"I was extremely surprised at what transpired, myself. But today's actions fill me with hope. You see, Valerian has proven himself to be weak and petty. He thinks his demonstration was meant to cow us, make us quake in fear, but it hasn't. And, finally, it illustrates that all is not well within the House of Guernicus. They have a monster that they cannot contain. Whether they know that, yet is another thing.
Fiona lowers her voice to little more than a whisper. [color=blue]"Do you feel that this tragedy may not have been entirely accidental?"
[color=blue]"Yes," she says in a more normal tone, [color=blue]"as a punishment for his tragic loss of control over his magic, he's likely lost his office as Hoplite and is being forced to serve the Inner Council at Magvillus. Little comfort to a grieving widow and miserable friends."
She looks down for a minute as she fights back the tears that have all but overwhelmed her for most of the last day. [color=blue]"You're right, of course. But the wound is too fresh for it to matter much. Maybe when some time has passed and I'm able to see things more clearly."
"I believe it was entirely purposeful. And you chose your words, well. 'Being forced to serve the Inner Council.' What does that say?"
[color=blue]"That they feel that...well, not exactly acting against their wishes, but taking matters too much into his own hands," Fiona says thoughtfully. [color=blue]"I have a feeling that what happened to Apollodorus, it was Valerian's doing, but that his masters weren't ready for him to act yet. It would...it may have happened eventually, but Valerian overplayed his hand. That's just a feeling, nothing that I would be willing to base a Tribunal prosecution, or even Wizard's War on. But from what we've read about Guernicus, if they were behind that, it would be incredibly sloppy of them. But the fact that they haven't gotten rid of him entirely, that tells me that they're not entirely angry with him. But they want to keep him closer, to keep him on a short leash, and to...guide him, perhaps, work with him so that he's not acting so rashly."
She smooths out her dress and sits down so that Marcus isn't craning his neck to look at her. [color=blue]"That makes me nervous."
"It should also make you realize that they aren't immune from making mistakes, themselves."
Fiona nods. [color=blue]"True. They're human, after all. They may make up an institution, one that's widely regarded as the cornerstone of the Order, but they're only human."
She thinks for a minute, taking in this new perspective. [color=blue]"By the way, does the name Mattheus mean anything to you?"
((from when Alips mentioned him earlier in the evening...does the name mean anything to Fiona? Int 1 + I'm guessing Order of Hermes Lore 2 + die roll of 5 = 8, or 9 if he's a magus from the British Isles.))
((bump, just in case this had a phantom post, too.))
"No, should it? Despite being from Normandy, and having lived her for the last 5 or 6 years, I'm still uninformed about some of the personalities of the Tribunal."
"No, should it? Despite being from Normandy, and having lived her for the last 5 or 6 years, I'm still uninformed about some of the personalities of the Tribunal."
[color=blue]"It was just a name I heard in passing, and it wasn't ringing a bell with me. It's probably nobody important."
She sits there rolling over everything in her mind, Marcus's observation that Praxiteles was more or less murdered by a Hoplite whose only punishment looked to be being more closely observed by those who had manipulated thousands of people over the centuries for their own power ploys, and the fact that one of the few women she might call "friend" lost the man she loves for no reason, and she finds herself crying again.
Marcus gives Fiona a hug, such that he can, rising up to her height and wrapping his arms around her as best he can..
Fiona returns the hug from her seated position, holding Marcus close until the crying jag peters out. It wasn't the first time she's cried herself out since that morning, and she doesn't think it will be the last.
[color=blue]"Marcus, can I ask you a favor?" she sniffles. [color=blue]"Can I stay with you tonight? I don't feel much like being alone."
"Sure, you can stay, but you'll need to shrink yourself down to fit into my bed." He pauses. "I usually sleep on the floor next to the hearth and Ignitio, so it's not a problem."
Marcus has a small cottage on the mundane side of the regio, that he built with his own funds/finances.
[color=blue]"That shouldn't be a problem. Thank you." When she gets to his cottage, looks around and compliments him on the place he's put together. She casts a spontaneous spell without fatigue[sup]1[/sup] to reduce herself to a "normal" size (about 5'5").
She lets her (now vastly oversized) clothes drop to the floor and casts another spontaneous spell to make a simple nightshirt[sup]2[/sup], already on her. She's not flagrant about it, in that she will try to not just stand there naked for him to gawk at, but she doesn't really mind if he sees.
Once they get ready to settle in, if he does look like he's going to take the spot before the fireplace, she looks at him. [color=blue]"Are you sure you don't want to join me? Just to hold me tonight?"
[hr][/hr]
[sup]1[/sup] Muto Corpus, base 3 to reduce her size by 2 (same as Preternatural Growth and Shrinking), R: Personal, D: Sun (+2), T: Individual, for a Target Level of 5. (She doesn't change anything else about herself, just her size). Her CT is Sta 3 + Mu 17 + Co 15 + Aura 3 (iirc) = 38 ÷ 5 = 8 to cast the spell without fatigue.
[sup]2[/sup] Creo Herbam, Base 1 to create a plant product, +2 for treated and processed, R: Personal, D: Sun +2, T: Individual, for a Target Level of 5. Her CT is Sta 3 + Cr 6 + He 10 + Aura 3 + die roll of 7 = 29, halved is 15.
"No, that's fine, Fiona. I rarely use the bed. I like the heat of the fire. If you need company on a platonic level, I can join you, but I'm not interested in any bedsports." The way he says any suggests that he just isn't interested in bedsport.
[color=blue]"No hanky panky. I'm just feeling...I don't know how I'm feeling, I just know I don't want to be alone, and I just want to be held. Nothing more, I promise."'
She scoots over to give Marcus room, then snuggles up against him [color=blue]"Good night, Marcus," Fiona says as she pulls the covers up over them and tries to get some sleep. She doesn't succeed. She cries off and on all night, and winds up dozing in fits and starts, not feeling rested at all when dawn's early light streams through the window and she has to get ready for the day (climbing out of bed before her spells wear off and performing her Parma ritual). Once she's dressed, she heads toward the portal and Valnastium to meet with Laetitia, set up a meeting for Alips and get her advice on making a Hermetic will of her own.
Fiona notices his lack of legs below the knees...
((Do you want to do full on RP or do you want to write a narrative of what happens next? I don't have any problem handing over Laetitia and Alips over to you for this.))
As far as Marcus (if that's what you mean), Fiona's noticed his lack of legs before, and it doesn't bother her. If, however, Marcus does seem interested (even if it's just his body betraying him), Fiona can be accommodating. But that's only if...she really would rather just cuddle, snuggle, and be held for once.
Laetitia and Alips and Fiona, we can just do a narrative if you want.
No, Marcus isn't interested...but lying next to her, she notices that he's only 3/4 of a man... 
In the morning she'll notice the important part is there, but well, that's a physiological thing.
I offer it to you, based on how you want to roll with it. I don't see anything game changing in that interaction.
When she feels him poking her (so to speak), she gives a little murr of half-awake delight and move against him a little bit. She then asks him if he wants her to take care of that. If he does, she will. (She suspects, given his stated lack of interest in any bedsports, that it's been a while for him, so if they do, she will be very thorough.). If he doesn't, she mentally shrugs and lets it go.