Jade nodded, "Oh yes, not unharmed but survived. Though if I died and went to heaven, I guess being a Princess of Amber would be a nice afterlife." Jades eyes shimmered as she smiled.

"Indeed, that is why we came to meet Lance but luck is with us. We get to meet with you as well. We have questions about these Gray men."

*nods* and then gives Ballad a bow and more formal introduction "I am Jonathan Bishop Hawk of the House Hawk of Amber, the Severed Court of the Fae, Ranger of the Faewylds" *smiles* "Also your cousin." Jon is dressed in black boots, pants and shirt with Gold accents on the collar and cuffs, a pair of bracers with gold vambraces and a well made belt with a red jewel in the buckle and a finely crafted rapier on his hip.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:11, Wed 18 Nov 2020.

  Lance seems surprised, yet please with suddenly running into more family.  Once Jon makes the introductions, Lance smiles and bows to each in return.

  "Well met, cousins!  Jade, Ariadne, Jon....I'm Lance.  So good to meet you all!"  he exclaims.  "I had been looking for my room and got a bit turned around.  So glad I did!"

  Lance is still in his colors from dinner with the Queen and Ballad, red and gold.

  Ballad appears, and if possible, Lance smiles even more brightly.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals...5f3d332f7861b6ff.jpg

  The blade on his hip is heavy, a basket hilted sabre.

  Lance looks concerned at Jade's mention of the grey men. "Grey men?  Have you too had issues with them?  I don't know much about them really, but it seems they pose a grievous threat.  What say we find someplace where we can all sit and talk, maybe have a drink together, hmm?"

"My family, this is Odile." Jade looked to Odile with affection.

"Odile do you think you could have some drinks brought to a sitting room, once we determine one. Do you have any suggestions ?"

"These gray men," Ballad says to Jade in a confiding way. Her gaze is eloquent of lively interest, see, a vibrant blue. There's still a lopsided smile: "I'm glad they've flushed relations out of shadow, but I'd hate to die without at least some banter first, preferably witty but I'd take clumsy banter too as long as it was earnest." There: her eyes are dancing, just a little.

Ballad’s lashes sweep low, briefly contemplative. Decision made (the stable can wait), she gives herself wholly over to a new course of action. Time with cousins. “There’s a well-stocked bar in the Great Hall and probably a great deal of quiet there this time of evening. But there's also Bloody Mary’s down in the city, though that’s a keep your knife ready sort of establishment, and much louder.”

Why, yes. She has already made a point of finding where the libations live. "Forgive me for asking, but are any of you siblings? Who are we related through?"

ooc: whoops, edited to take out the "and you are?" to Odile :P
ooc: and then again to fix a typo *throws hands up*
This message was last edited by the player at 23:42, Wed 18 Nov 2020.

*nods* to Lance and Ballad "Call me Jon or JB." gives a wink to Jade "Or Hawk, if you prefer." He looks around at the assembled group. "She is a tricky one, need to keep your eyes on her and your mind focused.  She reminds me many a Fae noble" he thinks to himself as Ballad makes her recommendations "definitely not one to underestimate." Jon is calm and relaxed, but to the observant, he is alert and passively scanning for trouble.

OOC: Let's give Ariadne a chance to post :)
This message was undeleted by the player at 00:23, Thu 19 Nov 2020.

  Lance nods to Odile when she is introduced. "Nice to meet you, Odile."

  At Ballads suggestion, Lance says, "I am thinking that closer to home might be best for tonight.  I'm all for a run out to local places, just not tonight.  Remember, kind of a big day tomorrow and all."

"If you want quick access to a bar, then the Great Hall might be best..." said Odile anxiously...

I hope the ones who want to walk the Pattern tomorrow don't decide to drink too much, though...! Odile worried to herself...

Ariadne had been looking around the walls, almost as if seeing walls for.the first time.
She looked back, blushing a bit when she realized that others were talking about her
She smiled wryly
"I'm happy to join you all  here, despite the twisted and dire circumstances.   I'm from a place called Earth, and was never raised with all this pomp and circumstance.   I'm just Ariadne Arrington, but friends can call me Ari.  I would also say family could, but it's always been just me and Dad until yesterday.   My mother, Princess Deidre, died when i was an infant.  And..."
The woman gave a crooked and wry smile of exasperated amusement
I'd  say that i could definitely use a drink"

OOC:  sorry for the delay, everyone.   I've been under the weather

To Ballad, "Oh I agree conversation is so much more enjoyable when your alive. Though I can't verify that I'm willing to go out on a weak coral cluster that the statements right."

She then nodded as Jon spoke and listened as Lance did, "Oh, are you taking the walk tomorrow ?" Her eyes looked over Lance seeking out any wounds that might be apparent.

"A drink yes, but company even better. We can talk familial things when we are there. Odile, if you wish to get some sleep as it is getting late you may."

Ariadne nodded to Jade, though she seemed distracted.  She had a hard set to her jaw and firm expression in her eyes that was almost like that of a little girl, one on the cusp of going from childhood  to adulthood, who was in a place of wonder, like Disneyland or the like, who wanted to gawk and stare in childlike wonder, bit was determined to be "a fellow grown up" around her fellow adults.

*nods* "Then that settles it, let's go the great hall, have a drink or two, talk bit and then retire." looks over at Lance "I plan on walking the pattern tomorrow as well. We should compare notes"  he indicates to follow Jade and Odile to the great hall.

  Lance isn't bearing any apparent wounds, although someone perceptive might catch that there is perhaps a more bulk in the heavily padded area on the right side of his midsection.

  As the group begins their meander towards the Great Hall, Lance tries juggling a few conversations at once.

  To Ariadne he says, "Earth?  Really?  Me too!  New York city originally.  Just arrived here today.  How about you?"

  To Jon, "I don't know much about the Pattern, but I hear rumor that it might be sentient, and to fail is to die a horrible, painful death, and that it's best not to get blood on it.  Ballad has done it, so she would be the resident expert."  He throws a beaming smile at Ballad, all heats and stars in his eyes when he does.

  To Jade, "Have you walked the Pattern yet, cousin?"

In reply to Lance (msg # 21):
Ariadne blinked in surprise at another "Earthican" in the castle.   She felt a weird rush of familiarity and comfort, as if she were a severely homesick tourist in a baffling foreign country, seeing a McDonalds where she could finally talk to someone about chicken nuggets.
To be honest, it made her feel like some country bumpkin in the big city, which, as someone well versed in big cities on both coasts in America, didn't make her feel good, but she couldn't help herself.
She smiled with genuine friendliness.
"New York??  I've had some good times there, definitely.   I'm from the Boston area, originally, but I've also lived in Los Angeles for the lasts couple of years, working in Hollywood.  I was just passing through New York the other day when I went back to my father's house and found those grey goons trying to break in.
I just got here....well, less than an hour ago, I think.  To be honest I've lost track of time, a little bit. "
She chuckled ruefully.
"Heck, I couldn't even tell you if it's night or day at the moment."

She was having that "big fish from the small pond suddenly in the much bigger ocean" feeling again.  It was much more disconcerting than she'd have liked.  She never really thought of herself as someone with a huge ego, at least compared to many of the divas she met on a daily basis back in LA, but now she was starting to realize that she HAD been thinking of herself, on a regular basis, as the toughest, smartest, and, for the most part, best looking person in the room, wherever she went, even in Hollywood.
That particular euphoric feeling had certainly come crashing down like a house of cards, hadn't it?

Looking around at her cousins, each more good looking than the next, she was reminded of the last sci fi movie she'd been on.
The characters of the "Star Quest" show were all "rough around the edges" pirates, scruffy and unkempt.   However, the cast, of course, were all Hollywood actors, all gorgeous and in spectacular physical shape.  Despite technically being "one of them", Ariadne, as Security Chief Alla, had mentioned to the production manager that "it was kind of funny that everyone in the 'future' were all supernaturally attractive.
Now, it seemed, she was living in one of those "magical" worlds now, surrounded by these cartoonishly attractive people.   It was a weird feeling of overstimulation from all around him.
She wondered if this was what cocaine felt like.  If so, she could see the appeal.

“Fair enough,” she says to Lance when he mentions tomorrow’s Big Day status, and Jade’s response re: conversation summons a good-natured gleam to Ballad's very expressive eyes, although both Jade and Jon’s silence when it comes to her question about how they’re all related has her alert and rather curious.

But then Ariadne's answer is also (a surprise) curiousity-inducing. Deirdre's name is a quiet rest in a bar of music, see, and at mention of Earth she gives Lance a Look and doesn't quite nudge him but the air shimmers with the possibility of a nudge nudge heyy, and then at I could definitely use a drink - the hopeful lilt of a grin. A celebrant, she says: "I can vouch for 'slivoka,' but most of the other bottles I saw are a mystery to me." (Ballad's in the business of mystery busting, though. Those darned bottles.) "There must be something special about Earth, it seems so well-loved by our relations. Historically significant, even. But the grey men were trying to break into your father's house? Huh. Is he all right?"

If Odile does go to bed, if direction is needed toward the Great Hall, Ballad knows the way and takes point - but only if necessary. When Lance mentions the Pattern as sentient, Ballad gives him a sidelong look, and when he calls her the resident expert, her gaze flicks forward, and she plays with an earring.

In reply to Ballad (msg # 23):

Ariadne chuckled at the beautiful blonde's words
"At this point, I'm more than willing to take my chances with anything in a glass bottle. Whiskey, vodka, homemade moonshine, or even fancy perfume.  I'll roll those dice. "
She then nodded, smiling more sedately but gratefully
"My father is fine, thank you.    As luck, for lack of a better word, would have it, i got there just as the grey vermin were approaching the main house, and they retreated when we crashed through the entry doors."

"I know, I'm going to try some of the absynth.  Perhaps even the magic liquid  among the rest. " She smiled at the thought of that.

She had a mischievous look in her eyes when Lance mentioned Ballad their pattern expert.

To Ariadne she wondered at all the curious places she had mentioned. Earth seemed to contain at least two cities and a wood with holly.

It pained her when she heard Ariadne respond about her father since Jade had lost her father without even the prospect of knowing him. She gave an empathetic look to Ariadne as they had both lost a parent.

"Oh its nighttime and if were in luck we can glimpse the city in the sky !" She seemed excited at the prospect.

*nods* Taking everything in.  Jon is still casually staying alert, keeping an eye out.  "I'll take whatever's handy." *smiles* "So Lance, Ballad, we were looking for you, because we wanted to discuss the grey men's attack on you two.  We are trying to find a pattern, and based on the way Jade, Ari, and I were attacked, I want to see if the pattern holds true.  What can you tell us?" Jon's tone is light, but serious.  You get the sense that he wants to get the "difficult" things out of the way first, so that the vibe can only improve.

"They retreated?" Ballad looks surprised, thoughtful. "Who crashed - you and your Dad? Did anybody else's grey menace retreat?"

And also, once everybody's got their drink orders in, absolutely irrepressible she says, "Fancy perfume, Absynth, whatever's handy, got it," Ballad says, considering what she recalls of the fully-stocked bar. She absolutely will slip into bartending if nobody stops her.

"Is the moon right for Tir-na-Nog'th?" Ballad asks Jade, wistful, and as down the hall they go and around a corner etcetera trouping off to the Great Hall, she pauses at a window to look out and will even lag behind a moment or two there stark against that frame as she tries to gauge the sky.

But Mr. J. B. Jon Hawk, ready in  the way rangers  (in Ballad's experience) tend to be, is a rather comforting quiet presence. What can you tell  us? he says, and Ballad replies, "If Ariadne's grey men retreated when dismayed by force, then the pattern is already broken. But look you three, my whole heart and ears are yours, won't you catch us up with your stories before we pile on?"

*shakes* "Not necessarily, the pattern might not be what you expect.  Before I say more on my suspicions, I want to know the details around yours and Lance's attack.  That will the be the final pieces of information that we have so far." it is clear he is trying not to color Ballad's and Lance's recounting. "Thank you." he says to Ballad as she plays bartender.

Odile is ready to continue maiding for the group, for now. She leads the way to the Great Hall, and offers to pour//commit mixology-- IF Ballad doesn't want to do it herself.

She also adds, to Ballad: "The moon's not full tonight, but it will be tomorrow night. Don't know what the clouds might or might not be doing, though..."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:41, Thu 19 Nov 2020.

Jade looked out of a window as well, she always loved to see the city in the sky and to show it to people. Her eyes drifted up to the night sky looking for the telltale glow in the clouds. She always felt like a little girl again when she saw the sky city of Tir and that hopeful look was still on her face.

Over her shoulder, "Thank you, Ballad. My own attackers like Ariadne's fled when attention was brought about to them."

She walked over to the bar to collect her absinth.

"I would like to learn of your encounters too, and describe my own. I think Jon is trying to compare and learn. We pieced together a commonality in our own attacks and wish to see if yours share that." She let her eyes sweep over everyone.

"To family." She lifted her glass to the others.

The stained-glass windows of the Great Hall are a little too stained to see out of them much, although the almost-full moon lights them well. (As Odile mentions, the moon is not yet right for Tir-na-Nog'th.)

Ariadne took a drink from the beautiful blonde bartending for them and lifted it in a toast with Jade, the green haired beauty.
"To family..."
She took a sip, impressed with both the taste and apparent strength of the nutty, fruity liqueur.   She decided to drink in extreme moderation, though.    Not just because she was still wounded or because she wanted a clear head in case those grey dinks showed up again, but because she was a terrible flirt when she was drunk, and making passes at relatives sounded like a terrible thing to do, especially on the first meeting.
She didn't want them to think that Earth was the Alabama of the multiverse or anything
(Though her cousin from New York probably already knew that it was)


"Like i said before, i had arrived at my father's house from where i was living, which had been thousands of miles away.   It was an impulse to visit there, so no one, even myself, knew i was coming until literally the least minute.   I caught them sneaking around in the dead of night and confronted them, thinking they were ordinary thugs.  We fought in the yard for a while before i threw one through a door, activating the alarm system.   When that went off, they fled."

*nods* "So how many attacked you?  Two each, correct?  Just a pair?  What about you Lance and Ballad? where your attackers also a single pair?" Pulls on his chin, as if he had a goatee as he thinks, taking a sip of the drink. "Where either of yours also in public?"