Folk Ken check: Exploding Die for an explosion of two=4+1+3=8.
Caoimhe chickened out at the last minute and appears as Eireann. Love is the one luxury I cannot afford, she thinks morosely.
Her face looks perfect, no sign of the tears she's been shedding, and she has brought a dozen white orchids, a cask of sherry, and a small jar of honey. (what good is wealth if you can't give lavish gifts?)
"My lady. I took the liberty of making baseless assumptions regarding your tastes, in selecting gifts to bring you today." The flowers come out first: "A pauper's gifts," she explains with affected disdain, "as the bud's beauty pales in comparison to my lady's radiance." A couple sailors lug up the cask of sherry, and the extravagant gift of honey, she presents last. "And the honey, astonishingly sweet to any other palate, cannot compete in flavour to the sweetness of your own lips. But perhaps you will at least enjoy the sherry, as its virtue lies neither in beauty nor succulence, and thus is not diminished by its proximity to such an incomparable woman.."
Talia clears her throat.
She seems to be telling the truth.
Then she spies Eireann, coming down the gangplank with the first of her presents. "Ah, and my dear Eireann. An especially pleasant surprise."
((Both Talia and Eireann, make a Perception check and a Folk Ken check, please.))
Please roll for me, I'm out of town.
Perception check 5
Folk Ken check of 11
I'm going to spend confidence on the perception roll, so it could go high as 11.
Caiomhe's Perception Check: Per 0 + Awareness 3 + die roll of 1 (followed by die roll of 10, for a dice total of 20) = 23.
Her Folk Ken check: Per 0 + Folk Ken 0 + die roll of 5 = 5.
No confidence point needed – both of you pick up on the subtle emphasis on "surprise."
Caiomhe's awesome roll of awesomeness allows her to notice that, when Godiva first sees her, for a split second she looks happy to see her, then hurt, then she gets a stone-faced expression.
Godiva says nothing as Eireann extolls the virtues of each gift. When she is done, she says, "I see. Is this why you had to leave in the middle of the night? To ensure that the gifts were ready?" She does accept the orchids if Eireann offers them. ((By the way, did you pick orchids on purpose?))
"Yes?" Godiva says as she turns to Talia.
"Eireann has something of yours. I'll be blunt, because she's put me in an inconvenient situation. I am unsure as to your and your covenant mates intentions. I'm suspicious of possible motivations, and the explanation for not visiting Insula Canaria doesn't ring true. It may be that we are to have an adversarial relationship instead of a cooperative one. I do not know. I do not want the blame for us being enemies placed on me. Eireann took something of yours, as a memento. It was done for an innocent reason, and it was not done at my direction. I have enough trouble following me that I don't need to start brewing it at home. If it has already arrived, then I will face it with a clear conscience." Talia turns to Caiomhe, "Give it back, and if she wants you to have it, she'll return it to you."
((I did pick orchids on purpose. I hate when people give me roses, because no one puts any thought into roses, they're just a default go-to flower. Orchids are exquisitely beautiful, they take a lot of care and skill to grow, and they are quite delicate and must be handled gently. A lot like women.))
Caoimhe gives Talia a look that could make a cow squirt ice cream, before turning back to Godiva. "My lady, if we may speak privately...?"
((Assuming she grants the request...))
"I left before dawn out of guilt. You see, we met under a pretense, and I felt awful about it. I had hoped to return later, with my disguise shed, that we might know each other for who we really are." She takes out a tool from her pocket, that looks a bit like a putty knife. She places it at the base of her scalp, pushes through a layer of some kind of rubbery substance, and pries off the scalp cap beneath her wig. "I'm not a redhead, and my name is not Eireann-- the truth is, I don't even know my own name. The earliest I remember being called is Brigdhe, but that name was chosen for me by the old man who took me in off the streets when I was nine. Talia decided to intervene in my personal affairs because I took a kerchief from your vanity and placed it under your hair while you slept, that it might smell like you. I have kept it with me every moment since then, but she feared you would think it some sort of nefarious plot." She takes out the kerchief and presses it to her face for one last moment before handing it over.
So, nothing to do with the symbolism, then.
She does, and walks with her to her sanctum door, but doesn't invite her in.
"I knew you weren't a redhead," Godiva says with a smirk. "I'm glad you came back, and decided to come clean. I was wondering where that kerchief had gone, I thought I had just misplaced it somewhere. But..." she turns, "if you had wanted a memento, why didn't you just ask? I gave you my body, did you think I wouldn't give you a trifle like that?"
((Uhh... What symbolism?))
Caoimhe shrugs. "In my experience, physical sensations are easy enough to come by; genuine sentiment far less so. Have you not found the same?"
((The symbolism of luxuriousness, magnificence.))
((As well as beauty, love and virility. In the Middle Ages, orchids were used as an aphrodisiac and were the basis of love potions.))
"I've found that true feelings almost never are. People feel what they feel and think that they will feel it forever. It's only when you embrace the beauty around you, to allow yourself to see things as they really are, that it becomes a part of you, and thus gains a form of permanence. For example." She casts a quick spell, and reaches up to touch Eireann's face, strokes the long red hair that wasn't there a moment ago, then leans in to breathe the smell of her hair. "To me, you will always be a beautiful red-headed woman who shared my bed for at least a night. You will always be a part of me. How big, or how small, a part remains to be seen." Just as quickly, Eireann's hair disappears again.
"You are welcome to return, or to stay. As long as it is you who wishes to, not that someone else wishes you to."
((What a manipulative bitch.))
((didn't expect all the npcs to be nice, did you? 
))
((Let's just say that their total lack of response to Talia is more telling than anything I'd had so far.))
Caoimhe nods. "I would like to return," she replies simply.
Her face twitches. "I must ask, though... I've impersonated a man's wife of ten years, for over a month-- I slipped out and she slipped in, and he never caught on that his wife had been to Provence and back again. I've performed as Lector under the Archbishop of Canterbury, and not a single person in the cathedral had any idea I wasn't an ordained priest. How did you know I was not a redhead?"
((You do realize that Godiva wasn't the only person to come out to meet you guys, right?))
Godiva gives a playful smile. "I must have had a better view than that poor man," she says with a meaningful glance toward Eireann's nether region.
They haven't said anything, nor have they been introduced. And Talia just threw down, albeit nicely.
"The carpet doesn't always match the drapes, you know," she sasses back. "As for the woman's husband-- I just cooked as horribly as she did, and made no attempt to hide how bored I was in his bed, and he never saw any difference. Good thing the wife returned."
"Shall we go tell Talia you're satisfied she's not cooking up nefarious plots against her? She had that nude woman sniffing about my business over this. I do not like that woman one bit, and it'll be a relief if she never has reason to come back on the ship again."