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(no subject)

Date: June 1st
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Courtyard after their initial briefings. Now with 200% more People-Seeking lists!
Warnings: None.

You've just been hustled and bustled through mazes of information and literal, wide corridors of the Initiative Hold and you've been equipped with your weapon—be it a gun, a sword, or even your existing powers. They've handed you this light netbook and a small pouch of coins (or a debit card, if you're more inclined), and there are several Transports before and after you going through the very same motions. You can hear the Greeter's voice as she walks alongside large groups, telling them all about the history of this place and sharing with you your purpose here in a hurried and urgent tone. "You're in luck that we have enough rooms for all of you; the housing building is getting awfully full. Please, let me show you into the courtyard."

You pass what looks like huge gymnasiums, all with dummies and targets strewn and splayed around the room. Training areas. There are even classrooms, and a few small offices. You're rushed past a large library while the Greeter informs you that you can find almost all your information there, if you've got the time to look—and trust her, you'll have time. You don't spend a lot of time in the bank, and it's a bit of a blur of exchanges with more and more of these strangely-accented and oddly polite-seeming members of the Initiative.

Soon enough, you're in a massive courtyard bustling with all the other Transports. It's not exactly what you'd expect, and it looks more like barracks than anything—huge walls of concrete and stone, separating you from all of the hallways you'd just passed through. It's raining heavily, and dark clouds loom in the air, though it hasn't turned to snow. It's a chill cold, and there are shelters—long cloth hangings that extend from the walls of concrete to house you from the rain, but not enough. Most notably, the courtyard is filled with a marketplace. Even in the cold and the rain, there are several citizens seated at their covered booths and tables, bundled up against the weather. They're selling all manner of their own handmade goods and foods, and citizens and Transports alike are traveling from one small covered shop to another in search of all manner of necessities. Now and then around you you might spot paper fluttering in the faint wind from somewhere relatively dry. It looks like a list.

The Greeter's voice has become so faint now, but you swear you can make it out in the back of the crowds as she tells you, "Good luck. Be safe!"

Her voice is drowned out by the busy marketplace, though even the transactions taking place are somewhat subdued. Nobody is overly happy, really, though most citizens can be found with smiles on their faces. It doesn't seem like they're that shocked to see you, either; even if you're not bound in tattered rags and wrapped in heavy shawls as they are. You're welcome to walk up to a shop, and find yourself something to eat—hey, maybe you'll even find something akin to a raincoat. Or, you can join the others under the coverings against the walls. Where am I? What war? She was talking so fast, and it didn't all make very much sense… did anyone else catch it all?

Welcome to the courtyard. Welcome to the Initiative Hold—and most importantly, welcome to Exsilium.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ezio stands transfixed, eyes slightly widened in shock.

There's no mistake.

This is Giovanni Auditore.

This is his father.

Maybe, in retrospect, it wasn't so smart to call out after him with "father" instead of his name. Time had a way of making things complicated in this place. But he's past that, and with all those of the Brotherhood arriving, there remained little time or space for tests.

"Ezio Auditore."

...

That was not funny. Ezio was his son, some one he loved very deeply, to have this man claim to be Ezio! It was difficult to put that feeling into words but his disbelief clearly showed in the frown that appeared on his face.

"Ezio is a young boy, not a man. You heard his name from those who brought me here."

He shouldn't have expected otherwise, but there is an equal amount of disbelief in Ezio's expression as well. The dead did not stay dead long in this place, but he hadn't bargained for the dead of another time to be alive here.

Ezio's eyes drift to the wound. "We must find someone to heal your wound, messere." Before he began with the questions of where and when he was last, before he began with asking what he remembered before arriving.

And to give him a little time for this to actually sink in.

Given the man's statement Giovanni was less than inclined to accept his help... but, there was still that nagging sense of familiarity and his own blood loss was beginning to make him feel a little light-headed. Very well, he relented.

"We will speak more on this later."

How often had he said similiar thinks to his boys? His thoughts turned to them again in this moment. Were they still safe?

"There must be a physician nearby?"

Ezio led Giovanni between the crowds, towards the clinic. "None out here, I'm afraid. Most of what is needed for healing is inside or with others who are also brought here."

He's rambling again. Think clearly, Ezio reminded himself. "This is much to take in for someone new and injured, I imagine."

"Brought in to fight a war we know nothing about and have no way to know which side means to do more to see to betterment of their people... This confusion must be the same for all who are brought here?"

Giovanni wondered if anyone ever came here willingly. Wasn't it meant to be a prison of some kind? Did they all decide to fight as they had been instructed to or was there an even better way to handle this situation?

He winced slightly as he walked. His concerns were not only for this strange world he found himself in or the unfamiliar technology, there was also the trouble back at home and meeting a man nearly as old as he who claimed to be his son...

It was impossible, really, yet he kept finding himself staring at the other man's eyes. There had to be some way to eliminate a few of the doubts he was feeling.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of this? Nulla è reale..."

He slipped back into Italian. This test of the man's words was a simple one, did he understand Italian and would he understand the powerful meaning behind the words, 'Nothing is true...'

"Si, for many. Some are familiar with these things, but not this place. The impossible comes true every day in this city." As it was happening right now.

The phrase. Of course he knew it, it was so ingrained into his memory and into his life it would be impossible to not recognize it, especially in his native tongue. The words were not his own, they were of the Brotherhood and those who were privy to the nature of the Assassins, like Maria.

"Tutto è permesso," Ezio finished.

"So, you are of the brotherhood. I had thought you might be."

It was something of a relief to find members of the order here and the man did understand Italian. Now... how had he known Ezio's name? Why did he claim to be his son? Was this some how connected to the 'impossible' the man had just made mention of?
Even when they did arrive at the location this man had taken him to for treatment, Giovanni lingered outside with him for a moment.

"You mentioned Ezio, does that mean the others are here too?"

Giovanni might be an assassin but family was very important to him. The thought occurred that his family might have been pulled here too. If they were here he did need to find them.

"Might Federico, Claudia or Petruccio have been pulled here at the same time I was?"

Or Maria... even Ezio? Why would it take only him?

Ezio gave his father a very measured, even look before finally shaking his head. "I have not seen them, but many come at once. They may be lost among the other people who have only arrived today."

But the odds of that being true are slim, but not entirely nonexistent. Ezio had wondered for a while why only him too, before the other Assassin's began to come in. If this was a war, then they needed all manner of warriors.

Including those who have passed on.

And you would know what those people looked like? Giovanni thought this, but did not express those doubts. Instead the man's shoulder was given a friendly pat.

"Would you look for them?"

Just to calm his concerns. The man had claimed to be Ezio, if some how that unlikely declaration proved to be true then he could use his gift and make the search much easier.

"I would like to speak with you again after this," A hand was waved to the clinic. He had no idea how long it might take to get his wound patched up but, "Would you return here later?"

Ezio nodded. "If this is the place, si. These men say little, but they do well in healing. And I will do what I can to find them. If their names are shown, they will be somewhere in the city."

Confusing. This whole situation was just a jumble of confusing things. Giovanni found himself placing his trust in this gentleman when really everything about this should have made him much more cautious. Some how though, maybe it was tone or the look in his eyes, Giovanni had full faith that if his family was here this man would find them and do his best to protect them.
He would still have to answer to his earlier claims to be Ezio, but this was a matter better left addressed after his wound was seen to. The gentleman was at least a member of the order... that would have to satisfy his curiosity for now.
The man's shoulder was given a final pat before Giovanni turned and entered the medical building. Their techniques were strange but the medical staff had apparently seen many such injuries. They knew just what to do. But, instead of spending the night there as the staff would have liked, Giovanni grabbed his things and slipped back out into the streets as soon as his wound was dressed and the staff distracted enough for him to make it past them.
He wanted answers to questions that could not be posed while in a hospital bed. Despite the pain from his bandaged injury, he did as any assassin would... climb the side of the medical building to get a better view of the city from the roof.

And Ezio, being of the Order himself, took to the roofs, a little ways away from the medical building. With so many arriving once more, Ezio made it a point to find various vantage points, suitable for following the crush of people and their various splintering directions.

He spied his father climbing onto the roof of the medical building. Now he began to move towards him, deftly swinging across and jumping onto sides to reach Giovanni.

"I see you are well," Ezio commented, though "well" to him means "well enough to function." He's done more than enough impossible feats when injured, so he's not surprised to find his father doing just the same.

Giovanni caught a glimpse of the other assassin when he made his leap over to join him on the roof of the hospital building. But, instead of pulling his blade and taking up a defensive stance or smiling and turning to greet the man he looked down at the city spread out below him and away from the one who spoke to him. Turning one’s back to a trained killer was incredibly foolish, but in this case there would be no harm in it. Looking out at the dreary city gave him the opportunity to study the layout of this new world and a chance to gather his thoughts before he spoke.
During his short recovery time in the bed he had been meant to spend the evening in he had been given plenty of time to think about everything that had been said on the war, this land, its people, impossible things... And the chance to reflect on his own beliefs, to settle some of the confusion he had earlier felt.Nothing is true, everything is permitted. Never did that saying feel more accurate than this moment. Impossible things were possible.
After several moments of silence in which only the splashing of the rain hitting the ground could be heard Giovanni finally spoke, addressing not his condition but something he believed was far more important.

“You must think me very foolish...”

His voice wavered, caught up in the emotions of the moment, but that was the only hesitation in his actions. He turned then and clasped the other man’s shoulders, holding him gently but securely at a distance that would allow his unspoken feelings to be understood.

“... not to recognize my own son.”

The son he had urged to fight for life on the day of his birth, the one who was so excellent about getting into trouble, flirting with the ladies, protecting his younger siblings... the one he must have injured when he had gone unrecognized. Ezio. It didn’t matter that the experiences of this city were new to him, the beard could not be blamed for hiding his son’s features, Giovanni had not seen it before because he had been narrow-minded. Ezio was much older than the young boy he had been expecting to see but the eyes were the same. The kindness he had shown was the same. That was why he had felt so familiar before.
Although Giovanni had no idea how it was possible for this grown version of his son to be standing in front of him at least now the damage could be repaired.

“Can you forgive me for doubting you earlier?”

Ezio only smiled, shaking his head. How long ago had it been since he had really smiled? It hurt, still, thinking back, but his father. His father. His father was here, now, alive in this place, against everything. If he could, he would embrace Giovanni after not having seen him for so long, but what would that instigate?

Only further questions, and answers that, perhaps, are better left for another time.

In this place, a cage of sorts, there was, sometimes, a small blessing in the darkness.

"Padre. There is nothing to forgive. This place is strange and I can't fault you for doubting."

While Ezio worried over questions that might be asked, Giovanni did not. This was his son and after giving his much matured little boy a good looking over... hm, when did Ezio get that scar on his lip... he was getting a hug. It was not a very firm hug due to the tenderness of his injury but it was still full of warmth.

"So, you did decide to become an assassin? I had meant to tell you of the Order when you were older, ah, I suppose I did."

He had no idea that only days after suffering that stab wound to his chest that he and his two other sons would be hanged by a traitor.

"How long have you been here? Not long enough to grow this surely?"

As he stepped back the beard Ezio wore was eluded to with a gesture that very clearly showed off his newly broken hidden blade, a casualty of his most recent mission.

You did tell me, father, only not at your time. A thought unmentioned as he pulls away.

Ezio shook his head with a soft chuckle. "Months, perhaps nearly half a year. I came to this city like this."

The broken blade caught his eye now. "Do you have the rest of the blade? I may know someone who can fix it."

"Such a long time... You have been fighting this war all of that time?"

The blade yes. He had forgotten it, what with everything else going on. But, when Ezio mentioned the broken weapon Giovanni held his bracer up to examine the damage himself.

"Si, I picked up the pieces before leaving the Basilica. I thought I might get it repaired at home... if I could find some one who was able. It is fairly advanced. You know such a person?"

Ezio sighed. "There is more at work in this place, I fear, than just this war." His father would understand, surely. Even for having been here a little while, he was still convinced that something else was at play with their... hosts.

"She is a smith, but she is not of our world. Perhaps she may understand it well enough, if she has not left the city."

"There usually is."

There had been a lot to consider since his arrival but one thing stood out as glaringly wrong. It had struck him immediately in the Hold the moment he had been told why he was here and what he was expected to do. Even if these people were in trouble, on the losing side of a war, kidnapping others to fight for them was wrong. It had made their whole position questionable.

"Then we should speak to her if she is still here. But, until that time I would like to hear more about you. You are all grown up..." Impressively so! "Did you ever settle down?"

Might there be grandchildren? That thought made him feel so old!

"What have you been doing here? You must tell me all about it."

"I fear there has been little time to stop," Ezio admitted, albeit a little sheepishly. "The cause and the Brotherhood has taken much of my time. As for what I have been doing here..." He paused. Ezio has kept himself busy, trying to find answers, scrambling for a way back home and to break the United Earth and quite possibly The Initiative itself.

"I have been fighting, and searching for the truth." Now he took a deep breath. "There are others of our kind here, from another time. Perhaps you should meet them." Because managing Connor and Altaïr is its own sort of beast.

"Ezio..." The tone was only mildly disapproving, "You should not spend all of your time on the Brotherhood. There are so many important things in life."

His son could not be faulted too much for this. It was easy to be swept away by a cause, but if something was important, like family, you made time for it. This was something Mario had never understood either...
And then he realized, here he was instructing his grown son like he was still a child. He raised a hand hoping to prevent a rebuttal.

"I apologize. I suppose it will never matter how old you are, I will always worry."

Now the matter at hand...

"Have you had any success in that, finding the truth of this place? I would like to meet the others. If they are of the Order they might be able to help."

Ezio only smiled, shaking his head. So strange that even though the years had passed for him to so much seemed to have not changed.

Though he knew that his father would need to know of the the truth and his future, a particular struggle that he didn't consider.

"I should warn you," Ezio began, "that they are of another time and they are... stubborn. Very stubborn. One nearly killed the other when they first met." Which is still something he's not entirely thrilled about but Connor was the least trained in the ways of the Brotherhood.

The years had passed for Ezio, but for Giovanni they had not. Ezio, though older, still seemed like he should be that brash young man who was always off getting into trouble. The one who was so much like him at that age. While he knew that was no longer the case the old habits would not change so easily.

"Why would Assassin's fight each other? They are both members of the order and working for the same things we are?"

Not that Assassin's could not argue. How many times had he and Mario had their tiffs? But at the end of the day they always came together for the greater good. Surely these assassins would be the same in that?

"As with all people, they don't see eye to eye," Ezio explained. He had to take threatening measures to ensure they'd back off each other, and he planned on making sure they kept in line at least in front of him. He didn't care if they liked each other, as long as they did what needed to be done and respected him and each other enough to make a mission successful. "They come from very different lives and circumstances. I believe it may be an effort to get the two to work together."