The Endowed

[Azrael]

The pellet with the poison is in the Chalice from the Palace. The Flagon with the Dragon has the brew that is true. Simon repeated several times and ended up messing it up at the second time. Giacomo, the jester from the Italian boot, smiled and slid down a little more, showing more skin. But the Pasha was not a moron, she certainly must be trying to distract him and make him mess up on purpose by revealing too much skin! Damn you for sabotaging my efforts at mastering this pointless skill of the tounge twisting! He sighed and lowered his head, a sign of defeat for the noble. "I refuse to participate anymore with this tomfoolery."

"Sorry about the depressing subject matter, but it is either very simple or very complicated."

"I must not be dealing with someone of reasonable, but an idiot. Is that what you're saying?"

"And I'm sorry for your dull company. I find though military men have a bit of experience when it comes to telling stories." she give a slight wink. "But I guess you should have been eager for company. You didn't ask where my escort was."

Experience? Military Men. Good god, what in this court jester made her so disrespectful to someone who had enough authority to have her put to death for speaking to him that way. No wonder. His mother had reason for hating the Italians, aside for putting Constantinople into flames and leading her future to be continually sacked and conquered. Their women did not know their place in society and they're whores to the point that it's disgusting if she stooped so low to sleep with red bloods, especially soldiers. Disgruntled, he muttered. "I didn't know you had an escort." Code word for pimps.
"And as much as I would like to get a tour of here, I need to do what I have been contracted to do. That includes entertaining the court. Songs are always good..."

"Tonight's no good unless you wish to risk the chance of being robbed and I can't have someone as beautiful to you to have yourself de-flowered by the barbarians who rule the slums at the night. Perhaps tomorrow in the morning when the court's back in session." He pointed the woman at the door. "Now if you excuse me, I wish to have some sleep and figure out what to do for what's left of the day. You did say that you wanted to visit His Majesty although I prefer to spend the day on my private dhow and travel up and down the water lanes for the sake of adventure."

[madammina]

He thinks I'm a PROSTITUTE! Look, I may have slept with people to get close, but I am no cheap whore who needs to score some drugs.
"Quite unversed in your faith I see." she muttered as she left. "You do know if I'm going to go anywhere beyond this passageway I'll need an escort less I DO get... deflowered." yeah, right. I'll just go send them off to confess to the police or drown themselves. (she made a mental note as a way of getting rid of this man. Why DID the Holy Roman Empire want him dead? He's not THAT high up.

"And I do need to entertain them tonight. Maybe I'll work with the rings. Or cards. Sorry to leave you, but if you are so set on your adventure. Not even to say goodbye to your home court? Hmph." She left, and closed the door quietly.

"M'Lady... did?" It was a soldier.

"No, nothing happened. I just wanted to know my neighbor here." stuck up. "Anyway, can you tell me anyone to stay away from here or subject matter for my jests?" she pulled the cards from one of diamond shaped pockets. She shuffled them absently as the soldier described the surprise feast for "Pasha Simon" before he left. she either had to have him killed before hand, or get on that ship.

Hopefully, he wasn't going to Italy. That was a whole other can of worms.

[Azrael]

"Quite unversed in your faith I see." she muttered as she left. "You do know if I'm going to go anywhere beyond this passageway I'll need an escort less I DO get... deflowered." yeah, right. I'll just go send them off to confess to the police or drown themselves. (she made a mental note as a way of getting rid of this man. Why DID the Holy Roman Empire want him dead? He's not THAT high up.

"I'm unversed in my faith? That's a bunch of nonsense, something " Okay, maybe he was not the best example of the ideal Islamic man adhering to the rules and guidelines in Sharia, but this woman would surely put shame in accordance to the Christian guidelines and what not. And why should he concern himself if this girl would end up deflowered by some lucky beggar, she was a whore and probably de-flowered herself a long, long time ago during some city festival. In fact, what stops me from getting the Janissary guards to throw this girl out of this home and into the streets where she will earn her just desserts. Then whatever damned Italian city she is from will get huffy and soon declare war on them and blockade all goods. And we invade and destroy their city, making the other barbarian Italians not do such reactionary measures against the true ruler of the lands and seas. Why did the court hire her? She's not THAT entertaining.

"And I do need to entertain them tonight. Maybe I'll work with the rings. Or cards. Sorry to leave you, but if you are so set on your adventure. Not even to say goodbye to your home court? Hmph." She left, and closed the door quietly.

"Don't cry to me when you're wearing nothing but your nude self." His home court were the very people who had him take this vacation and wouldn't mind his little trip at sea on his private luxorious dhow. It wasn't like some year-long expedition to the Orient like that one time when he and the Sultan's son went on an official naval expedition east to visit the Ottoman tributaries and vassals in the Horn of Africa to make sure those pathetic Christian kingdoms would pay their jizya. No, this was much a mere trip to leave his command at the Rumelia province to spend some time alone. And perhaps visit the infamous Italies and see if they are as lovely as she claims. Plus it would make a future acquisition for an Ottoman conquest.

That's it! Simon thought as an idea came to his head where he wanted to go. Italy. These things are fr

[madammina]

Brother Augustine had run into a slight roadblock. The book was in French, a Language he did not know. It was a useful language, he just didn't know it himself. He folded the book over carefully. For some reason, he didn't want anyone to know he had it. SOmething wasn't right about it.
----
Griselda Giacomo took out the vial of poison It will be quite a treat to poison him and also took out her nail polish of rattlesnake venom. VERY Expensive, but also made for a quiet death. It would only take a little scratch. Then out came her quick cards of jokes, songs and tricks.

Magic would always work, as would the joke about the grasshoper.

Sometimes she was hired as a jester, other times as an assassin, and finally as both. She needed to be known, and all her jobs had to work.

But if she just went by this "Simon" the court seriously lacked a sense of humor. There was always this song about how she became a jester....
---

The Fox finished it's drink and took a seat in the front row. REspected, though slightly feared, The Fox commanded the respect of the Criminal underworld. Which meant the Mafia moving in made it's position tenuous, to say the least.

A thief finished up his song about robbing a bank as a grifter took the stage for a poem. At least they still had nights like this... for now.

[Azrael]

Not only would he have the chance to prove this jester wrong by showing how Italians truly are, even if this Griselda was right about what she said, it would give more reason for Simon to report the findings to the Ottoman sultan at a later time. Ever since the fall of Constantinople to the Turks a while back, the generals and him had the idea of an invasion of Italy for the future as they were fully aware of how the Italian cities provided assistance to the Byzantines during the infamous siege. Plus, the money generated in these cities through trade would serve the empire well as funding for the various government projects.

[Infinite Complex]

Ryu sat in his usual spot in his ally. The ally wasn't really comfortable, but it served it's purpose of hiding him from the city. If most people saw him, they would run screaming in terror, something he was well aware of, as he had almost screamed at his own reflection numerous times. It showed just what the book had to him. If only he hadn't been so curious! Then, he might have a normal life. One in which he was happily married. One in which he had children. One in which he still had a beutiful face.

As he sat thinking, a man walked by. He had a completely pitch black suit passed. A member of the mafia. And a high-ranking member at that. It was obvious by his nice clothing, not a scratch or tatter anywhere. The mafia were a big problem, as they had almost killed him several times for trying to steal his food. Each time he had gotten away, but they now recognized him easily, and shot at him on sight. After the man had passed, something happened that was more suprising than anything that had happened in his life. A woman came into the ally.

"Hello there."

[UsagiOkami]

Siria walked along a small path behind a large manor, she was dressed inconspicuously as a serving girl and not a very attractive one either, she learned it was best to look boring and dull as a child or people noticed you more, and being noticed was not something that she could afford to have happen; As a member of the Triad hiding was a way of life and not something you could do sloppily. She walked along the path being careful of the other workers until she got to the pig pens, she spotted Gabriel there in disguise as a pig boy and he gave her the briefest of nods to let her know all was well and gave her a brief hand sign that gave the location of their target, fifth floor landing in the west corridor; Gabriel could locate anything he wanted so he let them know where the target was, and with that he returned to his work as if he had never even looked up and to most he might not have the whole thing happened so fast.

Siria moved along at her same pace until she reached a servants entrance to the kitchens, inside she found Claudia happy as usual and baking bread which surprisingly she could actually do, Claudia could never get lost and as such could reach any destination because to go the wrong way would intone that she had gotten lost on her path to her destination so she could lead them just about anywhere once Gabriel told her where the target was. Siria walked over to the counter and picked up a tray of food that Claudia had put in front of her and gave Claudia the hand signs for the targets location, Claudia paused for the briefest of seconds and then turned around and picked up a small loaf of bread and placed it on the tray and then turned around to continue her baking; Siria picked up the tray and loaf and walked up the servants stair until she was alone and then cracked open the loaf and inside were written directions to the location, Claudia had scouted out all the places in the manor that the target was likely to be and write down the directions to them to be placed in this loaf when the time came.

Siria walked up the stairs avoiding all eye contact until she reached the fifth landing and she then walked along the corridors until she reached the west corridor, she hated these decorations in the house they were so tacky but it mattered little to her as she would be leaving soon enough; She walked along until she found hr target, a merchant who had done something wrong to someone but what it was she did not know nor did she care, she was not payed to care she was payed to kill. She walked silently upon the carpeted floors until she was behind the target and then quickly drew a kitchen knife from the folds in her dress and slit his throat before he could utter a cry; She took out some cleaner and drenched the knife in it and then threw everything into a nearby fireplace, the smell would be dreadful but she would be gone soon enough and with that all of the evidence was eliminated and she ditched the tray and left back the way she came passing Claudia in the kitchen and Gabriel in the pig pen until she was near a large tree and changer her outfit amongst it;s heavy foliage, she ow looked like the average peasant and she continued on to the house that they used as their base for this mission. She knew soon enough that Claudia and Gabriel would be along in time, to many people fleeing a crime scene would look suspicious and soon enough they arrived and the three of them silently left the house with no trace of their arrival and were gone from the city with no one being the wiser.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rin walked along quickly behind Devin, they had gotten a call a little while ago about a murder that was committed in a manor belonging to a wealthy merchant; The Police sent Devin and her down to investigate because they had gotten reports that the merchant had been dealing in some ilegal stuff but culdn't prove anything. Devin had been investigating the guy and had turned up nothing but that didn't mean there wasn't something there, sand she didn't think that he was looking all that hard, mostly he sat in bars and drank hoping to hear some conversation.

They arrived at the manor quickly enough and went into the house to view the body, what they saw there surprised them to no end.

(OOC:I have to get to bed but I'll post as Devin tomorrow)

[Infinite Complex]

All Ryu could do was simply stare at the woman. Nobody had seen him, much less spoken to him, in several years. He looked down at the accursed book that had done this to him. The book that would never leave, no matter how hard he tried. He had given up trying to get rid of it a long time ago. It was something he knew was futile.

The woman smiled at him. "Whats wrong? Not very social?"

What happened next seemed to take hours, even though it only took 10 seconds. All at once, the woman pulled a gun, and aimed it at his head. She whistled and several black-clad men appeared. They pulled out their guns, and shot. everything went black.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gene Reeves waled down the street toward her home. It wasn't exactly the most luxurious place in the world, but it served it's purpose-to hide her from the mafia. She had left that organization a long time ago...they hunted her to this day. As she was thinking, she saw the familiar black suits of the mafia. She quickly used her trained reflexes, and dived behind a nearby building. Fortunately, they didn't seem to be interested in her. She watched as a man was dragged down the street-in plain view of everyone else. What was this? Then she remembered. The mafia had been planning something with the Endowed-that was one of the reasons she left. She decided that this man must be an endowed, and so, she followed the mafia back to their hideout.

[madammina]

"When I was a lad, I was gloomy and sad
as I was from the day I was born!
When other babes giggled and gurgled and wiggled
I proudly was loudly forlorn!
My friends and my family looked at me clamilly,
thought there was something amiss!
When others found various antics hilarious,
all I could manage was this!

or this! (makes face)

or this! (makes face)

or this! (mock crying)

My father, he shouted: He needs to be clouted.
His teeth on a wreath I'll hand him!
My mother she cried as she rushed to my side:
You're a brute! and you don't understand him!
So they sent for a witch with a terrible twitch
to ask how my future impressed her.
She took one look at me and cried he... hee hee he he -- he?
What else could he be but a jester?
A jester? A jester? A funny idea a jester!
No butcher, no baker, no candlestick maker
and me with the look of a fine undertaker impressed her... as a jester?

But where could I learn any comical turn that was not in a book
on the shelf?
No teacher to take me to mold me and make me a merry mad fool
or an elf!

But I'm proud to recall that in no time at all
with no other recourses but my own resources
with firm application and determination...
I made a fool of myself! (she went around in a circle in a funny gait)

I found a bow and arrow and I learned to shoot.
I found a little horn and I learned to too.
Now I can shoot and too, ain't I cute? (raspberry)" (she ran around again)

This song ALWAYS worked. No matter the court. Griselda Giacomo stood in the front of the court in her traditional diamond suit.
"I started to travel to try to unravel my way to find a chance
When I got to spain it was suddenly plain was the field to appear was the dance!" She pulled herself up into a flamenco position
"The Spanish was clannish but I wouldn't vanish and I learned every step that they planned
The first step of all isn't hard to recall, since the first step of all is to stand... and stand... and stand..." she stood still, her hands on her chest as she mimed being plucked by a guitar in rhythm to the song she taught the sitar player. It worked better with the guitar, but oh well. A dramatic pluck "caused" her to shudder and then twitched in the way of the song.

"JULIO!" She shouted, and proceeded to look dramatic to the buildup. When it came time to start the step, she slammed her foot down on the floor, and limped around to the laughter of the audience.

"I was bad to refuse, but the king was amused and before his siesta, he made me his jester
and I found out soon that to be a buffoon was a serious thing as a Rule!
For a jester's chief employment, is to kill himself for your enjoyment.
and a jester unemployed, is Nobodies Fool!"

She held the note out as the crowd erupted into cheers. Time to eat crow Simon. Actually, not a bad way to kill someone.

If only she knew where her target was, and who could kill him.

[UsagiOkami]

Devin walked along the path to the manor of the merchant who was found dead in his home, he had already learned that the merchant was involved in some seedy underground dealings with The Brotherhood and rumor had started that he was also dealing with the Mafia and was about to double cross The Brotherhood in favor of the Mafia; Rin thought that all of those bars were just for drinking and she was partially right but drunk people let things slip and forget who they are in the presence of, he had caught more criminals because they went to a bar and got drunk and then started bragging about his crime. He knew that Rin disapproved immensely but every time he tried to explain it to her she started talking in Japanese and that got aggravating after a while so he just gave up and she turned to muttering in Japanese under her breath just loud enough for him to know she was talking.

The arrived at the manor eventually and when they arrived at the house they smelled something horrible, Devin recognized it as a cleaning solution that got burned and quickly proceeded to cover his mouth and walked into the house, he heard a sharp intake of breath behind him and saw that Rin had stopped and was standing there staring around the room, it was dark and Devin knew that the police had already been here and some still were so he was focusing on getting to the body but when he looked around he saw what had happened; Everything was in shambles, all of the expensive furniture and china had either been smashed or taken by burglars no doubt but it seemed that only certain pieces had been taken and everything else had been taken which did not seem to be the way of looters. He found the police chief for the area and asked him if the place was like this when they arrived and learned that it was and all of the house staff had gone home once they learned of the death of their master, the police where finding them all and questioning them but so far to no avail.

Devin didn't like the look of this and proceeded upstairs with Rin in tow behind him; They arrived on the fifth floor and proceeded to the west wing and along the way noticed that many of the pieces of furniture where either taken or smashed to bits and thrown about. They managed to make their way safely to the west wing and what they saw astounded them both, the merchant was hung quite literally by a noose from a chandelier fixture on the roof, from the looks of the body upon further inspection and the large pool of blood on the floor the merchant had his throat slit and the knife was found cleaned with a cleaner and then thrown into a fireplace; This explained the smell however the person or group that hung the man after he had already died (as this is clearly what happened) and they were not as careful as there was plenty of evidence of their arrival.

The most interesting thing however was not the dead man but what was scrawled on the walls of the nearby room, "Our loose ends have been tied and our property reclaimed." Was what was written there, it looked at first glance to be blood but further examination made it clear that it was paint. Devin was starting to get the picture now and figured that he had half the case solved already, the Mafia had reclaimed their possessions and made an example out of him, maybe he was still planning to deal with The Brotherhood on the side if the rumors are true but Devin never payed much attention to politics, he did his job and enjoyed it. Devin knew that there was nothing left here for them and they had already been there for about an hour and he was getting hungry, he looked around and saw Rin nearby looking at the remains of a once beautiful statue, "Rin, let's go there's nothing else here for us, it's getting late and we missed dinner so all that's left is midnight snack so let's get moving." He said as he started walking away knowing that she was following by the string of Japanese that followed him out the door and along the path, he almost wanted to learn Japanese just so he could know what she was saying but decided that it was better to remain in the dark on some things in life.

[Azrael]

Once the festivities held in his manor were over, he bid his guests that attended to his feasts a polite farewell and saw each one off as they departed on their dhows to whatever destination awaited them. He rested his head on the pillow, to call it a night and prepare for the upcoming morning. Tomorrow morning would be the time for him to get off his bed and begins the preparations to head to visit the Italian peninsula, a relatively short ride by Arab dhow across the Aegean and Adriatic seas or by bandwagon by the various highways and roads that crisscrossed the Ottoman-controlled rural landscapes and take a ferry from Albania to south Italy. Regardless, he hoped that the words from the jester/whore would prove to be true about the wonders of Italy.

His mother would probably not be too fond of having her son visit Italy. The Greek people had a long hatred of Italians and vice versa for their western counterparts across the Adriatic sea although ironically, they still called themselves Romans on occasion when the Romans themselves were from Italy. It led back several centuries when the Venetians and their allies during the Fourth Crusade seized control of Constantinople, practically dismembering the entire empire for a good century although the feud between the two people lasted probably from the time that the Great Schism occurred long ago. Anyways , he hoped to see what Italy had to offer and his expectations were put to rest as the Pasha of Rumelia, Simon Betancourte fell asleep.

[madammina]

Griselda smiled as she lay on her stomach on her bed. She painted her nails, and listened. One of the guards had admired her... singing. He took her back to his room for some dinner and talk. She had cut him off before he had taken her shirt off, but she got him. She locked eyes and told him to kill Simon two hours after he fell asleep. Considering how he was one of the highest guards for Simon, this would start a nice war. She wondered how his guard would kill Simon.

[Organization_42]

"...all in all, that was, without a doubt, one of the WILDEST nights of my life..."

"Yes, yes, you've said that at least a dozen times. Why don't you save your sensational stories for someone who actually wants to hear them, Lust?" said Pride scornfully.

Out of all of Dominique's Vices and Virtues, Lust was the only one who actually looked slightly different from the original: her hair was always shimmering, her face lacked the acne that plagued Dominique's face, and she moved gracefully in a seductive, hypnotizing manner wherever she went, among other things. It made her a useful femme fatale for the Mafia and her fellow Vices, but that didn't mean that Pride had to enjoy dealing with her whenever she gave her "reports." This annoyed Lust and she reacted to the biting remark with a pout. "Don't be such a meanie, Pride!" she simpered, "I did the job for you, didn't I?"

"You did," replied Pride, "But I have yet to hear what you actually got from it, apart from the usual thrills..."

"Well, look who's the court jester tonight! I'll have you know that I found out something VERY juicy!"

"Then tell me already!" snapped Pride impatiently, dropping the calm facade for a moment.

"Okay, okay! My boy had a couple of friends who have a top-secret assignment tonight...of course, it's not secret anymore!" she added with a smirk, "Apparently there's another Endowed in town...Ryu something...and the Mafia's going after him tonight!"

"So their interest in the Endowed has peaked to the point where they're actually going to capture one?" Pride mused as she stared off into space and pondered this new development.

"I know, it's so weird, right?" said Lust with a giggle, "If they want to know about the Endowed, why don't they just talk to us?! We work for them!"

"We are only one example," replied Pride slowly. She rose from the seat on her bed and began to pace the room thoughtfully, "If they're going to learn more, they need more. Plus, if they want to try any experiments they would have to risk our lives, and while I doubt the Mafia has much respect for human life, even within their own ranks, we are too valuable to lose. Or rather, Dominique is too valuable to lose."

"She's us; we're her, same difference. Does she know what you want her to do yet?"

"Of course, but she's pretending she doesn't for the sake of her mis-guided virtuous side."

"Ooo! Can we take out the Virtues then? I've been dying to pick a fight with Chastity; she's always giving me dirty looks and talking about self-control, that judgemental little..."

"We can't kill the Virtues; we can only weaken them. You know that," said Pride shortly, "If you want to try weakening Chastity's hold on Dominique, be my guest. It'll be a nice stepping stone but it won't make much difference in the long run. We have more important things to do if I'm going to overthrow Septimus Vain and become the leader of the Mafia!"

[Azrael]

"My lord! My lord! My lord!"

Pasha Simon was awakened by the screaming and grudgingly got up from his bed. He was pretty peeved that someone had the nerve to wake him up and after taking a few moments to fully awaken and put up his royal garments before he knocked the door open and figured out what's going on. "You know that I do not take kindly to people interrupting me sleeping and that doing so will result in your utter-" Simon was about to blurt out from his mouth but quickly silenced himself upon seeing several of his guards aiming their weapons at the violent, struggling Janissary guard who growled at the Ottoman official. "Can someone explain what the hell is going on here?"

"Treachery. An act that should be reprimanded with the ultimate punishment."

Impossible! Sultan Mehmed and the court must have spent a long amount of time doing an extensive background check on the men who were ordered to be protecting him. And still after all that, someone among these supposedly loyal guards was going to committ an act of treachery, presumably against him. He was not stupid enough to not notice the weapon lying on the ground, a kitchen knife.

[madammina]

Griselda heard a tussle in the hall. Perfect! She waited to hear the execution of the guard except...

"Can someone explain what the hell is going on here?"

Simon... he was still alive? Griselda threw on her robe and hurried out into the hall. Her hypnotizee was struggling in the grips of some guards as Simon picked up a kitchen knife.

Great... she had to do something or it would look suspicious.

"What's going on? Are... are you going to kill him? Why?" She leaned against the wall, pretending to feel faint. It didn't matter if he was killed, but it had to look like she heard this and cared.