"Ah, well, no harm done! Carry on...!" The king wanders on off, back to whatever his kingly duties might be today.

Odile comes running up. "--Anything I can do to help?! With anything?!" she asks, a little out of breath.

"Odile !" Jade smiles.

"We are going on a trip to Tanis, so we will need to pack for such a trip. I believe you can help with that. Could you coordinate with some other servants so my cousins here and myself have bags ready for travel and a carriage or two."

"Certainly! And I'll have the kitchen make lunches for along the way, in case you decide to take it slow! I'll get carriage-drivers who've been to Tanus before prepared. They can't go by themselves, of course, but having them and horses who know what the way there should look and feel like should help you all!"

"Thank you Odile, your the best." Jade smiles at her.

Odile salutes. "Right! I'm on it!"

She runs off.

Seeing Jade get slightly confused about what Julian meant made Ari a little less embarrassed about being so lost with all these terms.  It reminded her of her college days, when, very hung over after a wild weekend, she walked into the wrong classroom and had to make her dehydrated brain figure out why her History of Western Civilization class had so many damned calculus equations in it. Though her mood elevated when Odile arrived, being so cute and helpful, Ariadne looked at Jade with slight confusion.

"Jade?  We're having 'bags packed'?  How long are we staying in this place?  I thought it was just a stopover for the afternoon or something."

"I think Julian wants us not only to get used to traveling shadow but the difference in culture and technology. There are obviouslly great differences between here and Earth. Prince Julian said less so between here and Tanus. We should spend a little time learning how to blend in with the natives and to see how we deal with the differences. I think we will need more then an afternoon for that, don't you ?"

"I want to see what an elephant is, and a tiger."

Ariadne nodded, thoughtfully.
"Going there with bags packed like tourists will be less subtle, but I suppose it can't be helped.  Okay.  What are the customs there, as far as weapons and other things we can bring?"
She asked the librarian as much as Jade.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:37, Wed 22 Feb 2023.

Jon nods in agreement with Ari regarding the packing and customs.

Janessa is standing off to the side quietly taking it all in.

"You're free to bring whatever you like. They're well aware that there are other Shadows, and who the royal family of Amber is-- the head of the Golden Circle-- so there is little you can do that will upset them, as long as you remain friendly and kind to them in general. They'll want to please you, in general. Ah... I wouldn't question their ways, or anything... just be accepting, in general, of whatever goes on."

Ari smirked
"Reminds me of a Hollywood party.  Everyone wants to be your friend, but there are still plenty of people to offend"

Jon frowns "What "ways" of theirs that we might question? That instantly sounds ominous."

Jade packs and will probably stand out like a tourist with big gowns her parasol and other very princess dresses that she had made when she found out after talking with her mother.
Still she seems happy packing all the same.

In reply to Jon (msg # 182):

Ariadne smirked and shrugged
"Honestly, there might be subtle things that wouldn't seem odd to us that might seem horribly offensive to them.  There are places on Earth like that where certain people get offended by seemingly inoffensive things.  I suppose that's part of our training, to play things by ear and work to adapt quickly enough to recover from social faux pas."

Ariadne packed a few days worth of clothes, and brought many of her Earth things as well, as well as a fair amount of money, though not a conspicuous amount.  She also, with a chuckle of irony, put her phone on silent, knowing a call from her agent while walking down the local bazaar would probably cause an upheaval.
She so brought her sword and throwing axes, though she left her mother's axe behind.
It did NOT look touristy, after all.

"Just obeying the local laws, was what I had in mind..." The librarian turns to Jade. "For example, what is the punishment for theft in Rebma? Or... is there theft in Rebma? I truly wouldn't know."

Jade would have smiled, "Common sense laws, I mostly think we should be able to follow. I was kind of sheltered in Rebma, and no one stole from the Queen, so. I am sure in the outer city it may have happened, though it was not common, like it is uncommon here in Amber."

"What would you think the punishment might be, though, for a proven thief of Rebma?"

"Mercy is a big quality in Rebma. I think restitution would be what would be the chosen form of recompense. I know it is different here though. I don't plan on stealing, we have so much as a family. there is no need."

"And I am saying, in Tanus, you might see a thief imprisoned in stocks-- or in a cage up above the street and not fed for days-- or maybe losing a finger, or more, depending on how much of a repeat offender they might be, and depending on their age-- and who they stole from," says Laurence. "Will you be able to resist interfering in how Tanus sheriffs might choose to punish a proven thief if they stole from a fruit-seller? Or from someone rich? Or from you, yourself? What if the thief was a woman? Or very young? Or both? Do you see what I mean? If they were very young, they probably wouldn't lose a finger, but if they tried to steal from you and as a result were hung in a cage above the street for all to see and not fed for two days, what would you say?"

"Oh, I hadn't considered that. Do people really do that ?" Jade seemed geniunely shocked to hear of such treatment.

"Even if they stole because they were starving ?"

"It depends. One thing upon which it depends, as I mentioned, is whom they steal from."

"My cousins may be able to help me then with understanding such laws of other shadows." She looks to her cousins with wide expressive eyes.

Ariadne pressed her lips together.  She nodded
"As much as I love Earth, the capitalist attitude can make people scared to lose their stuff, so lots of folks in charge want things like theft and fraud punished harshly.  My specific home isn't quite as bad as many, less developed places, but even in my home the motivation behind criminaljusticeis bent more towards punishmentand even revenge than the rehabilitation of the wayward souls who steal or do violence"

She shrugged, almost looking a bit guilty
"When I travel to other countries,  though,  I've seen how badly the locals can be treated.  Unfortunately, there was no way for me to fix it."

Janessa nods as Ariadne explains Earth’s justice systems. “In my travels, I’ve found it helpful to find a local willing to explain the local customs and laws.” She thinks a moment. “Or try to find a library, if it looks like a place that would have one. They usually have a section for law books.”