House of Cards RP

( Kings are not born: they are made by artificial hallucination. )

[ooc: This is Ceiro's final post. After this, he will be leaving the Deck to seek advanced medical assistance. He will, eventually, make a recovery and will return at least in an NPCly fashion. As for Laureline, this too, is her last post for some time. Assuming that no one steps up to speak for her- she will be escorted from the Deck lands without- well...anything more than she has on her back. Ceiro, of course, is not entirely cruel. She has just enough money to get her started on a life outside the Deck- but that's about it.]

Ceiro felt the first pains when he tried to relieve himself. And try though he might, nothing seemed to relieve that gut twisting, soul shattering pain. It honestly had come to the point that he'd excused himself from the office, making the excuse that he was seeing Mr. Browning off as he was finally returning home (with the assistance of the Magician, as they had all agreed to for Mr. Browning's assistance.) But in truth he'd only managed to get a 'be safe' out before the boy was put in the car and concerned guards we just barely waved off.

Not now, he told himself, pale, white hands gripping the rails lining lifted walkways around the front of the Castle. Not yet, he still had things to finish- people to speak with, to prepare for the inevitable. But each step he took sent another sharp, gutting pain through his abdomen. The fact that the sharpest pain seemed focused on his back, to the right side did not ease his worries. If anything, the anxiety began to rise as a dizzy spell washed over him and his swollen, aching legs seemed to give out.

He honestly didn't remember hitting the ground. He certainly didn't recall if he hit his head or not, though the splitting headache of the past few months reared it's ugly head ten fold. He rolled to his side, a hand desperately clinging to a post as his body heaved in an effort to expel what little food he'd forced himself to ingest. All the while only one thought remained in his mind- would his son grow up not knowing his own father?

Delilah hadn't snuck around much in Heart Castle since Jordan's challenge - at least not "legitimately". She'd come to bring notes from David for Judith, she'd come to see the baby, she'd come to see Justin, and she'd come to enjoy the gardens, but so far hadn't been anywhere she couldn't explain to his satisfaction if he had decided to question her.

Until now. Today, she was on the roof. Eavesdropping while sitting on the eaves. She wasn't terribly hard to spot if you were outside the castle or in a different wing and happened to look out and up, though she kept moving and once disappeared into a window before popping back out much further down without seeming to be in the hallways at all. But then, she knew the secret passageways of the castle as well as the Hearts themselves.


[[ooc: feel free to find he anywhere and question her, but it's very likely you won't manage to startle her. :) ]

Doctor Catadlo had been perplexed by the results. And had decided to take more blood- and run the test himself this time. Something was amiss, the man said, not only in how long it had taken them to return...but that nothing was there. Nothing- as if the king was not sick. But Ceiro hardly looked the picture of health at the moment.

So it made no sense. Sort of. For his part, Ceiro had taken to the library to do some reading on the subject himself. If Dr. Catadlo's worries were correct- it was a cancer of some kind. And...he wanted to know what that meant. Really.

After Athena leaving (yet again, even though this time was only momentarily), Judith found herself again with a lot of work, which she fulfills while Tristan plays in front of her, so she can make sure nothing bad happens.
But despite all the workload, you'll find her today in a very happy mood.

( The challenge was marked for 8:30am. The pool was open by 8:00am. Lasandra was there by 7:55. )


[Notes: The Face Cards, if they're going to congratulate, should catch her before the breakdown. Friends or enemies can catch her prior to the breakdown. Friends can after the breakdown.]

I am leaving for a while.

... That is just what it says on the tin. Athena's leaving the Deck for a while (something between a couple of days and a month, because being specific is my biggest strength).

So, why is she leaving?
OOC reason: temporary voice-loss. Will be cured with waiting and memes.
IC reason: offically, she is doing WORK off-Deck. Inofficially, she is going through the joys of an alcohol withdrawal (which she is very, very likely to throw her hands up on). Does your character know that? Unless she told/tells them? NO, please, no. Thanks.

♥

Dr. Cataldo was a good man, if slightly on the perplexing side. He'd been trying hard to keep up his practice in Town while serving as interim head of the Castle Medical Facility. Ceiro had, some time ago, offered him the position itself, but he'd declined due to an apparent love of his offices in town- and his patience there. In the need, Ceiro probably couldn't blame him. Being the head physician in a Castle was often much more work than one anticipated, and so the position remained, regretfully, open.

And that was, in truth, why Ceiro had excused himself to town to sit and speak with the Doctor. When asked by others where he was going, he simply said he wanted to make the offer to the Good Doctor again. In truth, it was because the headaches had been growing worse- and now his limbs seemed to be going numb. He'd burned his hand the other night without noticing. Luckily it was not so bad of a burn, but it was concerning- and even he could no longer ignore the problems.

But Dr. Cataldo had few answers to offer at that moment. He ran test, and frowned mostly. He took blood to send off to a lab for testing, and offered a few prescriptions to manage the headaches, and tended to the burn as best he could. All with the promise of discretion.

Though he did decline the offer to be head Physician in the Castle, once again.

Still, Ceiro was quite as he made his way back to the castle, hand clasped gently behind his back and he stared into the space in front of him while walking. If someone called his name, he didn't hear them at first...but that was becoming a rather common occurrence of late as well.

So, Athena's been doing her thing the past couple of weeks. Work, a bit of sleep, drinking, more work.

Didn't keep her from falling sick, though. She's not actually in the all sorts of hellish suffering-stage that a cold sometimes brings just yet, but she's already fairly aware that she's only a day or two away from being knocked out for a few days.

And she doesn't like that.

So she will hoarsely snap at you now, no matter what.

Might be that she regrets it.

[ He frowns. ] You must be mistaken.

Maybe you thought him to be Ceiro for a moment?
Or something else. It's all open.

So, there's a certain Heart prince that might have discovered how to crawl, and is doing such at an extremely high speed.
And there's a Heart Queen trying to catch him just because it is known that something bad might happen.

( Jordan Novak versus Blythe Merrick for Ten of Hearts, Five-Game Table Tennis Match )

Normally he'd have done his run, showered, had breakfast- done countless other things about the castle. It would have been a typical Sunday. Today, however, he was caught between acting as if nothing was wrong (because it would hardly do for the other Hearts to worry) and realizing that perhaps- just maybe, something was quite wrong. When he looked in the mirror Ceiro saw a tired, aging man. And having just turned 32, it seemed a sin for him to look so...old. Or to feel as old as he looked.

But despite it all- Ceiro pushed these things to the back of his mind. This was not a concern. For now. The confirmation from Rachel that Mr. Browning was not lying gave him an uneasy feeling in his gut.

And as such- he thought he just might venture out to speak with a certain Magician again. Despite the rather taxing effort it took to walk all the way to Arcana Castle.

Johnny can be found, playing for himself, in one of the emptier rooms in Heart Castle with very good acoustics.

So if you hear the sounds of Sweet Child 'o Mine as played on fiddle echoing down the halls, it's just him.

He's so engrossed in the music, he might not notice right away if he attracts an audience.

The Jack of Hearts is in a gloomy mood. Why? It's been exactly one year tonight.

One year since Andrew died.
One year since her husband had almost met the same fate.
One year during which she hasn't been caught, but not even five months since she confessed. And Lancelot had taken that secret to his grave.

She's most likely in the gardens of Heart Castle, but it's an odd day - she can be damn near anywhere.

The cough was gone. But then allergies never lingered forever. What remained though was the aching in his head, and his mind seemed to be unable to focus. He honestly felt- tired. And every day felt a little harder to get up, and to make himself move to his office.

And yet he made himself do it. Because if he didn't- well, he couldn't very well sleep all day, could he? No matter how inviting the idea might have seemed.

So he sat in his office, his paperwork mostly ignored except for the few moments he managed to wrangle in focus long enough to read (and remember what he'd just read) a whole document. He supposed the best thing would have been to just...hand it off to someone else, but that didn't seem very likely. And there were so many documents and plans on his desk.

[ Athena had managed quite well, after her return. She'd caught up on what had happened during her little outside trip, she'd sorted her new job out, she'd somehow, somewhat adapted to the Hearts.

In fact, one could say she's almost back in control.

She had also stayed mostly sober during all of that.

And what a better way to celebrate all of this than by getting royally drunk right now.
Approach with caution.]

ooc: So yes, this post is actually two posts in one. Meet sober/in-control!Athena in SWS or drunk!Athena here.~

He'd had the cough for a day or two now, but had merely waved off concerned expressions that shot his way. It was probably unkind of him, but he still found it difficult to accept other's medical advice since Itchy's death. Assuming he'd even have gone to Itchy with such a minor thing.

Except that now there was a dull, aching headache that made him regret moving let alone another else.

It was in part why he opted to sit outside, to breathe in the fresh air instead of sitting his office. He found a bench to sit on under a tree, and rubbed at his temples from time to time as he vaguely read through a book balanced on his lap. Just a few moments of silence, really, and everything would be better.

Emotions. Embarrassment. Stress. Mice.

She's had it up to here.

Sandy's has one of the most trying, awful, emotionally distressing two weeks in her entire life since that horrible year of 1999 upon the Deck. And believe her, she's had trying times before returning to the Deck again. And now things will be better, she'll be happier with a purpose and a short term goal and her Issues are starting to be managed. Starting next Thursday? A permanent therapist in her Suit. This weekend? A three day vacation and her boss understands.

It cannot come soon enough. She has to go through one more Session before her Worst Two Weeks Ever can finally be over. So Sandy? Is going to be a little bit snippy, a little bit snappy. To nearly anyone.

She is going to tell you, "No, I don't want to do that."

Convince her otherwise?

(OOC: The first link is to a mice situation that was posted a few days ago for lulz. But so many Cards tagged, so. I am at a loss on adding them to the tags.

The SECOND link is the link that's forward dated to Friday the 18th. SWS or here. Brackets are preferred for this post.)

Guys, the Daddies of the Deck are adopting. Are you without a loving family? Come visit. Are you one of the Daddies? Come share your woes.