// 026. [video]

[girl_unlocking]

[A thunk. A jolt as the Forge strikes the ground and finds itself face up. Dropped in movement, the sounds of breath and the edge of a red sneaker in an uneven beam of light against brick and pavement. On closer inspection, the shoe's only half red - stopped in a skidded trail of the same red (darker, thicker, god it's almost black but for the

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» audio «

[manscruff]

[ -- one set of murders to the next, is it. ]

Piccina, where are you?

» video «

[girl_unlocking]

Near the Headquarters.

[Breath.]

By the place with the colored glass in the---

[Less steady breath.]

---there's an alley.

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[manscruff]

Two minutes.

[ as in, give me them. ]

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[girl_unlocking]

[Faraway now.]

Sure.

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[manscruff]

[ two minutes, and, having caught the glimmer of gold in the shadows, he's making his way down the alley, not quite sprinting, but running with enough speed that his boots make noise on the stones. ]

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[girl_unlocking]

[Already moving to climb the wall, feet nudged in crevices maybe they shouldn't quite fit, and reaching to untie Riza's legs. She doesn't look up, but she's wincing at every audible step. She doesn't notice.]

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[manscruff]

[ he slows, and his footsteps fade with his speed. the palm of his hand braces one of her heels as he carefully takes in the rest of the scene. the gun. the blood. ]

Not just yet, piccina-- she'll fall.

[ it'd be-- disrespectful. still bracing her foot, he gathers Riza's shoulders in his other arm, cradling her like something precious-- or Petruccio's corpse. It's just blood and death, this week. ]

Now.

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[girl_unlocking]

[The ropes are sticky too. Tied tight. Not wanting to come undone - resisting her prying fingers and what is this fucking knot get it off get it out (GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT) the person who killed her had touched it oh shit oh god someone tied this someTHING tied this knot around her feet and oh fuck do you think they strung her up first before oh fuck her eyes this knot]

God. Dammit.

[She just pulls. Splits the thick coil with a sharp tug. Riza's feet are still bound but she's down. Not going to sway anymore, not going to reach for the ground as if she were trying to usher all the blood back inside.]

That knot. G-get it off.

» action «

[manscruff]

[ what was that eve-- what-- no time. he releases dawn's foot and takes Riza's legs as well, the blood leaving copper streaks on his silver pauldron. she needs to be set down somewhere clean, somewhere she isn't already-- and that rules out this immediate part of the alley. silent steps, a look at the student, and he's gingerly laying her down on the ground, murmured Latin.

snnk-- his fingertips flash across the knot-- again, snnk-- and he's pulling the pieces away from her ankles. ]

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[girl_unlocking]

[All the breath she's been holding rushes out. She's down - off the wall a little faster (a little taller) than she should be, maybe. Looking at Ezio as he lays Riza on the ground - the ropes oh god the ropes - another sigh of relief as they're loosed. And then a sob. And another. Bending down, eyes closed, she presses her forehead to the dead woman and cries.]

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[manscruff]

[ nothing to do but wait. a hand to her shoulder-- trying to comfort-- and he stands, watching the entrances. they're vulnerable here. ]