A Rotten Day {open}

[Deleted]

There were no words. Not in beautiful Italian or rugged Gaelic. None strong enough to describe the foul mood Aednat found herself in. She supposed it was simply one of those days when if it could go wrong, it would. It had started as any other day, and she had managed to tail her target without any trouble. When it came to the actual assassination, things went awry. That was unusual, but it happened. Civilians were usually so blissfully unaware of the small foreigner walking their streets, red hair concealed by a black hood. Not today, of course. Some feeble old woman in the crowd had noticed her flick her blade out before she and her target were fully out of sight. Of course that was sort of her fault, but she had done it before and got away with it. Well the old woman cried out and before Aednat knew could get away the guards were after her. Never mind that she was also a woman, albeit a very unusual murderer of a woman.

She ran as far as she could but reached a dead end. She might have climbed the wall if the guards hadn't started throwing rocks at her. She had a bruised hand when she hit the ground. She managed to stand up despite having the wind knocked out of her. The guards brandished their swords at her and she flicked her blades out. The short battle left her out of breath and bleeding from a cut on either arm. She hid the bodies and climbed up the wall and out of sight before anyone knew what had just transpired. She made her way to the coliseum and climbed up a short way before sitting with her legs dangling off the ledge. Her arms, both bandaged now, stung with every move she made.

"Stubborn fighting Italians..." she growled to herself.

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola let out a long groan as he rolled out of bed. Today was just another one of those days where the Assassin would have to find something to occupy himself. Too long he had remained inactive and still. He had to strengthen his body and mind once again. After a small, meager breakfast, Nicola hit the streets of Rome, wearing the hood of his Creed proudly.

His limbs itched for climbing. He wanted to get to a high vantage point, perhaps locate some trouble, and resolve the issue using his developed set of skills. The Colosseum seemed fairly tempting. Tapping into his intricate knowledge of the streets, he found himself soon at the base of the historical amphitheatre.

But something stuck out against the walls... A human, clothed in familiar black clothing. He gave himself a small smirk. Picking a spot a few yards down from where she had started from, he decided he would completely under her awareness. He began climbing at a quickened rate, hoping to reach the top a few moments after she had.

He pulled himself up just as his Scottish friend had sat on the edge.

He walked in a crouch towards her. "What have you against those?" he responded with a small joking undertone. Coming to a stop, he picked a spot next to her and sat down.

[Deleted]

She jumped at the sound of his voice. "Nicola! I could've cut your head off!" she cried, frowning at him. After a bit she answered his question. "Look at my hand! Those damned guards. They think they're clever, throwing rocks at us." she held up her bruised hand to show him the damage. "Cut both me arms, too, the devils. I'm having a bit of a bad day." She sighed and looked out over the seemingly tranquil city. "Lost my target, too." she added. Her hand was throbbing and, despite her occupation, she'd always had a low tolerance for pain. Plus it was her painting hand. She needed that for some extra money.

"Well... how are you, my friend?" She managed a smile. Nicola liked company, she knew. So did she, and she might as well try to be pleasant about it.

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola gave a triumphant smile, happy about being able to successful startle Aednat. It soon faded, however, when she showed him the injuries she had sustained. He grimaced at the bruises and the bandages. He, too, had his fair share of scars from his clashes with the guards, as well as their irritating rock-throwing habits. His grimace turned to sympathy as she talked of losing her target.

"I'm, uhh... I'm well, friend," he said with a small sympathetic smile. But he wasn't interested in talking about himself, especially since it seemed like Aednat was having such a bad day. "This target of yours--where did it run off to?" he asked as he leaned forward with interest. Maybe this would be a nice opportunity to occupy himself for the day, as well as do a little team building.

[Deleted]

He seemed to feel rather victorious for having scared her. She noticed his expression change from teasing triumph to sincere sympathy very quickly as she told him about her bad day. She smiled a bit more sincerely when she heard he was well. Then he surprised her.

"My target? Oh, I don't know. He's probably being guarded now anyway. He ran south to his house. Why do you ask?" As if she didn't know the answer. She hadn't known Nicola for very long but she knew he was very willing to help a friend. There was probably a plan already forming in his head. Her smile grew. She'd lived in Italy almost her whole life, and she had met a lot of people there. Some were stuffy, some were lively, many looked down on her. And every now and then there was one like Nicola that could make her smile even on a day like that.

[Nicola Rangé]

"Why? I'm going to help you, of course!" Nicola responded as if it wasn't obvious. A friendly smile sprawled across his face. "And since when have a few guards ever stopped us?" he added. He wasn't about to let a target get away so easily, even if it wasn't his contract. Every target eliminated was a victory celebrated by all the members of the Creed. There was also an added bonus of helping a friend. If there was one thing Nicola wanted, it was to aid his friends so they'd be likely to stay around him. He needed the benefit of having friends to keep him from going insane, after all.

[Deleted]

Luckily for Nicola, his smile was charming enough to keep Aednat from protesting. It was more like her not to ask for help, even from a friend. Today was a different story. "Well, I thank you. And I'll share some of the reward with you. It's only fair." She stood, trying not to strain her arms but doing so anyway. She bit her lip. When she was standing, she looked out over Roma, squinting. "I think this way. she pointed. Shall we travel by rooftop?" she smiled mischievously. The dark cloud above her head was gone. She was back to her usual fiery self. After all, there was a reason the Italians called her Fiametta on their wanted posters. Little Flame.

Speaking of wanted posters. "Oh, diavolo! I bet they've posted wanted signs with my face all over Roma!" She scowled at her clumsiness. Lucky for her, she'd had her hood up when the incident happened. Still. She'd been seen. Did that count as breaking a tenant? Or did they even follow the tenants anymore? She hid her panic behind her scowl.

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola had opened his mouth, about to protest to Aednat's generosity, but was cut off as his friend began to scope out the path they were to take. "I suppose. Just don't attract any guards like we did last time..." he murmured distastefully, referring to their previous misadventures of climbing.

"Posters? No, don't worry about it," he said with a small, reassuring smile. He stood up next to her, taking in the city. "There's no way they could already have the posters printed, given that your incident happened this morning..." he put forward thoughtfully. "And then they have to actually go through the process of putting them up! Surely, that is in least a day's work." He had hoped that this would in least calm some of her nerves. It wasn't easy doing Assassin's work when constantly worrying about being recognized.

"Shall we go now?" he asked with a quizzical turn of his head.

[Deleted]

Aednat narrowed her eyes at him. "One mistake and I get treated this way? I'm hurt, Nicola." She was only teasing and smiled again, bumping him playfully. She listened to his thoughts on the posters and sighed. "You're right, you're right. Forgive me. I panic sometimes." She was glad he was able to keep a level head. She was too, usually. But not today. "We may as well, yes. No time like the present, after all." She began her climb down the coliseum.

When she reached the bottom, she looked up again and waited for Nicola to get all the way down. As she did, she looked around to plan her next course of action. Which building should they climb first? She had a rough idea of where guards were posted in the area, thanks to the view the coliseum offered. The building to her left was their best bet. It would be a bit tricky to climb, but they'd figure it out. They were clever, or else they'd be dead by now.