quarantacinque || video

[betrayedblade]

[The video is dark when the device turns on. Giovanni removes his hand a moment later but the device isn't entirely facing him and the picture is skewed at an odd angle. There is the usual rubble of the worse parts of the town in the background.

The brown bundle off to the side moves slightly and it becomes apparent the shape is that of a man hunched over. It's still hard to distinguish much.]

...sed libera nos a malo.

[The figure coughs violently.]

...libera nos a malo. Avrei...

...

Così è stato questo inferno tutto il tempo? [He begins to laugh harshly and then breaks into more coughing...and what can barely be heard to sound like heartbroken sobbing intermixed.]


[[Note: Giovanni has just come back from a canon update. He has just lived through his death. He is weeping for his dead sons who are not dead here but that is besides the point. He is in his normal clothes--aka, not the assassin's robes--and there is a rather nasty red mark around his neck from where the noose hung him that will be seen in some replies.
tl;dr: He's back from a disappearance of his own.]]

[[Translations: ...and deliver us from evil.

...deliver us from evil. I would have...

So was this hell all along?]]

Comments

[video]

[betrayedblade.livejournal.com]

[He can't help but stare at the communicator at the familiar and yet all too unfamiliar sight that meets his eyes there. But he would not--could not--ever forget that beautiful face, nor that lovely voice. His daughter--older, only more lovely than last he had seen her, aged like Ezio--

This place. Could not be described in words that fit it.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before replying.]

It is I, cara. I am here... I am...alive.

[video]

[bossyblade.livejournal.com]

[ It is all she can do to keep from running outside, taking to the streets to look for him without caution. But she knows better, she has learned discretion and patience, endured the need for both and become stronger from the experience.

So, while she wishes for nothing more than to find some way to fly into her father's arms, as she did so often as a little girl, Claudia restrains herself. Fingers tightening with a soft creak on the material that the communicator is made of. ]

Padre...is someone coming for you?

[ She asks it calmly and collectedly, only partially successful at forcing away the emotion in her voice. ]

[video]

[betrayedblade.livejournal.com]

[But what kind of father would he be if he could not hear the emotion in his own daughter's voice? He smiles fondly--only a hint of sadness--at her and reaches up to brush the screen with his fingertips.]

Of course. Your brothers are already on their way. They know what they are doing.

I will be there soon, mia cara.

[video]

[bossyblade.livejournal.com]

[ There is a flare of fire in her eyes, a glint of anger - though not directed at him in particular, only at his ignorance of her own abilities.

That is no fault of his - after all, he had not lived too see her age, grow, become what she is now. That thought douses the brief flicker immediately, leaving only a soft sadness on the edges of her hard, dark, beautiful eyes. ]

I will see if they have left already - if not, I will join them. They are not the only ones who know what they are doing, mio Padre. Stare fermo, that the creatures will not find you.

[video]

[betrayedblade.livejournal.com]

[His eyes narrow--no, he is not used to being disobeyed--and he let's out a frustrated breath of air.]

Stay put. It will hardly take me time to get back.

[And changing tactics.] ...Please do as I ask. It would please me, cara, that you remain where it is safe.

[video]

[bossyblade.livejournal.com]

[ Claudia's sigh is impatient rather than angry. ]

Do you direct me as one of the Order then, Padre? For that is what I am. You cannot deny that it is a waste for me to assist in finding and protecting you. The beasts here are many and hungry in these winter months. My blade is just as strong and sharp as that of my brothers.

[video]

[betrayedblade.livejournal.com]

[He is quiet for a long moment. When he answers it is without emotion, and it is clear this is the answer he would give to another Assassin on any given day.

The rest of the matter--the fact that she is his daughter and when she learned to fight--will remain for another time.]

I do not need protection. Not from your brothers and not from you. If I didn't know they would not be as stubborn as I at their age--I would not have them here at all.

I know my way back, and I am capable of dodging a few beasts.

Stay put. That is an order, not a request.

[video]

[bossyblade.livejournal.com]

[ Her jaw firms, her eyes flicker, but slowly, silently, she nods. There is a whirlwind of expression in her gaze, a maelstrom consisting of hurt stemming from a feeling of betrayal warring with the continued and undeniable love that she has for her father. Fine. Let him doubt her now. She will prove to him in whatever way he requires that she is capable of the place she has made without the aid of his guidance. ]

As you command. I trust your judgment.

[ Claudia bows her head in acceptance even as she smooths her expression, setting pain and disappointment aside. ]

I will see you soon, mio Padre. Be cautious.

[video]

[betrayedblade.livejournal.com]

I wish people would stop telling me that. It never fails that as soon as it is said...

[He smiles suddenly and leans towards the communicator conspiratorially.]

For you, anything cara. I look forward to it. [And, implied, seeing this supposed skill you've developed in his absence.]

[video]

[bossyblade.livejournal.com]

[ His smile does much to lighten her mood. She returns it wryly, saying in much his vein of humor. ]

It is not for your sense of caution that I am concerned, Padre.