#desmond is like… a full isu in a sense

[teecupangel]

I just finished watching the anime Overlord and I had conflicted feelings about Ainz the entire time like "YES DON'T EXPLOIT WORKERS AND GIVE THEM EQUALITY" and "WHY DID YOU LET DEMIURGE EAT THE CHILDREN!?!?" so to cope a little, what would be your take on Desmond reincarnating in that world? Another possible scenario I kinda want to see would be Desmond actually being one of the Supreme Beings and getting Isekai from the start of the series

Oh, nonny. You reminded me that I really need to watch the new season. I’ve been putting it off because I’m so weak for Albedo that, had it not been for my RL situation, I would have been severely tempted by these.

Anyway, let’s lay some ground rules.

The world that the anime Overlord is set in would be more or less a typical magical world. It’s ‘unique’ setup is the fact that the main character is isekai’ed in that world together with the NPCs he and his guild members created for their guild. They become pretty much the villain in this situation and the main character loses some of his humanity because he became a lich.

Sooooo… let’s fuck Desmond up and put him in a similar situation.

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Let’s say that the game exists in his world and it’s globally published by Abstergo Entertainment, using a lite version of the Animus. It loads longer and extremely bulky compared to the Animus console in Black Flag and it’s the predecessor of the console that would be used to distribute Liberation (the version Abstergo edited).

During her free time, Rebecca messed with her Animus and made it possible to play the game (named YGGDRASIL in Overlord and we can keep it, make hints of it being connected to the actual Yggdrasil device Odin used) but, because of how her Animus works, only Desmond can go into the game. She noticed how Desmond was more relaxed playing it so she made NPCs for him because it’s a (illegal) private server. Shaun made one or two as well.

And it became Desmond’s downtime activity before leaving the Animus. It actually lowers the chance of him having a Bleeding Episode after leaving the Animus because he can go into the game and the NPCs would call him “Desmond”. It gives him time to remember who he is while still feeling the same realistic but alien sensation that the Animus gave him.

He also starts messing with the world. Well… the small kingdom that they created anyway.

They based it on the guild system with Desmond as the leader. At first, Rebecca created two NPCs based on her and Shaun to help Desmond get used to the control.

Afterwards, they started filling up their base with other NPCs that would work as bosses for each levels. Rebecca had to mess with the setting because there was no players to attack their base so she made NPCs and monsters from outside the base attack it randomly. This gives Desmond more to do.

What Desmond enjoyed though was managing the headquarters and upgrading the buildings and facilities. Shaun joked that this was because of Ezio and maybe it was.

Before long, Desmond was making his own NPCs and no one had the heart to tell him that he was making NPCs based on his ancestors and people they know (especially after Rebecca painfully elbowed Shaun before he could say anything the first time Desmond presented them with his first NPC)

After they got to the Grand Temple, Desmond used the game more like a coping mechanism, making their home impregnable with the best facilities he could think of (even going as far as research architecture and stuff)

By the time they got the key from Connor Davenport’s grave, Desmond had:

Created an underground tower with more than a hundred floors or so with their own themes and ‘gameplay mechanics’.

His first NPC has become the second in command, based on a homebrew race that Rebecca could only describe as ‘like human with divinity in them but with more omph!’. He’s based and named after Altaïr and is so OP that Rebecca actually says that he’s pretty much unbeatable. Desmond doesn’t care, it’s not like he was playing the game to play it with other people after all. Altaïr is magic-focused with maxed out magic and speed. His favorite attack is to rain down the stars in the sky and turn the lands into a cacophony of explosions.

Desmond’s second NPC isn’t any better. He’s based on Ezio and there’s actually three of them, each based on the three major points in Ezio’s life that Desmond relived. He’s in charge of the second to the last level, not that anyone has gotten that far to be honest. All three of them have different focus. One focuses on physical melee, one focuses on long range physical attacks, and the other focuses on magic. His level is actually the most populated because it’s filled with ‘cannon fodders’ that Desmond named after people Ezio recruited.

There’s a lot more NPCs that are bosses. Ratonhnhaké:ton is actually one of the ‘youngest’ NPCs created and Desmond barely managed to optimize his skill set. He’s a shapeshifter and, just to be a dick to anyone who want to go explore their base, he’s not a boss but a ‘traveler’. If the intruders have been in the same level for more than the specified (secret) time limit, Ratonhnhaké:ton would teleport to the floor and randomly take the shape of one of his forms. A wolf with a pack of ghost wolves, a large and fast bear with high self-healing stat or a large eagle that can phase through walls, all of which are picked at random. (In other words, Ratonhnhaké:ton works like the Reaper of the latter Persona games)

There’s a Malik NPC who acts more like a secretary and is in charge of Desmond’s level if he’s ‘offline’. (Does this mean Malik is Desmond’s Albedo? Uuuhhh… let’s just say he shares the same occupation as Altaïr in this case).

Shaun’s NPC is the boss of the library level where everything and anything is stored. In the Animus, this is actually Shaun just cramming every information he sees into the game because, hello, it actually has a bigger size than his laptop’s hard drive. A lot of shit in there was taken through… the ‘high seas’.

Rebecca’s NPC is the boss of the topmost (first) level. She wanted her NPC to act more like a tutorial guide and honestly? Being the first level boss means her NPC gets a lot of ‘screen time’.

Haytham is also a boss in one of the lower levels and his stage is set in a cathedral. He’s only one of the few NPCs that have a holy attribute.

Desmond doesn’t know it but the other NPCs he made are actually based on AC characters he will never meet (Edward, Arno, Shay, Jaocb, Evie, etc). He just thought he was filling up the roster and making different themes (Viking, Ancient Greece, Steampunk) because he was bored.

Oh. The last NPC Desmond created is a dragon egg he named Clay. Whether this Clay is an actual NPC dragonling or is actually Clay’s digital avatar that will get screwed up by his new draconian lineage is up to you XD

When he dies after saving the world, he wakes up in a bed that he recognized as the bed he always teleports into whenever Rebecca switches the Animus to the game for his downtime.

He knows something is wrong because his body feels weird but he would never understand how badly he’s fucked because his body composition stops him from seeing it as a fuck up.

Because Desmond’s player character?

The race of his character is a homebrew God race.

And Desmond is a god that cares for those who worship him and sees those who do not as dirt on the road.

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In other words, Desmond and his ‘guild’ gets transported at the opposite side of where Ainz was transported. Also, Desmond’s base is underground so it took a bit of time before people realized they were there.

Enough time for Desmond to realize how the world he was in right now needed the guidance of a god who will be merciful to those who worship him.

[splosh-crime]

Shapeshifter Desmond Miles AU

Human genomes are scientifically incapable of retaining the full experience of life lived with all 5-6 senses fully active; Isu genomes, not so much.

Desmond Miles is the conglomerate of several major Assassin bloodlines, the culmination of 75,000 years worth of manipulation engineering the most Isu-like human possible, and yet he is still just that; human.

The Bleeding Effect is caused by the continuous overuse of the Isu part of the brain overpowering a body maladapted to Isu-level power output. Even Desmond is not immune to that. And yet, the Cipher has saved the world using the most powerful Isu artifact on Earth. In doing so, he has become a mesh of Isu DNA, Human DNA, & Isu Technological Artifact.

Even Minerva’s calculations couldn’t have predicted the outcome.

TLDR: Desmond’s use of the Eye adapted his body for the full potential of his genetic memory but the blended Isu/Human DNA + Isu Tech + Bleeding Effect = an overpowered shapeshifter whose ancestors (and Clay) keep fronting for him whenever he’s overwhelmed (almost always) in a manner eerily reminiscent of DID, shifting his body to match and dealing with the issue their way.

[ethan-acfan]

Hc for eagle vision.

So we all know the theory that using eagle vision makes your eyes sort of shine gold, but I wanna take that a step further.

When Altair uses eagle vision (since he is still closely related to isu and all that), his eyes turn solid gold, including the whites of his eyes. Think the way the reader glows, but strictly your eyes. (Or when you use the flash to take a picture of a cat in a dark room and their eyes glow)

Now, by the time it's passed on to Desmond, it's been weakened, and many variants of it have made it evolve so it's not glowing as brightly, like there's still a shine but it's not full out bright light in your face. However... once he starts using it more and it gets stronger, his eyes start to glow brighter and brighter until they share the same inhuman glow that Altair had.

Many human flashlights and headlight jokes get made. But I also say this because imagine it's nighttime and you get cornered in the alley by a cloaked figure and all you see are these bright lights coming from where their eyes should be.

Needless to say, people start speculating that Altair is a god.

Now, I would also throw this onto Ezio, but I already have a headcanon where he doesn't have Eagle's vision, but a thing I call Eagle sense, where all of his senses get enhanced except for sight which he loses when he uses eagle sense (I know he canonically has EV but I enjoy making variants of ev too much, also I enjoy making desmond's ancestors similar but just different enough that it's noticeable, don't judge me)

[yobotica]

Ooh, I HAVE to ask about the Ghost sequel! 👀👀

And/or the historian Shaun cook Desmond youtube thing xD

I had a feeling the Ghost sequel would be the one to pique your interest! :3c I'm happy to talk about both!

Unfortunately, full disclosure, neither have actual writing for such rather than notes and vibes so far, so I can't provide snippets. :sadcowboy: Long answer is long so it's all below the cut:

Ghost sequel I had so many things I wanted to explore and felt weren't finished yet. For one, I still want Desmond and Shaun to get together and explore the relationship they could have. I definitely want to see what Desmond can do with his new skills - in this digital age, that kind of access would be a huge advantage to the Assassins, and if he gets back on the Templars' radar, make him a huge target.

There's also the Juno angle. She may be gone (Or is she? 👀 (she is)) but there is still her cult and the Sages and there could be interesting things to do there since they are a not-insignificant piece on the board in the invisible struggle between the Assassins and the Templars and their fight for control over the Isu artifacts (and the world).

I also wanted to just explore Desmond's experience more. He's in a new body, one which no longer bears the scars telling the story of his life. He's got a new determination on what it means to be both himself and an Assassin, and how that defines his relationships with his friends and family. A renewed appreciation of his senses, maybe mourning the fact that he'll never find out if he was functionally immortal in his data form.

Ghost was written during a time when I had a daily commute and often while doing daily sprints, so progress was pretty steady. I did feel I had more to write, but I'd worked on it for almost a year pretty steadily in 2017, less steadily in 2018 and 2019 before I finally reached a point where even if I didn't feel I was completely done with it, perhaps, I needed to work on other projects and felt I'd reached a conclusion that I was pretty satisfied with.

But I never truly got started on the sequel yet - I still want to, but my job and life circumstances have changed, and my creative energy hasn't been there to put towards a big project like that, one that's really special to me; I want it to be right, I want it to be my best, you know? It's still a concept that's tumbling around in my brain and something I don't consider abandoned because I do have scenes that I visualize often!

~

As for the shared youtube channel, it's an idea I adore, one that I think would be so, so easy to write… but would be exhausting for me to research! ^.^;

The youtube channel "Tasting Hisotry with Max Miller" directly inspired this, because it's a neat channel showing off historical recipes, talking about them in their context, often with some funny jokes, then makes those recipes.

And Shaun's a historian, which slots in well enough, so the idea is they were friends, Desmond's probably a chef or culinary student, and it starts off because Shaun pines over a dish he'd read about while researching, Desmond decides to try to recreate it, friends get involved because it sounds fun, and eventually the two start a youtube channel about it. Or one of them had an existing channel and it starts with a 'guest appearance' by the other for the segment and that, of course, turns out to be the most popular video so far by a LOT.

It's gonna be full of pining, fond glances, funny banter, and of course, youtube comment debates. I hadn't decided who is editing the videos - if it's Shaun who's convinced that the glances and smiles Desmond sends his way while prepping in the background are just normal friend expressions :tm: or if it's Desmond who's editing and keeps those shots in because maybe Shaun will see them and ask. Or maybe he keeps them because Shaun's never asked. Maybe Rebecca is their editor and she leaves them in, along with Shaun's frequent compliments to Desmond's food (and hands) in hopes that these boneheads will talk.

I can see it so clearly even now, but the hold up is that I can't write this without doing research into dishes and stuff and I just do not have the energy for that now - haven't since I had the idea, at least. But it's an idea I'd love to finally get written down one day!

[thedragonqueen1998]

Yeeeess, Giovanni is so nervous because in the past the werewolfs in their line were pretty mindless and if Ezio is like that, he would be forced to be sent to Monteriggioni where they have special made cells that can contain a wolf once transformed. The cells are deep holes straight down with a thick and heavy metal grate on top. You have to be lowered down into it as the walls are extremely smooth, making climbing almost impossible for the wolf. Their claws are extremely strong though, so they could in theory claw grooves and climb up, but that requires the ability to plan which they often lack. Giovanni could ask Lorenzo to have similiar cells made underneath the city, but it would take years to complete so in the meantime Ezio would essentially be exiled from Firenze.

Oh, didn't really think about Eagle Vision. Hmm, i guess i originally treated it as seperate thing to the whole wolves thing, but it being connected is interesting. I did develop some lore for this after sending the ask and i considered the idea that werewolves were a weapon made by the Isu(autocorrect turned Isu into issue XD) to blend into the human rebels before turning on them. But due to the upcoming flare, the project had to be cancelled before it could be refined(full control of their mind in wolf form and control over when to shift). Before the subjects could be destroyed though, the flare happened and destroyed the facility, allowing the survivors to flee and hide among the humans. Eagle vision came from the Isu, so it would be a seperate thing. Though, maybe the Isu gave the wolves the sense to make them more potent and because werewolves are more human than Isu, when they bred with humans, because they're more compatable, there was a higher chance of Eagle vision passing down succesfully? So, while werewolves have Eagle vision and it is stronger than a normal humans, it doesn't mean every human with the gift is a werewolf. So Giovanni, believing the curse to be over since it hasn't skipped a generation before and realising Ezio has the gift, believes it is either because of the fact Assassins used to have it or that it is a remnant of the curse, but since Ezio doesn't have the other traits, believes he will not in fact turn. So yes, some heavy denial. XD

Other things i thought of after sending the ask was that Altaïr would not be a wolf in this AU and that though there is so much more werewolf lore and myth, they have basically become extinct as werewolves often choose to not have children and they are killed before they can have them. Giovanni only chose to have kids because no one after Renato became a wolf, while Mario decided to not risk it. So when the team sees Ezio change it a werewolf, they all lose their mind. Desmond literally loses it and actually starts his own transformation.

The first transformation is always the longest and most excrutiating one as the body has to figure what to do and how to do it efficently. Later ones become much quicker as the werewolf gets older and though they hurt just as bad, the quickness gives the illusion that it's less painful as time goes on. So Desmonds is actually pretty quick, because the secondhand experience from Ezio fools his body into knowing what to do. Everyone freaks out ofc, because your teammate turning into a giant fucking wolf is not not concerning and they have all heard the tales of mindless beasts. Everythings fine though, Desmond is in control of himself. Minerva made sure of it, the ability to stay in control was actually a freak mutation that happened in Giovanni. So if Mario had kids, they would have been mindless.

Hmmm, actually. What if Altaïr WAS a werewolf, but he had the gene to fully control when to transform, but would not keep control of his mind? Umar had it, but before he could teach Altaïr about it and to warn him to never use the ability, he was executed? Oooo, ok, just got an idea. XD

So what if Altaïrs mother didn't die in childbirth, but Umar was the one to kill her? Maybe the village was attacked and in a desperate bid to save his family Umar changed into his wolf form to kill the attackers, but due to a miscalculation in how much time he would use to kill the attackers(i imagine Umar and Altaïr has to spesify the amount time to stay transformed before doing it and they transform back after the alloted time or they transform when the sun rises again if they don't spesify a time), he ended up killing his wife and as he transformed back he was just swinging his clawed hand down at Altaïr. Due to the pain of transforming, his aim went off mark and instead of tearing the infants face off, he instead sliced the boys lip with his little finger. But it was still too late, he had murdered his wife and forever scarred his son. He swore that he would never use his wolf form again and no matter how much Al Mualim ordered him to, he never did it again. He told Al Mualim that he would have Altaïr do the same. I don't fully remember exactly how it went down when the Saracens(?) attacked Masyaf and Umar had to be killed for it, but in this AU, Al Mualim delibratly sabotaged Umar before he could tell Altaïr the truth(he wanted to wait till Altaïr was an adult because the thought of his young child hating him was too much to bear) and in doing so, had his perfect weapon. He waited with telling Altaïr about his heritage. Maybe after he saw he almost lost Altaïr to Adha and in a bid to further bind Altaïr to him, told him that his father was a mindless monster and that he was one too? That any children he had was at risk of being slain by his own hands? Though, how old is Altaïr when he meets Adha? When we start AC 1(isn't he like 27?)? I'd imagine Al Mualim would have Altaïr become his mindless weapon as early as possible, so maybe we can move the timeline a bit and have the whole Chalice thing happen when Altaïr is like 16-19? You know, make it a rebellious teen phase. XD So Altaïr realises he can never have a normal life and that he is too dangerous to be close to others. So he starts becoming rude and anti-social. Essentially becoming the person we know in cannon. Kadar is the only friend he had that doesn't believe Altaïr is being a dick without reason and keeps being Altaïrs friend.

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Ok, that is it for this round of lore making. XD God i spent like 2 hours on this. XD This is fun and man, i wanna write a fic about this so badly, but also i'm too unmotivated to try. 🤣 I'm happy you like it, thank you. 💜

I just got this AU idea, like legit, it just hit me so hard. XD But yeah, what if: neing an Assassin wasn't the only secret Giovanni hid? He also kept it secret that the Auditore line is cursed.

Basically, werewolves. I know, cliché, but werewolves are fun! :D

But yeah, Giovanni thought his family was free of the curse as both his father, brother and himself didn't suffer it like their grandfather. That is, until Federico suffered his first transformation. Hearing his eldest sons screams of pain and seeing flesh tear and bones break broke his heart.

'God, why did you curse Federico? Why did you lull me into the false hope of living free of this curse?' He couldn't help but think, watching his son finish the gruesome transformation. He knew he should have struck the beast down while it was incapacitated, but it was Federico, his son. He couldn't do it, even if it would save the rest of his family. He should have had the cages that he and his brother used to sleep in before they knew for certain that they wouldn't transform. Now it's too late. His eldest son would murder them all and if he survived the guards until the morning, he would wake up without his family, covered in their blood.

Any minute now, the beast that was covering in the corner- wait. Werewolves never show fear. And the beassts eyes.. they shine with intelligence. With fear. Could it be? That there is no dumb beast, just his son?

"Federico?"

The beast flinches with the sound of his voice and whimpers. It is truly his son! Federico is not a mindless beast, so unlike his grandfather. So unlike any other beast before him. Maybe the curse has weakened after being absent for 2 generations? No matter how it happened, he will take this blessing.

"Federico, everything will be alright. May i come near you?"

He wants nothing more than to run and hug his son, but even without the madness, Federico will be much stronger than before and his claws are long and sharp. He could easily scratch his father to death in a hug. But his son nods to his request and he cautiously holds his sons featsome face in his hands. The fur is soft, warm and has the same colour as his hair, a dark brown, almost black shade. His dark brown eyes shine with tears, showing how distressed he is. A beast rarely cries and only does so when in great despair. He has heard tales of beasts slaughtering their families while crying, showing that despite not being in control, they are aware. He has not heard of crueler curse and probably never will.

"Federico, i promise you, this transformation is temporary. In the morning you will be back to your human self and i will explain everything. For now, rest. I will stay snd watch over you."

Giovanni watches his son curl up to him, seeking comfort. Usually, Federico would be too old for such things, but being a family of Assassins, they rarely give much thought to what society deems acceptable and in this circumstance, comfort is needed. Everything will be fine by morning. Their lives are irrevocably changed, but it's still a good life.

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Man, the words just came flowing out of me. XD So, i imagine this takes place when Federico is around 18. So he knows about the Assassins and has been training for a while(i headcannon he started sround 16-17, unless it's stated somewhere when he started?). Both Giovanni and him decide to keep training him as an Assassin, but they both know that Federico likely won't be trusted or sent away on missions, due to the curse. Renato was a great Assassin, but he very rarely travelled far from Monteriggioni due to not risking being away from the Dungeon. The Dungeon is basically a bunch of deep holes with heavy metal grates ontop. This design ensures that the werewolf can't get out and won't hurt snyone as long as the keep away from the grate.

In this AU, this is why Giovanni waits to tell Ezio about the Assassins. If Ezio turns out to be cursed too, they need to know if he will be like Federico or if he will be a mindless beast. Ezio's room is right next to Federico's, so if Ezio transforms and goes berserk, Federico can try to hold him while everyone gets to the secret tunnel. If Ezio retains his sanity, he can be informed of all the family secrets and start his training. Though it is risky, having a werewolf as an Assassin has some very obvious perks. The increased strenght, agillity and senses bleed into their human form, so they always make great Assassins as long as they ensure there is a cell strong enough to keep them contained.

But yeah. Big brainstorm info dump. XD Was gonna say idk what else to do with this, but then: What if? The day Giovanni and his sons get captured is a fullmoon and Federico transforms? Giovanni tries to explain to Petruccio why his big brother suddenly turned into a monster when they hear the howl of another werewolf. Federico and Giovanni share a sad look and both know that this has to be Ezio. The curse rarely affect women and Claudia is still too young to transform. Ezio is scared and confused and he originaly planned to talk to his father, but now he can't talk and would his father even recognise the monster he's become? Should he even try to see his father? No, he should wait this out, maybe this is a temporary thing and tomorrow everything will be alright.

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Duh duh duuuu! XD But yeah, now i'm done. 🤣

Hope it's okay to tag you @teecupangel? This seems like an idea you would like. 💜 I at least had fun writing and coming up with this idea. ^^

[shortpirateking]

Midnight Musings

(A/n: This takes place in the ‘Hawk of Masyaf’ universe which is just a giant self-insert that has been spinning in my head for too many years... so yeah! Also this is protocreed)

None of them truly belonged.

At least, that was how Clay thought of the dynamic between him and his.. lovers? Honestly, no matter how often they all spoke to him it felt like he shouldn’t even be here- be with them. A living Virus, an immortal, and the man who was a messiah in his own right...and what about him? Compared to them he was little more than a failed subject like the rest of them. Hell, he should have been dead!

At least... he should have- all of them should have by then... but for some odd reason each one of them continued on in some way that defied what logic should entail. Alex should have been some unconscious virus with no sense of self, Ariel should have died over 900 years before(and in the future too, had the Isu not thrown them back), and Desmond should have been like him; Insane, suicidal, possibly braindead from all bleeding he had endured...but unlike himself...he persevered. He lived when he should have died- because of Clay- because of them.. And it was because of them that he was still here too... 

At least... sort of. The ‘real’ Clay had died many months before. He was little more than a computer AI of him, but still....feeling the outside world had done wonders for him despite is guilt of the fact that he wasn’t the same man who had died before. Which... he supposed would put him with the other three around him. He didn’t truly belong either, did he? An Ai of a man brought to insanity with little to do besides make way for the savior.

“Clay?” 

The groggy voice of Ariel brought the man out of their stupor and bringing them back to the present- in bed between their smallest lover and Desmond with Alex on the far end.. Clay almost wanted to look away from the concerned grey-green of the smaller man’s eyes, assure them that he was fine... but he knew well enough that Ariel could see past that, past his walls. 

A sigh, and Clay shakes his head in preparation to speak... and tensing in surprise when a much smaller hand grasped his own in a gentle embrace. Clay turned, and once more he met the same understanding and loving gaze that he fell for long before this- when he was a simple college student and her a cashier at the local store he often stopped by for snacks. Before he knew about the assassins and templars, of Desmond or a bioengineered supervirus.

“It is too early in the morning for worries” Ariel finally spoke once more with the same look she had given Desmond when she had accompanied him onto animus island(with the help of Alex, apparently)- when she had looked in the mirror for the first time and allowed him to touch and feel, when Alex would hold them close and lose form when the world was too loud for him... and now she directed that same gaze to him once more.. as if this wasn’t a nightly occurrence, as if none of them truly had a full nights rest because of their pasts. Even them, during the nights they sobbed silently about long lost lovers and brothers lost to time.

Arms wrapped around him- Desmond this time, groggy and certainly not at all awake. “c’mon Clay... you can be thinking later... we need to sleep” the man’s voice brought shivers against his pale skin where his breath ghosted over it, and Clay halfway expected to be pinned down by Alex... but he relented with a sigh. Despite his worried and fears, his doubts and insecurities... he loved them all- like they loved him. Because none of them belonged

None of them belonged anywhere but in each other’s arms... and that was enough for the man.

[xadoheandterra]

So with Run It Again’s latest chapter there was a bit that had Abu’l basically haunting Kadar, and I feel I need to expand upon an explanation for why I went this direction and how in a way it could be canon.

First things first my realization comes from Unity and Arno. In Unity it is made very clear that Arno’s particular brand of Isu Fuckery is actually legitimately happening and not a unique story disambiguation for the player—which does in fact change a great deal.

The thing with Assassin’s Creed is that it has to play a line between gameplay and story, and allow for the ways that gameplay elements equate to story elements. In this I mean that we as a player see things in a 3rd person perspective, but to the characters Desmond’s experience in the animus is more akin to VR, so it would be in a first person perspective instead of this over the shoulder view.

This means things we see Desmond technically might not in the Animus (barring the fact that Isu Fuckery is a thing). This also means that Ubisoft has to take some story liberties to get across the full breadth of what happens. This has resulted in what we’ve called the Animus White Space – those post assassination conversations. Plenty of headcanon derives that these conversations actually happen before the kill, or in the moment of the kill, and this makes some form of sense.

The Animus from the way Desmond, Rebecca, and Shaun of talked about it works very much like a VR game, only it pulls from genetic memories to fill in the gaps between intense moments that are inscribed in Desmond’s DNA. This means to form the world it comes from a mesh of many memories, NPCs are built because these places are supposed to be crowded, but specifics are left just off the edge for the mind to fill in. This means that aside from specific cutscenes we can take things as not necessarily a specific memory, but more the mesh of multiple things over time – every memory of travel, interaction with a salesman, all kind of blurred together to create this background gameplay that Desmond is able to essentially crawl around in. The specifics of memory itself work as cutscenes – except then there is that weird White Space memories that don’t quite fit.

Of course these could be weird Animus glitches because these White Space memories are often wrapped up in the act of killing, which could have its own consequences on the Assassin that Desmond is living in the memories of. To make that conscious choice to kill – we don’t know what it could have done to the memory recorded in Desmond’s DNA.

Arno changed this. Arno revealed that he essentially sees the memories of his victims. He pulls them out of their minds in that moment of death. Combine that with Bayeks “white space” moments and it paints a rather clear picture – these events happen, but they don’t happen in reality they happen in memory – in the mind. These events are basically the Assassin grasping that soul as it leaves the body for one last conversation, questions to be answered, things they don’t necessarily derive.

I’ve talked about on the comments of my fic that I plant to compile here how Isu Seventh Sense interacts with Human Sixth Sense and what that specifically means and how it sort of changes things, how it explains Eagle Vision etc. Essentially every Isu descended human has the Human Sixth and Isu Seventh sense meshed together in some form, and the Human Sixth sense often has ties into paranormal events including spirits, souls, and ghosts.

To this end I decided in Run It Again that anyone with a significant portion of Isu DNA can essentially grasp a soul in that moment of death. Altair does this to ask his final questions, and it is not questioned that he talks to his victims. Al Mualim does not even find this odd except in how it changes Altair’s perspective…so to Kadar – Kadar, and by extension Malik’s, Isu DNA is lesser than say Altair, but that does not mean they do not have their own gifts. Malik has seen the specters of his victims before, but he has fortitude of mind and he’s somewhat religious incidentally and so he ignores them. He pushes them away and does not interact – often he chalks it up to potential Djinn trying to trick him.

Altair converses with them, clearly.

Kadar…Kadar does not have the fortitude to stop them, to grab them and converse – he wasn’t even prepared for the possibility. Instead the ghosts grab Kadar, they cling to him and dig into him where Altair digs into them – it is a foil to Altair’s ability in a way. They reveal things, but they reveal things in the way they take and it leaves Kadar…well. Kind of concussed.

Malik never prepared Kadar for it because Malik himself doesn’t realize what is happening, and Altair never prepared Kadar for it because Altair has always thought himself the only one ‘gifted’ and is completely ignorant of the other ways several of his Brothers are actually gifted as well, including Malik and Kadar. He knows they are talented for sure, but he hasn’t put together that technically they are talented/gifted in a way above base human since most of the Brothers are, in some way, above base human. The few who aren’t very rarely end up as Field Assassins.

[stealingpotatoes]

I am OBSESSED with your Desmond lives AU!! I want Shaun and Rebecca to be able to give Desmond all the hugs, I want Desmond to be able to choose to be an Assassin, to be able to help save the world again. Also, I am very curious about how you would resurrect Desmond, because I’ve had similar thoughts on such an AU, but I currently stick it near the end of Valhalla with the stuff that happens there. If you ever feel like expanding on it, I'd be super excited to see more!!!

first of all, AH THANK YOU!!! Yes those are ALL points that are very important to the Des Lives AU! Second of all, thank you so much for this ask in general!!! I was hoping someone would send an ask like this so I’d get an excuse to talk abt the AU more lmao XD!! I made this AU back in March last year, so there’s no Valhalla stuff in it, and it’s set right after/ during the Odyssey DLCs. 

The long story short for my Desmond Rez (rezmond, if you will) is “shroud of eden, abstergo, and some Isu bullshit”. The long story long, however, is uh- you know what? I’m going to use this opportunity to explain the vague story I worked out last year -- but dw, I WILL get to the full ressurection explanation I thought through. However... I’m gonna have to tell the story in smaller parts because I’m lazy and can’t be bothered to write the whole thing out right now. So rez comes later and not in this post. 

also uh-- before we start: I’m going to apologise for like… everything about the way I wrote this. It’s sort-of half fic, half that-way-your-friends-colloquially-tell-stories-that-you-can’t-keep-up-with. Mainly the latter. If you can make sense of this babbling, well done.

 Anyways, without further ado, welcome to:

POTES TRIES TO EXPLAIN HER DESMOND (SORTA) LIVES AU: PART ONE

On the 21st of December 2012, Desmond Miles dies. 

It’s not for nothing -- his sacrifice saves the entire world from a solar flare -- but he is dead. big ripz. The Assassins, his family, do not manage to recover his body. Abstergo gets it first. The Assassins hold a funeral as best they can. They mourn (all in their own ways), they keep fighting (for his memory), and they try to move on (they can’t). 

On the 21st of December 2012, Desmond Miles died -- so when he shows up in a city in October 2018, almost 6 years later, it’s a bit of a shock for everyone. What’s even more of a shock is the fact he’s glowing like an Isu and has some abilities he DEFINITELY didn’t have when he died.

So Desmond wakes up in the middle of some city in he doesn’t know where (yeah ok i just never really worked out where the secret lab would be), with 1. no idea of how he got there and 2. no idea why his arms are glowing like that. He doesn’t get much time to think about it because then there’re a load of Abstergo goons with guns surrounding him. Des may have no idea what’s happening, but he knows one thing: when u see an Abstergo, it’s on sight. So he’s fighting them -- which is admittedly not fun or easy when you’re in the middle of a road and only have your fists as weapons. It’s not going well and then someone definitely manages to shoot Desmond which is very bad -- but then Des feels some very weird (but not unfamiliar) feeling and when he looks up from the bullet wound, every one of the Abstergos are on the floor???? He doesn’t think to check if they’re dead, just legs it out of there lmao. 

//

Elsewhere, in an Assassin safehouse in an undisclosed location (can you tell I just didn’t think about the geography of anything), Mr Shaun Hastings is chilling on a balcony after a mission well done. Good for him. Then Rebecca Crane (queen ilu) yells “Shaun?” from inside. 

“Rebecca?” 

“Come inside. Now.”

Shaun immediately does so because he assumes it’s important or they’re under threat. “What happened? Have we been compromised?”

Rebecca doesn’t answer. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Shaun says, mostly joking and with a little smirk -- though Becs looks spooked. 

“Desmond’s alive.”

Shaun’s not smirking anymore. “What?”

“Desmond’s... he’s alive.”

“What are you talking about? Are you high?” he’s totally about to look at her eyes to see if they’re all dilated and druggy. 

“No Shaun, I mean it!” Becs harshly shoves her tablet into his hands. 

Shaun doesn’t really know what he’s expecting to see when he looks down at the screen. What he’s not really expecting to see is Desmond Miles, who’s been dead for six years, fighting a load of Abstergo people -- while lined in Isu markings (also he’s not wearing a shirt forgot got to mention). ??? But wtf??!?! Desmond’s dead. That’s...

“It’s security camera footage from [the city]... About two hours ago.” Rebecca then swipes through more footage with shaky hands and explains that Des very violently burst out of an Abstergo facility in the city with glowing eyes and light leaking out of him (almost like an Apple of Eden). Then the glowing eyes and shining lights shuts off abruptly and Des is standing in the middle of the road looking very confused at his precursor-ass arms and chest. But Shaun is barely listening to what she’s saying and barely even looking at the screen. 

“Where did you get this?” Shaun asks with a hollow voice, not looking up. 

“The Initiates.” (bc who else)

Shaun looks at it again, then at Rebecca, and he’s mildly aware of the fact he’s slightly tearing up; “That’s fake. That can’t be him. He’s dead, Becs. We both saw the…” They both saw the autopsy footage the ac4 researcher got from Abstergo -- or at least, tried to watch it; they shut it off as soon as Shaun ran to the bathroom to throw up and Rebecca quickly joined him. They spent the rest of that night crying and drinking way too much. 

“He died.” Shaun concludes firmly. 

And so Becs is all like “yeah but what if he didn’t?? We need to find him. We need to investigate this.” There’s a determination in her eyes and Shaun knows he’s not going to be able to convince her to drop this -- not that he would. Desmond might be alive, and there is no way they’re going to leave him again. 

They’re both standing there in pure shock and confusion, not saying anything. 

Rebecca’s comm device lights up and starts buzzing, snapping them out of their general ????-ness. Becs goes to her desk to grab it, glances at the caller id and then shows it to Shaun. It’s William Miles. 

The two of them share a Look. They know what he’s calling about -- what else would it be? There’s a stilted moment of neither of them doing anything before Rebecca finally accepts the call. “William?” 

“How quickly can you and Shaun get to [city]?” William sounds shaken -- probably the same way Rebecca and Shaun are -- which is a very weird way to hear the Mentor of the Brotherhood sound. He’s seen the footage, hasn’t he? 

“In a few hours,” Rebecca replies. 

“Good. You need to get there as soon as possible.” 

Everyone’s silent for a few moments. 

“Is this about Desmond?” Rebecca asks. Dumb question. 

There’s a pause. “You’ll be briefed on the ground.” And then he hangs up before Shaun or Rebecca can yell at him.

This is all moving very fast. Shaun and Rebecca share another look. Guess they’re going to [city].  ???

// 

Fast forward several hours and Rebecca and Shaun are in The City [might just have to make the city london bc it’s the one city i actually know well -- however for plot reasons we’ll see later, a swiss city might be better… moving on!]. They get to an assassin base and meet up with Galina Voronina and 2 local assassins. Idk if you’ve read the comics, but to sum things up quickly, Galina and her team were investigating and then ended Project Phoenix -- so Galina now really wants to find out if the whole Desmond thing has anything to do with that. 

Galina also wants to help Shaun and Rebecca get their friend back. They’re her friends, but equally she just lost one of her teammates to Abstergo (while ending Phoenix like 2 months ago, in the comics) and is uh- idk how to say it but she wants to help Shaun & Becs who have a chance to get their lost teammate back.

What follows is cool gang-gang trying to track down any trace of Desmond. You’d think it wouldn’t be hard to find a person who literally glows, but Desmond’s had centuries of Assassin training and knows how to hide lol.. which is making the Assassins’ job harder lol. 

What’s making it even harder is the Assassins know they have to be quick because they know Abstergo is gonna be looking for Desmond too -- and they have way more resources and stuff. That being said, they’re also currently dealing with the fact one of their building and a decent amount of their guards just got absolutely mullered by weird-glowing-desmond. 

The third issue with their entire thing is that they have no idea what they’re going to find when they find Desmond -- or if he even is Desmond. Is he going to be the man they knew but with weird powers? an Abstergo isu-clone? evil? they don’t know, and so they know they’ve got to be wary with him. 

The Assassin gang spend some time (a couple of days at the very most) trying to track Desmond down. Rebecca is using all the tech she can get her hacker mitts on to find a trace of him and equally throw Abstergo off Des’ trail. 

Soon enough, they get a solid lead -- don’t ask for the specifics, i don’t know them. But they get a lead, and it winds them up in an abandoned apartment building or also abandoned building site or something (a building in the city where there aren’t any people, basically). 

Galina scans the place with Eagle Vision and she’s like “There is something very strange about this place.” (someone?) But she doesn’t see a person-shape anywhere. The 5 of them are hopeful but somewhat on edge. 

They go about searching for any sign of Desmond. Galina’s pretty sure her Eagle Vision is just… Messing Up A Lot lol. Like something’s trying to heck with it. So she’s not quite sure it’s working correctly when a load of red figures appear somewhere below them. 

She becomes a lot more sure when the red figures come into sight and START SHOOTING AT THEM! IT’S ABSTERGO!! CRAP! they found them!!

The assassins get down and a really cool fight scene w them vs the Abstergos in the building/ building site starts playing out. Woo Shaun and Rebecca electro-hidden-blade moments!! The fight splits the squad up and Shaun and Rebecca are away from Galina & the others -- but they dispatch the Abstergo guards near them.

They’re about to radio in that they’re all okay/ check if Galina & co are also good when they hear a slightly-too-loud footstep. They whip around to see an Abstergo guard aiming right at them, too far for either of them to get him before he shoots them. crap crap crap.

They would have been shot -- if someone hadn’t come up behind the Abstergo guard and snapped his neck (ouch). 

The Abstergo drops to the ground, revealing the person who saved them and… Shaun and Rebecca stare in shock. 

They’re both looking at Desmond Miles. 

Desmond Miles, who is very much alive (and wearing a hoodie that is 100% stolen). And… with a load of glowing yellow lines on his face. But it’s Desmond -- it’s Desmond for sure. Holy shit.  

Desmond doesn’t seem so shocked, only relieved to see them. Then his expression turns into serious confusion; 

“What the fuck is happening?”

///

ok sorry leaving it there for now! hope you enjoyed what is here will continue soon

[blandacheadcanons]

Let’s talk about AC: Odyssey

Overall, the game was a 7/10. I liked it, primarily because it’s shiny new content and because i get to play as a woman for the whole game (and Kassandra hnngggnng) but there were some issues which, for me, undercut the emotion of the whole thing, especially the ending.

spoilers and bitching below, proceed at your own risk

An ADHD dream and nightmare

in general, the way i played Black Flag, Origins, and Odyssey was tantamount to “Okay, gotta go to - squirrel!”

Now, that problem (not really much of a problem but y’know) starts with me. I have ADHD, so I’m already prone to being unfocused in my game play. But it doesn’t help that the map is littered with side missions, collectibles, and shiny things.

That, on it’s own, is not much of an issue. So it’s a bloated game; that just means there’s more to love. and I do love this game. however, the overwhelming amount of side missions and the fact that you’re practically required to play them in order to level up enough, means that the game loses its focus.

in Black Flag, this was somewhat remedied by the fact you’re never really under-leveled, so much as under-prepared. In Origins, it was offset by the intensely emotional story and clear motivations. In Odyssey, neither of those things were present.

Breaking the game

Throughout its life as a series, Assassin’s Creed has done something few other games have done: justified the fact that it’s a video game. We, the player, play as Desmond/Layla/whomever, who is playing through the memories of the historical character. The Animus can essentially take a puzzle and build the edges and group the pieces by color, but it still needs a human to put the pieces in place. the puzzle - the memory - itself cannot be changed.

Now, in Odyssey, there is no more justification. Yes, I’m talking about the choice mechanic.

This aspect of the game just... breaks everything we know about the series. the way the animus works. the way we play the game. the lore went from decently put together to flat out incoherent.

I love Kassandra. and I love that she’s the canon character. but if female leads for some reason come at the cost of consistent story-telling, i’ll take the consistent lore.

Way too big

traveling takes for-fucking-ever. Look, Ubisoft, I know people loved the naval portions of your games. but that’s not an excuse to make everything fucking HUGE and spread out over a dozen islands. If you must have such a huge game, give us fast travel to an island right away. restrict it however else you like, but for FUCKS SAKE.

Clash of the Titans (and the original premise for this series)

from AC1 to AC: Black Flag, each game has been defined by its historical setting. It was the Crusade Game, the Renaissance Game, the Victorian Game...

Origins began to lay the framework for a more mythology-based portion of the series.

Well, Origins walked so that Odyssey could fly by it on a motorcycle. Throughout the game, i wasn’t about the historical figures i would meet. I was wondering where and how the mythology would be making an appearance.

On its own, this is not a bad thing. It also makes sense, given that Ubisoft seems to be shifting to the Isu for plot in the wake of Juno’s death.

It is, however, still rather jarring. It also doesn’t look like we’ll be getting more of the historical thing because AC: Ragnorak is looking like the next game.

I love mythology as much as the next person, but...I don’t even know what to say.

The Ending

the aforementioned lack of focus and emotional intensity led to a...lackluster ending. I went for the best ending where Kassandra saves Alexios and the family is reunited.

Alexios’s heel-face turn seemed so sudden. Like he’s furious up until he touches Leonidas’s spear, and he suddenly sees the light? I’m not saying that it can’t happen, but in a game brimming with mythology and magic, this was the thing that strained my suspension of disbelief.

And this was right after Kleon shot him in the back, too. but is it ever brought up? is his faith in the cult shaken by the fact that one of his “family” just tried to kill him? does Kassandra use it as evidence that the cult is using him?

nope. not once. not even a little bit.

And these are just some nitpicks, but for me, both Alexios’s subpar voice acting and Kassandra’s quiver disappearing (idk if that was a common thing or just my game) undercut the emotion of the scene.

cutscenes are not the time for errors like this, people!

too short

As much as I complain about a bloated game, the main storyline was way too short. If you play only the main story line, you’ll probably have uncovered about half the map. maybe less. Why do i care about the map? I don’t. But i do care about an underdeveloped story.

Maybe there was more plot that ended up on the cutting room floor, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether the game was slashed to ribbons or wasn’t there in the first place. We got a game that was too short.

The lack of length also exacerbates the tone problem. Had we had a longer story with more Deimos/PC interaction where cracks appear in Deimos’s armor, and he maybe even does something uncharacteristically charitable (out of more than pure shock), i could then buy his behavior on Taygetos as a last-ditch effort to maintain his self image in the face of his shifting world view.

If we’d had cutscenes like Syndicate where we could see a few moments from Alexios’s perspective, I could understand how that world view shifts and how the cult treats him.

but instead, we get an exponential graph of Alexios’s development. and it’s a damn shame.

Loss of Identity

for every AC game, there’s a million video essays laying out the problems with it. And in every one of those essays, there’s a line to the effect of “this game doesn’t feel like an Assassin’s Creed game.”

Previously, i was always of the school of thought that were was no “feel” of an AC game. the nature of the games is to change, in big ways and small ways, between games. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

But now, if you had me play this game and then AC1 and told me they were in the same series, i would never fucking believe you. The already thin common threads between games has been completely broken, even more so by going back in time. Origins had a similar problem, but it at least referenced the rest of the series with the hidden blade and the establishment of the Assassin Order. the only things “Assassin’s Creed” about Odyssey are the Isu and the title.

Other Nitpicks

Layla does not get out of the Animus nearly enough. I know most people hate the modern day line, but i like the break from all the historical action.

not calling Deimos Alexios/Kassandra in the subtitles. I know it was probably easier on the devs but just imagine the feels if the name changed when Deimos was being more vulnerable/letting his compassion show.

Kassandra can full-on see Atlantis and a Sphinx and still be amazed by every mythological creature that crosses her path.

people move way too much in dialogue cutscenes

animation and cgi are becoming so real that it’s creepy again

i appreciate the move to Actual Eagle’s Vision, but leave it in these games. I don’t want to get to the middle ages and be seeing out of a raven within a century of Atair’s Color Coding Eagle Vision. That’s not how evolution works.

While cool, the introduction of literally magical armor and weapons further proves that this isn’t a historical series anymore.

There is barely a stealth mechanic in this game, and when it’s used, it’s just used to pick people off before we’re noticed, not to avoid being noticed.

in a world where there are mercenaries and those mercenaries have to kill each other either for money or just to move up in rankings, mercenaries killing each other should not be illegal. if i try to fight one more mercenary and end up getting killed by the swarm of soldiers that just pony up out of no where, i swear to God...

why are soldiers acting as cops anyway doesn’t Athens have real, actual cops or equivalent

I think Ubisoft finally remembered they were rated M in Origins and Odyssey but it honestly just makes it harder to play around my parents

That’s as much as i can think of off the top of my head if i can think of more i’ll add it

[teecupangel]

Hi teecup, I hope ur having a great day/noon/night!

Forgive me if the things i'm about to say don't make much sense. It's been a vey, very, very, difficult time for me and my countrymen here, and my ability to make coherent sentences have declined drastically. So, yeah... BUT! That doesn't matter haha.

Anyways, I had a thought. And i'm not even sure how or why i got it but.... hear me out now...

Our boy, Desmond, gets thrown back in time as usual, same old same old, right? Exept, this time he doesn't end up in the Big Three™'s time-line. He ends up in Al-Mualim's time. *insert mind-blown emoji here cuz i can't find it rn*

And ik that i'm not a certified AC Expert like u and many others, and i haven't really finished any of the AC games yet (i've only seen bits of AC III and have only started AC 2, I also haven't finished AC 1)

But I do know that he wasn't really that creepy and evil in his youth/ b4 he became The Old Man of the Moutain, so i was thinking maybe Desmond ends up in that era of Al Mualim or is it Rashid al-Din Sinan? I know that he's based on a real historical figure but i'm not so sure if he's called that in-game?

And knowing Desmond, he'd probably get the urge to kill Rashid (i hope i'm using the name correctly) the time he figures shit out and connect that dots. But he would end up not doing that, cuz u know, it might fuck up the time-line and Altaïr might end up not being born, creating a domino-effect.

I want Desmond to meet Rashid before he starts to becom the Al Mualim we know today, so that Desmond can see how he was b4 the evants of AC 1.

Maybe Rashid's an arrogant ass, or a nerdy loser, or a popular assassin- who knows! The possibilites are endless!! (or maybe he's an obsessive bastard who gets obsessed with Desmond cuz he's just full of mysteries and wonders :Dc )

And blah blah blah, plot here, plot there, Isu-bullshit this, time shenanigans that, and BOOM they meet.

And romance ensues? :3 (romace wil absolutely ensue :}}} )

NOW, BEFORE- BEFORE YOU TIE ME TO A STAKE AND BURN ME ALIVE FOR THIS- i think it'd be a cute idea, and who knows? maybe Rashid was hot in his prime *insert lenny face cuz even after all these years i still don't know how to type it and is too lazy to cop paste it* and maybe he liked to solve mysteries and had a thing for the unexplainable. And Desmond is the most unexplainable, most bizarre thing to have graced the earth :33333.

Now that i've got this idea out of my system i'm gonna go pray for the down fall of my coutry's shit for brain, good for nothing military government/hj.

bye! *evaporates*

I hope you’re doing alright and I’m sorry that it took two months before I could answer your ask TTATT

As far as I know, he was only called Al Mualim because of legal reasons but Rashid ad-Din Sinan was the leader of the Assassins in Masyaf during 1191 so it’s safe to assume Al Mualim is AC’s version of Rashid (historically he died in 1193, not 1191.

.

Okay. We can make this work.

We put Desmond at around the same time he’s the recruit and we make it hard for him to realize he’s Al Mualim until it’s too late by doing one simple thing:

Desmond doesn’t know Al Mualim’s real name.

He always knew it as Al Mualim. As far as he knew, Al Mualim was his actual name.

Then he remembered that Al Mualim can mean mentor and bangs his head on the nearest flat surface.

His mission has been clear from the start.

Become an Assassin, take out Al Mualim before he does shit, find Umar and adopt him then play matchmaker so Altaïr would be born.

And no.

Desmond wasn’t going to think about the whole “can you truly be sure that the person who will be born will be Altaïr if you change the circumstances of his conception?”

Yeah.

His head hurts just thinking about it so he won’t.

For now, he’ll focus on his training while keeping a look out for anyone who gives of Al Mualim vibes.

What’s the Al Mualim vibes?

Manipulative old man vibes.

The problem is…

Rashid is one of the recruits in the same batch as Desmond and he becomes Desmond’s closest friend.

And there was no way Desmond would ever be friends with a future power hungry asshole like Al Mualim.

No way.

.

The way their relationship becomes romantic really depends on the kind of personality young Rashid would have.

A nerdy loser who starts making a name for himself because of his intelligence and tactical mind would start off as the kid Desmond sorta looks after. When he starts to show that his strength lies in making plans and quick judgments, he becomes the man whispering on Desmond’s ear. Providing plans and suggestions while giving Desmond a heads up on the less savory words people say about him. Desmond would never think this Rashid is Al Mualim because he’s nice and truly do want to help Desmond. This is also how Rashid would show his love for Desmond and, really, Desmond would think they’re bros and when he realizes that Rashid actually loves him, he’d think “oh, I am Ezio’s descendant”

An arrogant ass Rashid would butt heads with Desmond but Desmond would find himself fond of the man because he reminds him of AC1 Altaïr. This is the Rashid who would definitely be counted as a tsundere and their relationship would start when Rashid just flatout tells Desmond that he wants to do unspeakable things to him while they’re arguing. Desmond is offended because “tugging on my pigtails doesn’t work in real life, dumbass!” and Rashid is just “???” because what the fuck are pigtails??? Lots of awkwardness until Desmond realize that butting heads with Rashid is really how they flirt.

Now. Popular Assassin Rashid is more on the side of polite but is absolutely Desmond’s rival. Whatever it is, the two of them are always competing. Unlike the arrogant ass version, this Rashid is always nice to Desmond. The whole “no hard feelings” and pure competitiveness are what drives their relationship. This is the one where the two of them spar privately one time and things happen. They would try to distant themselves from one another for a bit until they finally talk it out. Rashid honestly didn’t think he loved Desmond until the whole ‘after-sparring’ thing.

Whichever you pick as Rashid’s background, he will become obsessed with Desmond but it’s more on the side of “I will do everything to make Desmond happy” which is good for Desmond but not really good for anyone against him.

.

Desmond is the one who adopts Umar in this one and Umar imprints on him like a baby duckling to a mama duckling. Everyone actually assumed Umar is his bastard son. Desmond ignores it even though he’s only like… a decade and a half older than Umar.

Rashid definitely treats him like Desmond’s son. He’s Umar’s favorite of all of Desmond’s friends.

And really, Desmond should have seen that as a hint of Rashid’s ‘future’.

Speaking of the future.

He’s been looking for Al Mualim this entire time and he has his suspects (Rashid, however, is not on the list) but honestly?

He’s just waiting for the person who would be picked as the one to lead the expansion to Masyaf since that would be Al Mualim.

Desmond has, unfortunately, fucked up the timeline so badly that the person chosen to lead the expansion?

It was Desmond.

.

Sidebar: Faheem would be that cute younger brother who turns grumpy when he grows up. Desmond will forever grieve the lost of little cute Faheem. Faheem is always embarrassed when Desmond talked about his ‘past’.

[teecupangel]

I had this unhinged crossover idea, Desmond getting yeeted into left 4 dead. Consider this like a really, really late Halloween thing.

I hadn't thought too much on how things would play out for Desmond but all I know is he fucking hates it, he's thought he hated being the main target for Abstergo? Oh he's gonna hate the undead despite feeling a bit of sympathy for them.

I mean, the green flu appeared to have started slowly before things spiraled out of control continuing to evolve and further spread, and the next thing people knew, their loved ones were dropping like flies only to rise once more and begin just attacking out of nowhere. Heartbreaking to him but now his fight for survival just got worse, there's no innocents anymore, and survivors who were once kind and generous are now willing to kill other survivors just to stay safe and get supplies.

He did find some of the saferoom wall writing hilarious though, if he found a marker he totally adds his two cents in.

Absolutely hates the special infected, avoiding witches? He can manage that unless some idiot startles her, first encounter he had was not fun- he swore his heart stopped for a second hearing the witch screech. And don't get him started on the hunters, they boggle his mind and make him internally rage. Of all special infected, he's 100,000% certain if he drops and all he'd end up a hunter, and that thought terrifies him above all else.

Like, could you imagine that? Hunter!Desmond would be a freaking menace, and unlike other hunters who aren't all that silent due to his training and bleeding effects, his stealth goes above and beyond what the typical hunter is capable of. Nightmare fuel for sure.

Well, this is obviously a very late Halloween thing because I just answered this today XD

I have fond memories of L4D as it was the game me and my friends would play between classes if we were quite bored. I even play Back 4 Blood with my friend a few months back just to get back to that L4D feel (and also because it was one of the few games we both had that we could play together hahahaha).

Out of all the infected, I prefer being the Hunter so there’s definitely some bias when I say that I agree with you that Desmond would definitely be the worst kind of Hunter.

Made for stealth and speed, compounded by his unique genetics that makes him the closest Isu among the humans if we don’t count the Sages.

He wouldn’t just be a Hunter, he’d be a mutated Hunter.

One might even call him the Apex Hunter.

His vision would stay in a heightened state of Eagle Vision, unaffected by flashbangs or any kind of tools that might impede his visions or other senses.

The heightened state of Eagle Vision meant that not even walls can hide his preys and he has… ‘favorites’, one might say.

The Apex Hunter would prioritize hunting and turning specific humans.

Humans that would turn into Hunters as well, joining him with some kind of strange pack-like intuition.

To the humans, it would seem random and they won’t realize it but the Apex Hunter…

He turns those that glowed bright to him.

Those with higher Isu genes that the rest.

And it is those nightmares that plague Desmond’s sleep.

It makes him fear being infected.

Not that it was easy for him to be infected.

He wore a mask to cover his face and lessen the chance of being hit by blood or any kind of body fluids from those he takes down. He goes to the nearest museum and ransacks their historical weapon and armor displays, going for the chainmail and leather armor instead of a full metal armor. It was as light as he could get it while offering the necessary protections as he sometimes has no choice but to get into close combat with them.

He goes for weapons his Bleeds are familiar with, a hunting bow for stealth kills that wouldn’t alert the hordes, a sword with the nearest weight to what he was familiar with, a hunting dagger that he uses more as a utility tool than anything else and an emergency pistol he got from an undead police officer he took down.

He kept his identity a secret. There was no need to tell everyone he was Desmond Miles, not when he’s not sure yet if Abstergo had already been wiped out or if they’re not behind the scenes, protected by the best security money can buy.

He woke up alone, in a room that had enough clues for him to figure out that he was about to be dissected (or vivisected since he wasn’t dead yet).

No clues on where the Assassins were.

If there were even Assassins left.

All he knew was that he woke up and the world had turned into a post zombie apocalypse.

So he continues to travel, focusing on the rooftops to traverse and only making contact with other survivors when it was necessary (or if his kindness gets the better of him).

He does not give a name.

But his existence is whispered regardless.

The White Hood.

A man clad in a white hoodie with a blank mask that covers his entire face.

You know when you see him because…

His white clothes do not have a speck of blood at all.

[teecupangel]

AU where (I've never played Valhalla, bear with me) Aletheia had been lying out her ass about the whole "heir of memories must save the world from the- *spins wheel* ...magnetic field" and the whole thing was a ruse to deliver the staff (and thus, Aletheia) to someone more susceptible to Isu brain manipulation who would do as told and die to revive Basim

Imagine Layla and Desmond in the Grey finding this out and losing their shit, then starting a revenge plot through time to kick Aletheia's ass and free Kassandra (Layla), seduce save some of their ancestors/fellow Assassins along the way (Desmond), and try to keep these two near gods from destroying reality (Clay, whose brain is still a bit fried and doesn't know how he's here but he knows these two idiots are somehow his problem)

It would be fun if it was Clay who told them about Aletheia’s true nature. Hell, if you want to fully kick Aletheia to the villain category, maybe the whole ‘Yggdrassil problem becoming the next catastrophe’ had been her doing in some way, to force Layla to give up her life and Desmond, as the Reader, didn’t see it in the Calculations because he was, after all, not exactly Desmond Miles anymore. To be more accurate, he wasn’t entirely human anymore so he had ignored the ‘emotional element’ of the Calculations.

Clay could have woken up because he felt Layla and she was an anomaly in the sense that she wasn’t meant to die and become part of the Gray in the first place.

It would be Clay and Layla who makes the plan to screw up the timelines to kick Aletheia’s ass and set up the Grand Temple to automatically turn on without the need of anyone operating it on December 21, 2012.

The Reader says that the possibility of success is too low to even try and Layla suggests they find a way for the Reader to regain his humanity and be Desmond Miles once more.

Clay’s grin is full of mischief as he goes “Oh, I have an idea how we can get this idiot back to his old self.”

Cue in Layla and Clay’s “Let’s Fuck Up The Timeline To Save The World!” plan begins.

Layla insists that the best way to fuck up Aletheia’s plans is to destroy the damn polestick (“Isn’t it a-” “Shhhh, we’re calling it a polestick now.” “Yeah, okay.”) before it could get in the hands of Kassandra.

Clay suggests they just punch an old man and take the polestick. Layla is a bit hesitant about that since there was this whole thing about Pythagoras and Kassandra getting into some kind of resolution before he gives the polestick to Kassandra and Kassandra deserves that.

Clay then suggests they hijack the Atlantis memory thing that Kassandra goes thru and take the polestick from Kassandra. Layla says no to that one too since Kassandra would kick their asses.

Clay snorts and points at the Reader with his thumb as he says, “Not this guy.”

“There is a-”

“Fuck the probabilities. We’ll tag team her while Layla runs away with the polestick, okay? All we have to do is keep her busy until the polestick is destroyed.”

“Can you two even handle Kassandra?”

“I’ll have you know we are certified Bleeding Effect graduates… in the sense that the Bleeding Effect has effectively fucked us over.” (sees Layla’s expression) “Which just means Kassandra would have two Ezio Auditores to deal with. It’ll be fun.”

Cue the trio trying to get Kassandra to lower her guard enough for Layla to take the polestick by pretending to be citizens of Elysium.

Their chance finally comes when…

It became clear Kassandra was flirting with Layla.

“I think you should sleep with her for the betterment of mankind.”

“What.”

“Please, you’ll like it. We’ll steal the polestick while she’s busy with you.”

“Oh my god. What are you talking about? I am not having sex with Kassandra!”

“You want to though. This would be the two birds one stone kind of deal.”

“Clay, shut up.”

“Hey, Reader, what’s the success possibility of us getting the polestick if Layla has sex wth Kassandra?”

“Eighty-nine percent.”

“See? That’s the highest success rate we’ve ever got! You gotta take one for the team, Layla.”

“Oh my god.”

Of course, Layla does agree because, let’s face it, she wanted to get some with Kassandra anyway. Then Aletheia starts screaming bloody murder and Kassandra realized something is up.

Cue a chase scene where Clay and the Reader are both running for their lives while Kassandra runs after them and Layla runs after Kassandra.

Some clothes might be missing during the chase.

This is when Clay gets a bright wonderful idea to start Phase 2 of the plan and opens a new portal for another time period.

Kassandra enters the portal as well.

And Layla has no idea where they were. Considering the building architecture she just saw, she was betting somewhere where there were a lot of Muslims?

Oh, god…

They were being chased by knights with-

Oh shit.

They were knights!

She barely heard Clay say, “Your turn, Reader!”

And Clay gives the polestick to the Reader before bodyslamming him straight to a trio of monk-

No.

Assassins.

Oh shit.

Layla remembered those robes.

They were the Assassin robes worn by the Levantine Brotherhood.

The Reader falls on top of one of the Assassins and Clay hides behind the other two as he points at Kassandra, “Brothers! That woman is trying to get an artifact that the Brotherhood has been protecting!”

Oh god.

Oh my god.

Clay was insane.

The knights have also caught up to them.

And they were now surrounded and…

Wait.

Layla focused his attention to the Reader and the Assassin he had toppled and they were still in the ground, staring at each other.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Unorganized Notes:

Clay specifically opened a portal that brought them to Jerusalem just before Altaïr, Malik and Kadar infiltrated Solomon’s Temple.

Clay’s mighty plan to bring Desmond back can be summarized as “get the Reader to remember how much Desmond Miles loved his ancestors……… and maybe get him laid… that might help… we’ll play it by ear.”

Altaïr would be adamant that it wasn’t love at first sight but there was… this strange connection that he couldn’t shook off the moment their eyes met.

The Reader will admit that he did feel something… ‘foreign’ when he saw Altaïr and he agrees that Clay might be on the right track.

Layla is just confused because Clay’s usual plan seems to be to get her and the Reader laid.

Clay doesn’t deny it.

Kassandra becomes a reluctant ally of theirs because she is stranded in this timeline while they charge up their ‘portal juice’. Layla was sure that portal juice was not an actual thing.

The way their time hopping mechanics work is that they need a POE to charge it up and it will completely drain the POE afterwards. For their first portal jump, it was a freebie because they were in the Gray and it had the same ‘power source’ the POEs have. Clay even explains that the Gray is where the main power source of the POEs come from and the Isus just found a way to harness and store it in the POEs.

So they need a new POE to use to get Kassandra back to her time. Layla suggests they use the Apple in Jerusalem but the Reader goes “No.”. This is the first time the Reader had been adamant in his opinion about how the Apple belongs to Altaïr and no one else. Layla stares at Clay with an expression of “holy shit, Clay may be up to something with this whole getting someone to fuck the Reader to bring back Desmond Miles” and Clay just grins at her as if to say “I’m a genius right?”. It should be noted that, at this point, the Reader have not yet been fucked… yet.

That is how far I got because, okay, so my problem is if we continue with the idea that they’re trying to save (and seduce) Desmond’s ancestors (and fellow Assassins), this will be bittersweet since it’s like Desmond would have a relationship with some of them and then break up with them given a long-distance relationship was not viable.

Of course, considering how I write Altaïr, I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up with the trio going their merry way screwing up the timeline by timehopping and then they later find out that Altaïr had been following them, looking for Desmond, and had been getting stubborn tagalongs along the way who were also looking for Desmond because he’s always a few steps behind the trio. (In other words, Desmond’s harem has been growing and chasing after him the entire time)

This… would be the kind of idea that Clay would definitely be on board with.

Although… considering the Reader is meant to have a connection to the possibilities, this meant that he should have seen this possibility… and did nothing to stop it. Which means… he wanted Altaïr to find the others and chase after him. XD

[teecupangel]

This is gonna be long, honey soooo… buckle up.

We have Desmond linked to the God of Wine, Dionysus / Bacchus with this fic (show some love and kudos this please, I adore this concept).

However, what if Desmond by chance ( Isu bullshit)  that he absorbed when he touched the Eye as he time travels back In the Renaissance before the Auditore family execution event, it manifested in him having demi-god traits but with two Gods I have in mind.

1. Aphrodite or Venus, goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation. Accidentally becoming a matchmaker for people like Des incidentally shoved a man by mistake who the man then bumped into a woman, BOOM! the two madly fell in love at first sight and married with children or his charm increases, making people fall in love with Desmond. This adds angst if Desmond discovered this power,  He has low self-esteem and is severely traumatized (fuck you William for that). He would believe they really don’t love him especially the assassins and it’s just a illusion they do. Actually they do, the power only boosted his charisma but Desmond doesn’t know this shhhhh.

2. Eros or Cupid, god of carnal love. 16 year old Desmond with his newfound freedom after running away from the Farm. It’s no surprise he could be a sexually liberated man especially he’s a hot bartender to hook up in the back alley of Bad Weather. He might dabbled in BDSM, he’s a switch, but preferably doms. He also got a vasectomy to avoid impregnating a woman no Elijah in thishe believes that he shouldn’t have children, after having narcissistic father and possibly an emotionally neglectful mother can do that. An ability to sense lust or desires of a person in eagle vision could be possible.

With that being explained, regardless of which God, these abilities have pros & cons. Desmond when he is in the Renaissance, he’ll be low-key but he can’t stand out and without the currency to have a peaceful life, we needs a job. By some gift of the universe or it hates him. He ended up as a bodyguard of Rosa in Fiore by saving some courtesans from aggressive drunken men while in his clothes devolved in rags by the heat of the Eye when arrived, making him look like a beggar, good thing it was night time so his face wasn’t seen by the girls.

Its been weeks doing this job, Desmond have saved plenty coins but not enough to buy land far away and live his life maybe as a farmer or open a tavern. Lately, he been feeling unwell, no matter he drank to quench his thirst, his throat is dry as if he been in dessert with no water survive and started having hot flashes. It could just because of the clothes he donned, not a single silver lining of his skin is shown except the upper part of his face and hair but he was assumed it was if it were the fact he started having wet dreams, from memory of his many hook ups in New York or some constructed with people with no faces. He gets aroused, yes, but he has self-restraint but he also frustrated and losing his rationale.

“Dezmund~” Bianca, a courtesan who been attempting to lure him to bed. The other courtesans entertaining the patrons who had too much wine, too busy to notice the two, giving them a sense of privacy. “Bianca” he nodded with one brow raised at her. Bianca practically started to entice him with her usual flirting to him. You know what, fuck it, he thought, he proceeded to ———————

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Yeeeaaaahhhh…i won’t be too detailed so it won’t be overbearing. So giving you the mental picture is that Desmond used his knowledge of BDSM, blindfoled and tied Bianca and used her mouth to empty his frustration while he is still completely clothed. He gave her sweet aftercare and realizing his symptoms are gone and his mind is clear and —- oh fuccccckkkkkk he unintentionally created a chain reaction after this event involving himself more to the Brotherhood, the Auditore family and Leonardo

Anyway, thanks for reading this till the end, mwah <3

======================================

Additions by teecup:

… that sounds like Desmond has the curse of an Incubus, needing to ‘unload’ his pent up energy to another person.

And you know who would be fascinated by it?

Leonardo Da Vinci.

Perhaps it was during one of the times that Leonardo went to a brothel to find ‘inspiration’. Maybe it was because he had been nursing a crush on Desmond who was unattainable to his eyes, a simple bodyguard meant to keep everyone safe.

He would see the complicated expression on his face. The frustration in his eyes.

And the flushed cheeks.

Oh, Leonardo would be smitten but he’d try to act like a friend, as any attraction he might have pales in comparison to his worries concerning Desmond’s wellbeing.

Desmond sees him and finds himself being unable to lie to Leonardo.

He needed to tell someone about his problems and he trusted Leonardo.

So Leonardo listens and…

Things start to snowball from there.

At first, it was simply Leonardo trying to help Desmond while studying his ‘affliction’.

Then it became more for the thrill and pleasure they would receive from one another.

Desmond becomes Leonardo’s muse and sometimes his model…

Maria Auditore saw Leonardo’s potential and started commissioning him…

Federico comes in to get one of the finished commissions and… finds Leonardo and Desmond in a very compromising situation.

Instead of leaving… Federico decided to join in.

And Desmond knew that Federico was hiding something but it would be a while before he realized that during this time, two years before the fated day that the Auditores would be executed, Federico was already on his way to becoming a member of the Brotherhood…

…

Also… maybe Leonardo and Desmond have an open relationship which will give us more option for Desmond to ‘partner’ up with (like maybe… La Volpe??? XD)

[teecupangel]

this is pretty hard to put into words but just hear me out. Imagine Desmond as a baker. Like a literally pastry/bread maker.

So the idea is that he'd have time traveled, by the apple or isu bullshit it's up to you, and basically gets adopted into this nice old family who own a bakery. They teach him everything and he settles down a bit. But it turns out he's travelled to before the executions of Ezio's family, where he has a chance to save them, but was warned against it by Minerva (or whoever) because it would mean the end of the world. So he has this moral dilemma the entire time. But also, he wants nothing to do with the Brotherhood. He's done with the Assassin's and Templars for a lifetime.

Then Leonardo comes along, because there's a nice family bakery down the road and he was craving something sweet, and sees Desmond (who is completely freaking out) and Leonardo assumes something... That he's Giovanni's bastard son. Which leads to a large moment of misunderstandings in which Leonardo is trying to tell the family that Desmond exists without sounding like he's accusing Giovanni of cheating but also trying to say something quick. Because if he saw the connection, so would other people.

But Maria, ignoring all the failed attempts of poor Leonardo, goes and orders a large amount of baked pastries to be delivered to the villa in celebration of someone's birthday. Lo and behold, Desmond appears to deliver the goods (and then to disappear into oblivion, because he just couldn't help himself to not see the family again)

Everyone stops when they see Desmond and Leonardo almost passes out from the pure amout of stress he had taken on. Then there's this whole scandal and poor little Desmond is smack dab in the middle of it.

Desmond could find baking as relaxing in the sense that baking requires precision and any deviation in the recipe (that is not like sugar content) could easily destroy it which, for someone like Desmond, might mean that the baker has complete control of what’s going to happen.

At least, if Desmond can’t have full control over his life, he could have full control over the pastries he makes.

Also, if we set it up so that Desmond wouldn’t know much about baking before he got adopted BUT he does know what pastries and cakes should look like and the ‘usual stuff’ that should be in them, hell, he could accidentally invent pastries that shouldn’t exist during that time period.

He would be known as someone not afraid to experiment and try new ingredients and people assume he’s a mad genius but Desmond is just trying to find possible alternatives he could use for the pastries he knows about but doesn’t exactly know how to make.

So Leonardo would be interested in the products themselves but also because of the rumor of this pastry/bread madman and both of them just stared at one another with wide eyes because Leonardo is thinking “Oh no, Giovanni cheated on Maria!” and Desmond is thinking “Oh fuck, what the hell is Leonardo doing here? Okay, stay cool, stay cool, stay freaking cool, Desmond”

And Leonardo becomes a regular because goddamn those pastries are to die for and Leonardo enjoys being Desmond’s taster (or, as Desmond like to call him, his guinea pig) all the while trying to drop hints that he knows who Desmond’s real father is.

Desmond misunderstands this hints as Leonardo knowing that he’s connected to the Auditores and he thinks if anyone could think “Ah! Of course! Time traveling bullshit!” as a reason for Desmond’s existence, it would be freaking Leonardo Da Vinci.

And, just to make everything more complicated, Desmond tries his damnest not to get near the Auditores but it wasn’t like they could reject Maria Auditore’s orders because that was a lot of money and also it would be social suicide to be known as the bakers who said no to the wife of Lorenzo’s unofficial second-in-command.

Instead of Desmond being the one to deliver it though, Ezio gets roped into getting the orders and Desmond freaks out because “oh shit, Ezio! Ohshitohshitohshitohshit!” so Desmond does want any normal person freaking out and out of option would do at that situation, pretend everything is fine and smile and be polite on the outside while just going “AAaaaaaaahhh *deep breath* aaaAAAAAAAAAHHHH” on the inside and Ezio is just staring at him and being uncharacteristically absentminded which Desmond assumed meant he must have just seen Cristina or something.

Instead, Ezio goes to Leonardo after delivering the pastries and go “I THINK MY FATHER CHEATED ON MY MOTHER AND HAS A SECRET CHILD!”

And Leonardo just goes “YYYYYEEESSSS!!!!”

Cue Leonardo and Ezio trying to drop hints to Maria about Desmond’s ‘real’ parentage (which Maria mistakes as Leonardo and Ezio really liking the pastries) and dropping hints to Desmond about his ‘connection’ to the Auditores (which Desmond mistakes as both Leonardo and Ezio coming close to finding out he’s a freaking descendant of the Auditores that time traveled) while Leonardo and Ezio suffer through both of their ‘obliviousness’.

(By the way, all this pastry talk made me remember Tasting History with Max Miller on youtube and, if you’re curious what food was like in the past, check his videos out. He even has a playlist for Medieval and Renaissance food)

[teecupangel]

In order to celebrate the incoming Eurovision Song Contest I would like to hear your opinion on what kind of songs the various ac protagonists would bring to the competition (with a slight alteration of the rules which would allow for countries outside of Europe to participate, of course), how they would behave, and also who would be the winner.

Personally I could totally see Ezio bringing one of those classic Italian love songs and having literally everyone in the audience thirst over him, while the Frye twins would get in a fight on stage because of family drama and be disqualified immediately.

Altaïr would bring some traditional Syrian sounds with a modern twist and complicated chords which only music neds will be able to notice, and Shao Jun would sing a pretty averge pop song in chinese, but only because she needs to concentrate on the choreography, which is the most ambitious in the history of the entire competition.

As for Desmond... idk, maybe he could represent the Isu, or maybe he's part of the jury alongside the rest of the modern day gang.

This was fun to think about and I included all the games and spinoff games main character for this one for maximum chaos.

So, in this setup, let’s say they’re trying out new things and the other countries are invited to join in for a brand new category. If it proves to be a success, maybe they’ll think of branching out or, maybe the rumors are true and this is meant to be their big announcement that other Song Contests will be held in the following years after this.

Regardless of the true reason why a special guest country category has popped up for this year’s contest, everyone is definitely in it to win.

Altaïr: He’d definitely go for something traditional and monophonic type which is the most common type of music in the Middle East. His instruments would primarily be what is commonly known as the traditional instruments in Syria… for the first part. Then you get to the second verse and that’s when the other instruments kick in. The monophonic nature slowly changes to having multiple melodies that should not work, there’s this sense of dissonance the entire time that might not be that noticeable to most people but musicians and those in that field would notice it. And they would be flabbergasted because it was beautiful. For some reason, Altaïr made it work. His song would certainly create a lot of buzz, for sure, and Altaïr would definitely sound like a totally pompous nerd when his only explanation to it is “Only a mind free of impediment is capable of grasping the chaotic beauty of the world. This is our greatest asset.” and Malik is in the background, already ready to smack the back of his head with his clipboard with Kadar having to use all his strength to stop his brother.

Ezio: A lot of people who knew Ezio would assume he would sing a very ‘saucy’ love song but it’s actually quite tame. A love song about falling in love but not having the courage to actually do anything. Very sweet and innocent. Then he ends it with a whispered “I love you” and everyone falls in love with him.

Ratonhnhaké:ton & Aveline: They’d be both representing America and their duet would be something simple but their choreography is the main star of the show like your idea for Shao Jun. Definitely one of the most ambitious choreography in the history of the entire competition.

Edward: He’s gonna sing sea shanties at the beginning which will make a lot of people go ”???” then the beat kicks in and it’s a freaking pop song with Thatch, Vane, Rackman, Hornigold, and Read. It’s sssooo 90s boyband everywhere (with the lyrics being nautical in nature because that’s apparently the theme they’re going for???). Just, full-on, the song, the choreography… everything is so 90s boyband that everyone who had a crush on a 90s boyband felt both nostalgia and cringe. Haytham sees this on tv and turns off his teli, silenced his phone, and hid in his room all the while hoping the world ends now. Jenny sees this and laughs her ass off, downloading the entire thing and going to social media to like and retweet anything related to it. Each retweet, she made sure to tag Haytham XD (sidenote: a lot of people got their sexual awakening thanks to Read that day).

Adéwalé: His song would be a more epic version of this one. He’d even take part as one of the main drummers. 1:13~1:18 will be longer with the drums getting louder and harder and, by the end of it, Adéwalé’s last lyrics would be sung breathlessly, making more of an impact.

Shay: … technically, he should be an American in a modern-day setting since he was born in New York but, for the sake of this idea, let’s say his parents stayed in Ireland and he gets to be their representative. His song will fully embrace his Irish roots and be a more ominous but beautiful rendition of Canaid Lia Fáil from AC Valhalla’s Wrath of the Druids DLC. (Honestly, I think Ciara should represent them but we are going for AC protagonists on this so maybe Ciara’s the one who teaches him the song and is the one who did the arrangement?)

Arno: Oh, he’d go for a love song about heartache and missing the love of his life. It’s so moving and everyone can feel the sincerity of his song. A lot of people cried. Then they later find out his longtime girlfriend broke up with him a few months before the competitions and everyone just goes “oooohh, that’s why.”. Definitely a contender but the beauty of his song has been overshadowed by… the ‘controversy’ behind it.

Jacob & Evie: Okay, so they’re supposed to be the ones to represent Britain but, as you said, they’d gotten into a fight because of family drama (Ethan Frye’s name might have been mentioned… a lot.). Fortunately, the fight happened before the contest itself and those in charge of picking the British representative decided to quietly ‘push them aside’ and that’s how Edward’s Pirate ‘Boy’band became the British representative. (ngl, my brain immediately went: that dance routine Monica and Ross did)

Nikolai: His song would be very patriotic but the way it’s arranged and how he sings it makes it very open for interpretation. There’s also the fact that he actually changed a bit of the lyrics without telling anyone beforehand, which may or may not be his way of rebelling against the strict parameters that have been ‘requested’ of him but being vague enough that he could get away with it.

Arbaaz: I’m going to be completely honest with you, I love RRR and I just want to see Arbaaz and Jayadeep perform Naatu Naatu (But, in all seriousness, considering the positive reception of RRR, performing it might have been some kind of strategy on their side)

Shao Jun: While Shao Jun could definitely have one of the most ambitious choreography, I kinda see her doing a traditional Chinese song and dance because of her history as a concubine. Concubines are usually well versed in song and dance so in a modern day setting, maybe Shao Jun is trained in the classics and she focused on that in her perfomance. Maybe something like this but with more complicated choreography and with lyrics exclusively made for the competition.

Aguilar: He’ll be singing a romantic song that would make people swoon. Very similar to Ezio’s piece but more somber and there’s a hint of tragedy in the lyrics. He’d also sing it while playing the guitar and his song is so memorable, it would later be used as the theme song for a romantic movie.

Bayek & Aya: They would have a heartbreaking song of loss and moving on. The background music would be quite soft and it would be their voices and lyrics that would carry the song. By the end of it, a lot of people would be in tears because the song wasn’t a romantic one where love will heal all wounds but about two people still in love but saying goodbye to one another so they could both move on.

Kassandra & Alexios: They’d have a duet that’s based on their mother’s lullaby which is based on this. It’s a beautiful song but it’s clear to the judges that Kassandra and Alexios don’t really have a lot of experience singing together.

Eivor: This version of AC Valhalla’s ending song When Horns Resound. Many of her backup singers are members of the Raven Clan in canon (in this setting, they're probably from the same agency?)

Desmond and the other modern-day characters are part of the crew covering the event. Desmond’s most probably a part-timer or something like an errand boy. He gets to go and do whatever needs to be done and, in the process, meets the contestants and chats with them.

[xadoheandterra]

Series: The Heir, The Reader, and Clay

Title: Run It Again Chapters: I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV | XVI | XVII | XVIII | XIX Enabler: @kingbob2-0 Beta: @claire-the-queer-dragon Characters: Kadar al-Sayf, Altair ibn La’Ahad Pairings: Altair/Malik Tags: Isu Fuckery, Ghosts, Mild Horror Tropes, Baby Badasses, Scholars Are Secretly Their Own Cult, Don’t Fuck With Scholars, Mistakes and Consequences Summary: They hadn’t found an answer yet, and Layla was impatient despite the promise of the Grey being timeless in its nature. She didn’t want to have to search for an answer that might never come–so she made another suggestion. Why not just change it? Why not counter the Isu influence on the Pieces of Eden where it counted, and counter what Juno inevitably did to the Eye in the Grand Temple?

It was all the push that Desmond needed to let himself be just that bit more selfish. So selfish he chose to be, and there was one moment where the Isu’s hold on the Pieces of Eden had a profound effect–the Levantine Brotherhood. Altair Ibn La’Ahad. Al Mualim. There was just one problem–Desmond was eight, a child, and didn’t remember dying.

Layla at least had his back, even if she was just a bit fashionably late.

The knife slipped from his fingers, sweat-soaked and slick and they trembled as he stared near unseeing at the bloated shape in front of him. It wasn't his first kill, far from his first kill, but there was a profoundness to this moment. The breath in his lungs stilled as he looked at the face slack with death; he looked at the still imagery and could see--movement, from his peripheral. A shape, shifted and paced.

A whisper, "Why?" against the back of his neck and Kadar for a moment couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe; why was this so much more? His head throbbed, and Kadar placed a hand to his temple as he grimaced--Jamal touched his elbow, a gentle tug and a reminder both and Kadar shifted away from the cooling corpse and allowed the younger boy to drag him from the room with a soft nudge.

"Why did you do this?!" the words were a wailed shout; they echoed around Kadar and with a grunt Kadar pressed his fingers tight to his head and tried to fight back the headache that threatened him from within. Now was not the time for this, whatever this was. He needed to get out--he needed to leave--Jamal tugged insistently at his elbow and he followed, a wordless grimace across his face. He could barely see where his feet took him--could barely think beyond the ache behind his eyes.

Jamal slowed, hand tight against Kadar's elbow and the only sense to ground him as his head swam and, "Why did you do this?!" was hissed into his ear, hot breath against the nape of his neck, and a chilled touch down the back of his spine. He could faintly tell Jamal spoke to someone--

("Is he okay?" Numair asked, eyes a furtive glance to Kadar whose pupils were dilated differently, a vaguely concussed look across his face.

"No," Jamal pressed his lips together and shook his head. "He's been like this after he stabbed Abu'l.")

--but Kadar could not make out the words in comparison to the wail in his ear and things yelled at his face. Abui'l made a ghastly figure as he danced around in and out of Kadar's vision with erratic movement. His blood poured down his front from his neck which existed as nothing more than the gaped wound Kadar had left in him. His lips were painted red, and it stained his teeth when he grinned and grimaced in Kadar's direction. Kadar had the vague sense of saying something--

("He's speaking nonsense," Omar hissed, but moved forward when Numair shoved him.

"We will have to address it later," Numair ground back. "Did you get that boy somewhere safe?"

Omar huffed and raised his nose to the air with a short, "Of course I did.")

--but the next moment the words left him as Abu'l ducked in forward and then low so that Kadar's half-hung head as he listed sideways into Jamal was given full glance of the stab wound in Abu'l's neck. Red, red, red teeth widened in his face and Kadar fumbled back with a shout; he barely registered being grabbed by both arms and some distanced shouting--

("Hold him steady!" Numair grunted.

"I am trying!" Omar ground out.

"We need to go, now!" Jamal shouted, tugged at both of their sleeves, and they began a shuffled hurried struggle forward with Kadar held aloft between them on drunken feet.)

--and all Kadar got were fragmented sentences that made little context rushed together, all from a should-be-dead man while his vision whited out, blacked at the edges, and swam all at once.

"Look at me!" Abu'l howled, a dramatic twist as Kadar nearly fumbled out of the grip on his arms.

"Vengeance?! Is this all for petty vengeance?!" red blood dripped onto Kadar's hands as fingers grasped at his cheeks and pulled.

"You are the thief! Not me! Not me!" Abu'l spun out of his sight as night air hit Kadar in the face; the coldness refreshed him, eased a bit of the pain behind his eyes. He listed, blinked slow and for a moment lost himself--

("Fuck, hold!" Omar grunted.

"I'm holding, I'm holding," Numair growled back. "Jamal what is it?!"

Jamal looked down at the feather in their hand, stained red with blood, and then back to the twins. "Get out of the city. I will meet you outside the gates."

There was a moment as the twins gaped, as Kadar swayed in their grasp, and then together they said, "What?! No! Jamal! Jamal!" but Jamal had already turned and darted into the shadows of the night, and with Kadar in their arms they could not follow.)

--and then Abu'l was there, arms cradled around him as he pressed Kadar's face into the fat of his belly, a soft croon from his voice as he whispered, "Oh, little abomination. We are not so different...." and Kadar wanted to be sick. Blissfully, thankfully, he passed out not a second later to one last wailed, "Why?!" as the ghastly visage pulled at his hair and howled and screamed bloody murder at him.

Omar and Numair grunted the minute Kadar went fully limp in their arms. For several minutes now the older teen had dragged behind, feet a stumbled mess that would catch on loose stone as they worked their way through the shadows with there mostly incoherent, nonsense-mumbling leader. With the sudden increase of Kadar's weight Omar and Numair struggled for half-a-second, before the twins were able to shove Kadar against a wall and let him slump over. Omar grimaced; Numair turned from Kadar in thought.

"This just got harder."

"No shit."

For a moment both boys exchanged a glance, mirrored reflections of each other, before they looked away again and contemplated this new mess. About the only good thing happened to be the lack of an alert. Jamal had come through with the herb-riddled alcohol and so they left the guards at the Merchant Prince's palace to snore away in pure bliss. They both doubted the body of Abu'l would be found any time soon--definitely not before the sun would be up. None of the servants would want to dare enter the Master's bed chambers after all, especially not when he had clearly retired with the intent to have fun.

The boys exchanged a glance again, and then looked to Kadar, before they sighed in tune and said, "We treat him like our drunken passed out older brother?"

"What about the blood?"

"Got into a fight? Back alley brawls happen all the time and the guards don't care normally....."

"....it is a lot of blood though."

Omar crouched down, hand hovered just over where the blood had sprayed across Kadar's lightly, nothing more than a few drops. The rest of it had clearly hit the front of Kadar's shirt. The kill was not probably as clean as their mentor would have liked, given the breadth of the spray. Abu'l struggled.

"Bastard got him good," Numair pointed toward the bruised eye and Omar grimaced.

"He got the bastard good back," Omar countered and they lapsed back into silence for a moment longer before both boys straightened back up and looked to one another.

Kadar would need a change of clothes; they couldn't be certain how coherent he would be upon waking--they weren't even sure what had brought on the fit except that perhaps Abu'l was cleverer than they could give him credit and gotten Kadar with some sort of poison. If that were true neither boy could recognize it, and they learned plenty about poisons under Master Kadar from before--which meant really it had to be something rare since Master Kadar had known his stuff given that he ran the apothecary. The change of clothes was more immediate, and a wash to his face perhaps, and all that they couldn't do without their gear which was--safely stashed elsewhere.

"Remember where the packs are?"

"Of course I do."

"You get them, then."

"Why me?"

"You’re better at climbing!"

"Fine."

They split; Numair darted off into the night with a huff while Omar settled down next to Mentor Kadar. After a moment he decided perhaps he should do something to mask their presence a bit better than just sit in the open and began to drag some of the crates in the alley around to block line of sight. At least he would have a better chance of keeping hidden with those placed to build somewhat blind spots in the alley if a guard decided to check on things. With a bit more security Omar settled back next to Mentor Kadar and tapped his head once lightly against the wall. This had quickly become a nightmare--the plan, the work, everything off without a problem in sight and then this--and Omar didn't know how he felt about it all except that it was a mess and a half. Kadar was skilled, and with half-decent back up, so something like this should not have happened. Logically it made no sense. Of course, then Jamal was off doing who knows what and where and Omar pressed his hands against his cheeks with a huff and a faint growl.

"We are not doing this again," Omar mumbled to himself, glanced to Mentor Kadar, and then breathed out slow. "We aren't, Master. Although I doubt you can hear me...." Jamal had better be at that gate ready for them. Omar doubted Mentor Kadar would awaken before they got there, and he and Numair would need the help in getting the unconscious older teen situated. They needed a cart, too, now that Omar thought about it--they couldn't carry the older boy for long and there was no clear way to know how he would be once he woke up.

A cart, a horse to lead the cart, Jamal, Numair, and changes of clothes for all of them. Omar rubbed at his cheeks and puffed them out as he blew a breath of air from pursed lips. At least they would not need to be back in Damascus for a long, long while. Which was a bit of a pity because it'd been rather fun sneaking around and being one with the shadows. He liked it. He liked it a lot, and honestly, he'd miss the city and its little nuances and--and Omar tugged his knees up and buried his face in them for the moment as the thought hit him like a hammer. He was afraid.

In Jerusalem, when they first had to run all those months ago Omar had been terrified. Hidden in that old, abandoned church and felt like a nightmare; unsure of who to trust or where they could go--they were alone, the group of them. Hakim led them then, with Alem at his side, and they looked up to the older man. They all knew that he was due to go through the Ceremony, that he would be named Assassin. When Kadar came, it was relief--because Kadar meant the Demon of Masyaf was not far behind, that the Eagle was not far behind, and that meant safety. They knew between those two they would be safe and well and nothing could hurt them.

Missing an arm or not had not dulled Malik's skill; Omar had watched the man practice his blades in the early morning once. His faith--all their faith--was not at all misplaced. Malik took them under wing and taught them, readied them--furthered their training beyond what they had gotten. He was a taskmaster, a demon certainly, but they were better for it and Omar knew it. Numair knew it--they all did. Kadar was skilled, too--personally trained by the Eagle and the Demon why wouldn't he be? They were safe with him, safe in his hands as Malik sent them out to be his eyes and ears--to find the secrets that were being kept--and the secrets they had found....

Kadar was not supposed to get hurt though; not supposed to pass out. They weren't supposed to do the job of an Assassin with a group of three Novices and one not-really-a-Novice, let alone a job that was surely meant for the Eagle. This was not what they were to do. The fact that things changed so quickly, so abruptly--it terrified him. Omar was worried what Acre would bring. Omar was worried Kadar wouldn't wake. Omar was worried Jamal wouldn't return. He was afraid--so afraid--

"I'm back."

Like a switch Omar raised his head and let the worries slide back and down and away. Right now he had a job to do--get Kadar to safety--and his twin was here to help. He could deal with the rest later. He had to.

Altair stared at the gates of Damascus with a critical eye, lips pressed together as he lingered in the shadows. There were far more guards than normal posted at the entrance, and they paid far more scrutiny than typical to each person that entered. They checked for things as simple as weapons which any traveler worth their salt carried, chained anyone they remotely were suspicious of, and more than once Altair had seen a guard pull aside a person and then beat them while demanding answers just outside of view of the rest of the populace. Even the scholars crowded together outside the gate, off to the side, to not gather attention.

With a sigh, Altair turned from shadows he made his home in and crept over to the group of scholars in effort to hide himself. He was more conspicuous in white by himself, with guards on such high alert. They would see him as an Assassin within a heartbeat; even among the scholars' number Altair knew he would stand out, but he planned to keep to the back of the group and hope that worked in his favor. Altair knew he stood a good head taller than most of the monks, so he hunched himself down to be small as he inched his way toward the back of their number.

The group shifted, slightly; the scholars were aware of him, as they were any Assassin in their midst. Theirs was a mutually beneficial arrangement--trade of information for secrecy, for safety. They weren't brothers, not truly, although they had their own Scholars within Masyaf that were. The scholars in the cities were entities of their own, and their agreements far different than most allies the Brotherhood subtly entertained.

Still, when they addressed Altair, it was with silent, barely moved lips and a softly whispered, "Brother," that had Altair shift.

"You should not be here, brother," the one closest to Altair said under his breath, hands pressed together as if in prayer.

"I have business in the city," Altair said in response, turned slightly to the side as he eyed the guards with a narrowed gaze.

"One would think your business concluded," another of the scholars uttered, voice just the slightest bit sharp, "given the state of things."

Altair turned toward the man, lips pressed together as he hissed, "I have only just arrived, how could my business be concluded?" He wondered if the scholars knew of his business already and a part of him bristled at the thought.

"Calm, brother," the first said as he unfolded his hands. He pressed his fingers of one arm to the agitated scholar, hovered the fingers of his other over Altair's left hand. "It is already heated enough without infighting."

For a moment nothing, and then a softly sighed, "I apologize," came from the second scholar.

"I... also apologize," Altair's hand twitched, for half-a-second his fingers brushed the first scholar, and then he folded them in front of him as if in prayer. "Tell me, what has happened here in Damascus?"

"Hm, what indeed."

Altair's expression pinched, but he waited. The scholars would name their price for their information--they dealt in it heavily after all, and while normally they hoarded it, they would occasionally give out nuggets for a price. The prices weren't always fair, but Masyaf and the Brotherhood had their agreements with the scholars, and agreements would be honored. Altair would see to it if nothing else.

"An exchange," one scholar said, and the group murmured faintly into a soft hum of background noise. "Information for information."

Altair inclined his head. "What do you seek to know?"

The answer came quick, sharp, and without any hesitation. "Where has your Brotherhood gone?"

Altair could not hold back the reflexive flinch at the question; his eyes flashed gold, the world lit twilight with reds and blues and golds before he shook his head of it and blinked back into the sun. The question begged something deeper--where had the Brotherhood gone does not mean just Assassin's out of Masyaf. The Brotherhood was in every city. Their presence may have been rather thin in places, but it was there and it was felt. Altair breathed in slow--he needed to get in the city, to check on Kadar and the Novices. If the Brotherhood's presence was not felt here in Damascus....

"Nothing to say, brother?" one of the scholars scoffed, and Altair raised his head slightly. Each of them had eyes in his direction, although they kept their heads bowed down as if in supplication and prayer.

Altair licked his lips, turned his eyes to the side as he spoke. "I do not know as to the Brotherhood here in Damascus."

"We do not ask about just Damascus."

Altair tilted his head slightly and spoke, words slow and cautious, "I do not know the truth of things, with the Brotherhood. I am not...as trusted as I was, once. Yet even I can see the unrest within my Brothers. Shaykh al-Jabal has chosen to keep us close in the aftermath of current events."

"To clean house," one of the scholars growled.

"No," Altair's words were short, tone sharp.

"You should," another scholar said. "Clean house, that is."

The thought of betrayal struck Altair like a hammer, and he hated the idea that there could be traitors in trusted position. Yet wasn't that what Malik had proposed? Brothers who turned on Brothers? For a long moment there was silence, Altair's lips pressed together until they were pale, hands near clenched into fists as they mimicked prayer. One the brothers shifted; his clothes brushed against Altair's leg and drew his attention back. He eyed the man carefully, waited.

"Abu'l Nuquod was killed last night in his palace," the scholar said. "A blade to the neck, the perpetrator long gone by the time his guards became aware. He was meant to host a party today, a grand event in celebration."

Ice curled in Altair's veins as his breath stilled in his lungs. A blade to the neck and guards on high alert sounded like an Assassin's work. The quiet thoroughness of the job indicated someone skilled, someone prepared and ready. The victim Altair's own target--he needed in the city. He needed in the city now. For a moment Altair eyed the gate from within the scholars. He entertained the thought of his blade in hand as he cut a bloody swath through the gate and its guards--and then he turned away.

"Thank you," Altair said, and slipped from the group of scholars who murmured to themselves, there was a different way into Damascus; a bit trickier, and less safe, but given the state of things perhaps it was the better option for the moment

Quietly Altair turned down the road, slipped through the crowds until the road curved out of sight of the gate, and then began to make his way up the sloped hill and toward the wall. If his memory served there was a small space, a smuggler's entrance, hidden in the brush. It would be marked, Altair remembered, by a group of cairns that to a lesser eye looked like a series of gravestones. He spotted them rather quickly, and from there the brush that covered the wooden hatch that led down into the tunnels. The hinges creaked loudly as Altair pulled it open, but he paid that no mind and instead dropped down into darkness.