Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Very well, actually." Terryn stood up and greeted the men with a smile. She kissed her father on both cheeks and took Marcus's hands in hers. "I hope your afternoon was pleasant?" She couldn't help but glance back over her shoulder at the Duchess, laughter nearly threatening to break up her pleased grin.

"Uh, well, yes..." The earl looked to Marcus with a sort of frightened confusion before approaching his old friend. He lowered his voice as he whispered to the Duchess. "Emily, what have you done to my daughter? She seems like...well...like..." He wasn't exactly sure what to say.

"Oh." Terryn hadn't seen Frederico or Francesca since last year. The two girls had been comrades-in-arms, united in the front against proper ladyhood. Francesca would cringe if she saw Terryn now. Hehe, good. "That sounds absolutely fascinating. Come, I wish to review the guest list with you." Terryn gingerly picked up the parchment and took Marcus's arm, leading him delicately towards the bedroom. "Good evening, my Lord father, Duchess." She gave a small curtsy, trying her best not to roll her eyes, and tried as hard as she could not to drag Marcus behind her.

"Ummm...Good evening, then." The earl blinked, taking a moment to catch on to his daughter's latest antics. Oh, I see... He laughed to himself quietly before taking a seat at the table and addressed the Duchess. "How have the arrangements been going?"

Terryn's only response was to shut the bedroom door behind them and rather forcefully shove him against it, kissing him in a way that no self respecting duchess would. As she pulled back, she flashed a thoroughly wicked grin and shuffled off towards the bed, swirling her skirts around her with a satisfied hum.

"She does enjoy goose." The earl grinned, feeling like he had a delicious little secret regarding her "compliance" in this whole matter. "As do I. Did you invite that dreadful cousin of yours? Barnaby or whatever he is called?"

"Silent? A pox on you, my dear Duke. I was simply taken ill, but I have recovered quite completely." Terryn demonstrated this by sitting herself on top of her husband and pinning his arms down to the sides. "This is rather what I felt like whilst learning how to be a proper young Duchess Winters. It was not enjoyable." She seemed to be having enough fun for the moment, though.

"Perhaps we can arrange for him to be predisposed. I daresay he would not be able to differentiate a letter from me and one from some vassal of his father or whatnot." The earl waved his hand in a slightly dismissive gesture, sighing as he relaxed in his seat. "Who else must we contend with? Terryn swept the list away so quickly, I feared it might have taken wing."

"No, that would be undignified." As if they were the pinnacle of dignity at the moment. "You are to suffer for your...lack of...being with your grandmother this afternoon." She released his arms and climbed off of him, reclining into the pillows and beginning to examine her nails in a highly interested manner. "Are you suffering yet?"

"Then why invite him?" The earl understood that certain courtesies needed to be met, but he was bright enough to know when a certain relative would be more enjoyable when absent. "I daresay you will be doing the wedding party a favor."

"Enamored?" Terryn looked up from her nails only briefly, to smirk. "You were no more than a crying babe when my mother was alive." Alright, so perhaps he had seen about eight or nine years, but the point was made. "Who told you that my mother was enamored with you?" She held her hand out in front of her, gesturing for him to come sit with her.

The earl very much wanted to contest that fact, but kept the thought to himself. She was probably thinking it herself. "Good. Also, Lillianna's sister is with child. I doubt she will be able to make the event." He frowned, a bit dismayed. "Rather unfortunate, that. Alayne is the only one of the family I still keep close contact with. You remember her, yes? She was but a child when Terryn was born, five or so I believe."

Terryn gave her husband a light smile, but her eyes were distanced. She hadn't even thought of what her mother might have thought about this whole affair. She was glad, at the least, to know that she would have approved, but there was a pang of sadness at the fact that she wouldn't be attending the event. Then again, neither were Marcus's parents. Neither of them had more than one guardian left to them, and that thought made her feel a little fearful. She did not want to do such a thing to her children, if she had any.

The earl had been attempting to make a halfhearted excuse, but then the Duchess brought out her military commander voice and he was halted. "What if they refuse to attend? You know what happened when I married Serina. They practically ostracized me and disowned Terryn. They were right about the woman, rest her soul, but do you think they would even attend?"

Terryn's eyes shifted lazily towards Marcus. "How did you know?" She did her best to push it from her mind as she rested against him, but it was not a very light subject, and Terryn was not a light thinker.

"Dastardly?" The earl raised an eyebrow, only refusing to grin for fear that his friend would tear his lips off for doing so. "I find it hard to believe that avoiding confrontation would be dastardly." He sighed, resigning to Emily's hard stare. "But it is Terryn's wedding, and that is still her family. I suppose I shall write Alayne and tell her to extend the invitation to the rest of the family. Perhaps Donnel and his wife will attend; they stayed amiable enough."