Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2014-10-22
Words:
447
Chapters:
1/1
Kudos:
7
Bookmarks:
1
Hits:
124

la papesse

Summary:

"...in Brescia it rained blood for three days and nights. In France there appeared marvelous locusts, which had six wings and very powerful teeth. They flew miraculously through the air, and all drowned in the British Sea. The golden bodies were rejected by the waves of the sea and corrupted the air, so that a great many people died."

a very, very short piece about pope joan.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

"Oh, wow," said Rome to the young scribe who he had pulled, suddenly and without warning, into an alley, "you're really pretty, huh?" He nodded approvingly. "I mean," he said, "the men's clothing is a little much, don't you think so?"

The scribe stiffened. "I don't think I know what you're talking about," he said. He coughed and spoke again in a deeper voice, "Men's clothing?" He looked around the small alleyway they were standing in, and upon seeing no one, visibly relaxed.

"Oh, calm down," said Rome. "I'm not going to tell anyone about your little secret." He leaned against the wall and looked her up and down. "I think it's romantic - following your true love and everything." He smiled dreamily. "What's your name again?"

 

The scribe frowned. "John," he said. "I'm John. And I really should get going." He made a move as if to leave, but Rome's eyes flashed and he shook his head.

"Just give me a couple minutes, alright?" Rome shook his head. "I have to tell you, everything's gonna go up in flames for you."

The young scribe met his eyes, standing up stiffly.

"It's the price you have to pay for sinning that bad," he continued. "But you know that, I'm sure."

"I really have no idea what you're talking about," said the young scribe. He was fair, beautiful, and his voice would rise a couple octaves if he wasn't paying attention. "My name is John - I'm from Germany. I'm a scribe." He was repeating himself, and had begun to sweat nervously.

"Oh, German?" Rome, enormous, tanned, and smiling, looked interested. "What brought you all the way here?"

"I came through Athens," the scribe mumbled. "I was a monk."

"Ah, Athens," said Rome, "What a great town. Not too easy for women, although you'd know all about that. A monk, though. I know some monks! Do you know a -- oh, no, he'd be before your time." He shrugged, as though losing track of years of monks could happen to anyone.

The scribe regarded him suspiciously. "Who did you say you were, again?"

"I didn't," Rome said, and laughed heartily, like they were already great friends. "Just a concerned citizen. I don't mind the occasional sin myself, you see. But you should be more careful."

The scribe stiffened, again, and held himself to his full height, which was not very impressive. "I'm leaving now," he said, and as he began walking out of the alley towards the bright sunlight, Rome but his lip.

"Wait," called Rome. "One more thing," he said. He leaned in close to the young scribe, and whispered in his quietest voice, "It's going to be a boy."

Notes:

so there's a relatively well-known legend about a female pope back in the 1000s - pope joan, who followed her lover, while dressed as a man, to athens, and then rose up through the ranks and eventually became pope. she was found out when she gave birth on horseback, riding through the streets.
note: this legend is almost definitely not true. there probably was no pope joan. that said, rome seems like he would be the type of guy to understand if someone was devout enough to want to be pope, even is that someone happened to be a woman.