forward dated to ~*~*the future*~*~! or... the weekend.

[secondchances]

I'm gone for forever, traveling rivers and jungles and fighting dinosaurs, and then I don't even get welcome back from you? Rude. That stings. I thought we were friends.

[Kidding, of course! She's sure Ezio's been doing what Ezio does.

Please be in a good mood. Pleasepleaseplease.]

Comments

Stephanie

[assassino]

I knew you were back, dolcezza, I just imagined it would be impolite to welcome you back over the journal, and rude to ask you to come to me.

[He's missed you, though :')]

What are dinosaurs?

Ezio

[secondchances]

Or, option C: you could come visit me. I'm only down a few flights of stairs.

Big lizards. Though the ones we encountered were more like birds. Either way, they were mean, wanted to eat us, and I totally took one down by myself. [Not bragging or anything.] It was kinda cool, if I do say so myself. We'll watch a documentary about them one day so you can see what I'm talking about.

Stephanie

[assassino]

I am taking it easy! I managed to injure myself while you were gone and the stairs going in circles makes me dizzy. I thought you would be proud of me, actually resting for once.

But it is good to hear that you successfully assassinated a large bird-lizard.

Ezio

[secondchances]

What happened? [Don't panic, Steph.]

... Cesare's not mysteriously missing, is he?

[She forces herself to laugh. It's a joke! IT'S FUNNY... because it better not be true.]

Stephanie

[assassino]

[He chuckles.]

The bastard put up a good fight, like any good criminal, but in the end he fell beneath my sword.

1/3

[secondchances]

... you wouldn't.

[secondchances]

[OR WOULD HE? She thought Lucrezia wouldn't dare write a letter to break up Ezio and Cristina, but she was wrong about that.]

[secondchances]

Ezio, you better be trying to be funny and failing because if you're serious--I was gone a few weeks! Not even that long! Now would be a good time to set me straight before I really start flipping out just a teeny tiny bit here--

[assassino]

[He laughs.]

It sounds like you are already "flipping out" -- if that means what I assume it means, anyhow.

Do not be troubled. I have seen Cesare once since you left, and he was more sour than usual. I have only seen Lucrezia once, too. She's not answering her door, but I suppose Cesare just told her to ignore me, lest I seduce her or something. Poor girl, but then again, perhaps you'd know better than I do.

[secondchances]

Ha, you are funny. I was just messing with you.

[... sure, Steph.]

I saw Lucrezia recently. We, uh, had a bath. She seemed fine. [LetterletterLETTER.] So, what did happen? Or do I need to go see for myself what the damage is?

[assassino]

[Women bathing together is actually not surprising nor sexual to him. You get to go without commentary :')]

I got struck by a car.

[secondchances]

[Steph figured it probably wasn't a Lucrezia thing and just a... Renaissance thing. Confirmed!]

A CAR? There aren't that many cars here! Did someone chase you down?

[assassino]

Some young woman named Julie, we were both being foolish. She was sympathetic, though, and she brought me to my clinic bed and kept me company.

[secondchances]

[At least she didn't have to bring him in. See, other girls do it too!]

Ezio. [Groan.] Anything broken?

[assassino]

A fractured wrist, something called a "concochon" and a fair bit of bleeding from the skull, but I am fine. Mostly.

[secondchances]

A concussion?

Seriously. I wasn't gone that long.

[But maybe it's good timing, all things considered. If she tells him about Lucrezia and the letter, it's not like he'd be in good shape to go bang on her door and demand more answers or whatever he might feel like doing. Hmm.]

[assassino]

Yes, that. We do not have that word, I think -- we only have concussione which means extraction in a sense... such as concussione e corruzione which is bribery and corruption. No one has bribed me.

[Isn't Italian fun? Ezio is pretty oblivious right now.]

Come visit me.

[secondchances]

A concussion is head trauma, but I'm sure you've got that figured out.

Over in a few, then. Hope you're not a giant bruise.

[Purple is a good color, just not on flesh.]

[assassino]

Yes, Dr. Watson explained.

[he chuckles.]

See you soon, mia esploratrice.

[secondchances]

[No idea what that means, but she doesn't feel like getting a vocab lesson right now.

About ten minutes later there's a knock at Ezio's door, followed by Steph checking to see if the it's open--she's gonna assume he's chilling in bed. Déjà vu!]

[assassino]

[He isn't in bed, surprisingly. Instead, he is stretched out on the couch, like some sort of ralph lauren model, because he naturally looks hot.

Except he still has a bandage on his forehead. Loser.]

Stephanie! Welcome.

[secondchances]

[She almost wants to laugh, but settles for smiling. Wow, that looks silly. Car: 1, Assassin: 0.]

You look pretty bad, I gotta say.

[She approaches the couch to lean in and give him a one-armed hug, careful not to bump into any injuries.]

It's even worse close up.

[assassino]

[He hugs her back, pulling tight. He missed her, but he's too much of a ~guy~ to admit how much.]

You are too kind. And here I thought I would be getting words of sympathy!

[secondchances]

[Oof. She laughs and hugs a little more tightly before parking her butt on the couch. Make room, Ezio.]

You could look worse?

This just means that next time there's an expedition, you have to come along. You get hit by cars when left unattended.

[assassino]

[He scoots over.]

I'm thinking that I will, though perhaps in a smaller group. I would not want to be slowed by such a large caravan.