Many things happened in the two weeks
between the return of the Army to Arden and the coronation. Here
are some highlights.
The council of cousins was founded on
love and trust:
Martin: "Conner's an idiot. It's a redheaded thing, I
think: it's all about me, or about us, or about something that's
mine."
GM, timing is hard.
This is before the tea, so don't do anything that would
make him turn you into a toad! We'd have to retcon your walking
up to hopping up...
New dangers of childbirth
Merlin is not to be diverted. He has remained silent
through the lecture portion of the class, but now looks very
concerned. "Paige," he says, "I will miss you
terribly if you forget me when you have spawned. Are you sure you
want to do this?"
I believe it's called projection
Bleys: Godding is a minor thing; every pissant shadow has
gods and you can buy them by the cartload. It is the children of
Oberon who are nigh-unique. This explains why we are all as self-centered
as well-made tops
How to handle absent players
"Somehow I managed to sleep through yesterday,"
Solange answers. "Must have been overdoing it lately, and it
caught up with me. Tell me about the meeting. What's the good
news?"
Comparing Martin and Corwin
Karen: No, I'm guessing Martin would never flirt with
Folly by comparing her to his dead mother.
Bleys on Random. It's comes with the
hair
He's got something planned. He's clever. If he were better
looking I'd think he was a full brother."
The difficulties of aesthetics
Ossian looks Lucas straight in the eyes:
"I try to have my muse with me in everything I do, Lucas.
Beauty is the only thing that matters in the end."
"Then of course, Trumps are special. Without inspiration, no
Trumps."
Lucas meets Ossian's gaze with a smirk. "I imagine using the
privy is a difficult task for you."
Jerod is a realist
"Somehow though I don't think the vacation idea is
going to fly and I'll find myself volunteering for something
unpleasant."
On proper tools
GM (Michael): Before Reid can reply, a high-pitched drawl
comes from the woods beside the path. "'It' may be. Who are
you and what are you doing here?" The speaker is young and
does not shave every week, but he does have a cudgel.
Chuck: Clearly, it is most difficult to shave with a cudgel...
Corwin has a reputation
Vere, to Solange: "Would you prefer me to ask Prince
Corwin about his experiences with healing, shadow travel, and the
Pattern, or would you prefer to do so yourself? From what one
hears, he might be more likely to answer questions from a female
questioner. On the other hand, that could make the situation
uncomfortable for you."
How to gain the trust of Jerod
Conner smiles far too much." Jerod says. "I
distrust anyone who smiles so easily...it shows how little the
expression actually means."
Some are envious of Julian for his
amount of offspring
Bleys: "Let's hope he makes it back for the
coronation. Damned careless of him to misplace so many children
at once, I must say. "
Flora has a loving son. He doesn't love
her, though.
Lucas: There are many things worse than baby shit, and
many of them involve my mother.
No comment
GM (on Fiona): Nobody is silly enough to try to rope her
into military politics or party planning.
Lucas will send Fiona a note, requesting an audience with her,
with the possibility of discussing party preparation with her.
Who envies Jerod for his sister?
Cambina to Jerod: "For purposes of providing a
sarcastic retort, brother dear. Perhaps Vere can prepare a report
on them and their uses for you."
Flora probably deserved this
Lucas: "And let's discuss me, mother. While you may
have spent your recent time in Amber sucking up to the hairy ass
of what historians will call a usurper to the throne and likely
looking for some stud to sire a more worthy son than myself, I
have spent the last several years committed to the well-being of
Amber, bringing people together and keeping food in their bellies.
I have curried the friendship of those who, by some odd twist of
irony, have ended up being quite close to the king. In short,"
Lucas allows himself a smug, but hard, grin. "I have been
loyal, useful, and likeable in areas where it counts. Something I
doubt you can currently claim."
The agony of dressing
Cousin Paige,
Just so long as I don't have to wear a butt-bow, I'll be there.
What can I bring? (and, really, what should I wear?)
Brita
Aisling will fight for the rights of
women, or? (Jerod has invited the male cousins to a poker night)
To my mind, it really is very arbitrary, Jerod's guest
list... Has Lucas more in common with Vere than you do? Would not
Ossian be happier at a party with Folly?" She shrugs, "I
would prefer not to get left out of things because of my
appearance."
Don't take your Pattern lessons from
Flora
Lucas: "I don't know that it was that spectacular a
preparation. A bunch of nonsense of, 'You start here, end here,
step off the line and you die. Be sure to have a good night's
sleep before hand.' It's entirely possible my mother hoped for me
to fail."
Proof that the older Amberites are meaner
Reid works his way down to the dungeon 2 days after his
return from Arden. He asks the guard on duty to secure and
blindfold the prisoner, then leave them for a while.
He takes his dagger and makes quick work cutting away the
prisoner's shirt, then takes out some ink and needles from his
art supplies. He dips a needle in the ink and starts pricking the
skin of his human canvas, starting with a crude outline, then
adding some detail. His subject is the encampment where he was
attacked. If it is possible, he is concentrating the focus
necessary to turn his art into a trump. Even if such were not
viable, he'll continue until he has a piece of art that satisfies
his artistic sensibilities. He brings with him some candles as
well as ice, if available. While working on the art, he'll switch
between hot and cold needles piercing the prisoner's skin. It
won't be comfortable. If there's resistance, Reid will beat the
prisoner until he's subdued.
Reid will spend as long as necessary on the process, returning
over the course of days if required. He never questions his
victim until he feels the art is done.
When he's finished, he finally asks, "So, what's your name?"
The power of cuteness.
Leslie, when Ailing suggests a seamstress: ((OOC - Flee!
Flee as though your life depended on it!! Seamtresses!!!Aieeee!))
Karen: Oh, sure, you can flee Aisling. But can you flee....
FOLLY?! Mua-hahahaha! She's too cute to run from! Too
cute to defend yourself from! Too cute to object to, as she
sits on your lap and digests you bit by bit!
Leslie:<singing> I'm... too cutesy for my hair. Too
cutesy for my clothes. Too cutesy for my body. And I
shake my little... err, okay. Someone else is getting
silly, too. ;)
Karen: But is she too cutesy for... HER CAT? :)
I want one of those dragons.
Jovian/Canareth: //It is a pleasant night to fly in, if
you want.//
He does not answer.
//Did you lie to the Fledgling?//
//I don't think so.//
//But you did not tell her everything you needed to.//
//That's right, ya big lug. I didn't.//
//You do love her, do you not?//
//Don't ask me that. Don't ever ask me that.//
Yet another title for the king to add to
his name
"Ingenious," Jovian nods. "Pretentious, but
ingenious. My gut reaction is twofold: Only in battle, and only
after consultation with His Percussiveness."
The aesthetics of Marius
Meera: I've looked at his casting and decided that smoking
just doesn't look good enough on him, so he'll skip that vice. I
think I'll make him a mass murde-- I mean, I think he'll have
some other vice, instead.
Marius father?
Meera: So far, the leading candidates are:
Papa Smurf. (Last seen calling Deirdre "very smurfy.")
Brand. (You have to suspect him of anything and everything.)
Corwin. (Because that'd be a major bummer.)
Daeon. (Just one of those "odds" things.)
Mr. Smith. (The milkman. They get around.)
The Butler. (Because, of course, the butler did it.)
Oberon. (See Daeon.)
Dworkin. (Just kinky.)
Blackbeard. (The sea's in his blood.) and finally,
Wonder Woman. Because the Amazons got that whole parthenogenetic
thing worked out.
In a very different tone. Plainly
beautiful
Vere, to Robin:
I have always preferred flowers growing upon the bush," he
observes quietly. "Their beauty is a part of the world,
giving pleasure to the eye as they serve to bring forth the next
generation. Cut from their parent and artfully arranged in the
vase their beauty becomes more sterile, and they act as a
reminder of how we use the death of others to further our own
ends."
The fallacies of probability theory (The
boys' card game)
GM (Ginger): Vere is about even on the evening. His
betting strategy is perfect, but occasionally something
interesting like Ossian happens to a hand and that's hard to
overcome.
Then it *must* be easy!
Fiona, to Brita: Fiona's expression slides into felinity.
"However, lest you forget it in the depths of your
Patternwalk, many others have successfully won through. I am sure
that any test that Lucas can pass will not be too difficult for
you."
On bulldozers and doodles
Brennan: "I've seen a lot in my time, but not many
things compare to that. I don't like that it can happen right on
Amber's doorstep, either-- oh, Hell, that reminds me. Have you
heard about the Family Heirloom in the basement?"
>
This breaks the deeply disturbed concentration Jovian has been
giving the description of Artemis' incursion. "Glowing. Kind
of spiral. Theoretical blueprint of the universe. That family
heirloom?"
Brennan: "Yeah, that one. One sitting on cracked bedrock,
now." He waits for the reaction to *that* little piece of
good news.
"Cracked," Jovian repeats, much the way one might say
'yellow' after waking with a bad hangover, looking out one's
window and seeing a large yellow bulldozer bearing down on one's
house.
"We're still here. We can still work Shadow. Ergo, Oberon *did*
succeed. But the Pattern is...*cracked.* Did all the light leak
out the cracks?" he asks in a sickly tone, knowing the
answer already.
Brennan: He nods. Of course. But hey, on the bright side, this
application of Total Perspective Vortex therapy has left Jovian
with things to mull over other than his love life.
Fashion as a danger
Jovian, on fire-lillies: Just let's not let Florimel see
them, or they'll be in cut arrangements in every fashionable home
in town. And then we'll have to rebuild the whole damn city."
No bodies
John: Oh, really? I actually thought it was the state
funeral for Eric as well as Oberon and Deirdre. Mea culpa.
GM (Ginger): Actually, says the she-GM snarkily, it was a
memorial service. The technical difference being whether the
honorees are present or absent.
On fencing
Lilly, on Martin: He's quite good. He actually managed to
disarm me.
"He does have that effect on people, yes," Folly says,
grinning.
Purpose accomplished
Brita: "Queen Vialle. Thank you for a fulfilling
evening. The entertainment was...entertaining."
Jerod is nice?
Then, Jerod stops by to see what Folly is up to...*knock
knock*.
Karen: There's a momentary pause -- and then, quick as lightning,
a little grey paw reaches out through the crack under the door,
as if to protect Folly's room from the threat of Jerod's boots.
Ah...a food treat for Kina, Jerod thinks. Then he re-considers
and decides that wouldn't be nice.
This page was updated 11 aug 2003.