pontificus | ( duplicity ) inbox

It sounds lovely. I can be over in an hour if it suits you.

It does.

You are fond of dogs, I hope?

I do not mind them. Have you one?

He is a direwolf. He reaches to about my waist, but he is gentle with my friends.

He won't hurt you.

I will not fear him then.

I wouldn't let anything happen to you.

I know. I would not enter your place if I had thought you would.

I will see you shortly, Jon.

[It takes him a bit of time to order something for them to eat (as he continually flip flopped, not certain what she would like and wanting to please and impress her.) He even took the time to dress in more than his usual jeans and black t-shirt, pulling out the dress shirt and pants he had worn when on the ship.

All of it in an attempt to impress her, as though they truly were courting.

He had just seen her, but it seemed to always catch him by surprise at how beautiful she was. He grinned, opening the door wide for her.]

You didn't have trouble traveling here?

[She finds a simple white dress, changing and heading over. She knows he is expecting to spend an evening with her, but she needs to speak with him about what had transpired with her brother.

She knows Cesare would not lie, but it is clear that tensions are running high between them on who her bed partners are. So when he opens the door and says that, she points right behind her.]

It seems you already know my brother. It was not a long walk at all.

[He looks between her and Cesare's door, everything falling into place. Cesare hadn't responded to his note, but he had assumed that he was busy with something else or someone else. He had said that he had family staying with him and Lucrezia had mentioned a brother.

That he missed this had him cursing beneath his breath. He really did know nothing.]

I had the chance to share a few drinks with him after he arrived.

[And before the ship. Would it have changed anything? Would he have hesitated with Lucrezia. It was hard to say, but he could understand if Cesare was angry. He wouldn't want to know about who Sansa might choose as a lover.]

You won't need to stay in the Down.

[Which was a relief, honestly.]

[She seems to connect what has transpired, though she does not know of the notes. Cesare had merely told her that they were talking of her, of sharing her. She stills herself as she enters his apartment.]

I have not stayed in the Down since I had come to collect my things. [She is fortunate that she has a brother here, even if he seems to already be meddling in things.]

He told me you had spoken of me. [She is careful of how she words it, what she gives away. Eyes stay focused on him, seeing how he reacts when she brings it up. It is better to get it out of the way now.]

Good. After seeing the flooding in the Down, it isn't a place anyone should live.

[And yet there would be more new arrivals, more submissives to occupy the run down houses. And the city would find new ways to make them suffer, either through natural disasters or something more insidious.

There was nothing he said that he was ashamed of. He had said before that she was incredibly beautiful and that she was unlike anyone else in the city. Her stubbornness was only a recent observation, but it would likely come up in time.

He smiled softly, lowering his gaze.]

I thought it a coincidence that I met two people in the city who had family present. I suppose I should have known. I know how it is to hear a man to speak of your sister. I did not mean to make him feel uncomfortable.

[She's lucky that she's only seen the Down for the brief time she went to collect her things. She had made a friend though, and promised to take her out when she needed to get away. It truly is awful down there.

She doesn't move when he confirms that he did speak of her. It is tamer than what Cesare has said.]

He said you spoke more intimately than that. [She raises her brows, expecting a more in depth answer than that.]

[It still doesn't occur to him that Cesare had manipulated his words. There had been a sort of understanding between them before. And while they didn't share similar values, they at least seemed to get along enough to enjoy a drink with each other.

He frowns, trying to think if there was anything that might have been over the line.]

He spoke of sharing. [He shook his head.] I have been shot with enough arrows by a woman to know better than to do something that might hurt her. I told him that you'd likely punish me yourself if I suggested it and that you were more stubborn than me.

[And that was never the sort of talk he engaged in, even at his most crass.]

Did he show you the notes? Is that how you heard of this?

[She stays still in her place, listening to his explanation. Though right now he does make the corners of her mouth turn upward just a bit at the mention of her being stubborn. It may be true to some extent, and he is certainly right, because she is concerned for her name.]

Notes? [Cesare has not mentioned them.] He only came in, knowing you were the one who had helped me become solid again. He said nothing of notes, but that you had talked of me. He is concerned that you would besmirch my name in this city.

[There is no concealing the surprise on his face. While they were not close, he had assumed that there was at least an understanding between them. While annoyed by this, there is something familiar in it.

If a man came to this city and bedded Sansa, spoke of her to him, he'd also be concerned about her safety and the man's character. Sisters were different than average women and he knew that. If it was Arya even...he doesn't finish that thought, the anger making him bristle.]

If you want to know what I said, you could read the notes? It wasn't anything I would be afraid to say to you. I called you beautiful, stubborn and capable of injuring me.

I told you I had two sisters?

[He never really spoke about family or past often, but this apparently needed to be said.]

My oldest, Sansa, she was forced to marry twice. Once to a dwarf, but he is a good man. His family killed our father and they wanted the power she represented. So they linked her in marriage to them, treating her like a hostage more than a woman. Tyrion was good to her, so she said. But it wasn't a marriage she wanted.

[He cleared his throat, frowning at the ground.]

Her second marriage was to the son of the man that murdered our brother. He...wasn't kind. It's not my place to talk of what happened to her, but it was the worst sort of marriage.

If she was here...I would feel the same as Cesare.

I believe you. [And she does. She doesn't need to see the notes. They are messages exchanged between two men, friends even. She would not want to intrude on that even if it seems she unintentionally has. Lucrezia shakes her head as she listens to his story.

She can relate to much of it, listening to Jon's sister's struggle. It sounds much of what she has been through.]

I would not wish this place on any, but I should like to meet your sister if I am ever given the chance. [She relaxes somewhat.]

Cesare-- is very protective of me. He was the one to wed me to my first husband. It, too, was a marriage to unite our houses, to consolidate power. My father had only just been named Pope, head of our church.

Cesare and I have always been close. [He is the one who promised to kill him if Giovanni did anything. She does not speak of it though, knowing she has the knife Cesare gave her hidden just across the hall.]

I think he does not do well with my presence here. Being a woman here, he worries.

You remind me of her. [As strange as that might sound.] She was always very proper and elegant, but she's stubborn and knows her own mind. If I don't listen to her, she tries to find a way to make me listen.

[Though they often butted heads. If she underminded him, if he ignored her. They were siblings first and foremost, raised away from each other and never close to begin with. Now she was one of the most important remaining figures in his life. The only family left to him.]

You were right when you said your brother cared for you. [And he would know better from now on to watch what he said and how he acted while they were both together.] You told me that your first marriage ended.

Did he help free you from him?

[She finally feels satisfied with the answers Jon gives and moves further into his rooms, offering a small smile when he mentions that his sister is stubborn. Lucrezia does not see herself as stubborn, but she is ambitious. She merely has learned that she needs to go about her ambitions in a different way. Ambition rules the Borgias more than perhaps any other family.

She is a little tightlipped on the story of Giovanni, simply because he is not a man that does deserve to be spoken of. And there are some secrets she would keep with her brother.]

My father annulled us when it was deemed that Giovanni Sforza was impotent. He was not. In truth he was cruel and took my innocence from me in perhaps a similar manner to your sister's second husband. [At least that is what it sounds like.]

He was no longer useful to my family, and I had already bore a son who was not his.

[He's quiet, the only acknowledgement to what Sansa suffered. She had not given him very many details, but his threats filled in the rest of his questions. He wouldn't press and wasn't certain he wanted the full answers. Ramsay's character was clear.]

That must have been an insult to his pride. [Both the child and the impotence. He didn't know the man, but he could imagine how any other nobleman might respond.] It is some form of revenge.

[He offered her a glass of wine, considering how much more he should tell her. Ramsay's death was hers alone, but the battle in general was something they both shared.]

Ramsay Bolton, my sister's second husband, he had been given our family keep because his father betrayed our brother. Sansa and I went to war with him to reclaim it and to try to save our younger brother...

[His voice trailed off.]

She's widowed now and happier.

[She takes the glass of wine, swirling it in her cup for a moment. Lucrezia savors it while he continues the story of his sister. She can relate to it, though revenge was truly in the hands of Cesare. She knows what he would do for her if she only asked him.]

I am glad to hear of her happiness. I hope it may continue for her and for you.

[She does not feel it is the same for her. Alfonso is kind and has a good heart, and she does care for him, but she feels far from happy, being forced into another situation for the sake of her family.

But here? Here is different. Taking her brother's deal of contract means she knows herself to be safe, and he would not give her to another. He would not use her for some bargaining chip. She is free to be herself here, though she barely knows what that even is.]

[As much happiness as Sansa could find. Of late, it seemed that they were arguing more and he was ruling differently than she would want. They were at least together. It was more than they had as children.]

Happiness is more than I can ask for.

[But he doesn't want to darken their time together with his brooding. He tapped the glass of his wine against hers in an attempt to divert from the subject.]

You seem to be more at ease here.

[As much as she could be.]

Have you had the chance to explore the city?

[She watched as he tipped their glasses together. Even if things have settled between them, her smile does not completely return. She does try before taking a sip of it to test it.]

I am adjusting. Given my designation, I'm not granted as many freedoms and am at the mercy of my brother. And with no sun, it has been hard to see anything.

I did see the park before we went on the boat though.

[She hasn't ventured very far.]

[He watched her carefully, concerned that her mood had been ruined for the night. He hoped to see an easiness in her again, that same warm and light that had been there while they were on the cruise.]

You're fortunate. [Even if her brother was claiming Jon was a coarse and flippant with a woman's honor.] There is no better time to explore the city while most of the people are gone. No one will try to control or limit you.

[He gives her a sly smile.]

This is a chance to do what we want.

[She offers a small smile in return, though not nearly as bright as she was, but not nearly as upset as she was when Cesare had first come to her. Lucrezia was glad it seemed to be resolved, and she was glad for it. She had not think Jon the man capable of slighting a woman's name.]

It is also hard to navigate the city, and it is not the safest even when it is. [Not that she doesn't feel safe when she's with him. After all she had gained her form back because of him.]

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