Stago Ben [ 1632 / Venice / Private-ish ]

Venice, along with several other major Northern Italian cities were recently, as you should know the plague was carried by fleas on rats that found their way into Europe from trading ships. As Venice is big on the maritime trade, he was hit harder by it than the more inland cities. Whilst doing this he's also trying to fend off the Turks which is quite hard when you've got bubonic plague. At this point many people with plague symptoms were sent away from Venice to some of the smaller surrounding islands in the lagoon.

For a moment, Zorzi was unsure of where he was. That was until he was brought back by the familiar rocking of a boat and a searing pain in the back of his head, making him hiss. The last thing he could remember was trying to convince a doctor that he was fine, despite showing more than a few of the symptoms and then being hit on the head by someone from behind.

At this point the man looked terrible, he was pale, his eyes looked like they had sunken in and he’d lost a lot of weight considering the time span that he had supposedly had contracted the Black Death. Zorzi groaned, uncomfortable on the floor of the floor of the boat and shifting. H-he couldn’t have it—there had been an outbreak a few centuries ago and he hadn’t had it then. So why would he have it now? He’d admit that this time it was a lot worse than the last, but he would still deny being ill. He could feel his face burning up, and the pain in his head wasn’t going away. Wonderful. He let out a raspy sigh before going to push himself up.

But he found himself unable to. This was strange. . .

It hadn’t been the ache in his arms that had stopped him, sure, they hurt, but he could have dealt with it. But his hands had been tied behind his back. He frowned, glancing down to see his ankles shared a similar fate. What was going on?

Zorzi looked up as a smell caught his nose. . . Was that. . . Burning flowers? He glanced up to the source of the smell, then to the man in the beaked mask and finally to the island that they were approaching. If he hadn’t already been as white as a sheet he would definitely be now. He attention turned to the man rowing the boat, starting to try squirm in and attempt to free himself, wasn’t this man supposed to be a doctor?! Surely he should be able to tell that he was perfectly fine! R-right?

“H-hey! Why are we going there—And why am I tied up?!” He asked in a panicked voice, “I’m fine, really--” At that point he burst into a fit of coughing, blood flecking over the wood. Zorzi finally admitted to himself that he was ill when he saw the blood, stopping struggling against the ropes and laying almost deathly still.

“This is for your own good, if we didn’t tie you up you’d try to swim away,” The other man in the boat stated, “And for everyone else’s. We don’t want you to spread it, especially with the amount of time you spend around the Doge.”

Zorzi was at a loss of words, after all, what could he say at this point? “P-per piasser,” he mumbled, “per piasser, d-don’t make me go there. I-I’ll keep away from everyone. Per piasser, you can even lock me in the piombi.” After that he stopped at the sound of the boat hitting the dock on the island, staring into space and muttering under his breath to himself. It felt like he’d just been sentenced to death and that this man in black that had taken him there was like the grim reaper.

Of course, he wasn’t actually going to die, he just felt like it right now. He could barely hear the man calling out to the doctors on the island to come and collect him before lifting him from the boat and carrying him a little way down the pier until they were just outside the hospital. He lent down to untie him, content that he wouldn’t be able to run away now before heading back to the boat and mumbling “Cin cin” to Zorzi as he went.

[[ I guess if there’s anyone else who would be there I won’t stop them from joining if they want. xD For the Venetian phrases if you’re curious ‘Stago Ben’ means ‘I’m fine’, ‘Per piasser’ means please and ‘Cin cin’ is like wishing someone good health. The piombi were prisons underneath the roof in the Doge’s palace. ]]

It has been a very long time, since people have visited her lands, Poveglia would always welcome them when they are being chased by barbarians and she would try her best to protect them, but it was always the same, they would always leave her alone, but the recent events were different, People are being brought to her lands, and they never let them leave and some of them will just fall asleep and never leave her at all, She was happy..... they say they were sick and need to be contained but it was strange why she never got sick at all....

Today was special though, She heard that her brother would come and stay with her as well, This news excites her, Her brother never visits her until now so she had to prepare the room he will be staying, She looked at her yard and sees the people are being being burned to ashes....

Then it hit her, her brother would come today... She readied herself to the docks

and when she saw the man

"Hello, Brother, I'm Poveglia, Welcome to my home"

She smiles, Maybe if she is nice maybe her brother would also stay in her house forever

[[i guess she is not entirely filled with malice yet]]

Zorzi rubbed his wrists lightly as he watched the boat leave, gulping and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He had yet to stand up, and instead chose to lean against the building, in fact he wasn't entirely sure he could. He sighed again, closing his eyes to try and focus on a way of getting off this island. Perhaps he could just will himself well again. . .

"Hello, Brother, I'm Poveglia, Welcome to my home"

The Venetian nearly jumped out of his skin at hearing the voice. He hadn't been paying much attention at the time and he was expecting a man or something, not a little girl-- Hold on.

Did she just call him brother? And herself Poveglia?! Zorzi nearly choked on his own tongue when he made the connection. After all, it could only mean one thing. His eyes widened as he looked at her, his speech barely audable.

"C-ciao, soreƚéta. . ."

Her heart was beating fast, It's been awhile since her family members visited her, Poveglia look at Venice and noticed her brother is a little bit pale, Was he also sick like the other people who came to her house, That would be a pity then, She slowly approached Venice and gave him a curtsy

"You seem a bit tired brother, would you like to rest in your quarters before we have dinner?" Poveglia looks at him with a smile and after her question, A Scream was heard through the silent air in the island...

Poveglia look backs at the screams... and she smiled once again but this smile was different...

"Oh my looks like someone was alive... during the burning.... How.... Nice.... Right Fratello?"


(Sorry for the late reply)

Zorzi couldn't help but shift away as she approached him. What had they said before he'd been knocked out? Somethng about fourty days. . . Would that mean that was how long he had to stay there? Wonderful, just wonderful.

"You seem a bit tired brother, would you like to rest in your quarters before we have dinner?"

He looked up at her, unsure which would be the lesser of two evils. After a brief moment, he decided that sleeping here would not be an easy task here, not that it was particularly easy at home with the coughing keeping him up. Perhaps he'd just force himself to stay awake until he passed out. . . That seemed like the best option. He nodded to himself more than anything, forcing himself to his feet despite the aching of his joints that wanted him to stay down, using the wall for support.

"N-no, I'm fine, I don't need--"

Oh god what was that?

Zorzi felt like he was going to be sick once she'd revealed what the source had been. He wasn't sure if it was because he was ill or because he was disgusted and put it down to being a combinationof the two.

"I think I just lost my appetite. . ." Well, what he had left of it, anyway.