Hide your face so the world will never find you.

[Alessia Jiron[Inactive]]

The food was so delicious Ali could eat it all night. Well maybe not all night or well after the plate of food she had stacked up. She was already feeling a bit stuffed as the plate was almost empty. It was a bit shocking what she could eat being that she usually lived off little food normally. That was a survival thing she managed to pull a lot. She hummed a bit as the music was so beautiful. Alessia finished eating and well the wine was starting to have its effect on her. She felt in a bit tipsy and a warm fuzzy feeling over taking her mind. The drunk encounters she had before usually led up to some interesting times. She finally finished her food and stood heading towards the dancers. Ali wouldn’t dance like the other but simply observe them from the side. She couldn’t bring herself to join on the dance floor just yet. She felt like she would humiliate herself, though that didn’t matter as everyone was in masks. It was a great idea to have the masks on she could slip out with no problem when it came to making a fool of yourself.

Alessia smiled a little as she watched everyone have a good time dancing around with their partners. Her foot tapped and she could feel the music flow through her. She decided to dance by herself. Actually she thought it was fun dancing by herself.

[Rosa Giovanno]

Oh, God, why? Here came one already, with that same damn smile on his face as the rest of them. But why? What had she done now? Rosa looked down at herself briefly. She didn't even look like what she was without her work clothes. No one was around her, she was just minding her own business and enjoying the only reason she had come: free food. And still, still a man had come to sit beside her. Though she loved men, as she was a woman, her opinion of them was still very low. They were all the same: stupid, arrogant, and immature, like boys simply grown older. "Ciao, Bello." she said automatically, though gritting her teeth afterward. 'Bello' was an awful habit of hers, a name which she gave to every man whose name she didn't know. Sometimes even if she did know their name, she still called him that. Handsome. Why had she done that? She didn't work during Christmas time, it was too degrading. She was out of her comfort zone, looked down at her plate and took a large bite of chicken to keep herself from saying anything worse.

[Rahmil Binachi]

"Not as warm as your lovely coat, Donna."
She blinked up at him, the music turning into a loud roar in her ears, and her body felt like rubber.
Where had she heard that voice before?
She stared up at the bear mask that hid the face of who ever it was. He had said something else, but she couldn't listen. Her brain was quickly processing all the possible men she could fit his voice with.
Then suddenly, it hit her like a brick, causing her to stop dancing.
"We were friends once, Rahmil. Why not now?" He ran his hand over his face and looked about, as if there would be more of them somewhere. But it was just her. "You are a bitter thing, you know that? You think that Templars aren't human, that we don't care about the world. That we don't care about people. Well I've got news for you, Donna. We do care. In fact, we have the SAME, FREAKING GOAL!" he shouted at her.

Donna.

She couldn't help it, her body moved on it's own accord. Lifting her right arm to shove back the bear mask, revealing who she already knew hiding under all the fur.
She was frozen in place, staring at him.
Him, of all people.
Of course, it made since now. The bear.

Reality crashed into her and she yanked herself from his grip and took a step back. She had opened her mouth to speak, but closed it.
She needed to leave. She wasn't going to let this go any further.
She turned around and quickly walked out, holding herself to hide her shaking hands.

Because out of all the people, it would be him.

[Diego Liberatore]

All of a sudden, she just stopped dancing. Diego looked down at her, puzzled, only to get a rough jab that pushed his mask up off his face. "What did I do?" he asked, almost hurt. All he had done was compliment her coat. What else could he possibly have said that would have set her off? Her Christmas? It seemed a common enough question. "Donna!" he tried to call after her, but his mask slid back down onto his face, stopping him abruptly as he pulled it off completely and carried it with him as he went after her. He hadn't meant to ruin her night, the only girl who had asked him to dance.

Diego pushed his way through the crowd, taking the same path she made through the sea of people and following her out into the street. "Wait! Please!" he said. God, she could run fast in a dress. He ran after her, startling a few of the people singing and walking through the snow. He imagined how awful it looked, a bear-costumed man chasing after a woman like her. But he wanted to make up for whatever mistake he had made.

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola froze in his chair as the words echoed in his ear. Bello. There was only one woman in all of Rome that had insisted on calling him that over and over again. It couldn't have been... Rosa, could it? The flirty courtesan that had given him his first contract; the only person he considered somewhat of a friend outside the Assassins. It simply hadto be her!

Upon closer inspection, he found that her posture and style of clothing did resemble that of something she would've worn. And he didn't need to draw conclusions of why she had come to such a party; the massive amount of food on her plate answered those questions.

Nicola hid a small smirk. Perhaps now was the time to have a little fun? She didn't know who was, judging by the way she had greeted him. In fact, she probably only looked upon him as a customer. This was the beauty of the masked ball. It added so much more mystery and twists on the spectrum of things.

"Ahh, bello, hm?" he said with only a slight playful tone to his voice, one he had tried to hide by the best of his ability. But he quickly changed the subject. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't help but see such a... lovely lady sitting here all alone. Who might you be?" He tried his best to avoid grinning, and maintained his friendly smile. He figured he would give her a few minutes to figure out who he was before he would give her the truth himself.

[Rosa Giovanno]

Rosa shot a glance up at him. So he had caught onto her little nickname slip up. And now what was he doing? Was he actually teasing her? He may have been trying to be friendly, whatever 'friendly' was in Roma, but Rosa wondered. Especially after his stress on the word lovely. Was it supposed to be sarcasm? She really couldn't tell, but it made her suspicious. "Well, aren't you the gentleman." she replied, equally suggesting sarcasm. "Tonight is not a night for names and faces," she almost said Bello again and paused, "What would be the point in ruining that by telling you?" She cleared her throat softly and took a sip of her wine. God, it tasted so good when you didn't have to pay for it. "But since you seem to be so eager, why don't you tell me yours?" She was not going to make a fool of herself, not tonight. But still she watched him, observed him. Was he a former client? She doubted it. But he seemed to slightly recognize her, know her somehow, so she couldn't rule it out.

[Rahmil Binachi]

He was chasing her. He obviously didn't put it together who she was, and he was drunk.
So she stopped, turned his direction and hardened her stance as if she was about to face a collision.
" _{You just don't understand.} " She seemed to snap, even though it didn't go anygood. They both knew he was clueless. So after a short pause, she finally took her mask off and stared him down.

The cold wind was instant, whipping her face until it stung, and her nose went numb. She probably looked silly there, with her over exaggerated darken eyes and red nose, but she didn't care.
All she wanted was him to see her, and then turn the other way.
Hopefully he would still be angry with her, and she wouldn't have to worry about any mushy apologies or pleads.

She just wanted to be done.

[Diego Liberatore]

Diego nearly ran into her as she stopped, and slipped in the snow to avoid it. He scrambled back to his feet, and that was when he saw her face. Rahmil. For a moment he couldn't speak, and though he opened his mouth to do so, no words came out. The wind ate at his skin, and he hadn't consumed enough alcohol to convince him yet that he was warm. Believing he was a good dancer was one thing, he couldn't really see himself. But the icey air gnawing at his sides was undeniable. After being in the warmth of the church and the party, it felt colder than before, as if it wanted to consume his warmth to sustain itself. Goosebumps speckled over him and he crossed his arms. ". . . You didn't tell them who I was. . ." he said quietly. "You didn't say anything." he managed to mumble out. Diego stared at her for a moment before adding, "Th-thanks." as he started shivering.

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola adjusted himself into a more comfortable position as she spoke and began eating, spooning the first few bites of food into his mouth. He only listened quietly to her rant, but still kept the same friendly smile on his face. At her inquiry of his name, he swallowed the bit of food he was chewing before answering. "My name?" he said with a slight tone of playfulness to his voice. "But... I believe you already know my name," he smirked. Covering up the humor on his face, he continued eating his meal, having obvious enjoyment from what he was doing.

[Rosa Giovanno]

Her eyebrows rose on her forehead slightly when she caught his playful tone. He was toying with her. Did he actually believe she knew the name of every man in Roma? She knew the names of the bad ones - the cheaters, the liars, the gamblers, the fighters, the murderers, the drunkards, the unfaithful, the mighty, the rich and the powerful. So he must be among that crowd, if she already knew his name. It was true, that Rosa remembered the face and the name of every single client she had ever had, but only because she despised them so much, and despised herself but had come to accept the way of life. But here he sat before, nameless and faceless. Fine. If that was how he wanted to play. A smirk crossed her lips as she thought of saying something completely insulting and inappropriate, and took another bite of food to hold back the laugh that would have followed. So she chose to dim it down a bit, they were in a holy place after all, and she was surprised the roof hadn't caved in by now. "It's bold of you to think that you, of all men, would be so memorable." It did sound a bit rude, but Rome wasn't really a place for manners. Especially when she was in a place she didn't want to be, or rather had wanted to be but still felt the rejection burning into her masked face. So she toyed back with him. One of them would have to give in sooner or later.

[Rahmil Binachi]

Thank you.
Thank you?
Thank you?
A sudden rush of heat slapped her in the face. She wasn't sure if it was just the effect of the cold wind, or her own inner emotions.
It was as if he had just slapped her, she was speechless.

". . . You didn't tell them who I was. . ." he said quietly. "You didn't say anything."

She stared at him. For a good, long, freezing minute. She didn't know how to react, what to say, what to even feel. Everything was just numb.
She opened her mouth, hoping something would form its way out, but still- nothing.
So she closed it and folded her arms, almost feeling defensive even though he did nothing threatening.
She had to do something, anything. It was getting weird, one of those sappy apology-make up scenes.

So she nodded, and that was all she did. Because that was all she could do; a simple, pathetic nod.

[Diego Liberatore]

He watched her for a moment longer, wondering if her nod was her response and now it was his turn to say something, or what. He wanted to tell her what she had done, and how safe his mother and Violetta and Sabrina were now because of her. And even in his slightly-less-than-sober state, he remembered all the awful things he had said to her. At the time he knew she had deserved them, but not now. Diego knew there was a sentence somewhere in his mind that would help him express all that, how very thankful and how very sorry he was. But at that moment, he couldn't find it. He was too cold and had had just enough to slow down his thinking. So he just looked at her gratefully and nodded also. She was a woman, she would understand what he was trying to say. They always knew what men wanted to say before they could say it. It was just their special talent, or something.

He waited a few shivering moments in silence, wondering what was going to happen next. Like her, he opened his mouth hoping something might materialize. And this time something actually did. "Are you still planning on running away from me again?" he asked, straightening slightly from his shoulder-hunched, heat-conserving folded-armed stance to stand more properly. "Because if you weren't, I was h-hoping we could go back and dance. You're dressed prettily enough... it would be a shame if at least you didn't go back." If she was still insistent on staying as far away from him as possible, then it might as well be him that left. He wouldn't be a gentleman, and it wouldn't feel right if a lady left because of him while he stayed at the party. "It's Christmas." he added hopefully. It really wasn't the day itself, but she would know what he meant. It was the season. "If you can bear to dance with a drunk bear." Diego smiled a little at his own joke, one corner of his mouth pulling back into a half-grin. He held a hand out to her in what he intended to be a graceful move, though it was actually sort of clumsy and his arm shook as he shivered.

[Nicola Rangé]

Nicola leaned back in his chair, letting his arms drape behind him lazily as he sat. That... Stung a little bit, to say the least, but not much of it showed on his face. His smile did waver slightly, though it was hardly noticeable. Well, it wasn't like she could seemed to know who he was and what he had done for her, so her insult hardly affected him. Time to throw her another hint.

"Well, I would tend to disagree," he said with the same smirk on his face. Then added shortly, "Amica."

[Rosa Giovanno]

She looked at him coldly as he seemed virtually unphased by her attack, however mild it may be. Rosa was not in the mood to be playing this game, in this place, in this crowd. Deep within her, she hated it. But as always, she kept up the facade. He was lucky they weren't outside these four walls; she would have told him off. This was not a time she wanted to be bothered by anyone, much less a man in a mask.

But her eyes softened briefly and her eyebrows perked up on her forehead. Amica? In all of her life -well, in all of her adult life- none had ever called her that. Except one. And yet... one couldn't be too careful. She was, after all, in a mask herself, and Rosa couldn't help but wonder how he felt so sure that he knew her, despite her disguise. It made her skin crawl so uncomfortably to think that someone she couldn't certainly identify could pick her out of a crowd so quickly, that she actually had to hold back the itching to shiver or scratch her nose or give him any sort of 'tell'. Her back straightened against the board of her chair, and she turned her head to look at him, really look at him. She wanted to believe it was who she thought it was, Nicola, the innocent and naive boy of a man she had met months ago. But she couldn't allow herself to trust first instincts. Not so quickly, anyway. She deepened her voice subtly and leaned closer so she could speak quieter. "How do you know me, Signore?" she asked in a near-demanding sort of way. "I'm done with your games, remove your mask." He was starting to creep her out to the slightest degree.

[Rahmil Binachi]

She stared at the open hand, wondering how on Earth he could be so different. Going from a raging beast to a forgiving man, even after all the horrible things she had done/said.
Of course, she was pissed at him herself. But she had no right to be, the man was just protecting his family. She would have been the same way.


She wanted to say no, oh how badly she did. Just to say no and keep walking the other way, away from all this emotional drama.
But she took his hand. It was hesitant, as if trying to pet a wild beast that might snap a finger or two, but she still took it.
She also wanted to snap a witty remark, something that would lighten the black drapes of fear that suffocated her, though again she was speechless, and decided she would leave the communication to him since he was so much better at it.