The absence of any real sense of time on a space ship suits Ezio, a man who has never kept a consistent schedule in his life. As long as he shows up for meals, anything is fine. The body gets as much rest as it pleases, the mind amuses itself with having something to do at all hours. For the first two weeks with Kovacs, it's nice to commit to that irreverent schedule again, having lost the need to show up to cover Larry's breakfast shifts and greenhouse afternoons.
But when two weeks are up, they're gone. There is work to do.
He's waiting for Kovacs by the kitchen door at the end of the breakfast shift, dressed in leathers. Not that they look all that different from his fineries to the untrained eye, but these will do for sport.
"Earth history," Kovacs grumbles, rolling his eyes. But he doesn't demure, either. Ezio is far from the most annoying-- or worse, boring-- company he could have just now. He follows, after throwing on a shirt and a jacket.
"One of the most beautiful cities in the world," Ezio corrects him, pleasantly. Venice is nothing but fond memories; any ache it had ever caused him has faded in a way Florence and Rome's never will. "What does your world have that is better than Earth?"
Kovacs doesn't really consider the question so much as let it roll off his back. What does Harlan's World have that's better than Earth? "How should I know? Only been on Earth a week. Week and a half..."
Ezio, a lifelong city-lover, has no particular disdain for cramped or rainy, even when the streets fill up with mud, but the joylessness of buildings from the future does come to mind.
"We will see how Venezia compares," he replies.
It is, in his mind, incomparable to any other city, and for good reason: the Enclosure spins up the Venice of the early 1490s. It's barely after dawn. A perfect time: few enough people that the Enclosure does not lag in recreating the setting. It's as close to real as the Enclosure will muster for it, a city floating on a hundred islands, the turquoise canals cobwebbed with footbridges, gondolas snaking up their paths. The Pale Mountains in the distance are blue, dotted with migrating birds. Salt-water air and gulls crying overhead.
So is (was) Newpest, and Milisport, and Bay City, and Contendta and Saeyda, and the others he can't or won't remember. For spending so much time in the places, Kovacs would like to label himself a creature of cities as well. But cities have never been his mother, and his mother was always too distracted in her kindness to truly garnish the comparison with sweetness. When a man kills his father, he is son to no one, and what of mothers?
Characters in these stories never have mothers, dummy.
Venice is a city. Kovacs is cleared from the anthropomorphic urge, so he does not see a strong woman stretched out on rooftops, or a paternal naval power waiting in the bay. Kovacs is a people-watcher, his triumph and his sorrow, and he sees their bustle. Some happy, some haggard, beggars and brutes, maidens and militiamen, faces he recognizes through race and dress and time. They are alive. They make the city around them-- open rooftops promising nothing but their continued existence, and some not even that-- alive.
There is no answer that will satisfy Ezio. It's his dream, and Kovacs is no dreamer. He steps through the illusion, tentative for half a moment, before his pace breaks into a fool's run. Catch me if you can.
Ezio lets that sea air sink right to the bottom of his lungs, his eyes momentarily on the city ahead. He is momentarily decades younger, clean-shaven and foolhardy and up to his nostrils in fluids most days of the week. If there were ever happy years in his adulthood, they were here. They have been here for many people.
And then Kovacs bursts ahead.
There couldn't be a more perfect reaction.
Ezio chuckles to himself, pushing himself into an easy run. He'll see if it is to be a sprint or a hunt.
The objective, of course, is to hide. Kovacs knows he's at a disadvantage-- this is Ezio's city, he practically screams it-- but that's why the trial is worth it. The attempt. He doesn't intend to win. If anything, as always, he intends to make losing ugly.
Over one ridge in the roofing, like a giant snake refusing to coil, and around a corner- Kovacs stops on a balcony, and shuffles into a strangely decorated room. Its upholstery, fashion, everything, is entirely unfamiliar to Kovacs, but that doesn't mean it's useless. He begins pulling the blankets off the nearby bed, knowing he has little time.
Running feels good, a comfort on his soul after day upon day of living in this sleek, artless vessel. His senses come alive with a flicker of focus, the sound of Kovacs' footsteps on the rooftop tile ahead, the pitch of his body as it careens around the corner, and his mind fills in the next: where Kovacs is going, even after he's slipped from sight.
He drops onto the balcony railing, feet finding the narrow stone rail by rote.
Kovacs takes thick blankets and throws them toward Ezio when he appears. It's an old fool's trick, and Kovacs doesn't expect much of it when he uses the momentary confusion to punch Ezio's still-healing nose.
Before the blankets have settled, Kovacs is back out another window, scampering up the wall to the sea of rooves awaiting him.
Ezio has to respect Kovacs' improvisation, even as thinks of him as a piece of shit for going for such cheap tricks in the first place. When the blanket flies at him, he jumps to hang from the balcony's awning, lifting his knees to catch the blanket and block a swing. By time Kovacs is off again, Ezio kicks the blanket down and carries on upward, onto the roof to resume the chase, his sense guiding him right back onto Kovacs' trail.
Kovacs runs, turns back, waits. How much can Ezio hear, underneath? How well does he know these rooves? Hiding behind a chimney, Kovacs aims to observe.
As he does so, he works carefully to take off his shoes as silently as possible.
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But when two weeks are up, they're gone. There is work to do.
He's waiting for Kovacs by the kitchen door at the end of the breakfast shift, dressed in leathers. Not that they look all that different from his fineries to the untrained eye, but these will do for sport.
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Ezio glances at his hidden blade, seeing invisible words glowing in its casing, and then heads to Kovacs' room, where he knocks with firm purpose.
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Ezio does not take his boots off, but he does not enter, either. He leans a shoulder against the doorframe.
"I was going for a run in the Enclosure," he says. "Put a shirt on and come with me. I will show you Venezia."
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"Surely you had some impression of what you saw," he replies.
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"We will see how Venezia compares," he replies.
It is, in his mind, incomparable to any other city, and for good reason: the Enclosure spins up the Venice of the early 1490s. It's barely after dawn. A perfect time: few enough people that the Enclosure does not lag in recreating the setting. It's as close to real as the Enclosure will muster for it, a city floating on a hundred islands, the turquoise canals cobwebbed with footbridges, gondolas snaking up their paths. The Pale Mountains in the distance are blue, dotted with migrating birds. Salt-water air and gulls crying overhead.
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So is (was) Newpest, and Milisport, and Bay City, and Contendta and Saeyda, and the others he can't or won't remember. For spending so much time in the places, Kovacs would like to label himself a creature of cities as well. But cities have never been his mother, and his mother was always too distracted in her kindness to truly garnish the comparison with sweetness. When a man kills his father, he is son to no one, and what of mothers?
Characters in these stories never have mothers, dummy.
Venice is a city. Kovacs is cleared from the anthropomorphic urge, so he does not see a strong woman stretched out on rooftops, or a paternal naval power waiting in the bay. Kovacs is a people-watcher, his triumph and his sorrow, and he sees their bustle. Some happy, some haggard, beggars and brutes, maidens and militiamen, faces he recognizes through race and dress and time. They are alive. They make the city around them-- open rooftops promising nothing but their continued existence, and some not even that-- alive.
There is no answer that will satisfy Ezio. It's his dream, and Kovacs is no dreamer. He steps through the illusion, tentative for half a moment, before his pace breaks into a fool's run. Catch me if you can.
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And then Kovacs bursts ahead.
There couldn't be a more perfect reaction.
Ezio chuckles to himself, pushing himself into an easy run. He'll see if it is to be a sprint or a hunt.
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Over one ridge in the roofing, like a giant snake refusing to coil, and around a corner- Kovacs stops on a balcony, and shuffles into a strangely decorated room. Its upholstery, fashion, everything, is entirely unfamiliar to Kovacs, but that doesn't mean it's useless. He begins pulling the blankets off the nearby bed, knowing he has little time.
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He drops onto the balcony railing, feet finding the narrow stone rail by rote.
Mere seconds now, Kovacs.
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Before the blankets have settled, Kovacs is back out another window, scampering up the wall to the sea of rooves awaiting him.
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As he does so, he works carefully to take off his shoes as silently as possible.