(ooc Lady Courage, I absolutely love your post.

(I should start a club. A club for ramblers! It's slogan would be "Ramblers Unite! After we finish talking..."- Oops! Focus, focus there girl...).

Oooh can I join? Not that I ramble all that much, just sometimes, like when I'm lonely and I never do things like changing topic ... I wonder if the letters o-o-o-h spell the sound I want them to spell ... mid sentence. /ooc)

Pattertwig's Pal sighs and looks at a the list of hidden items and says to no one in particular: "It looks like so much fun. If only I weren't so tired after walking back and forth between the Tower and the Castle. I do love games. It times like these I almost wish I drank coffee or something with caffeine. I wonder if this coffee bar serves anything besides coffee like beverages."

Mountie's train of thought was abruptly derailed by the sound of her much-beloved nickname. Only one person called her that, though she could hardly believe that person should appear, of all places, in the castle. It could be none other than...

"Lacy!!" She called back, rushing to meet her dear friend. "How are you, my friend? I can't believe you're here." She noticed a dog, and knew at once who it was. "And this... is Pippin. The dog I've heard so much about. It's a pleasure to see you both."

"May I inquire," she said to Pattertwig's Pal, "have you ever tried drinking decaffeinated coffee?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest," Pattertwig's Pal replies flushing slightly. "I've never tried any kind of coffee. I can't get past the smell to actually try it."

Yet another raven flew into the Castle of Ivory and Gold. In it's mouth was a note that read --

To the Villain-to_be:

The Silver-Tongued Speaker does still desire to speak with the Secretly-Villainous Lady on a very important matter. This matter is not one which involves mutation and/or being held prisoner in the Kitchen of the Wailing Sink. Mainly because the Wailing Sink is so loud and torturous, even a Minion dares not enter it even for the sake of tormenting a prisoner.
The Minion Izzy does desire to speak with the villain in question to discuss a matter profitable and urgent to both sides, which, if left unattended, could bring certain doom on this so-called-blessed castle. You would be wise to meet with me, Rose. I believe you will find it to be much more pressing than any silly game of the Queen's.
I do cordially invite you to parley outside the Tower of Shadow and Flame. And, granted you come alone and unarmed, I will come to you in the same way, and grant you full safety. But if you are still too lily-livered to meet me in person, just send me a hologram, for Pete's Sake! It's what your queen does!

Signed, Izzy the Silver-Tongued Speaker.

~Riella

(( OOC: @Lady A LOL! Daww... You were waiting for me? I feel loved! *laughs at answers to questions* We must be on the same wavelength, 'cause that's what I figured. But I was just double checkin'.

@Pattertwig's Pal LOL! *bows gratefully* Thank you! I'm tempted to ask what you liked about it (my writing style, Lady C's oddity, Pippin the Brat, Lana the Gentle, or Booky/Darth Vader), but I won't press you 'cause I may not wanna hear the answer. J/K
And yes, if I ever do make the club I will certainly PM you about it! LOL! The #1 reason I haven't already started it is 'cause I don't have room to put it in my siggy. I know, I know... Weird reason.
/OOC )))

Lady C grinned at being called "Lacy" (her newest and possibly cutest nickname) and hugged Miff warmly. "I'm pretty good! My fingers are sore after doing battle with some sewing pins and carrot graters, but other than that, I'm awesome!"
She looked behind at Pippin, who had been dabbling his paws in the water fountain as Lana drank from it, but he had turned quickly and began to wag his tail when he heard his name. "It sure is! And it's a pleasure to see you as well!"
"You know me?!" cried Pippin with shrill glee and pranced up beside Lady C, wagging his skinny tail fiercely. "Pleased to meet you!" He put his paws up on Miff and stretched, tail still wagging and big buggy eyes fixed joyfully on her face. This was his way of greeting people and Lady C had never been able to teach him a better way of saying hello. She was pretty sure it had something to do with Pippin wanting to be sure people would pet him in return. He was so short, the only way to get his head up to petting level by himself was to rear up on his hind legs. Lady Courage always alternated between being embarrassed at his rudeness and grateful that he didn't add loud vocality to his method of greeting.
"Pippin..." she sighed and Pippin got the message. He sat down at Miff's feet and swished his tail along the ground instead. However, though he held his tongue because of his Person, his eyes pled silently... Pet me, pet me, pet me...

"I seem to remember you saying that before, Wallpaper Pal..." Lady C said thoughtfully in reply to Twiggy's confession. "If you want caffeine, have you tried some sort of tea? Black tea, green tea and white tea all have caffeine in them. I like white tea best, but you have to brew it just right, otherwise it gets bitter." She winked, "I'm a bit of a tea lover. Coffee's amazing too, but I usually drink tea at home."

A girl in a silky blue, Elvish cloak wandered toward the Castle. She paused as a rider galloped by in a dramatic entrance, then resumed her steady pace. Took had noticed a villainous tower some distance away, but was in more of a whimsical mood, and reading Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time was attracting her to the more majestic Castle (and is probably responsible for the Elvish garb).

After a while, Took finally made it to the castle gates, where there were several others assembled, including a horse and an Italian Greyhound. "Cappuccino is the best," she chimed in. "And while we're at it, I love mint, so if anyone here is a mint-hater, speak now or forever hold your peace."

"The smell is what's bothering you, is it?" Mountie said with a sigh, addressing Pattertwig's Pal. Then she brightened. "Oh! Well, I have just the thing. It's odorless coffee. Go on, take a sip," she said, holding out a steaming mug. "Don't worry, it doesn't smell like coffee. It doesn't smell like... anything, really."

Mountie smiled and hugged Lacy back, laughing softly. "A battle with carrot graters and sewing pins? Sounds like an epic tale, one I should like to hear sometime. And how are you doing?"
She was somewhat amused when Pippin spoke to her, but after Lady A's talking cats, she couldn't say she was too surprised. "Yes, of course I know you. Lacy talks about you quite a lot, and I can see you're both dear friends. Pleased to meet you as well." She didn't mind that Pippin was attempting to increase his height, although she was worried that his claws would get caught on her cloak. So instead she knelt to the ground and gave him the heartiest petting she could.

The Hooded Castle Mountie looked up when she saw the Elvish-clad wanderer. "Took!" She said in surpise. "It's a pleasure to see you here. I was hoping you'd join our side." She paused. "I quite admire your cloak. It's a bit more feminine-looking than mine," she spoke with a laugh.

Lady Courage laughed, "Indeed, 'twas the epic-est thing that's happened to me in a long time! I'll relay the tale in detail someday." She grinned and slightly raised an eyebrow in an expression that was her equivalent to . Lady C just about never sticks her tongue out in person, unless she's pretending to insult someone like a two year old (which she has done on one or two occasions). But she does let people know she's teasing by her expression.
Pippin squirmed with joy when Miff confirmed her knowing about him and glanced towards Lady C with a very pleased expression. When Pippin perks his ears like that and looks that kind of happy, Lady C melts into a little puddle of warm squees. Fortunately though, this unique performance is executed inwardly, so when Pippin looked away he was completely unaware of how infatuated Lady C was currently feeling. Which, believe me, is a very good thing!
He basked in Miff's kind petting and was completely satisfied by the time her attention was taken by the newcomer. At one time, when he was still a puppy, there would have been no such thing as "enough petting", but, beneficially to all concerned, he had mellowed out in this regard as he grew older.

Lady C turned quickly at the new voice and grinned at the challenge. "Oh, fear not! I LOVE mint, and the Starbucks' Peppermint Mocha rocks my socks off!" She licked her lips with relish.
"And I love coffee!" yipped Pippin gleefully, although the comment didn't exactly fit with the current subject.
Lady C frowned at him. "You shouldn't even know about coffee, you little thief."
Pippin giggled, "Well you shouldn't leave your mug where I can reach it!"
"It was on the table!"
"But I can get on the couch by the table!"
Lady C sighed and Pippin looked quite pleased with himself.
"You are very naughty," commented Lady C.
"I know," said Pippin with a cute and annoying little smirk, "Incurably so."
After a moment of silence, Lady C said, "Um, I'm gonna go put Lana in the stables. Be back later y'all." She looked sternly at Pippin, "And NO snacks while we're in there!"
"Awww, just a little nibble?"
"No!" She began to walk away holding Lana's reins and Pippin trailed dejectedly behind her. Just as they went out of earshot Lady C's last comments could be heard floating back to the others in the courtyard, "It's completely gross and it makes your breath smell just awful! More than usual I mean."

Using the handy map provided to her by Lady A, The Silv'ry Wanderer found her way to the stables, where her horse Sandy was already enjoying the roomy stall Lady A's cats had apparently found for her. Sandy's ears perked up when she heard her mistress approaching, and she nuzzled Silver's hand expectantly.

Silver smiled. "Here you go," she said, withdrawing from her pocket a couple of sugar cubes borrowed from the coffee bar. While Sandy contentedly munched on them, she slumped into the wooden chair in the corner of the stall, studying the map and list of items that needed finding. "I do wonder if...naw, maybe it's...hmm. What do you think, Sandy?"

The horse trotted over and studied the map, snorted, and nudged the list of items with her nose.

"Ah, I see. You could be right..." Withdrawing a pen and a notebook from her bag, The Silv'ry Wanderer began taking notes.

Kat finished her list and walked into the square, noticing a pice of paper pinned up she went over to read it, upon finding out that Mountiewas going to make namebadges she set off at once to search for the mysterious hooded character who had shown her the ever delightful coffee bar.

The Hidden Speakers again spoke out, giving an update on the game: "to help you along, here are the items and locations that have NOT yet been matched: the well, garden, soldier's quarters, courtyard, archery range, dungeon, servants quarters, food service, kitchen, chapel, royalty, knights quarters, storage, blacksmith, stables, both guard shacks, and, finally, the keep. The items yet to be discovered are the cheese cake, chocolate mousse, almond rocha, string cheese, milk, mushrooms, hamburger buns, hamburgers, onions, peas, potatoes, rice, poptarts, tar, crayons, micromachines and ice. Also, minions may now ask more than twenty questions. Happy looking!"

~~

Lady A sat down next to Katana.

"So," she began, "how are you enjoying the castle?"

Finding herself adressed by the esteemed overlday Kat responded in kind. "Oh yes very much so! I was shown around a bit by Mountie earlier and let me say your coffee bar is splendiferous! And I see many former monks here as well, which is pleasurable. But Lady A (I may call you that right?) I have been looking for you for a little while now wondering, for I am not an idle person and I would like to be assigned something to do, anything really, just something to occupy my time with, as you are the Overlady of this esteemable establishment, would you know of any such occupation?"

Suddenly a drill popped out of the castle floor, right in front of the EVUL elf Lady. The tip of the drill popped up and VACs jumped out with a party hat on and a confetti gun.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Evil Elf Lady... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" at this point he jumped up, slapped the birthday party hat on a random cyclopes before firing the confetti gun at Lady A, he picked up a megaphone that had been given to him by his boss before walking up to Lady and yelling in her ear "HAPPY BIRTH DAY EVUL ELF LADY!" VACs screamed at the top of his lungs while laughing manicly. Then he jumped back in the drill, put the top back on and went back down the hole he had created before.

"Well, the was weird" he said to himself.

((OOC: For some reason pms are disappearing before I can get them the past couple of days (gremlins—grrr), so if anyone sent me answers and I haven't sent back a response, please send them again! Sorry for the trouble!))

The dryad stalked back up to the Castle, and quickly tracked down the Queen and the entourage of new minions.

"Sorry I disappeared for a bit," the dryad panted, "But one of the minions on the Dark Side was persistent about needing to see me."

She unfolded the bundle, revealing the sick crow, and held it out to the good Queen.

"Is there anything we can do to save it, kind Lady?"

"How are you enjoying the castle, Lacy?" Mountie said after giving Pippin a decent amount of petting. Although she didn't care much for big dogs, Pippin was one exception.

"Kat?" she asked, coming upon her new friend she had made upon coming to the Castle. "You were looking for me? Here I am!"

Mountie had been quite busy with her training. The first item she had found were the paint buckets in the dining room. "Oh, wonderful!" she had cried. "I found something at least."

She had attempted to find the BB Gun, and her guess was the Garden - but it ended up being in the Armory; an obvious location. Lady G found it before she could get to it, so she decided to go find something else.

Then she had gone on a streak in which she found the pillows, the tarantula, the silly putty, and the glue on saran-wrap. After a long search she had found the micromachines in the Keep.

On her way back through the courtyard, she saw Rose with a small bundle in her arms. "Oh my goodness, what happened to it?" She looked closely at the sick crow. "Perhaps I can help. Does anyone have any olive oil on hand?"