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

Comments

[betrayedblade]

[Undoubtedly so.]

Sì.

[dreamermoa]

Gio....

[!!!! !!!]

Giovanni! You're back!

[betrayedblade]

Moa?

Sì, sì... I am back here now.

[dreamermoa]

You came back!

[Suddenly smiling! A lot, actually. She missed you! (Also, she kissed your oldest son. Hope that's cool.)]

Where are you? Are you at Gohl? [Wait, what were you saying in your post?] Are you okay?

[betrayedblade]

[Oh, God. We will discuss this later.]

I am not entirely certain yet, but it is not Gohl, and I am...better than I was when I arrived.

[Voice]

[postasskicking]

... ... ...

[That, makes him concerned. And maybe empathetic in a way he's not likely to admit. Very quiet:]

Someone coming to get you?

[Voice]

[betrayedblade]

You...

[He recognizes that voice even if it has been a while. Not that he isn't thankful to know you're all right but what the hell are you doing back in his hellhole?]

Yes. Ezio, and Federico... and Chloe.

When did you get back?

[Voice]

[postasskicking]

[Mm, well Giovanni's talking at least which is a sign of... something he guesses.]

Couple days ago. Is that what you're doing? Just getting back?

[Either from void-blood-space-craziness or something else, he really doesn't know. Whatever it is, Seifer just keeps his voice quiet and calm. Maybe before he would have picked a fight, but he realizes that's stupid now.]

[Voice]

[betrayedblade]

[Giovanni notes the change in character but it can wait. It can wait forever as far as he is concerned at the moment.]

Sì. I am just getting back... from home.

[video]

[bossyblade]

[ A gasp followed by the dropping of the communicator. A woman can be seen out of the corner of the camera's eye. Her lovely face is pale, drawn, utterly terrified and shocked with sadness. ]

F-father?

[ The cruelty of this place...will she keep continuing to see these 'living' ghosts? It is a mark of the Assassin she has become that she forces away her distress, approaching and picking up the device again. ]

Giovanni Auditore da Firenze... is that you mio padre or merely a specter of my memory?

[video]

[betrayedblade]

[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]

[ 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]

[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.

(shaky) italian.

[eroslegy]

Sir? Are you alright?

italian.

[betrayedblade]

I--no. Not particularly.

But I will be better now.

italian.

[eroslegy]

Is there anything I can do?

italian.

[betrayedblade]

I do not think so--not at this time. Thank you for your consideration.