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ezio auditore da firenze

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[Ezio is about to bust out the most intense filter work of his life. He has never done a complicated filter before, and he needs to do this right.]

----- Inventors, technology experts, mechanics, but barring those who seek power -----

[he clears his throat, then in that thick Italian accent:]

Hello... my name is Ezio Auditore, and I seek an inventor or mechanic or... esperto of some kind. I have obtained an object of great importance, but I do not know what it does, or what it is capable of.

But I need someone I can trust, someone with the right... sensitivities for this object.

-----Historians and Religious people, barring Lucrezia Borgia -----

[Still more thick Italian accent:]

I seek information about Pope Alexander VI.

-----

[And, with that done, you can find him in the kitchen, contemplating the microwave.]

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[Something in his mind tells him that the polite thing to do now would be to thank Abel and his wife -- and maybe be surprised that a priest is still married at all -- but he's too distracted by the year. His heart sinks again, worse than it did when it was suggested that anyone but an unknown Assassin had killed him. 1503? That's so far away. That's fifteen whole years away.

So he's silent for a moment, utterly floored. He comes within a few inches of pounding his fist on his desk out of frustration, and he's sorely tempted to curse just to vent but he makes do with quiet theatrics on his side of the journal.]

[hm... he wonders if this silence is a good thing. honestly, he doesn't expect that it is ;(]

...Mr. Auditore?

[Ezio pays attention, when Abel prompts him, and he lets out a sigh, already weary under this new burden. He shouldn't have asked, he thinks. He should have just trusted that personal conviction that Borgia would be dead and buried within a year or two at most. But fifteen? Fifteen whole years? It seems like an eternity.

In a different space, he would just flip anyone who told him "how things were" the finger and lunge out to change history, but here, divorced entirely from his homeland and far out of reach, it feels exhausting.

He knows he sounds just as resigned as he feels.]

Thank you, and please pass my thanks on to your wife.

[that... does not sound. good. ;(

there's a pause on this end... b-bro damnit, you promised him you wouldn't-- ahh. perhaps he should've held his tongue, after all...]

...Is this news that disheartening to you?

[Forcing himself to sound a bit more mature about it.]

No, Father. It's just not the answer I was looking for. I am sincerely thankful, though.

It's nothing. If you might not have much faith in the clergy in your world, at least I can leave you with a slightly better impression with the ones, here.

[and he can hope that if he and Ezio are from the same 'earth,' that it means he didn't do something rash and try to end the Pope's life himself. he sounds... well, motivated... even if such an idea would probably be suicide.]

My issue is not with the Church. [Which isn't to say he LIKES the Church all the time, but.] My issue is with Borgia.

[note to self: if ~~Satan~~ Antonio ever arrives, keep him away from the Italian Stallion.]

I know your reasons must be personal, and... feel free to tell me to mind my own business. But...

Would you mind if I asked why you feel so strongly about the Borgia?

[Ezio pauses, and gathers himself together. You want to know why? You can know why. He feels no shame in that.]

He ordered the execution by hanging of my father, my eldest brother, and my younger brother, though they were guilty of no crime. I was meant to hang with them.

His guards harmed my mother, terrorized my sister. Both have been uprooted from their lives, and my mother has taken ten long years to recover from her trauma... and even so, she will never be the woman she was before that crime. He would not hesitate to do further harm those that I love, if he had the chance.

That much is personal. The rest of my hatred, Father, is concentrated on what he has done to my home, and the people who inhabit it. Will you still tell me that I should "let it go?"

[ouch... Ezio, ouch. there's a long pause on this end... silence broken only by the creak of his chair, and then a soft exhale. his voice is quieter... and there is apology in it.]

...I'm sorry... sincerely, for your loss. I never meant to belittle your pain, or the pain of your family. For whatever comfort it is, I'll pray for them, Mr. Auditore.

I would never suggest to turn a blind eye to the evils you see around you. Many do... it's easier, especially when the pain like yours isn't their own. But... I will still tell you, as priest or a man, that revenge and hatred has a way of eating your soul up. Even if you were to take that man's life with your own two hands -- not that I suggest that's what you wish or intend to do...

...I think you'd find that it does little to ease the pain. I'd fear it would only bring you more, however much good you believe it would do for you and your people, and as genuinely as I wish that things were not as they are in your home. If the evil of tyrants and monsters could be ended with the taking of a life...

This world is never so simple. And, I don't think it ever will be.

[It's hard to keep up the momentum of being defensive when it isn't matched by equal offense, but he tries.]

If a man takes the lives of many, especially innocent lives, for nothing but his own benefit, then losing his own life seems a fitting consequence. If he were spared and allowed to keep his life, would that not be a blind eye turned by those who knew the truth of his actions?

I would sooner work in the dark to serve the light than be at the mercy of those who are violent without fear of consequence.

Stopping him from causing pain doesn't necessitate death. And in the case of someone in power, sometimes... stripping them of that power would be a greater pain than the loss of their life.

For you... who knows what it's like to suffer the pain of grief and loss of things that mean the most to you...

Don't you think that sometimes, being forced to live with the consequences of your actions -- whether through punishment, or the unjust actions of others -- is far more a 'fitting' penance than the escape of death?

And how is a relatively powerless man with more notoriety than resources supposed to turn all of Italia against this tyrant and strip him of his power without ending lives?

Is it easier to kill him then to try?

I realize that to take a life seems painfully easier than the alternatives. There is no guarantee of success. There might not even seem to be hope.

But the same history that teaches me that this man will die of an illness in 1503 has also taught me that men born beggars or slaves have grown to change their people, their cities... their world.

No revolution was ever won without death, Father.

Call me an idealist or naive... but I can hope that one day someone will set the precedent, Mr. Auditore.

Look at your history books again, and they will tell you that it will not happen in my time. A man I spoke to earlier comes from a time a thousand years ahead of mine, and still, humanity knows no peace. What is the point when we know it will never come to pass?

My past may not be your future, you know that? For all we're aware, my world and yours are in completely different universes... and in yours, the tables are turned. That man is usurped, or killed. There is no way to know, Mr. Auditore, and you can't give up hope even if that isn't the case...!

You will want to build that family of yours one day without a heavy heart, don't you? All we can do is strive for the future we dream of. Peace in mine, and peace in yours... we have to hang onto it, however impossible it might seem!

[He considers this for a long moment. Sigh.]

Other worlds make little sense to me, but I suppose it's a possibility.

And as long as there's the possibility, there has to be hope. Okay?

You have to keep hoping.

We wouldn't be brought here to grow and learn what we do for no reason. Maybe our purpose here is to change the future. To fix our mistakes, right wrongs... make things better. If you believe in 'fate,' then... maybe you can believe this, too.

I understand.

[He pauses.]

I have a request, if I may ask.

Of course. What's on your mind...?

Rodrigo Borgia's daughter is here –– a girl of maybe fifteen or sixteen named Lucrezia. She is unaware of her father's crimes, both the current ones and the ones yet to come.

I'd like to request that you keep silent to her about her father, as well as my interest in him. I'd like to... protect her, so that Borgia does not destroy her life as he has destroyed mine.

I will understand if you are concerned for her safety, but I swear I mean her no harm.

[ah. Ezio.

...he can't see it, but there's a small smile on this end.]

I promise, I won't say a word to disturb her peace.

It would seem you're quite the 'good man' at heart after all, Mr. Auditore.

[He could bristle or argue the "after all" bit, but he accepts that people will never really understand until they're in his shoes. So he just leaves it with a simple:]

Thank you.

iv λ knowledge

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion

Father Abel Nightroad

the Italian Stallion