Tan watches Val and tries to get her to relax.
You search through the partygoers, and eventually find Jewel after a half hour's searching; your Sharingan makes matters less complicated, which is why it takes such a short time. She has got a half full (you optomist) bottle of wine, and there's an empty one at her feet; she seems toasted, her cheeks are bright red, and her eyes glazed.
"Hi, dad!" she waves at you furiously with her free hand when you find her, without the least bit remorse in her bright, unfocused eyes.
*I pick her up*
"I told you one glass, not one and a half bottles, and now your going to find out what happens the next morning."
*picks her up and the half empty bottle and the empty bottle and carries her back to Val and Tan*
"Looks like Ms Jewel had a bottle and a half of wine, now Jewel, who let you have a bottle and a half of wine?"
J
Jewel says, "Hey! Give zhat back!"
She reaches clumsily for the bottle, and probably would have missed even were you not to move it. She falls against you, giggling. You pick her up, still in her giggling fit, and carry her back over to Val and Tan.
"Hehe neksht morning..."
And in response to your question regarding who, a mouthful of completely meaningless gibberish.
Tan tells you, "Some ambrosia will clear her right up; but then she won't have to suffer with the hangover."
Most of the other party guests in the vicinity seem to think it's amusing. A few are looking at you sympathetically.
*To Tan*
"She needs to learn the effects of drinking first hand. Part of being a father is not shielding your kids from lessons they should learn themselves."
*Looks at Jewel*
"So who gave you the wine or let you drink it."
*Looking at her mind for the images, not the words*
J
Her mind is a little difficult to make sense of in her drunken state, but it seems she ascertained the bottles herself, after sneaking away while Val was focusing on Vicky.
*looks at her*
"So you snuck off and took em for yourself. Well you young lady will have to deal with the effects of your actions."
*smiles to Val and Tani*
"We will have a very interesting Jewel to deal with tomorrow."
J
Tan responds to you, "She's a smart kid. She can handle it."
The musicians start to play a slow, romantic love song. Valera asks you to dance with her.
*I nod to Tan*
"True, but she did it anyway. She will be fine."
*To Valera*
"I would love to."
*takes her hand and walks her to the dancefloor*
J
She's not the greatest dancer, but she isn't the worst, either. If she was completely coordinated, she'd probably do much better.
Other people are also dancing.
Chase, who is dancing with Mia, asks you if you think it would be okay now for Mia and him to be married. She slaps his chest and says to him, "You're my brother, that's gross."
*not the greatest dancer either but slow songs it's not that hard*
*To them both*
"As your new Dad, that's something your going to have to hash out between Grandfather and Tan. Everyone knows you two are having sex, eventually a child will come. My only issue with it, is that although you started out as not knowing, children of family members have a much higher rate of genetic diseases and abnormalities.
*grins*
"Oh and Chase, you got your last reprieve here tonight, pull something like that again on me, and I will turn you inside out and quarter you to the ends of the universe."
*smiles*
J
Chase responds, "If you're going to give someone that sort of lecture, it should probably be Jenn and Scott; they're closer genetically than we are." He motions in their direction, where she is in his lap and they are necking.
He ignores your last comment, holding Mia to himself as they sway with the music.
*shakes his head*
"They also aren't asking me about it, and really haven't involved themselves in my business. I really am not the person to ask, as this all happened before I came here."
*Ignoring them and dancing with Val*
J
It's a nice dance, but afterwards, Val tells you she'd like to sit down; apparently some chairs have been brought in in the meantime, so this request is feasible.
*smiles and walks her to a chair and smiles*
"Having a good time my beloved? You know I'm going to have to honor that request when we are settled. I promised to protect you, and you need to be trained."
*grins*
J
"What request do you mean, dear?"
§
A faerie flits up in front of you happily and waves to you. She's about 5 inches tall, blue hair to the middle of her back and grey eyes, with transparent wings and an article of clothing that looks to be made from a leaf.
*smiles*
"The help them grow and protect them from harm part. I can't always be around, so the best way to accomplish both is to make sure you can take care of any threat yourself."
===========================
*smiles and waves to the faerie*
"Hello how are you doing today?"
J
bump
bump
bump
The little faerie giggles and answers in a musical voice that is high-pitched enough to sound natural coming from her tiny form, "Fine! We all wanted to give you three best wishes for the future!"
Another faerie flits up, cups her hand by the ear of the first, whispers, and the two giggle as the second gives the first a playful shove in your direction before flitting off.
The first darts closer to you, now just far enough to your face that you don't have to move back or strain to see her so close. Other than the wings, she looks exactly like a tiny person.
"Hi! I'm Caity! We don't do this often, but we've all heard of you, and in thanks for what you've done for all the world, we wanted you to have a gift."
*smiles at Caity*
"Good to meet you Caity, well thank you, I appreciate anything you wish to give."
J
"Good!" Caity responds with a smile and nod.
An awkward silence follows.
After a few moments, she says with a blush, "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm the gift."
*smiles*
"Oh that's cool, as long as your ok with being given as a gift, I don't like anyone being given against their will. Why don't you come over meet Tani and Val, and we can get to know each other."
*To Tani and Val*
"This is Caity, she has gifted herself to me."
J
Caity nods and responds, "Of course! You're a nice man, not like that mean old Sefyr."
Tan grins and says, "Gifted herself? You mean you couldn't keep your hands to yourself on our wedding day?"
Val doesn't seem to realize Tan is kidding, and looks perplexed. "Isn't she a little small for you?"
Caity takes offense. "I'm not small! I'm taller than plenty of faeries!"
*grins*
"Nice going Tan, Val doesn't know the finer sensibilities of humor, one of the things I will correct. No I talked with Caity, told her I only if she wants to be gifted."
*Grins to Val*
"Caity is a faerie, I'm sure she would take to magics and mind powers much more readily than most of us, I'm sure she could change her forms as easily as we could get into a martial arts style."
J
Caity doesn't seem to be paying attention; she's hovering in place and looking at the sun through the transparent roof.
Val responds, "So I'm going to have another sister-wife?"
*smiles*
"She just gifted herself to me, we don't even know each other yet. The way I see it, we knew each other hundreds of years, and Tan and I spend hundreds of years together. I am not easy to marry my beloved."
*grins and hugs and kisses both Tani and Val*
"Let's enjoy the day with friends, and have some fun."
J
You enjoy the remainder of the party; it seems to die down when most of the less powerful guests have passed out. At least one person that you know of died of alcohol poisoning.
Henry asks you if you enjoyed the wedding.
*To Hen Ri*
"I did indeed, thanks Grandfather." *smiles* "I was thinking since we have all the leaders here, before they go, we should get them all together and look toward putting this world back together. Lots of rebuilding, building relationships, getting people to work together would prevent a lot of the tragedy that has happened before. What are you thoughts on that?
J
Hen Ri's response is, "Good luck with that. You do seem to be a smart young person, and you may stand a chance, but Zero is proud, Bloodfang is stubborn, Snow is crafty, and Celeste hates men. Claude is.. well... Claude."
*smiles*
"Well someone has to try, and if they don't, then they won't be invited to participate in the rebuilding the humans will do. This is mostly to get them to help themselves, if they choose not to, then they don't reap the rewards."
*You could come with, just to see how it plays out, I'm bringing the wives, should be an interesting conversation.*
J
"Certainly."
Another draconian approaches Hen Ri and speaks to him in draconian. Hen Ri responds to them, then says to you, "Unfortunately, I have some pressing business I must attend to. Please, don't wait on me. I may not be free for quite some time."
*Nods*
*To Val and Tani, and now Caity.*
"Time to get the band back together, we are all here, all the former all rulers, and some others that haven't been, but figure big into the world structure. No better time to get together than after a party."
*Plan to Gather Zero, Bloodfang, Snow, Celeste, Claude, Seifer, Alex, Jef, David, Shane, and anyone that lapses my memory that I have met that seemed to have ability or the ear of people.*
"Well thank you for coming to my wedding to my beautiful wives, since we are here and in a somewhat good mood, I figured it would be a good time to talk about the world. We no longer have powerful beings working their carefully crafted plan for us, so it is up to us on how we decide to go. I will fully admit, I never wanted to be the All Ruler, it was a means to an end. Like it or not, we are all here, and there is a lot of rebuilding to do after all the way. Making sure we are making enough food, staffing hospitals, and other services the pubic expects. The little things that make lives easier. I am just inviting you all to talk about it, you can get involved and reap the benefits of a global economy and peace, or we can go along as it seems we have always had, at each others throats. I plan on spending a peaceful existence here, but if I am dragged into some war, there are going to be some unhappy people, and most of them are sitting at this table. All of us have an inking of what everyone else can do. We have seen what happens with that route, we should try working together."
/speech
J
There's a brief silence.
Zero is the first to speak. "The draconians would be willing to work with the other races, but the other races will not hold to their promise of peace."
Bloodfang looks irritated. "That's just a slick, fancy way of saying you won't and make it sound like it's our fault and not yours. The wolfkin won't agree to anything if the rest don't."
Celeste says, "The ayludians refuse to work with pigs. If there is to be an alliance, I will only discuss terms of peace with women."
Snow looks around at the others, then says, "Looks like someone's going to have to be first to say yes. The serpents will be happy to work in harmony with non-serpents towards a peaceful, brighter future."
She seems sincere. Bloodfang, Celeste, and Zero glance at her dismissively.
Claude says, "Hi. My name is CLAUDE."
David is sitting back in his chair; he seems amused.
Jef says, "It's like talking to a table full of three year olds."
Sefyr is smiling to himself. "Perhaps I'll have to conquer all your lands and force you all to work together, then, if you can't play nicely together. Perhaps Jhiaxus, Tan, and Jef will help us."
Alex says, "I've an even better idea. How about all four of you disgruntled antiques go back to being swords?"
*grins a little at Alex's notion*
*To Sefyr*
"You are in no position to conquer anyone, your army is weak with hunger, you lost your commanders, and those of us sitting at this table, while may not hate you anymore, are sure as hell not going to let you continue business as usual."
*To the rest after listening to the rest*
"I have a counter proposal, I was really bringing the option to the table, knowing that the likely hood of getting all of you to agree was slim to none. So my counter is this. If any of the races here want to work together with the humans to rebuild what was lost, we would love to have you. We are going to rebuild, and if we need to be the buffer to keep war from breaking out again, so be it. I don't even know who leads the humans frankly, but since I don't see anyone rising to the task, I guess I will. I have no desire to be ruler, but I will be damned to see this all play out again. I have one question to pose to you former All Ruler, all of you becoming swords other than me, ever question why that was, or why I wasn't worried about it as a problem? I had friends, people that I trusted at my back that wouldn't have rested until I was restored, if it came to that. That is the value of working together. I've done my speech, again if you as the leader of your race want to work with the humans to rebuild, let me know. The rest, you can watch and see what working together brings."
J
Sefyr's eyes twinkle. "My commanders are alive and well, and at the moment, I haven't got an army, but that could change at a moment's notice if I willed it. Take care, because at the moment, I am an ally; and I make a much better ally than an enemy. My goal was not so different as yours now is; to bring everyone together and avert war in the future."
"Are you suggesting that our people will not rebuild as well as your humans? Preposterous," Zero responds.
That seems to be the general consensus, but Snow smiles and responds, "We will gladly align with the humans."
*smiles*
"Thanks for the update I wasn't keeping tabs. Yes, and being an ally with us, means working together, and only defending ourselves if attacked."
*To Zero*
"You take offense where one was not intended, I only meant you accomplish more by working together."
*Nods to the others as they leave, keeping Snow here after they leave*
"I don't think either of us underestimates the other, you have something to gain by your choice, and I have to gain people with different ideas and techniques to aid in rebuilding. I just want to know the real reasons behind you working with us so easily."
*I have no problem looking her in the eyes the entire time with my Sharingan up*
Snow smiles to you, and responds, "Just as you said. We each have something to gain; my people are distrusted and feared, but have much to offer to a society in terms of their abilities."
If she's lying or holding anything back, she's very good at it.
*Nods*
"Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, we'll see how things go. I think that does me tonight, if you excuse me, I have some appointments in the bedroom. Goodnight."
*Will share the tantric meditations with the girls, will let Caity decide if she wants in to watch or not, and enjoy the company of my wives, and how happy they make me.*
You experience an exhausting night; less than halfway through you toss a completely worn and unconscious Val to the side and continue your exhausting yet incredibly stimulating night.
Then, you sleep, for the sheer reason that you can, coupled with the fact that you are in fact exhausted from half the book; Tan does as well.
Too early in the morning, you're awakened by Caity's excited screams. "The sun comes out! It's morning!"
It"s the crack of dawn. You'd think she never saw a morning in her life from her excitement.