002 | Dictated

[hellofist]

So, uh... everyone uses journals, here... But I can't read. Know I'm... missing a lot, like this. So, was wondering... are there teachers, here? Or just... someone who can help?

Can't pay, but can trade. Can teach to fight, hand to hand or... with weapons. Most kinds. Going to gym now, can meet there. Can meet... just to spar, too. Could use... sparring partners.

[The recording stops there, but Cass will be in the gym ready to spar with whoever wants to drop by.]

Comments

[assassino]

[He laughs.]

That is just fine by me.

[hellofist]

I'll be waiting.

[assassino]

[He's there in ten or so minutes, dressed in the usual laced leather pants and a white button-up shirt. No doublet today, though; not when he's going to be sparring. He lets himself into the gym and peers in with a smile.]

Cassandra?

[hellofist]

[Cass isn't exactly hiding. Instead, dressed in a simple pair of pants and a fitted long sleeve shirt, she's balanced on some of the taller gym equipment because she got a little bored waiting for him and why not find something dumb to do while she waits?

So she's high up, balancing on gym stuff... on her hands. It's possible she's trying to be impressive. Once he gets there and she hears her name she turns, grins at him and shifts her weight to one hand so she can give him an upside down wave with the other.]

Hi.

[assassino]

[If he hadn't seen Molotov do those kinds of tricks, he might be surprised by a girl doing them... but it's still impressive, no matter how many times he's seen it. He chuckles as he looks up at her.]

Hello, little gymnast.

[hellofist]

[Ezio, Cass has decided, has a nice laugh. Bending her elbows, she launches into the air, twisting so she'll face him when she lands, and then goes to stand in front of him. Once she's closer, she looks at his wrists to see if his body will tell her his knives are there today.]

What kind of sparring? Hands? Or weapons?

[assassino]

[They're there, slid into their holsters on the underside of his wrists, hidden by the brown leather bracers laced overtop.]

Hands, I would think. I do not know what weapons you use.

[hellofist]

[They're perfectly hidden and it's impressive, honestly, that it takes reading his body language to know they're there at all. But a body will always be aware of the weapons on it, no matter how well hidden they are.]

Can use any kind. [She says it offhandedly, more interested in his weapons, and holds her hand out.] Can I see?

[assassino]

See what, dolcezza?

[He, of course, doesn't know that she knows.]

[hellofist]

The kind you use. The way... they're hidden.

[assassino]

Ah.

[Her body reading is much more detailed than he thought. He turns over one wrist to show her the underside, what is visible beneath the laces of his bracers. With a flick of his wrist, a good foot or so of blade slides out of its sheath, deadly fast.]

You are very perceptive.

[Another flick withdraws them.]

[hellofist]

[Immediately she grins, impressed by the way the whole thing works. She wants to see how they work, wants some of her own. She starts to reach for his wrist then but stops, fingers hovering just over the bracer, and glances up at him.]

Is touching okay?

[She remembers things like personal space sometimes.]

[assassino]

Si, go right ahead.

[hellofist]

[Her fingers pick over the laces and wiggle under them, feeling the mechanism for the release and getting a better idea for how the whole thing operates. What she loosens she fixes again, but her inspection of him is thorough. She knows about hidden weaponry but this is different, it's smart.

Making his knife come out seems a little improper, but he told her she could so it must be alright, right? She bends his wrist gently, a pleased smile tugging her lips when the blade springs out. She can see exactly how it would work in practice and even if she doesn't kill, even if she thinks everyone should get the chance to live, she can't help but appreciate the way this weapon works.]

It's good.

[assassino]

[He watches her with interest, watching her prod and toy and test. There was a time where he looked at these weapons with such wonder and curiosity, but now they are just an extension of his own body, as unremarkable as his own arms or legs or neck. They have been strapped to his wrists for ten years, leaving him only to bathe and sometimes to sleep.]

It is better than good. It is the finest weapon to ever exist.

[hellofist]

[She nods gravely. She would never dispute that, she understands what it feels like to have pride in your most important weapon. Her father felt it when he looked at her, she knows what it looks like when she sees it in Ezio.

Carefully, she runs her thumb across the blade to test for sharpness and isn't surprised at what she finds. Of course he would take perfect care of it, it's part of him.]

Where you're from, do all... assassins have these?

[assassino]

No. But if I have my way, more will.

[He looks at her, trying to gauge her expression. He misses his own ability to read people.]

Stephanie says the Assassins of your time do not work for the betterment of the world.

[hellofist]

No.

[She turns his wrist again again to make the blade retract, letting go of him to leave her hands loose at her sides.]

They work for... who pays them.

[assassino]

Hmm.

[It just doesn't make sense to him. Desmond had said the Assassins were weakened, but he did not imagine they would sacrifice their ideals.]

Do you know their symbol? Their Creed?

[hellofist]

[She shakes her head.]

Ran away before... any of that happened.

[assassino]

[He shakes his head, somewhat unsettled.]

And what prompted you to leave, dolcezza?

[hellofist]

[She looks up at him now, studying his face for his intentions. Stephanie trusts him and has for years, he already knows half the story. Filling him in on the rest... it can't really hurt anything. But still-]

Long story. Sure you want... to hear whole thing?

[assassino]

[He reaches to tuck her hair behind her ear.]

If you will tell me.

[hellofist]

[That gets a small, distracted smile. She's trying to figure out where to start.]

When do you... start training, in your world? What age?

[assassino]

Assassins are supposed to train from birth... but my father delayed. He wanted to give my brothers and I a chance at life before the "family business," so to speak. I was seventeen when I started.