Robert introduces himself and his wife. "I am Robert Darlington and this is my wife Louis. We were helping your friend Lucinda recover you from your abductors."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:19, Sun 31 Mar.

OOG: Robert's family name is Darlington ;-)

IG: "Darlington?" Yenay starts and sits upright. "Lucinda!"

"Yenay, it's all right," Lucinda makes a braking gesture with her hands. "Louis is a Wilder, and Robert here is only a distant cousin to our Darlingtons."

The slim woman looks between the three of them for a moment, and then she nods. "All right. I am sorry, Robert and Louis. I am not at my best." She looks at Lucinda more closely. "Here, you are hurt." She lays her hands on Lucinda's arms for a moment, and then sits back. "Your wound will heal before morning." She looks at Robert. "Where are we going?"

Robert watched with interest. "Yes, apparently on one of the good Darlington's. As to where we go that really depends." He looked at Yenay. "Did your captors reveal anything of their plans while you were in their hands?"

"Oh, we know what they want," Yenay says, "and we must stop them." Lucinda nods in agreement, along with Louis. "They want the Shards, and we can't afford to let them take them off Mars."

"They know that the two of you are here and have allies. I still doubt if they know about Louis and Meghan. Things were dark last night and all they saw was a silhouette of the two of us." Robert ponders the situation. "Is there any way to detect or track down these shards?" That would be the easiest way to foil their plot is if we can beat them to the prize."

"We," Yenay indicates herself and Lucy (Lucinda), "can sense a Shard's presence from a fair distance."

"It's similar to a mental itch," Lucy puts in. "That is, according to the accounts we've heard from the women on Earth."

"What does it feel like," Louis asks.

Lucy giggles, while Yenay lowers her eyes and blushes. "It makes one, um, well..." She breaks off and bites her lip.

"Oh, dear," Louis exclaims with a laugh. "That could be embarrassing, indeed."

Robert suddenly senses a heightened arousal emanating from all three women, especially from Louis.

Robert listens intently as Lucinda explains things. He coughs delicately at the mention of the sensation. When things seem to change he glances at his wife and raises his eyebrow. "Now?"

The three women share a glance and giggle, their hands over their mouths. "We are sorry," Lucy says after a moment. "We really shouldn't do that to a man, and especially not if he is married."

Louis shakes her head. "We don't mean any harm in it. I did have to be careful when Robert was courting me," she shares a smile with her husband as she recalls how they met. "I wanted him to like me, not my power of seduction."

Robert shakes his head but chuckles with a wry smile on his face. "Louis had no need of magic or powers other than those innately hers to sweep me off my feet. I do recall a certain crash landing being part of the courtship process."

"Really?" Lucy looks at Louis with wide eyes.

"I read about a crash here on Mars early this year," Yenay says. "Was that it?"

Louis nods. "Indeed it was. Robert built a shelter of sorts, which helped us survive."

The ladies look to Robert. "Tell us, please."

Robert smiled fondly at Louis as he recalled the incident. "We were traveling together on a liner when the engines were sabotaged by German agents. I believe they were attempting an act of terrorism as well as disrupting supplies to our colony here." He frowned and considered his words. "I was able to construct a bit of a shelter in one of the staterooms to alleviate damage from the crash. Louis and I took shelter and managed to survive the crash relatively intact. It was during the crash that I came to admire Louis' courage and intelligence. When we set out for civilization on foot Louis was the most capable all of us at survival in the outdoors. The rest of us managed to do our part especially fighting off German agents and their native mercenaries." Robert took Louis by the hand. "By the end of that adventure I could do nothing else but ask for her hand in marriage."

Robert feels a renewed surge from the women as he speaks, but it fades as the women apparently damp their abilities.

"I wouldn't say it was love at first glance," Louis says. "But he is a resourceful man, which is attractive in it's own right."

Yenay takes a breath. "If I might steer the subject back to safer ground, what should we do next?" She closes her eyes for a moment. "If I can rest, I might be able to heal myself, but I am too weak to accomplish much at the moment."

"Maybe the doctor can do something for you," Lucy says, taking her hand.

Robert notes that Yenay seems to have recovered some strength.

Robert chuckled and then turned more serious. "We can either pursue the agents of the foe further or go after the shards ourselves. I think we should do both but focus on the latter."

As Robert speaks, the cab pulls up next to a Martian-built building. A sign next to the door proclaims this to be the offices of Doctor F. M. von Steuben.

Robert gets out and looks around before helping Yenay out of the carriage. If needed he carries her to the offices, if not he helps her walk to the door. Robert will open the door after knocking and look about. "We have a badly injured woman that need to be seen immediately please." I

A dark-skinned, matronly woman of indeterminate heritage steps out of the back room, peering at the group over round glasses perched precariously on her nose. "I am Doctor von Steuben. What happened to this lady?" Her accent is hard to place, but it's still British English.

Robert bowed gallantly to the woman. "A pleasure to meet you Doctor." He seemed unaffected by her sex given she was a medical professional. It seemed his association with Louis had eliminated some of the worse male chauvinism. "The woman was attacked in the streets. I think she can give you the best estimate of her wounds."

The doctor takes Yenay to the exam room, and reappears a few minutes later. "She has some bruising and minor cuts, but she will be fine in a few days." She smiles tightly. "She wasn't forthcoming about how they happened. Were any of you responsible?"

Robert looked offended and shook his head. "No, if anything we prevented further problems by rescuing her. Lucy here is a cousin of my wife and a friend of your patient who turned to us for assistance."

Robert notes that Lucy is standing close enough to Louis to conceal her own injury.

The doctor is completely unruffled by Robert's unspoken reaction. "That matches what she told me. I have given her some medicine to ease her discomfort. Are any of you injured?"

Lucy shakes her head. "Yenay is the only one of us to required aid."

"Very well, then." The doctor turns on her heel and returns to her dispensary.

"That went well," Louis remarks dryly.

Robert nods slightly in response to Louis. "At least we foiled the kidnapping." He looked at Lucy and asked. "So can you both heal yourselves with these powers?"

"Yenay can," Lucy replies. "It takes a lot out of her, though. She will likely need a day to fully recover."

Robert looked thoughtful. "I think we should regroup in our apartments after Yenay is released. I think a bit more background on what to expect and how we can practically proceed to chase down these two shards and foil or preempt the competition is in order."

"I think we should contact Em and Bessie as soon as we arrive home," Louis suggests.

Robert nodded in agreement with the suggestion from Louis. "I can send the cab the takes us home to carry a message to them."