“True, there are no flying machines of any sort here. If there are parachutes in a store room somewhere they’d be strictly recreational,” Ballad muses. “For leaping from high things just for the fun of it. But imagine! We could parachute from the castle all the way to the sea!!" Ballad's thrillseeking heart, much injured by her bout of responsibility when it comes to not blithely heading immediately to Tir-na-Nog-th, is pleased to take solace in the idea of jumping off Kolvir. A beat, and, “‘You people,’ huh? Which people?”

And here's the main drag! Illumination, shops, etcetera. Ballad keeps her eyes sharp for the dessert place.

Ariadne shrugged
"You Amber people "
She put up her hands with a defensive chuckle
"I know, I know....most of us aren't from Amber either.  I guess it just feels like everyone here knows more about this place than I do"

Ballad offers a lopsided smile, although it's a little wistful. She has felt a certain way about Amber for so very long, and now here she is. Does it like her?

“From what you said before about new environments and cities, am I guessing aright: You’ve travelled often? Lived many different places? Why did you usually move to a new home, and what did you want when you were there, all fresh-eyed?”

In reply to Ballad (msg # 273):

Ariadne nodded thoughtfully and shrugged
"I thought I was well traveled, akd technically i am, compared to many people from my world, but I've only been to a handful of cities in my own world.  I've lived for years in two different major cities, and have visited a dozen more.
I usually go to new places for new opportunities.    I livedin a relatively small town when i was growing up, and then went to school in a nearby city, then later g9t a job in an even larger city across the country."

"I think you're still to be considered well-travelled. I don't believe most of the citizenry here has gone very far from home." Ballad’s expression is one of lively interest. “But new opportunities? For what? Are you an ambitious woman?”

*smiles* "What I know is from stories my mother told me.  Most of it, I didn't believe.  So, Amber is amazing to me, as well." there his no false modesty. *smiles* "But it is a promise, to visit Tir-Na-Nog, sooner than later" *grins* "Lead on, Ballad"

Ariadne nodded to Jon, and smiled almost sheepishly at Ballad
"It honestly feels odd talking about it, but I'm involved with, for a lack of a better word, plays like the one that Lance was talking about.  The ones i do are usually more action and combat oriented, but are all adventure stories done for entertainment.  "

Lead on, Ballad, gets one of those drifting up through the eyes smiles, like the way evening’s haze sometimes seems like smoke. It's a promise.

“Well, now you’re in the eternal city, one of it’s immortal daughters. Do you think you'll want to act here? Other than in Lance's play, that is. Test yourself against the thespians of Amber, dazzle all and sundry with your skill, laboring against the lack of machinery? Or do you think you might find new things to want?”

Ariadne laughed, again a bit sheepishly
'To be honest, I'm not sure what I want.  I was doing fairly well in my world.    I wasn't  exactly world famous, but i was respected by my peers and very comfortable financially and socially.   But now i almost feel like all thar was irrelevant. "
She shrugged with a cynical grin, almost of amused resignation
"I feel like I was the toughest kid in ky neighborhood, all the time thinking that the neighborhood was the entire world.    Now I'm seeing the rest of the world, in all its scary glory, and it's a bit intimidating, frankly.   I mean, I've never turned away from a challenge in my life, but I'm honestly at a loss at how to begin."

*smiles* "This is a brave new world for most of us.  So the sky's the limit" *smiles* "but in the short term, I would love your help setting up some training and team building exercises for all of us.  But, I will do what ever I can to help you achieve your goal."

Ballad frowns slightly at the word ‘irrelevant’, a delicate line drawn between her eyebrows. The moon-soaked main street is a lovely thing, or Ballad finds it so; twisty medieval cities are always lovely, and look, here’s a door that looks promising and like it might be the dessert place mentioned: The Golden Comb, a picture of honey, some candles in the windows, food inside. Ballad’ll usher her two dark-haired cousins in with dashing aplomb, and continue the conversation at the same time. Like so:

"Experience is never irrelevant," Ballad says. "At least, I don't think so. I like a good experience, or a new one, or even a mad bad one if it's the right kind of mad bad experience. And yes, I hope you'll ask me questions if you think I might have a helpful answer."

"What do you think you'll want to do here, Jon? Other than spend time with us, that is." Us being Amber's latest brat pack, of course.

Ariadne nodded to Ballad and Jon
"Yes, as my father always said, 'Any day you learn something new is a day well spent'.  And speaking of which, I'm definitely eager to learn to fight the 'Amber way'.   There's a lot to learn, but I'm ready. "
Then she grinned at Ballad
"But first.....dessert "

*smiles* "I haven't thought that far ahead yet, well not exactly" *he looks a little sheepish* "When Uncle King Random took me to the infirmary, the medical knowledge there was amazing.  I would like to learn as much as I can about healing and then take that to my home shadow."

Ariadne knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help but look skeptical
"What kind of knowledge?  "

"There were these strange creams and poultices that eased the pain.  There were devices and things, that I couldn't even imagine what they did."

he saw needles, clamps, tools and various other equipment

Ariadne nodded, and made a noise of amusement, but was obviously impressed despite herself.
"I suppose I should have expected some kind of magic or knowledge for unlimited worlds.  I was expecting leeches or something, but I shouldn't have underestimated this place.   Yeah, medical knowledge is very important.  I'd love to learn more as well"

*nod* "We have some arcane healing back home, but I haven't seen anything like that here."  *shrugs* "But this place has some many advance medical technology."

“Evening!” Ballad says to purveyor of desserts and other delicacies who awaits behind the counter, after an interested sweep of their environs: everybody who’s out and about looks so fashionable, eh? “Give us your most decadent, the most interesting and delicate dessert you have which will travel well back up to the castle — I think I want something that looks like Tir-na-Nog’th, if you can manage, something dreamy and pretty. Box it, please. And for me, here, surprise me with a bittersweet snack, if it’s drenched in spirits more the better.”

Ballad lets Ariadne and Jon order their own desserts or make their own choices off of whatever’s on display, and will absolutely haggle for something more interesting cookies-wise if ‘give me an awesome dessert that looks like Tir-na-Nog’th’ is too tall an order on sudden demand.

"What's your most popular hold-in-your-hands snack? Bring some of those out to the royal guards who are lurking, if you please."

That settled one way or another, Ballad claims a table. Back to the conversation: "Do you plan to use your abilities to walk through infinite shadows to improve the Faewylds then, Jon? That would be a very good-hearted ambition indeed! I don't have much medical knowledge myself. Just enough to get by should I suffer misadventure and need a quick patch."

A pause. "Leeches? Do they use leeches on Earth?"

Ballad gets
--a meringue-y-thing that's like a little castle with delicate flying buttresses of creamy sugar
--a sort of little cake that's soaked with rum or something that tastes of quince marmalade
--yummy iced madeleine cookies for the guards

*Nod* "That was my first thought. If we can bring more advanced healing,  we can save more lives. Fewer people would suffer because the healers are out of energy." *smiles * "Like you, I currently only have basic skills,  designed to give a person a chance to get to a healer." looks a little sad "I've seen people die from a scratch and not because the blade was poisoned.  And Uncle King Random put some ointment on my wounds to prevent infection.  So that is powerful magic, but no spells were cast, so I guess really alchemy."

It is clear that Jon cares for people.



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Updated
This message was last edited by the player at 19:38, Sat 12 Dec 2020.

Ballad listens, quiet as she devotes herself (acolyte of the senses, an Epicurean) to her dessert, peeking out the window quite curious about the tone of 'night life' in Amber City. Does it quiet down or does it bustle?

"The trick is to make certain whatever you discover, medicinally, works in your Faewylds. That the anatomy matches, you know. I like this very much," she says, and offers Ariadne and Jon her fork or spoon or what-have-you, so they can try it too.

Jon will take the offered bite. "Mmm, that is is good." he offers her a bite of his chocolate covered red-velvet like mini cake "Try, this" he offers her a bit. *nods* "Good point, that is why I want to learn and understand. But I agree I hadn't thought about any anatomical differences."

Yum! Chocolate-covered red velvet-ish mini cake. Ballad looks a little wistful. “I try not to make assumptions, but it’s tricky. You never really know what you’re going to get out in the Shadows. All you can do is be bold.” Her lashes sink, graceful, as she regards her utensil for a moment; her general air of quicksilver spiritedness is quiet. “You said your mother told you stories that you never believed. Did none of our uncles and aunts, as far as you know, Jon, know where you were stashed?”

Ariadne shrugged
"Earth medical care is somewhat advanced, though there are occasionally still old fashioned ways of doing things.   I'm always looking for new ways as well"

*smiles* at Ari "Well, then I have a study partner it seems" he says with enthusiasm, but at Ballad's question then looks down at his dessert and doesn't meet Ballad's eyes "Not that I know of, though my mother had a Card of Uncle Gerard, but it never worked until recently.  I mother tried many times over the years." he tone is bittersweet.