paradisa | (no subject)

[ Lucrezia will be staring after Ezio. This thing that Italians do all the time seems to disagree with Stephanie somewhat. She takes a seat beside her and folds her hands on her lap. ]

Because he will amuse us with his indomitable charm.

[Ezio closes the bathroom door behind him and unfolds the clothes just to make sure the castle gave him something reasonable. T-shirt, jeans, underwear. Fine.

It takes longer to get out of his clothing than it does to put the new ones on, due to all the lacing and buckles, but he manages it quickly. The underwear is bizarre but useful considering the zipper on the jeans (as well as the thick seams), the jeans are stiff but workable, and the t-shirt is fitted tighter than he'd like, but at least it's all comfortable.

And, with the t-shirt on, he remembers why he didn't wear t-shirts in Paris, despite owning a number of them: they left his wrists bare.

He ponders what to do about that for a moment. He doesn't expect combat -- he hasn't really had any in the past month -- but he never goes without his hidden blade. Save sleeping and bathing, it hasn't left his wrist since he got it ten years ago, and when it's off, it's in arm's length. Sleeves generally go a long way to hide it, mask it as just any other vambrace.

He holds it up to his arm, just to see how it looks with the rest, and it's a little too obvious. Frustrating, as he doesn't want to go without it, but Lucrezia and Steph will surely notice. Eventually, he caves and puts it back on, buckling the vambrace a little tighter to hide the blade underneath. As long as he doesn't go flashing his wrist, they won't see the mechanism strapped to its underside, mostly hidden, the blade completely concealed inside of it. If they ask, he'll dismiss its significance. It's very common for men of his time to be armed, so Lucrezia hopefully will pay it no concern, but Stephanie will likely know what it is for.

He'll worry about that if it happens. He'd rather explain than feel vulnerable.

Ezio folds up his normal clothes and tucks them under one arm, pausing to take one last look at himself in the mirror. He flicks his necklace out from under the collar of his shirt, just so it's not caught awkwardly underneath, and pivots on the spot to see how it looks from the back.

Strange, but doable.

He lets himself out, putting on a grin.]

What do you think, ladies?

Ah, right.

[Steph expects Ezio to look good, but this is ridiculous. She does notice the thing on his wrist--it stands out--but for the moment, her brain is stalled on the thought that damn, he's attractive.

It takes her a few moments to realize her mouth is open in an "o" shape. She shuts it, then claps her hands. Thank you, castle. Thank you for this gift and for the fitted shirt.]

This lady approves. Ten out of ten. I... yes, very nice.

[ Lucrezia pays only the minutest attention to the vambrace on his wrist, only as much as it contributes to his whole look. Familial loyalty requires her to say her brother is more attractive still but he is a close contender, a very close contender. She giggles and claps as well. ]

Bello! [ Then turning to whisper in Stephanie's ear. ] This is why we invited him.

Edited 2012-01-27 02:10 (UTC)

[He'll make a show of it, walking forward a few steps with that usual effortless swagger and then bowing.]

Why, grazie, madonne! I'm glad I meet your standards.

[He sets his clothing down on Steph's desk.]

[Amen to that, Lucrezia. Steph laughs.]

You have to do a twirl.

[ That swagger. That must be it. She hops up from her seat and steps to the middle of the room to distract herself from the gorgeousness that is Ezio. ]

Let us start our word games.

[He rotates on the spot once, just for Steph, before meeting Lucrezia in the middle.]

Word games, hmm? That's a strange reason to be kidnapped.

[Steph approves of the rear view, too.

Anyway--]

And dress up isn't? [From where she's sitting, she uses her fingers to frame Ezio and Lucrezia. You people are too pretty. She smiles and then leans over to pull a box out from under her bed--don't mind the single sock you might catch glimpse of, please.]

It's easy, I promise. I play it with my mom all the time at home. [And lose, but hey. They don't need to know that.]

[ She steps closer to Stephanie to help her with the box, flashing Ezio a smile. ]

Rest assured, Ezio, we are not done with you yet.

[Socks: a symbol of wealth and nobility. Ezio's watching them curiously.]

As long as it's not Primera.

[Stupid card games. Stupid Rosa :')]

[She hands Lucrezia the box so she can hike her skirt up a bit before sitting on the carpet. At first she sits cross-legged, like she'd do normally, but then decides on something she thinks they might find a little more ladylike or... something. Whatever, legs are shut and to the side.]

I don't know what Primera is.

[ She also sits with her legs to the side, especially now that the jeans do not hide them. ]

It is a game where you compare what cards you have. To win, you must pretend to have a better hand. [ She tips her head at Ezio, biting back a smile. ] It is Spanish.

[Ezio stretches out on the floor, relaxed, right at home. Sitting up straight is overrated. He smiles and nods at Lucrezia.]

That it is. The Venetian thieves and merchants play it, too, and they tend to be better cheats than I.

[It's like the centerfold of a fashion magazine fell open. Steph's not sure if fashion magazines really have centerfolds, but they should.]

Guess that means I better be careful around you guys.

[She opens the box and puts the board in the middle of the floor, then puts the little tile racks in front of them. She puts the bag of tiles aside for the moment.]

I hope this game won't bore you too much.

[ She chuckles. That was meant as a challenge but he declined it so gracefully that she must concede. She inspects a 'Z' tile. ]

Are we to make verses with these?

If we get bored, we will just have more wine.

[He looks at the board. Yeah, he has no idea.]

Is it chess with letters?

[She'd roll her eyes, but she chooses to explain the game.]

Basically, everyone gets seven random letters and has to make words out of them. For example...

[Her hand goes into the bag to pull out the tiles.] I can spell "fire." So, I put the tiles on the board. Right here, because it's the first word. [She points and puts the tiles down.] Since I got rid of four letters, I pick four more tiles from the bag. [Which she does.]

Now, pretend I'm Ezio and laying around all cool and casual in my modern clothes. I need to make a word off of what was previously put down. Any of these letters on the board can be used. [She puts down a few tiles, and now the e has been turned into "enter."] See? You kinda keep building off. If you put tiles next to each other, it's got to spell a word. So no horizontal or vertical words can be right next to each other because you'll have nonsense.

Easy, right? If you can't make a word, you can exchange some tiles for some more random letters.

[ That sounds easy enough. Stephanie is decidedly an excellent guide to all things 21st century. She points to the colored blocks on the board. ]

Is that only for decoration?

[Oh Steph, you noticed :')]

It does seem easy... but certainly not where my talents lie. It should make an interesting challenge.

The colors bring me to the next thing, which is scoring. All the tiles have points on them. When you make a word, you get to add up all the ones in the word, and if you placed a tile on the right square, sometimes that score can be doubled or tripled for the word or the letter on that spot.

[Steph's pretty sure she knows where your talents lie, Ezio. ;)

... in being an assassin, or whatever, right? Right. Whatever she's thinking, she shrugs.]

I'm not a pro at this, either. I'm pretty sure Lucrezia is going to destroy us.

[ She really wants to ask him where his talents lie, but bites back a chuckle at her own speculation. Immature cheddar. ]

I would never destroy you, I like you too much.

[ But she is already eying the colored tiles. Hmmmm. ] Should we set a prize for the winner?

Ah, then our deaths will be swift and painless.

[He rifles through the tiles. He wants good ones.]

I like prizes. [Ezio glances to Lucrezia with a grin.] You're most likely to win –– what are you playing for?

I'm still scared.

[ She laughs, reaching to take Stephanie's hand in reassurance. She looks back at Ezio. ]

I want a mystery gift wrapped in perfumed silk.