Ariana's log, Chapter 120

"Since my life is already in your hands, I suppose I can trust you with my fertility."

Saturday, August 26, 2994

Ariana seeks out Vialle and discusses the Grayson situation with her. Vialle reassures her and recommends giving Grayson some time to adjust. Ariana asks Vialle if she can talk to him and reassure him. Vialle is willing to do what she can.

Ariana returns to Lucien and fills him in on her conversation with Random. She's nervous about being away from her family for so long. Lucien admits it won't be easy, but she has so much on her mind right now that the time off will do her good. Ariana wonders if it won't just drive her crazy instead. Lucien doesn't think she's been abused enough to go crazy, not with a mind as strong as hers. Look at what Mirelle suffered. Ariana concedes his point, and mentions that Mirelle is starting to act crazy again. Lucien points out that she's spent more of her life crazy than sane. Ariana is concerned about the effect Mirelle's behavior will have on Devlin. Lucien suggests she work out her own problems before taking on the burden of other's. Ariana admits that she's never been good at that. Lucien says that all he asks is that she heal herself. He misses her. Ariana cries in his arms for a bit, then blames it on nerves. Lucien assures her that she'll do fine. She asks how he got through the five years he spent in Faerie. He set aside part of each day to simply review his happy memories of her and the children. Did his psi-stone help? Yes. Is he willing to give her one? Yes. She looks relieved and says she wasn't sure he'd want to. It has been several years since she gave him his, after all. Chalk another one up to male insensitivity. Once Ariana gives Lucien an image of the Shadow where she found his stone, he shifts to faerie form and opens a gate there. They remain in the Shadow for several days, since it runs faster than Amber. Ariana considers backing up her memories before leaving for Ygg, in case her mind gets wiped like Laughter and Foster's did, but gives up the idea because the memory chip won't survive for long in Amber.

The boys have their lessons with Ishmael after lunch. Jalana is invited to pose for a picture with Grayson. Ariana arranges for Grayson to have his own money, then talks with Lucien about the children's tutors. Since he has no objections, she'll have them start the next day. She also wants him to talk to the boys about their attitude towards women.

Gavin stops by Ariana's quarters, wanting to continue his conjuration lessons. Ariana wants to put it off until after the ball. OK. Gavin asks what the definition of treason is. Well, Amber is a monarchy. There is the standard definition, but a lot of it depends on the King's discretion. Ariana says she might not be the best person to ask about how treason is defined in Amber, since she grew up in a democracy. Why is he asking? He wants to know how the King handles criticism. Ariana suggests not bothering him right now. Uh, no. Has Gavin looked into the cat yet? Uh, no. He mentions that Nimue seems changed. Is she the new Unicorn? Ariana thinks so. Either her new disposition is due to growing into her position, or it's simply a public facade. Has Nimue given up on him walking the Pattern? She hasn't bothered him lately. Gavin doesn't believe in gods. Ariana says she's a polytheist, adding that it's hard not to believe in any gods after watching what happened to the universe after the Serpent and Unicorn died. Shadow storms and the like. Oh, Gavin remembers that. Gavin brings up what Ariana did to Brand, wondering what he'll think now that his memories are gone. Ariana admits that if she'd known they were going to erase Brand's mind, she might have stayed her hand. But probably not. Some things are unforgivable. She figures that Clarissa will probably keep Brand sedated until he heals. Even Laughter's marks to his face should heal, after all. What would leave scars? Well, being hurt by a demon in the Abyss or chasm would do it. There are nasty demons in the Abyss. Gavin is interested in this, of course.

Jalana returns in the middle of the afternoon. She mentions that Grayson had another model show up, a faerie named Sarah. Ariana asks for an psychic image of her. Sarah doesn't look anything like Jack, but Ariana is still uneasy about this.

Grayson isn't at dinner. He doesn't answer his door, either. Ariana opts to leave him alone until morning.

Ariana spends the evening with her family, until the children all go to bed. Then she goes to say goodbye to Shard. She finds him sitting on a parapet, and he seems rather depressed. They chat for a while. It's obvious that Shard is lonely and still wants her. He also hints that he'd be happy to make her a vampire, to ease her mind from her troubles. Vampires view things differently, you see. Ariana still has no interest in taking him up on his offer.

Ariana returns to her quarters, and mentions Shard's loneliness to Lucien. Lucien is concerned that if Ariana continues to spend time with Shard, his loneliness will drive him to make her a vampire, whether she wishes it or no. It is his nature as a vampire to destroy those who get close to him. Lucien also warns that Shard doesn't have to bite her three times to make her a vampire. There is a faster way. All he has to do is make her drink the blood of a vampire. Ariana doesn't think she's likely to do that. Lucien points out that if she's close enough to Shard, he could make her do it. He could even make her think she was simply drinking wine. Ariana doesn't want to believe that Shard would do this to her, since he's her friend. She also doesn't want to shut him out of her life, since that will eliminate one of his few remaining human friends. She feels that such an action would make him more likely to give in to his nature. Lucien says he knows he can't stop her, so he won't try. He just hopes he won't live to regret that. Ariana thinks having him watching out for her will tilt the odds in her favor. They discuss methods of stopping a vampire, just in case. In addition to sunlight or fire, inserting an object into the heart will do the trick. Unfortunately, it doesn't kill them right away, so you have to keep them from removing the object before they die. Ariana isn't sure she could bring herself to do that to Shard.

Ariana speculates on who will be going on the Ygg mission, and asks if it will bother Lucien if she sleeps with any of them. He doesn't want to say, leaving the decision up to her. She says she doesn't want to hurt him. He eventually admits that it probably would bother him. Ariana suspected as much. So why did she ask? Well, she could have been wrong... Ariana and Lucien wind up walking down to the beach. Ariana asks if she's doing the right thing. He assures her that she is. She begins getting melancholy about this being her last night in Amber for a while, so he tosses her into the water to distract her. This succeeds rather nicely, and they spend the rest of the night on the shore saying goodbye to each other.

Sunday, August 27, 2994

Grayson isn't at breakfast in the morning. Ariana is invited on the Ygg project, and given an hour to respond. She looks for Grayson, but he isn't in his quarters and he doesn't answer his Trump. Ariana examines his quarters. She finds the picture he's doing of Jalana, which appears to be a Trump. His bed hasn't been slept in, and there are traces of faerie magic in the room. She can't trace them. She asks Lucien for help, but he can't trace them either. Ariana fetches Whimsy from town, where she's buying cold iron. Whimsy checks out the room and claims she can't trace the signature. She asks if Grayson is strong enough to prevent anyone from tracing him. Ariana doesn't think so. Whimsy accuses Ariana of being incredibly depressive, saying that's why Grayson left. Ariana gets upset and leaves. She spends the rest of the hour saying goodbye to her family while trying to hide how miserable she is. Lucien promises to keep looking into what happened to Grayson while she's gone.

On the Ygg project are Benedict, Bleys, Caine, Fiona, Suhuy, Ariana, Ishmael and Benedict's men, including Benedict's Chainman, Ander Arion, and the Captain of Benedict's guard, Anatoli, Ander's son,. The Shadow that Benedict chooses is a temperate one, devoid of intelligent life forms but with a high tech. level. Benedict brings in nuclear generators to provide electricity for the base camp, which is fairly large and located near several forests and lakes. Benedict's men stay in military barracks, but everyone else has their own living quarters. Bleys, Fiona and Suhuy ward the camp from attacks by any of the powers, while Benedict and his men deal with the physical defense of the camp. Ishmael quickly becomes bored and builds himself an obstacle course.

Ariana tends to keep to herself at first, but she slowly begins emerging from her shell, with a little prodding from Ishmael. He and Ariana spend a lot of time sparring. Ariana learns that Ishmael has a strange sense of humor. He asks Ariana about Tamaryn and seems to be interested in her.

Bleys, Caine and Ishmael occupy themselves by triple-teaming Benedict. Ariana receives training from Benedict as well, both in individual combat fighting and the strategy and tactics of armies. During one of her lessons, she asks Benedict what the best is way to defend against faerie magic. He tells her there are only two defenses that he knows of, save luck: Getting to the wizard before the spell is cast, or possessing one of the mythical Faerie Wards. The wards prevent faerie magic from affecting the one who holds them. Unfortunately, there are no more than seven of them in existence, to his knowledge. Is it known where any of them are? It's being looked into. Can she help? Not at the moment, as sending another person out would be redundant. He'll keep her in mind if it doesn't pan out. Ariana also warns Benedict about her suspicions regarding Gavin's cat.

Ariana reforges her sword so that it has cold iron running through it. She also learns how to draw Trump from Ishmael. She asks if he'd be willing to teach her kids Trump when they return. He's already doing it. Vincent has quite a talent. Ariana is upset that Ishmael didn't consult her before he began teaching them.

Ishmael finds Ariana one night when he's been drinking and asks her to tell him about Ahab. She proceeds to do so, revealing that he was a good friend of hers, and that she thinks he died senselessly. Given how she describes him, Ishmael thinks it would have happened sooner or later. He reveals that Nicholas is still suffering from the effects of Ahab's dying words, "My son shall set things right." Ariana admits that the curse/blessing is rather open-ended. Ishmael advises not mentioning the subject to Nicholas.

Ariana spends a lot of time talking to the tree, recalling that the original Ygg was sentient. The tree begins talking back to her shortly before the end of their stay. It can recall her speaking to it for about a month before that, and seems to enjoy listening to her. It decides to keep the name Ygg.

Tuesday, August 29, 2994

The Ygg project contingent returns Tuesday morning. Ariana goes to her quarters but Lucien isn't there. Neither are the older children, who are with their tutors. Ariana hugs Ana and Briana and gets reacquainted with them. She pretends not to notice when Lucien finally returns, and gets a pillow tossed at her. She returns fire, and invites the kids to join in. Lucien becomes incorporeal, and the kids land in a pile where he was.

Quotables:

"I think it might be nice for someone to go and cheer (Grayson) up." -- Whimsy, the ever bitter, to Fiona

"Always stroke the male ego, it makes them more pliable." -- Wendi
"There are other things that you can stroke." -- Lisamarie
"That don't become more pliable." -- Jen

"Why don't I give Alex Hendrake's head? It could attach itself to his shoulders. That would be fun." -- Whimsy
"It would be fun for us." -- Ishmael

"There are some advantages to (my demon form). I have a long tongue. Of course, I do have fangs, so fellatio would be right out." -- Tamaryn to Felix

"This is why people keep bringing up nipple rings, which (Felix) hates." -- Kris
"Which is funny, because Vixen has them. Not the same ones, of course." -- Jen

"Most people find Capillaria a rather strange place." -- Fiona to Whimsy
"Have you ever been to EuroDisney? (Capillaria) is a lot like that." -- Liam

"(Avalon) is full of people much like myself, your Uncle Bleys, and your Uncle Brand. It's a seat of learning." -- Fiona
"Oh, I thought you were going to tell me it was full of ambitious people bent on taking over the world." -- Whimsy

"I don't think that making giant penises is what I want to do with conjuration." -- Matthew to Kris

"Since my life is already in your hands, I suppose I can trust you with my fertility." -- Vixen to Vetch

"Outrageous Fortune"
Game Logs for Sessions 1-115 | Character Logs for Sessions 116+

Last modified on February 17, 1998 by Kris Fazzari.