Wrestling with these contradictions.

[eaglesonofnone]

Altaïr was still unsure about this place. He'd been keeping to himself so far with great intent, watching from the rooftops and, though he'd been assigned a building and a room, he'd yet to enter it, having slept on those rooftops as he had countless times before.

The story they told about rebuilding, about strange magic - though he couldn't deny the magic, as much as he wanted to, it struck him with doubt. If this was a place to rebuild, why him? He was a killer. It was what he'd been raised and trained to do. He had no purpose in a place trying to rebuild unless someone specific was hampering that process. He could eliminate them, certainly. But why?

It wasn't as if he wanted to return to Masyaf. Not consciously, at least. Now that he'd seen precisely how conditional Al Mualim's care was, how he would be treated for doing precisely what he'd been raised and taught to do. He'd already wanted to leave the Brotherhood. That, he'd certainly done. Not of his own accord, true enough, but he'd left. This was, in its way, a chance to change things. It was what he'd hoped to do with Adha. But at least she would have been there and taught him another way of life.

Here... what did he have here? Nothing. Nothing at all.

He dropped own onto the street level between a pair of buildings, careful to not be seen before stepping out into foot traffic. He was hungry. While he had no money beyond what had been granted to him on his arrival, it was surely enough, with what he'd saved so far, to purchase a bit of food. He could've stolen it, but why? It served no purpose. Not yet. And he wasn't yet that desperate.

Food. For now, that would serve as a goal.

Comments

[skyward_eyes]

Food. Food is a very good goal. One that had led Nida into the tavern and then, once his food was acquired, to one of a few small tables that waited outside of it. He was working on a very hearty bowl of stew when something told him to look up, and there he was. The man in white.

For the life of him, Nida could not help but smirk.

"So you've come down from your perch then?"

[eaglesonofnone]

His answer was blunt, spoken while he passed Nida on the way to the person attending the tavern so he could request his food: "I am not a practiced hunter."

Hunter of men? Certainly. Hunter of food? No. He tended to survive on the most basic of meals outside of Masyaf and the Bureaus, which meant that this fare, when he received it, was unusual. Stew. He wasn't familiar with the style of cooking and it smelled... serviceable as he brought it up to his face to breathe in the scent.

Where were all the spices?

Still, he looked around the inside of the building and decided he didn't like what he saw. Not that anything was wrong, but it was too walled-in. Thus he stepped out with his own food and--

And a bit of vindictiveness came to him. He sat at Nida's table with no preamble and, after a glance to the street, pulled back his hood just enough that he could eat without fearing for the white of the fabric.

/was literally just emptying his inbox when this came in

[skyward_eyes]

Who was these days? Nida himself wasn't exactly adept at the practice either. But with Altair heading inside, he didn't have to worry about explaining that. He could just return to his stew and mealy bread. Except... Except then there the man was again, sitting across from him. For the life of him, Nida couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't try to climb with the food in your hands."

Good timing ftw

[eaglesonofnone]

"That would be foolish."

Though a glance at the roof and he wondered. He could probably make that jump with just a small aid. A vendor's stall, or perhaps a few crates. And his hands wouldn't have been needed. But--

"I have no reason to steal the bowl."

It wouldn't do to burn bridges here.

Though now that the thought came, he wondered. Should he apply it to this man as well, or only the natives? He wasn't very knowledgeable about life outside the Brotherhood. He'd never seen it for anything but a fiction that other people lived. Now...

"Where you came from. Was it much like this at all?"

Re: Good timing ftw

[skyward_eyes]

He can see it. The calculation in the attention the other turned away from him. And Nida wanted to laugh. Even he wouldn’t consider a climb with a bowl in hand. That was just silly. But you had to support that sort of creativity.

“No it wasn’t. And yes it was. Really, it depends on which city or village you were in. Winhill? Yes. One of the capitals? No. But there is also tech lacking here that even those places had.”

[mobprincess]

There was a lot of cool stuff about being a vampire. One of which - and one of Holly's favourites - was the ability to shift into a bat.

Granted, this was a skill she was still needing to practice before she had it down, but she was getting better at it. Which brings us to how she noticed a dude freaking sleeping on the roof one night for some reason?

Definitely something worth investigating.

So when she sees that very same dude appearing out of an alleyway the following day, she's curious to figure out what his deal is; he's dressed kinda weird too, but that doesn't tell her much. Weaving between people on her skates isn't too tricky, although keeping an eye on the mysterious hooded guy is. Luckily though, it doesn't take her long to catch up.

"Hey," she raised her voice enough to be heard over the general din of the street, "I gotta question for you."

[eaglesonofnone]

That sounded, Altaïr thought, like a young person. A girl, most likely, calling in his direction. And when he glanced around to see if anyone else was attending to the call, he could see that no one was.

...Him? A girl was calling to him?

He lowered his brow but paused, half-turning. He said nothing, but at least he'd stopped moving and had proven that he'd heard her. The question - he'd wait to hear it before giving any kind of answer. If he answered at all.

[mobprincess]

The idea that she may not get an answer hadn't really occurred to her yet; Holly was generally a 'cross that bridge when she came to it' kinda girl, at least with situations such as this.

Coming a stop close by as her hands found her jacket pockets, she gave the guy an appraising look.

Yeah. Definitely dressed weird. But in a cool kinda way.

"How come you were sleepin' on the roof? Seems like a lot'a effort when we've all got our own places t'stay. I mean, not that I can really blame you, it's way shady that they just have empty apartments left right an' centre t'give away, and it's way less space than I'm used to, but anyway, that ain't important- I was just curious why you picked the roof is all."

[eaglesonofnone]

He stared at her for a long moment as he parsed what she was saying. Her accent made it slightly difficult, but he'd heard worse. More, he didn't quite understand the words she'd chosen. Shady, to him, meant the space under a tree. But in the end, he simply shrugged. "Fewer here climb to the rooftops. It is safer."

Especially as, if he had been given a key to an apartment, how was he to know who else might have one.

[mobprincess]

The 'trying to figure out what she's trying to say' pause was one Holly was rapidly getting used to. She didn't think she talked all that weird, but being around some of the other folks here was starting to make her realise that maybe she did.

"Mm, that makes sense I guess...I haven't seen anyone actin' super suspiciously yet, but that ain't sayin' much considerin' the whole 'bein' brought here in the first place' situation."

[asthecroweflies]

Everyone needed food, and the psychic was no exception. He stepped out of the green building, tugging his ever-present leather gloves into place. All the better to avoid touching someone with, my dear. The food at the local tavern, just over the foot bridge toward the market district, had turned out to be damned good and that's where he was headed.

With instincts honed by study, he noticed someone fall into step not precisely with him, but much more subtle than that. It wasn't overtly suspicious by any means, but Jagger was a man who questioned everything.

"Afternoon, mate. Heading for a bite?"

[eaglesonofnone]

It took him a moment to realise that the voice he heard was aimed at him. It wasn't something that tended to happen in the Levant. Yes, people stopped and spoke, but not to scholars, and certainly not to men in hoods. His head tilted in the direction of the voice and he took in what he could. A young-seeming man with an accent that wasn't quite one he recognised. A bite, he'd said. Of-- Ah, of food.

"Yes," Altaïr said shortly, answering the question as it was posed.

[asthecroweflies]

Here was a bloke who wasn't used to being noticed. A part of him suggested he should even apologize but he shook off the notion quickly. It was just lunch after all.

"Me too. You wanna tag along. The name's Jagger."

[eaglesonofnone]

"...Why?" Why. Why would someone...

Ah.

"I suppose."

Someone had recognised him for what he was. Or similar. It was possible the man intended to offer work. He'd listen - here, now, he would, with no Brotherhood to guide him. He'd make the decision on its own merits.

[asthecroweflies]

The other man had come to some sort of decision, though Jagger had no way of knowing what, not without making contact, physically, with him. Then his gift of psychometry might give him a bit of insight...or it might reveal to him this man was a mass murderer and they were all on his hit list. Touching someone rather than something was always a crapshoot, it was why he kept his hands covered most of the time. People were moveable, objects static. They were just easier to read and tended to be less overwhelming...unless they were possessed by demons, but that was another story.

"You're new around here, yea?"

[soulsword]

Illyana watched Altaïr out of the corner of her eyes as he moved through traffic. He appeared to be someone with quite a focus on blending in and trying to not be seen. Which, of course, simply managed to peak her curiosity in regards to him. So, she watched with very little attempts at subtlety while he headed to find food.

"The Tavern's food is passable at best," she said with a slight tilt of her head. "But I suppose we should take what we can get. Most alternate reality kidnappings do not provide such freedom to their victims."

[eaglesonofnone]

Though it was obvious she spoke to him, it took him a moment to answer. He had never seen hair that shade before. All he had seen was black or brown, dark on dark skin. Even the Englishmen and Germans who came to the Levant tended toward brown hair, it seemed, but hers was...

Could that even be real?

But beyond that, what was it she even said? Alternate reality kidnappings? Each word individually, he understood, but strung together that way?

"What?"

[soulsword]

Illyana tilted her head and a vaguely amused smile crossed her face. It seemed something had confused him, though she wasn't entirely sure what. Not that it really mattered, it was amusing either way.

"Confused by something?"

[eaglesonofnone]

"I... do not understand your phrasing," he said, thinking that was the best way to communicate his position. Alternate. Reality. Kidnapping. The last, yes, he understood. Each of them had been kidnapped. But the rest?

[soulsword]

"I see. Unfamiliar with multiple worlds? This must be very confusing then." She tilted her head to the side and offered him the smallest of smirks. "Where I am from I travel to other dimensions with retaliative ease." Sometimes with disturbing frequency. Not to mention the amount of people from other realities that just lived in their own reality now. That in itself was somewhat ridiculous.

[tapestryoftime]

Syeira didn't have many skills or talents to earn money. She'd gotten by while living with the circus but there had been a group of them and they had all pulled their weight. This was significantly more challenging than that.

She had used some of her money to purchase what she needed and then found a street corner to perform an intricate dance with a staff spinning between each palm. Either end's of the staff were on fire while her steps followed a steady beat that couldn't be heard. She tossed the staff and spun before catching it again and taking a bow.

A few people tossed some coin into the hat she had set out but she hadn't thanked them. Instead she snatched up the hat and ran towards where Altaïr had just stepped into view. "I found you!" She grinned up at him.

"How have you been?"

[eaglesonofnone]

The woman. The one who thought of him as a Brother. He'd kept to himself for these past days and it had almost escaped him that he'd spoken with her. But there she was, hailing him and, as before, he still wasn't sure what to think.

"I am... well." It was as close to the truth as he could say. His money was thin, but it wasn't something he'd ever had to deal with before. Food was either found at the Citadel, provided by the Dais at the Bureaus, or hunted for in the wilderness between villages. With his skills, it still escaped him what he was going to do to feed himself unless he left the town to forage or hunt. "You... dance?"

[tapestryoftime]

Syeira nodded her head. "I do. It's actually one of the things I can do." It didn't bring in a whole lot of money but it was enough for Syeira to feed herself and that was enough. She currently didn't need a lot, though she was going to start buying fabric's to make herself costumes for her performances.

She smiled up at him. "It's fun too. What about you? Have you danced before?" He looked like he'd be good at it.

[eaglesonofnone]

A shrug and he said, "Yes. It was part of my training."

He said it flatly, though, with little to no emotion. He had no joy, really, in dancing. It was just another thing he was capable of. A tool in his arsenal, like the many he walked about with at any given time.

Though only belatedly did he think that he had admitted to having training. Yet, truly, would anyone suspect otherwise? Here, he doubted it. Here, walking around armed seemed irregular instead of normal. He didn't doubt he already drew odd looks.

[tapestryoftime]

"It doesn't sound like you enjoy dancing." Her head tilted curiously to the side. Syeira wasn't forceful in her declarations but curious and open. She saw no reason to keep secrets in this world but she understood that there were somethings that people didn't like sharing.

"What training did you enjoy? Was there anything?" If not, maybe he could find something he enjoyed here.