#altaїr ibn la'ahad

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Consider the following scenario: 

Desmond is sent to the past, to Altaїr’s time. Escept sod all the subterfuge, he steals a set of Assassin robes and just... Goes around doing Assassin things. Except, he never goes to Masyaf. That’s it that’s the only thing

Meanwhile, we have Malik, who has to deal with constant whiplash of not knowing if it’s Desmond or Altaїr who is in his bureau today. He doesn’t even know that there is a Desmond. From Malik’s point of view, Altaїr has finally snapped and the face he sometimes presents is actually tolerateable. Suspiciously so

(and also knows how to make a decent cup of tea, strangely enough)

Aaaand then we cut to a moment when both Desmond and Altaїr show up to Jerusalem bureau. And Malik thinks it’s *him* who finally snapped

...Given his personal preferences, it’s Altaїr whom Malik ends up kicking out of bureau. Much to Desmond’s amusement

After all - Desmond haven’t once claimed to be Altaїr

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I doubt I can explain how much this is tickling me all the shades of pink

Not only it would cause an issue of Desmond being the only one to come across as local - but because of the implication that different branches of the Brotherhood have different ticks

Which technically, we can even observe in-game

Putting the rest under Read More, as it’s goin to involve some scenes relevant to Assassin/Hidden Ones initiation - which, as we know, involves removal of a finger

For example: in Valhalla, we have a good showing of Alamut Hidden Ones and their gesticulation. They aren’t particularly shy about showing off their bladed hand - the only thing that is hidden, really, is the blade itself. For reference, have the resting hand gesture both Basim and Hytham use

Hands up front, clasped/pressed in front of the body. And both use the position not just in front of Sigurd’s people / Ravensthorpe people, but also in front of Harald Fairhair’s people. And during althing in Norway. And in Basim’s case, random Christian priests/monks

Unfortunately, it’s harder to get the resting poses for Altaїr - most of the game art features him during or just before assassinations. But! You can still see some differences 

For one, Altaїr tends to keep his bladed hand closer to the body, and mostly articulates with his non-bladed hand. Overall for Levant, it almost makes it look like the assassins are constantly angled slighty to the back on the bladed hand side

Another curious thing I noted - it looks like Levantine branch (under Al Mualim) tended to amputate the finger much closer to the palm than the Hidden Ones of Alamut. 

Hidden Ones removed both distal and middle phalanx, but it looks like Levant went all the way down to removing proximal phalanx, too? There’s no bone in that fingerhole. That’s just leather (for reference: upper pic is Altaї, lower is Abbas)

(Abowe, a scene from Basim’s initiation ceremony)

Come to think of it, it may have had an impact. With Hidden Ones, it looks far less like a deliberate removal, compared to Masyaf assassins

But back to gesticulation

Interestingly enough, i feel like they went on with the Levantine angle for Ezio era, too. Which is a bit odd, considering the finger cutting tradition is no more, and there is no need to restrict one to single blae either

However, it looks like Ezio is prone to covering up the arm on which he wore his first blade, too:

However! This changes in Revelations, where we can see him resembling Basim/Hytham’s poses more! Which I find really interesting, considering Constantinople was under Alamut purview (in fact, Basim is mentioned to be leader of Constantinople bureau. And it’s specifically stated to be Byzantine branch, while initially Basim is part of Abbaside branch). Given all the trinkets they use (and teach Ezio to use) - it seems like they have lept more in line with the older iteration of Brotherhood

And the game has Ezio unconsciously mimiking the way they act. Kind of like you try and match the way of speech/accent when you are abroad

(Which delights me. A lot)

Anyway, I think I will pause here for a bit. Maybe at some point I will do some more spam to include later eras for a bit of evolutional comparison

To go with the glove kink ask... Imagine Desmond AND the team ending up in Altaїr's time. They do relatively well. But what gives them away at the end is Desmond winding down and defaulting to the general etiquette of someone who habitually wears a hidden blade. A peculiar hand movement there, a habitual gesture there... And neither Rebecca nor Shaun even realized that was a thing happening. Meanwhile Desmond: *is melting from joy of subconscious desire fulfilment*

The “Desmond has a glove kink” ask that influenced this.

And the one who noticed it is an old informant who works as a stall owner. Shaun loves the tea leaves he sells so Desmond gets to go and buy them regularly because Shaun and Rebecca are still trying to get a firm grasp on the languages during the 3rd Crusades (and there’s a lot) while Desmond is heavily relying on his Bleed of Altaïr.

And it’s because of this that the informant noticed his usual posture and a lot of his hand movements to specifically be of Levantine Brotherhood origin, down to the way he always liked to hide his left hand unless he was sure that no one would notice a missing ring finger (and the informant is always surprised to remember that he has all five of his fingers).

And that informant sends word to Masyaf because it’s too strange. A man with the mannerism of an Assassin but not an Assassin?

Something was off.

And who gets ordered to check this strange man?

Altaïr before that fateful year when he failed in saving Adha.

Altaïr before the attack on Masyaf where he singlehandedly saved Al Mualim.

Altaïr before he became a Master Assassin, just as curious but less arrogant than he would become years later.

Altaïr with a face that looked too much like Desmond's that it could not be counted as a coincidence.

[niishiki]

Chapters: 11/11 Fandom: Assassin's Creed Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con Relationships: Malik Al-Sayf/Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Kadar Al-Sayf & Malik Al-Sayf, Tazim Al-Sayf & Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Kadar Al-Sayf & Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Umar Ibn-La'Ahad & Faheem Al-Sayf, Rauf & Malik Al-Sayf, Tazim Al-Sayf & Malik Al-Sayf Characters: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Malik Al-Sayf, Kadar Al-Sayf, Tazim Al-Sayf, Talal (Assassin's Creed), Abbas Sofian, Swami, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, William Miles, Umar Ibn-La'Ahad, Faheem Al-Sayf, Rashid ad-Din Sinan | Al Mualim, Ratonhnhaké:ton | Connor, Edward Kenway, Rebecca Crane, Claudia Auditore, Leonardo da Vinci, Maud, Rauf, Arno Dorian, Aveline de Grandpré Additional Tags: political refugee, AltMal, Modern AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, ex-soldier Malik, Modern Assassins, dad!Malik, Human Trafficking, Torture, Amputation, Modern slavery, abbas being the usual dick, Terrorism, Mentions of Rape Summary:

Altaїr is a political refugee who fled from Syria to the United States hoping to start a new life in the land of freedom and liberty, after his family was brutally murdered by terrorists in the streets. Malik is a retired soldier, returned home from war in Syria just so he could raise his little son after his wife's death with the help of his younger brother, who is caught in hatred for the injustice he sees every day in the news. So his way meets Altaїr's, when he finds the boy in the streets begging for coins, just another victim of Talal, just another victim of human trafficking.

[iibnlaahad]

A modern verse where Altaїr is a Syrian refugee who is being denied entry into America. He’s lost a finger in a bombing, yet he’s being treated like a criminal rather than a victim in the country he’s fled to. 

Desmond is his relative who is desperate to help him, so he’s standing outside with a sign with the rest of the protestors. All he wants to do is see that his relative, who has dug himself out from under two stories of rubble and has helped his best friend to the hospital where they had to amputate his crushed arm, is still in one piece, physically and mentally.

No? Too real?

Yeah, too real.

[fanworldbuildingfun]

When you add tags like “OR both Ezio and Altaїr being brought back by Desmond (accidentally) during Solar FlareExcept something went... Wrong” in that post I immediately think “yandere time? Yandere time???” (I might have been reading yandere isekai manwhas lately) What if when Desmond activated the device, it needed a way to disperse all the power it received from the Solar Flare, otherwise it would burn Desmond up. (1/?)

So instead, it used the power to make Desmond’s foremost thought a reality. However, Desmond wasn’t thinking of anything ‘nice’. He was in a lot of pain and he just… He remembered the pain and anger of knowing that everything that he has done, his entire life… He had been dancing to the tune of someone else. The Assassins…The Templars… Even those years he spent on the run, being a simple bartender… He had simply been dancing the tune that the Isus had been playing the entire time. (2/?) He wanted someone… anyone… He just wanted to be someone’s priority, for once. For once, he wanted someone who would be by his side, to accept him for who he is and to… Just… make everything stop. And that’s what the device latched into. The cries of a man in pain, wishing for freedom he believed he never had in the first place. Although, it was too abstract so the device made a few tweaks of its own to make it ‘feasible’. (3 of 4) It created two representatives of Desmond’s wish, formed from the two men Desmond had achieved a Synch Nexus with. They were copies with a similar personality to the originals, with the memories that Desmond had thanks to the Bleeding Effect.But they were created with a ‘condition’. They were created to do whatever was necessary to protect Desmond and to grant his every desire and wish.… In whatever way they can. (4/4)

You made me get out my eerie music playlist for writing

See when the Temple went in for the one option it had to disperse the energy, it went at it hard. Creating a body and uploading the memories that Desmond has personally observed was not enough. It would get rid of part of the buildup, true, but not nearly enough to guarantee it’s Admin user (…yeah let’s pretend Isu also used something like that) will survive

Nor could it guarantee the memories would be enough to make the simulacrums function independently

So instead – with the shield the Temple was generating, it looked for everything. It scoured all that could be pulled from the genetic memories Desmond carried. It scoured everything that was left behind from Juno. It scoured all the remnant information that was available to any of the pieces of Eden. And then it used those to create the “interface” for the “protectors”

Altaїr’s replica wasn’t just Altaїr left behind in his descendant’s genome. He was also the memory of every contemporary Templar that handed a piece of Eden. He was the memory of every person who still had traceable lineage that interacted with him. He was every shred of Minerva’s calculation that referred to him

It was the same for Ezio. The only difference being – Ezio had much more “source” material to go with, given that (and let’s go with fanon here) he had many more direct descendants

A lot of people whose recollections went into recreating them didn’t have the same rose-ish tinted glasses Desmond did. They were just this side of sharper, just this side of terrified

Collecting all that data… Was enough to burn off what the Temple was not going to use to reconstruct the bodies

Desmond still suffered through it. Some of him still burned – but not in the way heat charred flesh and destroyed nerves. It was the burn of circuitry, much like that of Isu, etching itself into his body. After all, the Temple had to go by the “parameters” that were “set by the Admin”

When both Altaїкand Ezio came to – Desmond was the brightest, most golden thing either of them had ever seen

This alone was enough to snap them into gathering him, and the Apple, first – there was no time to question each other, not when they had to *act* first

Random thoughts:

They do not leave the Temple. Well, not at once – and Altaїr, being the most familiar and thus most “attached” to Isu tech – makes good use of being able to access the system

Both, at some point before Desmond wakes up, find out they are not the originals and there is a bout of freaking out. Surprisingly, it’s Ezio who deals with it first – for the sheer force of habit. It wasn’t the first time he was yanked around by the “gods”

Sharing body heat is going to be a thing. We ARE talking about meters upon meters of stone. It doesn’t keep heat well

Ezio is also the one who spend more time holding vigil over Desmond. At least since the moment Altaїr managed to divine Desmond’s name from the system

Abstergo still tried to get inside the Temple. They don’t have a good time out of it – not against two Master Assassins who are much more familiar with direct combat. That one of them is semi-familiar with firearms and the other has control over the building they are in becomes stuff of nightmares

At some point, Abstergo deems recovering anything from Temple a lost cause

At least one instance of Desmond thinking he is dead when he wakes up, and speaking accordingly. Ezio freaks out. Which causes Desmond to freak out. Altaїr is the one who ends up having to talk them into calming down

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Sleep by moto0207

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hi... by weiyong

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20160403 by LKiKAi

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Masters_Assassin's Creed by luulala

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I’ve just been passing by and I’ve seen your lovely Elijah & Desmond AU

Now. Please permit me to sprinkle some... Time Travel into it (I lie. There will be nothing “Little” about the time travel dose)

Now. Imagine if, when Desmond managed to talk his ex and Elikah into moving, things didn’t exactly - go according to plan. Now, the move part itself went through fine. What wrong, was the destination. Turned out - Desmond has a hard time avoiding Precursor tech and artifacts. So the small out of way house they managed to rent in... Whichever country they ended up in?

Just happened to use old ruins as foundation. And, as we well know - a LOT of Isu locations went waaay deeper below the ground than they did above.

Side-effects of having survived the solar flare, and then a millenia of soil forming atop them

It really doesn’t matter who triggers the place - whether it’s Desmon, Elijah, or even a complete accident (heck, maybe Elijah’s mom somehow managed to do it!). The result is the same - the whole lot of them wake up in a middle of a desert.

Now. Desmond probably takes it the easiest. The memories he relieved are still close enough to the surface, that he just... Snaps into survival mode, and does his best to get his ex and son to some kind of shelter. Surprisingly, his ex is the next to snap out of shock. For the fun of it, let’s peg her as a fan of isekai. And getting to experience something like it? How exciting! (it would take a while for the shine to wear off, though) Elijah has it the hardest. And it gets worse before it gets better. After all - Elijah now has to deal with being in a place that is less developed than the modern era. To put it in simple terms: it’s the impending fear of oncoming boredom ...But that truly hits only when the reach a city

And that city - is Damask

Loose ideas: 

I kind of want Elijah to end up in Desmond’s sole custody, but also don’t want for the ex to go through problems

So - let’s assume it would be a slow drift away because she ends up finding herself a new partner here, in the past?

The first meeting between Assassins and Desmond is when Desmond ends up having to retrieve his son from a bureau

The Rafiq is... Not in good place. He just spend an hour with tiny Altaїr and now a bigger Altaїr walks in

Okay, ignoring cannon and ubisofts total neglect of Elijah. Here's something to think on.

Au where Desmond is active in Elijah's life, maybe after the whole temple and solar flare fiasco he survives, Bill thinks he's dead and he takes the opportunity to per say... retire. Someway somehow Desmond catches wind of his son, the (loving and healthy) banter they'd have would be gut clenching hilarious it'd make you sick from laughing hard.

Desmond: look kid I really need you to cut back on the attitude at the moment

Elijah being the damn near carbon copy of Desmond with twice the sass: for any malfunctions, questions, or complaints, please contact the manufacturer

All the ancestors somehow watching the banter from the sidelines, either laughing or shaking their heads: those are definitely our descendants

They would have an “Elijah, no!”/”Elijah, yes!” and “Dad, no!”/“Dad, yes!” dynamic and everyone who knows they’re father and son would be like “yeah, that tracks.”

You also know Desmond would be the kind of dad that would make dad jokes because he knows it annoys Elijah. The more Elijah looks like the world is conspiring to kill him with his cause of death being embarrassment, the more Desmond does it.

Plot-wise, this could happen while Desmond was trying to tie up loose ends on his side to make sure his ‘death’ is permanent to everyone involved.

This, of course, leads him to learn about Elijah thanks to a file in Abstergo’s database that connects Elijah to his own file so he deletes everything by physically destroying the servers that housed that specific database and then makes his way to find Elijah.

In this scenario, Desmond knew it would be too risky for Elijah and his mom to stay in New York when Abstergo already knows about them and he managed to get his…… Desmond doesn’t even know what to call her… friend? Ex-one-night-stand? Anyway, he managed to get thru to them and they all leave the US because it’s just simply too risky to stay in the country.

(And, as much as Desmond wants to go to Villa Auditore, that would be stupid).

So they go to a country that has minimal ties with his ancestors and sorta try to live like some kind of sitcom family but Desmond and Elijah’s mom have the romantic chemistry of a wet cardboard box so everyone who knows them knows they’re friends raising their son together. Desmond gets a bar and Elijah has a sorta normal school life.

Then Desmond notices Elijah’s smarter than he actually is but hiding it because they are trying to remain incognito.

“Sorry, kid. I know it’s hard pretending to be someone you’re not.”

“I’m not pretending. I don’t want people to know I’m smarter than all of them combined.”

“Okay, take it down a notch, Einstein.”

“Do you know what they think of the smart kids in school? It’s just a different kind of torture, being known as the smartest kid in a government-mandated prison. I’ll probably get pushed all over in the showers if they knew I know how to use all the chemicals in the science lab to build a bomb. ‘God’ forbid I drop my soap…”

“Oh my god.”

Really, Elijah and Desmond say a lot of stuff that gives them headaches but that’s how similar they are. Elijah also likes to stare at the people his parents date and go “good luck” before going back to his room.

And both of them know Elijah is just being a little shit to make the poor innocent ‘date’ paranoid as fuck.

And Desmond would have problems with how to talk to Elijah at the start, of course. He had missed a lot and it was just awkward between them.

Until he realized who Elijah acts like.

Always curious about everything and anything.

A sharp tongue with a habit of sarcastic and dry humor.

A genius who knows he’s a genius.

Oh god.

His son was a mini-Altaïr!

And that is how Desmond realized that the best way to get into Elijah’s skin is to be a loving dad who likes to tease his son.

And Elijah, as much as he pretends to be annoyed by it, actually leans in whenever Desmond ruffles his hair or hugs him.

Not that he was going to say anything about it though.

Nope.

Sidenote:

I kinda like the idea that Elijah’s personality is a mix of a young curious child with the arrogance of Aita. Being kidnapped and watching his mom die made him a quiet child that has anger issues. So this Elijah would be happier and much more polite. He’s only sarcastic when he’s annoyed or close to someone. Also, his first crush will be someone who can kick his ass and Desmond would just stare at him because… yeah, that tracks.

And, if we keep Desmond’s Bleeding Effect, Elijah could interact with his ancestors as well. Might even call them something like variations of ‘grandpa’. They usually try to pretend to be Desmond whenever Elijah’s mom is there but Elijah knows which is which by now.

Desmond knows about it and he can’t help but feel happy that his own son accepts even that part of him.

[fanworldbuildingfun]

So… yandere!Altaïr x Desmond… where Altaïr has the social grace of a cat when it comes to romantic gestures and believes that killing people he thinks are annoying Desmond or a threat to his safety is a good sign of his affection. Since he can’t just give Desmond a feather stained in blood (that would be ‘tacky’), he gives him gifts that once belonged to his targets. (1/2)

(2/2) Desmond knows they’re from people he killed but mistakes them as actual sanctioned kills from the Brotherhood because everyone Altaïr kills are bad people anyway. Desmond knows Altaïr is giving him gifts that came from his targets but he just assumes it’s Altaïr’s way of giving gifts since Masyaf doesn’t give him extra money, only enough for travel expenses. Until Altaïr presents him a very familiar dagger. Al Mualim’s favored dagger.

So… Let’s start it off with the premise that Altaїr begins his courtship without informing Desmond of it

And that Desmond is not within the Brotherhood, or, indeed, had any direct contact with them

In the moment between touching the Eye and awaking, the only thing that Desmond felt was heat. Searing, piercing, all-encompassing heat that set every single nerve in his body ablaze. It left little space for anything but feeling it crawl through his body. He didn’t think he even had a chance to scream. But…

It softened, eventually. Concentrated on one side. Slid across his arm and clothing like a warm, unwanted blanket. A blanket he was… Laying on?

It took a few moments for Desmond to realize he was no longer in the Temple. He wasn’t even standing

And the ground beneath his body scorched

It takes a while for Desmond to reach a city, any city, and he is in no hurry to move on. So… He starts settling in. Find himself a place to stay. Makes nice with the locals. Avoids the guards. Rests.

Takes odd jobs here and there, from helping to carry things to a one-off where he penned a letter for someone and got paid for it

It takes him weeks before he even realizes the city he is in is Damascus, and even that comes because he overhears a merchant complaining about something or other being too expensive there. That makes Desmond realize just where he is, if not when. The when comes when Desmond goes out to do some recon on his own and almost manages to run into an Informant

(But that, is another story entirely… Suffice to say, the informant shook his tail – but left Desmond be the one to have to deal with them)

That… Complicates things, for Desmond. Because now that he no longer has the bliss of ignorance on his side, he has to be careful. Careful to avoid not just the guards and Templars, but to stay boring enough to remain off Brotherhood’s radar. He is just settling in, and he doesn’t even know if he wants to do more than keep himself in shape and run his slowly flourishing scribe business.

In the end, it was his decision to stay anonymous that did him in

Desmond developed a reputation for being a reliable, discreet scribe – and at some point, he ended up penning a letter for someone who would end up passing it on to the local Bureau. Where it would raise questions – because the hand it is written in mirrors Altaїr’s hand. What luck, then, that the man is in town – and can be sent to investigate the oddity?

And this is how Desmond and Altaїr meetTo the end of his days, Desmond would not be able to explain how he managed to keep a straight face when the door (and yes! He finally had a door!) to his house/office opened and in walked his ancestor. 

* * * 

From there I see Desmond managing, somehow, to play himself off as a civilian to Altaїr, and one Altaїr takes a liking to visiting. Mixing business with pleasure, as it were - because Desmond still has the habit of monitoring his surroundings, and with his livelyhood literally consiting of writing down information...

Sometimes, he is able to share more information with Altaїr than even the Bureau can provide. He just makes sure to wrap it out as part of casual conversation - sometimes as gossip, sometimes worded as an anecdote. A straight warning, when he can get away with it. Somehow, this ends up with him writing letters to Malik whenever Altaїr stumbles into his shop dead on his feet

(yes, I am using this as an excuse for Malik and Desmond being penpals. Altaїr even names Malik as his sibling, in what Desmond supposes is an attempted moment of discretion)

And that is where I can see Altaїr starting to go yandere. At first it’s well meaning - keeping away undesirables to keep one of his better informants safe. Then, as the talks grow longer and stray away from work matters - because he doesn’t want to see Desmond hurt

It’s not that he intended to start bringing Desmond gifts - it was something more of an... Overcorrection. See, one time during a friendly argument Desmond ended up throwing a feather at Altaїr, that somehow managed to get stuck in his hood. And it was somewhat of a reflex to use it the next time Altaїr had to get rid of a guard that paid a littlee too much attention to Desmond’s shop. And with Desmond acting just close enough to how a Dai’s role - it was as much of a reflex to present him with the bloodied feather when they next met

Altaїr took the panic on Desmond’s face as an aversion (it wasn’t; but Desmond went through several cycles of “oh shit he knows” in the few brief minuted it took for Altaїr to speak again) - and next time, it was a trinket he snatched instead

It takes a few gifts before Desmond’s belief that he managed to play incognito melts away like fog under morning sun

A set of cups he recognized from one of the assassinations he remembers Altaїr performing in the rich district

A sash from a particularly noisy merchant in the local souk

A bracelet he had once seen on a... Particularly lingy lady who would not leave him be whenever they crossed paths on the city square

And the hoard keeps growing, to the point Desmond is cautiously making sure everything is stashed out of direct line of sight. No need for someone else to recognize what these were, right? But it’s difficult, because Altaїr is visiting often these days - and Desmond doesn’t realize that the information he has been leaking to him is speeding things along Too fast, even. Because someone among Dai makes a note of this in their report to Masyaf. And Dsmond becomes a person of interest - to either be recruited, or removed Which... Doesn’t go nearly as seamlessly as it would have for any other person. Why? Because Desmond is known. And he left enough hints around people started questionin Al Mualim - Malik being chief of them. When Altaїr brought his own doubts to Malik? That was one of the last nails Naturally When Altaїr brought Al Mualim’s blade to Desmond Desmond finally had his full blown freak out

[niishiki]

Chapters: 18/18 Fandom: Assassin's Creed Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Malik Al-Sayf/Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Kadar Al-Sayf & Malik Al-Sayf, Malik Al-Sayf & Maria Thorpe, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad & Maria Thorpe, Maria Thorpe/Annabelle Hale (OFC) Characters: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Malik Al-Sayf, Kadar Al-Sayf, Ahmad Sofian, Abbas Sofian, Maria Thorpe, Rauf (Assassin's Creed), Rashid ad-Din Sinan | Al Mualim, granny (OC), Leonardo da Vinci, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, General MacGuffin, Haras, Darif the royal eaglet, Yusuf Tazim, Henry Green, Swami, Annabelle Hale (OFC), Azize, Faheem Al-Sayf, Umar Ibn-La'Ahad, Ratonhnhaké:ton | Connor, Desmond Miles Additional Tags: altair is a big baby, king altair, guardian malik, king and guardian au, Modern AU, abbas is a giant dickface, maria is cool in this one, grandma altair is the best, kadar is a moody teenager, Piercings, Tattoos, not amused malik, poor poor rauf Summary:

Seven long years Altaїr spent far, far away from his home and kingdom of Masyaf, after his grandmother sent him away to his family and to safety, right after the death of his father. An accident, they had said. A tragic event – one more tragic event in the life of the young prince. Sadly his family had always been struck by sad events and always it had been the Sofians, their rivals for the throne of Masyaf who had laughed the hardest. Now it is Altaїr's turn to grab for the crown and to lead his kingdom into a blissful future, his only ally his former best friend Malik Al-Sayf.

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Oooh. A scenario in which Clay is saved, but is now on lookout of Desmond being the one to paint the walls with obscure signs?

I’m liking the idea a lot

And see, I also think it would not be something Desmond, himself, would be up for, at first? Even with the rest – Altaїr, Ezio, Connor – it won’t be easy to just go and shake the chains he grew up with. So it would take work to get Desmond to leave the Brotherhood, as run by his father

But boy. I can see Clay conspiring with Shaun, Rebecca and maybe even Lucy (guilt-tripping the latter like whoa; I say Clay is the first one to figure out something isn’t right with Lucy) to get Desmond away from Bill. And see, it was one thing to hear about Desmond, about the best Assassin current Brotherhood produced, and meeting him for prolonged periods of time. It’s different seeing him basically use the Bleeds as a kind of (literal) escape from reality

(Because Clay may have been the first to see what is going on between Bill and Desmond; But it’s Shaun that figures out how little they have been seeing Desmond, lately. It’s the small anachronic ticks that tip him off)

In the end, the people they end up having to convince are Rebecca and Desmond, himself. Or rather – his ancestors, because catching Desmond around is becoming an issue. Ezio and Connor are easily on board with it. Altaïr… He is on with the idea but he is going to make everyone else work for his approval to make sure they are not going unprepared into everything

Several new gray hairs were earned by the collective that day

@brandingbitches wanted to know about 11 from the List of AC Fic Ideas I have at the moment

11. Desmond didn't leave Farm

Instead of leaving, Desmond spends his entire life trying to be the Assassin Bill wants him to be. Lots of angst about how nothing he does will ever be enough and Desmond being more or less emotionless because showing emotion is a sign of weakness. (Bill's personal puppet)

Desmond being a successful Assassin but super isolated from the other Assassins. He only knows of Shaun via his reports and only gets emails from Rebecca of any tech related stuff for his missions. His only contact is Bill and he’s primarily used for the riskiest missions.

Including Clay’s retrieval mission.

Lucy tells Bill that Clay needs to be extracted but she thinks Vidic is on to her so Desmond gets them out.

It’s a trap to get him because of his genes but he manages to get Clay out first before he’s taken in.

(Think about: Knows Lucy traitor or not? Lucy still trying to play the ‘I’m on your side’ card)

Desmond is forced to relive Altaïr’s memories.

And he hates Altaïr.

Because Altaïr is everything Desmond couldn’t be (in his mind).

Altaïr is the son Bill would have been proud of.

Even if he was arrogant, Altaïr still manages to get the job done and his own father figure (Al Mualim) treats him more like a son than Bill does to Desmond.

Add scenes of Desmond comparing himself to Altaïr: born into the Brotherhood, trained early on, isolated from the other children due to their situation, known no other life than being an Assassin

Shit gets weird when Desmond has a severe Bleeding Effect and 'wakes' Altaïr up early because of how similar they are.

Cue reluctant allies type situation between the two as they try to plan their escape.

(That's the most I got. I don't even know if this one will go up to Ezio and Connor? I don't even know if this would be gen or not.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Honestly, I got this idea because of how similar Desmond and Altaïr are and how Desmond would most probably be like a broken version of Altaïr if he had stayed on the Farm.)

[fanworldbuildingfun]

Oh dear, I completely forgot about no Bleeds = no language skills

You are absolutely right, lack of language skills would be an absolute hell on Desmond. Mind though! I don’t quite agree that Ezio’s time would be overly bad for Desmond. True, he may lack any knowledge of  Italian, but what would help him out, a lot, it Italy’s place in global commerce A lot of city-states in this period are major commerce hubs with many, many peoples going through. So Desmond won’t be particularly out of place with his inability to speak any kind of Italian. Moreover, there is also a high chance of him stumbling across someone who would be able to understand modern English to some degree. At this point we would be at tail end of Middle English period, with Chancery English script in full run for some 40 years. If you want a textual reference – Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” would have been several decades old by then, and in 1477 a fresh and shiny Woodville translation of “Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers” would be published.

If you go to either of these works, the English wouldn’t be that far removed from modern English. We are not that far from Shakespeare here, even. If we take Revelations as latest point, we are what, 50 years away from his birth?

What I’m getting to, is Ezio’s period is the nearest “comfortable” one for Desmond to land in

In comparison, Altaїr’s time would be deeply uncomfortable: you are right that Britain wasn’t speaking what we may recognize as English at the time. We are roughly a century in after Norman Conquest, and the split between the languages nobility/clergy used and the one used by ye average Joe is massive still. The former would have still used (albeit an altered) form of Norman French, while the latter would have been in early stages of Middle English that would have still bean choke full of Anglo-Saxon with some Norse borrowings. An example, if you want to check it out, would be “Peterborough Chronicle”, from some fifty years before AC1 starts

So you can guess a word here and there, maybe some sentences, but yeah. Desmond’s English would be odd at best, unrecognizable at worst.

Connor’s time is good though. It’s comfy. And, as you mentioned – Desmond and Connor can bond over the fact they are both learning what is, essentially, a new language for them. Mind, it also has me giggling over the fact Connor will likely end up adopting some modern slang from Desmond that will be so out of place in this era. Another thing of note – they can also bond over all the mess of learning to be an Assassin.

I like the above scenario for the sheer opportunity of Connor teaching Desmond Mohawk words for the notions they don’t yet have contemporary English words for. Rapid-fire Modern English/Mohawk/Civil-War English mix for the win (and eternal headache for, say, one Haytham Kenway)

And on yes. The limited knowledge of Assassin – can we refer to it as culture at this point? Or just lore? – would make him be very novice-like. But hey, if we go with this post – if the ancestors did not summon Desmond on purpose, or expecting a full-fledged Assassin, it could be easily mistaken for someone trying to poach a bastard noble for Brotherhood. And if we want it extra fun, the danger of Templars would have been stressed in Farm enough that it could be taken that Desmond was from a Templar-aligned family. Some of his peculiarities may make more sense in this context

just for fun clothing speculation

imagine if someone from the games tried to reach into the future and pull Desmond back to their time, only they got their aim a little wrong and ended up pulling Desmond straight from a shift at Bad Weather, ie in his dress up night club bartender clothes

Oh dear, oh dearThis is such a double-edged of a situation because, first of all, the person who pulls Desmond through is going to get this:(I mean, in my head this is how bartender!Desmond looks, thanks to the wonderful Mr. Randez)

So whether it's Altaїr, Ezio, Connor or so on, they are in for a treat because Desmond looks lovely in a suit. If they somehow have seen him, it would have been from the period of time when he was captured by Abstergo, or any point after it, and while the hoodie ensamble is lovely, it doesn't have the same effect as above

BUTThe downside is - pre-Abstergo Desmond wouldn't know them. As in, anyone pulling Desmond through will get a Desmond who has been on the run for almost a decade, and hasn't had anything to do with Assassins for just as long.

They aren't getting a Desmond who has developed a doundness for his ancestors. They aren't getting a Desmond who confided in Shaun that he wishes he had had a choice to join the Brotherhood willingly instead of being born in it. No, they are getting a Desmond who actively tried to leave that life behind himWhether the person in question is disappointed, or takes that as a challenge, it up for grabs. The only thing I'm semi sure of, is that Desmond may well give them the slip, which would lead to a wonderful case of hide and chase. One I'm a bit tempted to stack in Desmond's favor, because the idea of Master Assassins being all around frustrated by being unable to catch what technically amounts to a novice is too good not to hang onSpecial mention for Desmond avoiding active Assassins specifically, while eventually finding his way to their supporters / information branchIn Altaїr's era? He either ends up having regular walk-n-talks with a Rafiq, whom he shares information he manages to pick up here and there with. Or maybe he ends up befriending Maria, because he sees a lady in man's clothig and thinks... Absolutely nothing of it, because why would he? Meanwhile Maria tries to recruit him into Templars because finally! A man who is not being noisy about what she does! In Ezio's era? Desmond may find himself playing at being Leonardo's assistant who is conveniently never around when Ezio visits. Or maybe he ends up selling his clothes and settling down in Firenze/Roma/whichever city we are currently talking about, and opening a bookshop. Or, not a bookshop but a stall that sells paints / brishes etc. Or running errands for someone who ends up being part of Templars only to realize they are Up to No Good and starting to... Slip things about them to what passes for local underworld (and it gets back to Assassins)Conor era? Paint me impressed by all the sugar daddy talks, but I want to see him accidentally end up a secretary to Hytham Kenway. No one knows that Desmond is ex-Assassin, only an educated maybe-bastard who is discreet, knows how to keep quiet and organize things well. The other option is, if they manage to pull Desmond's younger body in, but hook it with his just-pre-burning mind. The situation would be pretty different (though no less devastating to the sense of aesthetic of whomever is doing the pulling). First thing off, there would be much less trying to escape involvedInstead, we would witness Desmond having a glorious vocation, insomuch as may be had in that time

[teecupangel]

From @siofreed

Ezio’s charms, that make me want to see how hard Altaïr would flail if Des finally catches the hint n flirts back, but *more*, hehehe

This is in connection to my tags from the previous reblog:

#in desmond's defense #her idea of flirting is more of the 21st century kind #and ezio's own brand of charm #altaїr is fighting an uphill battle from the start #malik continues to suffer but at least this current batch of novices are a lot better than the previous batches #maria is still a templar but her gender makes the others not care so much about her so she gets away with being tea buddies

Peace was a momentary thing.

And that was what made it all the more precious.

“Malik!”

Malik sighed.

He had hoped that this momentary peace would continue till tomorrow morning, at the very least.

Unfortunately, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad had the knack of destroying Malik’s peace by his very presence alone.

“What do you want, novice?” Malik asked with a sigh before glaring at him, “I have not received any message from Masyaf that our master has sent you on a mission here. Have you come to visit Desmond… again?”

Malik would have been more annoyed by Altaïr’s new habit of visiting Desmond whenever he left Masyaf even though his mission was elsewhere had it not been for the fact that Desmond was having a positive effect on the man.

Not that Malik was going to say that out loud to said man himself.

“Desmond touched my hand.” Altaïr said quickly and Malik blinked at the look of utter delight and confusion on his face.

“She has held your hand before, has she not? She once told me she had to hold your hand when you were both being chased.” Malik said, remembering it because he thought Altaïr was being an idiot that had to be led by an unofficial informant and Desmond had no self-preservation for actually touching Altaïr without asking for permission.

Ah.

The peaceful days when Malik had not yet known of Altaïr’s infatuation with Desmond.

How he longed to return to those days…

“No, this is different!” Altaïr stressed as he briskly walked towards Malik, “We were walking the marketplace and she smiled at me when she held my hand! She smiled, Malik!”

“Desmond covers her face.” Malik dryly stated.

“It was in her eyes and her voice-”

“Spare me the poem.” Malik cut him off and gave out a tired sigh.

“We were not on a mission. We were just walking around and looking at the stalls and… Desmond called it a ‘date’.” Altaïr said, “She said it’s what two people do in her land when they’re courting.”

“I am not going to congratulate you for finally getting through her thick skull that you wished to take her as your wife.” Malik blandly told him.

“So you also think that she finally realized my feelings?” Altaïr asked as he placed his hands on the counter separating Malik from the idiocy that was Altaïr and Desmond’s courting.

Malik stared at him with a tired look of a man who had to suffer through all the foolishness of mankind.

Instead of replying to him, Malik ordered tiredly, “Go away, Altaïr, and do the mission Al Mualim have given you.”

Desmond getting thrown back into AC1 as a woman and everyone knows she's a woman but she wears informant clothes and acts like a 21st-century dude.

When Al Mualim gets 'detained' because of the damning documents Desmond gave Malik, he looks at her and spats "You've tricked them with your feminine wiles!" and Desmond is just wearing this: