An Uneasy Peace, Part IV

[madimpossibledreamer]

I know AC1 had minimaps but shh let’s just pretend they didn’t
Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US who celebrate it, and for everyone else, I hope you had a great day as well!

Main Points:
Assassin's Creed/The Secret World
Summary: Desmond continues to become one of the most well-informed Dragon recruits, and he hasn't even met the faction handler.
Word Count: 1072
Rating: Teen

 

         Maybe Desmond’s pushing his luck, a little, but he’s enjoying hanging out with Rebecca and Shaun without the end of the world hanging over them all, and the tourist thing is a lot more fun when he’s not subconsciously worrying about a repeat of what happened in the last world. Shaun’s definitely concerned about him now, though that’s probably the guilt talking. Maybe it’s really weird that he seemed to get over it so quickly, though seriously, the Brit had actually managed to be reassuring, even if he didn’t understand how.
         Desmond sucks it up and heads over to a street he’d been avoiding the whole time he’s been here, namely the way that leads to Templar Hall. It’s an impressive area, all right, towering above everything else, with the giant fountain in front and everything.
         He’s actually really tempted to just climb in, especially with his newfound power, though he’s almost certain that’d raise red flags, since he’d have apparently just lost his watchers, even if they didn’t think he did it through magic or whatever. Before the Animus, he’d never actually just looked at architecture and immediately start thinking about it in terms of handhelds, but climbing had been a lot of fun and he actually kind of misses it.
         The watchers definitely take a lot of interest in the fact he’s taking an interest, though, and he probably shouldn’t do it for too long. Really, he’s trying to avoid ending up on anyone’s ‘to do list’ for the time being. He’d had enough of that last time.
         While he’s standing there gawking, though, he’s actually approached by a Templar asking about a lost talking raven and is forced to contemplate possible familiars or whatever because oh yeah, that’s right, magic exists. Another one is itching for he can't help but feel uneasy.  One of the Templars complains that he’s not a bloody walking tour but hands him a map anyway. He’s already half memorized most of the layout from previous days, and there’s probably also secrets that have been hidden because that’s just how these secret societies roll, but still, it’s useful. He’d really appreciated Rebecca’s ‘minimap’ feature. True, most of the cities Altaïr was in weren’t that big, so it was harder to get lost, but still.
         There’s a mostly empty building right next to the entrance to the Templar courtyard. He’s allowed in there, but there are just...police officers standing around, and absolutely nothing in there. Maybe that’s what all the sirens are about. The door is gold, but they’re not going to let him in anytime soon, so he mostly doesn’t bother.
         He also memorizes the location of all the phone boxes; they take Pax, too, and it never hurts to have an idea where everything is. Not that he thinks he’ll need it with the new phone, but it pays to be prepared and he’s already memorized Shaun’s and Rebecca’s numbers.
         The park has a big tower of crates labeled ‘Camelot’ built around a big tree, and there’s a fountain of gold behind it, not that anyone seems to notice. It feels like pure energy, and it’s gold in Eagle Vision too. Desmond doesn’t touch it.
         He checks in on the girl in the park, too, introduces himself and keeps an eye on the old guy trying to impress her. He’s not sure how old she is but he’s guessing teens, based on a general guess and the fact that she talks about school and accidentally becoming a pyromaniac. Fortunately, it seems like she didn’t judge him wrong and he is, in fact, not making any moves on her or forcing her into anything, but it doesn’t hurt to keep talking to her every day to make sure. Maybe that’s the bartender in him.
         There’s even sewers, if he wants to deal with them. He doesn’t particularly. They smell even worse than when he’s in the Animus, but it pays to have an idea of the layout in case you need to make a quick escape or whatever, so he sucks it up and goes. Maybe it’ll make his watchers worried, but also, he just doesn’t feel like making small talk with the Templars as he walks up to the entrance right now. The tunnels are cramped and confusing, winding with dead ends and turns, but he memorizes them, too, just in case. There’s even a door to an excavation down here, he’s told, but it’s locked and he doesn’t want to go breaking locks or trying to pick them just yet. Just in case.
         Apparently, there’s something called the British Museum of the Occult, just to the right of Templar Hall, though he can get there without going past all the guards. It’s got a larger than life statue of him in his current outfit in the front lobby down the steps, which is opposite two horse statues. The horses are normal enough, but the statue of himself is really kind of creepy, and a museum curator dude who he could pay to open wings or buy pedestals and who teleports around behind or in front of him as he visits various rooms doesn’t help. There’s even a gift shop, but all five of the salespeople seem to have nothing to sell him and other than that there’s just a few flyers and posters and another one of those Bingo!Cola machines. Unfortunately, there’s almost nothing there, and the guy mentions something about him being the ‘sponsor of this version of the Museum’, whatever that means. At least there are benches and the water coolers work, but there are also just...halls that go further than they need to, because there’s nothing at the end. It’s unnerving.
         There’s even a color-coded map on the wall, with such sections as ‘The Children of Hell’, ‘Strains of the Filth’, and ‘Menagerie of the Vampires’, but then, maybe he should expect that from the apparently Transylvania section. Japan is also a wing, which catches his interest, because it means he probably was right about Tokyo, even if he’s not sure what, exactly, is going on there. If that’s true, there’s also probably something going on in New England, Transylvania, and Egypt, too. For being empty, there were some actually useful things in here, even if those ‘things’ just happened to be knowledge.