The thought had better count! | Sun 2nd PM- Xmas 1677

[Francis Kirke]

Francis laughed, "My flaws are my own or the result of spending my childhood being raised by two Villiers women, a frightening thought indeed."

 

Most boys were out of the sphere of influence of their mothers (and most other women) by the time they were six or seven, so an entire life until age eleven where they were ruled entirely by women was rather strange. 

 

As the younger listened to Buckingham speak of his brother, he smiled at the soliloquy. Months ago, when his uncle had taken him to the tree where it had happened, Buckingham had told him not to paint him as any kind of a hero because he was not, but now Francis saw that Buckingham had painted his brother that way. And he noted that none of the guilt he had sensed that day had receded. 

 

He sighed and then ventured, "Nobody truly thinks they are invincible, but a few have the sort of courage that makes it seem so to others. He likely thought the same thing about you, you know...but he gave my mother the most valuable thing he had that was portable before he left with you, and while I have never loved a woman in such a way, or been in love at all, I know what it feels like to leave people you love when there are great odds you won't return, regardless of your skill, valor, or courage. You do not give someone such a parting gift unless you are well-aware of your mortality even if you act as if you are not."

 

He was silent for a long moment. He did not feel he could ever live up to the memory of his father . If his mother was there she would remind him that his father had never had Buckingham's gigantic dose of ego and vanity either, at least not in comparison. The elder Francis might have felt similarly to the younger Francis.

 

Thinking about his looks, he chuckled, "I think I am quite fortunate to have inherited my uncle's golden locks, although I can surely understand why you have shorn them off...aside from no longer being quite so golden. Were it not that the ladies love them, I'd follow the example. I never had before because natural hair is a bit required on the open ocean, but now they are required for lady finger-twirling and whilst lady-fucking, so they stay. I suppose." His father, by contrast, had ringlets of dark brown hair, probably of the same thickness and opulence as his own dense mane. "And it is also fortuitous I look so very much like my father otherwise. If I did not have his face and more tenor voice, well, I would not be so femininely pretty nor so clearly his son even if I have an extra decade of age."  

 

(OOC - Psst, you got the appearance backwards, so I just flipped it in my head and replied   Bucky & FrancisV)

[Blackguard]

"One Villiers woman is enough to ruin any young man, but two is downright dangerous," the Duke admitted with a chuckle.  "Maybe they are more responsible for your pretty looks than either of us," the elder Villiers declared playfully.  

In the moment of emotion, Buckingham had mentioned the hair color the opposite of what had been intended, but it was too late to correct.  It was best to ignore the error because Francis seemed to do likewise.

"And what did these two Villiers women tell you of your father and, more importantly," he added playfully, "about myself."  He doubted the veracity of anything that might be mentioned, but he leaned forward as if in rapt attention.  "And what did they tell you of love, for you have surely avoided it?  Most ladies sing its praises but Villiers women know its true value."

[Francis Kirke]

"Two of them to three of us, the ratio was entirely unfair," Francis agreed. 

 

Up went a blond brow. When asking such a question, the worry was not whether or not the stories told to Francis were true, or at least not just that, but whether or not Francis might embellish them himself. He could have quite some fun with such a question, but there was also amusement in answering honestly. Perhaps they had not been as truthful as he thought!

 

Licking his lips first, Francis answered, "I have told you before that I listened to your joint exploits as a wide-eyed child, but as some distant, perfect paragon just as untouchable as the King." A sentiment that he was sure would go pleasantly to Buckingham's head, but the fact that it would made it no less truthful. 

 

He grinned. "Most the stories of you are from your childhood and exile." His family spoke more about Buckingham than his father for the small reason that thoughts of Buckingham were not painful, but the most they had known intimately about the duke came from his uncle's childhood and youth. The fact that many found it painful to speak of his father mean that the unfortunate reality was that even now that the truth was out, he still did not know much about his father. He knew he and his father shared many attributes and also that his father shared many of those same attributes with Buckingham; the duke had the greater ego, entitlement, and vociferousness that came with being the elder and Francis had the softness and sense of the mediating middle child.

 

"They say you were a bold and precocious child, that at the age of ten you could tell off a forty year old earl if he dared to not give a rather quiet prince all the proper decorum." Many might find it hard to believe but their personable and social monarch had been regarded as quiet or awkward for all of his childhood and youth, well into his time in France. "I know you and my father danced in ballets at court as early as age five and six." He chuckled about this, for Francis had none of the desire or artistry for dancing. "I know that you and my father used to chase after Cumberland and Richmond* begging them to cross swords with you, and that when you ran away from Cambridge to fight the first time, you knew to go to Cumberland because he fought in battle at that same age." Truly the pair had run to the only commander that would have ever dared let them stay without the King's permission - it had been rather ingenious. It had ultimately been the reason they had been sent away to Italy, though.  

 

"Nobody has shared many stories about my father....only mentioned when I remind them of him in expression or character, so I know I have that gentleness of disposition and kindness from him and also his fierce protectiveness, swordsmanship....and his voice. I know he and my mother composed things together. My father would write the music and she would write the songs to go with it. That they still did so in letters when you were both sent away. You would tease him about his "love" letters. Beyond that I know he loved the violin, as you do, and that secretly you, my father, and His Majesty spent just as much time playing music, planning elaborate experiments that singed his royal eyebrows, and taking apart all manner of things as you did running around with swords or horses." 

 

"As to love...they need to say nothing. My existence recommends the state very little." He laughed. 

(*Mall's second husband, James Stuart, was Cumberland's closest friend of youth. Rupert & James were ringleaders of their timeperiod young dukes, so all the Stuart-Villiers children emulated them)

[Blackguard]

from the This topic was far more pleasing to the grand Duke.  His visage relaxed in glee,

"So they said I was a pompous prick did they?" he interpreted.  "A ten year old duke can tell off a 40 year old earl in a minute, and create a enemy for a lifetime thereby."  He shook his head at the gall.

"Cumberland pissed on everyone too.  It was one reason we loved him.  You should have seen him then Francis.  he was a force of nature.  He had that silly German moustache for a time.  He was convinced that he would single-handedly win the war, and he had us convinced as well.  The young lords would save that day for good King Charles from the poor advice of old men more accustomed to a mug than a sword in their hand.  If Newcastle had listened to Cumberland, Cromwell would have been beaten.  Fortune favors the bold my boy.  Cumberland is a mere shadow of what he once was, emblematic of the Stuart dynasty now, aging and anything but dashing."  It was why the time was ripe for Buckingham to reassert himself into power now that there was a malaise before the storm.

"The violin is a wonderful device.  You really should try it," George coaxed.  "It amplifies everything.  If you want passion, it shrieks of it.  If you want sorrow, it can make you wallow in it.  Whatever the mood or emotion, the violin gives voice to it.  And, when you have another to play with, you can fight duels with a bow more deftly than with a sword.  I miss those days.  I suppose I should pick it up again.  As for ballet … those days are over," he laughed. 

[Francis Kirke]

"What child raised as a prince is not a pompous prick?" Francis shrugged as he spoke.

 

"Better an ancient earl as an enemy and a king that loves you as a brother, I would say. Pompous becomes bold and precocious when it's far to smart for a ten year old." He softly snorted, wondering if his uncle fully appreciated all of his varied intelligence, and then Francis snorted again at his thought...for who ever wondered about the duke's conceit of himself! 

 

"That would have been a sight to see. If I had such an example with a sword at a tender age, I would be able to best you with greater ease now," he added, chuckling. 

 

As to the violin, "I should try it as in you actually wish to hear that in the house?" He snorted. "I have specifically avoided it, because it sounds wounded in comparison to your playing and I am not keen on embarrassment." He was unsure if his uncle knew that he even played. Gwen had known, because she had made him play something for her, and sing for her...and Gwen had cajoled him into doing lots of things for her whether he did them poorly or not. Francis had a difficult time not indulging ladies and refusing your uncle's mistress had not seemed like a grand idea either.

 

"You wish to pick up violin dueling once more?" Francis asked. "I confess my skill is such that you could probably trounce me playing with your opposite hand." Then again, to Francis, average was abysmal. He was the sort that only owned what he excelled at and avoided the rest - a very Villiers trait. "I surmised from when you played with Master Cole that you did not oft play with anyone else at all.*"

 

(*This was established somewhere from the threads with Lucas, bc I remember it being a saucer-eyed moment that Bucky would play with him bc he most often plays entirely alone and rarely plays with anyone or for anyone  We also know Bucky's violin is a very ornately engraved Amati that he had made when he was in Italy.)

[Blackguard]

Francis placated the older man's ego, which was well received.  Buckingham did not seem to know that his nephew had been anything but a base beginner with the violin.

"If it is not played well, it will screech at you … and any others within listening range," George commented likely. "The cat gut yowls like the cat's owner.  Best you practice when I am out, or several rooms away."  With such a large mansion, the latter was quite possible.  The Duke was kidding with the younger man.  He would have liked him to be skilled with the violin so they might play together, but one had to wonder how able a musician he might be when not picking up an instrument until he was almost 30 years old.  

Though he imagine the joy of playing together, the Duke was content to play alone.  It helped him think and it helped him sleep at times.  He had not really played the thing during the holiday season and now George was resolved to play to bridge the new year.  "Master Cole did not return to London for the holidays.  It is a shame really.  That man could play and he could compose.  Yet, his music rarely seemed to bring him much joy.  He seemed a soul plagued by darkness … something from which the violin could have rescued him." 

[Francis Kirke]

Francis chuckled more at his uncle's literary speech. Feeling the pleasant buzz of drink, considering he had eaten less and drank more, he tittered and said, "I don't like cats and it's not quite that bad."

 

Whether his cheeks flushed with drink or some level of amused embarrassment was unclear. He blushed very easily in general. "I only mean...you know enough of my mediocrities, and by comparison to you my playing leaves a lot to be desired." He paused and added, "Here, at least. At sea with only bells and waves and no aficionados, the comparison is far more favorable." 

 

He then confessed, "Master Cole was going to help improve me at it, and I didn't make his ears bleed so my mother would be pleased her insistence I learn as boy wasn't entirely for naught, but as you said it seems that once the opera production was over...Perhaps in artistic passion he went to visit Master Greyson."

[Blackguard]

"I see," the Duke acknowledged with a laugh as he saw Francis color.  "So, you are already at a mediocre level. That is the worst place to be Francis," Buckingham offered jovially.  "Either be great or awful at something, I think, because either makes you remarkable"  It was all in good fun of course.  "So I need not put candlewax in my ears when you play?"

"A violin and a man at sea are a match stronger than most.  An excellent way to wile away the time as the sea will add its chorus."  He imagined the stamina one would need to keep oneself amused on a voyage to the Orient.  "Then, my boy, we shall play together in the new year.  Nothing sad, in memory of Cole, but something uplifting instead.  Great days are ahead for us.  Great days."

[Francis Kirke]

"I know, it is awful, Sir. I am not one to do something by degrees either!" he laughed again, rather hoping he could continue his avoidance of all things he did not excel at. He was quite successful at sticking to swordplay, sea-faring, and the fairer sex. 

 

  "Well, I think you shall tease me about candlewax quite certainly now. Probably from the other side of the house. You will probably melt red wax right by your ear so that it looks like blood." Francis dissolved into another roll of laughter. 

 

Had he known that Buckingham was thinking of the stamina of a long sea voyage, Francis would have happily enlightened him that it was quite monotonous when it was not utterly death-defying. The boredom of it explained his love for books, his sword skill, and his model-building (and even his mediocre violin-playing), for there was truly not much to do.

 

His blue eyes widened when Buckingham announced they would play together. "...Something uplifting, yet not overly vigorous..." He gave an unrepentant grin. 

 

"And now, before I drunkenly fall asleep in this chair, I am going to bed." He pointed in direction of the adjoining room as he said so, which was a drunkenly silly gesture because his uncle clearly knew where that was considering it was his house. "I never sleep attending the King," he muttered. And the night before had been an important one as Buckingham well knew. He stood and judged if he was just healthily lubricated and had sea legs yet or if he was going to stagger there instead.

 

(OOC - shall we wrap this up? The night before hasn't played out yet so we can't chat about it.

[Blackguard]

"Not overly vigorous then," the Duke agreed.  Th3e idea of going to bed was a welcome thought.  The older man did not realize until that moment how tired he was.  While year-end festivities were designed to take thoughts away from work, it was nevertheless more stressful for those in Buckingham's shoes, especially gift giving to friends, allies and staff.

"A fine idea," he commented aloud.  "I need to find my own bed as well.  There is plenty to do tomorrow and I should  be at my best, as always," With a creaky knee, the Duke stood, tested his balance and then bade his nephew a good night.

~finis