Lovely 005b

Pharolvir, 10:19 PM "What do you need?"

Zubaidah, 10:20 PM Ulisse: I just wanted a chance to at least try to explain.

Pharolvir, 10:20 PM "...which part?"

Zubaidah, 10:21 PM Ulisse: All of it. Any of it.

Pharolvir, 10:21 PM "...why just me?"

Zubaidah, 10:22 PM Ulisse: You're angry.

Zubaidah, 10:22 PM Ulisse: … and you have every right to be angry.

Pharolvir, 10:23 PM "So...explain."

Zubaidah, 10:24 PM Ulisse: Vittorio isn't an identity I use on people, Vittorio is me.

Pharolvir, 10:25 PM "...ok?"

Pharolvir, 10:27 PM "...is that supposed to be surprising?"

Pharolvir, 10:28 PM "We already knew you were Vittorio."

Zubaidah, 10:29 PM Ulisse: I don't mean … this is hard to explain.

Zubaidah, 10:30 PM Ulisse: I have certain... disagreements with my family.

Zubaidah, 10:31 PM Ulisse: The Sky Hawk, I suppose you could say, was one of them. They were extremely displeased.

Pharolvir, 10:31 PM "She doesn't seem like the type of girl you bring home to your parents."

Zubaidah, 10:33 PM Ulisse: They had their reasons. … they weren't good reasons, but they had their reasons.

Zubaidah, 10:34 PM Ulisse: I was... young and, frankly, stupid.

Pharolvir, 10:34 PM "What does this have to do with Vittorio?"

Zubaidah, 10:36 PM Ulisse: Right. The conversation at hand. My apologies. She... I regret very much to say that I did what my family wanted that time. I haven't seen her since.

Zubaidah, 10:37 PM Ulisse: The other running dispute I had with them largely revolved around money.

Pharolvir, 10:38 PM "Yes, the brothers told us about that."

Zubaidah, 10:40 PM Ulisse: They didn't like how much I spent or what I spent it on, and eventually they threatened to cut me off entirely. I had to take measures to stop that from happening because again, at the time I was young and stupid.

Zubaidah, 10:41 PM Ulisse: There were people depending on me.

Zubaidah, 10:41 PM Ulisse: And I hadn't covered my tracks. My family knew about all of them.

Pharolvir, 10:42 PM "So, Vittorio is a dummy identity you use to run charities and foundations with funds you "inherit" from your parents?"

Zubaidah, 10:45 PM Ulisse: Steal, I think, is the word you mean. And no, it isn't. Ulisse is the dummy identity I use to conceal the theft of substantial sums of money.

Pharolvir, 10:45 PM "...so...you're actually Vittorio d'Amici?"

Zubaidah, 10:47 PM Ulisse: It's a middle name. I am Ulisse, it's just not … who I want to be.

Pharolvir, 10:48 PM "...ok then...any other revelations I should know about?"

Zubaidah, 10:48 PM Ulisse: You already met my former fiancée.

Pharolvir, 10:49 PM "That'd be the pirate queen.  Not bad."

Pharolvir, 10:50 PM "Better than mine, at least."

Zubaidah, 10:51 PM Ulisse: Ah? Do you have someone waiting for you, then?

Pharolvir, 10:52 PM "I hope not."

Pharolvir, 10:52 PM "Anyway, you explained yourself.  It's really fine.  But I'd rather not be lied to from now on."

Pharolvir, 10:54 PM Pharolvir heads for the door back out into the living room.

Zubaidah, 10:56 PM Ulisse: I can do that. … in that spirit, you should know: I am addicted to absentia. Most of the drinks go into plants, though.

Pharolvir, 10:56 PM "Plants?"

Zubaidah, 10:57 PM Ulisse: You know, potted plants. I spill about as much as I can get away with.