Assassin's Creed RP [Closed to Juliette]

[Baya]

~ March 12th, 1502 ~

His hands gripped the cold stone ledge of a nearby building, of Roman design. There was a guard standing only a few meters away from him, and he knew he had to get his target very quickly tonight. He pulled himself atop the roof top, his white robes almost glimmering under the soft embrace of the moon light. Once close to the guard, he looked around his surroundings quickly, to make sure he was unseen and then plunged his hidden blade into the guard's back. The guards mouth was covered from behind by his free hand, as he pulled the guard out of any line of sight. The guard didn't struggle for long, and his death was without suffering.

His name was Luciano Vinocini, Assassin of Florence and now Roma. A cold and efficient assassin, but reckless and young, as well as inexperienced. Being the only member left in his family that was an assassin, he took the mantle all on his own, much to the dismay of his siblings Minerva, and Marco. Right now, he was hunting down a cardinal that had been ordering the deaths of a great deal of scholars and artists. Luciano knew that Ezio Auditore, master of the newly reformed Brotherhood of Assassins was probably already on it, or ignoring the case all together because of his focus on the Borgia. Luciano had his own bone to pick with Borgia, but he wasn't about to let this cardinal continue to suppress the flow of knowledge and research.

Luciano jumped from roof top to roof top, climbing higher and higher until he reached a building that over looked that of the Vatican. Such a mighty and well guarded compound. One that he was never sure he could handle, if he were to fight his way in. He looked down at the water around the bridge, and took a deep breath before taking a leap of faith from the building he was standing on, right into the water below.

After swimming to the other side without alerting the guards, he climbed along the base of the mighty compound, until he got onto the main pathway. He made his way through several group of cardinals, making sure to avoid the papal guards at every turn. If he were to run into one of them, he didn't know what would happen , but death would be a pleasant alternative. He took a deep breath, as he broke out of the current crowd of cardinals, and used a building lift to quickly get atop a tall structure. He looked down at the residence district of the Vatican. It sort of displeased him how the Church had so much, while the poor of the main city of Rome and Florence lift in such terrible conditions. Though that wasn't why he was here. He did not care for the material morals of the Vatican, but the fact that they were oppressing the flow of freedom and knowledge in this day and age. They fail to realize that the time of faith has passed, and now it was a personal matter, not a public one.

He began to look for the man in question. Luciano knew that the Cardinal was named Riccardo Sponaza, a man of noble heritage from Spain. He also knew that he kept several guards around him at all times, because of the recent assassinations of templars that have come to Roma, because of Ezio of course. Luciano spotted him instantly near a secluded part of the residency, two of his guards holding a man in what appeared to be scholarly attire.

"Please Misere! Don't do this! I will keep silent! I will not tell them -"

"We gave you enough warnings, my son. Warnings that you rejected." The Cardinal said, his red cloak blowing with a gust of wind. He did not sound all that phased or angered, but rather over joyed. Did he get some sort of sick pleasure from making this man cower in fear?

"I did not reject them! I-I was being fooled! I was being paid! I had no other choice!" The Scholar wheeped. He was a young man, one that didn't deserve such treatment.

"Relax my son, it is not bad to seek knowledge. However, making up wild theories about the sun and the stars and feeding those lies to the masses! Unforgivable! Heresy! Spitting in the face of the Vaticano, and the face of God!" The Cardinal exclaimed, his eyes narrowed. He pulled a dagger from within his robes, stained with some dried blood.

"It pains me to do this, my son. I am a voice of God, but I must also be his hand of discipline. If I let you go for this, others will begin spreading lies and disrupting our order." Riccardo said as he ran a gloved hand along the tip of the blade. Though before he approached the Scholar, a throwing knife landed in one of the guard's heads, killing him instantly, while the other received one in the leg. Regardless, the Scholar was let loose and he began to run.

"Ah, an Assassin." Riccardo muttered, still running his finger along the knife, turning to face Luciano who landed with a thump from the building he was standing on. He approached slowly, his hidden blade unsheathing with a quiet shling.

"What? No lecture? No speech? I'd assume you Assassins like to give life lessons. Speak some of your lies to me, my son. I'd like to hear what you fight for, in these dark times?"

"Words spoken to the dead are wasted." Luciano murmured as he began to run. His target got closer and closer, his blade almost being illuminated by the moon light when -

CRACK!

Luciano felt pain jolt through his shoulder and leg. Several more cracks were heard, but the bullets missed. Luciano turned his head to see Papal guards reloading their guns while they ran towards him. "Merda." Luciano whispered, as he made a run for it, looking back to Riccardo who was smiling pleasantly.

"God be with you my son! I urge you to pray as soon as possible, as you will not be able to run for long!" Riccardo shouted after him. Luciano hated to agree, but it was true. Those bullets were a bit larger than normal, and if they hit his vital organs, he would die within minutes! After running for a great deal of time, he made it to the other side of the Vatican bridge, and blended in with a crowd. The blood loss was immense, and his vision was blurring as a result. He fell to his knees and looked around at surprised citizens.

"Is he alright?"

"No he has been shot!"

"Why on earth is he wearing such odd clothing?"

"Is he a mad man?"

All the voices swirled around in his head, until he felt two arms hold him up. He looked to his left, and saw white clad, the same with his right. With that, he blacked out.

//

When he awoke, he was lying in a soft stray mat bed. He looked at the paintings along the walls for a moment, before his eyes widened and he jumped out of bed. Pain jolted all over his body, but he noticed fresh bandages around his shoulder and leg. He also noticed, that he was missing his cloak and dress shirt. He recognized this room, as well as much of the paintings that hung along the walls. The Rosa in Fiore.

[Carl]

Things had been slow for the courtesans at the Rosa in Fiore today, but Giulietta Abandonato didn't mind. She wasn't here doing her old job anymore. Today it was just about visiting her mother. They stood in a corner, away from immediate notice so as not to be propositioned. The two had been having a fairly meaningless conversation, as there wasn't much for them to catch up on. Giulietta always stayed at the Rosa when she wasn't on an assignment, and she kept her mother fairly up-to-date on her work- that is, after she'd succeeded in a mission. She never dared to tell anyone who she had been told to kill (she rarely chose her own targets) before their death, and rarely after. Especially not her mother. Especially not if it was someone rather notable. Giulietta opened her mouth to say something to her mother, but she didn't get the chance, because suddenly, the doors burst open, and two assassins dragged in a third unconscious one.

"What's happened?" someone demanded as everyone came closer to see if they could help. Giuletta looked at the wounded man, trying to see if he was someone she knew. He was bleeding, and it looked bad. His robes were stained with so much blood that she wasn't sure if he would make it. His head was lolling, and she couldn't see his face. A couple of the other courtesans obscured her view then, and all she knew about the injured man was that he had dark hair.

"He's been shot. Quickly, you must do something!"

"Get him to a bed, affrettarsi!"

"Oh my... You see? That is exactly why I worry about you, Giulietta. The next body being dragged through those doors could be yours!" said Maria, narrowing her eyes at her daughter.

"Mother, I do what I have to do. I will be careful. Don't worry about me."

"It is my job to worry, I am your mother!"

Giulietta sighed, watching the wounded man be taken from the room.

"Just don't bite off more than you can chew, Giulietta. You need to be careful."

"You know that I will. Don't worry about me, Mama," she said, walking away from her mother and towards the room where they had taken the wounded man. She stopped outside the door, watching as they tended to the man. The assassins that had been with him stepped out of the room. Giulietta didn't recognize either one of them, but Ezio had been recruiting like crazy. It would be impossible for her to be familiar with them all. She stopped them, nevertheless.

"Who is he, the wounded man?" she asked.

The one closest to her replied, "I think his name is Luigi, or Luca. But I could be wrong. I didn't know him."

The name didn't sound familiar to Giulietta, so she didn't rush in to check on the man. She waited outside the room, now watching only because their was nothing better for her to do. She grew tired of watching them bandage him quickly and left, heading outside for some air. She ran up the side of the building, catching the window. She pulled herself up, and continued until she was on the roof. Once there, she sat down to think.

An unknown amount of time later, she climbed back down, tired of the sun shining directly on her, though it was no longer as bright as it had been when she'd climbed up. She went back inside, deciding to check up on the man they'd brought in earlier and see if he looked familiar. When she stepped into the room, she was shocked to find him standing up, his eyes wide.

"Oh! I didn't expect you to be up yet," she said, amazed that he could be awake so soon.

[Baya]

Luciano focused on Giuletta for a moment, and then it all swam back to him in one fell swoop. Riccardo, being shot by the papal guards, and finally being picked up by the two white hooded assassins. Ezio's little pets no doubt. "I didn't expect to be up at all. I thought I was finished." Luciano muttered in reply as he ran a hand through his hair. Right then and there, Claudia entered the room, her arms crossed and her expression stern. Luciano was on neutral grounds with her, as she wasn't quite as bad as he'd expect. However, she acted much like she was his mother at their verbal exchanges.

"It is nice to see you, Madonna." Luciano said with a court nod of his head.

"Wish I could say the same, Idiota! What were you doing? Getting yourself killed again?" Claudia asked, looking over to Giuletta. She would ask the girl to leave, but she figured because Giuletta was an assassin that wouldn't be very fair. Especially since this was all linked to Luciano's little rivalry with Ezio. A rivalry that was childish and all just about pride.

"If I could ask to please skip the lecture, Madonna Auditore. I am alive, and that is all that matters. I thank you for your help." Luciano murmured.

"Don't thank me with words, but action! You are acting like a child Luciano. Unwilling to accept aid because you feel like doing it all by yourself. Those two assassins that helped you were following you for quite some time. They told me you did not bother to look around, but just charged for what was ahead of you! If you would just join the brotherhood -"

"No, with all due respect Madonna. If I must die without Ezio's guidance, then I embrace it with open arms. He built his skills from his youth, and so will I. I am not a child, as you suggest. I am one that learns from his mistakes, and never repeats them." Luciano murmured, the sternness on his part now. Claudia sighed and threw her arms in the air.

"Men! Such pride filled...never mind. You know what? Go die for all I care. It is really not my place to tell you how to fail." Claudia said as she stepped out with a huff. Luciano shook his head and chuckled lightly to himself.

"A great wife she will make for a man some day. He will need the patience of an ox. What of you? Are you one of Ezio's new slaves?" Luciano asked Giuletta.

[Carl]

She narrowed her eyes.

"I am not a slave," she said, crossing her arms. Though she denied it, she certainly felt like a slave now that he'd mentioned it. After all, she didn't do much thinking for herself in relation to her work. If Ezio told her to kill someone, oftentimes she would just run off and do it. Sure they deserved to be killed, but she didn't even think about the risks. She just did as she was told. If he told her to stay close to another assassin in case he needed help, she did so without question. If he told her to rescue someone, steal something, or whatever else, she did it, and didn't look back.

"I may do the things he asks me to, but I am not his slave. I have a free will, and the choice to ignore his orders, should I disagree with him. I joined the brotherhood because I wanted to help, and that's what I'm doing," she elaborated. "What's so great about going it alone, anyway? If Ezio's men hadn't brought you here, you'd probably be dead now."

[Baya]

Luciano listened to her speak for a moment, before looking to her. "What you say is true, but either way I had a good chance of death. I do not need Ezio's fraternity to do my father's work. The Auditore family seemed to enjoy leaving men like my father out on the ropes before, so I do not think working with him is the wisest choice." Luciano explained silently. He looked confused himself for a moment.

"I cannot put my life into his hands, but be ready to die at my own. Though I am grateful for the help, I am not going to be allying myself with the Brotherhood. The first Brotherhood crumbled because of a corrupt leader you know, and I do not know where Ezio stands." Luciano murmured as he looked at the table that had his hidden blade, and other assorted weapons upon it.

"The cardinal escaped. He might just move up the executions of the scholars because of my failed attempt at his life...." he sighed as he ran a hand through his own hair.

[Carl]

"If Ezio is corrupt, or becomes corrupt, I will of course stand against him; as would many of the brotherhood, I think," Giulietta told him. Then she paused, not sure what she wanted to ask him about first. His family's history with the Auditores, or his target. She wasn't sure which one he'd been going after. Try as she might to keep up with the actions of the Templars, and their major players, she tended to get left out of the loop. When she researched them herself, her information was often received by unreliable sources, and all Ezio and the others would tell her was what she needed to know for her current task. There were just too many cardinals in Roma.

She decided to first question him about his target, after all, why shoud she be interested in his history? The two would probably never interact again after this, and if they did, she could ask him then. But if this cardinal was executing scholars, then he needed to be stopped, and perhaps she could help Luciano. If he would allow it.

"This cardinal you speak of, who is he? Perhaps I can be of assistance in dealing with him," she said.

[Baya]

"The cardinal goes by the name of Riccardo. Though it is not my place to say so, a very arrogant one at that." Luciano murmured as he looked at his bandaged up wounds. He wondered how long it would really take for all of them to heal, and for him to be back up on his feet. He really wanted to be the one to end Riccardo's life, as he had such a twisted and ruthless ways about him. Luciano knew that if he could kill Riccardo, the Renaissance would move on even further with aid of the scholars that are spared. Even then, however, Luciano knew there would still be Templars looking for ways to oppress humanity.

"Why do you care, Madonna? You cannot take down Riccardo. Not at all. He is a man of heavy guard, and great public support. There are those that say he had a part to play in the bon fire of vanities." Luciano murmured, basing this knowledge off of sheer rumors.

[Carl]

"I'm tougher than I may look, you will find," Giulietta said with a smile, "And besides, I can easily enough get a man alone away from his guard. I was raised here, after all." She walked over to the wall and leaned against it boredly, leaving her arms crossed over her chest. She looked at Luciano out of the corners of her eyes. She figured that he was one of those who didn't think women could fight. She would have to show him, as she'd shown other men, how very wrong he was.

"Clearly this cardinal is too much for a lone man. Perhaps for any lone assassino. But I assure you, he is no match for more than one, and he is no match for a woman's charm. Together, we could outmatch him. Or, considering your current state, perhaps I should take someone else with me. Two or three, perhaps, to be sure... Where does he stay?" she asked.