Steps in the Dance
Apr. 3rd, 2025 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerMain Points: Assassin's Creed/The Secret World
Summary: Desmond briefly gets distracted by a shiny and then they finish taking out the circuitry, for better or for worse.
Word Count: 1906
Rating: Teen
The worst part is that he can feel something like a ping to the south. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore it. He’d ignore it except it feels gold.
“What is wrong?” Alice asks, watching him closely like he’s about to pull out another trick that she can just learn. Which—maybe, the Bees have some kind of really weak version, but he’s not sure about Alice. At minimum her type of dragon doesn’t seem to have a sense for treasure.
“I can feel it too, but what makes us think this isn’t some sort of trap?” It’s a good question, especially since the Park had already tried to play the thing with the eagle. It’s a good question, but he’s also feeling like if he just leaves it until after, somebody’s going to sweep in and take it. They would’ve already done so if they could’ve gotten in. Which, with that description, his money’s on the Phoenicians. He knows they’re already interested in the Park. And almost certainly means one of the Artifacts. Not that he particularly wants one, but he really doesn’t want it ending up in other people’s hands, either.
“It could be a trap, but it’s not an illusion.” Alice deserves an answer, too, so he turns to her. “There’s an Artifact out there, near…” ...remember the map… “...Lover’s Lane, I guess.”
Rukh shifts on his shoulder, uncomfortable. Like he’s a little concerned. Which, Desmond absolutely is, too. He pets the feathers and Rukh settles down, nipping gently at Desmond’s hand as he does, though.
“Artifacts are distractions for others to chase,” the Dragon-girl intones, looking intrigued despite herself. That does explain why they were so happy to just send him things to watch his reactions, even if these Talisman things probably aren’t as ancient as an actual Artifact. And probably what she’d meant by ‘props’. They really don’t care about the Artifacts, do they? Which means it’s probably just the Templars and Illuminati, and probably the Phoenicians, fighting over them. It’s probably actually wrong even if they aren’t as powerful as the Pieces of Eden, but someone actually staying out of it is also kind of refreshing.
“They can define what people can do. Your calculations are gonna be off if you don’t bother to even pay attention to that.” Alice nods thoughtfully, so they head to the spot. It’s at the pavilion-thing in the center of a dried up, artificial lake, although for a moment it twists to look like it’s larger, with an indoor cave portion and water still inside. Even when it goes back to normal, there’s...two zombies just patiently sitting in one of the swan-boats that are just leaning up against the side of the concrete ‘island’ in the center. They’re the only zombies that aren’t just eerily staring. Instead, they’re just staring at each other, barely even moving, like they’re props.
He has to squeeze past a zombie on the bridge. It doesn’t move to make it easier for him, either, and it definitely smells rotting, which...look, just because he’s used to the smell doesn’t mean he likes it by any stretch of the imagination. Alice looks like she’s contemplating just roasting it for existing.
It’s actually on top of the gazebo, hidden beneath one of the roof tiles. Desmond tests it just to be sure that it’s not going to crumble beneath him the second he gets up there, but it holds his weight and isn’t too much of a challenge, really. Still a kind of nice change of pace. He crouches when he gets up there. It helps with the balance here on the edge, but honestly it’s mostly because he’s missing it. Honestly, he half expects he’s going to be clambering all over London the second he gets back, just to relax a little.
And then, of course, when he pulls up the tile, it looks like a shattered part of a golden egg. Not quite an Apple, but he half feels like just putting the tile back down and leaving it there. He doesn’t, obviously. It’s still a bad idea to let this end up in someone else’s hands, even if there’s a lot more lying around in this world. He’s not touching that thing with his bare hands, though. It’s probably not housing some ancient thing that’ll try to possess him, but he is not about to take any chances. He manages to find a cloth in the ever-expanding bag and uses that, making sure to tie it. It is not getting loose for him to just randomly touch later, probably at the absolute worst time.
“Did you get it?” Carter asks distantly, craning her head to look.
“Yeah, got it…” He trails off as Alice’s head pokes over the edge. She really would enjoy being an Assassin, huh. “Good job. We are not pulling off a Leap of Faith.”
She nods thoughtfully, but she is also not hiding the smile, either. He’s not sure if she wanted to actually see it, or just wanted to climb something again.
Of course, she did manage, this time, to get herself stuck. She might be able to jump down and not get hurt, but with her foot lodged like that, it’s probably going to get a lot more difficult and she’s starting to panic.
He’s going to very carefully pull her foot back out. “Hey, shhh, it’s okay, I’m going to help you get down, okay?”
She actually hisses at him, but he doesn’t take it personally. “Do you enjoy being trapped?”
He instantly thinks of Abstergo. “No, but even if you’re freaked out inside, you’ve gotta be brave and calm outside in times like this. Feeling isn’t a weakness, but you can’t let the enemy exploit it either.” That’s apparently good enough for her to calm down, and hopefully it’s a way better lesson than Bill Miles ever managed. She’s actually skipping a little as they inch past the carnie-zombie again, so he’s gonna guess he did okay. At least she didn’t manage to hurt herself panicking. Or by getting stuck in the first place.
He’s not getting the direct flashes, but other than the color, it’s closer to what it had been at the beginning—stuff moving (and, this time, changing) out of the corner of his eye, though this time ‘stuff’ is a whole lot more than just a few trees.
They’re passing under the roller coaster, which would probably also be a lot of fun literally anywhere else, heading toward the middle of the Park. He flinches, Carter swearing, as one of the cars flies off the track over them. Alice and Rukh just shuffle a little closer. Like those stories about poltergeists or whatever. Which...honestly, probably are actually a thing here, huh. Still, it hasn’t managed to get them yet, so that’s some kind of achievement in Desmond’s book. On the map, it calls this place the House of Horrors, but what’s actually there looks like a really sad maintenance shack in the middle of nowhere. Someone hastily put up a chain-link fence around it, but even that’s kind of useless, because the fence is falling over. Maybe even more bizarrely, on the other side from them, he can see a few carnie-zombies kicking half-heartedly at the fence for absolutely no reason he can tell. Just in case, though, they’re just gonna hop the fence here and not get too much closer.
Just hopping the fence makes the temperature feel like it drops ten degrees. This is definitely the center of the spider’s web. It’s obvious by the feel of the place (even the energy they’re being fed from the outside suddenly feels like it’s trickling in, rather than that steady stream) and, honestly, the glowing circuit map on the shack wall facing them. Well, he says glowing. Only the purple is still glowing, with the rest dull and a little glassy like unlit signs or lightbulbs. The purple leading right under their feet into the shack. One to go.
He’d better check in first, though. “All right, nearly done with phase one of cleaning up this place. You all ready?”
Carter glances up from where she’d been getting ready to just go at it and gestures at the glowing dirt beneath her hands. “Think so,” she tells him ironically, just to watch him shake his head.
Rukh croaks in assent.
Alice adopts a fighting stance, which might be over the top if not for the fact that if they get ambushed immediately after they pull this off. Instead, it’s just good strategic thinking. “I am ready,” she tells him.
“Right.” He takes a deep breath, and then they go after the last bit of circuitry. Honestly, it’s...worryingly easier than the others. Like smashing something into a rusty lock. It gives way almost immediately, but it breaking, the light winking out like the others, has an additional effect—suddenly all the light goes out, all at once, but that’s not the only thing. So does the sound. He can’t hear Rukh shuffling around on his shoulder, or Alice moving at his side. The only thing he can feel is the charm in his pocket burning like a brand, and then the incredibly distorted laughter of children. And then, from his glowing arm, suddenly color explodes outward, painting the world in the kind of exaggerated colors he’d been catching glimpses of, only there’s something else he realizes almost immediately.
They’re not outside anymore. They’re inside a room that’s falling apart. Desmond has a Hidden Blade in the chipmunk mascot’s throat before he realizes it’s just a cardboard cutout right in front of them, and from somewhere out of sight a laugh track, canned and unnatural, plays. Alice isn’t holding his hand anymore, and he nearly panics before he hears the crackle of flames and turns around to find she’s killed her own cardboard cutout, though Carter quickly absorbs the flames before they can spread to the rest of the wooden structure. This must be the House of Horrors. He glances to the side to find that Rukh is staring at him, black eye judging.
“Come on, it’s instinct,” he whispers. The cutout had been too close, and arriving here had felt like movement.
Rukh doesn’t seem too impressed, but doesn’t try to argue, clacking his beak quietly and turning his gaze to survey the rest of the room, just as uneasy but unwilling to show it.
Summary: Desmond briefly gets distracted by a shiny and then they finish taking out the circuitry, for better or for worse.
Word Count: 1906
Rating: Teen
The change after they finish breaking the blue circuit isn’t as heavily pronounced and is just that much creepier for it. All of the carnie-zombies are watching them now. Not attacking, even making the occasional gesture like ‘the line’s over there’, but no matter where they look one’s watching them, just moving its head, not approaching, not even turning its body. And that’s not the only change. It’s not quite Eagle Vision, but something between that and what he’d seen in the alley. Most of the world is darker, greyer, but the parts where color still exists are hyper-colorful, like parts of the color got leeched from one to the other. It looks even less real, but it’s reality. Sort of. Not the reality Desmond knows, or the one before that, or even the world inside the Animus, but it definitely exists and it’s not like they can just shrug it off like it doesn’t matter, because they’re in this realm, now.
The worst part is that he can feel something like a ping to the south. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore it. He’d ignore it except it feels gold.
“What is wrong?” Alice asks, watching him closely like he’s about to pull out another trick that she can just learn. Which—maybe, the Bees have some kind of really weak version, but he’s not sure about Alice. At minimum her type of dragon doesn’t seem to have a sense for treasure.
“I can feel it too, but what makes us think this isn’t some sort of trap?” It’s a good question, especially since the Park had already tried to play the thing with the eagle. It’s a good question, but he’s also feeling like if he just leaves it until after, somebody’s going to sweep in and take it. They would’ve already done so if they could’ve gotten in. Which, with that description, his money’s on the Phoenicians. He knows they’re already interested in the Park. And almost certainly means one of the Artifacts. Not that he particularly wants one, but he really doesn’t want it ending up in other people’s hands, either.
“It could be a trap, but it’s not an illusion.” Alice deserves an answer, too, so he turns to her. “There’s an Artifact out there, near…” ...remember the map… “...Lover’s Lane, I guess.”
Rukh shifts on his shoulder, uncomfortable. Like he’s a little concerned. Which, Desmond absolutely is, too. He pets the feathers and Rukh settles down, nipping gently at Desmond’s hand as he does, though.
“Artifacts are distractions for others to chase,” the Dragon-girl intones, looking intrigued despite herself. That does explain why they were so happy to just send him things to watch his reactions, even if these Talisman things probably aren’t as ancient as an actual Artifact. And probably what she’d meant by ‘props’. They really don’t care about the Artifacts, do they? Which means it’s probably just the Templars and Illuminati, and probably the Phoenicians, fighting over them. It’s probably actually wrong even if they aren’t as powerful as the Pieces of Eden, but someone actually staying out of it is also kind of refreshing.
“They can define what people can do. Your calculations are gonna be off if you don’t bother to even pay attention to that.” Alice nods thoughtfully, so they head to the spot. It’s at the pavilion-thing in the center of a dried up, artificial lake, although for a moment it twists to look like it’s larger, with an indoor cave portion and water still inside. Even when it goes back to normal, there’s...two zombies just patiently sitting in one of the swan-boats that are just leaning up against the side of the concrete ‘island’ in the center. They’re the only zombies that aren’t just eerily staring. Instead, they’re just staring at each other, barely even moving, like they’re props.
He has to squeeze past a zombie on the bridge. It doesn’t move to make it easier for him, either, and it definitely smells rotting, which...look, just because he’s used to the smell doesn’t mean he likes it by any stretch of the imagination. Alice looks like she’s contemplating just roasting it for existing.
It’s actually on top of the gazebo, hidden beneath one of the roof tiles. Desmond tests it just to be sure that it’s not going to crumble beneath him the second he gets up there, but it holds his weight and isn’t too much of a challenge, really. Still a kind of nice change of pace. He crouches when he gets up there. It helps with the balance here on the edge, but honestly it’s mostly because he’s missing it. Honestly, he half expects he’s going to be clambering all over London the second he gets back, just to relax a little.
And then, of course, when he pulls up the tile, it looks like a shattered part of a golden egg. Not quite an Apple, but he half feels like just putting the tile back down and leaving it there. He doesn’t, obviously. It’s still a bad idea to let this end up in someone else’s hands, even if there’s a lot more lying around in this world. He’s not touching that thing with his bare hands, though. It’s probably not housing some ancient thing that’ll try to possess him, but he is not about to take any chances. He manages to find a cloth in the ever-expanding bag and uses that, making sure to tie it. It is not getting loose for him to just randomly touch later, probably at the absolute worst time.
“Did you get it?” Carter asks distantly, craning her head to look.
“Yeah, got it…” He trails off as Alice’s head pokes over the edge. She really would enjoy being an Assassin, huh. “Good job. We are not pulling off a Leap of Faith.”
She nods thoughtfully, but she is also not hiding the smile, either. He’s not sure if she wanted to actually see it, or just wanted to climb something again.
Of course, she did manage, this time, to get herself stuck. She might be able to jump down and not get hurt, but with her foot lodged like that, it’s probably going to get a lot more difficult and she’s starting to panic.
He’s going to very carefully pull her foot back out. “Hey, shhh, it’s okay, I’m going to help you get down, okay?”
She actually hisses at him, but he doesn’t take it personally. “Do you enjoy being trapped?”
He instantly thinks of Abstergo. “No, but even if you’re freaked out inside, you’ve gotta be brave and calm outside in times like this. Feeling isn’t a weakness, but you can’t let the enemy exploit it either.” That’s apparently good enough for her to calm down, and hopefully it’s a way better lesson than Bill Miles ever managed. She’s actually skipping a little as they inch past the carnie-zombie again, so he’s gonna guess he did okay. At least she didn’t manage to hurt herself panicking. Or by getting stuck in the first place.
He’s not getting the direct flashes, but other than the color, it’s closer to what it had been at the beginning—stuff moving (and, this time, changing) out of the corner of his eye, though this time ‘stuff’ is a whole lot more than just a few trees.
They’re passing under the roller coaster, which would probably also be a lot of fun literally anywhere else, heading toward the middle of the Park. He flinches, Carter swearing, as one of the cars flies off the track over them. Alice and Rukh just shuffle a little closer. Like those stories about poltergeists or whatever. Which...honestly, probably are actually a thing here, huh. Still, it hasn’t managed to get them yet, so that’s some kind of achievement in Desmond’s book. On the map, it calls this place the House of Horrors, but what’s actually there looks like a really sad maintenance shack in the middle of nowhere. Someone hastily put up a chain-link fence around it, but even that’s kind of useless, because the fence is falling over. Maybe even more bizarrely, on the other side from them, he can see a few carnie-zombies kicking half-heartedly at the fence for absolutely no reason he can tell. Just in case, though, they’re just gonna hop the fence here and not get too much closer.
Just hopping the fence makes the temperature feel like it drops ten degrees. This is definitely the center of the spider’s web. It’s obvious by the feel of the place (even the energy they’re being fed from the outside suddenly feels like it’s trickling in, rather than that steady stream) and, honestly, the glowing circuit map on the shack wall facing them. Well, he says glowing. Only the purple is still glowing, with the rest dull and a little glassy like unlit signs or lightbulbs. The purple leading right under their feet into the shack. One to go.
He’d better check in first, though. “All right, nearly done with phase one of cleaning up this place. You all ready?”
Carter glances up from where she’d been getting ready to just go at it and gestures at the glowing dirt beneath her hands. “Think so,” she tells him ironically, just to watch him shake his head.
Rukh croaks in assent.
Alice adopts a fighting stance, which might be over the top if not for the fact that if they get ambushed immediately after they pull this off. Instead, it’s just good strategic thinking. “I am ready,” she tells him.
“Right.” He takes a deep breath, and then they go after the last bit of circuitry. Honestly, it’s...worryingly easier than the others. Like smashing something into a rusty lock. It gives way almost immediately, but it breaking, the light winking out like the others, has an additional effect—suddenly all the light goes out, all at once, but that’s not the only thing. So does the sound. He can’t hear Rukh shuffling around on his shoulder, or Alice moving at his side. The only thing he can feel is the charm in his pocket burning like a brand, and then the incredibly distorted laughter of children. And then, from his glowing arm, suddenly color explodes outward, painting the world in the kind of exaggerated colors he’d been catching glimpses of, only there’s something else he realizes almost immediately.
They’re not outside anymore. They’re inside a room that’s falling apart. Desmond has a Hidden Blade in the chipmunk mascot’s throat before he realizes it’s just a cardboard cutout right in front of them, and from somewhere out of sight a laugh track, canned and unnatural, plays. Alice isn’t holding his hand anymore, and he nearly panics before he hears the crackle of flames and turns around to find she’s killed her own cardboard cutout, though Carter quickly absorbs the flames before they can spread to the rest of the wooden structure. This must be the House of Horrors. He glances to the side to find that Rukh is staring at him, black eye judging.
“Come on, it’s instinct,” he whispers. The cutout had been too close, and arriving here had felt like movement.
Rukh doesn’t seem too impressed, but doesn’t try to argue, clacking his beak quietly and turning his gaze to survey the rest of the room, just as uneasy but unwilling to show it.
