return to paradisa

[secondchances]

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[secondchances]

"Even when we're breaking our backs, farming, and trying to scrounge up some sort of a comfortable life here?"

Or, you know. Something along those lines.

[assassino]

Ezio does not imagine labour terribly well, but he does imagine Stephanie in a field, hair artfully disheveled, her blouse opened at the top to stave off the heat, and a bead of sweat trickling down the valley of her perfect breasts. That is what will get him through.

"Even then," he swears. "And we can till the fields topless just to entertain each other."

[secondchances]

That gets a good laugh out of her.

"You can be topless. I'm not breaking my back in anything less than the bra I'm wearing today, and some sunscreen. Or a very fashionable hat."

She is a creature of the night, after all.

"Totally looking forward to you all hot and sweaty in the sun."

[assassino]

"I intent to," he says. Might as well, just to fluster her all day. He laughs, though. "Where do you think we will find sunscreen?"

Funny how he remembers what sunscreen is. Probably because he's rubbed it on enough women, and vice versa.

[secondchances]

"Might as well ask me where we'll find anything. We're at the mercy of what's here," she says, though she does remember that sunscreen has an expiry date. Clearly, she's not the outdoorsy-in-the-daytime type.

"Which is looking grim, seeing as no one and nothing has come out to greet us. Friendly or not."

[assassino]

"There could be a lot of that in the castle itself," he remarks. "But in the city..."

There really hasn't been anyone. It's a ghost town.

"We may truly be on our own."

[secondchances]

"Is it sinking in yet?"

Steph gives him a helpless smile.

[assassino]

He lets out a long sigh and then nods.

"I suppose it is."

[secondchances]

She gives his hand a squeeze.

"We'll be fine. It's us. We're almost to the shops, and we'll see what we have to work with."

[assassino]

"I have no doubt we'll have enough to last us until we can get started," Ezio says. "I doubt the castle would bring us back if it was that impossible..."

[secondchances]

"That's a good point," she says, clinging to that hope. "There had to be a reason, and I don't think it was see which one of us cracks and resorts to cannibalism first."

[assassino]

"No cannibalism," he says, firmly. He is not a terribly religious person, but that sure as fuck is not holy. "Whatever the reason... we will manage."

[secondchances]

"Works out in my favor. I have more fat on me, so." You know, it'd make sense for her to be the sacrificial lamb. But also, eww.

And yet the talk of food--even humans as food--reminds her belly that it is running on fumes. It growls loudly and pathetically.

"Ugh. Maybe we should have snacked in the castle."

Away from the smell.

[assassino]

"Perhaps so," he agrees. "Come. Let's help ourselves to whatever is in these stores."

Fingers crossed for dried pasta.

[secondchances]

Steph nods, quiet until they arrive to the main lane. The stalls that would dot the street before the proper brick and mortar shops are bare, but at least it looks more packed up than ransacked.

Deserted, but not destroyed.

"It's probably fine to split up, here." If something happened on the other side of the street, the other would hear a scuffle. "You take the left, I take the right? Hope for something edible?"

[assassino]

"Fine by me," he replies. "Shout if you need me."

Everything being packed up is unsettling in its own way. Packed up, in Ezio's mind, means people had time to exile themselves; they were not slaughtered or trapped or set upon by some hostile invasion, but rather they foresaw their own deaths if they stayed. That would mean stores being packed up and taken, and likely many of the tools too. He'd almost rather find corpses, but there's no sense in upsetting Stephanie by telling her that.

Off down the left he goes, slipping into the first store. The lock breaks with some well-applied leverage with his hidden blade.

[secondchances]

"Likewise," she chimes, and heads off to her first stop.

It's not even locked. Either someone got here before them, or the owners didn't care to lock up because they might not be coming back. Not great, either way.

The shop isn't completely bare she can tell, but it's dark, the only light from the small windows. It smells like leather. Makes sense, seeing as she finds some leather belts and straps on the walls, and a satchel that's on the smaller side on the way to the back room.

She decides to take that along in case she actually finds something useful. She doubts she'll be finding food here, but it's worth bring thorough, and so she sets herself to the task until it's time to move on to the next.

At least these people could have left a note or something.

[assassino]

Ezio finds himself in a dressmaker's shop, which is far from the most useful place he could be, so he does a quick tour and then heads back out and onto the adjacent building. That one is marginally more useful; it's some sort of blacksmith's shop, and there are enough tools left behind to make Ezio reasonably confident that they'll be able to make sure of them. No food, though. On to the next.

[secondchances]

Steph does have some luck in the next building. Building, because she couldn't rightly say what it was. Shelves and signage are nowhere to be found, but she does find a sack of rice that's light enough for her to haul out, forgotten in the back room behind empty crates.

It's really depressing that it seems that might be the most of their luck.

At least until she goes to the next shop. A gardening shop of sorts, and while the pickings are slim, there are most certainly labelled seeds for corn, potatoes, carrots, and some other crap she has no idea how to grow. She doesn't even know how long seeds can, like, be seeds. She assumes Ezio will.

Poking her head back out, she decides it's a decent enough find to call him over.

"Hey, Ezio! I found some good stuff!"

Assuming they can make it long enough to grow anything.

[assassino]

He pokes his head out of a second-floor window at the sound of her voice, and instead of winding his way back downstairs inside, he just steps through the window and drops down from the awning. When it wobbles precariously under his weight, he just keeps moving until he can join her.

Seeds. Ezio plants a kiss on her temple. He is carrying a small hatchet, too.

"Ah, good," he says, humorously. "We will be feasting in two months."

But it is a good find, and certainly something to look forward to –– if they found food to eat but nothing to grow, they'd only be delaying the inevitable.

[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."