xxix λ retirement

[assemblatore]

[Needless to say, Ezio Auditore did not expect to be in this place. No one ever does; if you could, it wouldn't be Paradisa, would it?

And Ezio does not go quietly. Instead, he's the one with an iron fire poker, stalking through the halls with as much haste as he can. His old body make it difficult, but adrenaline has a way of providing one with the strength.

He's on edge. He doesn't know what to make of this strange new place, or how he got here. Is he dead? Did Shao Jun's pursuers get the best of him? And –– most important of all –– is his family alright?

And there's his voice, still heavily accented but much older, much more gravelly:]


Come out, you dogs, and greet me! Or are you too cowardly to face an old man?

Comments

[molotov]

[Molotov snorts and beckons him inside. Old man probably needs to sit down anyway.]

[assemblatore]

{He follows, noticeably slower than he was in his youth. Old maaaaan.]

Molotov, is it? You are Rossian.

[molotov]

Da, I am. But I live in America now. My husband is American. You were at our wedding.

[She gestures at the living room, though she stops in the kitchen for wine and glasses.]

[assemblatore]

I did not know the American Indians could take European wives.

[He looks around the place, somewhat taken by the decor.]

[molotov]

Well, he is only a quarter Native. Mostly Swedish, actually. We are from 2009. Sit down.

[assemblatore]

[He nods as he sits. 2009? Hmm.]

I see.

[molotov]

Do you?

[She pours him some wine.]

[assemblatore]

My eyes are not that bad.

[He's still taken by the decor.]

Things must be very different in your time.

[molotov]

Oh, very. You never believed some of the things I told you.

[assemblatore]

I am not surprised. At twenty-nine, my own view was the only way I saw the world.

[molotov]

I have spent some time changing your mind by force, da.

[assemblatore]

I am sure that did not go over well with me.

[molotov]

[She chuckles a little, and sinks down in a chair to enjoy her wine.] Actually, I think you secretly liked it.

[assemblatore]

[He chuckles a bit.]

Now I am sure you knew me. My memory has not been so good these days.

[molotov]

Nothing to worry about. We will put you on ginkgo biloba until you change back. Do you remember anything at all?

[assemblatore]

[He's not sure what that is, or what she means by "changing back."]

Of my own life, I am sure I know everything that truly matters. Of this Paradisa... hmm. There is something strangely familiar, yet I cannot recall it at all.

[molotov]

Tell me about your life then, since I have known you.

[assemblatore]

All of it? It is a long story.

[molotov]

The important parts, then.

[assemblatore]

Hmm... at thirty I lived with a woman for some time, until my battle with the Borgia called me on. I helped cease the Bonfire of the Vanities, as they are calling it now, and travelled to Rome. There, I engaged in fisticuffs with the Pope. I was just shy of forty, by then.

That is one of my fondest memories.

[molotov]

[Molotov smiles.]

How old are you now?

[assemblatore]

Sixty-four, donna.

[molotov]

Ah, so I am just "donna" now. I used to be "madonna".

[assemblatore]

"Madonna" is just how young people say "mia donna" –– my lady. It would be inappropriate to call you mine, would it not?

[molotov]

Inappropriate never stopped you before, Ezio.