I never doubted that.
So we'll have to discuss it with carmen, and as much of the others as we can. Thing is, I think it's best if we keep this a secret from Vibria. This might cause her undue distress, and I fear she might be too swept up by her love for the Dragon to understand the necessity of ensuring our ability to defend ourselves against it.
Vulc ponders. "I think she loves having a sense of belonging and family, not the dragon itself," he muses. "We don't necessarily need to hide it from her-- she'll know something is going on when she sees you and me conspiring together-- but the important part will be to make sure that she's not placed in the middle."
Egon tosses his long black hair and clears his throat gently. "...And that we remind her that we are her family," he appends, with only a hint of admonition in his voice.
Arachne eyes vulcanus strangely, then nods
I defer to you in this matter.
"...What?" he asks suspiciously.
Just that. You say we should talk about it to her. If you say so, I trust your judgment in this.
After Vulc drops off Vibria at Sigmundo's cave, he returns to the covenant in a furor. He storms around the covenant, throwing things, smashing things, breaking things, slamming doors. He bellows out German-laden curses, the names "Sigmundo" and "Vibria" standing out here and there.
The next day, rumors abound... In short order, Vulc has seduced a chambermaid, one of the cooks, a scullion, and Egon's groom. All of them busty gingers.
Lucia is out and about in the covenant, running errands and killing time until Vibria returns from her mission the next day.
She spots Vulcanus glower trashing the place and yelling in whatever language he speaks. Men, she harumphs to herself until she catches the names Vibria and Sigmundo in his rants.
She hurries over to stand in front of him. [color=gray]"What happened?" she barks in adequate Latin (3). [color=gray]"Where's Vibria?"
The big German turns around and glares. "I don't know," he states with a false calm. "Wherever she wants to be, I imagine."
[color=gray]"So, you left her behind? At that dragon's cave?"
Lucia looks at some of the...collateral damage that Vulcanus has caused, and smiles. [color=gray]"Must have been quite the spat, if you don't care whether she's alive or not."
She turns and leaves, with a bit of a skip to her step.
The next morning, assuming Vulc isn't awake at the crack of dawn, Bernhard wakes him up. That Vocis guy is here and told me to wake you up. I think he brought a bottle of wine.
Vulc is snoring heavily, sprawled out between two very naked, very buxom redheads. He pries one eye open and scowls at Bernhard. "Vocis can fick right off, I'm..." he opens his eyes a little wider and looks at the window. "...Gottverdammt, it's late! I've got to get in the lab to work on Vib..." his voice trails off, and his face darkens. He looks up at his cousin with a whole lot of anger and just a little bit of sadness in his blue eyes. "Tell Vocis I'll meet him shortly in the studio. Don't... don't even bother stoking the forge, unless you want to work on something yourself. I'm taking the day off."
He pulls himself out of bed, gives a gentle kiss to Edith and a slap on the rear to Vera, pulls on a pair of pants and steels himself to meet Vocis.
Leading off this whole scene with a Guile roll...Com 1 + Guile 3 + spec 1 + roll 4 = 9
Vocis greets Vulc (presumably at the outside door to the forge) with a big smile. Good morning, sodalis. I see the rumors were true. I thought you might need a bit of a pick-me-up after such an exhausting evening. He holds up a bottle of something. Will you drink with me?
"It's a bit early for wine," Vulc says, but then a stormy look crosses his face. "But... Why not." He opens the door wide (without actually inviting Vocis in) and crosses over to the forge, where he pulls down a couple steel tankards, ornately wrought with hunting scenes. He plops down in a chair and tosses one of the tankards to Vocis. "It's been a long night," Vulc offers softly.
Vocis sits down across from Vulc. So I've heard. He pops the cork and pours dark red wine in both tankards. After swirling his a bit, he raises the tankard to Vulc and takes a drink. Looking down into the tankard, he says This may be the first time I've drunk wine from a steel tankard. He gives Vulc a half-smile. It may also be the last time.
He gives Vulc a chance to drink a bit, then says Want to tell me what's going on? Something tells me you weren't just feeling amorous last night.
Also, Vocis will try to get a read on Vulc's emotional state...Per 2 + FK 3 + spec 1 + roll 5 = 11
Can you give me the short version of where his head's at?
"It's never too late to switch to Deutscherbier," Vulc advises primly.
"No, I don't," he states flatly.
Ten seconds later, he is sobbing, head in hands, and mumbling incoherently in German.
He's distraught, confused, angry, and sad.
"Up his ass"
Vocis just lets him go, sipping his metallic wine. Bernhard comes in at some point and Vocis waves him off. Whenever Vulc gets under some semblance of control, Vocis is still sitting there, holding his tankard and staring into space.
Vulc eventually pulls himself together, and Vocis can tell that Vulc would normally be embarrassed by such a display of unmanliness, but right now he's too distraught to care. "I really thought she liked me," he mumbles miserably. Vulc picks up his right hand and flexes it. "See this hand? This hand wields that hammer, and that hammer makes magic items. As far as the Order is concerned, I AM this hand, and this hand is me. And I've grown to be fine with that, my work being my entire identity... it's why I pride myself so much on my craftsmanship. And, really, honestly, I'm okay with that. I make a beautiful sword, Stentorius tells me the sword is wonderful, I feel good about myself. But she... she was different. I made her a helmet, Scheiße, it wasn't even magical, and honestly it's disgustingly gaudy, I just thought she'd like it... but she looked at it, and she told me I'm wonderful." His voice chokes up with emotion. "I'd never, no one's ever, I just thought..." He sobs bitterly for a long minute, before wiping his nose onto his arm and going on. "My friends were right. She's just a whore. She was flirting with me, toying with me. I don't even know why. Maybe she wanted me to buy her things, or maybe she wanted a roll in the hay before she marries some other guy. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. It's not my concern anymore. I'll probably... I'll just..." He bolts up in his seat so quickly he knocks over the table. "I have to go."
"Gottverdammt mutterficken REGO TERRAM Stück Scheiße!" the muffled shout comes from within the workshop.
A few minutes later, there is pounding on Fedora's door.
Vulcanus can hear voices from inside, then the door is opened by a little boy, maybe 7ish, with snow white hair and ice-blue eyes. He looks up at the Flambeau, then goes running to the back, yelling "Mama! Mama! Odin iz masterov v dver'!"
Almost immediately, Fédora comes from the next room, her son (the white-haired boy) right behind. [color=blue]"Vulcanus!," she says with a smile as she motions him inside. [color=blue]"What an unexpected surprise. I hadn't thought to see you grace my humble abode anytime soon. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Vulc proffers his left hand, palm up. There lies an exquisite ring-- the biggest diamond Fedora has ever seen, with golden-wrought leafy vines wrapping around it, forming a ring. "The woman I had hoped would bear my children... she is promised to another. Vera and Edith tell me you won't ever love anyone but Semyon's father. You are a lovely woman and certainly deserve a much more romantic proposal than what I can muster, but... if we're both going to be unhappy for as long as we live, maybe we can do it together and perhaps make each others' pain a little more bearable. Fedora, will you marry me?"
Fédora looks at the ring, then up at Vulcanus, then back at the ring. [color=blue]"It's beautiful," she says, then holds up her hand so he can put it on her finger. (If he doesn't take the hint,she will take it from his palm and put it on, herself.)
She nods. [color=blue]"Yes, I will marry you. And I promise to you that I will be the best wife I can possibly be." After a moment,she will wrap her arms around him in a slightly-more-awkward-than-it-has-to-be hug.