Dangerfloof, the Bearded Vulture arrives, following Freja.

Freja checked dexterity + stealth at difficulty 15, rolling 50 higher.

The Sanctum of the Lost looks more like a construction zone at this point than a party site, except for the long tables that Aureth has caused to be hauled out here with food and drinks. Seating is eclectic: there are a few chairs and benches that have been dragged from someplace, and also some boulders and logs that have been reappropriated for the purpose. Each table with drinks at it has 'donation boxes' so that people can pay for their drinks, while disciples largely borrowed from other Temples are helping out by making sure everyone either has a drink or has had to refuse a drink at least a few times at some point in the afternoon.

Aureth Grayhope is here, clad in the gleaming white of his pristine longcoat, his hair long and loose. He has a drink in his hand, and as people start making their way over to this makeshift little carnival, he looks /remarkably/ happy.

He takes up a position on the makeshift stage, waves the drink around, and fills his lungs to go "Yoo, halloo, everybody. Speech time," upon which he launches into a speech which would've been more dignified if he hadn't started it quite that way. Oh, well.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming to our groundbreaking! This is a new beginning for Arx and a reawakening of what was once lost, and that's something to celebrate. As you can see, we're getting started with building a new shrine here, which will, when it's finished, be a shrine to the Mother of Beginnings and Queen of Endings. We're planning a building with a whole wall dedicated to sculptures in memoriam for those that we've lost, so please consider including donations in our donation boxes for those efforts, and tell your friends about it! Uh. But mainly, we're here to celebrate, and I'm also here to help introduce you to Lady Death, guardian of souls! See, the Mother of Beginnings likes it when we don't take ourselves so seriously ... and that's why I thought it would be a great idea to kick off our temple here with a few drinks and a joke contest. So please-- pull up a seat, have a drink, and let's have some fun. Okay? Okay."

After the madness which was the Charity Auction, it's probably unsurprising that the Grandmaster of the Knights of Solace enters with the lady whose company he so richly donated for. Eirene walks close at Armel's side, describing a variety of weird ways one may end up in the Queen's care and company, her hands animated totell the tale. "So he apparently saw someone doing it at a fair and thought, how hard can it be to shove a sword down one's throat? Wasn't the only thing he's shoved down his throat before but typically -not- so sharp..." She sniggers at the ribald humor. "By the time his mates saw what he was doing... well... not -quite- self-beheading but close e-fucking-nough."

Gisele is here because here is a religious event and where else would she be? Somewhere godless? No thank you! She stands at the edge of the gathering crowd because that is also what Giseles do when there's more than three people assembled. Careful distance is given the stacks of materials, however, and she's only fidgeting with her prayer beads a /little/. It helps that there's Aureth to focus on, to smile at, to look glad for. But getting drunk? No, she's bad at that too.

At the tale end of the crowds gathering comes Freja, late to the party as usual and suddenly appearing with a drink in her hand as if she were there the entire time. Why, she even applauds and leaves the man standing next to her jumping from the sudden sound to his right. She was always there, right?"

Reese arrives at the ground breaking while adorned in her silk summer dress. She has her pink blade at her at her hip and her knife at her other hip, but she is always warmed, well almost always. Golden locks are loose about her slender shoulders. She is close to Rickard, who seems to have arrived with. She comes in time hear Aureth's words and he is given a gentle smile.

Mathias is there because he may have been strong-armed by his commanding officer to attend. He might have been avoiding anything Death related purposefully. But there he is. It's supposed to be about new beginnings, right? And so he stands, alone, in his leather armor and the tabard of the Knights of Solace over it. Looking awkward. Like he has no idea what to do in this situation.

Rickard is here because yay outdoors; and he's surrounded by people. And there's people he knows here, too, so that's good. At least, he figures people he know would be here. Chances are good. Anyway. He's with Reese, sticking to her like a loyal hound.. except no yappy-ness and jumping around like a child hopped up on sugar. He's at her side, all cool-as-a-cucumber, eyeballing the goings-on.

Thenas feels much the same way as Giseles about crowds, and this particular Thena can also be found at the fringes. Near this particular Gisele, in fact, though they differ where the booze is concerned. The on-again-off-again Iron Guard holds a glass of something in one hand as she watches the proceedings, dark rings of sleeplessness limning her eyes.

Armel appears to be greatly enjoying himself, although he has the tired, sallow look of a man suffering from an acute hangover. But his smile is broad as he listens to Eirene, snorting at her story and looking skeptical. "Didn't..Didn't he stop when he felt it slicing him up? I mean, that's just insanity, really, isn't it?" He seems to think it's possible for people to be that stupid, however. He is arrayed in his shining, silver-edged steel armor and tabard, with his silver eye and the most ridiculous hat in the history of hat perched jauntily on his head. He aims for the drinks, moving to drop a small donation to pay for the drinks for himself and his companion, pouring for them both. He applauds at Aureth, however, and even whistles. He's good at drinking, clearly.

"Come sit with me," Zhayla says, showing up at Gisele's elbow and pulling her over to a ... rock. Why sit on a bench when there are perfectly good boulders just lying there? She may be kidnapping her a little. "You can help me fight off the disciples who keep trying to give me drinks. I've paid for like three drinks for others! That should be plenty, right?" She hushes from her aside as Aureth speaks, and claps, paired with a cheer, as he encourages fun. She saves the undertone for saying back to Gisele, "This fun Death thing is really taking some adjusting to."

"You could sit down," Gisele is /just/ murmuring to Thena, when a wild Zhayla appears. It means the guardswoman is drawn along towards that rock, an accessory to kidnapping. The priestess manages not to squeak-- that little cry sounded more laughy than squeaky-- as she perches on the edge of the makeshift bench. "I, ah. Yes! Plenty. I suspect he wants people to be in high spirits." She pauses for a beat. "That wasn't a joke but it could be one, couldn't it? I've been practicing," she adds, mood brightening. "It's... yes, an adjustment. He makes it look easy, doesn't he?"

"I think the Grandmaster has won." Freja observes of Armel's hat when the joke contest is announced.

Reese many here and so many smiles are given out to those gathered. She looks over to Rickard. "Did you want a drink? It looks like they are handing them out." She says in his direction. "I don't really know any drinks, do you?" She asks softly. She peeks over to the new knight, giving her a friendly wave. Reese then looks for a place to sit.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Freja before departing.

Eirene looks up at the cheerful skulls. "Somehow I think the Queen and me would be best buddies," she murmurs as she takes the drink, pausing only to flick at a feather atop Armel's glorious hat. "I guess he was way to hopped up on cheap moonshine to feel it. At least, Lagoma be merciful, I hope he didn't feel it. The amount of blood he started coughing up though... I think that's what killed him more than the dagger." She raises a hand to wave at Reese and Luca, and would probably wave at Freja if the woman wasn't a damn ninja.

"I'll have whatever you're having, Princess." Rickard responds, smiling. Really, booze is booze, so he's good. He'll drink whatever. Even if it's not booze, who is he to refuse a drink.

Thena is dragged, willingly enough if with mild surprise, towards Zhayla. "Uhm, hello." She checks her glass to make sure the drink survived the trip.

Reese checked command + animal ken at difficulty 0, rolling 25 higher.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Gisele before departing.

Magpie is a little late to the event, but he hustles into the area with a grin on his face. Other than that healing arm still in the sling (how long does it take, really?) he's looking pretty good. He peers around for a place to sit, frowning thoughtfully.

Luca comes rushing in with Aleksei _just_ barely before the start of things, both men looking a little frazzled and sweat-gleaming from their rushing to make it in time it seems. Or maybe something else, given how Luca's flowy sweat-stained linen shirt is draping untucked and he's got a big lopsided smirk set on his dusky lips. He's laughing and saying something close to Aleksei's ear before peering about the crowds for a certain blonde-haired Grayson, slipping off towards her after Reese is seen, suddenly just appearing out of crowd behind her, arms encircling her belly (and possibly getting stabbed for his startling of her) as he laughingly declares. "Ribbons! You missed an Abyss of a fight at the TC between Tal and Alley Cat!" He's smirking over to Aleksei at that if the Archlector followed him over to his wife. The speech from Aureth earns a grin and a quipped. "I suppose that explains some of what the elves think of as humor. Not taking themselves or anything else seriously." Eirene's waves earns a quick grinning wave in turn as he's starting Rickard and Reese and he towards the drinks table.

Armel chuckles, nudging Eirene as he remarks, "She does sound up your alley, really. My heart belongs to Gild, but I do appreciate a good pun." He glares at Freja, her presence revealed by her joke, it seems. "You're just jealous. I adore this hat, it was a heartfelt gift." He considers Eirene's story for a couple seconds before he quips, "Sounds like he choked on his own stupidity, really. Bet he was red in the face." Early start on the puns.

Fortunato treads on in with his canvas-bound board and graphite and an immediate position in the periphery because crowds. Also vantage for drawing.

Looking past Gisele to Thena, Zhayla gives the guardswoman a grin as she's pulled into the kidnapping. "Yes, come sit," she encourages. "Hi. I'm Zhayla." She laughs when Gisele trials her almost-joke, encouraging as she says, "That's pretty good, actually! I think the practicing is paying off." She throws a bright grin over in Reese's direction, hand flagged high in a wave before she drops them back to brace on her rock. "I don't think I'll be very good at this, but I'm looking forward to the others."

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Eirene before departing.

Aureth puts word to deed by taking a drink from the drink he has brought up onto the stage with him, and then ditches formality altogether by coming up to the edge of the stage so that he can sit down on it, dangling his feet over the table's edge as he looks out over the milling and uncertain. His smile is crooked and a little rueful. He says, "So, for this contest. Three lucky winners are going to walk out of here with a fun surprise in a fancy looking bag, courtesy of Magpie Grayhope and Armed Robbery. If you haven't had a chance to check that out, it's down in the Boroughs in the armpit of the city where I grew up, not too far from the graveyard, and basically, you have no idea what you're getting, but half the fun is finding out." He puts down his drink, drops back into a lean on the brace of his palms, and pitches his voice to carry. "So! If you'd like to compete for a chance to win one of these awesome bags, there's three to win, and three rounds of jokes to try."

Aureth patters gamely on with a certain showman's air in his voice, for all that his perch on the stage is a sham of intimacy. There's the sense to be gotten that he's done /shows/ before, that /patter/ is in his line of business, even if this whole /priest/ thing is wildly new still. "Now for the first round, your challenge is to come up with a story joke! A funny story joke, with a punchline! Everyone who's bought drinks -- you don't have to drink, just buy, it's fine, although I promise you this is /all/ gonna be way funnier if you've had a drink ... and wants to step up, let's have a show of hands and the disciples will start taking down your names!"

OOC: SO, this round is gonna be by rolls of charm + riddles. I bet no one has riddles. It's okay. That's the roll anyway for round 1. I will be awarding extra points -- as Aureth will explain IC shortly -- for the totally subjective 'jokes Aureth thinks the Queen would like'. The more your joke combines the possibility of laughter with groans of horror at straight up awfulness, the more likely you will get an extra point.

Freja waves her fingers in a fond hello to Eirene. "You do us all a charity, suffering through his company in that abyssal thing he is so attached to." A glance is given to Armel's hat. "Jealous. Right."

"This is Thena, of the Iron Guard," Gisele helpfully supplies. "I think you'd like her. Thena, Dame Zhayla. I think /you'd/ like /her/ too." Clearly nothing makes her happier than nudging liked people together, so her smile grows deeper and brighter as she looks between the two. "Are either of you competing? I might. Ah, just to... honour Death," she adds, even as her hand lifts to send a merry little wave in Magpie's direction-- a wave that transitions into a raised hand, for the attention of the Disciples.

Chip, a small mouse, Boots arrive, following Valery.

"Hey! It's *Highway* Robbery! Yeesh!" Magpie calls to Aureth, and wanders over to sit down on the ground in front of where Gisele is seated, leaning back against her legs if she'll let him.

Armel checked charm + riddles at difficulty 15, rolling 2 lower.

"Oh, sorry," Aureth says with an airy wave of his hand. "/Highway/ Robbery."

Luca checked charm + riddles at difficulty 15, rolling 2 higher.

Vladimir arrives, following Hana.

Eirene checked charm + riddles at difficulty 15, rolling 9 lower.

Fortunato has rolled a critical success!
Fortunato checked charm + riddles at difficulty 15, rolling 20 higher.

Aleksei rushes in with Luca, looking similarly sweaty and hair-mussed as the Lycene prince. "It was good to stretch my legs again," he says in breezy agreement with Luca's words to Reese. "Hello." He looks over to Aureth when he explains the rules of the game. "I almost feel like I shouldn't compete," he says, looking thoughtful. "I mean. I already know she likes my jokes."

Rickard checked charm + riddles at difficulty 15, rolling 1 higher.

Gisele checked charm + riddles at difficulty 15, rolling 3 higher.

"Already moved up to the high society, can't be bothered to remember the names of us Lower's folk..." Magpie says in a teasing mutter, rolling his eyes.

Thena returns Zhayla's grin with a flicker of a smile and sits as bidden and is about to introduce herself when Gisele does it for her. "Very nice to meet you," she says instead and then, at Gisele's question, shakes her head. "I'm probably the least funny person here. But I can drink and applaud." She stretches her leg out to poke Magpie in the lower back with her toe.

Eirene says, "We had a bloody good time of it." Badabump. Eirene sniggers at Armel and then looks up to the stage. "Oh I got this," she says confidently. "Bad jokes about dead people are my specialty."

Armel shrugs, calling out toward Aureth, "How about this one? So, I was looking over burial plots the other day, and I thought 'Man, this is the /last/ thing I need!'." He spreads his hands, fully expecting to be groaned at. Or punched for the lame opener. He takes a swig of his drink afterward, grunting and nodding a the quality of it before he flushes, just a bit, at Eirene's comment, chuckling and shoving her shoulder lightly.

Hana makes her way in, a bit late, but offers Aureth -- and several other familiar faces -- a bright smile as she does so. She sidles in closer to the stage, but doesn't seem inclined to join the actual competition; she is not great with jokes.

Zhayla's smile widens with a certain blitzed delight when Gisele introduces her with the 'Dame'. It's clearly not natural to Zhayla to include that in her introductions yet -- if she ever will. "Maybe we'll get a consolation prize," she suggests to Thena, parking herself next to her in camp Not Funny. She shakes her head at Gisele and says, "But if I think of anything really good, I'll tell you. Give you an edge." CHEATING AND COLLUDING WHAT IS THIS.

"I know it, right? No respect." Fortunato idles over to Magpie, moving from the periphery to Grayhope + Gisele contingent. With that, he's launching into some -- incredibly complicated riddle with two puns per every line and internal rhyming and pattern and, well, it's technically a /spectacular/ riddle, a fair tapestry of oddly used words, but is it funny? No, not really.

Aureth snorfles a little and then picks up his drink again, holding the glass up towards Armel. "Now seems like a good time to tell you," he says, "that I'll be listening to all of your offerings, and when I hear a joke I think the Queen of Endings would especially like, I'll be awarding an extra point. Since that joke was /especially awful/, I'm sure she'd love it, so I'm going to award the Grandmaster here an extra point." He toasts with the glass, drinks, and then hollers, "Onward! Tell away! Take the stage if you want, it's fun up here."

Gisele does not kick Magpie off of his leaning perch because manners. She does reach out to give his hair a furtive, awkward pat-patting though, before she turns a smile back to Thena. "I'm terrible with humour. I know so many jokes but... telling them is about timing, and delivery." Which she lacks! Or so she claims. Clearly she has a cheat card in her pocket. Zhayla being pocket-sized. And when her turn comes about? She follows on the heels of Fortunato, eyes locked on /him/ to help her ignore the crowd as she reels through a story joke involving the Archives, chickens demanding "bouk bouk"s of Scholars, and frogs who declare they've "red-it, red-it".

A soft started sound escapes from Reese as she feels Luca behind her, but she doesn't reach for her blades. It takes her about three seconds. "Prince Nimble." She murmurs softly and leans back against him. "Oh, I am sorry to have missed that." She murmurs and then smiles over to Aleksei. "Good evening, brother Aleksei."

Freja pinches the bridge of her nose at Armel's joke and sliiiides away from him and Eirene, allowing the pair their fun as she settles in to watch the others.

Fortunato watches Gisele with all due intensity and support and applauds quietly for the books and frogs. Very important topics, these-- wait, jokes. These are jokes.

"Wow," Hana remarks to the Grayhope (+ Extras) contingent, as she listens to Armel's joke. "That was /awful/." She actually sounds kind of in awe of just how truly awful it was, in fact.

Magpie actually chuckles at Armel's joke, shaking his head, then Fortunato's contribution gets a grin. "Oh Fort... You may be too clever for all of us." He says with fondness. The sailor peers up at Gisele next, giving her a thumbs-up and an encouraging smile.

Reese gets hard cider for herself and Rickard at some point. She smiles and hands him a mug.

Eirene calls out "What has 4 legs and one arm?" She pauses and then gives the worst punchline ever. "A hunting hound on a children's playground!" Grin. Shit eating grin. As if it was actually -funny-.

Armel lifts his mug to Aureth, grinning at the man's appraisal of his joke. "I'll take it!" He's saying with every appearance of being delighted. He turns to Freja as she tries to sidle away. "Next one will include your name, if you run off," He warns, happy to chill where he is and even guffaw at Fortunato's own much-better humor. Then he's blinking at Eirene once. Then again. And then he barks out an actual laugh. Man loves a bit of morose humor, turns out.

"I'll take consolation over embarassing myself on the public stage any day," Thena says to Zhayla with a wry curve of a grin. "Yes, let's give Gisele all our material." And once the priestess has delivered, she lets out a tremendous whoop of support, raising her glass on high.

Gisele reaches out to claim Fortunato's hand once he's finished applauding. "Yours /was/ clever," she praises. Hers? Well, she's a little pink in the cheeks, but not displeased. No one's thrown anything at her, after all. Possibly because they're saving their ammunition for certain others in the crowd.

Fergus appears having heard about something that might qualify as 'comedy', and decides to check it out. That's where he spies his sister standing off on the side. Time for the some payback. Sneaking up as quietly as he can, which isn't great, but maybe the laughing will disguise that. Managing to get behind Freja, he waits a moment. "Jokes are like food. Not everyone gets it."

Eirene murmurs to Armel, "I've actually seen a dog run off with a severed leg before. Now THAT is funny shit," she says, nodding as she takes a drink.

Armel remarks casually to Eriene, "Hey, dogs have to eat too. Guy probably wasn't missing it, at that point." He hums to himself as he drinks.

Valery arrives with the tinkling of her anklets and her basket of mice as company, looking curiously around. -This- probably wasn't what she expected, since she stares at the crowd in a shocked way, wrinkles her nose at the jokes.

Fortunato loops his hand around Gisele's and laughs. "Yes, it was clever, but as Magpie suggests, not very fun. So, uh, not actually very clever at all." He smiles over at his cousin. Awk. "I liked the frog bit. That's actually the noise frogs, um, make."

"Point to Lady Eirene for taking that awfulness thing to a gross extreme," Aureth says, waving over one of the disciples with a drinks tray to swap his empty drink for a full one.

Luca groan-laughs to Armel's offering, unwinding his hands from Reese in order to clap to it despite himself though, then leaning down to kiss her on the cheek and quip out. "I have to go give this a shot. Grab me a drink too, love. I'm fuckin' hilarious after all!" Oh gods, Luca _really_ isn't that much for riddles or jokes, but he can't resist. And so he's running over to the stage to wait his turn. He's groaning again and giving a shrill two-finger whistle to Eirene's offering, calling out. "It just wouldn't have been an Eir joke if it didn't involve blood and missing limbs!" After which Luca's jumping up to do his turn.

"A woman and her little girl were visiting the grave of the little girl's grandmother. On their way through the cemetary back to the car, the little girl asked: 'Mommy, do they ever bury two people in the same grave?'" Luca begins, already smirking to himself, his Lenosian accent thickening a little as he gets to the end of it.

"Of course not, dear." replied the mother, "Why would you think that?"

"The tombstone back there said 'Here lies a Lycene lawyer and an honest man.'"

Luca goes so far as to spread his hands in a 'That's all folks' sort of gesture before hopping down to groans or jeers likely for his attempt.

Magpie beams up at Fortunato from where he's sitting on the ground. "I still love you, though. Just talk about your balls. It works for me." He says, shrugging. To Gisele he suggests, "Tell an embarrassing story about Aureth."

"I have trouble with the language thing still," Zhayla admits in an undertone to Thena, looking between Gisele and Fortunato with a wide grin that only grows wider. "I feel my Arvani is great, and then I miss the most obvious puns." Indeed, from her lack of any real accent, it seems a surprise she'd struggle. AND YET. Instead, she throws her full support behind Gisele with a pleased clap, but she tells Fortunato in a stage whisper: "Too much metaphor." What a critic.

Eirene likewise cheers for Luca, sniggering at that the joke. She lifts her glass in toast to it. "You didn't need to say he was Lycene. Just 'lawyer' woulda sold it," the Lycene woman says with a wounded pout.

"Please don't." Freja half asks, half pleads of Armel when he threatens to use her name in his next pun. While her laughter is rare, the smile even more scarce - as common as hen's teeth, both appear in abundance for now as the jokes begin. A peal of laughter rings out, her smile barely contained behind her glass. It is in that moment Fergus finds her and startles the scout. The knee jerk reaction being to spin around and deliver a punch to poor Fergus' mug. Instantly, Freja's eyes go wide and she holds a hand over her mouth in that moment as it dawns on her who she punched. "Fuck! Ferg, don't -do- that!"

Armel can't help but laugh at Luca's offering, clapping for him as he sets his drink aside for the moment. No groaning, that was actually pretty funny, after all! He chuckles...Until he's looking at the 'disciples'. "Are those some of my recruits, Aureth? They're supposed to be rebuilding the Thrax quarter!" He grumbles, looking mildly irritated, but only mildly. They are still at Godly work, after all. He glances to Freja as she socks her brother, looking between the two. "You can do better than that, he barely felt it, looks like."

Reese wanders off for a moment, but not very far. She hands Luca a mug of hard cider as well. She listens to his joke of course and she does smile with amusement, but she doesn't quite giggle. She looks over to Eirene and has the grace to blush at her wounded pout. "I am still trying to think of a joke. I am not known for my sense of humor, but I did marry Luca, so I must have one."

Gisele has a request and she duly rumples her brow as she considers how best to answer it. "I don't know what counts as an embarrassing story," she has to admit. "When we first met, he came to my shop to commission me to do little booklets for his card readings. And he flirted with me but I didn't realize he was flirting until a long time later?" Except that's more an embarrassing story about /Gisele/.

"Thank you, Princess. You are far too kind," Rickard accepts the mug, and gives Reese a little salute with it. "So, I was talking to a friend about how, years ago, I was seeing this at-the-time lovely young woman. I'd also purchased a faithful, energetic, playful hound for myself. The mutt was a bit too much for her, so she gave me an ultimatum.. either the dog goes, or she does. So I began putting up 'to good home' advertisements, telling about how she was smart, well-trained, skilled. Purebred, from a wealthy home." A beat passes. "My dog and I were, in the end, glad to see my ex off to a good home."

Thena asides to Zhayla, "Don't worry, you didn't miss much." Following is a weary little chortle at the woman's critique of Fortunato. Oh dear, there's Gisele again. Thena applauds enthusiastically anyway.

Isn't the first time Fergus has been punched in the face. Won't be the last either. But if there's anything about the large Redrain isn't that he knows how to take a hit, even the ones thrown by his sister, who's no slouch. His head jerks back, making blink. "Well, that's *one* fucking way to say hi." Reaching with a hand, he touch his suddenly bloody lip. "Nice one, Freja. I just figure to get you back for all the times *you* do your little sneaking shit."

1 Saik Guard, Bodyguard, A Cat arrive, following Karadoc.

"Can I tell metaphors about my balls?" Fortunato generals to Zhayla and Magpie, as if he /genuinely/ asking for advice. Genuinely. Aside to Gisele, "Aureth is very subtle, it's not your fault." V. believable.

Armel peers aside to Eirene, murmuring aside to her, "Oh, because the Lycene have a reputation for honesty and forthrightness." The fact the Malvici /do/ is ignored, for the moment. "Besides, it was good." He flicks at the pout she wears, advising her to "drink more, and tell the story about the man who died from a fan again?" Presumably the paper or silk fan variety.

"Aureth isn't subtle at all," Aleksei disagrees with Fortunato, drifting closer to him and Gisele and all the others there. "The first time /I/ met Aureth was in Gisele's shop. He did a reading for me and then he said he was going to read my palm except really he was just trying to flirt via groping my hand, so we went off and slept together before Gisele got too embarrassed."

Gisele proves she is the most credulous by tilting a look of smiling gratitude up at Fortunato. She's buying it, and no matter that the master of subtlety is up there on stage bodily exhorting the crowd to spill their best and worst humour. And then... Aleksei shatters her innocence. Her jaw drops. "What? Really?" She had no idea!

"For the next round, I've got to say that Fortunato is leading the pack on a technicality by including more puns in one joke than I ever heard, but I do doff my hat--" Aureth is not wearing a hat. "--to the Grandmaster for starting us off on the right note, and to Luca for killing a lawyer, because as all the gods except the Sentinel know, the best place for any lawyer is six feet underground." He scoots backward on the stage and then rises, pitching his voice to carry as he goes, "Hey, I didn't volunteer anybody who didn't want a free drink," to Armel, because he is the most well-behaved priest of all. "Now for the next round of jokes I'm gonna ask you to tell ... this is going to be a test of your comedic /timing/. Think about what makes your joke or story or anecdote funny, and then /rock it/, all right? All right."

OOC: This one will be a roll of luck + performance! :D

Valery moves along, quieter than Fergus, probably, despite her anklets. She walks closer the group, still listening with a light frown.

Fortunato checked luck + performance at difficulty 15, rolling 2 higher.

"Those are the best kind of jokes about balls, in my opinion." Magpie responds to Fortunato quietly, then goes back to watching the jokes -- except, Aleksei and Gisele's conversation behind him has him suddenly doubling over snickering.

Rickard checked luck + performance at difficulty 15, rolling 11 higher.

Armel checked luck + performance at difficulty 15, rolling 8 higher.

Gisele checked luck + performance at difficulty 15, rolling 8 lower.

Reese checked luck + performance at difficulty 15, rolling 13 higher.

"But when I do it, it is endearing and charming." Freja defends and bends a knee to fish out a bit of cotton strip from inside of her boot. "Here, clean up your lip." she offers so helpfully to her brother. "This too." she is shoving a drink into his hand next. There are a few jokes that make her lift her brows, but the amusement never leaves her expression. "You arrived just in time. These are the kind of things we hear out in the field with the men, eh?"

"Ouch! I think that one counts! Even if I'm the punchline!" Luca's laughingly playing wounded with hand to his heart at Reese's joke about marrying him. Having come back over to snag his drink from her and a quick kiss. He's moving to toss a little pouch of coins into the donation box as Rickard goes up. His joke earns a huge laugh from the Velenosa-turned-Grayson prince and he's wandering the crowd with his wife. The story from Aleksei earns another laugh and a jokingly sarcastic. "That doesn't sound like you _or_ Aur, Alley Cat! Total lies and fabrication I think!" Oh yeah, he totally believes it was just how Aleksei said.

Luca checked luck + performance at difficulty 15, rolling 0 higher.

Reese looks over Rickard has he tells his joke, having a smile of amusement for him. She then turns to Luca. "Well marrying you has increased my teasing material for sure, Luca." She murmurs, but her words are gentle and her expression is soft. She seems affectionate despite the teasing. "Anyways..I do have Lyceum one too. I thought of this because of the party I went to the other day when everyone was drunk and high apples."

"It's true!" Aleksei claims to both Gisele and Luca. "One hundred percent true. You can ask Aureth later."

Fortunato shakes his finger at Aleksei, "Hand stuff is /inherently/ subtle, because it's all, uh, compressed and contained and stuff. For all Gisele knew, you were actually just palm-reading." Defense, defense! And then he's stepping up to try to tell a joke. It ends up non-verbal - perhaps dude's too aware of how wordy the last one was. He just steps up and mutely, abruptly pratfalls. Ho ho!

Reese continues onto her attempt at a joke. "What is the difference between a Lyceum funeral and a Lyceum ball? One less noble high on rotten apples and fancy wines."

Gisele's eyes cut towards Armel and Eirene. Morbid humour is doing well? Alright then! She has this! Or... not. Because she draws a breath and reels out, "What is it called when you get suffocated by a book?" only to pause, gaze darting around as if she expects someone to already know this punch line. Anyone? Anyone? No? Crap. "Literally murder!" topples with far less grace than Fortunato does. Gods save her.

Armel can't help but cackle as he overhears poor Gisele's conversation, shaking his head as he struggles to think of a halfway decent joke. Then he snaps his fingers, waggling them as he calls out,

"So, when I was younger, I used to go to weddings all the time, you know. And I'd always have my friends and family rib me. 'you're next, you're next', they would say!"

"But they stopped real quick when I started doing it to them at funerals!"

He grins triumphantly, looking around. And then peering at Fortunato, declaring, "I honestly think he's got me beat! And so does Gisele!" He laughs outright at it all.

Vladimir have been dismissed.

Aureth is particularly cacklish over a few of these offerings, but it is admittedly hard to tell which ones, specifically, have him in stitches.

Thena watches Grayhope & Associates throwing themselves down on the stage in silent shock for a moment, then claps loudly.

"You just don't like someone using your own thing against you for a change." Fergus grunts, taking the cotton. "Oh fantastic, it smells like your foot." Doesn't stop him from using. "These aren't nearly as crude as the ones I've heard in war camps. Sure as shit not going to repeat those. Because they're bad and I don't want to be looked like some kind of criminal."

Luca's releasing from Reese with another kiss, to let her go up and tell her Lycene joke. After which he's groaning and laughing and clapping for his wife, then murmuring after her. "Ooh! I got one!" And he's rushing up to the stage with his hard cider sloshing just a little (maybe the prince started a bit early with his drinking), or else he just likes cheesy jokes! Either way, he's hopping up and asking of the crowd. "Why couldn't the skeleton get into the cemetary?" Pause. Wait. Foooor. It! "He had no body to go with!" There is a special place in the Abyss for people who make jokes like this.

"Why do we have three pedals on a grand piano?" Rickard inquires, standing up from his seat. "The middle pedal separates one from the other." Pause for effect. "This could be quite problematic for those of you with three feet." And right back down he goes, returning to his drink.

Freja snaps her fingers and points at Gisele. "I like hers." Fergus' predicament leaves his younger sister in a fit of giggles when he murmurs something to her. Hugging her sides, she tries to catch her breath and stammers, "F-fuck, almost like bein' b-back at home."

"If the Queen herself doesn't appear to smite me, I'll be surprised," Gisele sighs, though that doesn't keep her from tilting a grateful little look at Armel and then Freja for the moral support. Thankfully, others are far more capable and her rue is soon transformed into amusement.

Fortunato scrambles back to his feet. "Literally murder!" At Gisele. "Funeral humor," at Armel, "and the usual grim shit." At Eirene. "Seems hugely appropriate for the Queen, no?"

Eirene checked luck + performance at difficulty 15, rolling 10 lower.

Magpie snickers at both the great jokes and the disasters, because really, it's all funny. The sailor hops up from the ground to steal Gisele's seat while she's up on stage, leaning over to murmur to Thena, "I think Armel's my favorite so far."

Luca groans again mid-drink (a thing that leaves him coughing after) at Rickard's offering, wincing and waiting for the man to come back near to Reese and he so he can slap him on the shoulder and declare with huge grin. "That was absolutely horrific Rick. Loved it!"

Armel doffs his hat to Magpie, appreciative of the compliment. Even does it to Fortunato, because that's what he was aiming for.

Valery takes a deep breath and she eventually moves back away.

Thena leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees, drink dangling from one hand in a way that looks precarious but probably isn't really. To Magpie, "I think it's the hat. Or the eye. Or both."

Reese nuzzles into Luca's offered kiss to her cheek slightly before he releases her. She blinks and his skeleton joke and then giggles. The girl then takes another sip of her cider.

Fergus barks out a laugh at something his sister said. "That's good shit." he grins in a rare display of mirth, slinging an arm around Freja's shoulders, then leaning back to whisper to her.

Gisele asides a quieter remark to Fortunato, her eyes dancing with laughter she /doesn't/ voice. Her tenure on the stage is not a long one and she's soon to withdraw but, with one round remaining, she lingers near-- and only pulls a brief face at Magpie for his seat thievery.

Eirene is about to make a comment when Armel whispers something to her. She absolutely loses it, looking at him and cackling in mad humor. "I can't..." she pants, waving the priest on to skip her. "I fucking can't..." She does try though with, "What is easier to unload, a cart full of Dead Babies or a cart full of masonry stones?" She weakly gestures to the groundbreaking supplies and cackles, "Dead Babies, you can use a pitchfork!"

Rickard grins at Luca, taking the slap on the shoulder like a real trooepr. "The rest of my jokes are actually pretty good. That's the last of my horrible jokes." He winks, and settles in, content to observe.

"Wow. All right. Dead babies on a fork. Well, I can't say I didn't ask for it. Perfect. The worse the better," Aureth says, swinging his feet as he sits on the stage again. "Very nice, everyone, quite the right spirit of things. You're killing me, really. Well, not /really/, really. I guess at Death's temple I oughta specify!" He waves his hand. "Now, for the third round of jokes, ladies and gentlemen, I put to you the favorite of the Mother of Beginnings: the lowest, most underground depths of humor, the graoner, the maoner, the one that will get you thrown out of the house. In short, what I'm asking you to do, everyone, is to give me a pun."

OOC: No rolls this time. I cannot commit puns to dice. Rate them in numbers of :D.

Luca SPEWS his drink across a crowd of people at Eirene's joke, then proceeds to fall into utterly un-Prince-like giggles. Maybe Lycene's just have _that_ twisted a sense of humor.

Freja positively beams at her brother, slinging an arm about him in return as the two chitter back and forth between sudden, abrupt laughter between their own conversation and the myriad around them. Breathing out she sniggers and remarks, "Oh..puns. I -love- these."

Boots, Chip, a small mouse leave, following Valery.

Fergus glances over toward Eirene. "Hey, Malvici." he says in her direction. "What sits on a corner and gets smaller and smaller? A baby combing its hair with a potato peeler." Not too often that the big smiles, but this might be a rare occasion where his type of humor is in the spotlight. "Shit, I love it."

Fortunato stares at Eirene, as he is clearly meant to do, then searches his heart and his soul. He stands tall, he raises his hand, he provides with great solemnity. "An artist was found dead in his studio. Details are sketchy."

Gisele might be a little horrified by Eirene's joke. So much so that she spins into round three far too distracted to come up with anything worthwhile to offer. For a moment, a look of absolute panic. And then she blurts, "A pun about books...? I'm drawing a blank." Oh, bless.

Eirene calls back to Fergus, "How is a baby like a grape? They both give a little wine when you squish them." She makes a 'crush yo head' gesture to the Redrain. Fortunato's joke is met with a thumbs up. "Why don't lesbian sailors ever leave their ships," she calls out to the priest - not quite a dead baby joke this time. "Because they hate doing down on the dick. I mean, dock."

Fergus can't help but snigger at Eirene. "What's the warmest thing in a dead woman's body? My dick."

Armel beams as he makes Eirene entirely lose it, her own joke causing a roll of his eyes as he gives her an honest shove. And a cackle too while he snickers to her, "That's fucking awful, Eirene, even for you." He is delighted by Rickard's offering, as well as the others, and then he swears. "Shit, shouldn't have used a pun off the start...Hmm..." He considers for a moment.

"Okay, okay, I got one! The sign at the new shrine should really read 'No trespassing. Violators will face /grave/ charges!'." Annnd he's laughing again, at Fortunato, giving the man a waggle of his fingers. But then Fergus and Eirene just about have him rolling, enough tha this magnificant hat falls from his head, it's just too much for him.

To add to the book puns Freja exclaims, a hand placed against her cheek in mock-shock. "Greeted at the palace a man was surprised to hear the rank of the short attendent leading him to throne room. 'Why, a page?!' the man exclaimed, 'you're hardly a paragraph."

Armel drops a phantasmagorical tricorn hat of many colors.

Magpie just groans when Aureth announces puns next. "Should have known..." The sailor says, sighing heavily. Even he makes a face at Fergus's pun. Fortunato gets a smirk. Gisele? Well, there's a supportive smile. Eirene's baby joke gets a chuckle. Then Armel? Well, Magpie is laughing again. "Horrible." Freja's is more groan worthy. You know, if anyone is paying attention to Magpie's reactions.

Fortunato gives Gisele a sidelong, encouraging glance until he recognizes that /was/ the joke. "Oh! Haha, oh!" He's points at Gisele, then points at Eirene and Fergus in turn. "You're going to kill Armel. You already killed his hat with your horrors."

Luca's breaking up into giggles still between the puns flying and something Reese said to him perhaps, but when it comes to his turn, he's jumping up and saying to the crowd with a fox-eat-canary sort of grin. "Why do shav cannibals never eat harlequins? Because they taste funny."

There: Gisele remembers how to laugh again with Freja's entry. And, laughing, she's able to make a better effort: "My favourite book is the one I received for my birthday. There's... there's no tome like the present!" she manages, buoyed by the force of all the /support/ she's receiving.

Freja adds to Luca, "Now, now. That is in poor taste."

Thena rubs at her tired face with her free hand because puns, then just sort of slouches and lets the horror wash over her.

Reese looks rather pale when Luca jokes about cannibals.

"Hold on, hold on." Fergus is getting into it, the larger of the pair of Redrains barely holding it together. "What's worse than five dead babies in a dumpster? One dead baby in five dumpsters."

"You can tell the party's just getting started once the Redrains start bringing the necrophilia to the table, thank you for joining us, Prince Fergus." He stretches out his legs to their full extent, cackling as he drops back on his elbows. "Bahahaha!" It's just going on and on now. "Freja, holy shit."

Eirene sobers up a moment and solemnly says, "During the siege, I had to witness many a poor young man pass into the arms of the Queen we celebrate today. Once of them, with his dying breath, looked up at me and said... 'I always wanted to die in the arms of a beautiful woman. So if you could kindly go find me one, I'd appreciate it."

Freja holds up her hands in mock surrender to Aureth. "I guess you'll just have to throw the book at me." is entirely for Gisele's benefit, that pun.

Armel is almost on his hands and knees from laughter, a very rare sight for the normally-dour Grandmaster, but there it is. "No..Stop..I can't..." He is barely able to rudely shove Eirene at the self-depricating joke, even as he laughs at it, murmuring something sarcastic sounding under his breath.

Freja also adds, taking a jab at her brother via pun. "You'll have to excuse him, it's the only stiff competition he ever gets around here in the South."

Luca looks suitably chastised when he sees Reese's reaction to his joke and he's moving to wrap her up in a hug and nuzzle at her neck whilst apologizing it seems. Even so, he can't help but keep grinning huge at all the horrible jokes let loose, especially Fergus' latest dead baby one earning the man a big thumbs up behind Reese's back for best he can manage right then.

Gisele covers her face. Possibly so no one can tell which jokes delight and which horrify her. Her shoulders are shaking though, so that has to be a good sign.

"Hey, they struggle less when they're dead." Fergus shrugs, nudging at Freja lightly.

Aureth gets Rainbow Mystery Pouch from a grey pouch textured with embroidered coins.

Eirene's moment of humor flickers after she tells the joke. She does snigger as Armel shoves her playfully and it draws a smirk back up to her face, blue eyes rolling at him. "It's not cheating, I only told it to you before," she replies, taking a drink of the free liquor. "And it was true, the fucker... just nudged the timing aroud."

Aureth scrubs his arm across his brow and then goes, "Now that this wagon I've started is just getting unleashed-- I'm going to award the prizes, primarily for the scored rounds. Please, feel free to continue to be horrible and hilarious, everyone. I've got one more party game for us all before I get down off this stage ... but first! For puns, pratfalls, and possibly for murdering himself in his own joke, I must award one of these three mystery bags to my own brother, may I be struck down for it."

Fortunato sits on the edge of the stage, letting words and words and horrible words sweep over him. He only laughs belatedly, as if it takes the whole accumulation for him to quite get it.

Reese leans back into Luca and sees to removing her pallor a bit. None of the other jokes seemed to have bother so much, save fore Luca's. Maybe she really has an issue with cannibalism or something. She murmurs softly to him. He doesn't seem to be in too much trouble with her.

Gisele drops her hands and one falls to Fortunato's shoulder. There, a little congratulatory shake is given, a rare grin revealed. Yes, she supports this favouritism! Huzzah for pratfalls!

Eirene can't stop once she's on a roll, much like a runaway wagon down a hill. "Prince Fergus -you should see about visiting the skeletons under the mausoleum. I'm sure they'd appreciate a good boner." She cheers as Fortunato is pronounced the first winner.

"And now, for comedic timing, awful puns and one dead lawyer, a mystery bag to Luca Grayson," Aureth says, tossing another underhanded at Luca. The contents are not soft, so this could be mean, but whatever, Luca has reflexes.

Aureth gets Rainbow Mystery Pouch from a grey pouch textured with embroidered coins.

Armel is able to recover himself enough to clap as the first prize is given out, the sound odd with steel-clad hands, but he gives it a go anyway, his free drink long since emptied and set aside for fear of losing the rest. He clears his throat and murmurs aside to Eirene, "Well, the guy was an ass, I'd wage-oh Gods, that was fucking /awful/. Love it." he is unable to stop grinning, it seems. He claps his hands for Luca too, because that man deserves it!

Fortunato raises the mystery pouch after he's announced - had he even noticed the first time? "Thank you, I accept this honor despite being nepotistic." Then he's clapping for Luca and side-grinning loose at Gisele.

Freja ruffles her brothers hair and polishes off her drink. "I have to get going, but I'll see y'round, alright? We have a few things we should discuss anyways." The rest of the crowd gets a soldier's salute, but Aureth is blown a kiss. "Thank you, darling, I truly need some laughter."

"And finally-- while I struggle with this award after the amazing horrors that was the pun round, and I came very close to awarding it elsewhere, I think we can agree that Lady Eirene has taken the skeleton cake here," Aureth says, pulling the last of the pouches and tossing it to Eirene.

Aureth gets Rainbow Mystery Pouch from a grey pouch textured with embroidered coins.

Armel spares another loud round of gauntlet-clapping for Eirene at her victory, even letting out a whistle for support.

"Speaking of dead bodies." Fergus starts with a chuff of humor towards Eirene. "I went to the library, looking for a book on suicide. The librarian says, 'Fuck off, you won't bring it back.'" A nod given to Freja. "Good to see you. Stay out of trouble."

Reese cheers for both Luca and Eirene. She doesn't even try to dodge the thrown object, having faith that Luca will catch such.

Gisele shares that grin with the artist a moment longer, then raises hands to applaud for the other winners. She might even managed the tiniest little, 'Woo!' of celebration. But it is very little, that woo.

Fortunato claps, then, quite, quite, for Eirene. "Here's to clear takers of skeleton cakes."

Freja snorts, "No trouble? Stop trying to kill my fun."

Eirene fist-punches the air triumphantly with her prize pouch, grinning at Armel and then turning her shit-eating smile to Fergus. "I think we should share this, cause I'm dying over here too." The medic has her charm, that is to say, she has very little.

Luca's utterly distracted it seems with his nuzzling at Reese's neck from behind her and trying to make up for cannibal jokes, but when the item goes flying towards their heads, he's reaching a hand up viper-swift to snag it a few inches away from them, a look of surprise and delight spreading over his features as he looks up to Aureth and asks. "Seriously?" He tucks the item aside for a moment so he can clap to Eirene and Fort, then with arms still around Reese, he's swinging the bag forward to open it up and take a peek at what he's one that was hard.

Magpie just grins now, watching as people open their prizes. How can he not enjoy it? Well, perhaps if others knew what was in those bags. Though, he does give Fortunato a smirk, "Sorry Fort, I didn't think you'd participate."

"You bet!" Aureth grins sunnily from the stage. "All right. Thank you all for coming. Please tell your friends about the shrine! And if any of you want to stick around for one last game, it's called Drunken Scholar, and you may have played it before or you may not," Aureth says, jumping down from the stage. "Make sure to enjoy the snacks!"

Thena finishes her drink and gets up, weariness in the lines of her form. "I think that's enough fun for me today," the guard notes, dropping her glass off on her way out.

Reese peeks over to Eirene with curious interest when she speaks about sharing. She wiggles around and tries to turn so she can peak into Luca's bag when he opens such.

Fortunato waggles the bag over at Magpie. "The figurine will just have to go to a good home. Namely, uh, probably back to you."

Eirene gets Skull Flower Pot from Rainbow Mystery Pouch.

Eirene gets paladin of reflection figurine from Rainbow Mystery Pouch.

"Wait. WAIT." Aleksei's gaze SNAPS over to Magpie. "Did /you/ leave that figurine in my shrine?!"

Eirene pulls out of the bag... well, a paladin figure that looks remarkably like Juliet. She just stops and stares at the little thing in her hand, all humor and comedy drained out of her face. "This a joke," she asks Aureth, expression going hard.

Luca gets Squatting Dog Desk Companion from Rainbow Mystery Pouch.

Luca gets paladin of freedom figurine from Rainbow Mystery Pouch.

Magpie gives Aleksei a confused expression. "Nope. Someone else must have. I've sold a few. And there will be more." He says with a grin.

Luca is overheard praising Magpie for: Squatting Dog Desk Companion. ENough said.

Armel calls out toward Aleksei, "I have one of you in my office, Aleksei!" He is grinning broadly now...Buuuut not when he sees the figurine in Eirene's hand, his expression hardening to a dangerous scowl. "I think perhaps Luca and Eirene should switch." A nasty insinuation to the words. He liks the pot, though.

"All you, Malvici." Fergus. "Don't get to share that kind of stuff all that often, so it's good when I can share when I don't get too many shocked fucking looks from people." He raises a brow when she pulls out the statue. "Wow."

"What?" Aureth returns a clueless look to Eirene in exchange for the hard one.

Gisele is overheard praising Aureth for: A fine start to the creation of Death's new temple, and all credit due to the host!

Luca is overheard praising Aureth for: A fantastically funny event

Reese is overheard praising Aureth for: Fun and funny event!

"You're /selling me/?" Aleksei looks caught between flattered and totally insulted. "I know Fort /made/ it, but I didn't know you were /selling/ them!" But even he seems confused by Eirene's reaction, and he looks between her and Armel. "What?"

Fortunato stands. Rapidly. "Please, I can replace any figurines randomly given with one of your choice."

Armel is overheard praising Aureth for: An excellent event, full of enough humor to nearly slay me.

The shift in mood has Gisele's light rapidly fading, and her eyes made nervous as they flick from one person to the next. "There are other choices," she speaks to support Fortunato's suggestion. "I'm sure no offense was intended."

"Well.. I'm.. selling the bags that I put them in." Magpie answers Aleksei with a smile. "You're a hero. People need to know it." He says simply. Then he looks over at Eirene and Armel in equal confusion.

Armel checked composure at difficulty 10, rolling 2 higher.

Luca can be heard laughing again richly as he pulls out the items from the rainbow bag, eyes twinkling merrily. "Not only is he selling you Alley Cat, I got you! And a fantastic squatting dog that I'm going to display prominently somewhere in our bedroom!" Luca holds up the Aleksei statue along with the dog statue, grinning like a kid on his birthday for the prizes. Poor, poor Reese.

Armel rapidly shakes off the..Whatever it was that had him in such a foul state, forcing a smile as he murmurs something to Eirene, waving away the looks the others are giving as he manages to sorta-kinda make it seem like a temporary funk and not actual irritation.

Kit, the grey fox, Brigid the Genet arrive, following Monique.

Armel picks up a phantasmagorical tricorn hat of many colors.

Reese's cheeks are as pink as her ribbons when the prizes are revealed and as Luca speaks. She doesn't voice any protest to displaying the items.

"No it's..." Eirene pauses as she looks the figure over. "I didn't want her doing this. Fighting fucking Brand. Being a soldier." She scowls as she closes her hand around it tighter. "Yeah, I'll trade for something else, please... I don't want this, no offense. She did something heroic and deserves the credit at least." She murmurs something quietly to Armel as he speaks quietly to her.

Reese is overheard praising Aureth for: Funny and fun event.

Zhayla is overheard praising Aureth for: That was definitely a thing!

Fergus is overheard praising Aureth for: Haven't laughed in a long time. Good job getting that done.

"It's not up to you what she does with her life," Aleksei points out to Eirene, although his voice is mild. "Her choices are her own."

Aleksei is overheard praising Aureth for: You really tickled my funny bone!

Fortunato checked luck + artwork at difficulty 19, rolling 37 higher.

Reese seems ready to leave now. She is still bushing heatedly as she starts to leave with Luca. "Take care everyone and thanks for hosting this, Brother Aureth. I guess I will see you at home." She adds to Aleksei.

Magpie gives Eirene an apologetic look, "Sorry! I just picked them randomly for the bags!" And yet, he does not offer to exchange it. Nope. But surely there are others to handle that matter. He throws Aleksei another smile. "We should grab a drink sometime." Then the sailor is standing, throwing Aureth a wave as he makes for a swift exit.

Fortunato reaches into his bag to draw out an Aleksei. He treads over, raising the grappling figure toward Eirene. "If you'd prefer this, I'll take the other, all right? I feel generally awkward about depictions of living people, myself, especially those I know well. But who's Aleksei? No one knows that guy." He tries to keep it light, although atmosphere's getting to him.

Kit, the grey fox, Brigid the Genet leave, following Monique.

"Yes, yes you will." Luca quips to Reese's comment to Aleksei, dancing the little Aleksei statue in front of her with a grin. Oh the things it's going to witness. Poor Aleksei-statue. He's tucking away his prizes though, waving to all and sundry as he's being drawn off with his wife.

"Doesn't mean she wants a reminder of it on her nightstand," Armel points out, but it's a fairly mild thing, his anger entirely spent, now that he's not actively looking at the figurine in question. He whispers something that sounds like an amusing suggestion to Eirene, or a question, at least, judging from the smirk on his face. He's clearly trying to lighten the mood as well, as he quips, "Aleksei needs more face-time anyway."

Asher is late. So very late to the party. However, he's running in, holding the bottle he's brought along for the party. But he arrives just as Magpie is leaving, and looks around - everything looks over. So he looks to find Aureth, and makes his way over, holding up the bottle.

"I mean -- yeah, they were just randomly in bags. If you've got others, Fortunato-- tchyeah." Since the party is looking to break up, Aureth scratches at his head as he goes, "Thanks again, everybody. We'll make sure the workmen get drinks and snacks once there's no more light to work by tonight. Tell a good joke sometime, and be glad it's not a bad one." He waves cheerfully, and goes, "Eh, you know, it's useful to keep an Aleksei in your back pocket at all times, I find."