[It's not Hawke who first answers him but the dog, who comes around the corner behind one of the shelves and nearly bowls into Ezio with an excited fervor to his step. He's covered in greenery and looks like he's tried to fashion his own flower crown out of weeds and vines, but that great tongue lolls out and makes him look like a puppy. He barks and prances in place, bumping his bulk against the assassin's side.
Hawke doesn't take long to join them, coming from the back where she's been cutting and trying to clean out the vines from the library on her own. She doesn't smile, though her expression brightens slightly upon seeing him.]
I'm here. [She does smile then, weakly.] And you found my dog.
[Ezio jumps a little when the dog pounces towards him, but it's clearly replaced by laughter, hands reaching down to scratch him around the ears. They didn't have many pets on the streets of Rome, more often than not they were found in the fields and meadows outside the city.]
Choosing something new to wear, are we?
[There's amusement in his face as he teases the dog, greenery all over him and getting onto the assassin as well. It's a good change of pace, even if it's only short-lived. Hawke appears momentarily, and seeing her smile weakly causes the concern to come back into his face. He rises and goes to her immediately.]
[The dog is happy enough to see him, jumping up briefly to place impossibly large paws on Ezio's chest so he can be given the attention he so rightfully deserves. But then he hops down and bounces around the assassin, his bulk too big to be frolicking as he does. His little stump of a tail wildly tosses from side to side.
Hawke's gaze toward the dog - and even to Ezio himself - is fond but fleeting, her expression sobering when the latter asks after her.]
I'm fine.
[But that's an inadequate response, and so she waves her gloved hand briefly.]
Such as I can be. I just...wasn't prepared for this, to lose all of them.
[One, maybe two? COMPASS had taken from her before. But all of them at once? It's too much. And it shows in her step, the heaviness of that burden and that pain.]
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action;
Hawke doesn't take long to join them, coming from the back where she's been cutting and trying to clean out the vines from the library on her own. She doesn't smile, though her expression brightens slightly upon seeing him.]
I'm here. [She does smile then, weakly.] And you found my dog.
action;
Choosing something new to wear, are we?
[There's amusement in his face as he teases the dog, greenery all over him and getting onto the assassin as well. It's a good change of pace, even if it's only short-lived. Hawke appears momentarily, and seeing her smile weakly causes the concern to come back into his face. He rises and goes to her immediately.]
So I have. How are you?
action;
Hawke's gaze toward the dog - and even to Ezio himself - is fond but fleeting, her expression sobering when the latter asks after her.]
I'm fine.
[But that's an inadequate response, and so she waves her gloved hand briefly.]
Such as I can be. I just...wasn't prepared for this, to lose all of them.
[One, maybe two? COMPASS had taken from her before. But all of them at once? It's too much. And it shows in her step, the heaviness of that burden and that pain.]
I don't understand it.