Ezio Auditore da Firenze (ex_assassino897) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-10-22 23:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, ezio auditore da firenze, jean grey (phoenix) |
Who: Jean Grey and Ezio Auditore
What: Professional discussions of personal things
When: 10/19
Where: A coffee place near Ezio's office
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Jean was in a much better mood when the weekend rolled around. She couldn’t control what happened to the dreamers, she just had to trust in the system they had in place. Beside, Ezio was charming on the Internet and she couldn’t wait to talk to him in person.
She was wearing relatively relaxed clothing. She had a meeting with Bruce in the evening, and she wanted to be comfortable before she got dressed up for him. It was a busy day. She looked around the coffee shop for Ezio, half expecting him to be surrounded by the baristas he’d charmed to death.
Just one, and entirely accidentally. Ezio was chatting with the woman who was making his double espresso, trying to ignore the cleavage she was aiming at him. When Jean came in, his face lit up. “Ah! Signorina Grey. Hello, Jean.” He thanked the barista, taking his drink - and leaving a good tip - before going to greet her.
Jean giggled and waved at Ezio. “It’s good to meet you, Ezio.” She squeezed his arm, then made her way to the counter to order as well. She got substantially less cleavage flashed her way, which amused her a great deal. “How are you today?”
“I am well, thank you. What of you?” Ezio asked, standing with her while she ordered. “You look well. If I might say so without being impolite, that color suits you.” He knew she had a boyfriend or some kind of entanglement; if she hadn’t, he would have flirted more.
She laughed, blushing lightly. “Better now that I’m around sane company. Thank you very much. You’re quite the charmer, Ezio.” It was nice to be appreciated for her looks by a handsome man. “I’m pretty much done with anyone who has the last name Summers.” Except for her current patient, but Lorna was almost entirely unoffensive.
“Oh, dear.” Ezio shook his head. “Has it been difficult? I think I managed to get through to Signora Summers, but I have not met any of the others.”
“Mrs. Summers is the least of my problems. Her husband is trying to control who can and cannot talk to me about my dreams.” She sighed, collecting her coffee and taking her seat. “I don’t know what to make of it, but I’m extremely irritated by it. I’ll take Mrs. Summers’s cold silence and obvious discomfort any day over that.” Though, if this was how Scott reacted to her, Jean was beginning to see where Emma was coming from.
Ezio’s eyebrows shot up as he joined her. “Dio, è vero? Why on earth would he do this?” It seemed fantastical. “Signora Summers hides extreme vulnerability and fear with a mask of hauteur. The trick to that lady is to speak to her as someone who refuses to believe the lie, but will also not strip her of every artifice she has. But she adores her husband.” Maybe the husband had some kind of design on Jean, his mind progressed - it would explain quite a lot. But of all things to not discuss with the lady herself.
“He dreams we attended some school together, and for some reason that makes him the only person capable of telling me about the dreams in his own mind.” Jean shook her head. “I was quite short with him when I realized what was going on, I hope he understands why.” She didn’t regret it. In her mind Scott had earned her ire the moment he asked Logan to keep information from her.
“I hope so as well. Were I in his shoes, I might tell you that in the dreams, we shared a bond, but I would ask your indulgence, not expect it.” Ezio shook his head. “They both appear to be very strong personalities, and they must learn to co-exist.”
Jean shook her head. “I don’t know. Honestly I’m a little afraid of him. It kind of seems like he’s fixated on me and it makes me uncomfortable.” She frowned, resting her head on her hand.
“Nothing will happen to you.” Ezio said quietly. He didn’t mean it in the sense of taking her choices away, just that he was beginning to consider her a friend, and he would help her if it was required.
Jean smiled, closing her eyes as she thought how best to respond. “Thank you. I hate to trouble you with this, but I’m feeling pretty shaken by it all.”
“I am at a loss in regards the dreams, but I am unafraid of human reactions.” Ezio shook his head. “This man feels that he shares a bond with you, and you do not reciprocate. If he accepts this, then there is no reason to worry. If he does not, then we get the polizia involved.” He somehow doubted it would come to that; if nothing else, he believed in the ability of Emma Summers to reason with her husband. She would not have married a fool, not that woman.
Jean nodded and took a deep breath. “You’re right, of course. I shouldn’t let him bother me.” She tried to push the thought out of her mind. “I hope your admirers are being more respectful of your boundaries.”
“Oh, I do not have any serious ones.” Ezio smiled. He didn’t want to talk about Alex Roivas - Jean would likely give him a lecture - and it wasn’t as if he was actually going to ask her out while she was a patient. “I had a girlfriend up until a few months ago, but I have been single for a while now.”
“I actually enjoy being single. I know a lot of women don’t, but doing whatever I want on my own schedule is pretty appealing.” She did enjoy her time with Bruce, but they weren’t serious. Pancakes and making out wasn’t enough to call their thing a relationship.
“I can understand that.” Ezio chuckled. “Many people of both genders appreciate solitude. I cannot judge it, though I am more predisposed toward company myself.”
“It takes all types, and I certainly don’t mind company.” She smiled at him. “I hope you find someone really special, if that’s what you want.”
“It would be nice.” Ezio shrugged. “But I am not particularly desperate. My brother Federicco has already given my mother grandchildren, so I am in no hurry!” He grinned.
“Awww. I’m in that boat too. Sarah has two beautiful little babies. I can go out and visit them anytime I want.” Jean smiled widely. “Though I’d like to have a family someday. I’d like to think I’m not entirely married to my job.”
“This is nice. I am the ‘cool uncle’, or so I am told.” Ezio laughed. “And forgive me if this is too personal, but you do not appear to be at an age where you have to worry yet.” She couldn’t be more than his age. Early thirties.
Jean laughed. “No, it’s not something I need to rush to do, but I do need to change my habits if that’s my goal. I don’t want to turn 35 and realize I only have five years to fall in love and have all the children I want to have in my lifetime.”
“I know a woman who lives now in I think Santa Monica; she was formerly a patient. She had a bit of a mid life crisis, and decided to change her career. She adopted two children after age forty, from broken homes, and became an instructor of the yoga. I do not know anyone happier.” Ezio smiled. “It is never too late, bella donna.”
Jean laughed and nodded. “Of course, you’re right. I should know better, I would tell a patient the same thing.” She sipped her drink. “So why did you leave Italy?”
“In Italian, we would say, Dottoressa, cura te stesso. Doctor, heal yourself.” Ezio teased, before replying to her question. “I left Italy because the centres of psychology are in America. Or Britain, but let us be honest; I do not think I would go very well in England.” England was cold, wet, and stuffy. And then there were the people.
“I took a vacation in England once. It was okay, but I was happy to come back to California.” Jean giggled a little. “I’m glad you did come out here, even though it sounds like you really liked it.”
“I did, I shall not pretend; Italy is home in a way that California never will be. But this place is very nice, and there is much to recommend it.” Ezio smiled. “The weather is actually very similar to Firenze. I had very little adjusting to do in that regard.”
“That’s good, at least. What part of Italy is Firenze in? I have to admit I don’t know much about it other than our stereotypes of Italian culture.” She was fascinated by people’s stories, and Ezio’s seemed like it would be interesting.
“Firenze is what you in English call Florence,” Ezio answered. “It is in central Italy, not very far from Roma.” He smiled. “Some of the stereotypes are true, in honesty. There are many Vespas and motorbikes. It is a fairly old city, with many historical buildings. The art gallery, the Uffizi, is perhaps second only to the Louvre.”
“It sounds nice, even with all the Vespas.” Jean joked. “I haven’t been that far from home before. You’re very brave to move so far away.”
Ezio chuckled. “I had more opportunities here. And I do love my work. As well as seeing patients, I help at the UCLA psychology department, as they do annual studies each year which require outside assistance. This year it is a study about criminology, which is fascinating.”
“That does sound interesting. Can you tell me a little more about the study?”
Ezio nodded. “It was funded initially by the United States government, but now it has private backers. It is a continuation of the landmark Sexual Crime Classification Manual authored by two FBI agents in the late 1980s - interviewing prisoners and trying to ascertain what risk factors are for certain sorts of violent crime.”
“That sounds interesting. Are you conducting interviews yourself?” She was sure it was safe, but she would allow herself a second of worry on his behalf.
“Only a small few.” Ezio laughed. “They do not want me to do much, as they think my accent might cause difficulty. I am mostly behind the scenes.”
“Still, it sounds quite interesting. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for the results.” She sipped her drink, amused that her job was one where she could idly discuss this sort of thing and not be even slightly weird.
“It should conclude in early 2014. I am really enjoying it, in truth; it is fascinating to think there may yet be a thread which links many offenders together. Though I do disagree with one area of the study.” Ezio shook his head. “I hope you do not grow angry at me, but I cannot support the idea that women cannot be serial killers. Women are equal to men in all the ways that matter; I am a believer that women are capable of just as much evil as men. I say this not to be hateful, but to be egalitarian.”
“All people are definitely capable of doing horrible things. I think a woman is capable of committing atrocities, and killing a lot of people, but I think their methods would be different, and it wouldn’t cleanly fit into the classification of ‘serial killer’.”
“Perhaps not as we know it now, but this study has as a tenet that a woman would not kill simply because she felt a compulsion. I find this ridiculous.” Ezio shrugged. “I do not wish to bring down the conversation, though!” He smiled a little.
“What? Talking about whether women kill for fun or not is definitely the kind of conversation I like to have.” She giggled and smiled at him. “But okay, new topic. Do you have any pets?”
“Not yet, no. I keep meaning to get a dog, but I fear my schedule does not permit it. What about you?” Ezio smiled.
“I have a bird named Jacob. I meant to have him in my office when I first got him, but he screeches pretty horribly so I think he’d be a distraction. Other than that he’s a good bird, though.” Jean pulled out her phone and showed him a picture of her bird.
“He is rather handsome, I must say.” Ezio laughed. “Birds are not a very common pet in Italy; the weather is apparently not good for most of them. Since it stays very ... humid, I think is the word? Hard to breathe.” He smiled at a memory. “My youngest brother Petruccio once tried to raise a pigeon in his room without my mother finding out. He was I think fourteen at the time, and Mama found out immediately - within an hour - but she did let him keep it for a day or two more, until it soiled the hallway carpet.”
Jean laughed at the idea of keeping a pigeon as a pet. “Oh, your poor mom. How many siblings did you have?”
“I am the second of four. My brother Federicco, then me, then my sister Claudia, then Petruccio.” Ezio smiled. “Federicco is married, with two children. Claudia is studying to start her Dottorato di Ricerca program - I think you would call it PhD here - and Petruccio has just begun university.”
“That must have been crazy. I only had one sister and sometimes we fought like wet cats.” Assuming wet cats like to fight over makeup and who got to chose what radio station to listen to. “Your whole family must place a pretty high value on education.”
“We do, yes.” Ezio nodded. “My father has had a very good job for most of my life, and I saw him very little, but the tradeoff is that we always had the means to go to school. And Mama was always there. And I must say, I wonder how wet cats fight.”
“Probably they don’t. I’ve never seen a wet cat. We had a dog.” Her father hated cats. “My dad is a doctor, so my story’s pretty similar in that regard. He was always taking care of someone else’s kid, but my mom was proud of him and it worked out okay for everyone, I think.”
“It does. We may suffer small abandonment issues, but nothing we as professionals cannot handle.” Ezio was half joking.
Jean laughed. “That’s right. As you said, we must heal ourselves.” Everybody had baggage, the trick was to manage it well enough to get by.
“In Italy, it is very common for therapists to see therapists. Is this done here, out of curiosity?” He might continue the custom even if it wasn’t.
“I see a psychologist when I’m blue or stressed out.” Jean said with a shrug. “I know a lot of my colleagues don’t like to do that, but they say medical doctors are the worst patients.”
“This would not shock me at all. In Europe it in theory helps cut down on stress and even things like suicide, if psychologists and psychiatrists see each other. But medical doctors are arguably in a worse position.”
“Yeah. My dad was pretty stubborn, and really great at working too hard to notice his own symptoms.” Jean laughed a little. “He had pneumonia twice and didn’t realize it until my mom asked him what the symptoms were and pointed them out every time they occurred. I like to think I’m only that stubborn when it’s necessary, and I work so much that if I didn’t talk to someone I’d explode.”
“I would be put out if you exploded.” Ezio said lightly, smiling. “You seem to be a lady who would be a professional asset.” He would have flirted with her more, but he seemed to recall she had a gentleman friend, and he didn’t do that kind of thing.
“I’d be upset too, and poor Bruce wouldn’t like it much, either.” She grinned. “But I hope I’m not just a professional interest, I’d like to be your friend, too.”
“Certainly! I just did not wish to assume.” Ezio chuckled, smiling.
“Then I’m happy to be your friend.” She grinned at him, offering her hand as though they were sealing a business deal.
“Then that is that.” He shook her hand grandly, officially, though he ruined it with a laugh.