She does accept, politely. [color=blue]"Yes, it smells like Moire quite outdid herself today." Throughout the dinner, Fiona's foot keeps accidentally(?) brushing against Jormungand's foot and/or leg, but she seems to take no notice of it, nor does she comment on it.
She smiles slightly at Jormungand's quick prayer, then says grace, quickly, in Scots Gaelic before crossing herself.
During the dinner, she more or less questions him about Creo, Corpus, and Magic Theory – basically feeling him out to see how extensive his knowledge is and trying to determine if his claim of 18th Magnitude is legit. Although Fiona's own knowledge of Corpus is not unimpressive, it pales in comparison to his, while her Creo is enough to pass on to an apprentice but not much else; her Magic Theory, however, is almost as knowledgeable as his. As the quizzing continues, she seems to grow more and more impressed.
She also asks a little about himself, about his apparent (and actual) age, and whether he was sixteen when he performed his own Longevity Ritual, about his daughter, how old she is, whether he has any other children.
She does let him feed her a deviled egg, although she does seem a little surprised by the gesture. That doesn't keep her from keeping her lips wrapped around his fingers for just a couple of seconds longer than would be considered "appropriate."
When the dinner is finished, she will ask him to wait there for a moment, then go into the next room. She returns with a plainly bound stack of parchment, which she places on the table before him.
[color=blue]"Several years ago," she says, [color=blue]"my mater and I devised a Longevity Potion for myself. With her knowledge of Creo and Corpus, and of the theories of magic in general, and with my assistance, we believe that the potion should have afforded me roughly fourteen magnitudes of protection. For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to have been as effective as it should have been." Even in the fire- and candlelight, Jormungand might be able to tell that Fiona seems to be in her late 40s, especially as he has probably seen her in harsher light over the past few days.
[color=blue]"I don't think it's critical yet, but I would very much like to find out just what went wrong, and see if it can be fixed before anything...catastrophic happens to me."
She gestures toward the stack of parchment. [color=blue]"These are the lab notes from when we invented the Longevity Potion. If there's anything I can do to help...or, actually, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I. I would greatly appreciate it if you would go over the notes to see if you can tell what happened, and then work on a new, hopefully more effective Longevity Ritual for me. Of course, I would be at your service. While my knowledge of Creo and Corpus are nowhere near where yours are, I would be able to contribute significantly, I believe."
Heh. Jormungand may be oblivious but he recognizes what that means. Definitely some contact back, some foot-to-foot rubbing, and or some thigh tickling. If they get really rambunctious under the table in their "I'm not doing anything" tit-for-tat footsie, he's aiming to remove her stockings/wool socks/feet coverings with his toes.
He has no problem talking about himself, although for every answer he gives he turns it around to find out the same information of Fiona. He seems to practically ignore her "giantess" heritage - in fact, his only reaction might be with half-closed eyes and a "Mmmm... more is better, or so ah've always heard told - well, screamed. For once, Ah get to enjoy it." He happily talks about his sister Asvana, his wife of only a decade Sophia, and his two daughters Ingrid and Claudine. Unfortunately, as the sharing continues, he starts sprinkling more and more Old Norse terms into his stories. He explains Ingrid is being trained in her arts by his mater, Maga Brynhyld, but seems a little sad when he talks about "little Claudia". The biggest thing that may surprise Fiona is he talks about having future children, and finally explains that he hasn't performed a Longevity Ritual on himself yet, and plans to hold out his and Asvana's as long as possible. He never states his actual age but talks about his childhood enough and how old he was during certain events to know he was born in 1165. It becomes quite apparent that most of the major stories in his life are different experiences during religious ceremonies to Freyja. He gets most animated when he talks about the rituals and orgies he led in her name.
Oh, goody! He leans forward, closes his eyes, and opens his mouth so she can feed him one back. He'll turn feeding the last of the deviled eggs to each other into a game of closer and more risque contacts until Fiona finally has to eat the last devilled egg off his slightly parted lips... with a little tongue flick at the end.
"Huh. Ah always thought the problem be religious in nature, but obviously not." He starts thumbing through the notebook after cleaning off his fingers. "The line of Vor Si'r Freyja has never been able to produce effective Longevity Rituals for ourselves. We've done well for Redcaps and other magi willing to experience our Longevity Massages, but Freyja frowns on our rejection of her gift of Fertility. It's one of the few things that still empower us outside of Bonisagus's teachings, and let's us know she still has faith in us even if she's too busy finding her place in the new Judii Pantheon. Is it possible that the block has to do with your enhanced Gardening? Not many can get beechnut trees to flourish so well out of season as you have in your Garden, you know. As Princeps, Ah was going to offer to help increase your soil's fertility for greater growth, but ye seemed to have that well in hand when Ah peeked in. Bit busy, too, you were bent over weeding. It was a lovely, shapely image. But Ah've to suspect any difficulty in Longevity would be related to the way our Arts were opened, or a deeper limitation of the Divine placed upon us to account for our greater blessings. And speaking of blessings, it seems quite hot in here. Would, perchance, another setting be more conducive to relaxing and cooling? Ah don't have any Longevity Oil with me, but Ah could show you what Ah would expect to do with it." He loosens his belt and tunic a bit to expose more skin and flaps it a bit slowly, "cooling off".
Fiona continues playing footsie with Jormungand, to a point...said point being, apparently, just above the knee. When his foot gets that far, she will absently slip her hand under the table and rest it on his foot, maybe softly squeezing or stroking it, but not letting it go any further. And yet, judging by the look on her face, she still seems totally oblivious.
Fiona is not quite as forthcoming as Jormungand is when it comes to talking about herself. She tends to either evade the question or answer in generalities (Secretive, with the Personality Trait "Secretive +2"). She will eventually divulge that she is, in fact, 51. Reading between the lines, he might be able to glean that she is an only child of a human father and giantess mother, grew up in the Scottish Highlands, and took her apprenticeship on Ireland's northern shore under a solitary maga. She will be happy to talk about her Tradition's heritage (such as it is) as well as about giants.
[color=blue]"You're married?" she asks, a little surprised (and maybe a little disappointed).
She will ask about the Norse terms, if she can't tell what they mean from context. She will ask, if it doesn't look like it will be painful, about Claudine, since he had only mentioned the one daughter before. She also looks mildly uncomfortable when he raves about the orgies and stuff.
Fiona moans almost inaudibly, sounding vaguely like a woman who hadn't eaten in forty days about to sit down to a noble's dinner.
[color=blue]"Judii?" she asks, unfamiliar with the term...sounds vaguely like "Jewish," but she doubts that is what he means.
[color=blue]"I don't believe that the problem with my Longevity Potion has anything to do with my religion. Our theory is that it might be related to my Giant heritage. There aren't nearly as many of us left as there were even fifty years ago, and as far as I know I'm the only Giant or half-Giant maga in the order.
And I had thought that the...form that the Longevity Ritual takes was more reflective of the maga for whom the ritual was being devised and not the one doing the inventing. In my case, since my Tradition has a strong tradition of potion-making, wouldn't it be more likely to be an actual potion than a massage?" She smiles coyly. [color=blue]"Not that I'm complaining about the prospect of your having your hands on me for about five hours."
Fiona blushes and thanks him for the compliment. [color=blue]"I'm still getting used to the soil and the climate here...it seems like a much longer growing season than I'm used to, and the plants and herbs that are native here are still rather new to me. I would be happy for any help you can give me in those endeavors as well."
[color=blue]"Well," she says as she licks her lips quickly and taking in the sight, [color=blue]"if you want to get your...oils? and towel, we should have more room in the..er...bedroom." Once he gathers what he needs, she will lead him through the dining room's other door, which leads to the bedroom. The only light is that put out by the fireplace in the corner by the outside wall, which also illuminated the dining room. [color=blue]"Will that be enough light, or should we light a lamp or two as well?"
The bedroom is also fairly spartan, consisting of the bed, a tub, a chair, a washbasin, a "small" table, and a couple of wardrobes, almost all of which are larger than normal to accommodate Fiona's size. And like the dining room, the only "decoration" is the planters in the windows, none of which are yet in bloom.
In late autumn, when the trees have lost all their leaves and the weather is cold, Apollodorus is puttering in his studio, when Mufarjj knocks on the door.
"Ahh, Mufarjj, thank you for coming. I've got some news for you. We've located your family and they are safe, they are with a covenant in Graecia. We're currently in negotiations with a member of my House, to bring them to Venice, and then from the chapter house there to Valnastium." Apollodorus says with a smile.
"Praise be to Allah, thank you for this." Mufarjj beams a broad smile and gives Apollodorus a great hug.
Apollodorus invites him to sit. "Would you like some tea?" Mufarjj sits and accepts the drink, "Mufarjj, I have discovered that you were at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. Your faith appears to have helped you deal with the horrors that you witnessed there. I would ask a boon of you. It is something that I'm uncomfortable asking of other mundane individuals here. Your experiences there will help you with a project I have, and as of yet, members of our turb haven't experienced such horrors. It is unlikely that any of the Magi have, either, even Alexei."
"Is this the price you extract, then, for finding my family?" Mufarjj says angrily.
"Heavens no! I've been asked by the leader of my House to assist him on a task. I'm asking you because you are the most qualified individual to guard us physically, and because you have an ability to deal with supernatural phenomena that has not been tested on this turb, or that of Atsingani's. And you are free to say no. The task I ask of you is to guard three magi, myself, Andru leader of my House and Marcus of Tytalus, whom I met this past summer and have been corresponding with."
Mufarjj regards Apollodorus with some confusion, as he'd always thought Apollodorus to be a bit of a gentleman, a dandy. "Go on, I'm listening, tell me where we are going."
"I ask you to keep this discussion confidential" Mufarjj inclines his head, and Apollodorus continues, "First we go to Valnastium, via the portal in my pied-à-terre, then to Venice and then to an island in the southern Aegean..."
"Hmm... you may be right. For the others Ah've done, it was always their first Ritual and Ah may have unduly influenced them into mah style. Still, Ah cannot promise better results but shall endeavor mah best efforts into doing so. Ah am Princeps in Fall, should we try to do so this Winter?"
Ah! Then Ah will happily come by tomorrow morning... err, afternoon and see if your green Children will accept Freyja's blessing upon them."
Getting ready includes a trip to the washroom, where he finishes his preparations by casting Aura of Sensual Presence on himself and cleansing his hands and ensuring cleanliness of other parts. When they retire to the bedroom, he offers to help keep her privacy by laying a spell that mutes sound outside the room, and then asks her to lay on the bed and disrobe while he warms the oil. He himself shrugs out of the shoulders of his tunic so it hangs around his waist. He will begin, as most massages do, with her shoulders and back and will slowly progress towards the hopefully inevitable happy ending. The massage itself though takes ninety minutes.
((And.... I think I've elapsed my descriptive ability, or at least as far as I plan to, so unfortunately as the nerd I am we return to die rolls. -- ARGH - or we would, but Invisible Castle is still down))
Fiona thinks for a minute, then nods. [color=blue]"I believe that would work." She had hoped to learn Chirurgy from the doctor over the winter, but hopefully she will be able to do so in the spring, instead.
There's not a washroom per se; rather, there's the washbasin and the bathtub (and a chamberpot, in case). Fiona will watch him prepare, not intently but definitely curious. She will let him cast his MuIm spell as she disrobes, draping her dress over the back of the chair before she lays down on the bed to watch the Norseman. It's evident that Fiona has never had a massage before – not only is she uncertain how to lie where, but her entire body is so tense that it feels like it's about to snap.
Later, it seems to Jormungand that she is (possibly to his surprise) somewhat inexperienced. It will become evident, though, that it may be a good thing that he took the precaution of casting Sounds in an Enclosed Room before they got too friendly, as the half-giantess is rather vocal in expressing her pleasure. She also has a Stamina of +3, so she won't be wearing out any time soon.
Afterward, she will ask him if he will be staying until sunrise, or if he's going to be leaving.
Laetitia will corner Jormungand in private. "What percentage of your offspring have been Gifted?" she wants to know. "If any Gifted children arise from our dalliance, will you challenge me for the right to train the children? I don't mean to sound so... businesslike... but I am the Founder's own blood lineage, and if I train an apprentice of my own blood, I might mitigate some of my father's disappointment for how I've turned out."
If Jormungand indicates he'd be willing to let her keep as apprentices any Gifted children that result from their union, she'll pull out a contract she's drafted for this exact purpose and demand that he sign it.
Such a contract does need to be written out IC, and, an accompnaying roll to help establish how ironclad it is. Put the contract in the character sheet thread for Laetitia.
"As a Priest of Freyja, Ah control mah own fertility, maga, so Ah've only fathered three children. A Merinita asked me for something very similar to what you're proposing now, actually. Mah mater helped work that one out - a guaranteed vis payment whether the child was Gifted or not, with an addition if he or she was. Now that Ah think back, we did get an influx of Creo vis from a Redcap. Then Ingrid, who mah mater has claimed as her apprentice to continue the line of Vor Si'r, and lastly little Sophia, who's too young to really tell but Ah'm pretty sure she's not." For once, his lazy grin seems to falter when he speaks of his youngest daughter. He does a cursory read of the contract, but it's pretty apparent from his facial expressions that he has very little comprehension of the legalese in the document. If there is any sort of line about payment for his complete surrendering of his rights though, he signs and initials the contract without any haggling/requests for changes.
((OOC: go ahead and add Jormungand's "signature" to the contract. He signs: Asadon Jormungand filius Brynhyld Magus ex Miscellanea Vor Si'r Freyja))
Well, if you'll accept dice rolls off my phone, let's see how well he's able to help her relax: Prof: Masseur 1 + Dex 2 + Die Roll 8 = 11
He does seem a little surprised at first but just adds in more coaching, and asking for more feedback - well, more feedback until he starts getting it very loudly, and then he just grins. Oh, and about leaving... Heh... that requires being done by sunrise. Pre 3 + VB 3 + Sensual Aura 3 + Pheromones 1 + Carouse 4 + Sex 1 + Die Roll 6 = 21.
He expresses the need to leave, and the intention to leave, and spends the rest of the time in bed with her and drawing swirls on her skin with his fingers/cuddling.
She'll insist on explaining everything in the contract to him, but doesn't offer to pay him. "This says you won't claim any of our children as an apprentice unless I decline to do so myself. But you would have the right of claim next after me-- so I couldn't refuse to take our child or children as an apprentice but then give the child to another magus to train, if you wanted to train him or her yourself," she explains. "Also, see right here? You agree to let me have full custody of any children we have. And over here, this says that if I die or pass into Final Twilight before any of our children are adults, you agree to care for them and see to their education. And lastly, this part says that you're not going to press any charges against me or any of my staff, if you suffer any injuries or if there's any collateral damage to your property when we're... busy."
After he signs, Laetitia will blot the contract carefully and wait for the ink to dry, before sending Glaukopis out of the room and getting busy. What she lacks in skill she more than makes up for with enthusiasm.
"Woah, woah! Hey! Blessing! Blessing first! Wow! Okay fine, warm up first, then blessing, then the main act! This would be a lot easier in my lab..."
There really IS a ritual for the blessing, which mainly is a lot of chanting while sitting on a small dais, and then continued chanting through the application of rose otto (rose oil) to several "chakra" points, a brief smearing over the eyelids, lips, and lower lips, and completion with a flick to splash several more drops on your chest. He still casts Aura of Sensual Presence on himself, but more for the Pheromone side effect. Pre 3 + Pher 1 + VB 3 + Control Fertility 6 + Women 1 = 14 + Die Roll (If you please, Jonathan) against an Ease Factor 9 to "Ensure the conception of a baby" for one month, + one month for every 3 above the Ease Factor. It takes fifteen minutes (usually thirty, since he usually turns the application of the rose oil into massage, but Laetitia seems unusually eager/impatient in his eyes)
And then my usual Sex roll, which is 15 + Die Roll. ((OOC: Which seems so much colder when I just say it like that. ... sniff... sniff... I feel so used... ))
Looks like she might need a couple more sessions to finish working out the kinks of a quarter century of stress
Afterward, she will curl up against him. [color=blue]"Wow...so that's what it's supposed to feel like. I think I see the appeal, now."
The entirety of Fiona's gardens, for when Jormungandr comes over that afternoon for the blessing, is (ballpark figure) 200 ft by 150 ft, including her cottage in the center (which is roughly 60' x 30') – roughly 60m by 45m, or 80 paces by 60 paces.
Over the next few weeks and months (assuming that Jormungandr is willing to continue the relationship), he will come to learn that Fiona has no children, nor has she ever had any desire for any. [color=blue]"Look at me. Humans hate me because I'm giant. Giants hate me because I'm human. Not everyone," she says quickly as she places her hand on him to cut off his objection. [color=blue]"But generally, that's how people see me, for the most part. It was hard enough for me, I couldn't bear the thought of having my own child go through that as well. It's probably for the best."
She seems to feel a little awkward whenever the subject of Sophia comes up in conversation, and whenever she's around, Fiona will soon remember that she has to be somewhere else.
By the way dice rolls for inter character interactions are generally up to the players involved. I'll only step in if requested. In the event invisible castle is down the players can decide who rolls for what. I didn't mean to ignore this.
Shortly after Fiona returns to Mons Electi, she will knock at Apollodorus's door.
After observing the traditional social niceties: [color=blue]"I was wondering if I could take Ulrich to Valnastium during Autumn. I understand that they have some magnificent gardens, some maintained with magical aid, and it would be a wonderful opportunity for both of us to increase our knowledge of Herbam before travel there becomes more burdensome."
-- ARGH - or we would, but Invisible Castle is still down))
