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

[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.

[eaglesonofnone]

The thought had him shaking his head. Traveling to other--

"Dimensions?"

Was that another term for these multiple worlds she'd spoken of? Realities? There were too many terms he couldn't quite mentally assemble, though the framework was beginning to come together.

[soulsword]

"More than one world," she said with an amused tilt of her head. "Unfamiliar are you?" Sometimes she forgot that not everyone had the strange life experiences that she did.

[eaglesonofnone]

"Very." An understatement if ever he had made one. All of this was unusual, and this idea of multiple worlds seemed patently false. How could there be more than one? How could there.

But he stood here. In a place unlike any other he'd seen. "I cannot believe it," he said, putting voice to his doubts.

[soulsword]

"Believing or not does not matter," she said with a matter of fact tone. If he believed or not it would hardly matter. They were here. That was a fact. "You are here. There is no reason to not believe what you can see."

[eaglesonofnone]

But Altaïr countered: "There is every reason. Your mind can be manipulated by herbs or venoms, alcohols or other toxins. Facades can be masterfully crafted. If this has happened here, I do not yet know - but I trust nothing until more is before me."

[soulsword]

"You speak from experience?" She questioned with a hint of curiosity in her tone. "Or perhaps simple paranoia?"