Cygna is not only scowling, but gracing Viscaria (behind her back) with an "Are you serious?" look.
Cygna's gaze turns to Azura, brows furrowed, as the Mercere introduces herself...and then she blanches at the phrase "official house business."
Nearly forgot. There's also a lot of astronomical do-hickeys in here. Astrolabes, astrolathes, astro-noculars, etc, etc.
That's a really interesting question. It's a desk, made out of talking plants, designed to follow you around like a lovestruck puppy....but she would have used Herbam or Mentem to make it....so, no, Animal Ken would likely not work.
Barking back at the doggedly loyal desk, however, does not work well either. The desk opens, and an armature extends out and pulls the book into a previously hidden drawer. The desk growls even more fiercely, and hunkers down like it is about to attack.
As Cygna checks out the antechamber, Amos lets loose with an unexpected sneeze, frightening the desk, who leaps out into the studio, and flees into the hallway. At the same time, Viscaria opens the window to the lab, and listens to an incredible bit of news from the grapevines.
The antechamber, incidentally, was Cersei's bedroom, and appears to only contain the wardrobe, and a bed meant for one. All her clothes are still in the wardrobe, including a rather lacy black number which Cygna notes with (no doubt) mixed emotions.
(Thus bringing us all relatively back to the same point in space-time).
Amos, whose nose has suddenly grown very purple, says in a congested voice, "Did we want that book?"
"Oh...my," Cygna thinks as she sees the rather scandalously revealing number. [color=red]"I wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like this," she mutters under her breath in Latin.
[color=red]"Probably," Cygna replies. She then notices Amos's purple nose. [color=red]"Are you all right?" (Just for giggles...a quick Awareness check to see if she caught the title of the now-hidden tome. Per 0 + Awareness (Sight) 3 + die roll of 9 = 12)
Amos seems to be allergic to something in here.
Book was open, so no title, but it looked like somebody's personal lab notes.
The color drains completely from Cygna's face as she looks from Azura to Ra'Am, a definite "deer in the headlights" look on her face. She will try a quick Folk Ken roll to see if she can tell if the Mercere and Bonisagus know each other (or have come together): Per 0 + Folk Ken (Magi) 3 + die roll of 4 = 7.
Her mind travels back to the last time that she had seen a Bonisagus and a Mercere in the same place...two years ago, in a grove some distance from Riversedge. The grove where Riversedge had, for longer than she could remember, harvested Perdo vis from the first lightning-struck tree of the spring. A grove where the ungifted Mercere "maga" Aurora lay bound and helpless in a magically-induced slumber on a makeshift altar, until the diabolic Bonisagus Adorjan Megidézó sliced the raven-haired woman's cheek to wake her up. Cygna had looked on in growing disbelief, motionless, paralyzed with indecision as Adorjan mocked Aurora's helplessness, likening it to the travesty the Mercere perpetrated on the Order by claiming the title of "maga," and promising to carve out the cancer that she was upon "true" Hermetic magi of power everywhere. It was as Adorjan raised his dagger high that Cygna finally decided that there were things that she was unwilling to do in pursuit of power and threw herself at Adorjan. The diabolist had flung her aside as though she were still a child, then plunged the blade into Aurora's breast. Cygna had fled in panic, hoping to escape Adorjan's wrath. She knew that Aurora was dead...she could hear Aurora screaming, could almost feel the sickening sound of the blade parting flesh again and again until the screaming stopped. She had paused at the edge of the grove just long enough to strip out of her robe and become her heartbeast, taking wing to her covenant, where she would confess to her dominae all that she had done in pursuit of power under the unofficial tutelage of the Bonisagus, shown the powerful Mentem specialist all that she knew, and set in motion the chain of events that would result in Adorjan's being cast out and subsequent execution.
"You didn't honestly think you would be able to escape your fate forever, did you, child?" the shade of Adorjan says with a triumphant chuckle. "Your simpering, protective mater could not shield you forever, could she? Even a naif such as you should realize that they have determined that you are just as responsible for what happened as I was...and that since Grus was responsible for your actions as her apprentice, she has also come to share my fate." Adorjan grins. "Oh, how I wish I could have been there to see her suffer...to hear her beg for her life...to offer you up in exchange for mercy never granted." The specter’s triumphant laughter threatens to overwhelm Cygna, before she turns and runs down the hall.
"Pleased to meet you," Ra'am says while taking off his hat and bowing in return. Since he is now indoors, the hat seems a bit superfluous now, so he cinches it in his belt.
"Yes, I did say cherub. Or perhaps it was seraph, my study of the Kabbalah is a bit recent, and the heirarchy of angels eludes me at the moment. Definitely angelic, or at least that's what it wanted me to believe. There was a fallen one there, too. I'm sure he was fallen. A most unpleasant looking individual with a thin mustache and goatee. They talked as if they knew each other, but not aggreably. The angelic seeming one mentioned His Grace. Or did I say that already? I'm still bewildered. Where am I? Is this Phoenix?"
"Hey, who was that? She seems familiar somehow...
An awareness check of Per 0 + Aware 0 + die roll of 8. I figure it's an average check, and that he's so close that she seems familiar, but can't recall from where. If it should be a higher ease factor, I'll adjust accordingly.
(Umm. Wow! 
)
The Mercere looks puzzled for a moment, and after a brief hesitation, apologises to the room. "Please excuse me. Someone should make sure that-- whatever her name is-- is okay." She turns and hurries to the hallway Cygna disappeared down, but then pauses and pops her head back in. "By the way? If I die in this regio, can someone make sure my bag here gets to Corazon? Redcap, camped out with a couple men-at-arms and aides, about a league northeast. Thanks!" She then jaunts off to make sure Cygna is okay.
Terrence, who'd been stunned into silence by all the activity, two magi and a maga suddenly appearing chases off after Cygna. (OOC: completely forgot about him, until just now.) If the halway is too narrow and he ends up running over Azura, he'll profess profound apologies in Latin but protecting Cygna is more important. Athletics 3+1+Dex 1 +Die roll of 8=13. Dodging Azura is Athletics? 3 + Dex 1 +die roll of 3. So if it's average, he does it, although it may not be necessary given that 13 to dash after Cygna.
"Is it wise that we split up?" Ra'am asks the rest of the party. "It appeard she was looking at me, and I don't wish to be the cause of any discomfort, but I have a bad feeling about her running off like that. Let's proceed down the hallway, and I'll stay in the back." Perhaps Ra'am's age (he looks mid-forties) will suggest that he's a more experienced magus than he is, and the assembled party will defer to his suggestion. He'll usher people to go down the hall to the best of his ability.
After Cygna, Azura and Terrance bolt out the door, Viscaria addresses Ra'am.
"My apologies, Master Ra'am. You are indeed in Phoenix Manor, which is in a regio that seems to mimic Cijara Manor, but not the lands around it. Outside these walls, you'll find much that is unusual, particularly if you are a fan of architecture as I am. It is about mid-morning, or just past on (the day Ra'am arrived), about three days since I arrived, and two days since the others have.
I wouldn't worry about our friends. The Warders and Vintners are supposed to be excellent at keeping the undead from our doors.
"I know less about angels than I know about golems. They are categorized, I presume, and this being you met was somehow definable in your brief(?) Interaction with it? Wait, did you say you saw a demon on the grounds?"
"Please, just Ra'am, I've net yet taken an apprentice, so that term isn't appr] Ra'am says quietly "Yes, Claudia told me about the Warders and Vintners, they are intriguing. A bit outside my area of expertise, but interesting nonetheless." Ra'am contemplates their nature a moment before changing subjects.
"Well, the being certainly seemed angelic, and there were a host of ghostly creatures about. And there was another being there, although I'm not certain, I'd have to guess that he's a fallen angel of some sort. You'll have to excuse me, my religous heritage is a bit different than most Magi or Maga, and so my understanding of demons is a bit different than the normal Christian sensibilities."
"Not only that, I am weary for nearly a month of travel to get here, so my mind may be playing some tricks on me. So much there happened so fast. I came up steps over there." Ra'am points to where he came into the room. OOC, I couldn't figure out if the steps were actually there or if they disappeared once he'd entered the room. "She, the angelic creature, grabbed me by the arm, and though we don't take confusion as Christians, I wanted to confess all my sins to her.
Ra'am wraps his arms around his staff and holds it next his body and leans on it a bit for support while changing subjects,"Claudia told me much about Cijara/Phoenix. Have all the sancta been discovered, yet? Is there perhaps one available for me, or will I have to build one from scratch? I'm of course excited to get into a lab. Typical Bonisagi magus, I guess. I've been without an adequate lab for a few years."
"So, you have the plans for a Bookstand of Hespera? They are fascinating. All my parentes have one, made by a most excellent artificer, Pinarius. He's of your House, too. He lives in Astolat, where my first parens is, in the Stonehenge Tribunal. Maybe we could make an arrangement and trade some services after you make one for yourself, you could make one for me?" Ra'am doesn't know it, but his parentes switched out a book for the bookstand as a covenant warming present to him. Viscaria and any other Magus present (Heims?) should get the sense that he could go on and on about subjects he finds interesting and is likely to bore them to tears if they lets him continue.
As if suddenly remembering there's an element of danger here, ""Right, then. Enough of that. Shall we go after them? Is there some other place to go to explore? I'm not at all familiar with the demesne." While chatting with Viscaria, Ra'am has been looking about the lab. "Fascinating lab, it appears to be dedicated to Mentam and Herbam. I suppose that makes sense with talking grapevines." One should get the sense that Ra'am finds anything magical fascinating to some degree.
"You arrived via the wine cellar beneath this sanctum? Through a sort of divinely tranquil prison complex? This fallen angel you met, was he being tortured by the angel? Oh, I wish Terrance hadn't run off. He was the only one who met her.
"I was not raised to follow a mortal religion, either. My family treated angels and demons....differently, and my pater had yet another far different attitude towards them, although I am assured he has never met any.
"As for the sanctae... sanctums?...sanctii?...as for selecting a sanctum, I am told Phoenix Manor is as large as Cijara Manor, but has no servants residing on this side. Only magi seem to reside here, though my forge-companions are now here as well. But there is ample space, without even considering the city beyond the manor walls. I located a sanctum by accident a day or two ago, in the extensive caves below the manor. Hiems has chosen the ruins of another, in a tower out on the grounds. We now stand in Cersei's lab, which Cygna seems to have taken a liking to, but has not claimed.
" We have yet to explore the Lannister brother's lab. I know little of Tyrion's arts -- though somebody had to be the Aegis caster around here, and it wasn't Senior Jaime --, I can tell you Tyrion was well-liked by the humiliores. There is also another lab upstairs, though I have no idea who that belonged to. Claudia has been instructed to build additional labs specifically for Vis Extraction, Familiar Binding, and Longevity Rituals, but could defer those tasks for more pressing ones, should the council approve.
"Yes, I acquired the plans for one, and the grapevine need to be harvested anyway. Apparently, I am not the first to see the potential synergy they offer to such a construction. Oh, which reminds me! We should look for Cersei's lab notes! If she has made one, and we can decipher her notes, it would give fascinating insight into the endeavor.
"If you wish to pursue our friends, then by all means, but I am going to stay here and look for those notes."
"Yes, if I was interested in either art before meeting the grapevine, I would naturally gravitate to the study of their union."
"Ahh, I think you misundestand me. I'm Jewish."
"I'd be happy to assist. It seemed my presence caused Cygna some discomfort. She seems so familiar. Do you know where she's from? Switching back to assisting Viscaria, he says barely above a whisper, mostly to himself, "Now if I were a lab text of an item, in a lab devoted to a Mentem expert, I'd be...over there. OOC: MT 8+2 +Int 3 +die roll of 3 =16 should beat a Very Hard ease factor, and assuming Cersei set up a lab within a rational understanding of Magic Theory should give Ra'am and Viscaria a good starting point to start to look.
"I have interests in all Magic to some degree, however, my interests are primarily in the Arts of Creo, Rego and Auram. Perhaps, after we find this lab text we could go up to that upper level lab? A lab on an upper level has some appeal to me. And while Cygna has not claimed this lab, she has shown an interest, and that is sufficient for me to move on, since there's little here I find interesting, and would likely have to spend so much time recreating it from scratch that I'm better off looking for something more suitable."
"Oh, I see! says Viscaria, who clearly doesn't. "Did that make it difficult to make friends when you were little?"
Viscaria twirls his finger through a lock of hair as she considers.
"I think she's from Le'Ingles. She keeps asking people /DoyewspeakIngles/, but no one understands her. I've never even heard of it before. Cygna would know. She's very good at remembering things.
[Ra'am finds the lab exceedingly well organized, and figures that the previous occupant would probably keep her notes in some sort of cursorily safe hiding place, perhaps protected by a magic item that serves some other useful purpose -- judging by her heavy usage of astronomy equipment, she probably likes it best when security is achieved through a harmonious conjunction of already-relevant factors.]
"If I were Cersei, I'd keep them under my bed, so I could rub 'em against my...cough while dreaming of all the slaves I'm gonna make," comments Viscaria, rudely.
"Sure! Tyrion's lab was just closer, and we know where it is. Apparently, nobody but Warders and Vintners has been up there since The Accident, whatever that was ."
When Viscaria says that, he pauses to consider her more carefully. "Ahh, you must be of fae blood? Were you also raised by them? Here in the mundane world, there are many relgiions, though the Church is the most powerful here. Perhaps, you could compare it to the different fae, how each has different power in their realms. Does that make sense? It is, perhaps an imperfect analogy, but I'll confess my knowledge of the fae is nearly nil.
"Hold a moment. Did you say ENG LISH? Do you happen to know the name of her former covenant? I apprenticed for a time at a covenant in the Stonehenge Tribunal, and then for a time with the Stonehenge Tenens Occultorum.
Ra'am asks Viscaria in an entirely detatched and academic tone, "So, she was obsessed with self-pleasure or slaves, or both? In any event, I'd guess that the lab text is hidden by magic and will likely require many seasons of investigation to discover. And since you already have a lab text, it probably isn't necessary.
"Would the accident have anything to do with Claudia? Raoudha said she'd lost her gift in an accident. And we can certainly proceed to Tyrion's lab if it is closer. I'm not sure we'll find anything here, and it might be better to let Cygna discover these things for her self, no?"
[OOC: is Viscaria hermaphroditic?
It's a serious question, want to be sure you're meaning to send me mixed signals.]
(Not a hermaphrodite. I've been typing in my responses via an Android 2.2 phone for the last week, which made correcting mistakes a pain. Today, I have a real computer)
Glad you like it...I try on these things.
Cygna would probably have gone the easiest route, with fewer people between her and the doorway (and away from Ra'am and Azura)...which, I think, is back the way she came. In which case, she would continue through the studio and into the courtyard, where she will stand and look around for a minute to get her bearings before taking off again. Presumably Azura will catch up to her just outside Cersei's sanctum.
Assuming that Azura will approach, greet Cygna, or otherwise make her presence known, Cygna will spin to face the Mercere.
[color=red]"Why are you here?" Cygna asks; it's hard to tell if her voice is more filled with anger or panic.
(Folk Ken roll of 14 to try and figure out why Cygna is upset... Though if it is considered a stressful situation (?) it is not a botch.)
Azura grins lopsidedly. "Why am I here?" The maga points to the ground beneath her feet. "Because I was worried about you and wanted both to make sure you were okay, because you seemed upset, and also that you remained that way, since you went off alone in an unfamiliar regio." She glances at the grog whose name she doesn't know, standing there stupidly. "Well, mostly alone, anyway.
"Why am I here?" Azura gestures around at the antechamber they are standing in. "I am here for purely magnanimous purposes, as I have a proposal for your covenant which, if accepted, will provide you with a great deal of power and prestige. Though do not mistake "magnanimous" for "altruistic," since the arrangement I came to propose benefits me personally more than it does any of you individually. I'm not in the business of doing charity, you know.
"Why am I here? I'm from Iberia originally, and the Rhine gets too bloody cold. Plus this was one of two tribunals that lack a Gifted Mercere, and if the Rhine is too cold, Novgorod makes it look like a summer on the Amalfi coast by comparison. Why am I here? Because Hermetic magic won't carry me to the heavens. Why am I here? Because my father is a handsome bastard who could charm the pope out of his funny hat, and my mother was a beautiful woman who didn't know how to say no. Why am I here? Essentially, because I love the sound of my own voice!
"Now, why are YOU here, off by yourself, in an unfamiliar regio, when you've just been introduced to the cleverest and most charming Mercere in the whole Order (that might sound arrogant but really there isn't much competition, at least among those Gifted among the House), and didn't even offer your name, or accept any of the most wonderful lemon cake I brought with me, which came all the way from Harco, and is only very slightly squished."
Absolutely nothing. Which is surprising, given that we're apparently supposed to know about them. But how could we, since we just arrived?
Hiems ponders a little Ra'am's words and story. There seems to be potent supernatural forces at work here, possibly a war brewing on, and he just wants to be left in peace. He feels weary, and devoid of energy. But somewhere inside him, a cold fragment of ice hardens itself, and won't be pushed around. He thus won't trust these easily, either.
He'll put himself somewhat remote from the other magi, leaving them to their social interaction, watching and listening to them. This makes him too uncomfortable, especially as they seem to be quite talkative and sociable.
[OOC, I'm trying to remember to pick a different color for my text, to make it easier to sort out with multiple conversations taking place. I generally default to the solid red, but a quick review shows Peregrine_Bjornaer has been using that for Cygna, and I'd been using a green for Terrence.]
Ra'am didn't respond to the young man right away, but as Heims appeared to shrink into the corner and observe the interaction between Ra'am and Viscaria he'll finally introduce himself. "You, there, my good man. I don't believe we've been introduced. I am Ra'am ex Bonisagus, pleased to meet you. I never caught your name," he inquires gently. Ra'am appears a bit odd for a Bonisagus, inquisitive about all things magic to be sure, but also having some of the charm one would expect of a Jerbiton, or at least trying very hard to be charming. "To answer your question, I didn't know you were so new here, too. I've only been here a few hours, myself. Last thing I knew it was nearly sundown when Claudia was leading me to the council chambers, and I couldn't keep up and somehow got lost and ended up here. I have no idea where Claudia is. I do hope she is alright."
After getting the greetings from Heims, he'll inquire further, "So, Viscaria here is looking for some lab notes for a Bookstand of Hespera, made of the grapevines, that we just saw take off out of here. Where do you think those notes would be? I think they're secured with some magical means, and it will take a while to unlock the secrets of this lab. What do you think?"
OOC: I'm not sure I take your meaning from the phrase quoted below. I might be splitting a hair here. Does it mean that Ra'am can see the room as it was described previously, including the doors to armoirs being opened with contents visible and should therefore be able to deduce something? Descriptions are split apart, so I might be missing something here, as a player, and I'll reread the entire thread if you say there's a clue there. Is Ra'am getting an impression that it might be some combination of self-pleasure and astronomical factors? That's the impression I'm getting.