Solange 12/22/06

"Sentimentality aside, it's a loss. Our benefits from maintaining a garrison here to protect a broken Pattern that we, as far as I know, _get no return from _, gives us a cost benefit ratio of less than one," Solange says, frowning. "The only reason we're here is to keep others from using it against us. I think we should cut our losses and finish the job."

Lilly 12/19/06

Lilly looks at Brennan and a frightening smile, one that clearer indicates that this entire thing is becoming complicated enough to please a child of Benedict (or for that matter Benedict himself), meets her eyes as she speaks.

12/19/06

Solange:
Solange returns her attention to Caine and shrugs. "I think it should be destroyed now that there's a viable Pattern in Xanandu. But I'm less than half a century old. What do I know?"

12/16/06

Lucas:
"I'm not entirely sure yet who died and left me his shiny
white armour," he says at last.

HoC quotes part 1 12/7/06

Brennan:
"You wound me, Lilly," Brennan says lightly. "But yes, lots of stories. I'm thinking one of them ends with, '...And that's why this young lady, whose name I have already told you, thought that you were going to try and affinate her,' yes? Which--" Brennan looks back at Signy for this next, "--by the way, I'm not. Affinations are Marius' department for the time being."

Brita:
"Other than the Trump of Our Uncle, which I would be Loathe to Use Directly. I do Not Believe we are Strong Enough to Withstand an Uncle, However Disconnected from Reality he may Be."

Celina:
Celina makes herself comfortable. "I'm not officially with a shell. I'm prospecting a bit. Bad timing that I run into a blockade."

Conner:
"I do have the gift of gab and a knack for identifying local needs and concerns." Rooker admits. "From seaward to court and a few places that aren't even in between."

Edan:
Gold eyes lift to meet the gaze of the stranger. "And my name is Edan. In my homeland, where a name can be a language unto itself, it would be, 'Edan ibn Bleys ibn Oberon al-Kehribar al-Salaamal-Djinn-al-Ghanii'. I am pleased to make your acquantance."

Folly:
Folly grins up at [Martin]. "Yes, well, at least I'm *your* pain in the ass," she says.

Garrett:
When she answers, he releases the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Paige. It's Garrett," he says hastily. "Jovian just tore out of the infirmary. He jumped off the..." His eyes narrow as he notices her muddy clothes and bloody lip. "What the... What happened to *you*?" he exclaims.

New Quotes! 8/31/06

Lucas (to Solange): "Enjoy your doctor, cos. Don't let him get too sanctimonious."
---------------
"Isn't that obvious?", says Germaine. "Your fate and that of the woman who floats
are clearly tied."

"So, fate is a shoelace, to trip upon?" asks Kyril.
-----------------
Folly thinks about that for just an instant before she starts to laugh, appreciatively and infectiously. "Oh, the universe has a strange sense of humor, doesn't it?" she says when she has caught her breath again. "It must take after its father."

"Its enigmatic mother made Random our King," Paige reminds her as the laughter infects her. "She's not exactly innocent, either."
-----------------
An enormous sob rips through Robin and she leans her forehead against Canareth's suffering skin. "I'm sorry, Canareth. I'm sorry." The girl allows herself one sorrowful wail. Then she lifts dread-filled liquid eyes to her brother.
-------------------
Paige: "Point of order, oh creator of Xanadu. Is the bunny gun going to work up in the woods if I need it to?"

"Huh? No gun should work here. Do you have a gun that actually firesbunnies? Doesn't that upset your kids? Because I know that the idea disturbs me."
---------------------
Edan: "If you do find Weyland, and by chance have the opportunityto ask him..."

Brennan's eyes light with faint amusement. "Is Bleys asking me to do him a favor?"

The corner of Edan's mouth moves upward. "I would not burden him so,"he says. "It would be doing me a favor."

"Good answer," Brennan says, still amused, as they reach Fiona's suite. Brennan will knock, if Edan doesn't.
------------------
He can handle being outdoors but Jerod has little desire to remain there when warm food, good drinks and comfortable sheets are within riding distance.
-------------------
Ossian draws his trump case from a pocket."I'm not the most verbal in our family." he pulls the Brand Trump fromthe case and hands it over to Ambrose.
-------------------
"My Interest is the Protection of Town Abford as I am Cousin to MistressCarper who has Ties here," Brita nods at Morris with this statement. "My Knowledge of the Protector's Business stems from the Fact that he is MyUncle and His Concerns are My Concerns. His Failure would Affect Me andMine as well as Town Abford." She does not indicate how it would affect her.
-----------------
Garrett looks surprised at that. "Grandfather didn't tell you? Iwould've thought that if you were raised as a prince, you would've known all along. That it would've been part of your training."

Random laughs. "'Training'. Son, one of my dear brothers knighted me whenI was about 25. I was dubbed 'Sir Perfluous'."
-----------------------
"I don't suppose you know how your father managed the trick of making guns work in Amber?" Conner inquired.

Celina registers she has learned another secret of the Amber family. She frowns thinking about Huon and his army but looks to Merlin.

"Yes," Merlin says, but does not elaborate.

July HoC Quotes part 1

Brennan Brandson, Reluctant CEO
Brennan has enough grace not to say, "Nothing important," out loud,but not quite enough not to think it. He does seem mildly taken aback that someone has actually followed through on one of his suggestions.

Bond, James Bond
"Ah. I have Noticed that Propensity in Many Locations. 'Van Asgard' Suffices," Brita responds.

Punching people in the groin, for example
Celina returns that squeeze and looks fondly into Merlin's eyes. "I think Conner implies that there is yet no defender blade for Paris. Perhaps it shall never need one, given the greater military experience our father has."

A little gravitas to go with the wine and cheese
"Well if it was a physical happening then he is already forewarned."Conner offered. "It is ever the family practice to mix serious matters with joyous reunion though. To be invovled in another's plans is a way to show you care." Conner advised.

Edan knows it too
"It is an... educated guess. As you probablyknow, Father has the ability to say much without really saying anything. And he has the hubris to believe that he can handle such a thing alone... you know, despite many mathematical models, I cannot support his assertion that the universe revolves around himself."

We’re all glad for that
Folly grins. "You know how I can tell I'm turning into a mum? 'Cos it's TOO EARLY to be DRINKING!" She scowls comically, eyes twinkling,and shakes a finger at Jerod. Her expression brightens again and she adds, "On the plus side, at least that means I'm not turning into MY mum...."

That’s a scary open invitation
To the swordsman Garrett says, "Tell me about your methods. You'll find as a student, I'm tireless and persistent, but very inexperienced. How do you propose to teach me what I need to know?"

Now, that’s practicing medicine
Hannah can't help but smile at Sebastian. "Tact, bedside manner, why be civil when we're all being honest?"

The perils of being a diplomat
Jerod turns his head to look at Folly, his expression narrowing as he studies her features, taking the time to commit genetic markers to memory. "And guess who gets to deliver the message." he says rhetorically, mostly to himself before looking back at Martin. "I'm definitely hitting up your dad for another twenty percent on hazard pay."

Quotes 6/29/06

Welcome to the family, Lilly!
'If they are going to believe I am a demi-goddess', she decides,
'I might as well use it to my advantage.'

I'm sure she's mastered -some- of them...
Paige: "But such a weapon is not the way at least not for one such as I, and as you've been so kind to point out, I've never mastered any of my lessons... So better that I keep my pretty little head out of it, yes?" The smile masked rage that found release in angry white knuckles gripping the Trump and her skirts, both hopefully out of her Father's view.

And a tribute to the Swan
Don't you boys owe some penance or something for serving on a ship run by a infidel manipulating lesbian murderer? I think a little self-flagellation would do nicely.
~ Chime(At least we weren't pirates.)

Looks at screen/looks down at lab coat/"Hey!!!!"
Gerard wheels off with the two of them and has his blood drawn before he and Hannah depart for the day. "Lots of it too," he tells Hannah at dinner afterwards. "Bloody vampires."

No.... no, they can't
"Not reassuring doctor. I don't want to know what you'think'. You can do better than that." Hannah looks at Chew. "So can you. I find your lack of resistance to mean you plan to completely ignore what I just asked of you, since it's neither easy nor something your... managers might like much."

TMI
Marius: [That's where I was headed.] [He's still trying to find Victoria's secret. Maybe the Klybesians know. And why do you need to be wearing a peach satin push-up bra? He doesn't have anything to push up. The cubic zirconia garter belt, though, now that has class. Um.][You know, I saw it at a Victoria's Secret last week, but I can't finda picture of it. Really, $40 (USA) for a bunch of lace is bad enough.][No, I am not photoshopping him into it.][It didn't happen.][Really.]

Fear and Loathing in Altasirim
Solange: "My virginity? Already gone. My clothes? We've done that. My way? We've done that too. My honor? I'd like to keep that intact. My marbles? A definite possibility. Looks like it'll have to be 'my marbles' unless you can come up with something more interesting."

It's a Hindu thang
"The nature of the path I must take to enlightenment," answers Lucas immediately. "The way you speak of it suggests that it is in some way different from the otherwise ubiquitous roads that lead to Amber. At least,one must assume so, for you have chosen to journey in the opposite direction, which I suppose is logical enough, unless we are to envision everything as a great big circle. But perhaps that is what your understanding of time fundamentally teaches."

That's a delicate way to put it
Brennan: "It's a Order militant, Flora," he reminds her. "We chose them fortheir skill at arms. If any of my Knights are wizards, they haven'tspoken it to me. I could ask my brother, though, if you think the King will allow him here after the... regrettable misunderstandings...at the Coronation."

It's a Seaward thang
Celina: "Myth pales, the eternal becomes mundane, and family blood has been spilled." She lifts a hand out in front on her, between she andConner, and it floats for a moment as if dancing or in water. "What is this flesh by comparison to all that? No, Conner. I need not the favor of my body--", she waves that thought away, "or whatever being sought by kin. The ocean has always been my rest. I'll sleep there when my story is done."

You want out of there, you're going to have to work on those communication skills
Conner looks down at the slick deck and picks up a crushed fingerling. "Even if we could put one of these back together to ask it, I don't speak fish. So I don't suppose I will know any time soon."

Remind me never to race them...
Vere: "I shall challenge you to a marathon some day," he replies with a smile. "Perhaps then I shall have a chance at victory."
Robin: "And I shall accept." Robin chirps happily. After all, a marathon gave her even more time to chea... strategize says her happy grin.

Manners in Xanadu
"Hmm," Garrett says with a nod of interest. "May I?" heasks as he reaches for the weapon.
Jerod does not immediately answer but waits momentarily, to see if Garrett actually picks up the weapon before receiving a reply to his question.
[Garrett] starts to pick it up, then looks up at Jerod inquiringly.
After that moment passes, Jerod responds. "Of course."

Call Captain Nemo!
Folly: "The Rebmans don't revere some mystical narwhal that goes about handing out shiny magic red rocks, do they? Or green rocks. Blue rocks. You know." Folly looks curiously at Martin. She's being a little bit facetious, but only a little bit.

The best pun those Land of Peace people can come up with
Edan sits back. "I am... sorry," he says after a moment. "Sometimes my thoughts race ahead of me, and they are as difficult to control as Aramsham. Sometimes, I react too quickly. I am... what is the term...'hot-headed.' " He smiles, a little.

Banking in Abford
[Meg] clicks her fingers. "Can any of you get your hands on money quickly?Large amounts might be helpful."
"Money or goods?" Ambrose asks. "I have a reserve in the treasuryof Uxmal I can draw on if need be. The money will be different, but some ofthe goods will be exotic here in Abford."
"And if Ambroses resources doesn't suffice we'll get it in someother way. Uxmali money might not be the best thing to pay with, though. Better to melt them in that case."
Brita has no input on the money aspect other than to ask, "Why do you Need Money?"

Quotes from Dramatis Personae! 6/15/06

Brennan
"It's better to approach Bleys with most of a puzzle solved and let him give the last piece. It's a little extra effort, sometimes, but it gives him such joy. It's best to show him the solved puzzle, though."

Brita
"Yes. Yes. Our Extended Family is quite Large but Far Flung due to extensive Travelling. Thus, we may not Know our Kin until we Trip over them."

Celina
"I'm carrying a powerful rage for the people who lied to me routinely while I was growing up. So then I try to put it behind me and act as if what really matters is what I do next, not what has been done to me."

Conner
At the first hint of green hair, it all falls into place. A Rebman sorceror, water golems and their relationship with Gateway all add upto this latest attempt to assassinate him. Of course, it didn't explain the disintigrating arm. Then to his great delight, the whole theory fell apart in a flash of recognition.

Edan
Edan looks away, then back at Folly. "I am... likely... not the best suited to discuss the subject of God, or the ramifications of power," he says.

Folly
"I'm sorry, my husband is apparently off committing violence for reasons I don't understand, and it's your jobs to keep me from freaking out about it, okay?"

Garrett
Garrett nods at them both with a courtly smile. To Thorn, he says,"Thorn, I find myself in need of a master-at-arms," he says with genial confidence. "The men from Amber who were supposed to accomplish that task have not yet arrived. Who can you recommend?" He grins, much like his father. "And by 'recommend', I of course mean 'assign.'"

Hannah
"Finally, I want you to understand that I expect, when we're here, that you work for us. *Us*, not your mega-corporation-conglomerant-brands.*Us*. We're your customers, not your test subjects for whatever new pain treatment you want to 'monop' the market with, or whathaveyou."

Jerod
Jerod nods, apparently satisfied at the answer. "I've found that gods are notorious for ignoring what mere mortals wish them to do. It frequently devolves onto the individual to decide what they will dare to accomplish. Let us hope your efforts are successful."

Lilly
"You are correct. I am not of these parts," Lilly replies softly. She takes a moment to decide upon which of the many truths she cares to impart upon this stranger. "You may call me Lilly, though, I suppose,Dame Lilly is more in order these days. My father is a man known by some as Benedict. He too is old, powerful, and isolated, though the walls surrounding him are not quite as solid as the ones before us."

Lucas
>"Why do you call yourself 'Lucas the sincere'?"

"The remnant of an ancient variation of Thari," says Lucas. "We called it French, and in that tongue the word is 'Sant' as in 'Saint', not 'sin' -although a failure to distinguish between the two is probably my besetting fault. And the rest is the name of a saint who, for some strange reason, is often depicted as a naked child riding on a boar. One must imagine the bristles would scratch abominally."

Marius
Marius doesn't let his expression change, but he hurries in nevertheless. Not like he's expecting them to change their mind, but because he would never have called himself, "Of Rebma," despite the dreams. He represses a smile at the, "We will deal with you as you deal with us." If only the universe would be so kind, and so cruel!

Meg
> "But until then, what are you planning to tell your family?"

"Not everything," Meg sighs again. "That I still don't know who my parents are. That I'm somehow related to a bunch of strange nobles from far away in another world. And that while they're very nice in the main, they can still be dangerous."

Ossian
>"What would you do if you had a family like this?"

Ossian lowers his voice. He gives Meg a sad look. "I'd cry. For a while." he pauses.
"You will survive them all."

Paige
> "It's not easy, being friends with the Prince's wife, is it?" Jerod asks finally, the Court face put away for the time being.

"It's easy being her friend," Paige admits. "It's being her lover that may get complicated."

Robin
One corner of Robin's mouth ticks in a dark smile. Mentioning Bleys around her *while* she's wielding a knife - she's just gotta love Vere's sense of humor.

Solange
Solange lowers the trump and regards Lucas. "Every half hour or so? Just how long do you plan to be gone? Go out there, make contact if necessary, come back, twenty minutes tops. I'm not sitting around here playing mumbledy peg while you meet the mayor."

Vere
Vere smiles slightly as Avis speaks, and before Robin has a chance to answer he bows to his love. "Speech of these things is not for a man," he says piously. "I shall leave you to it, and take myself to man's affairs."

6/12/06

I am barrel-rider
"I am Marius." Seeker of Truths. Delver into Depths. Tired, lonely, and angry, all at once. "I am," is a conceit he allows himself, a denial of oblivion of void in a universe of Shadow.

6/5/06

Someone set an egg timer, please?
"Can you rise?" [Lilly] says to the soldier. "If so, I want you both toaccompany me down below and call a momentary truce. Certainly your men can wait a few more moments to die."

Are you really sure about that?
Meg shrugs. "I don't want to change the time for that, I want theproblem to not be a problem. I'm trying to think of options. Whatsort of danger do you mean?"
Ossian gets an ironic look on his face.
"The Abford collapsing unto itself and vanishing-sort of danger, Iimagine. At least if I tried to do it.
"If you could persuade Random to do it, it could possibly be safer."

Lucas missed his calling as a dime store novelist
"I'm not expecting Elder Germaine to rise from his seat with acackle of maniacal laughter to exclaim, 'Wretched Amberites! At last I haveyou in my power!' On the other hand, I could be wrong. The choice, sweetcos, is yours."

5/31/06

I have more reputation in my pinky finger than...

Robin: She looks at her love with eyes purposely big and green and
all-too-innocently asks, "My nose isn't worth your reputation?"

5/26/06

Postcards from home

Brennan, an imagined trump conversation in the OOC list:

"*Yes*, Grandmother. Yes, I'll tell Bleys, too. Yes, and Fiona.Yes, their hearts will overflow. Love. Overflow with love."

5/25/06

For instance, there's that whole hot pokers to the eyes thing...
Vere: "Please make it clear to the Lady Priestess that Corwin rules Paris in his own right, he can be an arrogant man if he thinks he is not being treated with proper respect."

Cover up, dear...
"That could be very helpful, Brita," [Meg] replies. "Morris can take you, and introduce you. And..." Meg rests her fingers on her chin. "perhaps we could lend you a headscarf?"