Breakfast Talk (Part 2)

JP with Redsword, mdman, Jaxx, Lasersexpanther, Omni, and Cindy

Elizabeth was on her way to the dining room, when a servant stopped her.

The servant bowed, "Message for you, Lady Elizabeth."

She thanked the servant, who handed the sealed envelope with the seal of the order on it. 'Now, what does Greenwood want,' was all Elizabeth could think.

She gently opened the envelope and then read the note contained within. A blink, shake of her head and sigh. Why him? Of all the people....

There was nothing Elizabeth can do about it. It was done apparently and the Baron was giving her no say in the matter.

Hed dress was custom made, so, it actually had pockets. The envelope went into a pocket. The Eldren then proceeded into the dining room. "Good morning, to all." Her voice was pleasant, as she sat at the end if the table and a servant poured her some tea. "How does everyone fair this day?"

"Fine" replied Sung walking in he gave a bow to everyone there. "A fine day it is," says Sung walking up to the table and sitting. He adjusted the harness of the sword. So as not to hit the floor or furniture. one of the servants came and placed a teacup in front of him and poured some green tea. "thank you" he told the servant. "I hope you all rested well?" ask Sung keeping with Lady Elizabeth's line of inquiry.

Dr. Jackal and Lily stood up and greeted Lady Elizabeth as she came in and sat down before they both sat again. It was a normal custom for them in society. Dr. Jackal replied, "I know you recently saw my results Lady Elizabeth, but let me know if you have any questions at your convience. Lily remained quiet as she ate her food while the good doctor spoke up. He then went back to eating his food and drinking his coffee.

Sasha was slow to stand up as she finished part of what she was working on. "Greetings Lady Elizabeth." She said with a bow.

Cronk was busy playing with the small hexagonal box, producing the flower time and time again. He gave a loud chuckle, then noticed everyone standing.

He hadn’t heard Lady Elizabeth enter the dining hall, or the Wise One for that matter. Embarrassed, Cronk slowly stood, and as gracefully as he could bowed.

“Top of the morning, Lady Boss!” Cronk exclaimed. “You two good? After yesterday?”

"Doctor Jackal, I will certainly let you know if I have questions." Elizabeth gave a friendly nod towards Sasha. "Yes. Mr. Cronk. I am fine." Elizabeth noticed the small metal box the Orc seemed delighted with. She got up and went over to have a better look. "Ah, a gift from Miss Ipsum?" The Eldren inquired.

"Mr. Cronk all is well with me though sometimes I do feel my age," said Sung with a smile. I see you have a new toy?" asked Sung.

Cronk smiled as Lady Elizabeth took a look at the metal flower. He answered both with, “Yes! Pretty Flower made!”

He looked around, not seeing one who was involved in the struggle yesterday. Concern showed on the orc’s face as his brow wrinkled.

“Frenchie?” he asked.

Dumont finished his round of the estate and entered the house. As he arrived at the dining hall, he stopped, doffed his hat, and bowed.

"Ah! Bonjour. Good morning, Lady Elizabeth, Mr Sung. Everyone! I beg your pardon. It seems my morning stroll took longer than I expected. I hope you saved some breakfast for me," he greeted them, smiling politely.

Right as Elizabeth was going to send a servant to check on Dumont, the man appeared. "Bonjour, Mr. Dumont. Of, course there is plenty."

Elizabeth then turned, back to Cronk and gestured towards his mechanical flower. "It's lovely." She then returned to her seat and sipped her tea.

Everyone was here, well, almost everyone Lorem was at headquarters and Vor was in the library at the house. Still, her mind pondered for a moment, might as well tell those that are here. "Everyone, I do have an announcement to make."

Sasha indicated she was giving Elizabeth her full attention but remained focused on whatever it was she was working on.

Dumont sat down in one of the lush chairs with a plate of fruit and looked to Elizabeth.

Sung sat back and looked at Elizabeth intently. He drank some tea waiting on the news.

Cronk has a huge portion of egg within his jowls. The chewing stopped, and Cronk did a hard swallow. Whatever Lady Elizabeth was going to announce, it sounded important. Cronk remained silent at the heaviness of the moment.

As soon as Elizabeth was certain she had the attention of everyone. She pulled the envelope out of her pocket and held it up slightly. "I received a message from Baron Greenwood today."

Elizabeth put the envelope on the table and then continued, "He is sending us a new team member." She was trying to hide her annoyance at the prospect. "I do not know if any of you have heard of a man called Elijah Wayneright. His father, whom I have met, is a Admiral in the British Navy. A well mannered gentleman. " She paused. "However, and I will be blunt, Mr. Elijah Wayneright, is known to be rather pompous, conceited and - how shall I put this - he is like a junior version of the Baron. My own rather brief encounter with the man, let's say, only reinforced this." Elizabeth clearly had little regard for Elijah. "That being said, I can do nothing about him becoming a team member. We will have to work with him. I would ask you all to just, keep an eye on him." Elizabeth thought for a moment. "The message did only say the last name, so it might be a different Wayneright, but knowing the Baron, he would send Elijah."

Sung took a sip of his tea and looked at the team. "Leave him to the team, My Lady you don't have to worry about such a man." commented Sung.

Cronk returned to his plate. He knew nothing of a Wayneright, so it didn’t concern him. However, if he were a pomp ass, no one would blame Cronk for knocking him out.

Cronk pressed the flower back into the box. His huge index finger pushed the button, causing the flower to grow once more. Cronk could see a wonderful relationship budding in that flower.

Dr. Jackal swallowed his food and then drank some coffee to clear his throat. He then looked at Lady Elizabeth with a bit of concern as he looked at Lily then at Lady Elizabeth as he spoke up, "This is rather concerning on many levels, Lady Elizabeth. Mr. Sung I am sure you are well aware how this can cause disruption among certain personalities, besides the females here. Even though Mr. Cronk is very civil with those in this home, it is not wise to provoke him. Then on a worse case scenario there is a concern that he might provoke me as well, even if it is indirectly. Perhaps he should be issued a task to keep him busy and away till you can find a more suitable solution?" Dr. Jackal exhaled as he served another cup of coffee to himself with the carafe.

Mr. Sung thought eating some fruit. "Dr. Jackal, You are right on several of your thoughts about this. I have to worry about Mr. Cronk not being one of them. Mr. Wayneright being another spy for the Baron," said Sung with some disdain when saying, Baron.

"Mr. Wayneright if he has any intelligence at all will learn quickly not to Mess with Mr. Cronk. and if not well he like anyone else will learn the hard way." Says Sung with confidence.

"Lady Elizabeth, Do you know what his skill set is?" asked Sung.

"I would like to keep him busy and away, but , to also answer you Mr. Sung, I do not know his skill set. I do think the Baron is sending him to test me." Elizabeth assumed Greenwood expected her to have problems keeping Elijah in line. It seemed as if he would do anything to prove that Elizabeth was too young and unqualified for the position. "Let us hope, Mr. Wayneright can be responsible, at least."

Dr. Jackal sipped his coffee then spoke up as he pondered his thoughts then he looked at his food as he spoke up again, "Well a simple temporary solution would be working in pairs more till Lady Elizabeth can find a proper solution. I am sure Lady Elizabeth has the support of Mr. Sung. Mr. Cronk is all to eager to see to Ms. Ipsum's well being and this Mr. Wayneright would have to have a death wish if he tried to irk Ms. Lagrave. As for Ms. Lavigne........well she can use me as her excuse to get away, since I seem to have proven that I have poor time management skills when working. I doubt even the Baron would allow him to upset me and bring out the "other guy". Of course I am just making my observations till things unfold. For all we know we might be receiving a different Wayneright. I believe that a family name that big is sure to have cousin's down the line. We could very well be getting worked up over nothing." Dr. Jackal then continued to eat as Lily looked at him while she nibbled on her toast. She was relieved he volentered to be her scapegoat for the worst case scenario.

Cronk perked up at the prospect of him being paired with Lorem. “Cronk work with Pretty Flower,” he agreed nodding his head.

Dumont listened to the others. He agreed that pairing up had worked well so far and was not a bad plan moving forward. He wasn’t sure yet what Mr Sung or Lady Elizabeth were going to do, but if not one of them, he assumed that would leave him with Vor, Ms Lagrave, or this Mr. Wayneright individual.

“I am at your service, Lady Elizabeth. Wherever you need me,” he added after Cronk.

"Miss Ipsum will be working at headquarters most days, but Mr. Cronk, you will be welcomed to inquire about working with her on days when she is here and you are not needed elsewhere. I would rather not assign people to permanent pairs, as situations can change, but yes pairing people in general has worked well and we will continue with that as much as possible. However, I would certainly ask all the gentlemen of the group to especially watch Mr. Wayneright around Miss Lavigne and Miss Ipsum. I am aware Miss Lagrave, you are quite capable of handling yourself. Miss Lavigne, by all means escaping to the Doctor Jackal as necessary is certainly permitted but hopefully will be unnecessary." Elizabeth really needed flexible enough to go where needed, when needed and with whomever they were assigned to. "Thank you, Mr. Dumont."

“Of course.” he replied and he collected some buttered toast and a silver egg cup containing a soft-boiled egg. He took a tiny spoon and tapped along the top to remove the shell before taking it off like a lid and spooning a little out onto his buttered toast whilst he continued listening.

Sasha patted her coat with a free hand. "If he does not behave he will learn to." She said going back to her sketch.

Lily looked around and felt a bit of relief that the team under Lady Elizabeth had a strong connection with each other. Then she looked at the good doctor and smiled as she said, "Thank you." She then looked at Lady Elizabeth and replied, "On a positive note Lady Elizabeth the cupboard for the mail room should be arriving today. Once it is installed and organized the mail room will be ready for your inspection."

" That is good news, Miss Lavigne. I was thinking with Lady Elizabeth's permission we could retrieve some of your stuff today. If we have fate on our side Mr. Cronk might want to go with us as an escort for Miss Lavigne as well as I will be there to help," said Sung with a smile.

"We could go when you are ready after breakfast I think. Again permitted by Lady Elizabeth.

Elizabeth smiled at Dumont and nodded towards Sasha and her gesture, the woman could definitely handle herself.

"I look forward to seeing your system, Miss Lavigne." Elizabeth stated.

As for getting Lily's things. "Of course, Mr. Sung. I am certain that you and Mr. Cronk will keep Miss Lavigne safe." Elizabeth was, basically, assigning Cronk to go with them.

"So will we be expecting a spoiled brat or someone that believes their nepotism earned station in life grants them the ability to be a git?" Sasha asked.

"Yes, I met the man once, at a dinner party. He was quite full of himself." Elizabeth responded.

"Just what we need, a distraction we'll have to watch like a hawk." she said going back to her sketch. "Lady Elizabeth, at some point in the near future I would like to meet with you and Ms. Ipsum about an idea I have. It might solve some of our issues later down the line."

"Certainly, Miss Lagrave. We can see if Miss Ipsum is available tonight, once she is back from headquarters." Elizabeth commented

While playing with his new toy, Cronk was also listening. He could hear the concern in the voices concerning this guy named Wayne Right. Cronk seemed to think his name should be Wrong, as he was picking up negative tones from the others on the team.

“Cronk watch,” he offered.

Getting back on Subjet of Mr. Wayneright. "you have heard of being born with a silver spoon in their mouth." Sung paused " his was gold. Mr. Wayneright I would say is the opposite of humble. when first meeting him. But the servants of his father's house say he can be nice well still a jerk he's at least nice about it." says Sung looking at everyone.

"My worry is he is just another spy for the Baron. We don't need that. So we need to bring him to our side and keep him from harassing the ladies of the team and staff. he is a playboy of sorts. That's all I am going to add to Mr. Wayneright." said Sung with some distance.

"As Doctor Jackal, mentioned it might be a different Wayneright. If it is the same one, while I want everyone on their guard around him, I also do not want him to suspect we might think he's a spy for the Baron. So, treat him reasonably, until he gives cause not to." Elizabeth stated.

With that topic pretty much covered, Elizabeth stood up. "Mr. Sung please have one of the servants tell me when you leave. And the three of you, " motioning towards Lily, Sung and Cronk "please do be careful." Not even a moments pause. "I will be walking the grounds for a bit, if anyone needs me. Everyone enjoy the rest of your morning." Elizabeth then exited the dining room.

Sung stood when Elizabeth did and give a bow and waited for her to stop speaking. "My Lady" Sung replied.

Seeing the Wise One bow, Cronk quickly stood and attempted to gracefully bow. Instead, he hit his head on the corner of the table, which broke off.

“Oops!” Cronk exclaimed with a sheepish grin. “Cronk sorry!”

It was a natural reaction for Dumont to follow protocol, standing and bowing as well.

Dr. Jackal and Lily also stood up with a bow towards Lady Elizabeth out of social standing. Lily was glad to get her stuff, but worried about leaving the house. It was reassuring that Mr. Sung and Cronk were going with her. She was aware of Mr. Sung's reputation in dealing with unwanted sorts and well Cronk.......well it was obvious he could crush a man with his bare hands. She wanted Dr. Jackal to go as well, but he was grounded and had a lot of lab work to do. She took a breath of courage as she looked at Mr. Sung and asked, "When do we depart Mr. Sung?"

"I will give time for everyone to prepare I also need to call a carriage say Half an hour, Miss Lavigne is that good for you?" asked Sung. "Oh, Miss Lavigne relax every thing will work out," added Sung with confidence.

Lily replied, "Thank you Mr. Sung. I apologize. I have a lot of concerns as of late. I will do my best to not mess up our task." Lily was obviously nervous by her expression.

"Miss Lavigne, with Cronk at your side who would want to attack you? Everything will work out. says Sung trying to encourage Miss Lavigne. "Cronk, Thank you for coming with us you are a great help," said Sung sincerely.

Lily smiled and replied, “That is reassuring Mr, Sung. Having you both there is very comforting.”