07.08b: Skin Deep

[Draylen]

"Ah, um, er... s-sure?" he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "If you really think it's that important..." he murmurs, looking down.

[Wyvern]

"The cards are simple enough to use; a mere matter of concentration and mental focus."

Alys makes no move to get out her own deck, however; it's clear she expects Aibne to actually make the trump call. ...Though, to be fair, it was his idea anyway.

[Draylen]

The bear nods a little and pulls out his deck, concentrating. He breaths out slowly, fishing out Morgana's card, before looking at it. He stares intently at it for a moment, frowning slightly, before looking up at Alys. "Um, I'm not... sure how this works..."

[Wyvern]

"Just keep concentrating on the card; it shouldn't take that long to make a connection. Less than a minute."

[Draylen]

He nods a little and closes his eyes, breathing out slowly. He holds the card carefully, and relaxes, bit by bit, before 'reaching' out for Morgana.

[Joshua]

Trump conducted over IM:

"Morgana..?" Aibne thinks tentatively, feeling his 'reach' 'answered’*. He focuses a little, conjuring first Priscilla, then an image of her family, in an unfamiliar shadow. He takes his time and goes fairly slowly and methodically about it, obviously unsure, but explains roughly what's going on.

Morgna will mentally nod. "I can call you back in time, if you need."

"Thank you, Morgana." Aibne pauses a little, frowning, before also relaying the possible 'amberite tournament', and Alys's concerns that Lane might not have given Ashara his card. "What do you think?"

Morgana will start with the easy question. “I haven't heard of the tournament. Perhaps it is the tournament we are holding? I never really thought of it as one for Amberites…"

"No, the way Father Bonebreaker was describing it made it sound like a separate thing... Sort of an exhibition for the people, showing off what the rulers could do." Aibne sent a mental bit of confusion, before giving a mental shake. "That neither of us knew about it would probably indicate another Odin or some-such. At least, I think that’s what Alys thinks."

"Another aspect is that since we tend to beat the others… I did talk about having a separate level of skill for those at that level." Morgana will offer, remembering the tournament was already divided into various tiers.

"Oh? That's a relief then. As long as you know something about it. Thank you, Morgana."

"I hope that's all it is." She will offer. “And I will check in with Darnell, I think he was going to get a set of cards for Ashara. He should be there early this morning.”

"Thank you Morgana. Sorry for troubling you."
________________
*: Conversation over trump is in language, but also conveys meaning and symbols, as well as understanding. So, it’s almost impossible to be misunderstood, unlike verbal communication. Plus, you can intentionally send full memories, even impressions and psychic senses.

[Draylen]

The bear nods slightly, blinking out of it and going back to the 'real' world. He shakes his head. "Um. She'll let us know before it's time to go, even call us back if she has to. And she said something about knowing about the tournament, but... Well. It's a relief, either way, right?" he asks, putting the card back in his deck. "At least it worked."

[Wyvern]

"Mm," Alys comments.

After a bit, Tinder returns; Alys puts a hand on his head, and then lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good, I was hoping I was being overly paranoid about that. Just... the cards represent avenues of attack as well as communication and travel, plus... well, never mind the plus, we can talk about that later. I presume you either have one for out outside of Amber, or talked to Morgana about borrowing one of hers? We will need to all concentrate on this one - everyone touching each other and touching the card would probably be best. ...At least, I presume we can use the cards that way. I suppose we will find out shortly."

[Joshua]

Priscilla nods and will follow along quietly for the moment. This is not her area of expertise. Absently, she will be checking her racked spells.

[ShadowOfPreservation]

Jiga heads into the main waiting room of the fort, noting with some confusion the gathering of orcs in the room before catching sight of Aibne, Alys, and Priscilla. Her eyes dart between the two Pricillas for a moment before quickly determining what is going on and heading over.

She looks much more comfortable this morning, dressed in well tailored leathers that somehow manage to convey the image of a well to do merchant who simply prefers muted colors mixed with a roguish adventurer with an eye for fashion. Her only true concession to finer dress takes the form of a number of small clips adorned with light blue gemstones that are fastened decoratively to a few of her longer head feathers. A number of knives are sheathed about her person.

Jiga smiles warmly at Aibne as she approaches. "Good morning, Aibne. I apologize if I'm interrupting anything. I tried looking for you this morning but didn't have any luck...so I came back here. At least I got to stretch my legs a bit." She'll turn to the others and introduce herself, having missed most of the party and introductions the previous evening.