Emerald blushes and giggles. "Thanks, you two." she looks at Superbird. "Looking regal as an eagle." she considers offering him a monocle, but she is afraid of both outcomes; Him accepting, or him being offended.

Emerald eyes where Gale is and hmms... biting her lower lip. "Mind if I go join the overly educated crowd for a bit? At the least, I'm curious what brought this about, but I'm also rather curious what the bunch is talking about. Not like you two can't come with anyway."

If the two don't mind, she heads over to Gale and co.

Edit: Inspired by image link from Chris, here's one close to what I imagined for Emmy minus the gold embroideries and minus the shoulder straps. http://images.dressale.com/images/large/9/215359.jpg
This message was last edited by the player at 20:57, Tue 26 July 2011.

"You're quite welcome, Emerald," Lucky answers, "I'm curious too.  I'd be happy to accompany you."

Gale is wearing a fancy dress that the player is too lazy to describe in text: http://www.ajewelrystyle.com/w...s-for-eid-2011-4.jpg

When those who choose to approach Gale are close enough to hear conversation, they hear stuff like the following:

"It's been tried," an elderly looking wizard in the bunch answers, "Every couple years.  And it never works."

"I think it's an idea who's time has come," one of the younger men says, "If anyone can make it work, she'll be the one to do it."

"Why thank you, Jerry," Gale answers with a smile.

"Good luck getting anyone to sign on," a sour looking woman says, "I for one won't.  Waste of my time."

  "I suppose I must admit that at best, I fall under the moderately educated crowd.  Though it would be rather impolite if I did not at least greet Gale."  He follows after his two fuzzy friends to meet with his less so one.

  e fancybow is go, "Hello Gale, it is a pleasure to see you again thanks to a gracious invitation." remember kids, vague compliments can work well if your hazy who actually sent an invitation.  "If we are interrupting, then I am sure we shall have plenty of time to catch up at a more convenient moment."

Emerald curtsies to Gale and says, "Well we're not interrupting, because I get the feeling this is an all-inclusive conversation. What is this thing that hasn't been pulled off that you wanna try?" Emerald is seething with curiosity now, but calms herself by being prepared for the possibility SHE might be of the opinion "it can't be done".

Lucky also offers a polite bow.

"Hello there, Terdisas, Emerald, Lucky," Gale answers with a bright smile and a curtsy, "You're most welcome for the invitation, and thank you for your heroics.  The idea we were just discussing is a way to make your kind of heroics more timely.  By the time a team of heroes is assembled to help law enforcement, many times too much time has passed and something tragic has already happened.  I'll give details in a moment..."

One of the waiters signals her and she nods.

"Food's ready.  Please.  Be comfortable, and you'll be served."

"Thank you, Gale," Lucky answers.

He pulls out a chair for Emerald.  Gale heads for the podium.

  Terdisas is beginning to suspect the so far unspoken thing which 'can't be done', is more likely a case of 'should not be done'.  "I am certain what you have to say will be of great interest Gale." This said, he takes a seat as well, with Superbird perching on the back of his chair.

  FYI would wear monocle.

If only Emerald knew Supes would wear a monocle. Oh well! She takes the seat, lip-synching a "thank you" to Lucky. Meanwhile, the myriad other heroes take their seats and listen. Most if not all Tim's alts would be here.

Several waiters and waitresses pour into the room with as many carts laden with lidded silver platters.  Before long an sumptuous feast is laid out on the tables.

"Now before we dig in," Gale says from the podium, "I would like to ask that the divine types present say a blessing.  When I call your name, please stand and give a very quick, one sentence prayer, then return to your seat."

The blessing is given and people dig in.  Very savory.

"Wow!" Lucky says, "This is some high class stuff, but it tastes so... well I suppose if I had a grandma, I'd say it tastes like grandma's cooking."

  While he knows it is poor form, Terdisas can't help but hope that the just passed round of blessings held an array of 'I'm am very politely claiming my god is WAY better than your gods' style blessings.  Because that can get rather amusing.

  The Sorcerer meanwhile, had found Grandma's home cooking to be rather unfortunate.  But Father's home cooking meanwhile was quite pleasant.  "Civilized dining can become quite sorely missed, as such quality is not very practical to accommodate for when traveling abroad."

Antoinette was just about expected to lay down as many sentences as there are gods. Or do a Santa routine with the gods as if the gods were Ant's reindeer. But she simply says, "Ao, bless the gods as they bless us." which is close to saying "my god is better than yours", but not quite there.

Tim just asked Pelor to bless the people present. Merielle asked Pelor to curse those who may seek to harm anyone at the gathering. Callie asked Sehanine to bring people closer through this meeting.

Emerald digs in and melts in her chair. "....how can anyone eat this and not comment? We'll have to send our compliments to Bridget at some point."

Lucky's prayer was very... "Avandra bless us and this food."

"A little surprising with all those present that there isn't more overlap for deity representation.  And yes.  This is a fantastic feast.  I never did hear for sure if it was Bridget or someone else."

Gale does the spoon-to-glass catch-attention thing.

"Thanks again for coming tonight everyone," she says when there's a break in conversation, "I'm sure you're all curious who cooked such a kingly feast.  Well it was none other than Officer Bridget.  Let's all give a hand to our fantastic chef!"

Gale, Lucky, and the NPCs all applaud.

(( Tim confirmed that Bridget cooked.  It's up to him whether Bridget is available to take a bow or is still in the kitchen. ))

Gale continues.

"The purpose of today's dinner is twofold.  One, to show a token of the city's appreciation for your heroics, and two, to offer an opportunity for more.  First, the awards..."

You all know the drill if you've ever been to a large awards ceremony.  Plaques and such are presented to each hero and much praise and applause is had.

  "Thank you for feeling my own meager contributions to the City have been of worth."  Terdisas can not help but wonder if the plaque cost more than the award mounted upon it.  Of course with most awards, it is the thought and prestige that counts more than any monetary value.  Or they would have no worth at all.

  "Compliments to the Officer of course, hardworking well beyond her job description."

When Gale gives Bridget praise, the law enforcer just stands like a statue. Still no smile. She then sits when indicated to.

Emerald is all aglow with blush, hand to cheek, shoulders shrugged as she received her award. Most of the kids are ecstatic, bright mouth-agape smiles. Maverick even smiles, though he isn't jumping for joy like the other kids. Bethany may as well count as a kid as she acts much the same.

May is in tears. Yeah, she's smiling, but she just can't stop crying.

Lucky has a bashful smile, enjoying the joy of the others.

"You both deserve it," he says, looking at his own award, "These things aren't cheap.  I found out Gale paid for them out of her own pocket.  And from what I've heard, she's done some adventuring of her own and deserves one too."

"I'm sure dessert is on everyone's mind," Gale chuckles from the podium, "Well it's coming right up."

Again the attendants wheel out lots of yummies of all sorts!

  Once May is no longer directly in the metaphorical spotlight (Unless there literally was one, in which cause he'd wait till literally), Terdisas goes to comfort the brave little reptile.  You do not want your awesome housemates crying alone, even if they are tears of joy.

  "Considering how many awards are involved, that is not an insignificant contribution on Gale's part even if one does not already consider the care involved."

Emerald says, "Yeah... I really feel appreciated."

Angel asides to the group, "Yeah, but I get the feeling we're all being seriously buttered up since this party is not just an appreciation bit, but leading up to a "help me with this" thing."

Emerald says, "I doubt she'd ask for much of anything we wouldn't wind up wanting to do anyway. Probably just killing two birds with one stone."

Lucky chuckles.  "Well she did mention that she has an idea for having us do more heroics.  But Emerald's right.  No need to go to all this buttering up if she's going to ask us to do something we'd do anyway.  Wow!  This orange stuff is amazing!"

Once everyone's been sufficiently buttered up served their dessert, Gale speaks up again.

"Well that officially concludes the evening's ceremonies.  Relax, enjoy yourselves, leave when you like.  But since we're all here, I figured I may as well pitch an idea I had for making what you do a bit more convenient for you.  It has come to my attention that in certain urgent emergencies, getting in touch with heroes such as yourselves in a timely manner has proven to be sometimes difficult.

"It has also come to my attention that the governor has a stash of magic pearls that work much like sending stones.  The idea I had was for those who are willing to sign up to carry a pearl and agree to be ready for heroics when asked, they would be compensated for their taking on that responsibility..."

Mittens jumps to her feet.

"Where do I sign up?!"

Lucky stands as well.

"Sign me up to."

One by one, several others stand and ask to sign on.

Gale smiles.

"Wow!  Thanks for your enthusiasm!"

She signals for some waiters to present the sign-up sheet to those who volunteer.

  "Hmm, while it does sound like it may have practical benefits for it's intentions, I do not feel quite ready to put myself directly on call for heroics."  A bulletin board is so much easier to quietly ignore than someone calling you up and asking for aid, after all.

  He does out of curiosity read over the sign up forms, to see what exactly such a setup would entail.  "Of course, with nearly everyone I know that frequents the guild having such enthusiasm, I expect I shall be helping them more often than not."

Emerald squirms. She doesn't look anywhere near as excited as the others. Liberty is about to sign up without much hesitation, but Maverick stops her. Bethany doesn't understand the concept of signing up, so she doesn't do anything. Tim looked ready to sign up, but as SOON as he sees Mittens raise her hand, he refrains from signing and asides to Mittens quietly, "Mitts, you already run all over the place looking for trouble. If you signed on to this, Raichel and I would have a choice: Never see you or never sleep."

Eli is thinking, trying to figure out the different ways this can be used.

Angel raises a hand and asks, "Excuse me... I would like to know more. Would we be expected to always respond to a call or else forfeit the pearl? Are all the details listed in the sign-up sheet?"

"The sign-up sheet does in fact detail how the system works," Gale says, "Although it won't be implemented right away.  I'm still dealing with paperwork as far as clearing certain things with the big-wigs.  Please bear in mind that a person can back out of the agreement at any time by simply returning the pearl."

Lucky seems trusting enough to just start filling out his sheet.  Mittens hands hers over to her sibs for their scrutiny.  The sheet details that once granted a pearl, you're responsible for it.  Should you lose it, you'll be expected to pay for it.  You choose at what times you are available to be on call, and you can change whether you're on call at any time.  If already on urgent business, you won't be expected to respond to a call.  Basically, the form is giving permission to be merely asked if you're available to be heroic.

"More than happy to make myself available to help," Lucky says.

(( The idea is emulate in D&D the CoX functionality for looking for a team / putting up the "looking for group" flag. ))

  Terdisas wonders if he accidentally used one of his CHA skills, considering half the crowds sudden 180 shift from enthusiastic to holding others back from the pearls after he voiced his own decision against using them.

  "Even if one can hand them back over, I would at least like to try and maintain some consistency regarding my accepted level of responsibility as opposed to wasting the governor's resources holding on to something I would not use."

  Speaking of which, what exactly is the listed bill for 'you break it, you buy it'?

Emerald reads what the paper says. Then says, "As soon as everyone who is going to sign has signed, I would like for this agreement to be shown publicly, framed, then hung in the guild for all to see." she will wait to see what the response to that is before signing.

Meanwhile, a good deal of Tim's alts are convinced after reading it / hearing Gale and sign on.

Merielle looks at Terdisas, "If I may ask, why wouldn't you use it at all?"

(I see. Pretty much the sole purpose is that in the future, tracking down "so-and-so" won't have to be RPed since it's as simple as a call away. Problem, though, is that this was supposed to take place before log 23, where the pearls are first introduced and handed out on loan for the one mission rather than for keeps. We moving this RP to be after that? Or we saying the red tape slowly turns during 23 and then maybe log 24 shows everyone "owning" one?)

((

quote:

Or we saying the red tape slowly turns during 23 and then maybe log 24 shows everyone "owning" one?

  Everyone who wants one, anyway.  :P  This RP was just Gale's testing the interest level in a hero SG after a fashion.  Left it open for utter failure if things got problematic. ))

"An excellent idea, Emerald," Gale agrees, "Thanks for the suggestion.  Thank you everyone.  And additional thanks to those who signed on."

"You're welcome," Lucky answers, "And thank you too.  Don't you get a plaque?"

  "Personal preference, for one reason.  It would be somewhat more difficult to convince myself my life has not become reliant on disaster, if I possessed an object purely to inform me when it occurs and that my services are under contract, even a forgiving one.  This city has quite a long ways to go before I would ever consider comparing it to my homeland of course, but I would prefer less reminders of it, even if only by the most flimsy association."

  He considers Merielle for a moment longer, then adds "Though the gap would definitely close in my mind if it was expected of me to put myself to service."

Merielle answers, "Was more referring to the fact that should you suddenly find yourself alone and crying "dear gods, my spleen!", those who have pearls wouldn't hear you because you didn't have a pearl. Not expected of you to have a pearl any more than it's expected of you to carry a sword. Unless I'm misunderstanding how these pearls work."

Angel says, "Everyone has their own reasons for signing or not signing. I'm not signing. Not yet anyway. I'll wait and see how these things work for everyone else."

Emerald signs on, having heard Gale agree to what Emerald suggested. The fact Emerald can pick her own schedule means she can still do her... moonlighting.