The rooms given to Princess Jade.

"Come in Ariadne, sir right down at the vanity table."

Jade puttered about gathering things and ready for a full on beauty montage.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:56, Fri 09 Apr 2021.

Ariadne sat.  She was a but nervous about letting herself be in her cousin's hands, but she had to admit that she was more than a little intrigued

Some of the amethyst beads went into her hair to emphasize her personal color as well as to offset her lovely midnight dark hair. Light purple eyeshadow nothing to dark since Ariadne's skin was so light.

"Do all women on earth wear their hair so short and men wear their hair longer like Lance ?"

Ariadne chuckled
"No, I'm afraid not.    The long haired women and short haired men are definitely the majority,  with the rest of us being the exceptions.   Though the rules for fashion aren't as strict as they used to be. "

"I like my hair being long, though yours looks really good short and is probably easy to take care of. In Rebma long hair is often worn lose though that can be a real pain snagging on things." Jade chatters away good naturedly as she works on Ariadne.

Just as a hair stylist on earth might.

Ariadne nodded (though carefully,  as to not distract Jade)
"The private school i attended was very high quality,  but had extremely conservative religious values.   I had long hair growing up,  and wanted to get it cut, but the head nun told us that 'girls with short hair had the devil in them', so i didn't dare to get a hair cut until I was almost out of school "

"Sounds like people on your world liked to traumatize children. Sorry you and Lance had to grow up like that. I mean it happens here too just it really seems to happen on your world a lot."

When she is done Jade smiles brightly and turns up the oil lamps so Ariadne could see herself in the mirror better.

Ariadne sighed and smiled wryly
"A lot of it is due to religion in my world.   When people feel.like some supernatural being agrees with them, they're capable of truly horrendous things.   There is some good thwr people do in the name of religion,  but honestly most of them would have done good deeds by their own volition.  And bad people who want to control other people love to use religion to do it."
She looked at Jade.
"I guess this is one of the reasons why i don't take supernatural things too seriously.   Perhaps the Unicorn and the Narwhal are benevolent creatures,  but to me they just seem to be another way for people to justify thwir own actions with 'because god said so'."

She glanced at the mirror and blinked her long lashes in surprise.
"Wow....this is amazing,  Jade.  If you wanted to make it rich quickly,  you'd make a mint doing make up work on Earth.  I've been worked on by many professional make up artists,  and I've never seen a look like this"

"I have to be good, or else I get flogged. Remember I served the queen directly. I am really glad you like it. You have such a wonderfully unique look to you like your mother. Your going to stand out and shine." Jade seemed really happy that Ariadne was pleased.

"I guess some bad things were done in the name of the unicorn. Oberon used to have older sons and they died in earlier wars that happened when some which was blaspheming and desecrating churches of the unicorn. From what I have heard those were really bad wars. Way before my time though your mother, her brothers, uncle Benedict and my mother and Bleys were around. Though they were much younger then."

"Thank you again for your help. "
She admired her reflection
"Maybe that's something we can bring to this place, some rational thought.   If the king wants to declare war or raise taxes, he needs to have the courage to do so, not to hide behind the Unicorn. "

She turned to Jade
"Is there anything i can do to help you?  I'll admit that I don't have your skill, though "

"I just want to be friends with you, every time I think were becoming good friends it seems like something weird happens. I hope your dad is at the concert tonight too, I will get to talk to him and maybe learn about the earth better."

"Something weird happens?
I'm not sure what you mean."

"We seem to get on each others nerves." She says embarrassedly.

Ariadne looked perplexed for a moment,  and then smiled with a chuckle
"You mean that we have beliefs that are almost completely contradictory,  and it's hard to express them without offending the other person. "
She looked at Jade, smiling more warmly.
"I apologize if what I'm saying offends you, or seems blasphemous (though that kinda proves my point).  I never meant to attack you personally.   I just get upset when people seem to turn their brains off because of the supernatural. "

Ari shrugged
'I was talking with Jon about something similar.   We cousins are essentially random people thrown together from literally different worlds,  with even Lance and I having great differences between how we were raised.  So it's inevitable that we will occasionally rub each other the wrong way.   It's up to us to not let our differences come between us,  like the older generation apparently did."

She smiled sheepishly and opened her arms for a hug.
"Forgive me?"

Jade nodded quickly and hugged Ariadne.

"Of course." Jade smiles.

After a moment,  Ariadne released the hug, and held her cousin affectionately by the shoulders,  looking into her big, green eyes.
"I know we're all very different people,  and we'll occasionally bug the living hell out of each other with our eccentricities,  but please remember:  i will ALWAYS have your back. And i will ALWAYS be here if you ever need me.  No matter what "

Jade smiled, "I don't understand the back thing but I am here for you too. This is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  A nice big family. I wonder what we would have been like if we were sisters. Ballad, you and me. Were so different but if we grew up together we would understand each other more."

Ariadne released Jade's shoulders with a smile
"Maybe, but if we'd been raised together here in Amber we'd all be very different people,  too.  I'll admit that while i loved my life on Earth, i feel somewhat cheated that my mother, and all this, was taken from me.  Still, perhaps this will give us the perspective to not repeat the mistakes of our elders. '

"Even though I have my mom now, I miss her. She is so busy for the realm. She seems nice from the very short time I got to spend with her. I bet yours was pretty special too. I might get a bit over protective of her and well all of you my cousins too. Now that I have you all in my life I am worried about losing you, especially with these horrible Gray men out there."

Ariadne smiled


⁹"I feel the same way "

"I'm excited about tonight. Though I am hoping there are not a lot of people. I want to get used to being around nobles before I am thrown into hundreds of them."

Ariadne smiled and nodded thoughtfully.
"Honestly, we want to take them seriously, but not too seriously.  I'm not super famous on my world, but I've mingled with a few celebrities, and their egos can get out of control."

"Ha those celebrities' can't match the ego of a Princess of Amber !" Jade smiled and her green eyebrows rose and fell as she waggled them.

"Well ok, I don't really know what Earth celebrities' are like but I could give them a run for their coins !

Ariadne chuckled
"Most celebrities are okay, though you need at least some arrogance,  for the most part,  to be confident enough to perform in front of hundreds,  thousands,  or even millions of people.   But a few let it go to their heads,  and can be a bit insufferable. "

"How do you perform in front of millions ? you must have to sing really really loud."

Ariadne laughed,  though not unkindly
"Sorry, i keep forgetting about the differences in technology between here and Earth.    In my world,  there is technology that can broadcast a signal f9r thousands of miles in every direction.   And that signal can contain a recreated scene of someone acting. or singing,  or just about anything that you can imagine.    I'll be honest,  I'm not even sure i fully understand how it works,  since it's not my area, but it's very impressive.   But we can have someone's voice heard all over the world."

"Wow ok now that is pressure all over the world. I accept the challenge ! I will have to really learn a lot even with magic I don't think I could do that."

Ari grinned
"In some ways technology isn't as powerful or useful as magic,  but it definitely has its uses.  We have a worldwide connection that anyone can be part of, though it costs money to do so.  Perhaps that's something i can do someday is provide that service for all people in the world. "

"I am pretty sure you should be able to help your world with most anything you might wish. Im going to try and keep perfecting my art both singing and magic. Each world out there might have it's own kind of magic and my mother knows so much it will be a long time before I am even close. I think I want her to remain top witch though. I'm just happy with a lot of the things I can do and I think I will try to make singing my focus."

Nodding,  Ariadne smiled
"I don't think my world is ready to know about magic, or other worlds, but if i can bring enough money and influence into my world,  i should be able to make a difference. "

"Maybe you can become Queen or Empress of your own country and take care of your subjects there ? Or own a really, really big business and employ everyone !"

Ariadne chuckled
"My part of Earth doesn't do royalty.   We had a war many generations ago to keep our independence.   Our leaders are elected by the populace.   Which has its own flaws as a system, but it's less risky than a monarchy "

"The people chose their leaders ? Thats just insane see what happens without a Unicorn ?" Jade has a serious face but then cracks a smile after a little bit.

Ariadne laughed
"People can be fallible,  sure, but when we try to get everyone involved,  it's a better system, in my opinion,  than letting a magic horse decide for you.
She smiled warmly.
"I know you trust the Unicorn to 'know what's best' for Amber,  but we feel it's better to let people decide for themselves. "

"Do they have something like the Pattern on earth that tests the leaders worthiness and kills them if they are not fit for the role of leader ? Im just trying to understand, you used to have royalty right ? So what happened to them ?"

Ariadne smirked
"No  magic.    Just people,  in all their flawed brilliance.    We don't have a pattern,  just people telling us why we should elect them over other people.  It'snot a perfect system,  but we're not really ready to trust some strange magic to choose for us."
She shrugged
"Well, about 2 centuries ago, we were a colony of a monarchy,  but the colonists rebelled and became their own country.  And we  have been on our own ever since. "

"So your all bloody rebels !" She raises one of her eyebrows.

"At least that is what they would probably call you here. I really like uncle Random he has been good to us and seems to actually care about our welfare. You know in the past I am not entirely sure Oberon would have cared. Then there is Queen Vialle, she made that little Narwhal for me just because she knew I was homesick. I feel they are good people. I know you don't understand but when the unicorn picked Random to be king, all the other Princes acknowledged him. So as much as they wanted the throne for themselves they respected it's choice. So in a way it elected him. I really want to meet my other uncles and aunts, though I think I have met all my aunts. I really only saw Gerard it would have been nice to get a chance to actually talk with him for a bit."

Ariadne nodded as she listened
"That's the thing, isn't it?  If your king and queen are good, and kind, and generous,  then all is good.  However,  if your king or queen is selfish,  or cruel, or even insane, then everything kind of falls apart,  because there's no way to remove them without rebellion.    And that was the case with us.  the king at the time,  who might have been going insane as well, was greedy and cruel, treating us,  his loyal subjects,  like work animals to be exploited and used up.  We had to rebel."
She shrugged
"And that's part of the problem. When you think of your royalty as perfect and 'chosen by god', or whatever,  you can't try to fix them if they're wrong or dangerous.   You got lucky with King Random,  i guess, but other kings weren't so good for the country, right?"

"Oberon was powerful and terrifying but he was king for a very long time and to be honest I was very little when he was around and I only truly know of him through the people around me and history. I loved learning and history was something I enjoyed so it felt like I knew him. Eric was a good King, he even sacrificed himself fighting off the demons of chaos in protection of the realm. Corwin ruled for a very short amount of time then abdicated so I don't really know much of his reign but a reign of a few months in Amber wasn't much for me to really go on."

Ariadne nodded,  but shrugged
"No offense,  cousin,  but i suspect there was more to their reigns than the twenty second summary you just gave me.   I mean, it's very possible that all the kings and queens of Amber have been wonderful for the land,  but given all the talk of rivalries and contention between Oberon's kids, i suspect that there's more to the history.   Remember,  most rulers don't work hard to show they flaws in their reign."

"Well godlike though we may be Ariadne at the heart of it all we are people. Good and bad, full of hopes and dreams, desires and dreads. Were people write large in bold with parents that will be hard to live up to and legends that precede us. So I agree there is a lot more nuance in our relatives not just the rulers but all of them. Us too even if were just swimming from the coral for the first time."

Ariadne nodded
"Exactly.   Kings and Queens are just people,  and it's dangerous to think they have some kind of supernatural right to rule."

"Ha I see you and I ax and parasol fighting on the dream stairs of Tir some day but tonight is not that day. Today we party, listen to music, and meet new people !" Jade smiled wide and hugged Ariadne.

"I hope Jon found what he was looking for. I think a servant might be by to let us know when the carriage is ready."

Ariadne nodded,  though with a wry smile
"Of course,  i still kinda feel like i should take a weapon with me"

"Do you have a purse ? Are you any good with crossbows >"

Jon knocks on the door, steps back and waits patiently.  ~Thank GOD for Maya's Washcloth.  Town took more time than I expected.~ he thinks to himself.
He is clean, clean shaven and dressed is his current finest outfit with gift in hand:

Jade opens the door.

"Oh ! Hello Jon, come in."

Ariadne shook her head
"I normally don't bother with a purse.  But I've normally got good aim"

Jade picked out one of her purses that matched Ariadne's dress and slipped something into it. She brought them over and showed it to Ariadne. Explaining, "This holds darts, six of them. This here is the triggering mechanism. Sorry but too short notice for me to really add a toxin."

Jon beams a smile at Jade as she open the door.
And he pauses, stunned by Ariadne. "You look amazing!  You two are going to be the center of all of the attention" his whole body show how in awe he is of the two beautiful women.

It takes him a second to recover. "I got us a set of pens.  And some more information on our hostess" he hands the box to Ari.

"What did you find out ? and Thank You !" Jade says with a warm smile.

Ari smiled
"Thank you,  Jon.  What did you find out?"

*smiles* "And I am glad to see you going armed" he comes in and closes the door.
Clears his throat, "So our hostess, does not like alcohol and abstains from it apparently das a sign of respect for her late husband.  So it was good advice with a bit more context. She also like things to be feminine so you two should be a hit and Jade your make-up might be a big success as well.  The last bit of info is a bit suspect, but apparently there is a piece of art that she has up and doesn't like.  It is a lady on horse.  But I am not sure if the source was genuine or not."

"Alright, well I wonder why she doesn't take the art piece down. Thank you for gathering all that your really good I shall have to hire you as Agent Jon !" Jade smiles playfully.

Ariadne rolled her eyes and smiled
"So she's an old fashioned,  straight laced, kind of gal, eh?  I generally don't get along with those kinds of people well, but I'll give it a shot tonight.   And I'm wondering now what the backstory is on that painting,  if that rumor is correct.   Perhaps she's got it up out of another sense of obligation?"

(Want to move to the concert threat yet or not yet ?)

OOC:  I'm okay moving on

*Shrugs* "Not sure, I am hesitant on the source.  He was an musician who wanted a guaranteed concert with the Queen.  I didn't have time to vet his abilities, but promised to go back, when I had more time.  Perhaps Master Sandwyn can shed some light."

OOC: Up to you two, I fine either way.

Ariadne grinned
"Well, I'm no stranger to unreliable rumors.  The rumor mill can sometimes take on a life of its own.  I remember one rumor monger on my world started a rumor that i had left an acting job because i was pregnant.   I still have the article because i was so amused by it"

Jon shakes his head "They would lie about you like that?" he is astonished "That could ruin someone's reputation at court."
He heads to the door, "If you are ready, shall we head for the courtyard?"

"Alright let's go."

Ariadne nodded and followed the others