Catching At the Wind

Alessandro looked like he was debating on whether to react or not but ultimately that wicked little smirk settled into his features as he looked down to his lap. He glanced over at her, letting his eyes trail down her body, slowly. "Oh, tesoro. There are plenty of things that I can offer, private as we are now," he answered, "are you trying to hint at something? All you have to do was ask, you know. No need to beat around the bush."

Scoffing at the answer, Alessandro shook his head, straightening up so that he could bend his arm and set a hand on his knee. He turned to face her, "you mean to tell me that you read for how long until I happened upon you and you're on page two? You must have been out here for a fair bit because I didn't see you at any point when I was making my way over here," Alessandro reasoned, trying to figure out what the piece he was missing was but he couldn't quite get there.

Silence filled the air for a moment so his attention was drawn to the rod that began to move back and forth in Eva's grip. Alessandro quickly moved over to her, kneeling with one knee on the ground, behind her. His arms slipped around her waist and urged her hands down to the reel where, with his hand over hers, he began to reel the fish in. Once he was confident the fish wasn't getting away any time soon, Ales stepped away so that Eva could finish the action on her own.

"You are bold," She observed, watching that little smirk settle. "Private as we are, openly seen we are too." She laughed lightly, putting a hand to her chest while the rod was still, "Oh believe me, I do not beat around the bush. If I want something, I will make it quite clear." It's just at this moment, I'm very uncertain of whether what I want is quite worth. Though she left that little bit unspoken.

She returned her hand to the rod, trying to come up with an excuse for only being so few pages in. "Perhaps I had a little walk, and a little sun bath before your bold self quite your way over." That sounded good enough, right? Though she actually didn't do any of those, who was he to know? She would rather have him imagine her with her skirt hitched right up and her shoulders exposed for the sun than for him to know she could not read. It was certainly the lesser embarrassing of the two.

Almost not seeing the rod start moving, so preoccupied with her thoughts was she, Eva tightened the grip, at loss of what to do. She momentarily thought he was going to run away as he started up and behind her, and had a little mini-fright at the thought, but he returned with his arms around and helped her start reeling in. It was easy, and she soon saw why. A small fish, barely fitting into her palm. She looked at it, holding her hand away from her dress so that it wouldn't drip onto the material, then up at the man, raising her hand to him, looking somewhat satisfied. "I don't know what there is to eat on here, but its time for your cooking." He could catch another - and she would prefer it too - because this fish was all skin and bones and quite young and not fully grown. It slapped around in her hand.

"There's no one out here for miles around, if there are, they are on the main road. Besides, that's what you were using the tree for, no? We can both use it," Alessandro answered back, a cheeky little grin deciding to settle itself onto his features.

Spotting the tiny little fish, Alessandro let it a small laugh, reaching to pluck the animal from Eva's hand. He settled into his stomach and reached as far down as he could before releasing the fish so that it would drop down into the water and carry on to be caught another day. Once the fish had disappeared beneath the surface, Alessandro pushed himself back up into a sitting position and took the fishing rod from her. He cast the line back into the water, quite a bit further out and settled in for the wait that surely was ahead for them. Fishing wasn't meant to be a fast and exciting sport after all.

"You should go fetch your book and read it to me. We'll probably be here for awhile yet," Alessandro suggested after a beat of silence passed between them. He looked to her with a small smile, "consider it payment for providing you with the best supper of your lifetime."

His boldness was quite charming, she had to admit. She found confidence in a man quite appealing, one who knew what he wanted, what to do, and talented in all sorts of things. Of course, killing was never part of that list, but she supposed it could be useful in some circumstances. Though she did still desire a safe and sturdy lifestyle, one where she wouldn't have to shake in fear least someone come and stab her and her children in grudge or revenge at her husband. She put a finger to her lip, lightly tilting her head as her eyes sparked and gave him a small wink. "I'll think about it."

Watching him pluck the fish out and let it go into the stream (the poor thing was suffocating in the air), Eva stretched her arms out in front of her, relieving them of the rod's tension. She didn't expect him to cook with the small fish after all, but now he had the rod in his own hands and perhaps would catch a much bigger fish. By his side, she folded and unfolded the skirts of her dress, watching the little hook dangle in the water. So nice and calming. It was tempting to lean in and put her head on his shoulder and close her eyes. It just felt safe. Eva didn't dare of course. One thing was to be promiscuous and flirty for a bit of fun, another was to initiate and display more loving affection - the latter of course would bring around the wrong message.

Though his request was expected, it still took Eva a little by surprise. She straightened and stiffened lightly, looking away as she searched for a good excuse, nibbling her lip a little. "I..." She didn't know what to say. All joy sort of vanished. "I can't read to you." There was no dodging around this. If she said simply no, she would seem rude. But if she simply said 'I can't' then he might not notice the meaning... Hopefully.

Alessandro's brows pulled together in confusion as Eva answered - she couldn't? That was absolutely ridiculous. Of course she could. He was sure that she would enjoy herself and it wasn't as if they couldn't discuss the events that took place in the book. If anything, reading it together would only serve to make reading it that much better, he thought. Until his mind supplied the answer, and he was thankful it happened before he pressed further; was it that she simply didn't know how to read? Ales' stomach settled and he was quiet for a long moment, watching the water race below them.

It seemed to be a sore subject for Eva and if he was right, he could understand why. Clearing his throat, Alessandro glanced toward her, hoping that he wasn't about to upset her because that wasn't his intention. "Tesoro, if you... can't, that's all you needed to say. There's nothing to be ashamed of, I promise." Ales reached over to set a gentle hand on her arm.

Dropping his hand from her arm, Alessandro tried again, "I want to help you so please, let me." Turning away from her as to not make her any more uncomfortable than she already was, Ales let out a quiet sigh. "Go. Fetch your book and I can help you until it's time for me to cook. If that's something that you're comfortable with," he concluded, chancing a glance toward her out of the corner of his eye. Alessandro reached a hand up to run through his hair. It was getting to longer than it should, enough that it could have been tugged on in the right situation. Or the wrong one which was why he normally kept it so short. He would need to get it cut in the near future.

[Xander and Ales need to star the 'hair length problems' club.]

It was a while before he spoke again, and by that time Eva forced herself to come to terms with that fact that he probably figured everything out. Her thoughts were confirmed the moment he spoke, she wished she could disappear, despite the very nicely flowing words and the touch on her arm. But Eva also prided herself in being logical at times, and right now she had an opportunity as he offered - to learn to read. Few would ever offer, for even fewer would ever know she couldn't. This was a chance opportunity and she was going to grab and wring its neck before anything else.

With a quick nod, she gathered herself together and fetched the book, returning to sit a little closer so he could see the pages with ease and help her out where she needed. Already she had burning questions. Flipping back to the start, for she was sure she had gone through this all wrong, she determinedly pointed to a weird dot in the middle between sentences, then to a curvy stroke at another, then doubles higher up between words. "What are these?" She asked, her eyes burning with curiosity. "I thought them errors but they are everywhere. How do I say them?"

For now she only recognised some words, short ones most particularly. She knew once, and if, and coin. She knew the word wanted, for she saw it on flyers and people often read it first out loud. Numbers were still quite beyond her, but she had a general concept of how to count, even though it did not seem to follow the standard. But that could come later. She wanted to know how to read for it was one thing she could not improvise.

"What about this word?" She flipped a page back, where a small note was written, and spelled it out (abroad), and gave a small attempt at pronouncing, "Ahb-ro-ahd?" It didn't sit with her, and she didn't know the word, so perhaps she mispronounced it.

(they are secretly twins both equally deserve an ass kicking for different reasons tho )

Alessandro hesitated as Eva settled down beside him, eyeing the book as she opened it. It was true that he had never read the book and also true that he rarely ever had the opportunity because too often, life got in the way and other things needed to taking care of. Ridding the world of another leech was a bit more important than simply enjoying himself, if he absolutely felt the need, he could always stay up later and skip out on sleep was the argument he used on himself. He could sleep when he was dead, after all. That would one day be the only thing that he ever did. Finally deciding to throw away caution, he slipped an arm around her waist to pull Eva closer so that he could comfortably point out the same marks she had just.

"You don't pronounce them, they're just to separate the words and emphasize others," Alessandro explained, moving to point toward the period. "This indicates the end of the sentence before it and the beginning of the one after, it's called a period." He paused long enough to watch her for an indication she understood and when she nodded, Alessandro moved his finger down to the commas. "This is a comma, it's normally used when someone is either listing things or wants to continue a thought to further explain." Moving his finger down to the mention of the Eanna Temple, he took a breath before continuing. "Like here, it's used to describe the temple more in depth."

"When you're reading and you notice a comma, what you want to do is pause and take a breath, so that it'll read the way that the writer intended. The way it would sound if you were reading out loud," Alessandro said, offering her a small smile. While he was surprised that she didn't know how to read because he had thought it was a usual skill that most held but then, he had not had truly that much contact with people born into the lower classes. He had been born into a wealthy one and he had still been quite young when he moved into his very first Assassins den, where most were educated to some degree.

Giving a light shake of his head when Eva attempted to pronounce abroad, "that's a good attempt but it's more like ah-braw-d. Do you know what your vowels are?"

( they will have it handed to them on a silver platter, soon)

His pulling her closer was a surprise but perhaps - and Eva contented herself with such thought - he needed to see better, for looking on at an angle was surely difficult. She listened with intensity, mouthing the new words of the little marks. "Right," she nodded. The period (the dot) and the comma (the dot wit a tail) were pauses, of varying lengths. She made a mental note.

Watching his mouth form the word, she looked up to his eyes then and repeated the word, carefully, testing it, then her eyes lit up. "Abroad!" Knowing the word prior to reading it made reading it easier, she supposed, just have to get used to how is spelled. She turned back to the book, again mouthing the words to test them before saying them out loud, "He who has... Seen... Ev-everything?-" she looked for approval to see if she was correct then continued, "I will make... K-now-n? .. To the lands..." She frowned, returning to the stumbled word and testing it before finally deciding she may know it and glancing at her now-tutor, "Known? Why is k pronounced like so?"

At the mention of vowels she looked a little startled, vowels? Vows? What? Oaths? "No?" She meekly said, peering up at him.

(Women gonna kick ass? also it feels weird that he's teaching her in English and not Italian, idk it will probably forever bother me tbh)

Alessandro couldn't help the way that his face lit up when she fought the right pronunciation, nodding eagerly. "Exactly, that's right," he encouraged, motioning for her to attempt to continue reading. He nodded when she would look over for confirmation, paused and corrected when necessary, his head cocked to the side so that he could read along with her.

Straightening up and tensing his muscles to crack his back, Ales hesitated, trying to piece together how to explain the pronunciation to her. "Some words have silent letters that you don't actually say. Known, knight like a king's knight is another example. A lot of time, it's on the beginning or end but sometimes they appear in the middle of the words," he paused, frowning slightly as he searched for another good example of such to give her. "Scene, for example. It's spelled s-c-e-n-e, but we don't pronounce the word with the c in there, it's just the way that it's spelled."

Watching as Eva tried to piece together what a vowel was, Alessandro felt a sudden urge to reach forward and tuck a strand of hair that had come loose behind her ear. He smiled gently, letting his hand linger a bit longer than he probably should have. Glancing down for a moment, he cleared his throat to help clear his mind at the same time.

"They're the letters that..." he paused, face scrunching up in mild irritation. "when you pronounce them, your lips don't touch. A," he paused to point to each vowel as he listed them off. "Sometimes y is included but it's not always considered one, depends on the word that it's in."

Alessandro turned away from her when suddenly the fishing rod began to jerk about his in hand. Tightening his grip on it, with the other hand, he began to reel the line in. He glanced over the edge, only to come back up with a large grin plastered across his face. "We're eating like kings today, tesoro."

(Oh yes lmao, same! Pretend everything is Italian )

His little encouragements sure had their effect. She attacked the words more eagerly, seeing that he truly wasn't judging her and was intent on helping. She repeated his corrections, commuting them to memory best she could, and often when he spoke a word or spelled it, she watched his lips for somehow that helped her and also they were very nice, and it was a good excuse to peer at them while copying sound along.

His explanation for the silent letters was easy to understand but it didn't stop Eva from lightly scrunching up her nose, "So unnecessary, what a waste of a letter." But she committed it to memory also, realising it was probably easier to just remember a word's spelling rather than guessing whether a letter in the word was silent or not.

His sudden hand by her face was quite the surptise for she has turned to him at the same time and briefly felt his fingers touch her cheek. A soft touch despite the coarseness of the skin, for his hands were sculpted by work and physical stress, not by needle and fabric.

"I see," she repeated the letters and laughed, "I thought you said vows, I was very lost!" She waved her hand lightly in the air, rocking back a little as she did so. "I didn't remember taking any oaths before reading, you scared me."

The reel was the attention now and she too peered over the edge to see a huge fish. Even as he realed it in, the fish flicked about sending water spraying, and Eva reeled back with a small splutter as some landed on her face. "What a rude fish!" She wiped her fave with her hands and peered back at it, "Are you going to make just fish? Nothing with? No potatoes?" She thought it would be a bit plain and offered uncertainly, "I have an apple?"

"Agreed but sometimes it's necessary to be able to tell the difference between what you're talking about. Night without the k is just the time of day when it's dark. Knight with a k is talking about the warrior. They could spell it completely different but I guess they decided this was easier," Alessandro commented with a slight shrug of his shoulders. Who the they he talked about were he didn't know - he didn't care to study language enough to know where all the different ones started. Ales had picked up languages from his travels certainly but he had only ever attributed them to belonging to the given location.

Alessandro laughed as Eva jerked backward, busying himself with the knife that he would use to kill the fish. Standing, Alessandro made his way to the edge of the tree line where he began to gather sticks in various sizes. When he returned, he knelt down long enough to set the fire up. Groaning when he realized he'd left his bag by the cliff, Ales turned and made his way back toward both it and Eva. He offered her a small smile and leaned down to shoulder the bag, pick the fish up, before he offered her his arm to lead the way back over to the little fire set up.

"If I had something else to cook but..." Alessandro frowned, suddenly realizing that there was nothing else that he could offer. He was sure if he went looking hard enough, he would be able to produce some sort of wild vegetation but he'd packed enough spices secure in jars he didn't think it was necessary.

Clearing his throat, Ales shook his head while turning to start the fire. "Can you keep feeding the fire while I skin the fish?" When Eva agreed, he moved over just a bit and began to do the task. Filleting the fish with expert movements, it didn't take much time at all. "Do you want your skin on or off?"

"I suppose you are right." He had a point, one she didn't even think of. She would imagine reading would be very difficult if the words were spelled the same. She was still thinking about it when he got up and went to gather sticks. Eva tried to read a few more sentences, but distracted by his walking around watched him instead. Taking his offered arm, she walked with him to the fire and watched it spark into life, taking the sticks and putting them to the flames careful not to burn her dress or her fingers. "You are silly," she said lightheartedly with a smile, "How can you go catch fish and not bring anything with you? Silly man. Do you have something to spice it with?"

She glanced up at the knife as it went over the fish effortlessly, cleaning it out. "Oh, surprise me." She waited for him to finish cleaning it and passed the fire job over to him, walking back to grab the one apple in her basket, and a few berries and returning to him with them. She set the pouch of small berries nearby, and took the knife he had used for the fish, holding it high over the flame for a little to cleanse it from the raw fish but not to damage it, waited for it to cool a little before wiping it and cutting the apple into some slices.

Being near the fire was a little hot, and she ended up pinning up her hair to allow some breeze to rush over her neck to cool down. The water looked extremely tempting, would be nice to just jump in. "Have you anything to drink?"

Alessandro motioned with his chin toward the bag that sat beside him. "I've got a few spices in there and a lemon, it'll pair well with the fish. You just wait and see," he teased, giving a wink. "You'll be amazed by the time tonight is over. Us assassins have more skills than just death."

When Eva left the fire, Alessandro turned and set the fish, skin side down, on the small flames that barely were enough to lick up the side of the pieces of meat - he would have packed a small pan but one was too heavy and he didn't think that he would run into someone who cared, let alone someone at all. Eva returned and he looked up with an easy grin, "promise I'll wipe off the soot, it won't spoil the fish, if anything it'll make it more flavourful."

Alessandro returned his attention back to the fire before reaching to carefully move the pieces around to face the other way. "Drinks? Ah, no. I didn't really think of them, usually the fish is nice enough that it's not a problem. The river is likely fine enough to drink from if you didn't pack something for yourself," Ales commented, brushing his fingers off on his pants.

"If you want," Ales paused long enough to clear his throat, "we can try to set meet ups here every week so that I can help you continue with reading. But that's entirely up to you."

Eva reached for the bag, pulling out the small pouches/jars of spices and setting them in a row and the lemon on the end. She had little else to do besides watch, so at least that kept her busy. Also opening up the jars/pouches to sniff the spices to figure out what they were. Most she knew. Some she didn't. "Tonight?" She echoed, raising a brow and squinting at the sun still so high up. "It's midday, I dear hope the fish doesn't take us well into the night." She looked amused, did he have something else up his sleeve? She briefly glanced at his shirtless self and amended the thought to his mind.

"Whatever you say, stranger," she waved her hand lightly at the fire, though soot didn't sound so tasteful, she'd have to believe him. At the mention of no drinks, she looked a little thoughtful. The water she had brought with her was not enough for two people, "I have some water if we really need it, but I hope the apple will do, for there isn't much." She shook her head at the mention of the river, scrunching her nose lightly with a giggle, "No! I'm no cow, I shall not!"

Fetching the mentioned little wineskin of water she sat it by the lemon and then set herself down, but not quite close to the fire. "Every week... That's... I cannot. I do not know when I have days free, it's irregular," she looked up at him, "And you disappear for days, so it's not like I can come to you and let you know." She would like it though, she eagerly wanted to learn how to read as quick as possible. Another person could speed up this process by a lot.

Once the fish was done cooking, she passed him the spices he needed and the lemon, and watched him sort it out into bits and pieces, for she stated she refused to eat it as a whole, she was a lady unlike him. Ladies don't eat fish whole! How unceremonious. Taking a bite of her piece, she closed her eyes and chewed it thoughtfully, taking her time to taste it. It was... very nice. Different to what she had ever eaten, but it was definitely among the top best foods. A grin crept along her lips and she opened her eyes, fixing them on the man, eyes shiny with joy. "I don't have the words to describe this," she whispered, for he had proven himself far beyond her expectations, "Though I believe it still needs a side dish along with it. Ideally."

Alessandro gave a passive wave of his hand, not bothering to look up from the task at hand. "This afternoon, tonight, same thing, no?" He asked, a teasing hint dipping into his tone. "Besides there's plenty more we could do here. We could go swimming in the river, we could, of course, sunbathe as well," he amended, glancing up to Eva. Winking, Ales didn't bother to even try to hide the mischievous grin that settled onto his features. "What do you think, tesoro? Go for a nice little swim after we finish our little feast?"

"I suppose you have a point," Alessandro spoke, reluctantly agreeing that Eva had seen a problem that he hadn't even thought to consider. His eyebrows pulled together and a thin line formed from his lips as he considered for a moment. Finally, Ales looked back up to Eva. "Whenever I have the time, I will visit your room the night before. See if we can't get together and then I'll leave straight away so we don't cause too much noise. How does that sound to you?"

Alessandro let out a throaty groan at the first bite of his fish, tossing his head back. "Jesus, sometimes I forget how delicious just a fresh fish can be. So simple but it's some of the best food that I've ever had." Alessandro perked up as Eva spoke, an easy grin flashing as he eyed her reaction. Eva seemed to genuinely be enjoying her food and that just made this that much better. It wasn't that Alessandro was looking for something more from Eva but she was genuinely different, he thought. She hadn't reacted the night of Rossi's death and she had begrudgingly welcomed him. He didn't stop long enough to consider why - maybe just to fend off Francesco's.

"Next time we get the chance to come out here, you have to cook though. That's only fair, don't you think?"

"No," Eva puckered her lips, "The time between afternoon and night is aplenty, and many things can be done." Both proposals of his sounded very nice, and in this beautiful lovely day she would have gladly done those things had she not been wearing the dress she was now. "If I dare go for a swim I would certainly drown in this dress and no," She put her hand up before he could offer anything, "I will not take it off. As for sunbathing, you may sunbathe all you want, but again, I am in a dress and nothing underneath is permissible, at least not in your presence." She didn't miss the wink and mischief of a grin on his face though, and added with her satisfied cheeky smile, "You will have to try harder than that."

Looking a little uncertain at the mention of his coming the night before, she pondered and decided it was a little dangerous. "We have guards, and be stealthy as you might, it still increases your chances of being seen. I leave my window open for a little while before the sun sets completely and go to lock up the chickens. I am the only one who ever bothers to do so. And you know the coop faces away from most of everything, and its probably the best and only way to get into the yard with ease. That little shed, where you pestered me first, it is ideal. Unless you wish to throw me a message through the window." She thought that was a bit too romantic, and laughed at the latter idea, shaking her head, for she didnt think he'd actually do such a thing. "Besides, I do not like men in my room."

She finished her fish and put it all in a small pile by the fire to throw out later. "If you trust me enough," she grinned, stood and went back to the tree and her basket to fetch a hairpin, taking his dried shirt along with her. Though once she returned, as she offered it to him and saw his hand reach for it, she quickly pulled it back and hid it behind her back, taking a step away, a playful light in her eyes. She was warm, fed, and in the nature, and all that piled neatly into a playful mood. She only hoped he could share the mood of a little game of chase.

"Do you doubt my abilities, tesoro?" Ales teased, shrugging his shoulders half heartedly. "It would only put my skills to the test. Worst comes to worst, I'd have to escape. Can't say I've ever had to escape from any sort of long term problem, may even be a bit fun..." He trailed off, his mind drifting for a moment. There had been plenty of times where he had been nearly caughjt, sure, and times where he had been but nothing that he hadn't made quick work of an escape.

Finishing off his piece of the fish, Alessandro glanced up just in time to watch Eva retrieve his shirt. Hand held up to his mouth, Ales' tongue darted out to clean off his thumb before he reached up for the shirt dangled in front of him. He smirked when she yanked it away and lowered his arms to rest on his thighs. "Is that what you really want, Tesoro?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Ales pushed himself to his feet and cocked an eyebrow. "You have until three. One..."

Alessandro gave her an extra count that was silent before he spoke 'three' out loud. He raced after her though he took his time in catching up to her. When he finally caught up to her, Ales' arms slipped around her waist to pull her back flush against him. "I caught you," he breathed, loosening his grip enough that she could break free if she so pleased. "What do I win?"

"Only because it would raise chaos. A man sneaking about at night outside windows is quite a dramatic thing." Eva mused, watching him with interest. Holding the shirt behind her back, even as he started to count, she started stepping away. That little pause before the three she turned, and seeing as he got up, ran with a laugh, hitching up skirts to make it easier. She felt he was being easy, but it still gave her some satisfaction to run away, up and down a small hill and over a shallow part of the water where - afraid for her own feet - she slowed down a little and was caught. The bottom of her skirts were instantly soaked and feeling all the more a little heavier than they should be, she didn't bother holding them up.

Giving a small yelp of joy, she rested her arms on his after a small struggle - it was nice squirming against a firm chest for a change - and raised the shirt in front of them at the question of prize, "Your shirt." Eva glanced over her shoulder to him, feeling small at the proximity but working up enough courage to twist around and look up at him. "Did you want something else?" She teased as she reached up, running a finger up underneath his jaw and to this chin, ending its little travels on the bottom of his lip. Purposefully, she dropped her gaze to those lips and neared a little, but instead of giving them a kiss she redirected the small peck to his jaw and pulled away her head, placing the shirt on his chest. Don't be too easy, else he'll lose interest surely. The wait made it worthwhile, as long as the wait wasn't too long.

Alessandro's heart was pounding as he caught up to Eva - his feet were soaking into the water, his pants were soaked right through again. He paid no mind to it though, his attention focused solely on the woman in his arms. It had been a long time since he had kissed, let alone felt the urge to, in a long time. Alessandro did his best to focus on his work because he had seen first hand how dangerous it could be. He didn't want to lose someone like that again nor did he ever want to put someone in a position that endangered them, particularly when they had no way to defend them self. It went against everything that he had ever learned.

Letting out the quietest of whines when the kiss landed on his jaw instead of where he was hoping. Was it because she didn't want to? Or something else? His shoulders sagged a bit in defeat as he lifted a hand, toying with a stray strand of her hair. "Perhaps but that doesn't matter, in the grande scheme of things," he answered, moving his hand to cup her cheek. Ales' gaze followed the movement of his hand as it travelled down her neck, to rest on the crook of her neck. "Only what you want matters."

"Only what I want?" She leaned into his touch a little, watching his eyes follow his hand's movements over her skin. How nice it felt. She reached up and placed his shirt around his neck, pulling herself in a little closer. She was quite sure she couldn't take off the grin on her lips, and her cheeks were starting to ache a little from smiling so much. "I want quite a lot," she laughed softly, for it was true. She - as he knew - wanted that marriage, and a good income, and some children and of course demanding that now was quite ridiculous and quite silly, for he wouldn't and couldn't provide any of that in the way she wanted, except maybe the children as a consequence of a good time, but then she would be a single mother and have a difficult life.

Though as she thought, she realized there were two things he could give her right here and right now, and it didn't take another round of courage to work up to say them. Joy was enough. "There are two things though," she said aloud, tilting her head. "I want to know your name. And I want you," she smiled here a little shyly but still boldly proceeding, "To kiss me the way you did on the plaza, but properly." She wanted a proper kiss, deep and long, not some little kiss stealing away on the side of her lips. For as long as he teased, she would tease also. Eva didn't know if he would grant either of her wishes, hoped he would give both, but would settle for either one of. His name she desired most. Everything else she could work up to.