RP MEME: MEDIEVAL TIMES

[cerebel]

Pick a scenario, post with your character and roll for the scene. Or just pick. That's cool too.

For the setting:

1) CASTLE. Throne rooms, private chambers, long hallways.
2) TAVERN. Rough-hewn tables, rough-hewn clientele.
3) DUNGEONS. Iron bars, rusty chains, and terrible food.
4) JOUST. The knights of the realm are battling.
5) FIELDS. It's a hard, long day working to grow food.
6) MARKET. There's a well, there are some craftsmen selling things. It's a medieval mall.

And once you've decided the setting, decide your role:

1) ROYALTY. You are a King, Queen, Prince, Princess or close relative.
2) KNIGHT. You are a warrior of the realm.
3) WITCH/WIZARD. Official court magician? Crazy old lady with a lot of herbs? You decide.
4) PEASANT. Yeah, your life sucks.
5) CRAFTSMAN. Blacksmith, woodworker. Apprentice or master is up to you.
6) SERVANT. Your life is utterly devoted to the one you serve.
BONUS: 7) TIME TRAVELER. ???

Comments

[i_id]

The duke backs away from him, repressing a scowl. "It was injured in the capture, milord, but my own stablemaster treated its wounds."

The creature shifts its clawed feet, and the men on the leashes draw them tighter. But it has no intent to lunge, eyes fixed on the human who is clearly the First here, from the way all the others defer to him. When he speaks, it cocks its head, picking out the words it knows. Light. Pain.

"Yes," it says, voice clipped and strange, coming muffled from behind the chain mesh.

[wantsdragonspls]

[Hah! A horseman to tend something that plainly isn't a horse. A beast who can speak. Fools. Lance's eyes narrow further and he reaches out to remove the bridle, tossing it aside. Similarly, ignoring any yelps or objections, he proceeds to remove all the leashes, chains and trappings with all the ease of a man familiar with doing so, and likely with more care than the creature is familiar with from humans.

[Behind him, his guards are picking up the pieces he's throwing away. See, they already know what's going to come. One of them cuts a broad, thick strip of cloth from his own cloak, and when Lance holds out his hand, the strip is put into it.]

Bend, and I will cover your eyes.

[i_id]

[The creature shifts uneasily as the chains are taken off, trying to keep watch anywhere the human is touching it. But it can't twist its upper body much, not with the long slash, crudely sutured, up the side of its back from waist to shoulder. The healing scar cuts roughly across older, more ordered ones, their intricate pattern just visible under the short, fine fur.

[The alarmed handlers move back, between the creature and their protesting duke.]

Sir! This isn't safe!

[With a look of extreme dislike at the duke, it turns back towards the First, staring at him, trying to decide his motives. Warily, it bends forward, lowering its head to his height, but ready to back away instantly.]

[wantsdragonspls]

[With utmost care and gentleness, Lance tucks the cloth around the creature's eyes, tying it securely, but not tightly, somewhere a knot won't be in the way. He saw the awful wound up the creature's back, and his face is still tight from the memory, his golden eyes furious.]

Is that well, Creature?

[i_id]

[It shuts its eyes in the blackness behind the thick cloth, feeling the webs of tense muscles around them relax, the sharp burn of the light slowly start to fade. Being so blind is not a comfort, but the gesture was meant to be, it can tell. It lowers its head a little more, making itself shorter than the human First in respect.]

Yes. It helps.

[For the first time here, it speaks with both mouths, even if the strange, simple language the humans speak doesn't need them.]

[wantsdragonspls]

Good. 'Tis a pity you won't be able to see this, then.

[Blindness in the light is all he can offer, unfortunately, until he can find something better. Lance turns to the duke, eyes narrowing.]

Guards. Dress my dear duke in the finery he so graciously bestowed upon my new friend here. Then he may be escorted back to his estate--just as his 'gift' left it.

[Grimly, with one arm full and the other hand resting on their swords, they step forward to do exactly that.]

[i_id]

[It turns uneasily on itself as his guards move past it, too many people nearby to keep track of just by sound, and draws closer to the First in lieu of anywhere else to go. The duke's alarmed blustering isn't helping.]

My Lord! I had nothing but the best intentions! That animal killed my men, and I had mercy on it!

[wantsdragonspls]

[Lance lay a gentle hand on the creature's shoulder, as much to steady it as to reassure it.]

You hunted, chained, gagged and leashed a being with the intelligence to parley. You are aware of my laws on hunting, are you not?

[i_id]

[It startles, shoulder sinking down uneasily under the touch. It has not been a good few weeks, the trip here.]

[The Duke's guards give way reluctantly to the Prince's, the man himself standing his ground. He's regretting not having just killed the thing now, and kept the skin himself.]

We would not have hunted it if it hadn't been eating my people.

[wantsdragonspls]

[Lance is very much unmoved, staring stonily at the duke.]

And you could have petitioned for aid from the Crown, to have the issue properly addressed. You chose otherwise. Guards.

[i_id]

[The Duke glares coldly back as the guards obey, fitting the man with the ornate regalia taken off of the creature. Most of it was resized from horse-tack, and it weighs heavily on a mere man, but he does not let himself bow under it. Or under the weight of the muffled laughter that comes from the mostly quiet audience.

[The laughter is doing nothing to settle the creature, either, and it all but prances, nervous, staying close to the First but not too close.]

[wantsdragonspls]

[Lance's amusement is entirely internal and doesn't change the stony satisfaction on his face, even once his guards are done and he speaks to the duke's. He does, absently, stroke the creature's shoulder, squeezing it gently in reassurance at the skittishness.]

You may take your lord back to his lands ... just as my new guest here left it.

[He'd better not be hearing of all that tack being removed once they're clear of the city. >\]

[i_id]

[With stiff anger, the Duke snatches the leashes from the guard unlucky enough to be holding their ends, and turns, stalking out of the Prince's presence. Laughter flows a little more freely as he passes, but a good many of those present are still unnerved by the creature, and by the humiliation.]

[The creature stopped moving at his squeeze, standing in place beside him, head lowered. It was at a loss about whatever had just happened, confused and anxious.]

... Can leave?

[wantsdragonspls]

Yes.

[Lance turns dismissively away from the crowd and his pavilion, still with his hand on the creature's shoulder to guide it.]

Guards! Prepare my litter for my guest.

[It was broad and curtained, and even if there may not quite be room for him in there as well, at least it might be dark enough for the creature, and would mean it wouldn't need to walk.]

They will carry you. This way.

[He guides the creature toward the litter, not far away and wit ha servant hastily plumping the cushions.]

[i_id]

[It follows, blind and awkward, but balks at the litter, outstretched hand finding its frame.]

No!

[Hastily, it pulls the blindfold off, twitching away from his hand, but... when its vision recovers from the sudden light, as well as it can, it doesn't see the cage that it half-expected. Curtains, not bars. It stops, looking between it and the Prince.]

[wantsdragonspls]

[Lance stills, holding up another hand at the instinctive forward-rush of his guards in response. He doesn't move, staring into the creature's eyes and not fumbling in the slightest about which ones he should be staring into.]

Replace the blindfold.

[An order, but a mild one compared to the ones he gave to his human subjects.]

You cannot walk the distance with that wound.

[And the stitches need to be removed before he can heal it. He can't do that there.]

[i_id]

[It twists the broad cloth piece in its long-fingered hands, arms drawn tight against its sides in nervousness.]

I... can leave.

[The sentence is put together haltingly. He's only been learning this tongue a few weeks.]

[wantsdragonspls]

You'll go nowhere with that wound.

[He puts a hand on the creature's nearest elbow, half-steadying and half to guide him pointedly toward the litter.]

In. I cannot heal you without first removing that thread, and I cannot do that here.

[i_id]

[Reluctantly, it ducks into the litter. Curling up small within, it manages not to take up all of the space, nor to be too close to any of the curtains.]

Then leave?

[wantsdragonspls]

If you wish.

[A guard clears his throat gently.]

First we negotiate.

[It would be a nuisance to have his subjects vanishing into the woods.]

[i_id]

[It cocked its head at him, still not having covered its eyes again.]

Negotiate?

[Sorry, not a word it knows, and it stumbles over the pronunciation.]

[wantsdragonspls]

We must talk before you leave.

[There's not enough room on the litter for Lance without squishing close to the creature, and he doesn't want to scare it. He chooses to untie the curtains instead, moving to the side where the sun wouldn't beam in, so that he could leave those open and not blind his guest.

[Then he nodded to the litter-carriers, and carefully they picked it up, moving toward the castle.]

[i_id]

[It dug nervous claws into the pillows, jaws tensing and relaxing alternately as it watched him with a certain amount of nervousness. He was right - it couldn't run, not with the half-healed wound the way it was. And surrounded by his litter-bearers and guards now, it could tell it had barely more of a chance of escape than it had had while in chains. He craned forward to look ahead, but it was too bright out, driving him back into the depths blinking furiously.]

[wantsdragonspls]

[Lance kept pace with one hand on the litter.]

What do your kind call yourselves?

[i_id]

[It braced itself against the motion of the litter, one hand pressed against the canopy, and watched him.]

Grue. Some.

[At the second word, it touched a hand to its chest in a graceful gesture, the fingertips making a soft, hollow sound against the breastbone.]