☩ ００９．ＶＩＤＥＯ | ＡＣＴＩＯＮ

[mansuetus]

Tranquility!

[ Guess who is back in her high spirits. Lucrezia is wearing red silks and is evidently strolling the gardens this morning ]

It is my birthday today, I have decided.

[ a pause in which she just looks pleased with herself and then she explains ]

As I do not know how to count the days here when compared with the count common in Rome, I have chosen today for my birthday. I shall accept my greetings at the garden.

[ prim and proper but those who know her by now can see the jest in her words. ]

And I have decided what I wish as my gift, if you would hear it!

[ wait for it. ]

For the birthday of the one called the illustrious Lucrezia Borgia, me and garden both require - a swing!

[ a beat. ]

And cake.

[ that would actually be all. Lucrezia Borgia, ladies and gentleman. She would be sitting in the garden, reading a book, for those who wish to find her. ]

Comments

[wolfinthesnow]

Congratulations.

[And the smallest but surest of smiles.]

[mansuetus]

Thank you.

[ it is a good age, Lucrezia reckons. Not the age of a child, the age of a woman. And she is no child, so much is certain. ]

What do you wish me for my birthday?

[wolfinthesnow]

That it always stay summer for you.

[mansuetus]

Always!

[ she smiles, leans back on the grass. ]

Shall I tell you a secret?

[wolfinthesnow]

If you like, of course.

[mansuetus]

It barely ever snows in Rome.

[ and that makes her laugh, for some reason. To come from a land of very little snow and befriend those who have been among it all their lives. She laughs and laughs until her sides hurt. ]

This ship is a true wonder.

[wolfinthesnow]

Aye? A summer child.

[mansuetus]

[ for that he gets grass thrown in his face, she pouts. ]

I am not a child!

[wolfinthesnow]

[He laughs, then]

A sweet summer child, with no true taste of winter.

I truly like you better that way.

[mansuetus]

Jon Snow! I am not a child. I am the Illustrious Lucrezia Borgia, Daughter of the Pope's, the Vatican's Treasure! You shall take it back or I shall throw more leaves at you.

[ it's a serious threat. ]

[wolfinthesnow]

Oh you can be all that and be a child of summer, as well. It's what we called all our younger siblings. Born in the summer, with no true knowledge of winter.

[He's still smiling, though]

[mansuetus]

Then perhaps you can be a winter boy who doesn't know Rome's summers.

[ she would stick out her tongue if she could. ]

[wolfinthesnow]

I've no love for the heat of summer anyway.

[mansuetus]

You have fondness towards me and that is exactly the same.

[ NO IT REALLY ISN'T LUCREZIA. ]

[wolfinthesnow]

I cannot get so close as to touch you.

[Have you noticed, Lucrezia?]

[mansuetus]

You can hold my hand, I would allow it. I would kiss your cheek, but you shall be afraid of me for our remaining time here. It is the Roman way of greeting.

[wolfinthesnow]

[He's not letting anyone be under any impression he is after Robb's girl. That means no rumors. That means no touching.

He knows that much.]

I'll thank you for the honor.

[mansuetus]

Girls have such powers in their hands. It took me a few years to understand. Is it truly an honor? In Rome, most anyone kisses anyone on both cheeks.

Tell me this then: was it always like that in your realm? so many years of winter?

[wolfinthesnow]

In Westeros, we are not so informal. Especially not with the baseborn son of Lord.

[Pause.]

Yes. It was ten years of summer. Longer than any summer known before.

[mansuetus]

Is there someone on this ship who truly thinks you to be just the baseborn son of a lord? You are much more than that, Jon Snow. It's due time that you will accept that.

[ she hums in thought, grins a bit. ]

In a decade of summer Rome would have drank itself silly. A good thing winter comes to take their minds off wine and brothels.

[wolfinthesnow]

Sounds much like the south.

[mansuetus]

Then how would your south handle its ten years of winter? when there are no grapes to make wine from and no silks, for they are too thin for the cold? I imagine they would curse the weather and pray for the sun to return.

[wolfinthesnow]

I do not know. I have never been there, only heard the tales from my family.

[mansuetus]

Perhaps someday.

[ but then she frowns ]

What is there beyond Westeros? Outside of Rome there is Naples and Florence and further away France and the Britons. What are the names of the other realms?

[wolfinthesnow]

The Free Cities. Pentos, and Valyria.