When darkness falls..., Open.

[Madam Persephone Ciceros]

When darkness came over the city, the young Ciceros Knight was wandering rather aimlessly around the town after dinner. Black shall was wrapped about her about, and her blonde hair was left loose and fell about her shoulders. Everything had changed so quickly today with the invasion brought by the Prince of Tor and his army, and it left little room to be prepared. She had hoped the leadership of the town would have been better tactically able to handle such an invasion, but it seemed they lacked it this day. Persephone had no mind for war and never claimed to, but she did follow what orders she was given, yet it seemed to have little effect when their town was conquered. At least there were no casualties, so that was a good thing right?

Vladek would not be a pleased man when he returned to the town, and she wondered if things would have been different if he had been there. She missed her brother, and didn't know how he would take the news of it all when he returned. Many thoughts weighed heavily on her mind, and she just needed to walk around to get her head wrapped around everything. Even at dinner this evening she had not laughed, nor was she her outgoing self; instead, she was rather quiet and timid in light of all the celebrating men that occupied their tavern that evening. How else was she suppose to feel? This was not a joyous night for the town of Canton... This was only a victorious and joyous night for the City of Tor and the Prince of that city.

[SNAKE!!!]

"Evening madamn, did you want to be alone or you heading some place and want an escort?"

::The dark elf's voice denotes his pressence before he could be seen. Sliding out from behind the cover of a tree. He had just woken up from his sleep during the day and was also moving around town by himself. The blond woman in white clothing was easy to spot and he hoped he hadn't startled her.::

[Madam Persephone Ciceros]

When Snake made his presence known, she stopped walking and she turned to face him. She looked around the area, giving it a once over, and then turned her attention back to him. "Hello, Snake. Um I'm not really going anywhere in particular. If you would like to walk with me that is fine." She replied and she tightened her shall around her shoulders a bit more securely. Her voice didn't hold her usual happy self, but it wasnt a bad tone, just lacked feeling right now.

[Madam Rosalind Rebecca Agamos]

Rosalind had been on her way to the church when she caught eyes of Persephone and Snake. At dinner, she had seen the difference in her friends behavior and she knew there was something bothering her. Be it her knack for knowing when something is wrong, or just the fact they were closer the most may have known.

At first, she just looked back towards the church. If there was one place she could find clarity, it was there. That was, and always will be her real home in this town. She took her church duties as a strong responsibility and it killed her to see it disappear in the town. Her brows furrowed and then she sighed. There was no sense in getting so angry.

She looked back to her town friends with a decision to join them. Her only other sense of comfort is bring reprieve to others in their times of sadness or pain. She walked towards them with an almost forced smile on her face. With her best efforts and caught eyes with the Madam and gave her a quiet wave as she approached.

"Is this dark elf bothering you Madam? Because I can have him taken care of."

She said, in an obviously joking manner to lighten the mood.

[Madam Persephone Ciceros]

As Rosalind approached then she got her lips to lightly flash a faint smile to her joke and then it faded. A shake of her head was given and she glanced from Snake back to her good friend. "No, he is not bothering me. I could use the company. I did not feel like sitting in the tavern with the Torians victory of our new Baron Prince..." She pointed towards the loud, boisterous, tavern in the distance. She then made a weird face then at her own words, "What would he be called? Prince? Or Baron? ...I have never known a man to be a Prince before."

[SNAKE!!!]

::Snake looks between the two nobles and rubs his chin some. The colder tone from Persephone was much different from the joking tone that she had carried with him during the last witching hour they were in. He thought back to her joking about him wearing a shirt and not recognizing him with it on and knew something was a wrong. Rosalind on the other hand was great at listening and hearing people out. After the witching hour she had listened to his confession in the church. Thinking on the two women, Snake figured the two should talk.::

"I wouldn't want to interrupt two nobles, but walking around in the dark is a bad idea around these parts. How's about we go some place to relax? I know of a few places."

::Snake said in a friendly tone and motioned for the two of them to follow him towards the water front.::

[Madam Persephone Ciceros]

The question she posed was for both of then really, hoping one might have the answer that she did not. When Snake offered a new place to go, it honestly didn't matter to her. She gave a nod and she turned to follow him, that was if Rosalind came as well. She was just in a drained mood tonight and really was just wandering around to clear her thoughts from it all. "That is fine. Anywhere except the tavern is good enough for me." She replied to Snake.

[SNAKE!!!]

::Snake gave a smirk and then lead them down to the rickety boat house on the shore. He brought the two women around back out onto the porch where a starry night had covered the sky. The stars reflected off the clam water for a scenic display visible clearly from the porch. Snake shifted some chairs to the edge of the porch so that the nobles may see better. He offered up a comfortable looking chair to the Marquis and a fairly comfortable chair to the madam. He took for himself a simple wooden chair that he spun around and sat on while he kicked his feet up on the railing.::

"You noble folk can get yourselves all worked up sometimes. I understand that you've got a lot more pressures to deal with so you've got to be sure to take some time to yourself."

::He said and relaxed in his chair. Those that looked closely noticed he wasn't completely relaxed however. His ear's twitched some denoting his attention on his surrounding and his weapons hung loosely on his belt.::

[Madam Rosalind Rebecca Agamos]

Rosalind had agreed to follow them. She had been trying to find ways to calm down after some time she spent with Snake before. As they walked down to the balcony she smiled softly to her self. The smile soon faded as she took a seat next to Persphone. She let out a long and drawn out sigh as she looked out into the night.

"Baron. Just treat him as though he is our baron. Your Excellency is good enough. But you don't need to address him at all if you don't want to. I mean, unless he like there and you need to talk to him. Other than that, if you want I can do all the talking."

She leaned back in the chair and looked to her friend.

"I am your Marquis and it is my responsibility to protect you. Be it physically, mentally, or even emotionally. I would never as you to do something you would not want to. Unless it was an order that came from our Lord...."

She smiled and nudged her friend.

"It is my responsibility to take the weight of things on to my shoulders so that you do not have to. I know things look bad now, but our lives will not change. We are still Canton, and we are still House Minos. They can not force us to change what we do in our house."

She cleared her throat and straightened up.

"Under the tenant of Property, Each House in response for their devotion to their Baron will be allowed one cabin as their property to have domain over. Within those walls they will be have unchallenged authority. It doesn't matter if the leadership changes, the rules stay the same. I swore our fealty..."

She paused with a grimace.

"So our life wont change. Really the biggest change will just be an influx of new people. Do you understand?"

[Madam Persephone Ciceros]

Walking to the private little area by the water front, she waited while Snake was eager to get chairs for both Rosalind and herself. She gave a small smile to the gesture, but really, she wasn't use to such things; however, Snake didn't really know that. She gave a polite nod of thanks to him and she took the chair he offered to her.

Sword and shield were discarded to the side and she looked out to the water a moment. She needed to figure everything out and she turned her attention to her friend as she explained everything to her. She nodded and she lift her hand, "I do understand that. I do appreciate that, but I can't just hide from all of this. I just believe if my brother had been here, everything would he different. I don't know what he will do when he finds out what happened. He is currently in Isen. I should write to him, but do you think a the courier will he intercepted by the Barons men?" She asked. 

Speaking to Rosalind, but a glance was given to Snake forgetting he was here suddenly. "What do you think of this situation?" She asked Snake. So far he had not given any reason to not trust him, so she even waited for his own opinions on the matter at hand.

[SNAKE!!!]

::Snake looked over to the madam and raised an eyebrow. It was rather rare that a noble asked him for his opinion. He hesitated for a moment and then shifted his facing in the chair to speak to them.::

"Well, war is a powerful thing. All races, all people, in all places have seen it in some way shape or form. It's the way of the world. If this is the first one you've seen, consider yourself lucky, lucky as far as you could have done something. Think of those that are children, or elderly when war comes and finds them. What happened the other day could have been FAR worse. We are still alive, we still have homes and at the end of the day, is there really anything more important than that?"

::Snake asked in his gruff voice.::

"I know you nobles have your honor and I understand it's important to uphold. But, pride can be harmed, honor can be stained. But once your dead... It's hard to fix any of that."

[Madam Rosalind Rebecca Agamos]

"Your brother would have been helpful, but unfortunately I do not think he would have swayed the sides. Despite how skillful he is in battle."

She thought about Vladek's reaction to the situation and shrugged.

"I will talk to Lord Ash about sending that message. If anything, we can send some of our more stealthy types to deliver it."

Her eyes moving to Snake.

"And really, don't let this all bear down on you too hard. The lower in the structure you are, the least amount of change you will encounter. Just keep your head up and hold on to your hope and faith. This reminds of something I did...at least I think I did...in a time that..."

She rubbed her head.

"Well, anyways. There was once a time when the town was attacked by an undead general. The town was beaten and crushed. They had taken many of the towns folk captive as undead husks just like the other night. But is was far worse. The general demanded the flags to our church. He said if we did not surrender them, then he would take all of the town he had captive and we would never see them again. Lady Reya could not make the decision and so she pushed the flags into my hands and told me to make the choice. Both my father and my sister were among the dead. i decided to hand over the flags. To me it was clear as day the right choice. Do know why?"

She turned back to Persephone and looked her in the eyes.

"Because even though the flags represented our faith, they did not hold it. I knew that our faith was still strong and lived inside of each and every one of us. And so the general may have been victorious in taking our flags, they were not able to defeat us in the sense of taking our faith."

She took a deep breath and smiled faintly.

"I know it is kinda of a different situation, but the same can be thought of what has recently happened. Did you know we were one of the few towns to fight back against the Prince? We did not just let them pass threw and side with them. We showed the world our pride and our strengths. We will always have that, not matter how many times we are beaten down, we will always keep getting back up. The leadership has changed yes, and there may be a few rules that change, but they can never take our home from us. Understand?

[SNAKE!!!]

::Snake listened to the Agamos and gave her a shallow nod. The change in leadership wasn't as muh of a concern to the dark elf as it was to the nobles of the town. He liked baron two but he hardly knew the man. Snake knew he was a small piece of this larger game, even Madam Rosalind had just pointed it out. How could he care that much knowing that. He reclined in his chair again and continued to keep an ear out.::

"You guys are a tough lot. I'm sure you folks will figure this all out in time. If you need me for anything, I'll be around."

::He said with a smirk and closed his eyes as he relaxed.::

[Madam Persephone Ciceros]

Persephone listened to both of them, but she was silent as she thought on what they said. Both had good points, they were still alive and they still had homes. "Yes. Things could have been a lot worse... But I am certain we will figure it out in time... This is no different then when Isen brought us into the fold of the Duchy. And we have learned to adapt."

She rose up from where she sat and walked close to view the water. Her arms wrapped around her body and she looked to the dark water with the silvery shimmer of the moonlight on it's surface. "This will never stop. We are not strong enough, nor do we have the numbers, to ward off any who wish to conquer us. We don't even really matter in the big picture, we can't even compete with the larger factions. If they want us, they will simply have us. We need to lean to accept this, I think... It has already happened with the Duke's entourage... And now by Tor."

[SNAKE!!!]

::Snake's ear dropped a little at the Ciseros'a opinion. The meek always had it hard, this was something he knew to be true, something he learned a long time ago on the streets of new Zatrimca. He felt bad for the nobles of the town. They had certainly lost more than he did and shallowing the idea of being a pawn was painful for the type of person who all their life had been brought up to lead. He gave her a deep nod and sat up some in his chair.::

"Is there something I can get for you madam? A drink? A Cloak?"

::Snake asked eyeing her arms that now wrapped around her body. He wish he could do more for them.::