An Uneasy Peace, Part V

[madimpossibledreamer]

Josie makes a crossover appearance for 2 seconds, mostly because she’s my Secret World Legends character I was doing the tour scouting with.

Main Points:
Assassin's Creed/The Secret World
Summary: Desmond finishes his initial tour of London and discovers some interesting inhabitants of this world in Darkside.
Word Count: 980
Rating: Teen

 

         When he gets out of the museum, he watches one woman go past on a motorcycle and then use a spell, apparently, to put it away, which would be really handy and also he could finally have his motorcycle without a hassle, so maybe that might count as a win. Maybe? He marks that down firmly as ‘later’, just like the idle thought that maybe he should get a new tattoo, something to mark his survival and transition to this new world and whatever. He has absolutely no idea what to get for it, other than maybe an Assassin symbol, and he feels a little weird about that, too. He doesn’t have to rush into it, really. He’ll figure something out.
         Wandering back down that road, he finds probably the wildest nightclub he’s ever seen with a sky that looks like shifting stars and floating cubes that might actually be shifting stars and floating cubes and also apparently he can buy private room keys. Not that he needs that right now, but again. Scouting. It’s almost got an Islamic feel, if they went for gears and gear-like designs, because the repeated motif and patterning is everywhere. It’s possible that those rooms are actually the floating cubes, given that the big box in the middle says it needs a room key to enter and looks a little like a bigger version of the other cubes, though he hopes you don’t actually notice the turning when you’re in the room. Seriously, it’d suck to be having a serious discussion only to suddenly notice you’re upside down.
         Darkside is, well. He’s lived in worse, and it’s not like he can’t deal with things if he gets jumped. There’s shops there, too—a little comics shop, a gun store with a shopkeeper whose eyes are glowing, a club distastefully called the Crusades. He can’t quite bring himself to go in that last one more than once, and while he could probably score some more money in pool and actually kind of likes the grunge look and the band playing, the ‘apocalyptic’ theme coupled with the name bothers him more than the obviously non-humans inside. They’re not starting fights, so they’re probably fine, more than the aesthetic, which just rubs him the wrong way. And so far, no Isu, though he’s still keeping an eye out.
         There’s a fight club, too, which may or may not be sponsored by an app called Pets vs Monsters, whatever that means. He could sign up to fight, but just ends up watching, instead, as monsters come out and face each other in the little circular hole. They’ve put a chain-link fence around the top, little grates that they raise when they want to unleash the next fighters, and a little flickering ad-board with barely working lights. People have to stand around to watch, though some have brought their own tables, mattresses, folding chairs, and beer, and one enterprising probably-nonhuman with a gas mask has somehow dragged its stand down the steps and is selling fruit for some reason. No one's throwing it, so that's clearly not the reason, which is the only thing Desmond can think of.  If you want a better view, you can even climb up the rickety, rusting steps to the metal catwalk above, which he does, mostly because heights have always been a little calming and he needs some of that right now. Maybe it’s a good thing it’s all stone and metal, though, given the number of flaming barrels around—and it’s a lot more packed than he would have thought, so it’d probably be pretty easy for something to go really wrong.
         There are more non-humans at the Haitian Bazaar, including, apparently, the world-famous Dante the Ghoul’s Taco Stand. He’s been asked a couple times if he’d tried it yet. They’re not kidding; there is something—someone?— nonhuman selling tacos and his ‘acclaimed hot sauce’ in one little corner. Desmond’s not brave enough to try, not yet anyway, though he can definitely imagine Rebecca dragging him down here, probably to see if he’s good with spicy food or to invite him to do a food challenge or something. Other stands are selling charms, herbs, flowers, sausages, yet more clothes, kebabs, which look delicious (and wind up as delicious as they look), veggies and fruits. Generally, there are four types Desmond has noticed: more ghouls, like Dante, more types with gas masks or hoods, a horned maybe satyr type, and short ones. He’ll probably ask Shaun for more details later. Up the stairs, there’s a place selling practically everything—dairy, lottery tickets, incense, flowers, mantra prayers, and, questionably, yet more Bingo!Cola, though there’s nobody actually manning the cashier box. Desmond marks that as a quest for later, because a missing person in this world is...well, he’s got a bad feeling about it. At the end of this little street, there’s a Haitian and Creole restaurant, and the gumbo is great, if a bit spicy.
         Opposite the empty store, there’s a little place called the House of Chalk, which advertises Readings, Rituals, and Spells, though they take one look at him and say he only needs the ingredients, mostly herbs, though they also offer to sell him voodoo cards, whatever those are, and a drum?!? himself. He’s not sure how to take that, but says he’ll come back when he’s got a specific need for it, to which they nod. Apparently, that’s a normal response, somehow. He’s pretty sure he’s never going to take the drum, though. He doesn’t know what he’d do with one or where he’d store it. The proprietor outside, Mama Abena, feels important, but he’s not ready to get involved in too much yet, so he just chats with her a bit about being new to London and then leaves, keeping a note in his mind to come back later.