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?"

[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]

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."

[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.

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?"

[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."

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.”

[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?"

[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]

Most of what the man said, he understood. He ate while he listened, but when that one word came, his brows lowered. "Tech?" What was meant by that? What would this place lack that another had? Much, but the context helped not at all. What did he mean by 'tech'?

[skyward_eyes]

Wow, that's... Wow.

"Tech as in technology. As in machines and computers and all that jazz."

How can the guy not understand that?

[eaglesonofnone]

His brows lowered further and, with his hood pressed back as it was for his meal, it was, for once, visible. Altaïr looked up with his oddly yellow eyes full of unknowing, shaking his head. "If that is a language not English, German, French, or Arabic, I do not understand."

Machines... That, he knew at least in part. The wells, even carts - those were machines. But... Computers? Jazz?

[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.

[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.

[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?"

[skyward_eyes]

How does this man not understand the word? Especially since places like this TRANSLATE for them already. Nida just stares for a very long moment.

"Technology. I... I can't even explain this. The wheel is technology, even if it's old. So is mortar. And blacksmithing processes. Technology is... it's the things you learn and can do as a society I think? But usually I use it to mean higher end things, new stuff. Things that run on electricity typically."

[eaglesonofnone]

Part of the explanation did help. Discoveries, then. Scientific constructions. But then he said, "Electricity?" It felt odd in his mouth, and sounded odd in his accent. It was a word he'd not heard before, but now his curiosity was being tugged at, like dangling a string before a cat.

[skyward_eyes]

Oh boy. Altair is about to drive him to drink.

"Lightning, but controlled by humans."

[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?"

[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."

[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?"

[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]

It was immediate, how he leaned forward, hawkish eyes focusing tightly on Nida, brows lowered, eyes even narrowed - suspicion and curiosity all at once. "How?"

[eaglesonofnone]

...Strange.

He wouldn't have expected such observations from a child. But how often had he been around children? For all his brows drew down at the surprise, he brushed it off quickly enough. Obviously, she had made that observation. No reason to doubt it. "Suspicion often keeps people alive."