Session 47: Bodyguards and Other Hits (8/28/02)Gabrielle discusses with Sinclair about how to introduce him to Bleys. They go for, "my friend, Sinclair." They get introduced. They manage not to bristle at each other. Sinclair fails to take a signal to leave, so Gabrielle gives a verbal cue. He leaves for the section previously set up with him in power so that he can keep an eye on both Gabrielle and Bleys. Elayne's bodyguard team. Artemas Eaton - He's the team leader. He's very focused and seems to expect everybody else to be also. He favors a katana-style sword. He's on the tall side of middle height and wears his red hair short except for two "tails" that hang in front of his ears. Klemet Appak - He's the team's magic user, both a conjurer and a sorcerer. He also carries a sword that he seems to use both for fighting and as a receptacle for racking spells. He's the only member of the team who is not a shape shifter. He seems to be some sort of human shaped earth elemental. There are rocky protrusions on his "skin," and his "hair" seems to be glassy. Edeva Boone - She's the team physician and an advanced shape shifter. She seems to have no patience with anything that interferes with her duty, but she does have a sense of humor. She's tall and deliberately elegant. Her hair is black, and she wears it long. She carries no apparent weapons. She and Uriana are sisters. Uriana Boone - She's the dirty tricks expert. She understands traps, poisons and the like. She seems to favor weapons that can be easily concealed on her person. Her skin is silver-gray, and her hair is short and white. She doesn't move like she's entirely human, and once in a while her control of her shape shifting slips a little, nothing major, just enough to make her form flicker a little. She and Edeva are sisters. Lethea Brazer - She moves like a dancer or a gymnast (and is muscled accordingly). She wears her brown hair long and normally keeps it back in a single ponytail or braid. She has an excellent poker face and seems to notice most of what's going on around her. She wears a sword, but she seems always to reach first for a bracelet that she wears on her right wrist. (Elayne would sense that it's a powerful item and is closely bound to Lethea.) Finette Kantilal - Her weapon of choice is a quarterstaff. She's of middle height and has long black hair. She seems very quiet and courteous. Elliot Kusumi - He's the team's unarmed combat expert. He's also the one who broke Bleys' nose by punching him through the Trump contact. He's tall and muscular with black hair that he wears brushed straight up in spikes. Tighe Quinn - He's tall and blond. When he's not dealing with a threat, he practically oozes attitude and charm. He seems to put a lot of his energy into flirtation with the ladies around him (Uriana always flirts back with good humor. Lethea mocks him. Edeva alternates between flirting back and smacking him when she thinks he's not paying proper attention to what's important. Finette generally smiles and does her best to ignore him) but doesn't ever push his attention on someone who's unwilling. Oliver Tiapkin - He's the missile weapon specialist. He's rather short and always seems to be moving. He smiles so cheerfully that it's hard to take him seriously as a potential threat. His hair is blondish-brown, and he wears it in a bowl cut. Despil introduces Elayne to all of the people. Questions: * What spaces - lab, rooms? Yes * When do we need all female teams? Protocol? Not sure, have to ask Nicola * When do you need two or three? At least two when I sleep. * Does that change when you have company? Yes, none when Merlin is around. The meeting for Darian to crash is at 9 am. Darian wants to discuss the shipping of the things he's been asking for. Darian also brings up the uniform of the Amber Guard and what colors they would wear. Elayne gets a trump contact from Bleys. Elayne wonders if she could send the flirt through in her place. One of Elayne's new bodyguards, Elliot, punches Bleys through the contact and gets sucked through. His initial blow breaks Bleys' nose and the two men end up wrestling in Clarissa's shadow. In the meeting, Merlin suddenly looks up and exclaims, "Elayne's under attack!" He runs from the room, followed by Gerard and Darian. They arrive after Elliot has been pulled through the contact and find the team's doctor looking after Elayne. Darian: is there anyway we can strengthen the trump barrier around Elayne? Elayne: then I won't be able to use any trump! Merlin: Is that such a high price to pay? Elayne: Dirty look. Merlin: All right. Darian gets the third party account from Oliver. Gabrielle pulls Corwin through the trump; he doesn't hesitate to help Bleys beat up Elliot. Surprisingly, Elliot is able to take a lot of damage. Gabrielle hands Bleys an icepack. Gabrielle looks at the newcomer: just take a nap! And he does. Corwin kicks him one last time. Bleys applies the ice pack. Gabrielle offers to try her hand at fixing Bleys nose, commenting that she's "more of a psychiatrist than a plastic surgeon." Gabrielle asks to keep the toy indicating Elliot. Bleys will allow it. Elayne discovers via talking to the castle that Clarinda was grabbed and taken out. Merlin excuses himself from Elayne's presence. Elayne discovers via talking to the castle that Louisa is gone as well. She sends her maid to tell Merlin, but the maid only manages to tell a guard. So Elayne trumps Darian and lets him know. Merlin is swearing and cursing Gabrielle's name. Darian examines the guards to see how Corwin approached. He then starts looking at the walls and finds the exit of a secret passage in the hallway. At a pause, Darian informs Gerard that Louisa is missing and shows him the secret passage. Darian suggests leading some men down the passage in case that was the manner of egress. Artemas requests a trump of Bleys to hand off for negotiations to get Elliot back. Elayne calls Mandor to let him know his bride has been stolen. He doesn't seem all that disappointed. Merlin returns to Elayne. They discuss the impact of Clarinda's disappearance for a while before Merlin says, "I need an heir." Elayne reluctantly agrees. Elayne says she is considering asking Caine to give Logrus to one of her body guards. Merlin suggests they should earn it. They discuss Caine's price: Julian's son. Elayne suggests maybe Lorne in his place, since Lorne is not important for holding Amber. Mandor saunters over to Louisa's quarters, where Darian is looking about. Mandor looks and says he has never seen this 'signature' and Darian suggests that Gabrielle is the one who broke the girls out. Mandor wonders aloud where Gabrielle got her boost of power. He declines to follow the trump signature though; since Gabrielle is no fool, there is most certainly a trap at the other end. Bleys is going to take care of contacting Random and also get his nose fixed. Gabrielle fixes a nice meal for Corwin. He asks if her lover is here. Gabrielle looks pointedly around the room. She then mentally decides that Sinclair is not getting in the room and fuzzes it out so he can't see or hear what is going on. Corwin: I thought you were better. Better than your aunts. Well, except for her. I thought you were like her. Gabrielle: Has he done something in particular to offend you? Corwin: It's not about him, it's about you... acting like a whore. A man's a man. I expect that of him. But you are a lady. Gabrielle suggests he have some tea, and he accuses her of changing the subject. Corwin: "I want to know why you did this?" Gabrielle: "Did what?" Corwin: "Started acting like a whore!?!" Gabrielle: I don't think I am. Corwin suggests that he can go take care of 'the problem,' but Sinclair's not really the problem. Gabrielle martyrs herself to protect Sinclair from Corwin's wrath. It's not the worst showing of Corwin's temper, but it's not pleasant. After a while Gabrielle apologies and actually means it. He calms down. She is not going to be able to cover the bruising. She slips and says, "I'm sorry but I love him." That doesn't go over well, but eventually she manages to apologize herself back to his state of calm. Darian appoints two lieutenants: one who is loyal and one who would back stab him. He gives the lieutenants the power to make decisions without consulting him when immediate decisions are needed. The loyal one suggests that he combine with the church efforts. The other is clearly surprised that he was chosen. Sinclair will find Gabrielle and look her over. She's bruised all over and dons the usual scarves and sunglasses to cover it up. Darian goes to visit Alden. Alden has a distribution system for relief but no supply of goods. Darian now has a supply. Alden primarily provides relief to the poor, where the families of fallen or imprisoned soldiers and guards are Darian's goal, so they work out meeting half way. Alden also mentions that the sewer system near the docks is breaking down, and the people will soon start getting sick. They toy with the idea of evacuating excess population on boats or using trump artists. Maybe they could take the children out through Arden with Julian's approval. Alden offers Darian a service in the Cathedral for his daughter. Darian says they already had a family service, but he'll think about it. Elayne and Merlin trump Gabrielle. They discuss Elliot and Clarinda, and Elayne forces Gabrielle to admit that Corwin is responsible for her obvious injuries. Merlin says little, merely adds his power to Elayne's. After their conversation ends, Elayne asks Merlin, coldly: What would cause your father to beat the shit out of Gabrielle? Why would Gabrielle let him do it? Elayne doesn't think they will be able to get the girls back, but they discuss holds over Gabrielle that they can use. Later, Elayne adds that if you could manage to kill Fiona, you'd win a large favor from Gabrielle. And from Elayne too, for that matter. Elayne asks for teal and yellow to be her colors, and Merlin agrees Elayne gives the Artemas her trump of Gabrielle as the person to contact regarding ransoming Elliot. Elayne tells Artemas she expects Elliot to be mostly unharmed, depending on how much time Bleys had with him. Artemas asks if Elayne will accept Elliot returning to her service after being in the hands of the enemy. Their contract allows her to ask for a replacement under such circumstances without penalty or further explanation. Elayne states that she thinks Gabrielle can be trusted not to have attempted to subvert Elliot or to coerce him into treachery. |