Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Ezio genuinely, broadly smiled at that, breaking character just a little. The Templar sleeper agent had already been neutralized, after all. “Well, I think all will be revealed come daybreak,” he said, collapsing his fake blades back into their wrist holsters. “In the meantime, you may as well end the party like it’s your last night on earth. As for me...” He chuckled, dryly. “I have feathers to collect.”

Ezio’s mouth twitched. It wouldn’t have killed him to play along... except that in a way, it would have. He supposed he couldn’t really blame him. Besides, it didn’t break his little game, really. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time one of Ezio’s victims survived long enough to hold a long conversation. “It’s a poisoned blade,” he said, his Italian accent quiet, but forceful. “Your time runs short. Is there anything you’d like to confess?”

@cheshire-masq

For quite some time, he managed to maintain the correct distance from his target. But the haunted house had proved more a complicated situation that he could have imagined. No matter how well he remained concealed from her, costumed guards kept revealing his position by trying to scare him, and eventually, it was all over. Worst of all, she’d done nothing suspicious the whole time. Clearly, she wasn’t his target. Sighing, Ezio came out of hiding, his hands in the air. “Great. Mission failed, I’m de-synchronizing.” With that, he turned on his heel and stomped out of the haunted house. 

As he saw the female cat dart into the haunted house, Ezio cursed his own impatience. Warning, said a little a voice in his head. Maintain distance from the target. Tailing missions. He’d always loved to hate them. Outside the haunted house, he weighed his options carefully. From everything he’d seen and heard, she’d merely behaved like a cat in heat most of the night. And then had tried to avoid her mysterious stalker. None of that was particularly suspicious. Even so... it was so dark and misty in there that she’d never know if she was being followed or not. He might as well go after her.

He chuckled, darkly. “I thought as much. We have so many highly esteemed guests tonight. Nobility. Royalty. Divinity, if you take their word for it. And with them, they’ve brought so much wealth.” Ezio waved a hand to indicate the glittering costume jewelry everyone had adorned themselves with, then lowered his voice to a near-whisper as they withdrew from the refreshments table, towards the wall. “Now, I’m no stranger to the art of pickpocketing, myself, but that’s not why I’m here tonight. However, I would have no problem assisting you. If you accept this deal, whatever we manage to collect is yours. If you could, in turn, I would like you to help me keep an eye on all three of the cats. I know I have business with one of them, but not which one. As soon as you have an opinion as to which of them is the most suspicious - or seems the most dangerous - report back to me.” His mouth twitched once again into a smirk. “Do we have a deal?”

He pressed his lips together, then clenched his jaw as he tried to decide what to say. It didn’t seem to matter how many years had passed. Call it a compulsion, call it a tribute, either way, he wasn’t about to stop now. “I have a bit of a history with feathers,” he said, finally, and tucked it away in an inner pocket. He was sure he’d seen an owl around here somewhere, too... He’d have to keep an eye out for any more that might be lying around. “Never mind. You were speaking of things to come, I believe? Did you mean only that you’re a portent of doom, in general, or do you have some more specific insight?”

This was fantastic: from the center of the dance floor, he was able to keep an eye on everyone. “Faith,” he repeated, and quickly decided that now was not the time to comment on the hypocrisy of what most called faith. “That’s lovely.” He chuckled warmly. “I learnt to dance during the Italian Renaissance. Let me assure you, the masquerades were even better back then.” He did shift into a more modern form of dance, though, swinging his hips and swaying his shoulders. One did need to blend in.

For only a second, Ezio was stumped as to how to proceed without breaking character or falling into silly play-acting, but then he had it. He took the doctor by the arm in a sort of farewell, leaning into it a bit, their cloaks falling like curtains around the tepid embrace - a gesture that would have allowed them to pass goods back and forth without anyone else noticing. "Arrivederci, my friend,” he said, companionably, although ‘friend’ wasn’t quite the right word, followed by a softer, “Find me in the shadows." 

“We may not be so different.” Ezio didn’t want to use the word “assassin.” Not yet. Perhaps not ever. He inclined his head meaningfully. He’d worn a plain black mask under the hood, just to be safe, and it let him look the Rogue in the eye a little more directly.  “And that being the case... perhaps we could be of some assistance to each other, over the course of the evening?”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, his mouth twitching into a grim little smirk. There was a good chance the Raven’s presence heralded the same events his own presence did. As the words left his mouth, though, a tiny wisp of a feather floated down from the Raven’s headpiece. He caught it in his palm. Not quite an eagle’s feather, and yet - Ezio swallowed, visibly. When he spoke again, his voice was softer, less confident. “Do you know if you’ve dropped any other feathers over the course of the evening?”

Ezio lowered his head. He’d worn a dark eye mask under the hood, just for added protection, but even so, in that moment, he wanted the shadows to cover his face. He didn’t take the lives of innocents, as a rule. But no matter what the Doctor asked of him, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to make a sacrifice for the greater good. “Done,” he said, his voice low. “Seek me out when you need me. My services will be yours. One kill, or two less dangerous missions.”

Ezio first smiled at being recognized, and then, in-character, frowned at being recognized. But he supposed asking for poisons did sort of give it away. He tilted his head slowly. He was never truly at anyone’s beck and call, but he supposed the good doctor hardly needed to know that. “Is there... work you need done, then?” 

“A fair point,” Ezio conceded, eyeing the mysterious cloaked man carefully. At least, he thought they were a man. With the full face mask and billowing robes, it was nearly impossible to tell. But it seemed that the chips were edible, at least, so he had a few. “Have you found anything to hold your attention this evening?”