-- round one.

[throngs]

NIGHT ONE. NIGHT TWO. NIGHT THREE.

Comments

[s16]

You won't. Just call me Clay. [ Clay wishes she would. ] I know your brother, Ezio. I knew your father, your mother. Your other two siblings.

[auditor]

[ that might have comforted her as a girl. and she would have been so quick to trust him. (that girl isn't dead. claudia feels a lurch in her to ask for his help.) but federico and petruccio have rotted in the arno for decades, now. she should know this man. claudia takes a careful step from him. her hand itches for a blade. ]

Clay. Who else do you know?

[s16]

I know the Assassin's, sorella. [ Clay tightens his jaw, thinking of how to convince her, Claudia, his sister. ] We work in the dark to serve the light, or however that goes.

[auditor]

However —? [ her shoulders rise, but she doesn't laugh. ] You know the Templars, too?

[s16]

I would think so, considering they captured and tortured me for a year and a half. [ Clay's voice is dry. Templars. The hands that try to control all. He'd rather be dead again than be grouped with them. ]

[auditor]

[ that might be true, but that doesn't make him an assassin, either. she falls silent, then. takes another step backwards. ]

[s16]

Laa shay'a waqui'n moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine. [ Something sacred to them, offered like an olive branch. ]

[auditor]

[ stillness. infiltration, she thinks. but the order's secrets are ancient, and she doesn't believe it. not a single bone in her can trust him. ]

How do you know the Auditore?

[s16]

Do you know of the Apple? [ He knows she doesn't trust him. Shit. ]

[auditor]

[ hesitating, ] Is it here?

[s16]

It's how I know your family. Or at least-- why I know your family. How is just another piece of Eden. [ Or the tech from it. The same thing, in the end. ]

[auditor]

[ silence again. the girl in her trusts him. the assassin in her hears truth. but those things feel wrong, still, and claudia feels an itch beneath her skin. in her hand for a blade. in her shins for her to run. her stomach twists. ]

[s16]

[ He's not going to be able to convince her yet. That Clay knows. He's not an idiot. Instead Clay reaches into his pack and tosses down the rope he'd been gifted upon waking up in front of Claudia. ] Take it, from Brother to Sister.

[auditor]

What is it?

[ can't see shit captain ]

[s16]

[ for fucks sake. ]

It's a rope. Sturdy, long, good for whatever you want it to be for. Take it.

[auditor]

[ fuck sake urself, creep!!! ]

Keep it.

[s16]

I insist, Claudia Auditore. [ Clay stares at her, even if she might not be able to see it through the mask. ]