Antonia De'Rossi

24 y/o | July 10 | Female | Italian

"You will need my secrets to win this fight..."

The Architect

ETYMOLOGY

Antonia was named after the Italian architect Giovanni Antonio De’Rossi. An architect who had been active in the Baroque period and was mainly active in Rome. Though the relation between Giovanni and Antonia is unknown, presumed to be one of her ancestors, the girl has inherited the feminine form of the late architect’s name. Coincidentally, along with the name she has seemingly also inherited his talents as well.​

ALIAS

The alias as ‘The Architect’ is exactly what it claims itself to be and what the etymology of her name suggests. Antonia is an architect, studied to become one and is now utilising this skill into her daily life as her 'regular' job, but also in her official role as a De'Rossi. She uses her knowledge to predict hidden alleyways, to calculate weaknesses in defences, but also to build new hideouts for the various groups who request such. ​

NICKNAMES

• Annie As a young girl Antonia was often called ‘Annie’ by her parents and close relatives. At some point in time she had even believed that ‘Annie’ was her name, a reason why her parents were quick to change. However, no one has called her by the name anymore after her parents passed away, leaving it to be a nickname in memory.
  

• Little lady, Nia & Beautiful Nicknames given by Bartholomew (Mewmew). She doesn't like to be called 'Little Lady' by him, for she is older. Neither does she likes it to be called 'Beautiful' by him because it makes her feel awkward. 'Nia' is the only nickname she likes in the list, but that doesn't stop him from calling her by any of them whenever he feels like it.
  

• Ice Princess The nickname ‘Ice Princess’ has nothing to do with Anotonia’s overall personality, but with one of her passions and talents. Back, before the accident happened, in which she also lost her parents, Antonia was a figure skater. Rumours had it that she was quite talented, as she frequented competitions, however had to stop after she got critically injured in the accident. As such this ‘title’ has lost its original meaning nowadays.​
  

Allegiance: Double Agent, neutral

PERSONALITY ​

Determined It shows in everything Antonia does. The determination to prove herself, to show the truth, to bring peace, to take over her uncle. Sometimes it shows itself in a bad light, an example being how she underhandedly had overthrown her uncle. Other times this determination makes her successful, as her family members accept her as the leader and how the opposition seems to be less disapproving of her taking over. All in all, Antonia is unwavering once she has set her mind on something, whether it is to help someone, help herself, or to reach an overall goal.

Charismatic Pleasing to the eye, but also pleasing in character. She knows how to read the mood, when to interject and when to flirt. Due to her upbringing Antonia has been taught to read the people around her, to know what to say and when to say it. This makes it easy for her to say what the other wants to hear, to wiggle her way into their hearts and for them to take a liking to her. Antonia is a typical friend of everyone, but at the same time a friend of no one.

Rational Logic before everything. Antonia likes to bind everything to something logical, to something that she can explain and understand. If she can’t, if unable she becomes so inherently uncomfortable that she won’t stop looking for a reasonable explanation until she has it. She is a thinker, someone who works and lives with their brain instead of their heart. A trait greatly appreciated by her fellow researchers, but also a fault at the same time as she is always last to figure out what she feels herself.

Observant The trait that causes the misunderstanding of her piercing eyes. Some think she might be glaring, others believe that she is constantly judging them. However it is neither one of the two, Antonia is simply observing, taking in the details of her surroundings. Antonia lives for the details, wishes to know and be aware of everything surrounding her. A downside to it is that she may pay too much attention to one person, possibly bothering them about something they don’t wish to share.

Curious She wishes to learn, everything that there is and can be. Antonia is surprisingly curious for her composed character, able to forget about everything around her if she is intrigued enough. Once a subject has caught her interest the female is capable of digging and immersing herself completely into all available sources, usurping all of the information she can get and appear again when she knows everything there is to know about it. It is a good trait for a student, weren’t it for the fact that she has more than one subject to follow and give attention to.

Cautious

She lives in her head, everything enters her brains first, evaluated and stays there. Rarely does Antonia let something go to her heart and will she act upon it. She thinks about virtually everything, to the well-being of these she cares about, to how she is to successfully reach her next goal, to the sense of life. Antonia can think and sit for hours straight, doing nothing else but thinking and being in thought if given the opportunity to do so.

Integrity Antonia lives by many rules, set by herself on how she wishes to be a better human being. Honesty is a key point for her, she expects everyone around her to be honest with her as she is with them. She is, however, never blunt, trying to withhold herself when her opinions are unasked for. Though neither would she dance around it either, when she feels that her opinion is asked for, she will say it no matter how it may come across, but never thoughtlessly.​

BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised an Italian. Antonia was one of these so called 'new blood' nobles, people from high class that had bought their way in through money and fame. Shortly put, Antonia was rich and with that she grew up with everything she wanted. The girl believed that her parents were entrepreneurs, and that she was one day to follow them, but the truth was a little darker and bloodier than that. She wouldn't know about any of that until her teens.

Of course she had her suspicions now and then. No matter how her parents tried to hide it from her there were hints that they accidentally dropped. Bloodied clothes, small accidental mentions of fights and the unusual fear her parents' seemed to invoke in others. She tried not to think too often of it, thinking that it was because it was the world of adults. Besides, the sight was always rare, even despite their jobs, for Antonia was tucked away safely in a boarding school half of the time. Adult business she thought of it and tried not to think of it too much. Her parents knew what they were doing, and besides, she was working hard towards her own dreams.

From a young age on Antonia had wished to become an athlete, competing and practising her days away in the ice ring. She wanted to be a figure skater, winning championships and dreaming of the Olympics. The girl was well on her way towards this glorious career with the specialised schools she attended and the professionals hired to tutor her. Never would she have thought that this all would be shut down so brutally.

Truth was that if everything had gone the way it should have gone Antonia wouldn't have known about the true nature of her parents' job until she was eighteen. She would have gone on the path she had chosen and won many more prizes, practising many more hours. However, fate wasn't kind to her. At the age of fourteen she was involved in a car accident that took away both her parents in an instant and left her behind with her dream career in shambles. The reminder of it daily visible on her leg, near her knee, as an ugly scar has nestled itself there.

However, because she was so extremely young and ignorant it was outrageous to think that this girl could take over and lead a Mafia family. Surely, they weren't big, but she was too ignorant in their ways and still clueless on what the customs were. Her uncle took over for her, acting as a proxy until they deemed the young girl old enough. However, inside of the Mafia world there is little honour and the lust of power is always present. Alongside Antonia's hesitance, as she was forced into a complete new world and the likes, the people started to lose out in favour against her. By the time that the female had learnt to accept her family and studied their ways she was suddenly left behind. Her uncle was the new leader, reigning the sceptre and changing the policies her parents had settled.

What the uncle forgot, however, was the fact that the apple never fell far from the tree. In the years that Antonia had learnt her way around in the underground world, and she did so the hard way, she had slowly devised her plans, working her way towards the seat that belonged to her. It was her first and biggest assignment that she led, and it took years of planning. Before that the female had always been tasked with the smaller jobs, put behind the screens, out of the view from the rest. A grave mistake, so it turned out later, as she had worked behind the backs of everyone else to gain favours and win over supporters. Finally, when she was 22 she had enough confidence to openly charge at her uncle.

It was her first kill, for that was what had to be done within this world if one wished for power. Until today Antonia feels regretful of having to betray her relative like that. Dirty that she had to use such underhanded tactics. Sometimes she wonders whether she made the right decision by claiming back her seat, or if they were better off under the rule of her uncle. After all, he wasn't a tyrant, just another one of the many faces that wished for power and wished for the best of the family. Under the lead of her uncle the De'Rossi had risen up on the foreground, expanding their influence and people. With Antonia on the reigns the family faded back into the background again, where they originally were found and where they would sneak out of again once they had their target clear in view. What the best policy is, is to be discussed, but that Antonia represents the old values her parents represented as well is undeniable.

However, these were stories of years ago. At the present time Antonia is still the leader of the small family De'Rossi, specialising herself in laying out traps, infiltration and gathering intelligence on everyone and everything. This makes them perfect as spies. With the current feud going on within La Morte the De'Rossi was approached by both parties to create an alliance with them. However, as a family who relies on knowledge for their power it would be unfavourable to openly declare their affinity for the other. For this reason the family presents itself as neutral to the public, while it secretly has vowed 'loyalty' to both sides of La Morte. This way they still maintain their power and, to make it better, are never at the wrong side.

APPEARANCE

Height: 165 cm [5’3]

Weight: 51 kg [112]​

Hair As a young girl and athlete Antonia keeps her hair around her shoulders. Long enough to get it in a bun, but short enough for it not to fall out and stand in her way when skating. After her parents’ deaths she cuts it off entirely, making sure to keep it in a boyish cut. Her hair is always out of her face as she doesn’t like it sticking onto her when she is sweaty.

Grown up now and a lady Antonia has grown her hair out again. In the past ten years her hair has grown significantly, reaching for her back now. Long waves go down to her mid-back now and Antonia is frequently see wearing her hair either loose or in a ponytail, depending on what she is doing. She now also has straight bangs. All in all, it is more feminine than what it was before when she was younger.

Eyes Almond shaped and electric green. Antonia is known to have beautiful ‘gems’ for her eyes, bright and cat like. Lush eyebrows that are dark in colour like her hair along with thick eyebrows to accentuate them. Her eyes are known to have a sharp look to them, usually shocking people who are less confident of themselves. Though Antonia doesn’t mean to scare anyone her stare, and tendency to observe, does come across as if she is judging them.​

Complexion Pale and fair. Because of the time she spends in the ice ring Antonia doesn’t meet the sun often. Even after the accident her habits to lurk around the ice ring remained. Also her sensitivity to the heat makes it also hard for her to go out and meet the sun, for she doesn’t like the hot and dozing feelings she gets from it. The most prominent trait there is her birthmark under her right eye. A tear-shaped birthmark that has earned her one of her most infamous nicknames.

Face Oval. High and prominent cheekbones, small chin. She has thick, dark, eyebrows and a straight sharp nose. Her lips are gracefully accentuated and turn a slightly down, making it look like as if she is always frowning or depressed about something. She has a small ‘pouty’ mouth, with full lips that are naturally cherry of colour.

Body As an athlete Antonia maintains her weight well, making sure that she is always in top condition to skate. Before the accident she followed a rigid schedule and diet, never missing an opportunity to hone her skills more. It is flexible and sturdy, able to take a fall or two. However she has lost muscle mass after that she had to give up on skating on a professional level. This has caused her weight to go in decline as muscles weigh more than fat. Antonia as well maintains her healthy diet that she followed before as well, making the gain of fat also lesser.

In overall her rump is short while her limbs are long. Due to the years of ballet she attended for figure skating her shoulders are also rather broad, but not so much that it stands out or is immediately noticeable. She has a slim waist, a trait she is proud of and likes to accentuate.

Even after retiring as an athlete she still maintains some muscle, though significantly less than before and has smaller shoulders thanks to it as well. Her chest is still never that filled, still ranking to be small compared to her peers. The most significant change in appearance is that she lost a lot of muscle volume and thus weight. She is slimmer than she was before, not that she was bulky or fat before, however with her getting taller and losing muscles the changes in her body are significant.​

RELATIONSHIPS

FAMILY

De'Rossi famiglia "It is small, and broken, but it is family, I think?" The De'Rossi family specialises themselves in infiltration and gathering intelligence. True to the causes of the De'Rossi Antonia represents all these services and expands on them with her own capabilities. The De'Rossi family represents itself to be neutral in the fight of La Morte, but in the meanwhile they have gone behind the backs of either parties to form an alliance, taking on the dirty behind the screen jobs that could either mean win or lose. Their mission is to spill as little blood as possible, their goal to gain a powerful alley by siding with the winner, and their cause is to maintain their position as the shadow-player of the Mafia world. The De'Rossi is a small family [famiglia] within the Mafia world in Italy, but still a powerful player to have around and to keep close.

The De'Rossi family just got out of an internal war themselves. After the death of Antonia's parents the family was split between loyalty and power. At one side stood her uncle who could promise the De'Rossi a grand future on the foreground. At the other side there was the loyalty of the members who wished to stay true to their name and stay in the background, thus serving Antonia. Surprisingly enough, for a family that specialises themselves in backstabbing of sorts, loyalty won, was it only because Antonia underhandedly had tricked her uncle and forcefully removed him. A power struggle on who could play the Mafia game the best, a game which Antonia won.

MAFIOSI

La Morte famiglia "I owe them many things, but to choose a side and risk an enemy?" They were one of the most powerful families that Antonia managed to make an alley out of when she was planning for her uncle's fall. She owes them a great deal, such as her current seat and her present influence. As such the female always makes a point out of it to keep them as close as she can. However, with their leader murdered and their groups split Antonia is suddenly forced to pull back. She believes that it would be unwise for her to openly show her support for either side, so she tries to avoid it. However, not wanting to be left behind either she decided to sneakily vow her support to either side and help them out. That way she is always at the winning side and always has an alley if the fight is over.

Jacquelyn 'Jinx' Roux "Crazy, just... crazy..." Jinx was the first person Antonia approached in order to get into La Morte. Wishing for an alliance she hoped that this would be made easier by becoming friends with the supposed heiress. However, Antonia soon realised how naive she was in her thinking. The heiress had dealt with people like her since young and how to deal with her kind. Asides from that the female was also completely wasted in her mind. As such Antonia had an incredible hard time in dealing with Jinx, but she stayed determined. Now after years they can say that they are somewhat friendly, if not forcibly so. They have their inside jokes, such as the teddy bear she is gifted every year and the brochures that Antonia hands the heiress, but other than that the De'Rossi leader can't say that she trusts Jinx at all.

Saverio D'Ambrosio "Lukewarm papa-bear..." The two of them met through Saverio's son, Antony. Wary of Antonia's intentions he approached her to see who and what she was, to test her. Antonia had expected such to happen, but never to the extent as Saverio liked to put it. As it turns out, he was just incredibly protective of his only child. This softened Antonia a little, but also became the centre of all her taunts and jokes towards the older man. Saverio warmed up to her eventually, mainly because Antony really did seem to like the female and because the two peers eventually started to date. With the untimely death of his son Saverio changed, however. The warm father from before faded away, cracked and for a while Antonia and Saverio didn't talk. Mostly because the man refused to see her for a while in heartbreak over his son. In the present time they are still friendly, with Antonia playfully referring to him as her 'father-in-law'. She can however see the change in character, how it is cooling down to a freezing point and it scares her a little.

Antony D'Ambrosio - Deceased "I liked him, I did, just not in that way." Same as with Jinx, Antonia approached the young male with very much the same intent. They had similar names, so finding an opening for them to interact was an easy plan. What was surprising, however, was how well they got along with each other. Antonia and Antony were curious about the world and were shielded away from the underground. His father, Saverio, was at first wary of her, which was all in his right for Antonia did approach him with impure intentions. However, as they grew more friendly with each other Antonia started to share more with him as well. Antony might be the only person in the Mafia to whom Antonia completely opened up to. He was probably one of the few friends she truly valued in life and the only one within the Mafia world. Along with an intimate friendship the two of them also dated for a while before his unfortunate date. Antonia knew that he liked him, but she simply didn't see him that way, mostly because there was another inside of her heart. However, knowing that she could never date that person, and that Antony came with better benefits she did agree in dating him. His untimely death put an end to their relationship, however, which saddened Antonia greatly.

POLICE

Bartholomew Auditore "Mewmew is precious, really precious. I don't want him to get involved in this." They met in high school, not too long after that Antonia's life was turned upside down by the death of her parents. While she was still adjusting to the new world that was now her life she felt herself pulled towards the soft, gentle, kindness of Bartholomew. At first she just sat down with him, for they were both alone and seemed in need of company. However, after a while Antonia realised that this guy had something she had lost that day in the accident. A caring heart and kindness in general. Slowly, but surely they became friends, despite Bartholomew never knowing about Antonia's true identity. Where Mewmew, as she had decided to call him, would let himself be bullied, Antonia would stick up for him. Waiting the bullies up in an alley as she threatened them never to get near him again. In return she started to adopt his morals as her own, as she could greatly respect his peaceful ways. However, fate was unkind once again when the female decided that she wanted her rightful seat back. She knew she had broken this simple rule of non-violence the day that she murdered her uncle. She also knew that from then on the world would be a lot more dangerous for her and her loved ones. After crying her eyes out at Bartholomew's place one last time the female then seized their contact. Limiting it to a few words once in a blue moon, but in overall treating him like a stranger in order to protect. It was painful, for she truly liked him as a friend and perhaps even more.

Occupation ​

Architect To the outside Antonia is an architect. She designs buildings for various uses and advises what features suits their wishes the best. She specialises herself in design and lay outs, expertises that she also uses in her hidden job as part of the Mafia. She is a freelance architect, meaning that she is her own boss and employee, something that makes it easier for her to come in whenever she wants to work. That way she isn't tied to time and schedules, which makes it easier to move around. Along with that she also designs bases, hideouts and buildings for the Mafia itself, to make sure that they can make their swift escape when the police decides to run their doors.

• Mafiosi Main objectives The De'Rossie family specialises itself in information gathering and infiltration, both skills that are also their main jobs within the underground world. Of course they aren't famous for that role in the shadows, for one is a terrible shadow player if they are known by what is meant to be hidden. They steal information, lay out plans for infiltration and espionage in other groups and sell it all the same. Next to that the De'Rossi family are also active as blackmailers, for they are allowed to play this role thanks to their information base.

• Lesser jobs However, next to the main role that they play the famigilia wouldn't be what they are today if they didn't have other ties. Ironically they are more known by these jobs than their actual roles, but that is all planned out and consciously decided to be so. After all, it would be a bad thing if everyone knew about their true nature, for that would mean no one would trust them. The De'Rossi family is known to be involved in funding and building underground casinos and the likes. Gambling by the civilians is still banned in Italy, and Antonia knows that, playing into that by designing their locations with elaborate escape routes for when the police comes in. Asides from that she also extends herself in other forms of illegal gambling, such as horse racings and other sports. It pains her heart, as a former athlete, but it is lucrative business as it brings in the money.

MISCELLANEOUS

LIKES

Ice ring Her favourite place to be at. One could say that without the ice Antonia isn’t full, not in her true habitat and element. While gliding over the ice everything seems to go up for her, speed, strength, agility. The female knows how to pull out her full competence once she is on the ice, having grown familiar to the frozen grounds underneath her.

Learning She loves to learn, to constantly seek for improvement and better herself, or broaden her own horizons. There isn’t such thing as too much for her, wanting to get to the depths and details of her favoured subjects. It is a thirst she somehow never quenches, but it is a lust she doesn’t mind having.

Figure skating At one point of time it was the centre of her life. However, now after the accident Antonia has greatly loosened up, being not as focussed on the sport as she was before. She still likes to dedicate much of her time to it, but it now is only a hobby. Though she still regrets that she had to give up on her dream she is glad that at least she wasn’t completely denied from practising.

Music & Viola Next to sports Antonia has always greatly appreciated music, always choosing her own pieces to dance on for her competitions. Next to her favoured sports Antonia also practised viola for years, but she never quite gave it the attention it deserves. She is average on the instruments, still able to play some nice pieces if she practises enough, but in no way able to compete on a high level.

Ice-cream She absolutely adores to eat this iced treat. Proud that it is one of Italy’s specialities as well Antonia likes to eat it no matter the timing. Though as a former athlete she had refrained herself from eating it too much the Italian is much more lax in the future, making sure to take a bite or two whenever she passes a shop that sells it.​

DISLIKES

Cursing She isn’t completely against it, but she certainly doesn’t like it. Antonia is someone who prefers explanations than expressions. Cursing is, in her opinion, a sign of a lack of wits that comes forth from a lack of intelligence. Not only is it disrespectful, but it is also stupid as nothing is achieved with it. So usually Antonia would refrain herself from cursing as well. However, when the situation is so entirely dire that even she sees no solution to it she may curse despite her beliefs.

Swimming She loves the frozen form of water, but when liquid Antonia prefers to stay away from it unless she is showering, or taking a bath. For some strange reason, which she doesn’t entirely understand herself, she feels an immense repulsion to swim.

Cowards & Doom thinkers These who are first to give up, are always afraid, and only see problem to problem without ever coming up with a solution. Antonia despises such people the most, feeling drained by them and their useless worries and incompetence. She believes, if one has the time to fuss, that they should use their brains to think of a solution to solve it, maybe even make it better. It is one of the kind of people that the Italian can’t work with and also will refuse to work with.

Driving In the future, when Antonia has a license, she will hate to drive. She is already uncomfortable when she needs to sit in the car, but it increases even when she is sitting behind the wheel. How she even got a license in the first place is a question, but she hates to drive, and usually would try to avoid having to drive by all means.

Beef For some reason Antonia hates beef. No matter the way it is prepared she doesn’t seem to take a liking to it. She usually claims that it is hard to digest, but there is more to it. She doesn’t like the taste and texture of it. However, that she dislikes it doesn’t mean that Antonia won’t eat it. She isn’t a picky eater of herself and thus will sallow away her own disgust when it is already served on her plate.​

TALENTS

Figure skating For many years Antonia practised it on a high level. Competing and gaining fame as a figure skater. She held much promise, so much, but it was all robbed one faithful day when she was hit in the car accident. Though, even if she can’t skate on the level she did before, it doesn’t mean that she has lost the complete ability to skate. She is still considered a prodigy, a talent, but just a weakened one, unable to compete for her previous title anymore.

Viola A viola is an instrument much alike to that of a violin, but lower in tune. She never practised much on it when she was still an athlete, putting her priority on her career first. However, after the accident Antonia has been balancing her time more, putting more effort and time in her music instrument as she found solace in it. It comforted her, which resulted in a tender band for her.

Mapping A surprising talent that seems to be a mystery inside of her brain. If Antonia walks through a house, or streets of a city, she is later capable of drawing them out in memory from an aerial view. It is a hard feat to do and it certainly takes some time, usually with most of the time lost with Antonia walking around, but it is a skill she inherited from her mother, who lead the branch of infiltration before. The Italian takes this talent as a precious skill of hers and doesn’t put it into display often, knowing what dangers there are by sharing such a talent to the public.

Infiltration True to what the name De'Rossi represents Antonia specialises herself in gathering intelligence and infiltrating bases. With her talent of mapping she can quickly figure out what the weak spots are in the security of a building, or guess where hidden entrances are. This helps her and others to plan out fast routes of escapes into the enemy building if needed. However, most of the times this speciality is a bit more hidden, not so viewable, known or obvious to the public as it sounds. Often, and such is the case in this recent conflict, the members of De'Rossi appears to be friends, hiding behind a façade while they are passing the information to the enemy party, effectively stabbing a knife in their backs.​

LANGUAGES

Italian As natural Antonia grew up and was taught the Italian language as her first and foremost language. It is the language she is the most comfortable in and in which she communicates in with her family.

English Commonly taught to all students Antonia was no exception. A useful language for the exchanges made to the world outside, and as the De’Rossi family has a lot of international contacts it is the most common language Antonia uses next to Italian.​