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2. How they got involved in the masquerade

These are the souls who stumbled out of denial and embraced the truth. They may side with MOSE, or with me, but rest assured, all shall be as tainted as I, the Jester, by the time the masks have shattered.

Name: Sofia Elloise
Profession: University student
Age: 21
Nationality: French
Languages: French, English, Latin
Physical Description: Sophia is around 5'6'' with intense brown eyes and curly auburn hair. She has long legs, a slim figure, and perfect tanned skin. Sophia usually covers herself up with layers of colorful shirts and long skirts. Sometimes she wears a nice short skirt with a matching belt, but her legs are covered with skinny jeans or long black pants. Sophia has a strange obsession about boots and only wears them. The reason she covers her skin a lot, is because she has a variety of tattoos that her parents disapprove of. People have said that she could be a model, if she were much taller, however Sophia's more interested in art and culture.
Personality: Sophia is a very outspoken girl. She has opinions about almost everything and gets people to listen to her because of her natural charm and good looks. This being, Sophia is a well-educated and a well-mannered lady, and has never been angry before in her life. She is empathetic towards people, sometimes appearing a little gullible and naive. Sophia has a very little obsessions since she is a calm and a collected person, and enjoys peace and tranquility. If anyone were in danger, Sophia would be the first to react and try to solve the problem as best as she can. Sophia accepts the supernatural, but is still not quite convinced that it is real.
History: Ever since Sophia was born, she was taught to be a lady. The ladies of the Elloise marry the French, which is why all of the children are true French people. Sophia attracts a large crowd of men, but she really doesn't bother with any of them, since she is busy with studies and art. Sophia has never left Paris, but she longs to experience the art in other countries. Her parents and her are very close to each other, although the three of them are extremely busy with work and other activities. Since Sophia is content most of the time, her family decided that a nice public school would enrich her learning enough until she decided to move out of the house and learn in another country.

After years of working at her Aunt's café, Sophia has saved up enough money to move to Venice. She wanted to learn about the culture in Italy and thought that Venice would be the perfect place to study. She is doing well in the university, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, and lives in a small apartment close to it. Whenever Sophia has free time, she decides to roam around Venice and browse shops.

Name: Claire E. Norman
Profession: Therapist
Age: 32
Nationality: Canadian citizen (Korean birth)
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean
Physical Description: South Korean, 5’5”, 135lb, brown eyes, black hair, medium skin tone, medium to athletic build. She likes to wear comfortable professional clothing, so usually can be found in a nice clean pair of work pants with a simple button-up blouse. She always wears a green, glass-like pendant given to her by her father when he visited Venice long ago.
Personality: A bit of a skeptic, Claire likes to view the world for what it is. She doesn’t have a religion or a sense of spirituality, and when something unexplained happens she blames it on the weather. She has always had a fascination with Venice, ever since her father brought home the pendant she forever wears. She is very headstrong and a do-it-yourself type attitude. However, this is also one of her greater downfalls in that she fails to see the point in helping others for if she can do it, then why can’t they? Instead, she likes to point people in the right direction and has the attitude of being a hands-off mentor.

Claire would kill to save her own life or that of someone she cared about. She doesn’t like the prospect of dying, unless it brought her fiancé back from the dead. And if she could bring back her fiancé, she supposes she would be willing to part with her green pendant.
History: Claire was originally born as Ji Saiyan in South Korea, though quickly orphaned for unknown reasons. Before she turned one year of age, a couple living on Victoria Island in Canada adopted her. She was their only child and they raised her with the most loving care. They encouraged her to study in America for a doctrine in psychology at the University in Davis. It was in California that she met the love of her life, Rick Takakashi. After receiving her PhD, Rick proposed to her. Though, the day before their wedding, Rick died in a horrible car accident off of Highway 1. Grief stricken, her parents convinced her to travel so that she may find some peace of mind. Holding tight to the pendant she so adores, she choose to go to Italy for two months, with Venice being her first stop.

Name: Tenma Sho-ro Yamanaka
Profession: Recording studio assistant/artist/student
Age: 17
Nationality: Japanese
Languages: Japanese, English, German
Physical Description: Unusual, yet the typical Japanese girl. Her hair is black: bangs straight and sharp as knifes, the rest falls in messy curls down to her lower back. Her eyes are almond shaped and deep green that blends with other colors day to day. Her features are small and petite, almost delicate. She stands an impressive 6'4" with a great deal of the height being in her legs. Now for the unusual part: her skin is albino. Neither her eyes nor her hair is affected by this condition, only her skin; making her a medical wonder. She typically wears all black, the one exception being her blood red jacket. It is loose and over sized. It hangs limply on her slender frame. It also has black markings on it that appear to be an unknown script.
Personality: Tenma is an incredibly moody girl; almost to the point of being bipolar. She can be a cheery young girl or the darkest creature you have ever met. She has a violent tendency that hails from her past. She appreciates the beauty of Venice, but never gets to enjoy it in the hurried bustle of everyday life. As for a virtue; diligence. Give her a task and she will not stop until it is complete. On the other hand, her vice is wrath.
History:Born in the city of Yokohama, a city west of Tokyo, Tenma was far from normal. She was born to Mugoi Yamanaka, a local politician that worked in Tokyo, and Uiuishii Warabe, a local flower shop owner. The two were wed five years before Tenma entered the picture. They lived in utter bliss, always proving the gossip reporters wrong. The day they announced the pregnancy was a joy filled day to begin with, much less with such spectacular news. That day was the local cherry blossom festival, the perfect day to spread the word about the next perfect little girl. Everyone said she would look like her mother and have the brains of her father, it was a guarantee.

The fateful day finally arrived, a cold and blustery winter night. Ocean winds had caused the temperature to plummet and ice to form on any still being. Uiuishii laid in her hospital bed, not bothered a bit. Granted, she was pumped with the best drugs money could buy. She nurses watched the babies heart monitor in awe. With a normal child their heart rate spikes during a contraction, however, with child thrived on stress. Her heart rate would drop substantially during a contraction. Mugoi sat nervously out in the waiting room. By the time he had arrived from Tokyo it was too late for him to watch the delivery, so he would just have to wait. He paced around the room in anticipation. Being a father was an incredible concept. Hours had passed before the doctor came to retrieve him. The man attempted a smile, but he had nothing but bad news. The baby had been born with complications. Her umbilical cord had been wrapped around her throat and they weren’t sure she would make it. They were performing CPR on the baby as the two men spoke. From there the news only got worse. His wife’s spleen had been ruptured during the birth, but they hadn’t figured it out until after she passed out from blood loss. She was currently in surgery.

Five years had passed since that dreadful night. It was Tenma’s fifth birthday, she lived after all. She was expected not to be able to function as a normal child because of brain damage, but she was exceeding every child in everything. She was unstoppable and difficult to keep up with, being such a young girl. This day she blew out her candles, which would be held in time forever as a photo. Her father, her mother, and all of her friends were present. Even her t-ball coach was there, along with the entire team. It was a big day for such a little miracle.

Then there were political debates and meaningless dinner talk amongst the Yamanaka trio. However, today was very different. Ten year old Tenma sat behind her father as he participated in a televised political debate. Tenma fought along in her mind, a genius among all. The debate went on hot and heavy, the two men determined to prove their point best for the people of Tokyo. Tenma looked over to a camera pointed in her direction, sparing it a smile and a wave. That camera caught that child’s every move. As Tenma looked at the camera, screams were released from the crowd and something warm, fluid, landed on the pure white skin of Tenma. Her eyes widened as she pivoted away from the camera to watch her father fall to the ground. A single shot through the head had killed the world known politician. His ten year old daughter witnessed everything. She was so in shock that tears couldn’t even form. She looked up towards an apartment complex balcony to see the killer smile and walk away, never to be found.

Year thirteen; Tenma was on a plane to Venice. Her mother had died last year from a brain tumor. Tenma had spent her twelfth year in Yokohama sorting out the estate and taking care of the family name. She stared out the window as Venice passed below. It was a truly magnificent sight. The uncle she was going to live with was a big electronics company CEO; a big shot guy for a big shot company. Tenma landed to a warm smile and an empty embrace. Tenma never spoke to this uncle. She didn’t know him. She didn’t trust him. Family or not, there was a reason her father had never had her meet him.

Now it is the current day. Tenma has lived four years with her abusive uncle. She stays in her room or out of the house; there are no exceptions. Tenma is the top student at her high school, though that is to be expected with her upbringing. She is the goddess of sports and music--granted, passion wields result. Juggling this would be overwhelming for anyone. She is incredible by anyone’s standards, growing with every step and every rising sun.

Name: William Herb
Profession: Ex-Marine (Rank: First Lieutenant); Firefighter
Age: 42
Nationality: American
Languages: English and Italian
Physical Description: He's 195 pounds, green eyes, clean cut black hair with well kept goatee, and he is in very good shape from his marine days that he maintains. He wears old Faded Work Jeans with a white work t-shirt with a long brown Trench coat, and he has a scar above his right eye sustained from shrapnel during Desert Storm.
Personality: His Belief in the supernatural extends from his religious beliefs which is Lutheran. Since his fighting in Desert Storm he believes that there are evils that cause people to do things any normal person would never consider doing. He believes that there are three types of people: good,evil, and innocent. Good people try to fix the problems of the world. Evil people create the problems of the world. The innocent are the victims of this interaction between good and evil and circumstance. His greatest virtue is that when the innocent are in danger he will go to extraordinary lengths to save them. His greatest vice is that he goes looking for trouble. He feels that if he sits and does nothing while there is evil out there he is just as guilty as those committing the crime. He would kill and, if called for, die to protect people he believe to be innocent and good.
History: Born in New York, he was in Iraq during Desert Storm, and other than that he hadn't done much traveling. His father was a military man and his mother was a traditional stay at home mom now living a quiet, simple life. He has an older sister who is a lawyer and a younger brother who is a doctor. He went to a public high school and eventually went to West Point for college and military training. He served for five years in the Marines during Desert Storm. After Desert Storm, he didn't feel like he was making much of a difference anymore so he joined a local fire department back in New York and has been working there since then. He has come to Venice as a vacation that is long over due, and it was partially forced on him. He wants to see Rome, but is also interested in spending a majority of his vacation in Venice. Since arriving he has been sight seeing.

Name: Sebastian Reynolds
Profession: College Student/Crime-Scene Cleaner
Age: 22
Nationality: American
Languages: English, Japanese, Spanish
Physical Description: Most people just refer to Sebastian as huge. Of course, it makes sense as he staggers over most people at 6'5" and has broad shoulders. Growing up, he was always one of the bigger kids and was immediately recognized for it. He wears boots large enough to be boats and always wears a pair of multi-colored teashades over his dark brown eyes. His hair is long and nigh black upon first glance, but if inspected closely and thoroughly you could find every possible hair color in his hair. Sebastian regularly wears a military jacket with several pockets, leather biker gloves, and a series of bracelets and an eyebrow piercing, but other than that his clothes vary. He sometimes wears black shirts with witty sayings or sometimes he'll wear a plain white shirt. He almost always wears blue jeans, but sometimes he'll wear black jeans. If needed to dress nicely, he either wears silk shirts and sometimes, if he really needs to dress nicely, wear a rather nice tuxedo. It's also rare to see him either without a cigarette or at least craving for one.
Personality: Sebastian is usually a rather odd person. He has many habits, some of them illegal. One of his habits is he tends to unconsciously flirt with girls, and another is he tends to randomly declare that he loves muffins. The ones that are illegal include: kleptomania, pyromania (leading to arson), drug abuse, and violent tendencies. When angry, which is often due to him being hot-headed, he tends to get the urge to attack of hit someone or something. If he does attack someone, he will go about it in an oddly intelligent way, wearing a mask, gloves, and clothes, and making sure of no witnesses. Due to his work, he'll go through bouts of depression and anxiety, but he can look at the most gruesome scenes and not even show emotion. He tends to seem the type not to care about anyone, but in all reality he just prefers to stay away from people because he's afraid that they'll turn out to be his next crime clean-up. Also, despite his large size, he is surprisingly nimble and subtle, able to get away with stealing right under people's noses. And thanks to his unusually leveled head, he can look at his own crime scenes without showing a hint of remorse or even revealing that he had been there before. Sebastian typically would kill for his habits, would die to stop crime, and would sacrifice anything to save someone.
History: Sebastian was born in a small town in the middle of the United States, but grew up on the road as something always tended to happen to make him move, from it being his mother's abusive boyfriend, him getting expelled from the school district, or him getting into trouble with the wrong people. Sebastian eventually graduated in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and began living on the road, driving wherever he wanted. After living on the road, he stopped in Seattle, Washington and got himself a job cleaning up crime scenes and soon enrolled himself into the University of Washington. Through his work, he learned several things about the human anatomy and how to control his fear. During the summer, he would travel somewhere for a few weeks and then come back. This year is his first year going somewhere out of the country, and he had heard good things about Venice so he decided to go there. He had arrived to Venice not too long ago, and so far has only done the usual tourist things.

Name: Ruslan Kouldeva
Profession: College sophomore
Age: 20
Nationality: Russian
Languages: Russian, Italian, Spanish, very little German and English
Physical Description: Tall and thin, he has a fairly unremarkable appearance. Ruslan has some acne scars left over from his less glorious days of high school, and his eyes are the same rich brown shade as his thick, but short, hair. He is very lightly tanned, as he doesn't avoid the sun, but spends most of his time indoors. Ruslan has the attractively angular facial structure peculiar to his race, and speaks both Italian and Spanish with a Russian accent. He tends to dress unobtrusively, typically a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt underneath an unbuttoned shirt. And he almost always color-coordinates. He also accessorizes; his tastes change over time, but at the moment, he is particularly fond of neckties (whether or not he is wearing a dress shirt) and a pendant comprised of a six-colored rainbow heart, an iron crucifix, and a small brass anchor, all three of which have heavy emotional value to him, for various reasons.
Personality: Ruslan's primary defining detail is his misanthropy. Beginning near the end of middle school and continuing to the present day, Ruslan has displayed a deep-seated dislike of people in general. He does have friends, of course, and is not an overall disagreeable person, but on the whole, he views human beings in an extremely negative light. He is a thoughtful person, even though he often speaks without much thought. He has an almost unsettling obsession with philosophy and logic, often meditating on the subjects for hours at a time. The most important virtue, to Ruslan, is loyalty; he has never been able to abide infidelity, and shows no signs of starting soon. He has a deep interest in anything of aesthetic value, and while focusing his studies on foreign languages, he has dreams of becoming a fiction writer; he spent a good deal of his youth in the Italian port city of Gaeta, near Formia, and throughout his travels, has never loved any country more than he loves Italy. He has no solid beliefs regarding the supernatural or the afterlife, due to his interest in philosophy and reason. An adequate overall description of Ruslan is that he is a talkative and friendly person, but one who is also very thoughtful and dark-minded. In that sense, he is a contradiction of sorts. A direct quote from Ruslan, several years ago, which sums up his view of humanity: "I don't believe whatsoever in any sort of inherent human goodness.... No, it's not because I've been screwed over or anything, I just think all people are the same. Every human being has a few good points and a bunch of crap. Some people have more crap than others, but they all have a lot, and nobody has more than a handful of good points."
History: Ruslan has had a somewhat convoluted upbringing, which has contributed to his love of travel and language. Born in Naples in a hospital operated by the United States Navy (a hospital which is, incidentally, now abandoned), Ruslan's parents soon divorced. His father, a university professor, returned to Russia, and his mother traveled to the United States, where she continued her work in the United States Navy. Ruslan spent a great deal of his youth jumping between his mother and father, and as a result, gained a lot of experience flying at a young age. It soon became apparent that he would seek a career in either languages or writing, as he simultaneously developed a love of foreign languages as well as a hobby of writing. He attended a number of schools growing up, including three elementary schools and two middle schools, but insisted on attending the same high school for four years. After graduating, he traveled to Venice to study languages, philosophy, art, and literature, among other things. He speaks Spanish, Italian, and Russian fluently, and is also studying English and German, though he is nowhere near fluent in either.

Name: Lawrence Vigilante
Profession: Detective
Age: He believes 27
Nationality: Italian
Languages: Italian, English, and poor Latin
Physical Description: His deep brown eyes are accompanied by a set of permanently-furrowed brows, giving off an overall intimidating look. He stands at an average 5' 11" tall, being as tall as most of the men in Italy, he blends well into a crowd. His arms and legs, when not covered, reveal a thick-muscled and scarred tissue whenever he moves, reminiscent of his farming days. His teeth, are mildly white, though he never smiles enough for you to see the yellowish tint they hold from not brushing for 22 years and the constant smoking he does. He has a generally gaunt face, a wide jaw, low protruding cheekbones, and a chin that rounds off at the end; allowing anyone looking to assume he is half-asleep and starved of food.
Personality: Lawrence is morbid to say the least. He rejects society as deplorable, believing it is beyond any worth or saving. It is a question to as why he became a detective in Venice, as he never really cared for it- or for the fact that it was a safety hazard. He has a strong belief as a Catholic and would sacrifice his own life to protect his beliefs, voicing his opinion loudly whenever he pleases; even ranting for no apparent reason other than the fact that someone was there.
Strangely enough though, despite all his shortcomings, he still holds a paternal instinct [deep down beneath his "tough-guy" facade] towards all people, feeling he can do a great good in the world. No matter what the cost, Lawrence has always been able to look out for other people better than he has ever looked out for himself, injuring himself more times than others would have, just to protect them.
One of his many problems (amongst smoking, jealousy, and violent religious fervor) is his vehement hostility towards anyone who even causes him to stop thinking "happy" thoughts.
Lawrence, being extremely paranoid, tries to only remember his happy childhood, with his foster family; though when this vision is interrupted he becomes furious, being known to go into a flying rage and beat even non-"offenders". Though, he can be an extremely vocal person, he stays quiet most of the time, knowing his silence is the safest bet to staying undisturbed. Almost as an oxymoron, he is also extremely outgoing, to and annoying point, though when he does speak up he mostly does it out of kindness and not hatred.
Lawrence likes to think the point of his whole flip-sided personality is so he can be completely unpredictable even to himself. In fact he knows his personality sounds impossible on paper, tearing itself apart as it is read, but once experienced it is very simple to understand his spontaneity and how exactly it operates; fluctuating answers and reactions to experiment with people's.
History: His birth parents are unknown, as he was raised in an orphanage for the first three years of his life until he was adopted by a family of farmers who lived in the hills of Naples. His family was home schooled, learning whatever his parents/father felt was necessary, or whatever he could teach would be more accurate. Though a large family, it was probably closer than that of many modern suburban homes you always hear about in America. Lawrence and his siblings always shared the blame for everything, willing or not, they were all punished painfully. Though because of this, each of the siblings shared a close bond with each other, and almost instinctively knew what the other was thinking. Even Lawrence, the obvious oddball in the family was accepted whole-heartily without even a second thought.
The only thing Lawrence learned in his life were: religion, honor, duty, and fidelity. He grew up always having a strong relationship to God, and prayed to Him faithfully in their small chapel room on their land. His close connection with his family caused him to grow up to never bring any harm to the other members of his family, and to always make them proud- whether or not they could see him. His sense of "right" and "wrong" was second to none according to his father, though of course this didn't mean that he always did the right thing, he could just be depended on to know what it was- regardless if he gave a damn for it. Finally, he learned to tell the truth- if there was anything to say about this, I would indulge your natural intrigue, but it is exactly what it is; Lawrence always told the truth, even if he got everyone in trouble for it, a downside for his siblings but he was respected for it.
He lived with his family for his whole life until he was 22 or something around there- he couldn't count so he wouldn't know. On the month of his mother's some-odd birthday a sudden freak storm caused a flash fire to destroy his home, three of his eight siblings, his mother, and the soil that he had so long depended on. In an effort to help his mourning family, Lawrence set out to find some money in the world to obtain another home for the rest of his family.
If you asked him, "Why Venice?" he wouldn't be able to tell you. On a train station in Naples, the storm had mysteriously canceled every stop except the one to Venice- strange as the train to Venice went straight through Rome and Tolentino and never made a stop, but Lawrence never had noticed this and only saw an opening of opportunity. So he boarded the train to Venice where he got a job as a Private Detective, specializing in finding anything he was asked to, and he did it to the point.
Currently he has spent 5 years in Venice, and feels he has almost enough money to support his family- if they're even alive...

3. Other guests and hosts of the masquerade



The Jester
Profession: Shakespearean Jester
Age: Unknown. Should mortals have the ability to believe such ancient entities might exist, some hints mark him as over 300 years old, such as referring to the city as "The Serene Republic of Venezia."
Nationality: Plausibly Italian. He always refers to Venice as Venezia. However, his skin is always covered, and his accent shifts as he desires.
Languages: No one has spoken to him in a language he has not been able to understand and respond in. This includes one plucky scholar who believed he could fool the Jester with Sanskrit.
Physical Description: He wears a jesters uniform and a full face mask. The uniform is very tight, showing a strangely skinny man to be under it with rather awkwardly long limbs, yet he moves with amazing grace. The uniform and mask always match in color, though the color scheme alters regularly. Everyone first meets him while he wears green and white. The mask may have differing details, but usually there are golden notes on a music score over his right temple. He also sometimes carries a wand that jingles.
Personality: Haha, try to define that which defies logic and resists registration. His personalities seem to be affected by his masks and colors. However, the only time his personality is quantifiable is when he first meets a person. In such a case, he's morbid, nihilistic, and playful. After that, one meeting he is jovial, and in a meeting five minutes later he is depressed.
History: No one knows. There are reports of the Jester throughout Venice's history, but when a man is this covered it would be simple for it to be a different person throughout the ages.

Teofilo Rossini
Profession: Family owner of "The Fool's Glass" company, a glass company on Murano.
Age: 58
Nationality: Italian
Languages: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese
Physical Description: In his youth, he was a strapping lad, and he often shows pictures of him when younger to remind himself and others of this fact. Now he is a rather robust man, fairly short and fat. He has eaten well, and it shows in his round face and body. He always wears suits, except on the days he actually works on glass, when he wears jeans and a grubby white shirt. He has graying hair which is slicked back, and is always clean shaved.
Personality: He is the salesman. He grew up in the showroom of Murano, and though he long has ascended from this position in the family, he keeps his gusto of youth when dealing with people. He is quick to make friends and promises. He will furiously try to keep his promises, although he is also known for over extending said promises and letting down a few people here and there.
History: He grew up in the family business. He started in the showroom, and he was training to be an apprentice, and possibly a master in time. However, he disagreed with being below someone, and though he did train, he spent most of his time defiantly doing his own thing or in the showroom. Now that he owns the business, when the master is not working with the forge, he goes down and makes his own creations. He knows they are not very good, but it is meditative for him. Now he is married with several children whom are already taking a variety of positions in the business.


The project is also known as the Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico project, or Experimental Electromechanical Module project in English. The project is to help save Venice from sinking. It claims this will be done through floating gates, but some claims seem to point to a more devious project. Little is known beyond the public face of the company.

Savaria Esposito
Profession: Assistant Engineer
Age: 31
Nationality: Italian
Languages: Italian, English, German
Physical description: A rather plain looking brunette. She wears her hair short and down. She wears glasses, is average height, average weight, brown eyes. She wears a business suit at work, and is never caught with a skirt. She wears no jewelry except for a ring to signify she is married. The ring has many diamonds and is a platinum band.
Personality: The joke is she lacks one! She is very straight forward and matter-of-fact. No one believes her capable of lies. She's monotone to the point the company has asked to record her for their phone system. On the weekends she generally works on side projects, such as playing bridge building simulators until she comes up with the next ingenious design. Since she has a lack of friends, her coworkers regularly refer to her as boring and monotonous.
History: As a child she was usually shunned by her classmates. She was not enjoyable to work with, though she was brilliant. She worked jobs in the back of places, as she was not truly suited for social work. This caused her to work harder with books in a society that seemed to be socially boisterous.

In time she went to Florence to study architecture, and then she came back to work on some mundane projects in Venice. When the officials set up MOSE, they asked her to be a part of it, and she gladly accepted. Because of her personal issues, though she was more than qualified, she did not receive the head engineer position.

Supposedly she is married. No one has ever seen her husband, she never talks about him, and no one asks. Most claim she's too much of an ice queen to be married, and she simply wears it to either look human or make sure men stay away.

"Hm?" Sophia looked at the Jester, tilting her head to the side. She had a gut feeling that he shouldn't be trusted, but she didn't want to rouse attention towards this scene. She didn't respond to any of his questions, afraid that she might upset the man. "Ah...All I want is happiness in life..." she spoke the words to herself more than to anyone, as she stopped in the middle of the bridge. Everyone was minding their own business, so when a piece of paper dropped into her fingers, they took no notice. Sophia mouthed the words written on the paper--"MOSE Project" in the center. She pronounced the Assistant Engineer's name perfectly, since Italian was somewhat similar to Latin. "Savaria Esposito..." Although perfect with the English language, people with good ears can hear the slight French accent in her words. She flipped the card and written in fresh ink, it read, "Your move, my little marionette," in French.
Sophia was a little shocked, despite her calm personality. Although it was a little fun to play around with the Jester, receiving a card from the air was something that usually doesn't happen...at all. She read the French over and over again, wondering who had wrote this. Was it the Jester man? Or perhaps some stalker? She had a huge feeling that none of her classmates would send her this note. After pondering about who the sender of the card was, she gave up.
"Hmm...life is going to get a little more exciting, I think," she smiled and gazed up at the sky. It was bright out, and the small breeze added a nice sensation to her skin.
She decided to tuck the card inside her pocket and walk leisurely around the area before heading towards her apartment. She might research a little more into the MOSE Project and Savaria Esposito.

Claire E. Norman

“Yes…sir. I apologize about that.” She wasted no time getting off the boat, the card in her right hand with her left still reaching for the missing pendant. She felt violated by that jester and automatically accused him of stealing her pendant. Hooligan. She swore at the jester who was nowhere to be seen. She wanted to report this to the man at the boat, but felt awkward about doing so given that she wasn’t suppose to be there in the first place. So she left without another word, red in the face from guilt and anger.

It wasn’t until she was out of sight from the man that she assessed her new situation. Her beloved pendant was missing and on top if it, it was missing in a country she didn’t know the language to and was a foreigner of. And…that hooligan was speaking Korean to her. She preferred English. She only knew Korean because as a side project she studied it to keep herself close to her roots. Shivers ran down her spin and mixed with her feelings of anger and helplessness. She was on the verge of tears having lost her precious pendant and being toyed upon this notion of the grieving heart.

But she held everything in and coached herself into calming down.

“This is all because of adjustment disorder. You’ve had a great loss, you’re in a new country and part of this adjustment disorder is culture shock. You’ll be fine. You can always buy another pendant…” But it was father’s gift, she whined in her mind.

She looked down at the card in her hand. It read: "This card is an appointment with him at 3 pm, which should make you only a little early. Ask him about that precious pendant of yours." She flipped it over to see the address and the name of the owner to “The Fool’s Glass,” Teofilo Rossini. She shook her head at all this, even if she was slightly curious. She took out her traveler’s map and translation book and set to work on finding this glass shop that her father had visited oh so long ago.

She wasn’t too far away to her surprise. With some haste she approached the quaint shop that nestled on a ledge overlooking the sea. It was fastened in a circular arena that looked like a small plaza lined with other curious shops. The exterior to “The Fool’s Glass” was a vivid red and two small windows displayed the most beautiful array of colored glass. Claire sworn there were some colors she had never seen before. She opened the rickety wooden door and the chime of a welcoming bell rang above her head. There was no one inside, so she called out after a quick glance at her translation book.

“Ciao, me scusa? (Hello, excuse me?)” She said in horrible Italian with a very thick Canadian accent.

Sophia was quite surprised at what she found, given that she hadn't lived in Venice for a very long time. She didn't get much help from the information she found about Savaria, but still wrote about the important details on a small sheet of paper. Scribbling the firm and island's name along with Savaria's details, she folded it neatly and placed it in the same pocket as the card.
Sophia locked her door and hopped down the stairs, exiting the apartment. Memories of the meeting with the Jester flashed in her mind as she walked along the sidewalk, humming along with the loud music of the parade. She tried to find a water taxi to see if it would take her to the firm that Savaria worked for. The MOSE project intrigued Sophia, and she would like to find a little more about it through a person who worked there.

Claire E. Norman

Oh thank goodness he could speak English and had assumed that’s what she mainly spoke. He seemed like a nice fellow, but judging by his messy state, Claire had once again infringed somewhere she was not supposed to be. When he had mentioned the shop was closed for the night, she couldn’t help but turn red in the face, embarrassed by her intrusion. But she was right to assume he was nice, for he offered to do business and did not shoo her away.

She put away her translation book into her travel bag and pulled out the mysterious card given to her by that hooligan. But she hesitated showing it to the glassmaker, clasping it close to her unsure what to do. After all, it came from a street punk that just stole her precious necklace and for all she knew, that hooligan could be part of some mafia trying to take down this kind glassmaker. For whatever reason the mafia would want to do so. Instead, she would approach the situation as a simple tourist.

“Well, my father visited this shop about fifteen years ago and bought a very lovely green pendant that I have worn ever since. I must say I’m impressed by the craftsmanship here. So now I just had to see this shop for myself.” She smiled at the glassmaker, Teofilo. But then her smile faded, “Though, oddly, on my way here the green pendant got stolen.” She reached for the spot near her collarbone where the pendant had always hung. She almost felt naked without it.

Claire E. Norman

She slowly reached for the necklace, still eyeing the sleek black stone in which it came from. Something did not seem right.

“This is…the same necklace?” She asked before taking it. She was uneasy about putting it on, still eyeing that black stone. Then she held the pendant to her eyes and examined it. Rude or not, Claire was skeptic to believe this was the same one. “I don’t see how my stolen necklace magically ended up in this cavern.” She then eyed Teofilo from around the pendant. “Is this some ploy? And I’m sorry Mr. Rossini, you’ve been nothing but nice. However, why would you have my stolen necklace in the first place?”

Claire E. Norman

She lowered the pendant and apologized to the old man, “I’m sorry Mr. Rossini. I did not mean to suspect you of anything or to keep you up. Thank you for the replacement. I shall take it.” Though besides my parents, there is no one I truly love that is still not alive… she thought to herself. She put it on and was relieved to feel the weight of the trinket around her neck once more.

She followed the glassmaker back up to the storefront where she purchased the new necklace. She made her way for the door, and once opening it, she turned back to Teofilo. “Thank you again Mr. Rossini. Have a pleasant night.”

((let me know if she wasn’t suppose to make it to the storefront x.x Was taking some liberty to keep things rollin’ >.>))