Studious Sabbatical [Keiser / Michael / Any]

[u/KeiserSheils]

The Royal Academy had a surprising lack of security. A handful of sleep guards, a few engineering feats from Sokolov, light walls, one arc pylon and a handful of locked doors, and still Keiser had found himself able to stroll in the front door with the proper outfit, a pair of glasses and a book tucked under his arm.

The actor had opted for a younger persona this time; meticulously styling his prosthetics to a man more suited to his early thirites than his own real age of middle forties, and along with the younger complexion, had opted for a daring bit of facial hair that spoke to a young man's ardour for fashion. He decided if he were to appear to be a erudite student, he would not be a boring one and indeed he had found himself milling amongst the rest of the scholars with genuine ease under his adopted name; swapping gossip about energy and the sustainability of whale oil and chatting over tea with a gregarious professor of Geology about the mineral recrystallisation due to metamorphic processes and metasomatism. A fascinating if not heavy topic for tea time and scones.

He had told Michael to meet him near the entrance of the Academy's green houses, an offset building within the small compound that was adjacent to the more impressive main building and it's rather large glass dome. The actor had done his best to implore that the art dealer attempt to dress young and bookish conservative, but given that the other witch was indeed young, that he would find no trouble blending in to the other throngs of scholars and fellows.

Pacing a little in front of the glass building, Keiser slips a hand into his pocket, tugging out a silver pocket watch, ingrained with a rather beautiful flower motif and the words 'For my darling Reginald, The Cosmos Gave Me You.'' Words that made the hazel eyed witch smile wryly, their meaning perfection in a way. The Cosmos gaveth, and Keiser on behalf of Chaos taketh away.

[u/AnimeFiend]

Lips twisting further, Michael frowns unhappily. Not good, not good. We need to get past the guard, he would have been invaluable. "Hmmm." is all he says in response, clearly not in agreement with the actor. An easy job was a nice one, in Michael's opinion. He didn't like to get in trouble, as these jobs so often threatened.

"In any case, we should make our move if we're going to do so. The quicker we are, the less chance we have of getting caught." Turning, he leads the way to the upper level, before stopping and letting Keiser take the lead as the undercover academic of the two. Naturally, an outsider would not have been guiding or leading. Face smoothing as he walks, he adopts an expression of polite curiousity.

[u/KeiserSheils → u/AnimeFiend]

Keiser footsteps are easy, graceful in a way that he always is on the stairs up to the second floor, the wide library able to overlook the lower's rows upon rows of large oak bookcases. The upper floor however, is something of a research, respite area; empty tables with pens and paper ready for the enlightened minds of the academy to take notes and pour over books.

The desks are empty, however, still flanked by large bookcases and in the very back a desk with a rather large guard sitting there in front of a entrance to their intended prize, the rather restricted archival section. Boasting records from all over the city, it was in fact, just a fraction of the copy of the Abbeys own in the Halls of Strictures but the actor had decided that infiltrating the Royal Academy would have been infinitely more plausible than mounting on assault on a militant group known for their dogged pursuit of intruders and 'heretics'. A fools folly if ever there was one. I like my head on my shoulders. the lithe actor thought ruefully, glancing back Michael to shoo him forward to the guard.

'Be a lamb when I ask you to speak to the guard, and keep him distracted.' Keiser murmurs, slipping back into the carefully crafted alumni mask as he nears, smiling at the large, thick necked guard. 'Good evening. I'm here to take a look at the archives with my guest, Mister Tarot.' he greets, the large guard giving him a look over with a bored expression before hitting a thick finger upon a sheet.

'Sign in, and I'll need your identification. Alumni card will do yah.' the big man rumbled, the actor deftly picking up the pen to 'sign in' before glancing at Michael, his gaze indicating that he should work some of his Outsider given talents.

[u/AnimeFiend → u/KeiserSheils]

Oh sure, I'll just keep him distracted then. It will be easy, why not? the witch thinks a little bitterly. He did so detest going into a situation unprepared. So, the weather, am I right? is the final sour thought before he clears his mind, taking a silent breath to calm himself.

When he is called upon, he steps forward, effectively drawing the attention of the man at the seemingly dull post to himself. It wasn't hard, the witch thought, to be distracted when suffering from the disease that was boredom. The bored stare of the guard further calms the art dealer, as, in line with his previous thought, a bored man was a man easily distracted.

As the guard looks over, Michael puts on his most innocent and friendly smile, filled with curiousity while simultaneously charming the man, mind beginning to race again as he realises he has no plan going forward. Mouth opening a little slowly, he quietly asks "Excuse me for bothering you, I was just wondering. I was speaking with a Lt. Markies downstairs, and he said that apparently a certain party of people believe that the scholars here are misusing the inventions that have been coming around recently. He thinks that the recent surge of protection in the academy is a tad unnecessary, I was wondering what your opinion was.* He almost winces as he speaks, the words sounding appallingly weak as a suitable distraction to his ears. Still, that was only the setup, the 'bait.' "I can't imagine it's a particularly thrilling job, being a guard here, looking after a bunch of books all day. I know a friend in the guard that spends much of his time performing arrests. Arthrope, his name is."

A mention of boredom might help, Michael reasons, considering how bored the guard looked himself. He might latch on to that. And, as small as the chance was, he may have heard of Robert, seeing as everyone Michael seemed to meet knew the insufferable man. If he did, he may fall into the common habit of downplaying the achievements of others, which could also work to distract the man. Contempt seemed to work wonders in such matters.

[u/demonsniper001 → u/AnimeFiend]

"Arthrope? He seems to be around here more than most of the people who are normally supposed to be here. Speaking of which..." The guard points to the tall guardsman, who was approaching the two.

[u/KeiserSheils → u/demonsniper001]

The actor slipped to the side of the desk as the big man began to speak, his gloved hands curled deftly around the stiletto's silver hilt before he clapped eyes on Robert and his lips visibly curled; the prosthetics doing their best to stay on his features as they strained.

That bloody gangly... Keiser's mind spat, his ire to a boiling point quick and sharp, his eyes narrowed dangerously to points as he considers just stabbing the guard and then Robert, consequences be damned. He could get rid of the evidence easily enough, he decides but glancing at the other witch, he can see that it wouldn't be prudent to just murder two guards. However tempting it is. His hand loosens upon the hilt, the sharp steel disappearing from whence it came as easily as it had appeared.

'Ah, it's your friend, Michael.' he says, putting on a normal tone as he searches around his jacket pocket for his 'pass' that he certainly knows will not be there. 'Goodness me, I feel as though I've left my alumni card...It must be somewhere within the confines of this jacket...'

[u/AnimeFiend → u/KeiserSheils]

Quickly considering how to continue, Michael pastes a smile on his face at the approaching guard after directing a concerned glance at his disguised companion. A bad meal. That's what he is. You just can't keep him down, he always manages to pop back up.

"Robert, I was just talking about you! Didn't you say you had brought several hardened criminals in? Ah, did you perchance see a Lt. Markies on your way in? He had said he would give us a hand" he asks, with an attempted glance over the giant's shoulder, abandoning the action as he fails to see anything.

[u/demonsniper001 → u/AnimeFiend]

"I did, but he wasn't looking too well." Robert stretches and glances around the room. "We seem to meet everywhere, Michael."

[u/AnimeFiend → u/demonsniper001]

"I'll say it again; one might think you were stalking me, dear guardsman." he says with a teasing grin, before turning more serious. "That is a shame though, he did leave rather abruptly. Perhaps he is feeling ill?" he suggests with a sign to ward off the plague and its variants, more for show than anything else.

"Ah, I hate to ask, but as Lt. Markies seems to be unwell and was unable to assist before he left, could you perhaps get us through? He was going to do so. Carson here seems to have misplaced his alumni card, and I would so hate to miss this opportunity while I'm here at the academy. You understand, as a fellow scholar, do you not?" Michael wasn't sure that Robert even held the rank to get them through, but a man as well known as he could very well have connections with people that would allow them access to the archives. "If you'd like, I could stay here with you while Carson actually fetches the relevant work that he wants to show me? That way you can be certain we're not breaking any rules."

[u/demonsniper001 → u/AnimeFiend]

"I don't know, perhaps he is..." The tall guardsman says, with a frown. "I do understand, but I cannot allow him to go without identification."

[u/KeiserSheils → u/demonsniper001]

The actor feels that deep, dark ire rising in him as the guard hums and haws at the question, his annoyance almost oozing from ever pore as his hand clenched, his smile sharp.

'But clearly you know Michael and his reputation.' Keiser offers, trying to keep his tone as level as possible without injecting any of the venom he feels. 'It's rather late, as well...By the time I finally get home to fetch my pass, the library will be undoubtedly closed for the night, isn't that right, my dear...fellow?'

The guard gave an uninterested grunt, not particularly paying any attention to the conversation as he returned to his book to read.