Fionn calls on Hildegarde

Mar 2nd, 2015 09:29 AM

casual_Fionn.jpg
A cab pulls up outside the address, Fionn exits the cab paying the driver before looking at the building before him.

He nervously holds the calling card in his hands, butterflies whirling in his stomach.
He feels like his life has taken a turn for the strange and needs to consults an expert, Hildegarde will surely know what's going on.

Fionn walked towards the door and pressed the doorbell.
His left hand stroking his new beard, getting used to this visible manifestation of his new impulses.
A nervous smile on his face, polishing the tips of his shoes on the back of his trouser legs as he waits for the door to be answered. Hoping he isn't going to be mistaken for an unwanted intruder.

She's a whip Fionn, she could be a very busy lady. Don't waste her time and find out if you're losing your mind or if this is a sign you're on the right path.

**Hildegarde Bingen** · Mar 6th, 2015 05:05 AM

Sorry for the delay. Work has been hammering me.

The Shadow has to wait a long time. Just when his patience was about to give, the door opens and a rangy Italian man in a dapper suit gestures him inside. Walking with a mix of professional humility and predatory grace, the fellow leads Fionn through a foyer and to a waiting lift; had it not been for his suddenly stern demeanour they would have been sharing a lift with a couple of young professionals. The lift leads to an upper floor and the man takes point once more, ushering the Shadow quickly and quietly through a waiting door...

...Into a richly apportioned apartment. Or it would have been, had most of the furniture been there and what remained not shrouded in dust covers. Clear patches stained the walls, revealing where pictures had once hung. Opened doors revealed naked bedrooms rendered yawning voids of emptiness. Lacking heat, the air had a chill quality to it.

Hildegarde waited in the open plan living area, her back to the door. She could have been staring out into the street, yet the way her hand ghosted over the glass suggested she was checking for dust. Tonight, the Lord was arrayed in business attire: skirt, blouse, blazer; hair bound at the base of her skull with a barrette. Heels clicked as she turned. Her lips and nails had been glazed with a thick, rich, red.

"Welcome. Please, take a seat."

She gestured. The dapper Italian moved silently, half a smirk writ on his face. He drew back dust covers, revealing a sofa and a seat. Task complete, he withdrew but somehow left his presence in the room. The Lord had only to call and the servant would come.

The Castellan moved forward in a mist of light perfume and the swish of expensive material. She folded into a pose on the soffa: a mannikin with bone white skin and red lips.

"You have questions."

Mar 6th, 2015 08:13 AM

Fionn was nearly going to leave when the Italian appeared. Fionn took in the look of the suit, he could buy one just like it but not have half the grace as the man in front of him.
Fionn didn't say a word, just kept a respectful smile on his face and tried not to let his agitation show.

As the lift opened and they entered the apartment Fionn let his eyes wander around the rooms, always flicking his gaze back to see where the Italian was so he didn't go somewhere he shouldn't.
Fionn was impressed by the size of the apartment, clearly the lady had money and lots of it.
The bare patches on the walls and the lack of furniture hinted that either she had just moved in or was moving out.
Interesting that she chooses to see me in a room where most of the furniture is covered in dust sheets.

Fionn took in the sight of the woman before him.
She certainly knows how to dress, a classy lady and someone used to being taken seriously I suspect. Stop gawping and speak you fool.

Her presence made the voice within howl in protest, it tried to get control of his feet, to make him turn on his heels and run as fast as he could. Fionn supressed the urge, disguising his inner conflict as simply admiring the surroundings.

Fionn followed her instructions and approached the seat, not wanting to be so presumptuous as to sit beside her. Sinking politely into the seat, his left hand stroking his beard and his right hand tapping the calling card against his right leg. Small gestures, but they spoke of a turbulent mind.

"Thank you for inviting me to your beautiful home. I'm sure a lady of your calibre has a great deal of people making demands on your time. I appreciate you taking the time to see me and I will try not to take up too much of your time."

Fionn tugged on his chin, feeling the roughness of his stubble on his fingers.
He looked at Hildegarde, if he was living he'd be sweating, panting, visibly vibrating with confused energy.
As he was undead, he settled for fidgeting with his beard, the index finger of his right hand flicking the corner of the calling card. He didn't vibrate but he did seem animated, more so then their last meeting.
His body radiated his uncertainty but his eyes were clear, determined, focussed.

"I have been thinking about what we spoke about at our last meeting. I've been giving it a lot of thought actually. I've been feeling strangely these last few days and weeks. I started learning how to use computers, I never gave a thought about them before but decided to be brave and learn how to use them. "

Fionns voice was serious, like he was nearly confessing to something.

"I went to speak to Priscus Regan about something I found on my travels in the city. I'm going to use the case to find out if I have what it takes to be a Dragon. Do I have the brains and the skills to be a scholar?"

Fionn removed his left hand from his beard and put it on his left knee.

"I came here because I had to know something, and I figured the best person to ask would be someone who'd been down the road I was going to take."

Lifting his left hand from his knee, the edge of his fingers against his chest, his nails softly denting the fabric of his t-shirt.
"I feel like there's something building up inside of me, something I've not felt for a very long time if ever."

He dropped the calling card in his lap, lifted his hands before him and slowly clenched them into fists. His movements mimicing the building tension within him. Then when his fists were clenched he shook them, just a little at first but then in short, small, rapid movements.
Trying to show with his body the strange emotional state he was in.

"I felt like I was fizzing...bubbling...boiling...with a thousand conflicting urges all at once. Like I was either going mad or something wonderful was going to happen to me.
"

Fionn shook violently as he spoke, his words becoming a torrent. Like a stopper had been pulled out and he couldn't stop, not even if he wanted to. His words raced out of him, but he didn't shout, or raise his voice. His voice betrayed his excitement cracking with the strength of the emotional release, like he needed to share his experience with someone who might understand.

"I was in my hotel room when all that fizzing turned into a strange feeling. Change, Embrace Change. It rang in my head like a bell."
Fionn tapped the side of his head with the index finger of his left hand.

"I saw a mens fashion magazine lying in the lobby and I started ordering new clothes. I started growing this beard and moustache.
"

Fionn traced his moustache and beard with the fingers of his right hand.

He looked into Hildegarde's face, his eyes shining with a desperate need to know the truth, his voice low and rasping.
"I have to know, is this what it means to be a Dragon.... or am I losing my mind?"

**Hildegarde Bingen** · Mar 6th, 2015 09:56 PM

While he spoke, the mannikin remained still. If he expected a quick answer he was disappointed as the Lord simply... stared. In the end, she replied:

"Perhaps. The Rubidio within you is building up for a moment of transcendence." The marionette's strings jerked and her shoulders moved in approximation of a shrug. "But buying a new wardrobe is only an external change. In the Order, we study external changes so they may enlighten us to internal changes within ourselves. What you say you have may be simple exuberance or a manifestation of your minds own unrest. It could also be the first external sign of something greater coming from within you."

She paused again, posture slowly shifting toward something more regal.

"But to be a Dragon is not to be slave to one's impulses. To be a Dragon is to direct the altering force; in effect, to control the Change within you. And through that control, transcend and become something greater. An alchemist works on base substances and makes them sublime. A Dragon works on themselves... and through their efforts becomes sublime."

Another pause, this one for effect.

"You do not have to be a scholar to master these techniques."

Her grand sire had been a mystic visionary. Her sire had been a general. Hildegarde... Hildegarde had no strings... Her smile was predatory and she graced the Shadow with its full brilliance.

Mar 9th, 2015 03:51 AM

Fionn listened to Hildegarde, desperate to understand what was happening inside himself.

"Rubidio? Is that what they call this? It sounds like I'm not the first person to experience this...state. "

Fionn paused for a moment his hands shaking, his emotions whirling inside him. His Pride demanded he hold himself together, his intelligence told him to ask for help and take the consequences.

For several seconds he sat there in silence, his teeth gritted as the whirlwind roared inside him.
Finally he curled his fingers like claws and stared at them, almost without thinking his fingers moved to his forehead. The pads of his fingertips just touching the skin of his face. Slowly the fingers moved down, like he wasn't sure if he should caress something beautiful and new, or tear something from him that was holding him back.
When his fingers reached his chin, Fionn shuddered and put his face in his hands.

His shoulders convulsed, his body shivered, his face was concealed by his hands.
His mouth contorted in a silent scream of anguish, liquid trickled down his face and dripped from his heel of his hand. Blood, had he hurt himself, was he crying. Fionn kept his face covered by his hands and said nothing.

In a low pained tone, he whispered.

"Help me Hildegarde, I can't take this alone. I need a teacher, a guide, a friend."

Unable to make eye contact, Fionn kept his head down, covering his face in his hands and shuddering silently.
The voice within was ashamed of him, tearing at his psyche with claws of Guilt, Shame, and Fear.
Fionn felt his eyes burn, bloody tears poured down his face, his nose ran too and his mouth seemed to fill with blood.

"Help me."

His words slightly slurred like his tongue was too big for his mouth, his voice came in a strangled rasp.

**Hildegarde Bingen** · Mar 9th, 2015 05:17 AM

The doll watched impassively. A blink. Then another. Hildegarde leaned forward.

"You wish to Change? To become something... more?" She looked the Shadow over. "I can see that your desire is already having an effect, but it is misdirected. Now you are but a Slave trapped in your own physical passions. To be a Dragon is to rise above that state. It is not an easy road, and there are many winding paths to choose from on your journey."

A hand drifted over her heart. "My path, the path I have chosen, is to study the lessons of alchemy and apply them to the remarkable state of Being that is Vampirism. I see our Blood as the philosopher's stone and this corporeal shell as the crucible in which it is transformed by external trauma. Some would call this experience. Others would call it... pain. It may not be for you."

Brown eyes locked on Fionn for the first time.

"But there is someone... who might be able to help you."

The Lord moved into a new posture, waiting. The words had to come from him. Behind the doll mask, thoughts whirred and clicked into place. New thoughts, in a new tone of voice: What an interesting study.

Mar 9th, 2015 07:27 AM

Fionn raised his face from his hands, blood dripped from his face and hands.

"Slave...yes..yes I am a slave. Slave to custom and habit, then slave to petty sorrow.
Now slave again to wild emotion. Slaves are weak, I am not weak. I must be stronger then this. "

Fionn paused for a moment, realising he was dripping blood in another home, being a most poor guest.
His pride snarled at him and he reached for a handkerchief to clean up the red mess before he made too much mess. The cloth turning dark red as it soaked up the blood that flowed out of him.

Pain...experience..she was starting to sound like Sarge.

His voice becoming less desperate but still heavy with emotion.

"Pain..is not something I'd chose lightly but pain can be a great teacher.
If were your student I would have to draw strength from pain?"

Fionn paused for a moment, the cogs in his head turning a world of torments flashing behind his eyes.
Perhaps we need to learn to face our pain and be more then it.

"You say another might be able to help me. Who is this other and what would they teach me? "

**Hildegarde Bingen** · Mar 10th, 2015 05:49 AM

The Dragon watched impassively.

By way of answer, she said simply, "Yes." It could have been an affirmation that he was indeed, a slave to his passions; it could have been an affirmation of Hildegarde's methods; it could have been both or neither.

"You seem to have difficulty mastering the Vitae," she continued. "I am given to understand that the Grand Wyrm takes an especially interest in such things. I could call on him..." The Lord let her voice trail off. A hand artfully moved to a pocket with deliberate slowness. "I cannot vouch for his methods but I believe them to be... less archaic... than mine."

Mar 10th, 2015 08:37 AM

Fionn heard the single word Hildegrade spoke, it could mean anything, it could mean everything, it could mean nothing.

At the mention of the Grand Wyrm, Fionn raises a hand to politely halt Hildegarde before she removes her phone.

"I've spoken to the Grand Wyrm about joining the Dragons, I'm supposed to be conducting an investigation to see if I have the intelligence to be a Dragon. I don't know what his response to this..incident...will be. I either need to learn some way of containing this fizzing energy until I can join up properly and use it in my studies, or I may have to use it under guidance to release some of it in a safe way. If you feel it would be best to discuss the matter with the Grand Wyrm then we will do so. I don't fully understand what is happening to me so I will be guided by your...greater experience.. I don't think there's much doubt that I will be applying to join soon."

Fionn clenches his hands tight, the nails pressing into his palms.
After several seconds of this he wills his fingers to open, one by one, trying to reduce the level of excitement and tension in his body.

Don't give in old boy, hold on....just hold on...

**Hildegarde Bingen** · Mar 12th, 2015 04:32 AM

A coy smile (was it coy? It was kinda cat-like. A cat-like, coy, smile) broke across Hildegarde's face. "If you do not doubt that your path leads to the Rites of the Dragon, then I do not see how discussing your case with our Grand Wyrm will impede your progress. A Slave will need guidance, initially, until they are ready to progress further."

She rose. "Wait here. Iago... fetch some towels. Our guest may have need of them."

The Lord moved off into a corner, toying momentarily with the curtains and staring out over the crisp darkness of the street. Her hand moved, drawing her phone to her ear with deliberate slowness.

While Iago gets some towels, Hildegarde makes a call Casitive

Fionn calls on Hildegarde

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