Curios and curiosities!

[Tau]

It's a dreary day in Spain. The skies are dark, the streets are foggy, and there is a general feeling of gloom hanging about every corner. Most establishments have closed up shop early today due to the lack of traffic, but a few still remain open. One such establishment is a junk shop, which is well known for carrying antiques and baubles with fascinating histories. Through the years that it's been open, the man who has run the store has had countless visitors stop inside to browse through his items. The man seems to be able to dig up the history of almost any item that has been brought to him, with few exceptions. One such exception, he has displayed behind his counter. The particular object in question is a simple golden ring. The ring resembles a marriage band, and it's middle is covered in a blue stone. Other than the faint marriage vows inscribed within the ring, nothing else visually stands out about it.

The proprietor of the shop has been known, in his past, to be a little eccentric. People consider him harmless enough, but the general agreement is that he does act more than a little strange at times. At the moment, he is reading a book in a chair behind his counter. The book is one of many the man has purchased recently, and he reads through it with fervor. He keeps a yellow highlighter and a stack of sticky-notes nearby, which he uses to mark passages and lines within the book for later-reference. A stack of similarly marked books lies on the floor nearby, and is already nearly two feet high. Curiously, all of the books have roots dating back to the same general time period. The dark ages and before. The stack of books consists of titles relating to lore, fiction, and tales of bravado. It would seem, to an outsider, that the man is catching up on some research on the time period. 

[Marcus Drago]

Marcus had wandered throughout the city of Spain searching for his new quarry. He spent the entire day moving about the city and did not once take a single break. His heart pumped hard while his breath made him sound as though he was hyperventilating. The weather was rather hot during the day but seemed to dial down as the moon rose above the dark sky. Marcus was still a little bit winded, he had ran miles around Spain and needed a little bit of time to rest.

Marcus searched around for a place in the nearby area. Most of the shops where either closed, now closing for the day, or staying open for some unknown reason. The streets were almost empty and this part of the city especially didn't have anyone on it. Marcus walked into an antique shop, the closest shop to him, that had a lot of many valuable items in it. The daemon seemed amazed at how many old items rested neatly on shelves and cases, he felt like a hopeless child in a toy store. However he did not come here to marvel at mostly useless toys. He came here to rest and that's exactly what he did before unstrapping the buckle that kept his katana on his shoulders- making sure not to drop the blade on the floor and ruin it. He then took off the hood to his blue heavy coat that hid his wings, showing his blond hair that seemed to rest on his shoulders, and laid on a step in the store. If the store owner was to speak to Marcus then he would be safe to come close. Marcus was not going to kill anyone, not while he was this tired. 

[Tau]

The gray-haired man sitting behind the counter near the store entrance took little notice of the newest arrival to his little shop. He glanced upwards from the book he was marking, and offered a mere "Welcome. Go ahead and take a look around if you'd like. If you're looking to pawn something off or get something researched I'd be glad to take a look and see what I can do. Library is in the back of the store, glass items and fragile things are in front of the display window there, larger items are towards the middle of the store, and all the dangerous things I keep up here behind my shelf." before going back to his evident investigations. Shortly after the man finished speaking he would turn the page of his book and scribble something down on a notepad nearby.

All of the objects in the shop carried a distinct feeling of days-long-passed, and more than a few seemed to be truly ancient. True the man's word, large shelves filled with glassware lined the front of the store. After those, there were a range of shelves and buckets filled with antiques and cool-looking old things. And at the back of the store, was a cove dedicated to the housing of a wicker chair and a few bookshelves. The bookshelves in the back of the store were filled with innumerable tomes and novels, some recognizable, others not so much. A few that seemed to be truly ancient and fragile were held within locked glass displays, and had a pair of rubber prongs you could use to turn the pages. Behind the man was a wall filled with numerous blades and rifles of various makes and models. A few of the blades seemed to be falling apart from the subtle wear of time, but most of the firearms seemed to be in excellent condition.

[Cassidy Fox]

Spain truly was a lovely place. Young Cassidy had never thought she’d get to see the loveliness of Spain. Hell, she never even expected to leave the goddamned stench-filled state of New York. But no, here she was, fresh (and non New Yorken) air flowing through the streets. Cassidy had recently completed a job under her persona as ‘The Fox’, her computer and hacking skills making her more widely known. It was her first client overseas, and they had paid for her plane ticket. She had managed to finish early, and still had two days before flying home. So she was exploring the streets, before noticing a quaint little antique shop. She was a fan of old clocks, often admiring the handcrafted workmanship that you simply couldn’t find in most of today’s objects. Everything was made by some underpaid kid in China nowadays.

A soft bell rang as Cassidy entered the store, which was occupied only by the owner and a single customer. If the owner said anything to her, she would merely give a small noise of acknowledgement, not really interested in chit-chat with some old Spanish dude. She browsed a few aisles before reaching the counter, when a glint of blue caught her eye. She looked down to see an old ring that seemed to stick out among the other little displays of useless old junk. For some reason, this simple ring- a wedding band maybe? – had... presence. She stuck her hand in her pocket, playing with the bills she had just earned from her job. She couldn’t waste it on some ring, she had to buy new equipment, get food, find places to sleep. Preferably places without those goddamned ‘homeless spikes’ that seemed to be all the rage for coldhearted American bastards. Yet the ring was lovely...

[Marcus Drago]

From the tip of his ears he heard something interesting flow out the old mans mouth."And all the dangerous stuff I keep up here behind me." Marcus rose- his stamina regain- and looked to the shelves that were facing the mans back. Some wear and tear blades, if you could call them that, and a few old rifles. Some brought back great memories for Marcus as he had used them a lot in the old days. He looked towards the guns price to see just how much they cost. Some where expensive, but he had enough saved from his previous jobs for three if he wanted. 

A ding of the doorbell broke Marcus thought of the weapons as a woman- no girl, stormed into the store. She had horrible hair color and huge blue eyes. Some of her body where painted on, Marcus enjoyed the pictures. He watched her as she strolled through the store almost seeming as though she was just browsing to buy time, typical for children her age. She stopped at the counter looking at all the goodies behind the glass before she started digging through her pocket. The look in her eyes stated that she was contemplating something. 

Marcus looked down to see just exactly what was it that made the girl think so much. It was a ring. Not just any ring, a golden one with a blue stone centered within it. The ring glimmered under the light of the shop and revealed enough for Marcus to notice the writing on the interior. Wedding vows? Marcus wouldn't be surprised seeing as though it was a wedding ring. The daemon scratched his temple and stared at the ring trying to call back his old memories. Did he see this ring before? It was unknown to Marcus whether or not, but the ring had a familiar look to it. He certainly been around the world so he might have seen it somewhere before.

Ignoring the female with the awful hair- Marcus walked next to the counter pointing at the Golden ring. "Hey old man," he said to the shop owner, "what's the story behind this ring?" The daemon did not wish to buy it, just wanted to simply know the history. If the girl did not move then Marcus would simply have his chest facing her way while his arm leaned in her direction and laid on the glass case. His finger would be pointing at the ring and his other hand behind him will be holding his shuriken 

[Tau]

The shopkeeper would nod look up and greet the woman in much the same manner as did with the first man to walk inside, only this time he would snap his book shut and replace it with another from the floor. The man would examine the book carefully, and would then open it's ancient cover. The tome looked as ancient as the mysterious ring itself, and it's pages seemed to be made of thick vellum rather than papyrus or wood fibers. The proprietor would scan through it's contents, glance over at the ring, and then start cross referencing pages and crudely drawn images with his notes. He would refrain from highlighting any portions of the new book, and would instead just jot down a page number and write a note next to it. Presumably to keep from damaging the old book's pages.

The old keeper would glance at the woman as she stepped up and looked over the very ring that he was trying to get a read on for himself. It was a curious little ring, it seemed. It was simple, yet elegant somehow. The thin band of blue moving around it's circumference and framed by gold had nothing particularly special about it on a glance, yet it always seemed more than capable of catching someone's eye. The man knew from his experience in appraising things that the ring was ancient, and that the craftsmanship was sublime, and yet he still could not dig up any history behind it. Even more curious, were the words etched into it's interior. They were easy to miss on a cursory examination because of how small they were, and how easily they could be mistaken for flaws along the band. The words were inscribed with such care and precision that it seemed impossible for the ring to be so old, but the language they were in made it extremely difficult to translate them. In all of his years and with all of his experience, the eccentric shop keeper had never encountered such an odd mixture of languages. It was as if someone had taken the most obscure dialects from Europe in the dark ages, threw them into a melting pot, and had slapped whatever came out into a script.

The man snapped out of his thoughts as he realized someone was speaking to him. With a small shake of his head and a sight, the keeper would say "I am not an old man, and I would appreciate it if you could show a little respect by not addressing me as such.. As for the ring... It's old. Older than everyone in this room, in fact. I haven't had long to study it however, so that's about as much as I know." before getting back to his reading.

[Giacomo D'Amore]

The day's hours passed by at very painfully slow pace. This day, no matter how well it seemed to have been when it started, has become one of those days that he didn't like. He woke up that morning to the coded knock of one of his contacts in the area who slipped an envelope under the slit of the door to the room he was renting out. The envelope contained information on a possible lead to the mysterious force he was sent to investigate for the Daemons of Rome.

The fog that covered the streets parted into thin wisps at the wake of Giacomo's motorbike. The lead, just like so many before it, was fruitless. This left Giacomo feeling irritated once again. To calm himself, he drove around the city aimlessly for hours until he happened on a certain section of the city where people were busying themselves by closing the shops they operated. Giacomo found a spot where he parked his Harley and watched the people mill about, minding their own businesses and following the rote practices of closing shop. This brought a smile to his face as it reminded him of the routine life practice by his kind behind the walls of Rome. He shook himself out of the grip of reminiscing and was about to rev up his bike when a sudden urge grew in him. An urge that seemed to have pulled him towards one of the few shops that were still open.

Giacomo dismounted and walked his way toward the shop, stopped in front of it long enough to see that it was an antique shop of sort. He pushed the door open and saw two people, a man and a woman, by the counter. A few steps in revealed another person in the room, this one was an elderly man by the looks of his hair. Giacomo then made his way to a shelf that had several items on display that weren't encased. One of the objects being displayed was what looked like a well mauled kettle of sorts. He touched, the rusted cold metal surface and was bombarded by a vision of what seemed to be a battle.

Fire. Screams. Flashes of light that reflected of steel. Blood. A war hammer swinging to his direction.

So, this was once someone's helmet. he thought to himself and continued to inspect the other items in the store. Until he found a sword within a glass case. With his enhanced vision, he could see that this particular sword has seen more than its share of combat. The chipped edge of the sword told him that the person who wielded the sword in battle was left handed and that he favored attacking from above.

Giacomo approached the counter just as the proprietor was about to finish saying something to the man in front of him. ". . . It's old. Older than everyone in this room, in fact. I haven't had long to study it however, so that's about as much as I know." the gray haired man said.

[Cassidy Fox]

Cassidy was not usually one for fancy things. Her jewlerry often composed of bangles, Ring Pops, and a whole hella-va-lot of piercings across her body, mostly in her face. But still, the simple elegance of this ring was lovely, despite the fact she’d come in here forclocks. The other customer approached, standing uncomfortably near her. She took a step away, glaring slightly. However, she always seemed to be glaring slightly. “Hey Old Man, what’s the story behind this ring?”

She snickered when the shop owner told him off, but was curious as well, so decided to remain silent. It must have been a truly amazing ring and a marvelous day for that to happen to Cassidy, who was usually shooting swears like bullets in a non-stop stream. The bell dinged again, and another man entered the room. She groaned internally. Great, now she was just surrounded by old fucking weirdos. The other man also approached, making Cassidy’s need for personal fucking space act up. This new customer also seemed to be interested in the ring that was ‘older than everyone’. Well she’d fucking hope it was, this was an antique shop and she was still under goddamned fucking twenty. But, with great will, she held her tongue and waited to learn more about the ring.

[Marcus Drago]

The front door dinged once again, sliding open and ruining the strings of web the spider so carefully made on the edges. Marcus watched a man walk in and became a little bit more guarded of his possessions- going over to pick his sword up, place it on his back then walking back to the counter. He enjoyed looking at the girls glare as he came back, keeping a shuriken in his less active hand. He hid the weapon well, only someone with a trained eye could notice the one silver sharp blade resting behind his index finger.

He listened to the mans comment and couldn't help but laugh along with the female of the group. It had been a long time since he met an arrogant and cocky man, and he kinda missed being arrogant and cocky back. "Yes, keep telling yourself your not old. Maybe that will stop your grey hair from pulling out of your head and chest." With that said he looked for the price of the ring."Tell me where you got it from and I will trace it from there." He didn't want the ring, he figured the girl standing next to him would make much better use with sticking it on her ass cheeks if her body didn't have rings all over that as well. Marcus simply wished to know it's origins.

[Tau]

The shopkeeper sighed to himself, marked the page he had been working on, and then shut his book. He would glare up at the punk in his shop making snide remarks, and would say "Listen, kid, trust me when I saw that if I can't dig anything up on it, it doesn't exist. You can go heckle people all you want for information but it's going to get you nowhere. Now unless you were thinking about purchasing something or planning on rethinking how you talk to people, you can kindly take your leave. Don't need your disrespect in here."

Meanwhile, anyone who decided to inspect the ring for long or close enough, would be able to make out the distinct shimmering of the vows etched within. The archaic language imprinted on the interior band of the ring would seem to almost move, the letters and words swimming around and rearranging themselves. The ring itself would seem to almost shiver with anticipation, as if waiting only for a specific set of events to occur before... Well, that part isn't clear. If touched, the ring would be dreadfully cold. After a moment of being held, it would almost seem to steal a portion of your life. It would grow heavier than it was, and any non-hardened being would find themselves to be just a little bit more tired than they happened to be a mere few seconds before they had picked it up.

[Giacomo D'Amore]

Giacomo positioned himself between the man and the woman on his side of the counter. He made it in time to catch her snicker. It was an innocent act that had its own charm someone might consider cute. He winked at her with a knowing smile, flashing white chiseled teeth and looked at what the fuzz was all about. The ring in question looked plain enough to the untrained eye. To Giacomo's eyes though a lot of details were obvious. The intricate carvings, in a language unknown to him, on the inside of the band seemed to be shimmering in an unnatural way, they also seemed to have been swimming in the space; often looking as if they were overlapping each other, appearing superimposed yet still illegible.

"Signore, I know a thing or two about antiques." Giacomo said to the shopkeeper. "If, I may?" he held his hand, palm open, out to the proprietor. With a bit of hesitation, the shopkeeper handed Giacomo the ring.

Nothing.

"How odd." Giacomo said absently as he held the ring between his thumb and forefinger. Giacomo was still baffled by not getting a read from his contact with the ring. Suddenly it hit him. The only reason he wouldn't get "memories" from an abject he was in contact with is that the object in question wasn't just an inanimate object. He also remembered several lessons from a century or so ago, lessons that dealt with sentient beings that took the shape of innocent objects for the simple purpose of feeding. "This is an interesting find, indeed." He said, carefully placing the ring on the counter top. What you have here is something ancient. By the inlays and how that central grain has been incorporated to the ring, I say about a thousand years old, the least." Giacomo invented. "Where did you come by such a rare artifact and how much will you be willing to receive for it?"

[Cassidy Fox]

It seemed that was that. The meager remains of the story of the ring had been told, and Cassidy decided one thing. She wanted it. Taking out her wallet, she was about to ask for a price (while the one man argued a little with the old man and the other played around with the ring a little), when the other guy asked. She glared at him, “Woah woah woah. Wait a goddamned second dude. If somebody’s looking at something, you don’t just go up, take it and frikken buy it. That’s just plain rude. And, as you’d have it, I happened to be the first one to check this ring out. So back off.”

Reaching out, she took the ring and slid it on a finger. She waggled them and showed the strangers. “See, fits perfectly too.” She turned to the shop keeper, handing it back to him. She felt a little bit colder, but still had her fiery spunk. “Same question, but for me please.”

[Marcus Drago]

Things were starting to seem a little more interesting in this antique shop. The old man that Marcus addressed was a little bit offended by his comments- telling him to either buy something or leave. However Marcus attention was not focused on the man, even though his comments did make the daemon laugh a little, but on the ring itself as he noticed a shift in the words and a small glow of light in the interior of the ring. Marcus backed away giving room for the new man to inspect the item. After a while the man spoke,"This is an interesting find, indeed. What you have here is something ancient. By the inlays and how that central grain has been incorporated to the ring, I say about a thousand years old, the least. Where did you come by such a rare artifact and how much will you be willing to receive for it."

Marcus raised both brows, he could never raise one, and stayed quiet waiting for the old fart to actually give the other blond man the answer to the question he asked not long ago. He never took his eye off the ring. The more he looked at it the more he felt as though he seen it before. It wrapped around his entire brain-engulfing his thoughts. What the hell was this ring and why did it seem so fucking familiar? The girl standing on the other side finally said. "woah woah woah. Wait a goddamned second dude," her glare now turned towards the other man, " If somebody’s looking at something, you don’t just go up, take it and frikken buy it. That’s just plain rude. And, as you’d have it, I happened to be the first one to check this ring out. So back off." She then took the ring and started flashing it about the room. " See, fits perfectly too. Same question, but for me please." Her actions of digging out her wallet and readying to pay for the thing only forced a hard laugh out of Marcus lips. 

"I do not wish to keep the damn thing; I only wish to know of it's origins. But if buying it is what it takes then sure, why not. So the same question this man over here asked," Marcus pointed to the man next to him,"but for me please. " 

[Tau]

"Unfortunately, the ring is not for sale. If it were, it'd be out of any of your price ranges." the shopkeep would say, quickly after the woman put the ring on. He would cross a few lines out on his notepad, compare a few notes, and then continue by saying "As far as I can gather the ring came out of the dark ages some time, but that time isn't known for it's history. Just the opposite, in fact." before setting the notepad down, and then rearranging the books around on his floor.

Meanwhile, Tau was having the most fun he had been able to have in decades, at least. The feeling of someone's untainted skin gliding over his surface was enough to make him shiver in delight. It had been so long since someone had actually used him as a ring that he had almost forgotten the feeling of being worn, and he was most reluctant to be taken off or abandoned. The old vampyre was only dimly aware of his surroundings, so it was difficult to tell exactly what was happening where in the shop. As far as he could 'see' though, he rested on the finger of a curiously adorned woman. Panic rose quietly in the creature as he felt himself being taken off, and then tossed through the air. In his panicked state, Tau did the only thing that came to mind. He didn't shift into anything else, that would be ridiculous. He merely created an illusion of script etching itself over the blue stone inside of him, which would finish spelling out "Take It" as he landed neatly in the old man's hand. The Vampyre made sure to focus on the woman who's hand he had just been removed from as he spun his lies. She seemed the most likely to get him out of the hands of the wretched old man who's company he had been forced to keep for the past fifteen years. She had a lot of energy as well, which was a big plus.

[Giacomo D'Amore]

“Woah woah woah. Wait a goddamned second dude. If somebody’s looking at something, you don’t just go up, take it and frikken buy it. That’s just plain rude. And, as you’d have it, I happened to be the first one to check this ring out. So back off.” The lady scoffed at him as she glared at him as if he tried to steal something from her. Feisty, I see. Giacomo thought as she picked the ring up and put it on one of her delicate fingers. “See, fits perfectly too.” The lady said triumphantly as she took of the ring; Giacomo caught how she had weakened a bit, confirming his suspicion of the ring really is. Addressing the shopkeeper, the lady said “Same question, but for me please.” You don't know what you're jumping into, love. Giacomo thought and before he could protest, the man beside him spoke up too. "I do not wish to keep the damn thing; I only wish to know of it's origins. But if buying it is what it takes then sure, why not. So the same question this man over here asked," the man gestured at Giacomo "but for me please."

Figlio di puttana! Giacomo cursed mentally. Not you too.

"Unfortunately, the ring is not for sale. If it were, it'd be out of any of your price ranges." The old shopkeeper said, breaking the silence in the room. "As far as I can gather the ring came out of the dark ages some time, but that time isn't known for it's history. Just the opposite, in fact." He continued as he was putting down his notepad from which he seemed to have been consulting a while ago and was about to tidy up his books. Giacomos sense of sight caught the glyphs that were forming on the ring; Take It was what it spelled out.

Being a member of the Daemons of Rome and backed by the Vatican itself gave Giacomo the upper-hand in situations such as this. An advantage he would play out now. "Mi scusi signore," he said in the general direction of the shopkeeper "but such claims have never even caused me the slightest delay in the acquisition of artifacts such as this ring." He reached into his rear pocket, took out his wallet, took out an ID, put it on the counter and slid it towards the shopkeeper. And with more authority continued with "Giacomo Conti D'Amore, Official Investigator of Pagan History, Head of Relic Acquisition for the Vatican. AND if your claim of the ring's age is accurate, it falls within my jurisdiction. The Vatican, she just wants to understand the way of life of the pagans before the birth of Jesus. Of course, you shall be handsomely reimbursed."