Who: Ezio Auditore and Alex Roivas What: Another appointment Where: Ezio's office When: Immediately following this log, 10/31 Warnings/Rating: PG Status: Complete
Ezio had just seen Emma Frost out of his office, and frankly, he was exhausted. He respected her, and wanted the best for her, but there were times when it felt like arguing with a statue. He didn’t even look in his appointment book to see who was next; it would likely be less tiring.
Alex was next, and she was at that moment she was sitting in the waiting room, going over her email messages on her phone. She had one leg dangling over the arm of the chair, humming a little to herself, wearing her leather jacket for the first time in a few weeks. Her shoulder was healing swimmingly.
Ezio pulled himself out of his chair and went out to the waiting room. Though he did feel himself relax when he saw Alex Roivas. “Oh, signorina, I could kiss you.”
Her eyebrow raised, and Alex grinned. “Bring it on, cutie, but why?”
“You are by far the most relaxed, low-maintenance patient I have had all week.” He wasn’t insensible of the fact that she’d flirted with him, but he couldn’t very well respond in kind. At least not for two more sessions.
That made Alex laugh. “Aren’t you supposed to see people with issues, though? Or is it just all of the really tough sells back to back to back?”
“There is a difference between troubled and high-maintenance.” Ezio laughed. “Come in, come in.”
“Ohhhh. You’ve been talking to the Real Housewives, then?” Alex stood up and moved to his office, going to sit down.
“Let us just say that so much can be solved with a willingness to set one’s ego aside.” Ezio sighed, closing the door behind her. “You have a refreshing lack of ego, if I might say.”
“Ego gets you hurt in my line of work. I’m always open to the fact that I’m kind of an idiot.” She smiled lopsidedly at him, shrugging off her jacket. Her shoulder was well improved.
He noticed her lack of an instinctive pain expression; when she’d come in first, she’d been in noticeable pain. “It is healing, sì? You move better.” She’d sat down in a perfectly normal way, as well. It boded well.
“It is, thanks. I’m weaning myself off of the pain meds a little early too.” Alex smiled happily, pulling down the gauze on her wound. It was healing well, and she was just glad to be able to move her arm around.
“As long as it is not too early. Medical doctors do know their business.” Ezio teased gently. “Allora, are things well? Have you had any other dreams?” “Things are as decent as they can be with having nightmares and being stircrazy.” Alex crossed her legs, her cowboy boots tapping lightly on the floor. “And my dreams are fucking scary, so it fucks up at least twenty minutes of my day if I have one.”
“Oh? So you have had more since last we spoke?” Ezio raised an eyebrow. “I am sorry they are so frightening.”
“What had I had last time?” Alex laughed, shaking her head. “The Eldritchian horrors all sort of blend together.”
“You told me of some sort of monster in the subbasement of Angkor Wat. Eyeballs and ooze and ... things. And a book made of human skin. All very strange.”
“The only dream I’ve had since then was of my parents dying and moving in with my grandfather. Nothing about him as of yet, but in the dreams I was really young, like nine or so.” She didn’t really know how ooze monsters and evil books connected with that, but whatever.
“Well, that is obviously not a very pleasant dream, I am sure.” Ezio shook his head. “These are so strange. I wish there was a sort of common thread between them.”
“Exactly. If I knew how they worked in conjunction with each other, maybe I could rationalize them. Right now, I’m just processing them as things to make me appreciate my waking life more.” It was really all she could do.
“I think this is all you can do.” Ezio shook his head again, looking up her. “Until you find a link - if you do - you can only try to fit it into your life, so to speak.”
“Exactly. Right now they’re not really part of my life, they’re just annoyances. I have them, I wake up screaming, I do some deep breathing and make sure to kind of take inventory of where I am and what’s going on, then I take a shower and use the massage setting on my shoulders.” Alex smiled lopsidedly as she pulled her hair into a low ponytail. It was nice to be able to do that again.
“Do your coping mechanisms help?” It seemed so, but it could also just be rote by now.
“Totally.” Alex chuckled. “Call it new age hippie bullshit if you will, but five deep breaths is usually all it takes to zen me out.”
“I will call it helpful for you, is what I shall call it. That is what matters.” Ezio chuckled. “Usually, I require a glass of wine after a fright.”
“Have you tried doing the breathing thing? It helps in martial arts, too.” Alex sat up a little, always ready to play instructor.
“I confess, no.” Ezio shook his head. “It has never seemed effective.”
Alex stood up and moved over to him, tapping his stomach. “You have to breathe in until you feel a tiny bit of flexing here. Fully inflate the diaphragm, and when you exhale, you should do it through your nose, but engage your throat.” She did it for an example, and when she exhaled, she took his hand and pressed his fingers lightly against her throat.
“Maybe it is my English, but flexing how? I mean, I can breathe deep, yes, but I am not sure it would be entirely correct.” But then she touched him, and he didn’t appreciate how his focus suddenly wandered far away from professional matters.
“You know how when you do situps or crunches?” She poked his stomach again, resting her palm flat upon it, trying not to think about how good goddamn ripped he was. “Your muscles should be taut.” She took his hand and put it on her stomach, then took a full breath. “Feel that?”
That did make more sense. “Yes. This makes more sense.” Ezio nodded. “It feels surprisingly good. To breathe so full, I mean.” Not to touch her. Certainly not.
“Exactly. Now, you want to breathe out with your throat, but through your nose.” She moved so she was kneeling next to him, moving his hand to her throat. She showed him, breathing in deeply, closing her eyes and exhaling through her nose enough to make her throat vibrate.
It took some doing, but eventually he was replicating her movements. “I think I get it. This does feel rather surprisingly nice.” He chuckled. “
“Five of those, and you won’t have to have the whiskey, promise.” Alex hopped back to her feet, then plopped in the chair again. Yeah, that hadn’t been ... appropriate, in retrospect.
“I shall try,” Ezio promised. “But yes. How is your experience settling in to the county going? Are you experiencing any of the Orange County silliness? I hope not.”
“Nah.” Alex rapped her knuckles on her forehead. “Hopefully it’ll stay that way. What about you?”
“Not personally. Many of my clients are, though. And of course, they come to me.” Ezio sighed. “From what I understand, many people lately have been rendered mute - some have even lost their mouths entirely. It is bizarre.”
Shuddering, Alex closed her eyes. “Ugh. I couldn’t even. That would scare me. I”m a talker, which I’m sure you know.”
“I find it frightening as well, to be honest.” Ezio shook his head. “I mean, think of what we are doing now. My speech is my livelihood.”
“I’m told that there’s nothing that really lasts too long.” Alex shivered, leaning back in the chair. “Like my dreams aren’t bad enough. Mantorok talks, that’s the worst part. Hearing this ... gelatinous ooze monster talking with this voice that’s ... resonant. Cultured. Civil, even.”
“That would be extremely unsettling.” Ezio didn’t have to fake a shiver. “We at least pretend to some culture in this society, but we do not want our demons to follow suit.”
Alex nodded. “I want my nightmare creatures ranting and slobbering, thanks. Then I can just ... kill them. Metaphorically, obviously.”
“Have you killed anything in your dreams?” Ezio was curious. It would change her, if she had, for as vivid as they were.
“No, all I’ve done in my dreams is read that stupid book. Just ... ugh, what does any normal, rational person do when they see a book bound in skin? They run the fuck away!” Alex had to laugh at how ridiculous it was.
“Indeed.” Ezio had to chuckle faintly. “I admit that my first reaction to seeing such a book would likely be to cross myself and run hell for leather. It makes me wonder if your dream self has some kind of plan.” Or she was just a fool in her dreams. One never knew.
“Or maybe she’s just not the sharpest knife in the drawer,” Alex said dryly. “She looks like me when I was in my early twenties.” Who was smart then?
“I hate to say it, but you may indeed be right.” Ezio grinned. “I was an utter idiot both here and in the dreams when I was twenty.”
“Who the hell was a genius back then?” Alex grinned, leaning back. “Let me guess - you were fond of a few too many bambinas?”
“Was it that obvious?” Ezio laughed delightedly. He wasn’t embarrassed about being young and obsessed with girls; it wasn’t as if he was alone. “I love women, Signorina Alex. In every sense. Ladies are very often smarter than we are, and they are nearly always prettier to look at.”
“I don’t disagree with you, I just wish I were attracted to them sexually.” God, that would make life easier. “Instead, I just stopped trying.”
“To find a man, or to find anyone?” Ezio asked. She didn’t have to feel sexually attracted to someone to feel connected to them.
“To find romantic connection. Friends and family are what I have, and I guess if I find someone romantically that’ll be fine, but it’s not something I’m actively chasing.” God, that sounded depressing when she said it out loud.
“That may be the best thing you can do, in truth.” Ezio shrugged. “My longest relationships were with women I met out of nowhere. The set-ups from my mother, work colleagues, et cetera; none of them ever went anywhere.”
“Exactly. If it happens, great, if not, whatever, I have work and books and ... yup, sounds even worse out loud, but it’s true.”
Ezio chuckled. “And yet, I know you well enough to know you would never just try to start something with a random person you brought home.”
“Just because they’re attractive doesn’t mean we’re compatible. I think I did that once in my early twenties and a week later I had to threaten to taze him. Not good.” Alex winced.
“Davvero?” Ezio laughed. “Oh, dear.”
“Yeah, he thought I was just playing hard to get. The problem with being in your early twenties is that most of the people you date are in your early twenties too.” Her grin was broad, her nose wrinkling slightly.
Ezio had to laugh. She had a charming smile, he had to admit. “You never tried to date older men?”
Alex couldn’t help herself. “How old are you, Doc?”
“I am thirty-four years of age,” Ezio replied, trying to sound suitably grave. He was mostly amused.
“Well, shit, guess we can’t date if you’re prescribing me older men.” Alex couldn’t help but sound as impish as she was. “Me too.”
“Ah, but what month?” Ezio laughed, before stepping back. “I tease, I tease. Honestly, I do not believe age would matter for you, as long as it was within a relevant range. It is not the number, it is the mindset.”
“August,” Alex beamed. “And it wouldn’t, nope. I’ve been a cranky old lady since I was about ten. I think being a latchkey kid didn’t help that. You get home from a long day at school, Mom’s left dishes in the fridge, and I always felt like shit having maids do stuff like that.” She laughed. “It was kind of a relief to grow up and move out.”
“Aha! July!” Ezio laughed, but quickly grew serious. “I do think that some people are simply born old souls, and it is not necessarily a bad thing. Simply how they are. They may lose innocence, but they gain an ability to tolerate some of the world’s more annoying faults.”
That made Alex laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, I still have a healthy supply of whimsy, but some things I learned a little too young.” She curled her legs under her, sighing. “That makes me sound bitter.”
“I am sure you are. You do not talk about your mother in a complimentary fashion.” Ezio didn’t say it to judge, merely as fact.
“I learned a while ago that I’m never going to have that relationship with my mom that society says is perfect - where she loves me unconditionally and gets me Christmas presents and lah di dah. I get that. It sucks, but that’s how it is. I figure it’s better to understand the reality isn’t perfect and try to make a family for myself out of friends than to try to beat a dead horse.” Alex sighed, fingers drumming against her thigh. Only when she talked about her mother did she want a cigarette.
“I think this is the right idea, Alex.” Ezio was sympathetic. “It may be difficult, but it saves you pain in the long run, even if it does cause it currently.”
“I can’t change her, she’s in her late sixties. She’s settled.” Alex sighed, running her fingers through her hair.
“But you may change yourself, to manage as best you can, and I believe this is what you are doing.” Ezio nodded. “I still give you the title of my patient perhaps least in denial.”
“Aww, gee, thanks. Do you have to knight me or anything? Do I get a nifty sash?” Alex sat up and practiced her best Miss America wave, wincing after a bit when it started to hurt her wounded shoulder. “Son of a bitch, I keep forgetting I’m not fully healed.”
Ezio would have laughed, but it turned into a grimace. “I am sure you will be soon. And our time, I believe, is up at any rate. May I suggest going home and taking it easy today?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna take a long bath,” Alex chuckled. “Nothing is better for what ails you than a soak in the tub with a good book.”
“I tend to think differently, but I am a man.” Ezio smiled. “One more session, I think, and then you will be cleared to return to duty?”
“What, are men allergic to water?” Alex raised an eyebrow. “Just one more?” After being flippant, she realized she’d be disappointed and kind of miss seeing him once a week.
“Men, for whatever reason, seem to be less likely to partake in cures like that. They are more violent, or active, whichever you prefer. My way of relaxation is to read, but usually it is on a treadmill.” Ezio chuckled. “I am told I am a bit obsessive.”
“I could tell, you’ve got abs I could grate cheese on,” Alex muttered. She only went pink two heartbeats later, when she realized what she’d said. “I. Um. Going now. Same time next week?”
Ezio couldn’t help but be amused, and it was a struggle not to laugh. “Yes, I think that would be fine. I will look forward to it.” He tried to make her understand that he meant it - he genuinely enjoyed her company.
Alex ducked her head and blushed, something she hadn’t done since high school. “Me too, oddly enough. Bye, Doc.”
“Goodbye, Alex.” Once she was gone, he let the soft chuckle come out. He hadn’t imagined she’d noticed him as a man at all. Maybe he didn’t know everything.