[ NO CRUMBS FOR A STARVING HEI... it is okay, they probably aren't that interesting anyway. ]
Because it's kinda thick, right? Yeah, that makes sense. I don't think there's significance for her, but she's always struck me as the type to camp at a cafe somewhere and spend the whole day working.
[ it's not, gabriel is thinking of something else. ]
... soup is still soup. [ this doesn't sound entirely wrong. ] Pretty sure espresso's gonna be more flavorful than your vegetable soup, so prepare for that.
Coffee's a big industry in the modern century. Not all of it comes from smaller places, and not all of it is good, but it's a little more accessible now.
[ sometimes you are used to struggle meals of your own, man. ]
I think the smell's my favorite part. It's part of why I perfected espresso martinis at the bar, it's a combination of both things. But I don't know. I can't say I'm not grateful for the 24/7 gas stations that always keep a fresh pot when I would wander in at 3am. Sometimes that's the taste you need.
Gabriel starts talking and Jacopo isn't lost for all of it, but can piece some of it together because he learned what gas was a couple of weeks ago. Now he knows they sell coffee... At gas stations, even though they're meant to automobiles. ]
... I can't say I relate. [ Obviously. ] But espresso martinis sound interesting.
Next time you come by I'll make you one. If you don't like it, then I'll finish it off. [ easy. they seem to get this is a thing that isn't wholly relatable given jacopo is from the 1800s, but they do seem content he isn't asking too many technical questions. the man can be taught. ]
It wasn't like it was every night. Sometimes parties ran that late, or even later. Or sometimes I just needed to get out of my house and do something. There were some nights I didn't bother going home, so it was easier to have places to go.
[ they can make him one and he'll fucking die the same night. it is even worse, this jacopo is from 1000-1080 or something. at least in 1800s he'd understand it better. ]
You were such a free spirit... Was home unpleasant at times? Or did you just like being out and about.
[ yeah, that will go well. also what is this man so old for? ]
Yeah, that's a word for it. [ but... they like jacopo enough to be a little more honest with the answer. ] Mostly the former. It turned into the latter sometimes when home was empty though.
[ wheel of fate, transcends time, etc. wow is the song at the beginning actually fitting here ]
When I was young, I used to envy people with families, but some homes have so many problems. [ In general, just can't expect people to have good lives even if they have the building blocks for it. ] At least fresh air is good for you.
... that makes two of us. Which I guess I shouldn't have, because I know for a while my family tried until they didn't. Things got complicated, and then they got really complicated and I couldn't fix it. But you're not wrong. Fresh air's good. There wasn't always a lot of it there, but there is here.
I don't know. Probably not, just because of where I was from and the circumstances. Like I said my family tried and then things just... happened. I don't know how much I believe in the idea that everything happens for a reason, really, but sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.
[ there's a bit of quiet as they walk. ]
Does it bother you not to remember so much of that time?
... Not really. I assumed that it wasn't worthwhile to remember, or it was something I wanted to forget. [ A shrug. ] I could have been kidnapped, or my parents could have sold me.
[ Maybe he had trauma, he doesn't know. Not knowing hasn't changed his life, really, and he says it nonchalantly like it didn't happen to him. When you don't remember, it's kind of like it didn't happen to you. ]
Because of where you were from and circumstances...?
You do realize those are both really terrible options that I hate for you. [ just. just saying. they do not like the idea of jacopo having a terrible childhood only to go into having a terrible adulthood. ] But I get it. Kind of one of those out of sight, out of mind things.
[ sigh... ]
I wouldn't say where I grew up was the worst place I could've been. But it also wasn't the best, and usually people who lived there didn't care about trying to improve it. And when you're in a place that pretty much is a dead end before you even start, you kinda know your place in the world and you have to make sure you fight for it.
[ But he understands that they aren't GREAT things to happen to any child. It's just something that didn't happen to ONLY him, which is... worse... I guess.
This is all relatable to him for obvious reasons. Sometimes you start at the bottom. ]
That doesn't make it right. [ but okay! for real, dropping it. but given what gabriel's saying maybe it makes some sense why they are concerned about this. sometimes you start at the bottom but it's still bad not to know about it. ]
... I don't know. I think I did, but it was a stupid ambition, and maybe it was never going to happen. I thought... things would get better. And then they didn't, and I died. So now my ambitions here are making drinks and seeing you guys through to the end of this trial.
It doesn't. Ideally, I would like a future where slavery is abolished, but it seems that it's still a working trade in my time.
[ But you know... That is way beyond Jacopo's time. Sometimes you're a bit more progressive than the time period you're born. He thinks a bit more, quiet for a moment. ]
I had different ambitions than what led me to lordship... It is all a little ironic.
... even with everything I've said, there are some good things in the world. The future isn't all bad. I think maybe I wanted more out of life once, too. I used to think about what it'd be like if I was actually good enough or smart enough to get out of my hometown. I did leave, eventually, but not because I chose to. And then I came here not long after.
[ so. you know. ]
Didn't you only really become lord because that Barnier guy sucked really bad and you wanted to try and make things better for the people?
It's never too late, seeing that there's a life after death, but you know that. [ You're here for a reason, with a purpose. ] ... I'm also sure you have done things that amounted to something, but may seem negligible in your eyes.
[ Which is the opposite to what his younger self thought. He can only see now after he was too far down the path. ]
I wasn't that altruistic, even then. [ But he did want better for people in the slums. He wanted them to live, not survive. ] Barnier sent brigands to handle dissenters and people close to me died. I was tired... Of being powerless and having things taken from me.
I guess. [ they know that, but they do not seem to think much of it. ] I don't think I can accomplish what I wanted to accomplish, but I can try to figure out some things for you guys. Believe me when I say the things I've done weren't exactly the "somethings" that should've amounted to anything.
[ it would make more sense if they explained literally anything. ]
How is it not altruistic to want to fight for people you cared about because they were taken away? You could have turned around, gotten revenge and left it. But you were still trying to go above that.
... Being kind is something, if all else fails to measure up.
[ Though Jacopo doesn't entirely believe that, he knows the importance of just being good to people. It's something he has lost, he thinks, but it does matter.
Everyone and their mom should feel lucky that Jacopo doesn't put so much stock into people's past, instead valuing more how they conduct themselves around him in the present, so he allows them to be vague even though it does make it difficult to know how to respond. ]
The point was that I wasn't thinking about everyone at first.
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It reminded me of soup we'd make sometimes. [ ? ] Is the area significant?
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Because it's kinda thick, right? Yeah, that makes sense. I don't think there's significance for her, but she's always struck me as the type to camp at a cafe somewhere and spend the whole day working.
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More so that the soup I'm thinking of is when we didn't have much money for the day, so it's vegetables boiling in water and maybe salt.
[ Struggle meals. He doesn't understand the appeal of coffee in the elevated, then later gentrified way yet. ]
There were a lot of places that offered coffee and small meals.
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... soup is still soup. [ this doesn't sound entirely wrong. ] Pretty sure espresso's gonna be more flavorful than your vegetable soup, so prepare for that.
Coffee's a big industry in the modern century. Not all of it comes from smaller places, and not all of it is good, but it's a little more accessible now.
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I'll look forward to it. [ Because who likes BLAND food? ] Accessibility is good... The aroma is quite nice.
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I think the smell's my favorite part. It's part of why I perfected espresso martinis at the bar, it's a combination of both things. But I don't know. I can't say I'm not grateful for the 24/7 gas stations that always keep a fresh pot when I would wander in at 3am. Sometimes that's the taste you need.
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Gabriel starts talking and Jacopo isn't lost for all of it, but can piece some of it together because he learned what gas was a couple of weeks ago. Now he knows they sell coffee... At gas stations, even though they're meant to automobiles. ]
... I can't say I relate. [ Obviously. ] But espresso martinis sound interesting.
Why were you up so late to begin with?
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It wasn't like it was every night. Sometimes parties ran that late, or even later. Or sometimes I just needed to get out of my house and do something. There were some nights I didn't bother going home, so it was easier to have places to go.
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You were such a free spirit... Was home unpleasant at times? Or did you just like being out and about.
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Yeah, that's a word for it. [ but... they like jacopo enough to be a little more honest with the answer. ] Mostly the former. It turned into the latter sometimes when home was empty though.
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When I was young, I used to envy people with families, but some homes have so many problems. [ In general, just can't expect people to have good lives even if they have the building blocks for it. ] At least fresh air is good for you.
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... that makes two of us. Which I guess I shouldn't have, because I know for a while my family tried until they didn't. Things got complicated, and then they got really complicated and I couldn't fix it. But you're not wrong. Fresh air's good. There wasn't always a lot of it there, but there is here.
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[ In the way it could have been different for him. Missed opportunities, different approaches, waking up, whatever would have helped. ]
I don't remember my parents or childhood much much. Mostly my time in France.
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[ there's a bit of quiet as they walk. ]
Does it bother you not to remember so much of that time?
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[ Maybe he had trauma, he doesn't know. Not knowing hasn't changed his life, really, and he says it nonchalantly like it didn't happen to him. When you don't remember, it's kind of like it didn't happen to you. ]
Because of where you were from and circumstances...?
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[ sigh... ]
I wouldn't say where I grew up was the worst place I could've been. But it also wasn't the best, and usually people who lived there didn't care about trying to improve it. And when you're in a place that pretty much is a dead end before you even start, you kinda know your place in the world and you have to make sure you fight for it.
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[ But he understands that they aren't GREAT things to happen to any child. It's just something that didn't happen to ONLY him, which is... worse... I guess.
This is all relatable to him for obvious reasons. Sometimes you start at the bottom. ]
Did you have ambitions, Gabriel?
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... I don't know. I think I did, but it was a stupid ambition, and maybe it was never going to happen. I thought... things would get better. And then they didn't, and I died. So now my ambitions here are making drinks and seeing you guys through to the end of this trial.
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[ But you know... That is way beyond Jacopo's time. Sometimes you're a bit more progressive than the time period you're born. He thinks a bit more, quiet for a moment. ]
I had different ambitions than what led me to lordship... It is all a little ironic.
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[ ... ]
What makes you say that, exactly? [ they'll go back to their own ambitions in a bit, they would like to pick his brain a little more. ]
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[ Because maybe in those forgotten times, he was a slave boy that escaped. ]
I wanted to see the world because there was so much more out there... And I didn't want to stay stuck in that city. Then I became lord.
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[ so. you know. ]
Didn't you only really become lord because that Barnier guy sucked really bad and you wanted to try and make things better for the people?
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[ Which is the opposite to what his younger self thought. He can only see now after he was too far down the path. ]
I wasn't that altruistic, even then. [ But he did want better for people in the slums. He wanted them to live, not survive. ] Barnier sent brigands to handle dissenters and people close to me died. I was tired... Of being powerless and having things taken from me.
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[ it would make more sense if they explained literally anything. ]
How is it not altruistic to want to fight for people you cared about because they were taken away? You could have turned around, gotten revenge and left it. But you were still trying to go above that.
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[ Though Jacopo doesn't entirely believe that, he knows the importance of just being good to people. It's something he has lost, he thinks, but it does matter.
Everyone and their mom should feel lucky that Jacopo doesn't put so much stock into people's past, instead valuing more how they conduct themselves around him in the present, so he allows them to be vague even though it does make it difficult to know how to respond. ]
The point was that I wasn't thinking about everyone at first.
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