[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.))
In the fall of 1224, Fiona takes a little break from her work in the laboratory and goes out into the woods to gather some plants, herbs, flowers, etcetera. She finds herself walking down a path that seems vaguely familiar...and then it hits her: the last time she was here, was with Laetitia and Alexei, when Fieltarn had gone missing. She thinks about that for a couple of minutes, then hurries back to the covenant (dropping off what little she had gathered at her cottage).
She tracks down Viscaria (the Aedilis), and asks if she can take a quick glance at the vis logs. Once she does, she thanks Viscaria and goes off in search of Alexei.
[color=blue]"Alexei...may I have a few minutes of your time?"
((I was going to be bringing this up as well with Vis and also the LR. Was Korvin going to do that? But the timing of this inquiry is well before he'd need the LR))
Alexei welcomes Fiona into his outer chambers. "What can I do for you this fine day Fiona?"
[color=blue]"I was out in the woods earlier today, and I stumbled across the path that we traveled a couple of years ago when we were looking for Fieltarn. And I had, honestly, complete forgotten about that hidden temple up there, with the regio that's only accessible a few hours every winter.
"I got to wondering what ever became of that place, because I seem to recall a few coins that were Vis...Creo, was it? And...did that vis source miss getting put in the covenant's ledger, or did it get registered at all, do you know?"
((If he's fine until then, sure. Just for review, if you have an aging crisis, your LR protects you and you don't take any of the effects of the aging, right? Mine was to get 1 point worse in a stat and get the Decrepitude))
"Yes...I remember those coins. I can't recall what became of them, I might have kept them as vis found on expedition though. I don't believe I kept all of it, we split it, did we not?"
((Winter, 1226)) After Alexei gets Fiona home after her little magical mishap, and after Fiona's explained to Sheelagh what happened (and that it was she that Sheelagh roughed up and threw out a day or two before), and as the transformed Fiona starts to prepare for bed, she gets an idea. She gets a blanket and wraps it around herself like a cloak (wearing nothing underneath) and makes her way to Korvin's quarters, where she knocks on his door.
You still get 1 point worse in a stat, and Decrepitude. The crisis is seperate from the aging and decrepitude event (it says "and Crisis"). The LR ensures that crisis is averted: the character survives the crisis, and the LR is spent. It's unclear in RAW, but I'm ruling that since the crisis is never overcome or tested and is averted by the LR, that the character doesn't need to rest for the remainder of the season. The LR essentially cures your illness and is "used up" in the process.
))