return to paradisa

[secondchances]

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[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."

[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?"