asscreedkinkmeme (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
asscreedkinkmeme) wrote2012-01-04 10:19 am
asscreedkinkmeme) wrote2012-01-04 10:19 am
Entry tags:
Kink Meme - Assassin's Creed [Fills]
We're about to reach the posting limit on pt.1&2, this is for those who wish to continue/write on prompts on both these parts.
Writers! It is your responsibility to link back to the original prompt.
There are no request in this part of the meme.
List of Kinks
(Livejorunal) Archive
#2 (Livejournal) Archive
(Delicious.com) Archive
(Dreamwidth) Archive <- Currently active
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Discussion
"Caterina... did they...?" [2/2]
(Anonymous) 2013-05-07 06:53 am (UTC)(link)In the weeks and months that followed, Caterina began to heal. Mino's calm competence sped her body's recovery. Although she wanted nothing more than to leave the crumbling chaos of Roma behind, with all its memories, she was not well enough to travel; and besides, with war wracking the countryside and her own lands fallen to the Templars, there was nowhere safer or more restful for her to go.
There was plenty to do around Tiber Island. Caterina's sharp mind had not been dulled by captivity, and she found herself scouring maps and documents with intensity. Reports of army movements and diplomacy came in a steady stream, as Ezio's fighters kept their communication channels open. Niccolo Machiavelli was here - a fast friend from a lifetime ago, and an excellent companion. She sought his company as often as she could, and as before their two analytical minds played off each other.
Caterina found, as well, that she had retained many interesting pieces of information from her guards at the castello. They had not believed her to be capable of using their idle talk as intelligence. Whether that was because they assumed her to be a feeble-minded woman, or because they never expected her to escape made no difference.
When her mind was spent from strategy and intrigue, she took up menial tasks with the rest of the Assassini. There were no servants at Tiber Island - anyone brave and true enough to be in the employ of the Assassins had more important things to do. A level-headed common woman was invaluable when installed as a maid for an influential family, or sent to serve in a tavern frequented by enemy soldiers. A capable old stable hand, who had never so much as touched a sword, made an excellent spy. How wasteful it would be to have such people waiting on the Brotherhood.
Her seemingly boundless enthusiasm for work concealed the fact that Caterina could not sleep or even sit idle without panic rising inside her as her mind returned to the Castello in flashbacks so vivid they felt real. When she did sleep, she would wake with a scream, struggling up from her dreams with her bedding in a sweat-soaked tangle. Young Mino gave her worried glances once or twice when he caught her shaking, but his time was absorbed with tending wounded men and women.
So Caterina mended clothes, swept floors and tended horses. Such work was unfamiliar to her, of course, but she found that she was glad to do it. Everyone worked at Tiber Island. Birth meant little among the Assassini - rank was everything. It was no longer strange to her to see proud youths of noble birth submitting without question to the orders of a merchant's son, or a former courtesan.
She rarely saw Ezio. He was busy, of course, but Caterina suspected as well that he was avoiding her. They had exchanged few words since Caterina's escape. Until, one day, he approached her as she was tending horses in the stables.
"Contessa," he said with a bow, stiff and formal.
She sighed inwardly, straightening to brush off her hands. Would it ever relax between them?
"Ezio."
"I am to meet with Niccolo, Volpe and Claudia this evening at the Rosa in Fiore," he said. "We have much to plan. Bartolomeo d'Alviano may come, if he can. Would you join us?"
"There's little point my staying here if I don't, is there? Yes, Ezio, I will join you."
"Excellent. We are all grateful that you have agreed to stay to give your counsel."
"You are most welcome," she said. What a ridiculous conversation. What was wrong with him? It had been this way ever since their escape from the Castello.
The thought of that place brought on the panicked dizziness that had become familiar to her.Not now! She braced a hand on the stable wall, fighting the flashback. Not in front of him!
But there was no use - cold sweat broke over her and she began to shake. She felt the cold stone floor, smelled the stench of the prison. She heard footsteps outside her cell, and men's voices. Ezio caught her by her upper arms, his face grim with concern, and guided her to sit on a clean pile of hay.
"You are safe, Caterina," he said, and despite herself, she leaned against him letting him hold her hands. Eventually she returned to the stable with the smell of clean straw and the sound of horses, shifting and snuffling. The horse she had been seeing to draped her head over her stall and nudged Caterina with curiosity. Caterina breathed deeply until she was calm again.
Ezio sat beside her in silence, resting his forearms on his thighs. "Caterina. I know you lied to me, before," he said eventually.
"About what?" She stalled. Oh, would he never shut up?
"I know that in your position, you must... ah, negotiate," he said. "I understand what you said, about politics." He gently touched her arm. "If you and Cesare became lovers -"
"We did not 'become lovers', Ezio!" she said, throwing his hand off and standing up. He looked up at her, stunned. She was so angry she could hardly speak. He held up his hands to placate her.
"Shh, Caterina, I meant no offense." He looked around, knowing from experience how her voice carried when she was roused to anger.
"Don't you tell me to be quiet!" She shouted. "You think that because I bedded you, I would bed anyone? That I do not care who has me - even that piece of shit? How dare you. I did not bed him, you slug-witted idiot. He held a blade to my throat and forced me!"
"Caterina, I'm sorry -" he said, standing and half-reaching for her again, but withdrew when she backed away.
"I suppose you wonder why I did not choose to die, rather than be dishonoured by a Templar - one who conquered my own lands, no less! I, who fought beside men with a blade in my hand - to defend my home, and then yours! Well, I wanted to. I wanted to fight, and force him to kill me. But instead, I froze." Her hands were trembling. "You cannot possibly understand."
"Forgive me, Caterina," he said. "I did not think -"
"No, you didn't think - stronzo - and you took your sweet time in coming to get me from that shit-hole. Yes, I lied to you before. Cesare took his pleasure, whenever he pleased - usually, when he was straight from the field and covered with the blood of our allies. And when he had finished, he gave me to Rodrigo. So now you know, and I will leave Roma for I cannot stand the shame of it."
"Don't, please," he said. "Not because of me. I'm a fool, Caterina."
"Yes. You are," she told him.
He was pale with horror, and guilt. That gave her some satisfaction, and her rage abated somewhat.
"I will meet you tonight, Ezio. Now go away, before you make me shout again - the horses have had enough of it."
***
"Hunting?" Caterina blinked at Ezio in surprise.
He nodded. "It is not such an absurdity as you think. I am to visit Pantasilea D'Alviano, and it occurred to me that you should meet with her too. That part of the countryside is quite safe, now that we control it. It would be a pleasant journey."
Caterina had been a fine hunter, with a keen eye and steady hands. She had seen Ezio's archers training, and felt sure that she could have given some of them a run for their money, in accuracy if not in reach. She doubted she had the strength now to draw a bow now, though. But to leave these stone walls was a tempting thought.
Ezio shifted his feet. "Of course, if you're not yet well enough..."
"No - perhaps not for hunting," she said. "But a ride would be a welcome distraction."
A grin lit up his face, making him look ten years younger.
"Then come and see what I've got for you," he said.
In the stables was a pretty little roan mare, young and finely built. An obvious peace offering, but Caterina could not hide her pleasure as the mare mouthed her hand curiously and huffed warm breath into her palm.
"She may be small, but she is spirited," Ezio promised, and as if to agree the mare snorted and shifted her weight, pushing her strong neck against Caterina to give her a cheeky little shove.
"Oh no you don't," Caterina said, laughing, and stood her ground stilling the mare's head by her halter. The horse tossed her head and fidgeted but soon deferred to Caterina's firm hands.
"I knew you would get along," Ezio said.
They set out. Ezio's mount was a tall grey gelding. Fiametta - little flame, as Caterina had decided to call her, for her fiery temperament, dainty build, and shining red coat - nipped at the gelding's flank, but the grey only swished his tail as if such games were far beneath him.
Caterina was pleased to find that her body was fit for riding. Her muscles would feel it tomorrow, but she found that neither her hip nor her shoulder bothered her. The wind and sun felt good on her face.
Fiametta was eager, and Caterina had to hold her back as they travelled towards Bartolomeo D'Alviano's stronghold. Eventually she let the little mare have her head, and before she knew it, she and Ezio were racing.
The gelding's longer legs soon outstripped Fiametta but the mare was a racer by nature, and she followed close behind, kicking up her feet in excitement. They came to the edge of a forest and now Fiametta, small and darting, had the advantage. Caterina guided her with a sure hand through the trees and they gained ground. Fiametta's petite build and light feet - as well as Caterina's excellent horsemanship - won out, and at the end of the wood they were ahead.
By now Fiametta was foaming and blowing, her body slick with sweat, and though she showed no signs of wanting to stop, Caterina drew her head up to slow her.
The edge of a creek glimmered beside a cluster of trees, and Caterina headed for it. As soon as she pulled Fiametta to a stop, Caterina's thighs and calves went to water. She slid out of her saddle. To hide her sudden weakness she leaned against Fiammetta's hot damp body and felt a light shudder ripple through the mare from shoulder to haunch.
She stroked the mare's wet neck and praised her in soft tones. But Ezio had seen her stumble and soon he was at her side. She felt his hand light on her back, between her shoulders.
"Are you well, Caterina?"
"Of course," she said, turning to him with a smile. In fact, she felt better than she had in weeks. But seeing a pile of soft leaves at the foot of a tree, she led her mount with her and lay down. Just a moment's rest, she thought.
After so many nights of broken sleep she had not realised how tired she was, and she fell asleep almost the instant her head touched the sun-warmed leaves. She slept blissfully - no dreams to torment her.
The air was cool and the sun burned low when she woke to the sound of Fiammetta munching grass near her right ear. She found Ezio's cape draped over her.
Fiametta nudged her with her shapely head, and Caterina stroked her ears. She leaned against the horse's strong body as she stood. Running her hands over the mare, she found that she had been groomed well, her body brushed clean of sweat and smooth to the touch.
Then Ezio returned from the creek. He had been washing, or perhaps swimming. His hair was loose and dripping, his shirt clinging to his damp chest, dark tight-curled hair under light cotton. The sunset made his skin burnished brown and caught his amber eyes, full of dark warmth.
A year ago, she would have pushed him down to that pile of leaves, then straddled him to tear off his shirt. She would have run her hands over his hot, hard shoulders, over the damp curled hair on his chest and his firm flat belly. She would have kissed his scarred, sensual mouth until he could not breathe. And then, they would have risen until they were both entirely satisfied... which could have taken no small amount of time.
She shook her head, dislodging the foolish daydream.
"I'm sorry, Ezio," she said. "We are supposed to be travelling, and all I did is sleep." She handed him his cloak and their hands brushed.
"We don't have far to go," he said. "And it was good to see you resting," he added quietly, his eyes soft. The longing to touch him, to feel his lips on hers was too much, and she reached for him, drawing him close.
She saw a flash of raw desire cross his face, and for a moment she was afraid. But when Ezio bent to kiss her, his mouth was gentle, even hesitant. His lips parted in answer to the tip of her tongue, and not before. He held back, even when his breath came faster and she heard soft grunts of pleasure from the back of his throat.
When she drew away slightly, he swallowed and straightened. He squeezed her hand, his fingertips lingering. Then he let go, and turned to fetch his horse.
They rode for the headquarters of the mercenario, at an easy pace in the evening light. The air between them was easier, now, despite the kiss, and she knew Ezio would not demand anything more. They could be allies, friends, or more; or perhaps they did not need to know exactly what this was. The choice was hers.
Re: "Caterina... did they...?" [2/2]
And it was nice to see Ezio being sweet and shirtless, too :D