*smiles* "Alright." Jon pours a lemonade for Odile and walks over and gives it to her. "Here you go."

Uses her message spell to speak to Jon mentally, ~Be nice Jon, give Odile a sweet title. It will make her whole month trust me ~

Looking around,  Ari spoke
"I'm looking forward to more training, so the next time we meet those grey jerks, things will be different.   "

Jon looks startled for a moment "I hope you enjoy it, you've earned it. Our dear Ebrath" and gives Odile and warm smile.
To Jade he thinks "Ebrath means friend back home and it seemed appropriate for Odile.  I hope you both like it."

*nods* to Ari "Once we have the training equipment. I look forward to it as well." *grins* "Want to help me find a weapon master / trainer tomorrow?" he asks?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:32, Wed 10 Feb 2021.

Jade smiles and looks to Odile, "That means friend in his homeland."

Message telepathy to Jon, ~I think it was very appropriate, thank you for that.~

"I think I will turn in once we get to the castle. Like Ballad I am kind of winding down a bit."

Ariadne nodded.
"That's a good idea.  I'm not looking forward to it, but it's got to be done.  We need to be the best we can be, to protect ourselves."

*nods* To Ari "Great, we will start our quest after breakfast then."  Jon smiles at Jade. "Why don't you and Ballad rest in the Carriage.  The guards, Odile and I can clean up here." he turns to Ari. "Ari, we could use your help cleaning up, if that is OK?  Or you can guard Jade and Ballad and take the Carriage back now." he asks, with a serious and genuine demeaner. It is clear that there is no wrong answer. He moves towards Ballad.

he sends to Jade "I'll carry Ballad, if you can get the door to the carriage."
Jon kneels down to next to Ballad "Ok, sleepy head, We are gonna move you the carriage." he says in warm, caring and reassuring voice.

Ballad did not sit down again, see, so no kneeling necessary unless one is proferring gifts. Ballad is gazing out at the sea, and when Jon approaches in a meaningful way, she gives him a sidelong look.

Her lips quirk. "Who is this 'we'? If you're all ready to go, I'm ready. Sorry, what did I miss?" This, as she opens the carriage door with a flourish for Jon, Ariadne, and Jade, who are all--she presumes--coming. What'd she hear while passive listening? Oh. "What quest after breakfast? Sorry my battle against sleep is taking so much--" jawcrack yawn. "--concentration. I only grabbed a couple hours last night and it's been a full few days."

Ari raised an eyebrow at Jon's request, but nodded with a shrug, getting up to help.
Despite being from a different world, Jon was probably more like the Amber/medieval mindset of "protect the delicate ladies" than not.  And then there was Ariadne. She was far from the typical "lady in waiting", and shouldn't have been surprised that she'd be treated "like one of the guys".

Jade got the door to the carriage to let Jon bring Ballad in and then she got in and soon she fell asleep herself. The Blanket felt nice and warm and her chest rose and fell beneath it. Light dreams of the day and past week filled her mind. A lot had happened in such a short time and she had been going pretty nonstop.

She stirred a bit not liking that she had to turn over her parasol to the Begman clockmaker but it had freed her up to do other things. Still her dreams settled on this playing out in her mind.

Once Jade and Ballad are in the cart, Jon starts cleaning up.  Gathering the food, separating the untouched food from that which was nibbled on.
"IS there a mission or wayhouse for the unfortunate, that could benefit from this extra food?  I would had for it to go to waste" he asks the Guards and Odile.

"Oh, sure... when there's a little food left over, the castle staff is usually encouraged to dispose of it themselves. When there's a lot, like left over from a banquet, there's a place in the city we take things, too."

*smiles* "Well then, when we are done cleaning up, help yourselves for you, your friends and families.  We can then donate the rest."  Jon starts humming as he works to clean up the site.  Few have seen Jon this relaxed and carefree over the last few days.  His posture and demeaner are all loose and relaxed.

Ballad lists over to the side and rests her head against Jade’s shoulder, curling up like a cat under her blanket and shivering until she’s properly warm.

Ballad doesn’t sleep the entire way back; the truth is, even running on fumes, the oil in her metaphorical lamp burnt low and her wick dim, she scrounges up brightness enough to keep an eye on her companions. Mostly.

Once they do get to the castle, she yawns jaw-cracking stretches and stretches and streeeetches. She asks Jon to help her with something in the sitting room she particularly likes before she properly falls asleep—she knows what prize she wants and she wants to ask him for it sneakysneak covertly.  She tells Ariadne she’ll see her at breakfast. If Jade’s awake, she thanks her once again for the Faiella-Bionin, “for sharing that sea-brightness. I am more anticipatory than ever of visiting the halls of Rebma.”

And that’s Ballad, out. Well. That's Ballad, off to rustle up some hot water so she can soak away the salt and sand and basically Amber Castle will be full of sand now for the next fifty days. That's the law of the beach.

ooc: I thought I’d just very responsibly ‘call’ this scene (unless anybody protests) here, so we know we can all move on to the next. :) See y'all for a post at least in Jon's breakfast thread, and then who knows on what day after. ;)

*Nods* "That is no problem.* Jon smiles at Ballad.  "I'll meet you there."
If Jade is still asleep, Jon will carry her to her rooms and have Odile take over to prep her bed properly once he leaves.  Otherwise, Jon will make sure Jade makes it to her room.

<Green>"Hmmmm ? Are we back ?"<Green> Jade stretched out catlike and covered her mouth as she yawned a little. She headed for her room wishing her cousins a good night. She kept the blanket with her and spoke with Odile on her trip to her room.

"Mm-hm, that's right, princess sleepyhead."

Smiles at Odile.

"I guess I was, wasn't I ?" Jade's fondness for Odile is apparent as she chats with her as they walk along.

"Sure! It was fun, though! ...Although I think I'm only awake right now because I napped on and off near the end...!"

"It was a lot of fun, Oh Odile I wish you could have seen Rebma. I bet you would have loved to see it. We only saw it from a distance but it was nice. When my cousins and I go, would you like to go ? It is very wet as you would imagine but is very beautiful."

"Um... yes, all right...!"

Jade smiles more, "Then I extend the invitation to you as well." Jade says with a warm smile. "Ahhh there is my room. Could you have someone warm a bath for me Odile ?"

"Oh, sure, I'll get someone right on it!" She hurries down the hall, with a little less hurry and a bit more weaving-side-to-side than usual. But just a bit.

"She's the best."

Jade smiles with an amazing amount of affection for her.

She heads to her room.

Saying goodnight to everyone once they returned to the castle,  and assuring Ballad that she'd be at breakfast,  Ariadne went to her rooms.  She was a bit tired,  mostly because she was still healing, but not quite ready for bed yet.

Looking around the luxurious,  if rustic, suite of rooms, she reflected on her new life here in Amber.
Was this her life now?  Or was it just another stopover in her life, like her years in college,  or her time in Hollywood?  And was her Hollywood career over?  On the one hand, she certainly didn't want to simply walk away from her friends and coworkers in her niche production company in California.   On the other hand, going back to being an actress and stunt woman when she might soon have the option to literally visit other worlds seemed like a ludicrous decision.  Being a positive force for change in the entertainment industry,  especially for the LGBTQ community,  was always such a noble cause and a dream come true, but now it seemed almost pointless.  It would be akin to giving up the life of a millionaire Adventurer to go live ones dream of being a convenience store clerk.

She chuckled at that, and wondered what her cousins and other family members would think if she left Amber to go work the night shift at a 7-11.
The first idiots who tried to rob the place would certainly be in for a shock, that was for sure.


Thinking about her old peer group back in California made her also think about hee current social life.  Or lack thereof.
Busy with work and social causes, Ariadne had never really wanted to settle down into a relationship,  so there wasn't anyone special that she'd left behind on Earth.   She'd had a number of 'friends with benefits', but they had all kept things casual.  Mostly at her own insistence.
It had been more than a week since she'd had any company in her bed, and she was starting to miss it.  She sighed.   Any time she went to a new place she had to be careful about socializing, because different places had varying attitudes about her lifestyle.    She still remembered her first year at Boston University , when she awkwardly flirted with a pretty girl named Lori who lived on her dorm floor, who turned out to be VERY straight,  and a conservative religious person.
Things were awkward for months.
Amber, unfortunately,  was a place she still hadn't nailed down.  Historically,  most places that were, for lack of a better word,  medieval,  were very closed minded and conservative.    However, Amber had a definite air of "live and let live".  But trying to read the ladies here was much more challenging than back on Earth.  And it could be challenging as hell on Earth, to be honest.
Most of the anti gay sentiment on Earth seemed to come from the Western religions,  akd these people seemed to worship,  or at least pay lip service to,  a Unicorn.
So what did that mean??   She didn't have any clue about what this Church of the Unicorn,  or whatever it was called, taught about same sex relationships.  But then again,  was there anything gayer than a Unicorn??
She chuckled at the thought.

But it felt too late to go try to check out the night life in Amber.   She wondered to whom she she could talk to about it.  Jade's little sidekick Odile might be a gokd source of non judgemental information,  but then again,  once Odile knew, the entire servant grape vine would probably know.
And was that a bad thing?

It was also something to worry about another day.  Apparently,  according to the family mythology, Ariadne would have plenty of time.
That was a weird and uncomfortable thought for another time as well.

Restless,  but not wanting to leave her room, Ari walked around,  exploring her mother's room.  She found many books, a large portion of which she couldn't read.  She didn't even recognize the language.    There were plenty of Earth books as well, mostly philosophy and political science.   She was amused to see "The Art of War", something she'd never gotten around to reading.
Eventually,  she returned to her mother's ornate wardrobe,  opening it up to see the elegant and fancy outfits, then pushing them aside to see her mother's strange and apparently enchanted battle axe.   Without even thinking about it,  she picked it up again.
She tensed,  almost expecting more weird magic to happen, though she was realizing now that it was more an interaction with Jade's strange magic than anything from the axe itself.    Still, the whole concept of "holding a magical weapon in my hand" was just surreal.   Ari still struggled with accepting it
She took a few casual practice swings, moving to the center of the room to avoid slicing through her bed.   The axe felt so good in her hands.  Like am extension of her arms.  She'd felt that on occasion while training with weapons on Earth,  especially with a tonfa she'd used in a futuristic wat movie,  and a katana she'd used in a movie about immortal warriors fighting for dominance.   But those had taken time and practice.   This felt instant and effortless.    It was almost like dancing.

After a while, as she was on the verge of working up a sweat,  Ari put away the axe, and went to bed.
She had a lot to think about.