looks up, scanning the sky, staring the clouds doing their best to sour Yurick's mood. Zael can pick out tiny dots of emerging starlight, but it's not enough to determine anything. And he knows far less about astrology than Yurick. He knows a few constellations, but could never judge their location by them. But this whole situation makes him uneasy, though his feet are overjoyed to be on actually solid ground.

But wherever this place is, it doesn't look like any location he's ever been to. It's not even remotely familar. It's like being on the Gurak continent, where everything is new and foreign.

He frowns, but doesn't need to be told to keep moving.]

With any luck, we won't need stars. I don't know where this place is, but I don't think we're still on the Gurak continent.

[mementodagger]

[Well, that torpedoes his hopes quite a bit. He knows Zael can't pick up on it but there's something about the air here. It's not the somewhat clean sea-smell of Lazulis or the lava stink of the Gurak continent, but something that reminds him of smoke and metal and the ozone after a lightning strike. It's not like any place he knows. The few stars he can see through gaps in the clouds don't seem to be in any familiar configuration.

And he can feel lives around them, though there's nothing familiar about any of them. He can't even tell if they're friend or foe.]

I can't sense any allies, Zael. It could take days to search this whole place for the others.

[Telling Zael to give up on the others for now, especially Calista, might just send the swordsman running headlong into danger. Damn it, before he might've considered leaving Zael to his own devices, but now....]