Secrets of the Ancients

[Taylor]

April 24th | Closed to Sophia, Bob, Taylor, Varian, and Shere Khan for now. Will open it up later on.

Orichalcum, the ancient metal of the Atlanteans.

"Isn't Atlantis just a myth?" Taylor asked, as she leaned forward into the scroll, almost as if she was trying to read closer. Sophia rolled her eyes, and quickly rolled the scroll up with her magic, before lightly whacking Taylor on the head with it.

"Hey! What was that for?" Taylor yelped, as she brushed her hair back into place.

"A dumb question. It might be a myth to you humans, but did you already forget that Bob and I are myths too?" Sophia asked, as she placed the scroll into one of the saddlebags hanging off either side of her.

"Yeah but...you know what, nevermind. It's not worth the argument." Taylor said. She then pulled out a map from her back pocket, and held it out to Sophia, who held it in midair with her magic.

"So tell me, if Atlantis isn't a myth, where is it?" Taylor asked, pointing at the map with a smug expression. There was no way Sophia would just know where to find the so called "lost city". Without a moment's hesitation, Sophia raised a lavender hoof and pointed towards the Atlantic Ocean.

"Somewhere there. The legends say to go past the Strait of Gibraltar, and that it should be close."

"Alright, I'll take your word for it so we can get this mission over with. Have you seen who our travel partners are yet?“ Taylor asked.

[Varian]

To say he was excited would be an insult to how he really felt about all of this. It had taken all of the self control the boy could muster not to holler when he was told he would be accompanying everyone on this mission. He couldn't look too childishly eager, he couldn't appear too beside himself with glee, he had to look serious and like he belonged on this mission, that was hard to do for someone impulsive and young, but he'd managed not to do a victory dance at the very least.

Still, he was excited, and he'd made sure to prepare carefully for what would certainly be an interesting expedition. All scholars or people who fancied themselves scholars knew about Atlantis, the lost city of myth, and perhaps at one point Varian would have scoffed at anyone who told him it was real. However, being here among the Rogues had shown him many things that he'd previously thought impossible, and he was becoming much less stuck in his ways about what was real and myth.

He'd packed sensible things, or they felt sensible, what really was sensible to finding a lost city? Things that maybe wouldn't ruin when wet, but for the most part he hadn't really known exactly what would be needed. Finally though he was ready to find Sophia, which he quickly did, "Sophia!" He called, still unable to entire keep the edge of excitement out of his voice, "I was told to come find you! About the thing...Oh you know!" He laughed, "I've made my preparations and am ready to ship out whenever everyone else is!" He said dutifully, puffing up a bit. He felt important, Clopin had chosen him to be among the people who would go, it was probably the most faith anyone had ever shown in him before.

[Sherekhan]

"You are aware that we can hear you, correct?" The snide reply was nearly growled out the tiger's mouth as he narrowed his hues at the back of Taylor's head. He didn't really appreciate being spoken about as if he wasn't there, however, he tried to cut away his harsh edge. He was learning to tolerate humans a lot better now thanks to the help Alice and Shanty had provided but it was difficult now that they weren't frequenting missions as often anymore. Sure he would see them from time to time but it didn't feel quite like enough to satisfy his desire to be around his oddball family.

His long tail slowly dragged against the ground before curling up and lifting off the ground as he stood. His long thick limbs stretched, yanking the tiredness from his muscles before he strolled over to where Varian stood. A look of question crossing his features, the only reason why he was assigned to this mission was because Clopin thought they needed further back up. Sure the unicorns were powerful but there was no telling what effects Atlantis would have on any of them. So best to have physical strength on their side too.

"As the man-cub has stated I'm ready to 'ship out' as well."

[Taylor]

Meanwhile, back in the lab, Bob was examining some pure copper, the tip of his tail wagging slowly as he used his hoof to push his safety goggles into a more comfortable position on his muzzle. He then turned to ask Varian a question, but his eyes widened upon realizing that his student was gone, and secondly that he was supposed to go on a mission!

“Oh shit!” Bob screeched, as he broke into a gallop, using his magic to swing the soundproof (and explosionproof) doors open before he could collide with them. As soon as he had left the new Court of Miracles, he skidded to a stop just before slamming into his sister and his best friend. He eagerly raised a hoof to his forehead in a salute.

“Shadowkeeper Bob reporting for duty sir!” Bob exclaimed. He then snuck a glare towards Varian for leaving him without even saying a word. Sophia rolled her eyes and took the opportunity to toss some larger saddlebags onto her brother’s back, which instantly caused him to put his hoof back down on the ground so he wouldn’t lose his balance completely. Taylor laughed at Bob’s display, and patted his shoulder, before turning her attention to Khan.

“I know you can hear me, I was just asking the question because like he always does, he never lets us know what to expect. I would think you’d be the most knowledgeable about that fact out of everyone here.” Taylor said, winking at Khan. Sophia turned her attention to Varian then, as she handed him a small backpack.

“I’m going to need you to carry this bag for the orichalcum. Clopin told us to bring a good amount back, so that’s why we need these and your bag.” Sophia said, gesturing to the saddlebags. She then turned to look at Taylor, who assessed that everyone they needed was there. There was Sophia, Bob, Varian, grumpy old Shere Khan, and herself. She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, before speaking again.

“Alright, well it looks like we’re ready to go! First off, I’m going to need every one of you to stick together, especially Varian. You’ve gotta stick with Bob.” Taylor said, shooting the two of them a glance.

“Secondly, Sophia and Bob are gonna use their magic to teleport us to the port of Cadiz, so we can ship off from there. But for them to be able to do that, we all have to hold onto either one of them, because let me tell you from experience: you don’t want to get lost in the shuffle. It’s a freaky world out there.” Taylor said. She then launched herself onto Bob’s back with a practiced leap that probably (definitely) took a lot of practice to get right, before offering her hand to Varian from up on Bob’s back. Sophia trotted around her brother to Shere Khan, and bowed her head in a respectful greeting towards the tiger.

“All I need you to do is just wrap a paw around my leg and you should be fine.” Sophia said.

[Varian]

There was always a little bit of a startle when Varian was in the presence of the giant tiger, it wasn't exactly a thing you just saw often, and it was a sort of ingrained instinct to want to run. He was an ally though, for all the grumping and grumbling he gave for it, so Varian quickly overcame the momentary fright and grinned, "this oughta be fun, I mean like I know it's a super serious mission," he said, pulling a serious face, "but man...Atlantis...Imagine!" He wanted to do a little giddy dance, bug again refrained, he wanted to be taken serious!

Varian turned just in time to catch the venomous look from Bob and gave a disarming grin, waving with a feigned innocence. Whoops. He hadn't meant to leave his mentor behind like that, but he'd been a little too excited to go, and speaking had slipped his mind entirely.

He nodded when Sophia passed him the backpack, slipping his arms through the straps and tightening it securely before throwing a salute to her, "yes ma'am!" He relaxed in the next moment and grinned, feeling the giddiness right down into his toes, "don't worry, I'll keep Bob safe," he eyed the unicorn with a cheeky, jesting sort of grin, before turning a more serious attention back to Taylor and taking her hand, nodding, "teleportation? Sweet."

[Sherekhan]

“I know you can hear me, I was just asking the question because like he always does, he never lets us know what to expect. I would think you’d be the most knowledgeable about that fact out of everyone here.”

Baffled by the response he was given the feline's jaw dropped. The truth of the matter was yes he knew a bit more than the other's but not by much. A few key facts here and there of what to look out for but other than that he was just as much in the dark as everyone else. Still though paint him bashful the sentiment was enough to color the tiger's stripes pink for a brief moment. His tail flicked and he held his chin just a bit higher. A proud smirk on his lips muzzle, maybe he did actually have an impact on the team.

"I do happen to know some things that may be of benefit-"

And then there was Bob, five minutes late with his hair a hot mess and looking disheveled. A brow on the feline's face rose in question before he gave a small shake of his head. Oh well, at least everyone was here now. He listened to the words exchanged and as Sophia strolled over, he gave a respectful bow of his head back in greeting. "Understood," Came his response. A paw wrapped around her leg though he moved to stand a bit closer to her. He was silently very nervous over this 'teleportation' idea. He had only done it once before and that was to get to Australia during the first battle. It had left him feeling sick and dizzy for a good few minutes there. He hoped he didn't experience that same thing again.

"Let's leap to it."

[Sophia]

Sophia nearly flinched as she felt Shere Khan wrap his massive paw around her leg. One wrong move and he could probably snap her leg like a twig. She shuddered at the thought, but attempted to push it to the back of her mind. Shere Khan was on their side. She figured that if he was going to kill her, he would’ve already done so. The unicorn nodded in response to him, as she looked to her brother, whose horn was already lit with magic.

“Y’all ready? You okay to do this, Sophia?” Bob asked, as he stood closer to his sister. She nodded, smiling sheepishly at her brother, who raised a brow in response. Deciding to ignore it for the moment, the two siblings channeled their magic into the ether, and the group disappeared within a matter of seconds, only to reappear on the cobblestone port of Cadíz. Taylor had one hand tightly grasping Bob’s mane, and the other was on Varian’s arm, in an attempt to keep him on Bob’s back and not somewhere in the inbetween.

“Well, it looks like we made it! Is everyone okay?” Sophia asked, as she checked on the tiger at her side. He seemed alright, if only a little bit disoriented. Taylor nodded slowly as she shook her head to try and clear the dizziness, before dismounting from Bob.

“Alright, now we just need to get a boat.” Taylor said, resting her hands on her hips as she looked out towards the harbor and the vast deep blue of the ocean that was laid out before them.

“And how are y’all gonna do that?” Bob asked.

“You’ll see.” Taylor said with a wink, as she disappeared into a crowd that had begun to mill about a ship that was about to leave the harbor. Both Bob and Sophia looked at each other for a moment, trying to figure out just what she meant by that. Bob knew for a fact that Taylor’s Spanish was…broken, at best.

Half an hour later, the rag-tag group of Rogues were on a boat headed out of the port, and both unicorns looked impressed and surprised as to how in the world Taylor managed to get a boat. It was a fishing boat, which wasn’t much in the ways of technology and all that jazz, but it was enough to get them closer to where the unicorns could get past the veil that hid Atlantis.

“How’d you manage to do it?” Bob asked finally, as he sat down next to Varian. Taylor turned her attention away from the water, before rolling her shoulders into a shrug.

“I told them that I was the incarnation of some great explorer and that I’d bring back some gold from El Dorado.”

“Seriously?” Sophia asked.

“Seriously.” Taylor said.

[Varian]

Varian unlike the others had never actually experience teleportation, it was another one of those things that he never would have thought possible before ending up here, but he was excited to see how it worked. He held on from where he was on Bob's back as the siblings began to channel their magic, and before he could really take in what was happening, the place they'd been was now a place they weren't, and he had no idea where they were now.

"Fascinating!" He exclaimed, sliding off Bob's back before stumbling and swaying a little with the sudden dizziness, "how does that work?!" He looked up between the two unicorn siblings, before his attention turned to Taylor, who slipped away. It took a herculean effort not to wander away and look at all the new sights and sounds while he waited for Taylor to return with their method of transportation, but he watched everything around him with a sort of awestruck fascination, he'd never really been to very many places after all.

Varian had spent the first few minutes on the boat watching the waves with a sort of child-like excitement, having never been on a boat before, but he was settled down next to Bob now, glancing over at Taylor as she answered the question he'd been curious about himself, "ha! Brilliant!" He looked curious, "so...How will we know when we get there, and, how will we....Get there?" He looked between the others curiously. He assumed they had a plan, but he also figured it was important to know what that plan was.

[Sherekhan]

The note of hesitation and slight scent of fear captured Khan's attention more than he realized. His golden hue slid up towards the unicorn siblings and he noticed the tension on Sophia's face. Part of him was prompted to let go but the other knew better as the two's horns glimmered with magic. He could understand the unicorn's fear, at least partly, a big predator like he wouldn't hesitate to munch down such a free meal in the wild but they weren't in the wild and his days of hunting for fun were very well behind him. Mowgli had made certain of that, maiming him so badly.

That mere reminder nearly had his blood boil, however before he could even moderately process his emotional state the world wiggled around him. Their location changing in a snap. He let go once he was certain it was safe, standing up to move a few paces away from the unicorn siblings only to stagger comically as his sensations dazed around him. Oh man. That did not feel nice.

It was not much better on the boat. The old tiger was curled in a paw licking his chops as he glared at the water, it seemed the daze took just a little bit longer to wear off but once it did he perked up glancing over to his comrades as they spoke. "Magic again most likely." He deducted from the question Varian asked. He shifted into a more comfortable position to face the four, tail flicking idly. "You're acting like an eager cub, first time on a boat?" He questioned.

[Bob]

Bob drew in a deep breath, savoring the taste of the salty air as the boat bounced along to the motion of the waves below them. He then peeked past Varian, towards Shere Khan, and nodded in response to the old tiger, before turning his attention to Varian.

"Long ago, the gods found that the Atlanteans had become too proud of their city, because of all their advancements in science and stuff like that. And so, they sent Atlantis underwater with a huge tidal wave, and it was never seen again, 'least by us up here on land and all. But us unicorns and other magical creatures, we can access it without ever havin' to go underwater to face up against the Leviathan." Bob said, with a proud smile.

He then looked at the others for a moment, before smiling sheepishly.

"Oh yeah, the Leviathan is this big lobster creature thing that the Atlanteans built to protect their city, and only one crew has ever managed to get past it." Bob explained.

Sophia, in an effort to steer the conversation away from scaring the rest of their motley crew, cleared her throat loudly to get their attention.

"What my brother means to say is that we'll be using magic to get us there safely, without much worry at all. But finding that metal won't be easy, since the Atlanteans are pretty protective of their precious metal. If we're going to succeed, we need to blend in, especially Varian and Taylor. Us animals are okay, its not uncommon to see big cats or unicorns there." Sophia said.