xix λ exploration

[assassino]

----- Stephanie Brown -----

She admitted to having affections for me, but acknowledged that they will not come to pass. I did not kiss her or lead her astray, but I thought you should know in case she goes to you weeping.

[He's just leaving her a message, of course. So he doesn't get his ass kicked.]


------

[Here's a fairly chipper tone:]

There are conversations about expeditions... I wonder, curiously, why there is so much waiting involved. There is no need to amass supplies nor food when the castle gifts it so readily, no need to search for patrons to fund the expedition, so why do people not simply pack up a horse and depart? Even women and children could travel easily, like this.

People from the future are terribly pampered.

[Meanwhile, you can find Ezio in the garden, picking flowers for his lady.]

Comments

[molotov]

So you would leave her now instead?

[assassino]

No. I am just trying to put the thought from my mind, lest B-- [pause; he almost has to reword himself to avoid saying "Borgia"] lest that bastard take her from me again.

[molotov]

But you are not putting the thought from your mind. Tell me where to find Desmond -- I will beat the details out of him, if it would help make you content to be here.

[assassino]

No, no, no. Do not beat the boy, he is only trying to protect the future from being changed... whatever that means! Knowing more details would still not be enough -- I want to experience it.

I will just have to try harder.

[molotov]

You know you will experience it, though. Twisting yourself into knots with anticipation does not bring the day any more quickly.

[She sighs and lights up a cigarette, placing the flower he gave her in her lap.]

[assassino]

I know that.

[He sits with her, gathering up his flowers for Cristina.]

One cannot help what their heart feels, I suppose.

[molotov]

[No one knows that better than Molotov. But she's of the "do as I say, not as I do" school of thought on this one.]

One can try.

[assassino]

[Nod.

And a thought.]

Lucrezia confessed to having affections for me. If Cristina were not here and I agreed, how fast would you kill me?

[molotov]

[She snorts.]

As soon as I found out, though not for the most obvious of reasons.

[assassino]

[He doesn't take this seriously, so he just chuckles.]

Which reason, then?

[molotov]

Lucrezia is... not cut out for people like us. She needs a soft and tender man, who will adore her and dote on her and never harm a single hair on her head. You will hurt her, if only because I do not think you could devote yourself fully enough to loving her.

Anyway, the two of you would be a terrible match.

[assassino]

I do not disagree; I do not think I could bring her anything but sadness and anger. I will hurt her terribly someday. [A shrug.] But it was a thought, even if only a brief one.

[And teasing, because he doesn't want to talk about depressing things:]

But what good would killing the man of her affections serve, I wonder? You have not thought this out terribly well.

[molotov]

[Dismissive wave!]

She would get over it.

[assassino]

Such a cruel teacher.

I think you'd have to race Stephanie to me, though. She is very protective of Lucrezia as well.

[molotov]

It is not cruelty. It would be done out of concern for her.

And I would be happy to work with Stephanie on this matter.

[assassino]

Does the Church not punish out of concern for its patron's souls?

[molotov]

The Church has ulterior motives.

[assassino]

[Shrug.]

And you would kill me entirely out of the goodness of your heart?

[molotov]

I have no other reason to want you dead, lapushka.

[assassino]

[Just a smile. She's a strange woman, but he adores her.]

I think you would make a good Assassin, all things considered.

[molotov]

In a world where I had not been burned by politics so badly, I would consider it.

[assassino]

How have politics burned you?

[molotov]

I spent the whole first half of my life learning to love an ideology and a way of life. I gave myself wholly to my government, promised to live and die for it and for the Party. But my country gave up first, rolled over and died. It doesn't even exist anymore. I am a stranger in the world now, with no true home.

That was when I promised myself that I would never love politics again. Only money.

[assassino]

Hmm. People do no such thing, in my time. No one would swear themselves to a nation... only to a city, or a leader. One can easily change leaders or cities... it is more difficult to find a new nation when yours has gone sour.

[molotov]

You have told me this before. But that is just how it is done in my time, in my world. I was raised to love the Party.