Dinner will be served in the Dining Room as normal at 19:30 with drinks being taken nominally in the lounge from 19:15.

Anyone entering the lounge after about 7:05pm will find a couple of individuals none of you have encountered previously. Both appear to be in their mid to late 20's

The woman is about 5'10" tall, well muscled and tanned, with a few visible scars. She has short spiked red hair, and is dressed in much the same style as Cordelia prefers, T-shirt, leather jacket, jeans, and boots.
The man is also a red head, 6ft tall, and quite attractive with his 'Fonz' style haircut. He's dressed in a red shirt, plus4s, and suede boots.

The woman will introduce herself as Angel and her compatriot as Wyatt.

Cordelia will arrive at about 7:25. She has 2 Trump cards with her. The first is of Madison, the second is of the Elysium Castle entry point. She will hand these to either Rhiannon or Cassandra.

Cathal greets both with a smile. "Hello nice to meet you."

"Are you also going to the Expo tomorrow?"

"No we've other things to attend to, not the least of which will be bringing Tiberius and Siobhan up to speed."

Rhiannon entered the lounge at 7:15 for her pre-dinner cordial. On entry, she noticed first the newcomers, then Cathal already there. Before pouring herself a drink, she went by to introduce herself. They were an impressive pair. The woman for her her height and fitness, and the man for his good looks  and sturdiness. She gave the man more than a second look, but cautious that he and the woman might be involved, she kept it brief.

"Good evening. I don't think we've met. My name is Rhiannon. Nice to meet you. Forgive the question, but are you relatives?"

After introductions, she poured a wee drink then returned. "So, if you don't mind. Tell me about yourselves."

"Sort of, I am, Wyatt is complicated"
She winks at him, causing him to laugh.




"What would you like to know? My mother's Natalya, although she didn't give birth to me, and my father is Thorsten. I come from a shadow earth which has a time line which would be about of hundred years in the future as far as you're concerned although my version has a different history."
"Wyatt doesn't technically have parents, unless you count the Pattern and Zander. Wardro did, his father was Raif."

"No parents?" Rhiannon studied Wyatt. "I was in the foster system. I effectively didn't have parent either, although my last foster family made a go of it. My aura says that I'm of Amber, but who my actual biological parent was, I haven't the foggiest."

"Who's Wardo? Is there another one here somewhere?"

"I told you I'm the ghost of the Pattern, a ghost of Wardro, which is why technically I have no parents. The reason why I haven't ceased to exist are two fold, Zander gave me some of his blood to thwart both the Pattern and the Logrus, and Tiberius's Pattern adopted me."
"Wardro, who's ghost I was before I became real, was killed by Raif's forces during the War."

"That's extraordinary." Rhiannon understood all the words and even the concepts as he said them. It was just so unexpected that she had to take a moment to get her mind wrapped around it.

"Then, it seems, our circumstances are different after all. Still. I know what it's like to be the odd duck."

"Never really felt odd, except perhaps the first time Wardo and I met. Whilst we shared the first twenty odd years of our lives, there was a gap between the last time he walked the Pattern and the point it summoned me forth. After that we led different lives, even if we sort of shared the same values."

Cassandra joins the others around 19:20, "Ah good evening" she says greeting the two she doesn't recognize.

Cathal listens to the exchange. "Are Tiberius and Siobhan joining us for dinner?"


He turns an greets Cassandra . "Good evening cousin.

Natalie and Alana arrive a little before Cassandra, Edward just after, and the others before Cordelia arrives at 25 past.




Dinner will be announced at 7:35.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:12, Sun 27 Aug 2023.

"Thank you Cordelia." Rhiannon accepts the two Trumps quite eagerly. "As excited as I am to have these, is there a particular reason you're giving them to me?"




"We were just getting acquainted. What is a seneschal?"

Rhiannon blinks several times, staring at them both. "I don't know what that means."

After whatever explanation came, Rhiannon had a different question. "Cordelia. Are we expected to go to the Expo again tomorrow? While interesting, to a point, I feel like my time is better spent studying."

When Cordelia recovers from her choking fit she says
"What he actually means he's in charge operationally for the functioning of the Castle, excluding the command of the Garrison, but including its supply and some of the logistics. He also manages the logistics of the Castles operations with the town, excluding military security which falls to the Garrison commander."



"There's no explicit requirement for you to attend if you have no interest in doing so. You attended the Opening Ceremony and VIP lunch which fulfilled the expectations I had for you."

"Hmm I too would like to study a bit more, I haven't been practicing my Trump skills as much as I want to and I'm making good progress with the Pattern," Cassandra said agreeing with Rhiannon's point on studying, she paused as they all arranged themselves for dinner.

" For this part of the event would there be any benefits to going, or perhaps we could stay for an hour or two and then leave?" She directed the second part of her questioning to her cousins, to get their thoughts.

"I will recount all interesting things that are going to happen on the Expo."Cathal promises his cousins. "I there is anything that come up your mind that I should look after, tell me before we leave."

Cathal takes a small count of the placed cover to find out if everybody is here, since he does no want to be impolite to start when no everybody has arrived.


This message was last edited by the GM at 19:38, Tue 29 Aug 2023.

Cassandra nodded "If I make satisfactory progress, I will see about attending as well even if it's for a short time, lest you have to face the wolves by yourself."

Free from any requirements before the ball, Rhiannon was happy to remain behind to study. In fact, with the trump to Elysium, she could double the amount of time in which to study. Her cousins would have to face the gaming wolves without her.

Dinner was delicious as usual.

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:45, Thu 31 Aug 2023.

"Mee too about the Bolero I means do not know it." Catahl skips in with a friendly smile.

Dinner will wind down as usual somewhere between 8:30 and 8:45.
Cordelia, Wyatt, and Angel head for the lounge, but the others head for their rooms, or in Natsuki's case downstairs.

Come 9:30 all relevant parties are back in the ballroom.
As this is Edward's first attendance Jade will ask him the same question as she asked everyone else earlier.
Given his answer, she'll ask him to partner Cassandra, leaving her free to coach from the sidelines.

The first hour will be spent on the Tango, with the second hour rotating, in a semi-random, fashion between Waltz, Foxtrot, QuickStep, and Tango.

After 2 hours she'll call a halt until the following afternoon, where the order of the day will initially be the Bolero and the Jive.

Cathal will attend the following afternoon, excited to learn the Bolero.

Rhiannon will join any dance classes, as she's a bit paranoid about looking like a clumsy oaf at the balls.