Dietrich, a rotund sailor with an enormous beard arrives, following Valenzo.

On one end of the atrium, snacks, drinks and even warm meals are prepared; with staff ready to refill anything that empties out. The rest has been sectioned off into roughly three areas, one has easels and paints prepared. The other has clay and working tables, each with a little pool of water to wet one's hands.

Near the entrance, Videl stands ready; waiting for people to arrive, she's clearly in a good mood.

Videl gets a strapless, pristine aeterna sheath dress with shimmering train from a cloth delivery rucksack with drawstring.

Videl gets a pair of pristine, embroidered aeterna tights from a cloth delivery rucksack with drawstring.

Videl gets an embroidered winter coat of aeterna silk with exotic pelt lining from a cloth delivery rucksack with drawstring.

Videl gets a pair of embroidered aeterna winter boots, lined with exotic pelt from a cloth delivery rucksack with drawstring.

Videl gets an aeterna scarf decorated with snowflake embroidery from a cloth delivery rucksack with drawstring.

Videl gets a pair of embroidered, aeterna-white gloves from a cloth delivery rucksack with drawstring.

"See, told you I'd give you and the crew some culture," Comes the sharp and salty Southport lilt, as Valenzo and Dietrich arrive, along with several rather crusty-looking sailors. Despite the somewhat raw and sleepless appearance of the captain, Valenzo seems to be in good cheer today as well, a slight skip to his booted stroll and a broad smile on his face.

When they reach Videl, the small group all give her rather elaborate bows, arms sweeping out, and Valenzo makes introductions for them all. "Captain Valenzo Vincinatti of the Tasty Terrapin, at the service of you and yours...and some members of my crew, looking to broaden their horizons," He says with a flourishing gesture to his men. "If you're up for...something of a challenge there, that is."

"Welcome, captain Valenzo and crew." Videl smiles at the sailors, "My assistant would love to provide your crew with instructions on the basics." Joan forces a polite smile at being volunteered for the task, "And perhaps I can later help out if any have need for more advanced lessons." She makes sure to show off her brand new aeterna outfit while she talks.

Peri is here with a simple smock draped over one arm. Her hair is tied up in a sturdy cloth to keep the ends from trailing in any paint or trapping clumps of clay. "I've never visited here," She tells her guard, Eina. "My mother lived near Granato." She says wistfully. Eina puts a comforting hand on Peri's shoulder for a moment and then melts into the background. The crunch of their steps over the white gravel path ends as they enter the area proper. Peri sees valenzo and is crowd. Her face looses its wistfulness and she has a huge grin. She finds the host, Lady Videl, and greets her. "Lady Igniseri, I am so excited to be here." She puzzles at the room. "Can I just pick an eisel? Or is there some rule?"

Gianna sails in, clad in elegantly tailored black brocade. Videl is her first stop, and she walks over to the hostess with one of her faint little flickers of a smile. "Lady Videl, good to see you again."

"Very gracious of you, Lady Igniseri, my thanks...and a stunning set of silks you have there, if I may say so, eh boys?" Valenzo remarks, his grin growing a little lop-sided as he notices her assistant's resignation, and the crew all chimes in with their various agreements and thanks as they move off with Joan.

"D'we get to paints wot's in our innermost heart of hearts?" A one-eyed and rather horrendously-scarred sailor pipes up from the back of the group, and Valenzo nods sagely. "Whatever your beautiful soul sings out, Bror," He says, fondly clapping a hand to the man's thoroughly tattooed shoulder as they stride over to the eisels. When Valenzo spots Peri, his eyebrows shoot up. "Lady Seliki, fancy seeing you here! I did not know you were also an artist?"

"Thank you for coming, There are but three rules, Lady Seliki." Videl answers Peri with a pleasant smile, "The first and most important rule is to be creative. The second rule is that it doesn't matter what the final result looks like, so long as you tried your best. And the third rule is to be kind to those who are less experienced than you are." She explains, turning to Gianna, "Always a pleasure to see you." She agrees, "Have you come to model? Or are you engaging in art of your own this time?"

Valenzo's men draw a smile, and she answers him about the silks. "It's the work of my protege, Aerwyna Froic. If you're interested in good clothes, you should visit her store in the ward of the crown."

Peri sees Gianna and chokes up in a starstruck moment before she can great the Nightingale. "Greetings, Nightinggale Gianna," she says softly. Peri hears Valenzo's question and her attention returns to the captain. She looks him up and down, stopping on his bandaged hand. Her brows go up, but she says nothing on it at the moment. "Yes," she claims, clearly joking, "Yes I am." She attempts a straight face but her mouth is crooked up. The smock over her arm is pristine. To Videl, she nods in acceptance of the rules. "Very reasonable. Admirable, even." She steps warily to an easel near Captain Valenzo.

Gianna's nose wrinkles. "Modeling was boring and I think only one person painted me anyway," she tells Videl. "I thought I might try my hard at painting this time. I'm quite terrible at it, unfortunately." Valenzo is given a curious look and a polite inclination of her head. A glance at Peri's smock is a bit covetous. "I should have thought of that. This outfit is new. I'd hate to get paint on it. Hello, Lady Peri." She looks quite smug at Peri's reaction to seeing her, and reaches up to flick her hair over her shoulder, preening.

"Nightingale Gianna?" Valenzo blinks, and returns her nod with another sweeping bow and a grin. "My friend and brother Evaristo has only worshipful things to say of your talent, I'm pleased to finally meet you," He says with an appropriately humble air. His crewmembers lean away from their eisels to peer at her for a moment, curious. As for Peri's claim, Valenzo apparently takes it quite seriously. "Well, m'lady, I'm excited to see what you produce...certain to be better than my own attempt, eh?" He winks, and then moves around his men, making sure they're all equipped for their various efforts.

The guardsmen of the Domus Igniseri bow respectfully to an arriving member of the household.

"Everyone was terrible at art before they begun to practice, it's one of those skills where good tutors can help but they cannot replace practice. No good artist started being a good artist." Videl answers Gianna with a broad smile, "And there's a reason I've chosen aeterna for today. I might spill some paint but it will wash out easily."

She begins to walk past the people busy painting, examining their work and offering gentle recommendations and pointers to those who seem inclined to listen.

Peri holds up the simple smock for inspection. It would show signs of multiple washes, perhaps, if she had any experience painting. "Just simple sailcloth. I don't have anything like Aeterna. Maybe one day I will have a a smock of it. First, I should learn to paint." She studies the blank, primed canvas with a cautious eye, lest it attack her. "Lady Videl," she calls, "I will need some advice." Peri talks with Videl and her assistent, asking many pertinent questions.

Gianna smiles. Well, it's a smirk, to be honest. A big, smug smirk, because her ego is apparently gigantic. "Why, thank you," she tells Valenzo. "Captain Arterius is so good at flattery. I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, though - might I know your name?" She still hasn't chosen an easel yet.

Teireno usually isn't too keen on the idea of public painting. Art was usually a private endeavor for him, and one he usually hid the results of afterward from prying eyes. However, he does enjoy the art of others, hence why he decided to step out from the Ebony Wing and join the current goings-on. He can appreciate the art, at least.

As Videl stops by Bror, the grim-looking but gentle-hearted sailor flushes profusely as he tries to explain what he's done. "There's me dear old mum, see, lookin' down on me from her spot near our Queen o' Endings," He babbles excitedly, gesturing at what appears to be a blobby grayish-blue sort of...ghost, with a very crooked smile and beautiful hair. A rather stubby sailor is bouncing on his heels excitedly. "I've done, see, here's I've done one shark, and he's biting this other shark right near in HALF!!" He shouts, swinging his brush for emphasis and spattering crimson paint everywhere until Valenzo hurries over and rests a hand on his wrist, guiding it back to the canvas, before turning to Gianna again with a grin.

"Aye, he's a charmer, Ev," He remarks, and then gives her another little bob of his head before he returns to his own blank canvas beside Peri. "Captain Valenzo Vincinatti, at your service. This is the crew of my ship the Terrapin," He adds, gesturing to the cluster of salt-roughened sea dogs.

Videl gives Bror a warm smile, a handful of pointers appropriate to his skill level and adds, "I'm sure she's glad to know you keep her memory alive." She offers the man, then examines the shark vs shark, "One and two half sharks, I see. If you mix your paints like..." She explains the process, "... you can really give the blood that smoky underwater look."

Videl spies her cousin out of the corner of her eyes, "Teireno. Have you met captain Valenzo? Or the most excellent singer of the compact, Gianna Whisper the Nightingale." She introduces the two, "And that over there is Lady Peri Seliki, who seems to need my help." She then asides, "This is lord Teireno Igniseri." And is off to help Peri.

"Well met, then, Captain Valenzo Vincinatti," Gianna says airily. She finally makes her way toward one of the easels and eyes the pots of pain suspiciously. Picking one of them up - blue - along with a brush, she holds them both as far away from her body as she can and dips the brush into the paint. Teireno is given a curious glance, her gaze flicking over his outfit, and she nods to him. "Good day." She gingerly dabs some paint on the canvas.

"I am going to call this," Peri proclaims, "Seige of the Ship Perilous." With some help she has mixed various shades of sand and blue - with a little red and black. She gives Bror a wistful look as he explains his mum looking down on him. "I will paint my mother into this, for she was still with us." It is a day at the beach, and there is a sandship that has founderd on a sandreef. Or it might be butterscotch pudding, it is hard to tell. "Eina, that's you," Peri explains. What looks like a tree is pulling on some legs sticking out of the botterscotch. Peri hmmmms, and dabs some brown raisins on the sand. "The texture could use work. You can't even see the shells in the sand there." There is a regal lamp, for some reason, surveying the scene. The lampshade is blue. "She loved blue hats."

"Lord Teireno, an honor to make your acquaintance! Change of pace for my lads, but...we're pleased as plums to be here!" Valenzo calls to the man with another bright grin and a bow, and then turns back to his own canvas with a studious scowl, scooping up a palette in his bandaged left hand and a clean brush in his right. He keeps peeking over at Peri's canvas curiously to see what she's managed so far, head tilting curiously, and doesn't seem to make much progress of his own; he's simply enjoying the company and the crisp winter day. "My very first and most favorite winter hat was blue, Lady Seliki! It's a soothing color," He replies, grinning.

Bror and his stubby companion are falling over themselves meanwhile to thank Videl for her compliments and her help. "Most kind of you, m'lady," Bror murmurs hoarsely, tearing up a little, while the shorter sailor whistles between broken teeth. "Damn, but that does add some fine sense o' drama to the wotsit, the whole...shebang. OW!" He exclaims, as Val's enormously-bearded first mate reaches over and cuffs him for swearing in front of the nobles.

Gianna is holding the paint and the brush as far away from herself as she can and she's standing as far back from the easel as she possibly can. Dab. Dab. Dab. Mostly she's accomplishing some dry brushing, and it doesn't look like anything at all.

Gianna checked dexterity + artwork at difficulty 15, rolling 14 lower.

Peri checked dexterity + artwork at difficulty 15, rolling 8 lower.

Valenzo checked dexterity + artwork at difficulty 15, rolling 7 higher.

Teireno gives a friendly smile to Videl, and a polite small nod to Gianna. "Well met." He does the same for Valenzo, giving a friendly nod. "The pleasure is all mine." At the corner of his eye, he spots a free easel, and finds himself making his way over to it. Okay, so he can't resist the urge to paint. The freshly-fallen snow has inspired him, after all.

Teireno checked dexterity + artwork at difficulty 15, rolling 27 higher.

Videl examines Peri's work some, and provides a few more pointers in an encouraging tone. She frowns mildly at the cuffing of people, "Please take care not to do any fighting while you're here." She requests calmly but neutrally, glancing towards the guardsmen who are present in the background; and have presumably been keeping a close eye on Valenzo's men this whole time.

Peri rests her chin on her fist as she looks from Videl to the painting. Things like "I see" and "oh! I didn't know about that." Can be heard. She uses a few techniques to make the lampshade into a fully fleshed out mother in a blue sunhat. Some scraping and repainting has Eina looking better. Peri finally adds herself to the painting. A small child in a tricorn hat that is two large for her is sitting on the rump of whover Eina is separating from her and the sand. Peri comes out of her intense focus on the painting, "Oh, Hi there. I'm Lady Peri Seliki. I did not catch your name," She tells Lord Teireno.

"Apologies, Lady Videl!" Valenzo yelps, and then glares daggers at the stubby sailor and then at his first mate, Dietrich-- but the shorter man has subsided entirely on his own, flushed as deeply red as the murky painted blood on his canvas, and he bows deeply to her as well. "Won't happen again!" He squeaks. "I likes to paint sharks I do, wouldn't want no trouble!" And then he's back at it, adding several more sharks swimming ominously around the underwater carnage. Dietrich grunts and shrugs, giving Valenzo a wry gap-toothed grin into his beard, before turning back to his own painting -- a stunningly beautiful landscape, with a glimmering waterfall in the background. Talented, Dietrich.

Valenzo, meanwhile, makes up for a lack of experience with sheer enthusiasm; he's done something rather rough and abstract with his canvas, a set of glowing eyes under burned and blasted sand.

Gianna decides to change colours. Again, holding herself very carefully. Now it's time for green, and she swaps brushes, too. Dip dip dip. Extending her arm, she paints a line down from the blue bits. A stem, maybe? Her nose wrinkles at the canvas. She's starting to look petulant.

"My name is Lord Teireno Igniseri." Teireno smiles. "It is a pleasure to meet you." He takes a few of the orange and blue paints onto an easel and starts with something simple: a garden scene after a snowfall; warm, vivid orange flowers surrounded by snow, their cold temperature enhanced by the use of blue shading. He takes a small bit of green and mixes it with the blue to create the stems. Eh, it's a start, the art critic in him states. It is certainly no painting of sharks.

Peri stands back from her painting, frowning. "Well. It's a start. That muddy beach is beyond repair."

"As I said, lady Seliki. What matters is that you put in your creativity and effort, nobody expects masterpieces from a novice." And yet she still offers some suggestions on how to improve the beach; won't make it perfect, but it's something. She glances to Valenzo, and smiles. "I'm sure he meant well, but I'm not quite used to the rowdy behavior of sailors, so at times the measures used to correct behavior can seem a bit discomforting."

Gianna frowns, putting both the pot of green paint and her brush down. The expression she gazes at her painting with his not pleased. Not pleased at all. Gianna cranes her neck and starts looking at what other people are painting.

Who doesn't love sharks?? Certainly none among the Terrapin's crew; they gather around the stubby sailor's canvas as he adds the final masterful touch, an extremely muscular half-sharkman version of his Captain Valenzo, wrestling another opportunistic shark away from the fighting pair in the center. They ooh and ahh appreciatively, clapping paint-stained hands to his back and shoulder.

"Good on you, Nalls," Valenzo remarks, deeply touched and rubbing the stubby sailor's bald head fondly before turning and grinning at Videl, waving a hand dismissively. "No, you were right to call them on it, m'lady...we'll save it for the taverns and high seas, this isn't any place for rowdiness." A beat. "CULTURE!" He barks at his men, and they all nod and scrape and bow smartly. He peers at Peri's work and smiles. "My Lady Peri, you're too humble! The muddied beach expresses the dangers of a siege quite clearly!"

Teireno chuckles at Videl. "But isn't that what makes sailors so fun? Their honesty is refreshing." Not to mention watching them rough-house is quite... enjoyable. But he'll keep that opinion to himself, thanks! He glances over at their paintings, cracking quite an amused smile at them. "Nice shark-man. Nice on the eyes--erm! I mean." He'll go back to painting flowers and NOT thinking about roughhousing sailors.

"I suppose," Peri allows. She is very demanding due to her ambition. "This is fun. but one day I want to be able to paint new discoveries. Think, I could be the first person from Arvum to see some mountain range in Cardia. We know nothing abuot that the geology of that land. And maps. If I do a bad job I might send some captain in the opposite direction." She walks over to Bror and consults with him quietly, with a smirk. She pats him on the soulder and returns to her painting.

Gianna steps away from her painting, making her way toward Teireno's easel and coming to peer at his work. "Mmmmph." Her eyes are narrowed. Is she... jealous?

As Peri abandons her work, Videl begins to make a painting of her own, beginning with the broad strokes, dividing the work up into various regions of colour, it swiftly becomes apparent she's painting a cliff descending into the sea, with a natural rock spire jutting out near it. Enough buildings to make a city are on the walls of the spire, descending all the way to a port at the bottom, and a perilous looking bridge connects the city to the mainland, where another bunch of buildings dot the cliff-side.

Videl checked dexterity + artwork at difficulty 15, rolling 10 higher.

Valenzo gives Teireno a broad, delighted grin and nudges Nalls, who's turned bright crimson again at the compliment from the noble and gives him a very deep bow, stuttering under all the attention. "Th-thank you, m'lord," He mumbles, scuffing a booted toe and staring at the floor. Bror, meanwhile, still snuffling at all the emotions summoned up by painting his dearly departed mum, looks like he's going to break out into some mix of laughter and tears at something very kind Peri's leaned in to whisper, and Valenzo beams at her as well, murmuring something back with a smoker's rasping chuckle.

He makes the round of his sailors' various...efforts, giving them encouraging shakes or fond slaps, and then starts to circulate among the others as well, pausing to peer at Gianna's flower, Videl's seaside cliff, and Teireno's snowy flowerbed with wide, impressed eyes. "Damn..." He mutters, quite forgetting Dietrich smacking Nalls around for doing the same.

Focusing on his own work, Teireno grabs a bit of red and mixes it with a bit of orange, adding it to the flowers. The contrasting colors make the flowers look like flames amongst the snow, which is what he was going for. 'This is surprisingly going well,' he thinks to himself. Usually his talents lie more in drawing humans than flowers. Perhaps his study of colors turned out useful.

Stepping through the doors of the residence, Samuele pauses to look over the various going ons , his brows furrowing as if he is really supposed to be here, clearly not the artistic type, but he smiles noticing Teireno and then nods to Videl and the others with a smile. "Is this where the fun is to be had then?" he asks in a gentle rumble head swiveling from left to right.

Gianna's flower is so sad. So very very sad. Nodding once, Gianna steps away from Teireno and his easel and touches the black pendant on her necklace. "I do believe I ought to get going," she announces. She inclines her head to Videl. "Thank you for hosting this."

"Thank you for coming, perhaps one day I shall find myself in need of someone who can sing like no other, and in that case I'll be sure to get in touch." Videl answers Gianna, her tone warm. Then she notices Samuele, "Lord Rubino, thank you for coming. I am quite enjoying myself, and I hope the other guests are too." Her first steps done, she waits for the paint to dry a bit, taking the opportunity to get herself a granatan peach wine and taking another look at the work of the others.

Teireno sets down his own easel, letting the paint dry for a while. He shouldn't push his luck with color mixing, anyway. His raises his eyebrows a bit when he hears Samuele. "If you like painting and sharks, sure." He teases a bit, smiling. "I recommend the sharks the most."

Peri smiles warmly at Captain Valenzo. "Thank you." She's done with her painting. The next will be better. She overhears Lady Videl's words and speaks up, "I am enjoying myself, Lady Videl. Thank you." She takes this moment to study Teireno's painting. "Nice flowers. Very colorful" The Seliki needs to know more about art, clearly, to be able to provide any eloquent critique.

glances about at the different canvases being worked on before he gives a bit of a grunt. "I believe myartform is mostly in well...fighting, but I suppose if it is necessary to participate, I will prove my terrible training in the arts by smudging blobs on canvas and calling it something that is worthy of praise for its originality." Drifting, then he moves and sets a hand on Teireno's shoulder as he leans over the man's shoulder to look at his canvas more closely, "Well, then...it seems you are better than I would ever be." He smiles back at Videl and mentions, "Thank you, you are a lovely host, and I greatly appreciate the event and will watch for a while if it is alright."

Peri is overheard praising Videl: I learned so much about art here. And she did not make fun of my painting. What a blast!

Teireno is overheard praising Videl: My cousin knows how to host a good event!

"It is by no means required to participate, my lord, you are encouraged to participate as much as you'd like, but even if you're just here to socialize, you're more than welcome." Videl answers Samuele, "Thank you for coming." She reiterates to those departing, then takes another sip from her wine; glancing to Teireno.

"Alright, lads!" Valenzo barks. "Pack up your masterpieces and haul them back to the Terrapin, I want to see them all proudly displayed in our galley by sundown!" A beat. "And thank the Lady Igniseri, we're not savages after all!!"

There's a chorus of "YES CAP'N!", and then Valenzo and his crew are bowing deeply to Videl, paintings tucked under arms or clutched to their chests. He grins and gives Peri's shoulder a fond squeeze in farewell, and then bows to Teireno and Samuele before the crew and their captain turn and stride out the way they came!

Dietrich, a rotund sailor with an enormous beard leaves, following Valenzo.

Samuele is overheard praising Videl: She can host an event on art and keep it interesting!

Teireno feels a bit of disappointment when Valenzo and his crew leaves. He actually wanted to see more of their paintings. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt Samuele's hand on his shoulder. To his credit, he only blushed /a little/. "T-Thanks! I've been practicing." Mostly through sketches, though maybe he should take up more painting. He's enjoying this.

With an easy straightening Samuele nods, turning to Vidal and asking, "If you wouldn't mind, is there something I may have to drink?" pulling up a place to sit and eyeing one of the canvases dubiously before he looks rather apprehensive spying the many different brushes and paints, licking his lips before he just shrugs gently, and returns to watching the others. "Did you have the intent of just doing this for fun, Lady Vidal or were you intending on selling work as well?" His eyes drift back to Teireno and he smiles. "it is much better than I could do."

Peri pulls off the simple smock that protected her from the onslaught of paint. Hrrrmmmm. Her painting gets another stare. She notices Samuele, and overheard his name. "Lord Rubino," she says, "I've enjoyed my attempt at a scene. Do try, if it interest you." She ponders how to take the painting home, for the paint is a little tacky and wet. She explains the scene to the newcomer. "It is from my youth. I am was in a fight with some merchant brat who was teasing my brother and I knocked into my sandship." not a sand castle. "My mother was there." She chins over to Eina, her guard. "Eina pulled the brat out." She pauses to admit, "The next scene would be /me/ eating the sand. He was some years older. I only managed the tackle by surprise." She grins. The painting looks rather clumsey and muddy in places but there are some places where a bit of adviced have helped tidy things.

Videl gestures to a large table laid out with snacks and drinks, "Help yourself, or ask a servant to help you." She offers the man. Then she adds, "People can do with their own works whatever they prefer. As for my own work, my paintings are for myself, or gifts for those who inspire me. I do not begrudge those who paint to make a living, but it's not my path, art is deeply personal to me."

At the mention of drinks, Teireno made his way over to the table, helping himself to a bit of wine. "I understand that. I am the same. Admittedly, most of my drawings are too personal for me to ever really show anyone. I'm surprised I managed to get myself to paint in such a public setting."

grinning, Samuele nods and gestures to a servant who brings him a glass of wine and he says to Peri, "It is a lovely scene," he comments, only knowing enough of art to say if it looks terrible, or not, and that is only if it is clearly horrific painting, "The story behind it makes it come to life as well." He pauses and then looks at Teireno, his head tilting with a bit of thought before he smiles, and gives an mm, of agreement. To Vidal he mentions, "It seems you have a talent of getting individuals to come and be interested in something to reach out of their usual circles and interact. A wonderful quality, I should think."

Pery explains to Samuele, "I am a beginner, so anything ygood you see was luck and the help of Lady Videl here. Be sure to thank her." She nods thankfully to the lady. Peri cleans up her brushes and things as best a novice can and hands them off a stuff member. An expert will have more to say on the condition of her brushes. She gently takes her painting and starts out, but not before stopping to thank Lady Videl again. "Lady Videl, I think you for the lovely time." She heads out.

Eina, the Pearl's Own, Soot, a frenetic ferret leave, following Peri.

Videl smiles towards Samuele. "People tend to be more creative than they give themselves credit for, the problem is often that they feel incapable of translating what they picture in their mind's eye onto the physical form of their art. I'm merely giving them a venue to try without feeling like they've failed if it doesn't hold up to what they imagined. I suppose some people appreciate that."

"The first attempts at anything are often bad. It is getting past those first attempts that people struggle with. It's easy to get discouraged." Teireno takes a seat near Samuele. "Especially as an adult, and with a sense of shame. Painting nonsense is quite fun as a kid."

"Both of you speak truth on this subject I suppose," Samuele says drinking from his wineglass and then canting his head to a side. "I suppose I'll need to determine what it is I will paint. And if I can paint it well," he adds, still looking a bit bashful, which is a rarity for the Giant Lycene man.

"Even if you can't, it's fine. One of the rules of these gatherings is that it doesn't matter how good your result is, so long as you did your best and were receptive to good, helpful advice." Videl explains for Samuele, taking another sip from her wine, "The point is to encourage after all."

"If you need help, Videl and I can both offer advice." Teireno smiles. He leans in a bit to pat Samuele on the shoulder, suddenly feeling a bit bold. "The sailors that were just here painted a bunch of sharks fighting each other. I doubt Videl is looking for classic art."

straightening his shoulders and then draining his wineglass, Samuele draws forward a canvas and then some brushes his eyes staring daggers into the surface upon which he's to paint as if it were an enemy to be conquered, asking with a look at the variety of paints about, "Alright... so... how do I know when I've used too much paint?" he asks, looking at some of the blues and taking up a brush, hovering it over the paint and then looking at the reds and starting to look at that. Finally he dips his brush in the red paint, nodding to himself.

"With this kind of paint you want to keep the layers quite thin." Videl explains and adds some practical advice on how to see when it's too much, then she asides to Teireno, "What I'm looking for is for people to express themselves. If that means a shark battle, then that's fine."

Teireno stands up and follows Samuele, glad to see him giving painting a try. He lets Videl answer his questions (clearly she's a better teacher than he is). "Honestly, art could use more shark battles. Could use more variety, truthfully. Art for art's sake, and all that."

Samuele laughs warmly as he begins to move carefully putting the brush to canvas and working a simple circle, though it's a little oblong as he makes himself work, cringing at the shape, clearly a perfectionist, but he makes an effort to ignore it as he nods aside to Teireno, "I am surprised we've not seen more nudes and risque paintings, I should have some things brought from Lenosia here, I do believe I have a piece that is rather bold, and my sister would probably burn just on principle, . But I had found a wonderful painting of a lancer on horseback it was quite gripping and the artist was good."

"We had some last time around, some people even modelled in the nude. But this was more modestly attended, and I have to admit there's something positive about being able to give more people my attention in an event such as this." Videl answers Samuele, before getting back to her own work, adding details to her own painting.

Details that turn it from a mere city on a spire connected to the mainland by a fragile bridge to a city half-on fire, surrounded by ships with black sails and white sails duking it out, and even tiny figures marching over the bridge to the city while that end of the bridge is awfully close to some burning buildings.

Teireno can't help but blush at the mention of nude artwork. "Erm... I should, er, show you some of my artwork." He mentions to Samuele. "A lot of it isn't for proper company." He scratches the back of his own head. Perhaps he should resume his own painting. He glances over at Videl's, watching the painting turn more and more chaotic. "Nice attention to detail, Videl."

"OH, now that I should've attended," Samuele murmurs to Vidal before he says, "i believe I may even would've volunteered to be the model," spying Teireno out of his eyes and giving just the hint of a wolfish grin before he starts to fill in his circle with read paint grunting as some of it runs and he has to mop it up with a kerchief.

Videl smiles with amusement when Samuele responds like that. "Well I will do another of these eventually, no doubt." She walks over to get a bite to eat when she begins coughing, and falls on her knee to stabilize herself during her coughing fit. Her assistant rushes towards her with a bottle of something medicinal looking.

Oh. OH. Teireno's mind is now filled with various... thoughts. And images. His face turned bright red. However, all of that passed out of him when he heard Videl cough and collapse onto the floor. "Videl!" He rushes over to her side, kneeling down and trying to ease her over to a chair. "Are you alright?!"

Jumping, Samuele sets down his brush and he makes his way over as well, as if trying to assist. "You are unwell? Why are you about if you are so sick... You need rest or..." he hovers, as large men in small spaces that need care a known to do, frowning before he looks at the servant and he rings his gigantic hands.

Videl takes a sip from the medicine provided to her when she gets a breather in her coughing fit. "I'm fine." She blatantly isn't, but she pushes herself up and stares Samuele straight in the eyes. "Because I don't want to live my whole life wasting away in bed." There's iron in her voice there, despite still sounding hoarse and weak from the coughing fit.

"Videl has always been like this, ever since we were kids. But she's strong, and refuses to let life pass her by." Teireno backs away a bit, giving Videl some space.

Samuele gives a grunt, then he shakes his head saying with a firm resolve, "As long as you don't intend on pushing yourself until you're much worse. But you know your own illness and so therefore you will be your own judge," He takes up the brush again, and then with a pause, slowly starts to work again as he asks of Teireno. "HOw long have you known each other," looking at Vidal with a, "you should be in bed' sort of look before he returns to getting some more paint. "It's starting to look like an apple. a plain apple on the canvas.

"There's no point in survival if you don't get to live." Videl answers Samuele, but nonetheless rather than standing she sits on a chair and drinks some more of the medicine, each sip getting her to suppress a grimace. Once she's done, she takes another glass of wine to wash away the taste, She lets Teireno answer the other question.

Teireno follows Samuele back over to his canvas. He doubts Videl likes people pointlessly fretting over her, after all. "We grew up together in Granato, her and my other cousins. I left when I started hitting puberty." He glances at the canvas. "Looks good so far! If you want, I can offer suggestions on shading and lighting."

Samuele gives a bit of a nod to Teireno, saying to Videl, "Course, it's true, but it mean you shouldn't worry or the like..." He sighs, and then he shakes his head nodding to Teireno, gesturing to the canvas. "Of course."

"Don't worry, I do worry. There's a reason my personal assistant is a trained physician, and why I restrict myself to activities that don't put any real strain on myself." There's an undertone of anger in Videl's voice, though she tries to hide it. "But I appreciate your concern." And that's a blatant lie.

Samuele checked perception + empathy at difficulty 15, rolling 0 higher.

The guardsmen of the Domus Igniseri bow respectfully to an arriving member of the household.

1 Scarlet Phoenix Guard arrives, following Yelana.

1 Scarlet Phoenix Guard leaves, following Yelana.

Teireno doesn't let himself get too concerned over Videl. He knows full well that she has weathered worse, and will weather worse. Instead, he focuses on giving Samuele tips on his painting. "Hm, a shame apples are out of season. It is always best to use a live reference."

"Are you saying that my apple is bad, Tei?" Samuele shortening the word, perhaps as a tease to the man though his apple really is poor. He looks at Videl for a long moment and then he shrugs a shoulder slowly, though it looks like he's trying not to comment further though he seems to be rather paternal it'd seem, his brush making some sloppy strokes as he looks over his canvas.

Videl takes another deep breath. "I'm afraid I have to take care of some other matters before the day ends, but you are free to continue as you like. Once you leave the staff will clean up." She says, and gets up, slowly walking deeper into the estate.