"You ... wove this yourself?" Tranquillina repeats with a bit of wonder in her voice. She explores the linen again for quite some time. "I can't imagine doing anything by hand that's more complicated than writing a letter...."
"She's certainly quick to be friendly - sometimes a bit too quick," she confides, unconsciously putting one hand in front of her right breast. "But very forthcoming, and aye, extremely talented in her area of expertise. Very lofty ambitions, it must be said, very ... Verditius," she finishes with a sly grin.
((Aha, good point. So she wouldn't be quite so surprised - still admiring though.))
Tranquillina looks around again, as if anyone else would be in the library listening (or, for that matter, could understand them); then she leans in conspiratorially. "Viscaria and I were out exploring the plateau in the regio where the Tribunal is going to be held," she discloses. "This was the day we discovered that vis source in the salamander's cave, in that little pocket regio." The two Latin words jump out of the otherwise smooth Gaelic texture. "But at this moment, I was sensing something amiss with the aura, and was very distracted. Suddenly - for no reason - she jumps forward and pinches my right nipple!" She rubs herself with the heel of her hand as if the pain were still fresh.
Alexei coughs a few more seconds and wipes his mouth with a kerchief. After breathing heavily for another moment he smiles weakly. "I am told I shall recover from this...infirmity and then merely need to perform a new ritual. Korvin had already mentioned he would like to help, and...Tr-Tr-Tria? Tranquilana's guest, said I should contact Ra'am as that is a specialty of his." he pauses and looks at the pouch. "What is in there, pray tell?"
[color=blue]"Really," Fiona says as she looks at Tranquillina curiously. ((Per 0 + Folk Ken (Magi) 2 + die roll of 8 = 10, to see if Tranquillina is repulsed, offended, curious, intrigued, aroused, whatever, by that.))
[color=blue]"My herbalist's kit. Give me about three days, and I can brew up a potion that can help you get better, faster. Much like I did for Mufarjj a few years ago.
"By your leave, of course."
She looks at him critically. [color=blue]"Should you be up and around?" ((Int 1 + either Chirurgy (Diagnosis) 2 or Medicine 3 + die roll of 8 = 11 or 12; I'm thinking it's more likely Medicine, so 12.)) [color=blue]"Let's get you back to bed."
"My dear...I have been on more than three dozen campaigns. Broken seven sieges. Claimed the rival banners of fifteen who thought they were my better. I beat that fool Rotgers in the joust. After all that, do you think I wish to be in bed?" his stern expression changes and he chuckles softly. "Actually, now that I think about it, bed sounds lovely." he finally says and offers his hand so that he can be helped up. Helmut arrives to take his other arm and move his staff.
Fiona helps him up and guides him back to his bed, tucking him in and giving him a kiss on the forehead. [color=blue]"It will take me about three days to brew my potion, my friend, but I will check on you until them. Get well soon."
((Int 1 + Mythic Herbalism (potions) 4 + die roll of 3 = 8, vs. an Ease Factor of 9. I think a Confidence Point is called for, here, to jack that up to an 11.))
Fiona will check on Alexei daily, bringing him the healing potion (which adds +6 to his Healing roll) when it's done. It lasts a month, so she will bring him more every month until he's fully healed.
"To gain a place in the Folio of Terrible Etiquette, perhaps?" Tranquillina chuckles while shaking her head, in the manner of someone who with the passing of time has found humor in a genuinely shocking situation. "No - she told me she can naturally see through illusions ... apparently, I hadn't been careful with the arrangement of my actual cloak - just the visible outfit - and she spotted ... an opening." She leans back in the plush chair, summoning the footrest into position beneath her heels with a few waves of her hand. "I have a certain innate responsiveness to magic as well, but not to the point of discerning illusions without Intellego."
((By this time, is there still vis inside Fiona? Or has she used it up transforming herself?))
[color=blue]"Yes, that does seem rather rude. One should never grope someone without their consent, unless you're fairly certain that they'd be appreciative."
((So, I'm guessing Tranquillina doesn't seem to go that way, then. Viscaria, on the other hand....hmmm... ))
[color=blue]"Some people do seem to have that Ability."
((I think we decided that Fiona was going to convert them to gain the Venus' Blessing Virtue during Alips's initial visit, in the Summer of 1225. So, yeah, by this time it's been used.))
"Viscaria had reached the plateau by climbing along the guide ropes that Theraphosa spun. Yes, she climbed the entire half-mile span! She cast a Muto Corpus spell upon her hands, turning them into the gripping limbs of a spider, to aid her climb." Tranquillina waits a beat, making sure she has Fiona's attention for the next line. "That spell was still active, when she pinched me."
Ever since Tranquillina came to Mons Electi, she had frequently engaged Fiona in conversation, seemingly excited about a fellow Gaelic speaker; however Tranquillina gave off mixed messages about whether she wanted to become close to the giantess. Over the past year or so, however, the dissonance seems to have gone away, with Tranquillina acting more fully like a person interested in cultivating a friendship.
Fiona winces in sympathetic pain as her hand goes up to her own breast. [color=blue]"Ow. Definitely not a friendly grope, then. I'm glad it wasn't severely damaged."
She harumphs. [color=blue]"I would think I would remember that I had transformed my hands before I went to pinch somebody's nipple, even in play." She looks at Tranquillina. [color=blue]"You do think she just forgot, right? And didn't mean to hurt you?"
Tranquillina shrugs helplessly. "She did display a surprising degree of scatteredness - of leaping from one idea to the next before the last one was fully finished. Maybe she just forgot. Still a strange thing to do," she grumbles. "Do you have a notable Viscaria interaction?"
((Perhaps another day in the same season....))
"This tropaea is as interesting as you said it was," she grants with a wave of her head towards the enormous tome. "At first I thought it would be too unorganized and diverse, given the several volumes contained within; but Cannophori's cross-referencing really ties the works together. I'm more interested in the second tropaea, to be honest, and its descriptions of dysfunction and malady; but these positive descriptions of a well-functioning body in the first tome are useful as well. What are you studying these days?"
"Ah - seems appropriate, what with our unusual aura here." Tranquillina wanders past a few of the shelves. "Here's an interesting one. All the Plants of the World, and Their Various Abilities Mystic and Mundane. I've tried opening its covers a few times, but I have almost no idea what Richard Overfork is talking about.... Maybe I need to start with The Secret Lives of Our Verdant Brethren...."
Fiona smiles. [color=blue]"I'm not sure how much help The Secret Lives would be in understanding All the Plants of the World. The two cover related but vastly different subjects. Something like book on chirurgy and a book on Corpus. For example..."
She pulls All the Plants of the World, and Their Various Abilities Mystic and Mundane off the shelf and opens it to a random place. [color=blue]"The blackberry, when prepared properly, helps relieve pain, and the leaves dipped in spring water can heal scalds. The Secret Lives of Our Verdant Brethren, on the other hand, can impart knowledge to help you craft spells that can find another blackberry plant if you have a blackberry, or make the blackberry particularly potent against pain or scalds, or to bring a blackberry bush from a seed overnight."
She returns the tome to its place. [color=blue]"Both are vastly useful texts in their own way. But each distinct in its flavour of knowledge."
[color=blue]"I'm sure you have your...fields of interest as well?"
Tranquillina has, by this point, been around the covenant long enough to know that Fiona has a garden and spends some time puttering around in it.
Tranquillina is really happy that she happened to draw Fiona out a little bit. "Both seem quite interesting, although I'm sure I would have better luck with the spell-crafting one than the, ah, practical manual. Are these the sorts of remarkable plants you tend to in your garden?" She's hoping to phrase the question in a positive way, with a gentle inflection, that makes Fiona feel comfortable continuing the conversation. ((Com 3 + Charm 2 + stress die 7 = 12.))
Wandering back to the two giant Tropaea dominating one wall of the covenant library, Tranquillina grunts softly as she opens the second one to a random page as well. "Hmmm, a detailed description of the rapid stages of apa ... apoplectic, trauma undergone by the victim of Clenching Grasp of the Crushed Heart. Not a particular desire of mine to learn, although I suppose my training would make me rather qualified for such an endeavor." She leafs forward several chapters. "Here he uses Incantation of the Milky Eyes as his point of departure, but digresses into the physical symptoms of something called, Suffusio, which can be contracted quite mundanely by the overstimulation of tired or unhealthy eyes." Tranquillina closes the huge tractatus and returns to her chair; the effort of manipulating the grog-sized book even a few times seems to have taken its toll on the frail girl.
"There are so many maladies in the world - especially in our native land, with both its natural challenges to survival and its wild, oft-malicious fae. And I'm very - people are so susceptible to disease, unknowing prey to these untimely cuts through what should be life's long thread." She looks down at the side table, running her fingertips across the woven linen for a few seconds. "I would like to know whatever I can, about how our magic can guard against such unfairness," she summarizes softly. "Really, that's part of why my lab work at Le Maison - and its subsequent application - was so satisfying."
[color=blue]"Some of my plants serve two purposes, but I'd say about half is decorative and half is practical. Food tastes better when it's seasoned with herbs from your garden." Fiona smiles. [color=blue]"There are plenty of plants with magical properties on the Regio side, if you know where to look. I taught Sheelagh a couple of years ago...much more difficult than merely teaching Herbam or Latin."
[color=blue]"Have you considered making up a RegoAnimal spell to turn the pages, manipulate the book for you?"
Fiona says nothing in response to Tranquillina's comment about being susceptible to disease, etc, but merely files it away. She will, however, in the future, just happen to have some herbal tea brewed from plants with medicinal or healthy benefits on hand.
"May your garden be ever bountiful then," Tranquillina smiles in response. She's a little bit befuddled why someone wouldn't just use Taste of the Spices and Herbs on their food; but it's good to have hobbies.
"Aye, that was the first thing I thought of," she concurs ruefully. "But one mistake, one slip of Finesse, and I've just torn a page out of a possession of my new Tribunal. Didn't think it was worth the risk." Her tone makes it clear that she would much rather do things with magic than by hand.
[color=blue]"Thank you." ((Fiona has that spell, but when she uses it, it turns her food white. It was one of her earlier spells, before she quite figured out the tricks of making your casting sigil less obvious.)) [color=blue]"Perhaps some day you can come over for dinner. Moire usually uses herbs and spices from my garden. I'm certain I have a small plot of vegetables as well, so aside from the meat it will all be freshly-grown."
((For the most part, the rest of the conversation will be idle chatter. Fiona doesn't like to talk about herself much, nor say things which expose herself.))
))