House of Cards RP

It was not a small order to have the results of Ceiro's blood test delayed. And slightly more complicated to have them intercepted and...adjusted. It wasn't as if the poison in his system was hard to miss in the results, and it wouldn't do for someone to discover the truth before he was beyond recovery. Or he'd given up the crown. And then Jordan could very well take Ceiro's place.

Hadyn would have been suitable himself, had he not taken off on his current rebellion. To think the boy had had the maul to tell her to her face that 'he was capable of making his own choices in life,' and that he 'choose to remain entangled' with the King of Clubs. There was only so much a poor mother's heart could take.

But as her own mother had pointed out over dinner- perhaps this particular rebellion was not without benefit. There was a certain...appeal to having the ear of a king. And Hadyn, her mother said, could be coaxed to sing the right songs if only Laureline would learn to control her children. Because, truly, Vivienne Bernard was finest example of how to control ones children.

But...there was a point in there as well. Perhaps Julien would be of use in that field. The boy needed a father-figure in his life, and as poor of a figure the Ace of Spades might make? Hadyn listened. And what Spade didn't have a vested interest in having some influence upon another suit?

Smiling to herself, she picked up a fresh loaf of bread and paid the baker before turning to continue her way through town.

Avery is off her cane. She's still limping a little, but the doctor assures her that will pass, and that her collarbone is healing nicely, so another five weeks and she can get rid of that.

That's what her notes say, at any rate.

Her notes also say that her memory is improving more quickly than expected, and that the chances that she might be able to remap within the next month and be essentially no different than she ever was. And maybe that's true. But maybe that's not. And as cheerful a face as she's been putting on it in public - brightly beaming, bubbling away as usual, terrifyingly efficient despite her handicap - a part of her wonders what the point is. She won't be Jack again. By then, Silas and Rachel will have picked someone new, Hector or Cadogan or Tally or Renee or Ashley, and the last thing the Diamonds need is more upheaval. So she'll never be Jack again. Beyond that, she still expects Säde will limit her growth as much as she can now. Avery is either an object of pity, a terrible example of a Diamond, or a rival, she has no idea which. She doesn't remember snapping at the Ace, but she knows she did it and she wrote down what was said.

And there's no going back from that. She'd be surprised if they moved forward at all.

But that's what her life is now. Ten of Diamonds. She's been told over and over that there are worst things, and she smiles through those assurances. She's smiling now, as sets up and and turns over cards in a game of Memory.

Christ, she used to play this when she was five.

[ooc: This got a wee bit longer than I intended. tl;dr version: Davin shows back up with the horses he was contracted to find and unloads them, then on his way back in to the Castle, is sidetracked by an old friend who wants him to teach his 20-something year old son a little humility. Anybody who saw him with the horses at the temporary corral set up for them just outside Spade Castle or over by the practice field dishing out that humility is welcome to stop him and have a chat.]

He'd left Sunday night for Outside on a trip to see a man about a horse.

Well, technically, see several men about several horses. But these weren't riding horses, oh no, these were rodeo broncos intended for a soon-upcoming Challenge between an Eight and Seven of Spades who were both cowboys at one time. Or perhaps just fancied themselves as such, Davin didn't particularly care one way or the other.

But once he's driven on Deck with the horse trailer and unloaded the horses in the temporary corral just outside of Spade Castle where they'll be residing until the Challenge is over, and gotten paid by the two cowboys in question, his only desire is to go back up to his rooms and take a long, hot shower.

( He's on his way to do just that when... )

So, following an interesting conversation with the Magician in Town -- though, really, when have their conversations been anything but interesting -- Tegan will be found in her old office, Wand in tow, trying her best not to pace.

It's a battle she isn't really winning.