Land Ho!

The evening after the best discovery in the history of Weirdale heralds a sight that would probably scare the piss out of any locals lucky enough to be looking skyward as twilight paints the ocean sky into a portrait of red hues. A flying pirate ship parts the clouds from a portal between worlds and sails down, landing in Petra's ocean with a spray of salt water and a massive shudder in the sea. It's a graceful landing for what it is.

Damian Strange's grin stretches across his entire face as he bids his first mate, Jack Frost, to drop anchor. He enchants the ship's dinghy and sends it to the shore to collect would-be visitors and bring them to the enormous vessel's ladder.

He scrawls an invitation to come party with him, if anyone is of a mind, on several pieces of parchment and send them flying towards the city.

Aurora and Aydn arrive and stable their ride before taking the dinghy to the massive vessel. Aurora seems very eager to climb that long ladder, even going so far as to be dressed in a pirate costume: tattered black skirt, black corset over a flowing, loose red shirt, and a jolly roger bandanna.

Damian claps his hands together when he sees them approach, and starts the expensive stereo he got from Midgard. It plays pleasant alternative music: the kind that could appeal to a variety of tastes, except to anyone who just doesn't like rock and roll, though Damian would doubt there is such a person.

Aydn makes sure to wait for Aurora to be aaaaallll the way up on the boat to begin his ascent. Dat skirt. No one wants an angry Selathanael. Sticking the short stack of papers in his mouth for a minute rather than crumpling them while climbing, he goes up the ladder after her onto the boat.

Aurora gives her skirt that too-late second thought when she gets to the top, realizing she should have gone second, but turns around and appreciates Aydn's courtesy not to follow her right up. She has some shorts on under there, boats are windy, but still. What a gentleman!

The dinghy drifts back to the shore on its own, ready to ferry more people back and forth from the giant vessel.

A hand covered in a thick, fine leather glove is waiting at the top to help Aydn over the last few steps and the jump down onto deck. The cheerful Damian Strange that he met, albeit briefly, the day before grins a smile that shows most of his white teeth. The band-less music drifts through the boat with the impressive waterproof stereo system he had Faust's help to install. It's loud enough that the words and chords can be clearly heard, but not so loud that one has to raise their voice to hold a conversation. ((Spoken by someone who seriously hates it when parties play music too loud.))

"Welcome aboard The Star, Aydn! Aurora tells me you'd rather I not verbally assault you with 'Masters' and 'Your Lordlinesses,' so I hope yer name works for ya." He pulls him over the hull with a strong arm and his smile widens at the sight of the parchment in his mouth. "If yer hungry, I'm making some snacks..."

"Might taste better than ink!" Aydn chuckles after removing the pages from his own face. He folds them small enough to tuck away in his vest. Because he's apparently trying to dress a bit less... less? It seemed appropriate: A black waistcoat with gold buttons dresses him up a small bit without going full-fancy. You never go full-fancy.

"It's my favorite. Is why I use it," he grins. "Now I know why she was so excited. The Star's a beautiful ship."

Damian is positively resplendent in black leather pants, a crimson, flowing pirate shirt that shows some of his chest, folded black leather boots and gloves to match, and a long black coat with fringed pauldrons that seems evident of some high rank or other. The discerning Azerothian eye might recognize it as the coat of a Bloodsail Admiral, if cleaner and much higher quality than those of any they had encountered on the distant world. Clearly, no one told Admiral Strange about the full-fancy statute.

"Thanks! She's named after a beautiful woman! Make yourself at home, my friend. You and your associates are my new heroes for finding the wall and revealing the ocean to us. Take a drink! I've got one of my deckhands fetching a Midgardian delicacy for us called 'cheesesticks.' They're the food of the gods."

"Call me a deckhand again, you shit, and I'll toss you overboard your own ship," Extelle Stange materializes behind him carrying a huge, hot paper bag, the smell of which can only be described as the smell of happiness.

"How timely of you, darlin'," he grins unapologetically at his sister. "I was just telling Aydn how much I love you."

She smiles back. It's pretty clear these two are thick as thieves.

As night begins to darken the sky, some cheerful little red lights that run up and down the mast and hanging in neatly arranged ropes turn on and begin to twinkle.

Well, it's true, Damian looks far more comfortable in the full-fancy than his guest would. Perhaps it's a matter of practice? Aydn mouths the word 'cheese-sticks' with no small amount of curiosity before Extelle shows up and the smell half-fulfills an explanation. Ears held high, he turns a thought to Damian, "And Ezra'd said the food here was better." He grins at Extelle. "I take it a cheese stick is exactly what it sounds like?"

"It is indeed a fried stick of cheese, best when dipped in tomato sauce. You wanna set those out, gorgeous?" Damian smirks at his sister, who shoves a still-too-hot one into his mouth as she passes and opens the bag on a table.

Damian eats it with the smallest groan of regret when the grease burns his tongue. "Fuck... Eat'em carefully, mate, they're still hot." She sets out tubs of marinara sauce to dip them in, and Aurora eagerly digs in.

"So what would you kids say if I took you out on the water this weekend?" Damian hedges, putting his booted feet up on the chair across from him when he sits down.

"Watch who you're callin' a kid, boss," Aurora corrects him.

"Aurora, you were born less than a year ago. Less than six months ago," Damian answers flatly.

"Yeah, but Aydn's got at least a hundred years on you," Aurora guesses purely from her knowledge of elves, and not knowing Aydn's condition. "He's an elf."

"Oh, semantics," Damian dismisses. "Sorry. How would you mates like to set sail with me this weekend? I promise to get yer blood pumping," he leans across his own lap and wags his eyebrows. Unlike his tight-laced, elegant sister, Damian seems extremely laid back for a god.

Taking an empty chair at their table, Aydn studies Aurora as she eats one of the delicious fried morsels before he plucks up a cheese stick of his own, coating it similarly in marinara sauce as though he figures there's probably some 'right' way to do this whole Midgardian food thing. He damn near burns his own face, too. There's no easy way to realize the first time you eat one of those that their insides are HALF MADE OF LAVA. He blows on it a bit, an amused smile creeping onto his face as he listens.

When Aurora corrects Damian, he chuckles. Seems he's more entertained than offended. "Something like that," with a smirk is the closest he gets to agreeing with her assessment. Finally getting a good chunk of cheese stick consumed, he mumbles something about 'needing a bucket of Midgardian cheese to bring home.'

"Sounds like a good time to me!" he answers to Damian's offer. "I'd thought about trying to fill out a map with whatever we knew, so might be a help for that also."

"I have some experience in cartography. I'd be glad to help ya make a map," Damian smiles. "Hey, dad!" The admiral waves to Archer Strange who rubs his eyes free of the nap he just woke from. He plops into the chair between his children. "Oh, Damian, you're the best," Archer grins, salivating as he helps himself to a cheesestick. "Hello, Aydn! Good to have you on board."

"These are his favorite," Extelle smiles with hearts in her eyes at her father.

"It's so nice to see the Stranges together again. Except for... Ezra isn't here is he?" Aurora frowns.

"No, no." Damian waves a hand. "Hell no. We took a few family voyages and they were awkward as fuck."

"It wasn't that bad," Archer objects. "Give him time. He's ashamed of himself."

"Fucking good," Damian snorts. "Anyway, I want everyone to have a good time. Hard to do that when you've got a buzzkill like that for cargo."

Extelle remains quiet, contemplative, empathy on her lips.

Aurora tries to diffuse the sensitive subject. "So Aydn, what did I interrupt you from reading at the Verdict?"

Between bites of cheese stick, Aydn offers by way of sympathy in the awkward silence, "Maybe I ought to go by at some point when I'm not covered in knives, see how he's doing."

He turns to Aurora as the subject changes, an ear tilted towards her. "Hm? Oh-" The right hand that isn't covered in cheesygrease pulls the papers out of his vest and sets them on the table. The large piece is still folded, but the smaller ones look like names of places, vague sketches - mostly incomplete and it looks like mostly from memory for sake of all the bits that say '??' or are creatively named by description rather than properly. Not all of them are polite. What's probably Silver Valley, for instance, is labeled 'Little Shits'. Ferryville is just marked with a wall-eyed smiley face. In one area of what looks like woods for all the fluffy leaf-scribbles with sticks, there's a little spot that's likely from one of their previous adventures, because he's labeled it 'Some asshole that looked like a pond.' There are a few spots that are just completely random, like a line of clearly accidental ink droplets labeled with an arrow and the words 'Probably Rocks.'

The more fun bits don't make it into the final version, of course. He tries to pluck that page out of the lot once he remembers it's there, and instead unfolds the mostly-empty large parchment over them. "Not... really reading so much as trying to remember where everything is. I know I have the scale completely wrong, but figured I ought to start somewhere." It's true, he's not exactly an experienced mapmaker. There's basically a only little sketch in the middle of the large parchment that looks like Weirdale, Ferryville, and Silver Valley (with the latter two unlabeled, of course).

Aurora takes a look at his map and almost falls out of her chair laughing at his names for places, especially the doodle that serves as a name for Ferryville. "Aydn, I adore you," She guffaws the words, a deep, belly laugh.

"What? What's so funny?" Damian sits up to peek over the table, and his grin reappears as he reads. "HA!!! Fuck it, I say leave the official one like that. If you want a real map, you're going to need some tools. Hang on a shake," he gets up, dusting crumbs from his fingers, and heads over to the ship's helm before returning with a wooden box that has his initials carved into it. He plops it onto the table, and inside are three golden instruments: a compass, a telescope, and a sextant. "I'd be happy to teach ya to use all this if you've never been exposed to it," he offers. "But you can borrow these. One of the benefits of my knew gig is I get to just sortof know where shit is."

A boat appears to be making its way down the river that comes from Weirdale to Ferryville to the shore, and standing on its prow is Prince Silwyth Strange, smiling brightly and clapping the Ferryville, well, ferrymen, on the shoulders in congratulations of some kind before bidding them farewell and heading to the ship, dressed far less like the prince and more like the bard.

"One of the many excellent things about marrying a genius like my lovely wife is the we can take turns having away time from the logistical rigors of rulership! Hello everyone!"

Damian gets up to clap Silwyth in a strong bear hug. "It's my favorite nephew!"

Extelle is right behind him with a hug and kiss for her son, and Archer walks over to put a hand on his shoulder.

Aurora smiles and waves at the prince, not wanting him to absolutely drown in people hugging him and idly wondering if he has that problem often.

Silwyth returns everyone's affections, particularly for his mother, who he kisses on the cheek, putting an arm around her waist as he greets everyone else.

"Uncle, I'm so very happy to have been right about this. The ocean sky is indeed the limit to our reach and our helpful influence now!"

He offers Aydn a wink and a smiling wave.

Damian and Aurora's amusement gets him to sheepishly laughing along with them.

"I wouldn't turn down the help," he says to Damian with a grin. "I'm not much more than someone guessing and drawing awful trees, at this point." He picks up the sextant and looks it over. Upside-down. "I probably still need some advice on this one, though. I've used the others quite a bit."

As Silwyth joins the party (and emerges from pile of affection), Aydn returns the getting with a wave and small nod. "Glad to see you've the chance to get away from that office for a bit."

"Not that it's a horrible place to work, as offices go," Aurora smirks at him.

"I'm overjoyed by this discovery, Silwyth, obviously. I can't thank you enough for following your nose here. And uh, Aydn, you're holding it upside down. Here, I'll show you." The admiral gently helps him hold it properly and look through the little lens. "This helps you measure angular distances."

"Overjoyed is one way to put it," Aurora grins. "Damian ran into the water and splashed around, laughing like a boy a quarter his age. It was so awesome."

Extelle looks up from her kiss of her son's forehead. "Ran into the sea. I seem to recall you asking me to remake you those boots," her eyes drop to the brand new black leather folded boots on his feet, "because you fell overboard."

"SO anyway, this is how the sextant works," Damian blushes all the way down his neck, trying to dodge his sister's playful glare, but her shoulders are shaking with mirth.

Archer beams at his children with obvious pride, and puts his arm around Silwyth so that he is sandwiched between him and his mother. "Have some cheesesticks, Silwyth, they're my favorite MIdgardian delicacy."

Silwyth tries a cheese stick and his eyes light up. "I desperately need this recipe!"

Silwyth kisses his mother and hugs his grandfather before shaking his uncle's hand. "It was my pleasure, Uncle Damian. You deserved this, and our people deserved the freedom."

He smiles and makes his way over to sit next to Aydn. "When you get some time, I'd very much like to discuss your report at length, Aydn. Not now, now is party time, but I think we need to chat, at your leisure, about something that may need to become common knowledge among our strike teams going forward. But not now. Now is the time for cheese sticks!" He salutes with his cheese stick and moans around another bite.

As Silwyth brings up his report, Aydn turns a side-glance to him with no small amount of curiosity, but the humor fades from his face. "... Sure, I suppose. Whenever we get back to town is fine by me, If you'd like."

Damian smirks, "Silwyth, you've gotta see this map Aydn drew. I nominate him for Official Weirdale Cartographer."

"Seconded," Aurora offers.

Archer chuckles into his arm, helping himself to just one more cheesestick. Okay, one more. No, seriously, one more.

Silwyth looks at the map and smirks. "Truth be told, I'm glad SOMEONE is taking the time to chart this all out, this is going to be an important skill over the next while."

He smiles at Aydn and pats his hand. "Relax, you're not in trouble, well, no more than anyone else! Just enjoy the party and we'll talk later!"

Aydn looks at the hand, then back to Silwyth, then at the hand and table one more. He smiles, but it's that weird, almost cranky-looking smile he gets when the expression is created rather than spontaneously born. Not that it's necessarily less sincere, of course. After all, he's worn that stiffened look before without unpleasantness beneath it. He lacks a reply other than a nod, and reaches for another cheese stick.

Aurora and his mother have Silwyth's attention as Damian and Archer are talking about taking a trip out a few paces away.

"Why would anyone be in trouble, darling," Extelle asks gently.

"I don't want to bring anyone down at this fine event, I just wanted to clarify some details between what I've read from Aydn's report and a discussion I had with Seranna of the Sisters of Syn. It's re-prioritized some things I've meant to get around to." He pours himself some cider from a nearby keg and drinks deeply.

"Well, we're here now, and it seems to be on your mind. It's just us, and that's going to bug me until I know. What's wrong?" Aurora fidgets in her chair.