"I understand. I'm sure she wanted to, too. Maris tends to skip over steps. Ends justifying the means, remember? Rose is also a bit older than you, and Maris probably it was time. And then there's the baby-making aspect. Tremere are interested in how the Gift manifests, most magi don't procreate, so getting two Gifted indivudals to copulate probably increases the chances." Tria regards Ulrich, "But I don't think you're being honest with yourself. On the one hand you've been wanting to stick your member in any girl you can, and the moment you do, you have regrets and wish the first time had been special, most males your age can't wait to do it again and again. The partner may or may not matter. You seem to be fixated on Rose being your first, and not thinking about your next."
[color=green]"Why is that? I would think if two magi loved each other, or liked each other enough, they would."
Ulrich tries to hide his surprise at this seeming, if not blessing than acceptance, of his libido. [color=green]"You're right. It's like they say, when you fall off a horse, you have to get right back on again. I've been looking, but it seems like all the girls are avoiding me now. I just have to keep trying, as long as it doesn't interfere with my studies."
He looks up at Tria. [color=green]"Domina? When she left, Rose told me to beware the ghosts that will do to me what she did that night. What did she mean?"
"It does happen from time to time, but usually most magi are too busy studying or doing whatever it is they want to do to settle down and start a family. There are a few who do. And then there's Ra'am who had a family before or during his apprenticeship."
"Yes, well, don't hump anything like a dog. You're going to become a magus of the Order of Hermes, and you wouldn't want your lechery to be your calling card, would you? Why I hear that there's a female Tytalus who has a ship and her crew of men are all quite attractive and she takes a different man to her bed each night, sometimes more than one. Would you like to be compared to her? Just something to think about.
In response to the ghosts Tria says, "The ghosts of Phoenix are visceral creatures that manifest easily and can affect this world easily. There are some there who would use your passions and consume them, and you, in the process. You must gird your loins, so to speak, drawing in your desires to hump anything that moves. However, I think the opportunities for that will be limited. Ra'am's suite is warded from all but the strongest ghosts, and they are, generally, not antagonistic. You'll be staying in Abigail's room, I'm sure, and when not you'll be working in the lab or being taught."
Ulrich resumes his lessons for the rest of the season, and in what little free time he has, he will try to mingle, meet girls, see what happens, get back in the saddle so to speak. He still does what Tria advised every morning and night, and in fact has figured out a spontaneous spell to duplicate what she did to his hand that first night (rather easy, actually). Not being particularly picky (if they're cute, talk to him, and seem to like him, he'll give it a go), but he will try to be discreet. As moving day draws closer, he may start to get a little more desperate (at least once more before I leave! he hopes).
But he will be packed and ready to go when Tria tells him to be.
While the girls are not disinterested, he can never quite seal the deal, his Gift always seeming to get in the way.
His studies continue, and he's learned to lie rather well, but Tria once again admonishes him to not use these against Ra'am, as he has knows the same spell Tria demonstrated, which can easily discern truth from falsehood.
A few days before the winter solstice there is a huge commotion in the covenant as people begin readying for a feast and celebration, nothing this grand seems to happen at Mons Electi. The magi come together and work a ritual casting together and walk around the border of the covenant, and he knows that this must be an Aegis casting. Afterwards there is a huge feast and everyone partakes and Ulrich spies rose not far from Maris. After an hour or so of feasting the magi depart at a signal from a huge man with red hair who talks rather funny. When Maris has left, Rose comes to Ulrich, "I'm sorry for what happened. My mistress has a some motivations I don't understand. When I came back to you that night in your quarters, I wasn't quite myself. I mean, I wanted to, but I wasn't me then, if you understand. I think Maris compelled me to do it with her magic, though she didn't really have to work all that hard at it. I like you, Ulrich, and I'm sorry what she- what I did hurt you."
[color=green]"It wasn't your fault, Rose, it was Maris's, for forcing you to do it. I mean, if I heard you right, you probably would have anyway, I hope. I just wish I could have seen you again, since then. And not just because I wanted to...be with you again like that, as much as I would have enjoyed that. I just would have liked to have spent time with you, so we could have gotten all this straightened out before I had to leave, and we could have been friends. I mean, we can still be friends anyway, right? Anyway, if you want to sit with me and we can talk for a while. Even if we do nothing else, let's at least do that. Ulrich is trying to let her know that he is interested in being with her again, without being a perv about it. He will pull out her chair for her, sit next to her as close as he can, let his leg rest against hers if she lets him, and talk about stuff. And at some point during the conversation, he will (hopefully) casually mention that he was glad that his first time got to be with her.
Even if he doesn't get to relive that magical time with her, before he leaves her he will create another rose, this time of Year duration ((Base 1, +1 Touch, +4 Year, for a Spell Level of 10. Cr 6 + He 12 + Sta 2 + Aura 5 + die roll of 1 (followed by a die roll of 9, for a dice total of 18) = 43, halved is 22.))
[color=green]"Something to remember me by," he says as he gives it to her with a kiss. [color=green]"This one will last longer than the other, but still not as long as it should. Only a year."
(Don't you need a Ritual for Year duration?)
((Only a moon duration, year long durations require vis and a ritual.))
"I have a bottle of wine and a bag of goodies, leftover treats from the feast. If we go back to your quarters, Maris can't get to me. And Tria said something in passing to me the other day that suggested I do this. It was innocent, but I think I caught her meaning. Maris probably did, too, but she doesn't dare leave the council meeting, and by that time, we're in Tria's sanctum. We can be together until morning."
((Well, poo. Nice thought, though...even if it is merely a rose.))
Ulrich smiles and accompanies her back to his room, where they enjoy wine and the leftovers. Before they get too far, he will make sure that it's actually her desire and no kind of compulsion this time (just to be on the safe side), after which they will have a thorough and repeated good time, Ulrich feeling like he can't get enough.
In the middle of the night, long after the pair of young lovers have exhausted themselves, they hear shouting in the hall outside the door. Tria's muffled voice can be heard, "Leave it alone, Maris. You opened the door to this, and I'm closing it." Another voice says, "Tria, I want my apprentice back, now." To which Tria responds, "She's not working in your lab tonight anyway, leave them alone. Try not to control everything, and just focus on yourself. Yes, I'm depriving you of your magic for this evening. Are you even going to try and prosecute this? Now, what with all that's happened? Prospero will have you out before the sunrises, with Wizard's War declarations following at the next full moon." Maris responds, "Very well, Tria, but only because you'll both be gone in the morning." "No, Maris, that's not the reason, and you know it. You know that what you did was wrong, and while you may have been correct ultimately, the ends do not justify the means. You need to give Rose some space. She may be an apprentice, but if you want her to be a maga of your caliber you need to let her stand on her own."
Rose breaks the conversation, "C'mon, lover, I'm tired of listening to them," and she proceeds to distract Ulrich and herself from the voices outside.
At sunrise, there's a banging on the door, Tria calls out, "Ulrich, be in front of the manor with your things in 20 minutes."
[color=green]"Yes, Domina," he replies. Good think he was already packed and ready to go. He dresses quickly, leans down to give Rose a good-bye kiss, murmurs that he wishes they had time for one more. He takes the rose he made, tucks it behind her ear, gives another kiss.
[color=green]"Thank you again for...well, for everything. For a few weeks ago, for last night, for this morning. It was everything I'd always hoped it would be and more. I will write when I reach Phoenix, and as I can. I will miss you, and I truly hope that I will see you again, sooner rather than later." He looks around quickly, whispers [color=green]"Um...you might want to wait a couple of minutes after me before you leave, just in case your domina is still angry." He then dashes out the door to join Tria.
((I'm inclined to say Ulrich doesn't have the Lecherous flaw anymore and instead has True Love. The inner lecher in me would be, I'm so good even her mistress couldn't keep her away.))
Tria and Ulrich make their way to a grotto about 10 miles from Le Maison, inside it is incredibly loud and the wind is pummeling the pair, until Tria utters a spell that sounds like it might be a Perdo Auram spell, suddenly the scene changes and Ulrich's bottom half is under water. Tria reaches out her hand and grab's Ulrich. "Get read, and hold your breath for as long as you can." When Ulrich indicates they're ready they descend entirely below the water, the scene flashes and a few moments later Tria begins pulling Ulrich up, his head breaches the surface of the water, and he's standing waste deep in extremely warm water. Before him is a room with a table carved from the very cave and a tall young woman with brown hair and brown eyes with child bearing hips, but a small bust. "Welcome to Phoenix, Aunt Tria and Ulrich. Father's in the lab, I'll escort you when you've dried off."
((Did I not leave enough to bite onto here?))
((I can see that. It might take a bit for him to realize that he's Truly in Love with Rose, seeing as how he doesn't know if he's ever going to see her again. I can see him keep trying to score for a few months, but not obsessing about it like he did before. And if/when he does make it with someone, it's...just not the same, he feels bad about it afterward, keeps thinking about it and why, even when he's with someone else he's thinking of Rose, before it finally clicks.))
Ulrich's initial reaction when he's pulled under water and comes back up again is Crap! All my stuff!, followed almost immediately by Why is the water so warm? That's not me, is it? Oh, good, it's not.
He smiles at their hostess, liking what he sees. Nice. Not Rose, but nice. [color=green]"Thank you," he says. He will try to spont a PeAq to dry him and his stuff off ((Base 4, no mods for R: Personal, D: Momentary, T: Individual, near as I can tell. He has no Perdo or Aquam, so it's Sta 2 + Aura 5 + die roll of 3 = 10 ÷ 2 = 5.))
((edit: Rereading theh True Love description - if Rose is roughly on the same power level as Ulrich, whether as Apprentice (does he know much much longer she'll be an apprentice?) or as a Maga, wouldn't that be a Minor Flaw?))
"Ulrich, I'm Elizabeth, Ra'am's daughter. You may have met my sister, she's Korvin's apprentice, but I know Korvin's been busy, and he's opening her Arts, so maybe not. I'd ask how the trip was, but I've done it before, when we were at the Normandy Tribunal last summer, Tria was kind enough to bring us that way, rather than father's flying carpet. At least when you come this way the water is warm when you finish the journey." She escorts Ulrich and Tria up several flights of stairs into a large suite, a woman, looking roughly the same age as Tria gives her a hug. She introduces herself as Regina, Ra'am's wife. Elizabeth interrupts briefly with, "I'll go get father out of the lab." She leaves and returns shortly with a middle aged man with slightly gray hair at the temples.
"Tria and Ulrich, I'm glad you've made it, I've just discovered the most fascinating thing... whereupon he's cutoff by Regina.
"No one wants to hear about that now, dear. You can talk about it later. A rather large breakfast is laid out, let's enjoy it, and then we can chat." Elizabeth Regina and Ra'am each go over to a ewer and ritualistically wash their hands and then while drying them speak what sounds like a prayer, but in a language Ulrich doesn't recognize. Afterwards they go over the table and Ra'am recites a prayer over the bread. Regina then says, "There, we can eat and talk now. So Ulrich, tell me about yourself." Her question is full of curiosity, but suggests she knows something about him already, just wants to hear him speak about himself.
When they finish washing, but before leaving, Ulrich gestures to the ewer. [color=green]"Should I...?" he asks.
Ulrich glances over at Tria for permission before speaking, as he doesn't know how much she wants the mortals to know about him. When (presumably) she nods her approval, he begins.
[color=green]"I'm fourteen, I think, and from the Alps in Tyrol originally. My dad raised me by himself, out in the woods. Never knew my mother, I think she died when I was a baby, and I didn't have any brothers or sisters growing up. I helped my father out as best I could, but there's only so much a kid can do, even if..." He sighs, then continues.
[color=green]"When I was growing up, I always had the feeling that Father blamed me for Mother's death somehow, but looking back, that might have been the effects of the Gift acting. About five years ago, Silviatos found me, there in the woods with my father. Silviatos talked with him for a good while, while I had to wait inside. When they were done, my father came inside and told me that I was leaving. I didn't know what was going on, and still don't. Anyway, I went with Silviatos to his covenant in the Rhine Tribunal, a chapter house of Durenmar, I think, and was there for a couple of years until he came to...went to Mons Electi.
"He wasn't there even a month when he left. He simply said that he had some 'personal business' to take care of and that he'd be back in a few weeks. That's been, what, two years now?" He pauses for a minute to regain his composure.
[color=green]"When Apollodorus realized that Silviatos had left, he put me to some tasks while he tried to figure out what to do with me. That's when Tria claimed me and had me fostered to Apollodorus. But now that Apollodorus is gone, I guess I'm here for a few years."
He glances at Elizabeth with a smile. [color=green]"But from what I've seen...and heard, I think I'm going to like it here."
[color=green]"I haven't learned any spells yet, but I seem to have a gift for Herbam, I can even cast spontaneous Herbam magic without saying or doing anything."
Tria whispers back, "They don't expect it. It's a sign of their devotion, and though Ra'am and his family are pious they don't impose their beliefs on others, with the exception of getting them to work or travel on the Sabbath, which inconvenienced me a bit."
Ra'am says to the last, "Remarkable, you must have a Deftness of Herbam ability, innate to your Gift." His tone is that of academic interest. "So what kinds of things have you been taught? What have you learned otherwise?" He offers a quick quiz designed to gauge Ulrich's knowledge of Magic Theory, and he indicates that Ulrich did ok, despite missing a few of the answers. "No spells, hmm? That's actually not a bad thing, I didn't begin learning spells of any power until my 10th year of apprenticeship. That and I already started knowing enough Latin and how to read and write. It's not uncommon for apprentices to learn spells in the second half or last third of their apprenticeship, so I wouldn't let it worry you too much."
Tria, Regina and Elizabeth are chatting girl talk and are further removed from the table. When Ra'am sees Ulrich looking at his daughter that way a thunderclap sounds immediately outside the window, rattling it, despite it being a cloudless sunny day, it quickly grabs everyone's attention. Ra'am leans in close, and the women resume chatting, "Mind the way you look at her, boy. She's my apprentice and she's my daughter. You and she will be in my lab much of the time, I would prefer you control your impulses instead of forcing me to do it." Elizabeth's flushes to crimson while while Tria and Regina don't show any obvious notice. Elizabeth is several years older than Ulrich, a young woman, and by all estimates well out of his league due to the age difference. In any other situation she'd probably be 4 or 5 years married with at least one child and probably another on the way.
She isn't pretty or ugly.
"So you're to be my apprentice. Tria's already sold you to me. What she's doing she can't take someone else along, and she feels you're safer here than with Maris. Tell me what you know of Maris, Ulrich."
Ulrich jumps in his chair at the thunderclap, as his mind was elsewhere at the time. He swallows nervously at Ra'am's threat. [color=green]"Yes, sir," he squeaks out.
Ulrich quickly glances at Tria before he answers. [color=green]"She's Tremere, and Apollodorus's filia. She can be quite manipulative when she thinks she's in the right, but I'm sure she means well. She has the most beautiful apprentice," he blurts out with a dreamy expression, and not realizing he was going to say the last before he said it, but then looks embarrassed. [color=green]"Erm...she, Maris, I mean...she doesn't seem to be above using magic to force people to do things that they wouldn't otherwise do, but feels that the ends justify the means, and can threaten Wizards War for a minor inconvenience. Can't say that I really like her all that much, but I don't have to."
"Well put. You shouldn't trust her means and methods, but you should always trust her motivations. Prospero and Tria have spent many years trying to moderate her worst behaviors, all in all with some measure of success. I'll be honest with you Ulrich, you're younger than I'd like in an apprentice. But in my culture, you'd be considered a man, and so I will treat you as such, until you prove I need to treat you differently. We work Sundays at dawn to Fridays at sundown. We take a break for Shabbat at sundown on Fridays. I will generally leave you to your own devices during this time, but you're welcome to join us. You'll stay in my youngest's quarters here in our suite. I don't like people living in the lab, it's unhealthy. If your duties allow it you may come and go as you like, explore as you like."
Ra'am pauses before continuing, and tells about the ghosts that inhabit Phoenix, as well as the grapevines, and the Templars, led by The Lady. At some point, she will ask him to turn out his pockets for silver, but will find he has none, being an apprentice. Everyone finishes their meal, and Tria departs quietly. When Tria's gone, Ra'am indicates Ulrich should follow he and Elizabeth into his lab. Ra'am's lab is huge (and will be described a bit later).
Elizabeth appears to be undertaking some task under her own direction, while Ulrich is placed at a small table and Ra'am sits in a chair. "The first principle of spell casting is understanding the nature of targets... Ra'am goes on and on, and while it is kind of boring Ra'am seems to make it rather interesting.
((Going to break here and allow you to catch up, and then I'm going to break into a longer narrative.))
[color=green]"That's fine, I've never been big on going to church anyway."
[color=green]"Thank you, sir."
Ra'am tells Ulrich about the Templars, who are led by The Lady? Or has The Lady arrived and is telling him about the Templars, and asks him to turn out his pockets for silver?