open rp post

[veinilla]

prompts, tfln overflow, etc.

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[antiquarius]

"Ah, not at all what I intended. But it worked out. It would have been a little awkward if we both brought rings."

That shimmering iridescent inlay is something else, isn't it.

"I'm glad you like it. I had it made especially."

[veinilla]

“It’s really gorgeous. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Holding his hand up to study. It’s beautiful.

“What’s this stone?”

[antiquarius]

"It isn't a stone at all, it's a dragon scale."

[veinilla]

"Shut the fuck up."

He blinks, staring, then laughs.

"No way. That's crazy. Seriously?"

[antiquarius]

"Seriously. Part of one at least. That's a heart scale which are quite large. It comes from the chest."

He gestures to himself, round about where he plucked it. A painful business but it was in the name of hope and it's paying off. His human body bares no mark there, just a freckle.

"It will keep you safe."

[veinilla]

He squints, shaking his head a little.

"You're jerking my chain. Dragons really exist?"

[antiquarius]

"They do indeed, though of the many species most are now extinct and the last few are very careful so I hear."

[veinilla]

“That’s crazy...”

He’s in awe, really. He learned from Marcus there was a whole world out there but wow...

“Dragons,” he says again, looking at his ring. “How’d you get the scale?”

[antiquarius]

"Craft and guile," Francis answers wryly.

He sips his tea.

"And I asked very, very nicely."

[veinilla]

He laughs.

“You seem like you’d be crafty. You really know a dragon?”

He looks like he wants to ask if he can meet it. Like, fuck yeah. Cool.

[antiquarius]

"We cross paths every now and again but they can prove extremely elusive," Francis answers, hoping to nip that in the bud.

"Dragons can take a human form so it is nearly impossible to know when you're with one. And they are so endangered even if they wanted to tell you they might feel they couldn't. It's quite sad.. but they have a terrible relationship with humans so it's understandable."

[veinilla]

"Damn. So I could've met one at some point and never would've known?"

He sounds disappointed.

"Makes sense, though. Humans kind of suck, and I say that as one. Or...formerly, anyway."

[antiquarius]

Francis chuckles and nods as he sips his tea.

"Seems to be the prevailing trait of humanity. Which is such a shame. Having known them I feel I say say that it doesn't help that dragons are foolish and terrible intrigued by them."

Humans, he means.

"They loved them, in fact. but it was never reciprocal. You never hear a story of the two races living side by side. Which they did mind you. Men can't seem to fathom the idea that they are not masters of the universe. Friendship became enslavement and then the dragons would inevitably be slain. Doomed by their broken hearts."

[veinilla]

"That's a shame," he says, because it truly is. He's always imagined them to be such beautiful, magnificent creatures.

"It's always men." He is a man himself, but it always seems to be straight men - or men hidden so far in the closet they're lost. "Why is it always men."

[antiquarius]

"An age old question," Francis has often asked himself. Why. Why is it always powerful men. Or men wanting power. Or men with power wanting more power. Why is greed so prevalent. Why must one animal always master another.

"Destroyers. Executioners. Extinctionists."

[veinilla]

"I've dated men and women, and had straight friends and it's always them that's the problem. The straight ones, I mean."

Maybe that's generalizing, but...you know.

[antiquarius]

Ethan, how edgy of you. But Francis can't help but agree.

"That's certainly been my experience. I've had my fair share of fantastic...experiences. Things are so wonderfully liberal again these days."

[veinilla]

Yeah, yeah.

"Liberal again?" He chuckles, stretching out contentedly. "What kind of 'experiences'?"

[antiquarius]

"Well I wouldn't recommend being burnt at the stake. My god things were so much easier before Christianity came along and ruined everything."

[veinilla]

He looks started.

"You were burned at the stake?!"

[antiquarius]

"Not very well" wryly gesturing to himself.

[veinilla]

"God. What the hell happened?"

Tell him a stoooory.

[antiquarius]

"Oh.. it was ridiculous really," Francis says and finishes his tea before nestling back and opening his arm for Ethan to come and snuggle.

"It was.. hm, 1305 perhaps. I was in England working as a scholar in a lovely little chapel on the Scottish border. Which was dangerous at the time because they were fighting for independence from the English. A beautiful people.. William Wallace was a legend of a man. Troops assembled as the fighting got worse and worse. I met a company of soldiers who had taken up base in the village. I was very fond of the captain.."

There's a wistfulness as he recalls the romance.

"We fell very madly in love. And we knew it wouldn't go on forever. He would eventually go home to his wife in Sussex ice the war was over. But it never got that far. He was very badly injured in battle and when I saved his life I was accused of dark sorcery. Which.. I suppose they were correct in a manner of speaking. I had used magic and my knowledge of botany but it was not dark. Pope Clement V had recently confirmed Ralph Baldock as Bishop of London. He was a Catholic and anything.. natural was seen as mysticism by the church."

[veinilla]

He goes right in, curling against him and pressing close. This is wild. You aren't like him, but you're...ancient.. Maybe some kind of demon. Who knows.

Who cares.

"Wow," he says, a little incredulous, because...jesus. Hearing someone talk about history who'd actually been there...

It's something else.

"And they caught you and tried to burn you...?"

[antiquarius]

He nods, chin against the top of Ethan's head.

"It was awful. I felt.. very powerless. Normally it would be nothing but Cedric had poisoned me. Ungrateful traitor that he was."