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Percy is ten when she's told she was betrothed.
And Percy is ten when she learns he's disappeared.
He's meant to be her husband in the future, she's told. An Inscribed to a Mundie, or so she's told. She's known for a while now that her epithet is Parapet, so the idea of interacting and being married in the future to a mundie is... intriguing. She mainly wonders if said mundie would be open to playing knights and princesses with her - with her being the knight, of course. Or if he's willing, she'd be both dragon and princess. Dragon princess. He could fight her and save her if he wanted. She was the flexible sort.
She'd offered a ring when her father had asked what she wanted to give as a present to her future husband. The ring was one that her grandmother had given her - one that slotted in a tiny crevice on the sword she was meant to inherit in the future. No other ring would fit in it except for that one, so 'make sure to give it to someone special,' her grandmother had told her.
But then she finds out that he's disappeared.
"Kidnapped or a runaway," her father says, disappointed. "A shame. He seemed like a good lad. We'll find someone else, Percy."
"Or we could not marry off our daughter," says her mother. "Let her choose her own future, you know?"
"Alright," Her father kneels down in front of her. "What do you want to do, Percy?"
Percy thinks, and then opens her mouth.
Percy becomes a policewoman.
Percy is thirty when she meets Ramsey Murdoch, and thirty when she sees the glint of gold tucked inside his shirt.
Or rather, hanging from a chain he tucked inside his shirt. She's caught him shirt up in the middle of the forest in Redwood Run after an unfortunate run-in with Zora, and she's mostly relieved that he's alright in the very least. They were partners, after all. He would have said partners in crime, but this wasn't exactly crime. It was crime fighting.
"Ramsey," She calls, and she hears Ramsey breathe a sigh of relief. "Good to see you're alright."
"Good to be alright, Perce," Ramsey admits, and Percy can't deny that her eyes are drawn to the glint of gold that his shirt soon covers up. "Uh... you alright there, Percy? You seem out of it."
"I was just..." Percy pauses, and then steels her resolve. "I was simply wondering about the chain around your neck."
Ramsey stiffens briefly before his fingers reach up to toy with the chain. "Ah. So you saw. It's just a little trinket I've had since I was a kid, nothin' too fancy. You wanna look? It's a genuine article."
"If you're willing."
Ramsey pulls out the chain, and Percy's throat goes dry.
She recognizes that ring.
She recognizes her ring.
Ramsey is only given a split second before Percy has him pressed up against a nearby tree, eyes steely. It's uncharacteristic of her in Ramsey's eyes, so the man only squeaks as her gaze meets his, a hand holding onto the ring and another poised on her sword's handle.
"Where," she asks slowly, deliberately. "Did you get this ring, Ramsey?"
Ramsey is twelve when he's told he's betrothed.
And Ramsey is twelve when he decides to run away.
He's never met his future wife, and really, he didn't want to. Who wanted to find out they were absolutely going to get married in the future at the tender ol' age of twelve, anyway? Nobody, that was who. And to a fellow Inscribed, no less. He knew for certain that she was an Inscribed because his parents had told him so, but as far as he was aware they were marketing him as a mundie to her family. Probably to keep his epithet Goldbricker a secret. Typical. The girl's family seemed pretty stuck up, but infinitely better than his in terms of relationships, at the very least - what he wouldn't give to have such an understanding family.
He could tell they cared about their daughter, at least. Wish he could say the same for his folks.
"You are marrying that girl when you're older, Ramsey, and that's final."
Can't make me marry a girl if you can't catch me first.
He wakes up in the middle of the night, ready to run away, when he spots a box on his dresser. When he opens it, there is a pretty ring - a way too pretty ring - sitting inside the velvet. The note next to it says that it is his future wife's present to him as proof that she existed, and he scoffs, figuring that the gift is actually from her parents'. No way would a young girl have such a precious looking ring on her hands and just give it away to a guy she hadn't even met.
He takes it with him anyway, sliding it onto his ring finger where it fit best.
And in a few breaths, he's gone.
Ramsey is thirty two when he meets Percival King, and thirty two when he finds himself with an unsettling growing fondness for the policewoman.
Initially he really had only sought her out as a means of protection against Zora, offering his services in exchange for protection and some form of freedom. But then he'd gotten to know her on their wayward little trip and partnership, and it was the little things, the little quirks, the little details like how she smiled and how eager she was about the tiniest things and how straightforward she was and the way she believed in him and trusted in him after such a short amount of time, just like how he'd grown to rely on her... her devotion to justice and to her work, her cleverness, her passion...
Ah, god bless, he had it bad. Zora would lose her god damn mind if she caught wind of it.
Speaking of Zora, he was pretty sure that was her approaching him. He trembles, his shirt caught halfway up in his process of removing it. He feels the cool chain holding the ring he'd taken with him over the years against his skin, and worries that Zora would take it from him. Maybe she wasn't that cruel. Maybe she'd at least let him have this little thing in his final hours, right? Maybe-
"Ramsey," Percy calls, and the relief he feels is palpable. "Good to see you're alright."
"Good to be alright, Perce," Ramsey admits, and the fact that he knows it's her makes him relax enough for him to shrug his shirt back on properly, tucking the chain back where it belonged. Ah. Pretty thing. It was probably one of the few things he legally owned still. He looks up from it with a smile at Percy, only to notice that her eyes are unfocused - or focused on something else entirely. Her mind seemed elsewhere. "Uh... you alright there, Percy? You seem out of it."
Percy flinches slightly, and shakes her head. "I was just..." She seems to pause for a bit, and he raises an eyebrow before she continues, "I was simply wondering about the chain around your neck."
Ah. She saw?
Figures.
Still, he had nothing to hide in regards to the ring, so he toys with the chain as he speaks. "Ah. So you saw. It's just a little trinket I've had since I was a kid, nothin' too fancy." He waggles his eyebrows at her. "You wanna look? It's a genuine article."
"If you're willing."
With a flourish, he pulls out the chain. It's still just as pretty as it was a few years ago, and while he'd stopped wearing it on his finger because people kept thinking he was married, it still mattered a lot to him. He's about to appraise it in front of her when suddenly he finds himself with his back pressed against a nearby tree, the bark scratching at his skin and the chain of his impromptu necklace taut. The ring itself is in Percy's grip, and when he meets her gaze he can't deny that his heart races wildly at the look she gives him. She's probably not even aware of it is the worst part.
"Where," she asks slowly, deliberately, and Ramsey's brain watches as his heart takes a leap off the frying pan and into the flames. "Did you get this ring, Ramsey?"
His lack of answer is startling. She's used to him fumbling over some of his words, yes, but never utter silence like this. Percy's not quite sure she's ever seen him this shell-shocked into silence before - and then she realizes she has him practically pinned to the tree, a hand on the ring and a hand on her sword.
Oh dear.
She steps back, and Ramsey lets out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. She hangs her head. "My apologies. I... got a little bit overzealous there."
"Ain't nothin'," Ramsey dismisses, but there is a hint of hesitation in his voice that Percy does not miss. "But uh. What about the ring, Perce?"
Percy worries her bottom lip unconsciously. How would you even explain that this ring had once been yours? Maybe it was just a clever copy - yes, perhaps that was it. Ramsey could make anything into gold - perhaps he'd made this gold ring look exactly like the one she'd had as a child, down to each and every etch and inlaid gemstone. Maybe it was actually a titanium ring he'd transmuted into gold. Yes. That was most likely it. Perhaps she'd jumped to hasty conclusions regarding it. Perhaps she was thinking too much about the logistics of it. Perhaps-
"Perce?"
Ramsey waves a hand in front of her face before she snaps out of it, and with a groan she palms her cheek. Perhaps she's more fatigued than she'd realized. "Apologies."
"You're really out of it. Maybe we should sit down somewhere safe where Zora can't get to us," Ramsey suggests, and the thought is incredibly appealing to the exhausted policewoman. Yes... that would be a good idea.
Wait. WAIT. Zora. She'd all but forgotten.
The ring would have to be dealt with later. She'd almost forgotten she had a plan.
She takes Ramsey's hand in hers, and pulls him along.
She finally remembers to ask him about the ring again on the drive home.
"So..." She begins, and Ramsey looks at her from his seat in the back. "The ring."
"Oh yeah, you wanted t'know more about it?" Ramsey scratches at the scruff on his cheek before pulling out the necklace again. It's still golden, so it must have been a real golden ring and not something borne of his epithet at all - something that bothers Percy greatly. "Like I said. Had it since I was a kid... twelve? Thirteen years old."
Eyes on the road, Percy. "Who gave it to you?"
"..." Ramsey seems to grow quiet, a fact that makes Percy slow slightly and glance at him through the rearview mirror. His face is pensive as he fiddles with the ring, his finger tracing its curves. "It's uh. It's a long story."
"This is a long car ride."
Ramsey snorts. "Fair enough. I'll cut to the chase just for you Perce, but... basically, I ran away from home."
Kidnapped or a runaway.
"Why?"
"My folks... kinda got me involved in somethin' they only really wanted for themselves, y'know?"
"What sort of something?"
"Y'ever heard of arranged marriages?"
Percy slams a foot on the brakes right next to the sidewalk, and Ramsey nearly flies straight through the front window.
"Jesus, Perce!" Ramsey gasps, hands gripping the two car seats in front of him. "What was that?!"
Percy puts the car on hazard and turns around to look at him, and when his gaze meets hers he sees that her gaze is searching, trying to look deeper, looking for something. He's not sure what she's looking for until she says, painfully slowly, "You ran away from home because your parents arranged a marriage for you and you didn't want it."
"Uh... wow," Ramsey remarks, mildly impressed. "That was quick. But yeah, basically. This ring was apparently a gift from the girl I was supposed t'marry, yeah? Couldn't leave it behind with my folks - who knows if they would've actually returned it, anyway. So I took it with me. Been with me ever since." He holds up the ring - her ring - and smiles his gerbil smile at it. "Pretty, ain't she?"
Percy exhales. "May I borrow it?"
"Wh- why?" Ramsey, oddly enough, feels a spike of protectiveness over the ring. "I assure you, I obtained this legally and that my story is one hundred percent true."
"Just... just a brief moment," Percy promises, and the tone of her voice makes Ramsey unhook the chain from around his neck and take the ring out, holding it out to Percy. She takes it from his hands and reaches for her sword - why was she reaching for her sword, was she going to cut it in half could her sword cut gold in half - and unsheathes it, the blade shining in the light-
- and it's then that Ramsey notices the patterns on the sword -
- and the slot where Percy rolls and inserts the ring into.
It's a perfect fit.
Both he and Percy stare numbly at the sword, and slowly Percy removes the ring from her sword and hands it back over to Ramsey. Where her fingertips touch his skin, her touch lingers like candle's flames. He looks down at the ring, and notices an inscription engraved inside the ring that he hadn't noticed before.
King
Percival King.
Which meant...
Ramsey looks up at Percy. Percy matches his gaze with an adorable flush on her cheeks and a serious look on her face.
Oh, god dammit.
He swears violently, and is pretty sure that the gods are all laughing at him right now.