return to paradisa

[secondchances]

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[secondchances]

"And some rice," she says, showing off the bag slung over her shoulder. Like Santa with his gifts, really. "I mean, this is good. We'll have to ration, but at least we know there's stuff between here and the castle. We haven't even done a deep dive into the rooms or the homes here."

She's sounding more hopeful, now.

"Maybe we should figure out where we want to grow this stuff before the sun's down. Then hop to it tomorrow, if it's going to take that long."

She looks at him for affirmation. This is a new game for her.

[assassino]

He is deeply proud of her. Doubly so because rice is familiar to him, and even if it is now true Italian cuisine, he is glad it is something he recognizes from home. If it was potatoes, he might have loathed his fate.

"It's a very good start, and I am sure we will find much more with some luck," he agrees. But when she looks at him for confirmation on planting things, he expects she'll be the one with answers: "Have you ever grown anything, dolcezza?"

(Other than a baby.)

[secondchances]

Steph looks at him.

"I don't like that you're asking me that."

[assassino]

He pauses, looking at her quite seriously and puzzling out what she means.

“You do not think I know how to farm, do you?”

[secondchances]

Her eyes widen.

"Oh, shit. You're kidding me, right? I grew beans in a pot, once." And then they died when she forgot about them. It was middle school.

"You have to have more experience than me, at least."

[assassino]

“I was raised to be a banker,” he replies. “I have seen and ridden through farms, at least.”

[secondchances]

While the look on her face says we're screwed, she takes a deep breath.

"Okay. We don't have the knowledge to start planting, so we need that before we even know where to begin, right? So, that means we need to learn. The library at the castle has to have something."

It's a start.

"We'll take some seeds and stuff back so we have some more food and know what we're working with. And in that case, we can just stay in your room for the time being. Sound like a plan? Once we have a better idea of what we need to know, I guess... we start."

She's feeling much better knowing that there's at least some food around. They (probably) have time to read up.

[assassino]

It's not that bad, he wants to say. How bad can it be if like eighty percent of people alive are farmers? It is, by Ezio's reckoning, apparently easier to learn to farm than it is to learn to read. But she's got the gist of that herself; they'll just read about it. The library is bound to have something.

"It's a good plan," he agrees. "This city once held tens of thousands, dolcezza, if every one only held enough food to feed us for a day, we would still be safe for years to come. We should be swift, but not hasty."

[secondchances]

She nods. "Yeah. I mean, we have enough right now, so I vote we actually eat. You've gotta be hungry, too."

[assassino]

“Yes, I am,” he agrees. A thoughtful pause. “We will need to build a fire to cook on.”

[secondchances]

"Duh," she says with a smile. "And water. The good news is, whoever owned this shop lived in the back, so there's a stove we can use. Plenty of wood furniture to burn, too."

[assassino]

“Then we eat here,” Ezio replies. Amused, he holds up that hatchet. “I can handle the firewood if you cook.”

[secondchances]

"Very manly." She steps forward to give him a kiss, taking the opportunity to tug his hood down. "Lucky for you, I know how to make rice."

[assassino]

He chuckles, letting her take down his hood.

“We will be just fine,” he tells her, and he catches her in yet another kiss.

[secondchances]

"I knew it all along." Except no, there was some major worrying. It's still there, but she's clearly in a better mood, kissing him back with enthusiasm.

[assassino]

“That you did,” he hums against her lips, and he sets down the hatchet on a nearby tabletop so he can take her in both arms.

[secondchances]

"I thought you were hungry. You're gonna distract me yet again," she grins, but there's no attempt to wiggle away. Very rarely has there ever been.

[assassino]

"A man can hunger for more than one thing at once, mia cara," he replies, and he scoops her up under her thighs to hold her against him. "But I'll let you go for a price."

[secondchances]

If this is going to be a thing between them, she doesn't seem to mind it, grinning and wrapping her legs around him.

"Yeah? What's the price?"

[assassino]

He walks her back a little, just so he can rest her weight against a cabinet and give her a nice, deliberate squish.

"I'll take another kiss to start with," he tells her. "And if you cannot afford what comes after that... I'll come collect later."

[secondchances]

He gets another kiss, and a much more leisurely, deeper one as a bonus. She doesn't pull back from that one until she needs to take a breath.

"I'm listening. Go on." Spell it out for her.

[assassino]

Exactly what he was angling for, long and slow. He pushes up against her a little harder.

"You'll have to ride my face."

[secondchances]

"That sounds more like me getting paid rather than you," she laughs, cheeks rosy, but not out of embarrassment.

[assassino]

“Then I expect you’ll enjoy it as much as I do,” he murmurs, and he nuzzles into her neck for a moment.

[secondchances]

"Well, you know. Obviously, not a thing I've done before, so you'll have to show me how it's done and not let me suffocate you," she jokes, soaking up the affection and kissing his temple.