Throw on your brake lights
Characters: failssassin and abaxrpg
When: About an hour after Desmond wakes up in the morgue
Where: Random streets in the city
Open or Closed? OPEN! Come help the poor, cold novice!
Rating/Warnings Language and a novice only wearing a bed sheet?
( We're in the city of wonder... )
When: About an hour after Desmond wakes up in the morgue
Where: Random streets in the city
Open or Closed? OPEN! Come help the poor, cold novice!
Rating/Warnings Language and a novice only wearing a bed sheet?
( We're in the city of wonder... )
And so, like the young man wandering about, this blond had a grip on her linens so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. She had already spent a good long time wandering along the sidewalk cursing under her breath about the lack in modesty and why she had to be naked of all things, but here she was. Walking the streets of an unknown city in a paper gown that she was sure was more than see-through enough for her to be desperately uncomfortable with, Lucy continued to press onward.
She could only hope that sooner or later she’d locate a place that had clothing on display in the windows, but was finding herself disheartened at the lack of nearby clothing areas. Besides, who knew if there even was a clothing store around this place. It certainly didn’t appear to be all that lived in. A sigh leaving her lips, Lucy pushed her free palm through her hair, which despite its usual being pulled back was dancing at her shoulders while she walked. Apparently when one died they removed hair elastics - and she had to assume she’d died, considering there was a tag on her toe and she was in a morgue.
Feeling quite the opposite of dead, though, she looked across the street briefly to take in the buildings there and raised her brows at the sight of a familiar tattooed arm on a man who was standing in front of a building, looking up into the sky. For a moment, she hesitated. Did she really want to get his attention right now? Then again, he was the only person she’d seen in some time and he was someone she knew.
“Desmond?” She called his name as loud as she could across the way, assuming it was him - hoping it was him because otherwise, she was calling to a man in a paper gown and probably would come off as being a tad bit crazy; despite him being in the same situation, it seemed. “Desmond! Is that you?”
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"Shit!" Losing his hold on the ledge and having no real grip on the bricks with his bare feet, the novice was left toppling back, his ancestors' knowledge of landing the only reason why he landed in a crouch on the sidewalk. The blanket around his waist shifted enough to show his upper thigh, but Desmond didn't seem to notice. It took a moment for him to raise his gaze to where he had heard his name being shouted: he couldn't believe he had heard her for real, he was still afraid this was all a new torture devised by whomever had brought him here.
But sure enough, when he looked up, there she was. Hair unbound and dancing with the wind, dressed in the same white clothe that he was and even though the moment was wrong, Desmond felt his breath catch in his throat. He really had died and she had to be an angel calling him to Heaven, right? The rational part of him (which sounded strangely like Shaun, even down to the British accent) reminded him of the cold he was feeling, on the slight pain on the sole of his feet from his landing. He was still very much alive and so probably the blond in front of him. He slowly stood up and couldn't help himself to offer a small, careful smile to his team leader.
"Lucy?"
He knew the slap would come quick for what he had done to her underneath the Coliseum and almost braced himself for it: he deserved it after all. And probably worse if he'd listen to the guilt weighting down on his shoulders.
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“Desmond,” she sighed softly, relieved. Despite being there in, well, paper - she was thrilled for the familiarity of the young man.
“God, I was starting to think I was trapped in a freaking nightmare or something.” By the look of the area around here, though, she was fairly certain that she was still locked in a nightmare somehow. “You’re stuck here too, then, huh?”
Giving a glance over her shoulder, she took a swift look around and muttered under her breath something inaudibly. Casting a glance back to the young man, she shifted weight from one bare foot to the other and frowned.
“I ah, don’t suppose you can get in there, huh?” There were probably clothes in there, after all. Clothes they needed because they were naked after all; very much naked. Clearing her throat, Lucy glanced off to look anywhere but at him. She could tell herself that she was professional and could keep herself cool at the moment, but boy did her cheeks want to burn at seeing the skin of his thigh from the blanket dropping and parting. This was not the most ideal of situations to be in.
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His lips curled into a small smirk, his tone teasing despite himself: "Even your dreams are tamed if you consider this to be nightmarish, Lucy." He knew all too well what real nightmares felt like. His eyes grew a bit more serious at her question: "Yeah, I am too. Woke up in a morgue freezer. I think I know how frozen food feels like, now."
The mention of the store reminded Desmond of why he was there in the first place and promptly felt the warmth spread on his cheeks. It was hard to tore his gaze from the blond, but he managed to, though he knew the sight of her barely clothed with a sheet of paper would be etched on his mind forever now. As he looked at the store window again, he could see Lucy look away from the corner of his eyes and he shifted uncomfortably. It was lying to say that he never entertained thoughts of her with a little less than appropriate on, but this wasn't near where his mind would go then. His musings were thankfully broken by Lucy clearing her throat, and Desmond forced himself to focus on the task at hand.
"The door's locked and there's nothing I have on me to pick it up..." Wait, that didn't come out right...Mentally groaning, the bartender gave a look at the roof again: "And I can't climb it, I keep slipping."
There was a pause while he looked around and he took quick stride to the corner of the shop to pick up a rather large rock from the road there. Walking back to Lucy, he gave her another small smirk, the expression he wore making him look like a young Ezio for an instant.
"What's your thoughts on breaking and entering?" If caught, they could always say that the cold made them do things they wouldn't usually do. He wasn't much for braking the law, but they both desperately needed clothing.
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“So did I,” she gave a slight nod, looking off in the distance. “Wasn’t exactly my kind of awakening, if you know that I mean, but… Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. We’re here now, wherever ‘here’ might be.”
Where the hell were they? There weren’t that many distinguishable buildings and unfortunately, the woman didn’t recognize any of them. Maybe Desmond did, who knew.
Suddenly though, she was giving a laugh. It was a single, loud, full laugh at the idea of Desmond scaling the side of the building. She had to admit that the sight would be amusing as hell to watch because sooner or later the novice would take a tumble and she could only imagine how that would turn out. But, then again, he had surprised her when they were making their way into the Sanctuary back in Monteriggioni.
Still.
“You can’t climb to the roof because you’d fall flat on your ass and probably lose that blanket in the process.” Her lips tugged into a light smirk, glancing to the man. She watched, though, as he moved toward the corner of the structure and produced a stone from the ground. Putting two and two together, the leader of their little team gave a nod to the novice. “Well, better than standing around out here freezing our asses off, right?”
After a beat, she shrugged and added: “Just call it doing something for the greater good, yeah?”
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"I don't think it's anyone's kind of awakening." There was a pause before Desmond remembered something from the morgue. "My toetag said 'Abax' on it, though I've never heard of a city this big called 'Abax'." It was clear to the novice that they had been transported to another world. He was just starting to get used to the Underworld too. He shrugged lightly before continuing on: "That's all I know. Maybe we should explore a bit after we get in the store."
Lucy's laugh took Desmond a bit by surprise, not because he was at the end of her joke, but because he wasn,t sure he could remember her laughing like this before. He smiled lightly for a brief moment before he offered the blond a faked offended look: "Hey! I can managed pretty well when I have shoes on! Beside, who's the one who let me do all the work in the Temple underneath the Coliseum, huh?" He managed not to wince at the mention of the Temple and instead let his lips curl into a small smirk.
Nodding back to Lucy, Desmond threw the stone in the store window, the glass shattering instantly. The novice frowned lightly at the shards on the floor and he took a few steps back. "Wait for me here." He ran towards the broken window and using the ledge of the window, he swung himself in, jumping past the broken glass on the floor. He grabbed a pair of jeans that looked to be his size and quickly put them on before making his way to the door, unlocking it for Lucy.
"There you go" he said with a smile.
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The latter was something she’d deal with another time, as for right now, she just told herself it was some hidden city somewhere in the west and didn’t think on it again. At least, not for the moment.
Giving him a shrug of her shoulder, she shook her head. “Alright, alright - I’ll give you that one. Apparently, you’ve learnt a thing or two about climbing from your ancestor in all those trips with the animus.”
The blond cringed at the sound of the shattering glass, carefully moving back to avoid stepping on any of the glass that had fallen in the break. It was just a few minutes that she was made to wait before Desmond was opening the door for her. Slipping into the building, her bright eyes glanced around to locate some clothes that would work for her.
“Nicely done, Desmond,” the female commented as she made her way toward some jeans. Taking them from the rack, frowning for a moment at the thought of stealing them, she glanced to the man nearby and coughing gently, headed away from him as getting dressed would require dropping her gown from her body. While she trusted the novice, the last thing she really wanted was for him to get a view of the whole ‘package’ so to speak.
Clearing her throat, hidden behind a large rack of shirts she peeled the gown from her shoulders which caused her to shiver with the air piercing her skin more than it already was. “So ah, where to after we find some clothes, you think? Would be a lot easier if there were more people around to talk to about where we are, have a map or something - but I doubt we’d get so lucky.”
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"I thought it was the whole idea about me getting in the Animus. I mean, to train and learn a few things or two?"
He couldn't help the proud smile that curled his lips as Lucy gave him props for getting them in the store. "Thanks." He saw her moving away and immediately turned his back to her to give her some privacy, even though he wouldn't have minded to see the 'whole package'. In the mean time, he looked around for a shirt and once he was sure the blond had enough time to dress up, he turned his gaze back to her, slipping the black T-shirt to hide the toned chest and arms. There were a few hoodies to his tastes, but he picked a white one, the red trimming on it a reminder of home. He pondered for a moment Lucy's question.
"I think we should try to get a view of the city from a higher point. It'll probably give us a good idea where the rest of the people are. I can always use the Eagle Vision for that."
Moving between the racks of clothes, Desmond searched for shoes that would fit him and that would let him climb as easily as his old shoes would. Once he was fully clothed again, he moved back closer to Lucy: "I think we should look for a place to stay too. I don't think we're going to leave anytime soon now..."
It was yet another prison for Desmond and it didn't sat entirely well with him. At least, this time Lucy was with him and the thought was encouraging enough to have him give her a small, reassuring smile.
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It took her just a few moments to locate some clothes, even all the way down to the nitty gritty of the underclothing. Having found jeans and a normal looking white t-shirt to cover her upper body, Lucy proceeded to find some shoes much like the young man was, it wouldn’t do to just wander around bare foot after all. Sliding on a pair of decent looking boots, the girl found herself a coat - just in case, and tugged it on, zipping it shut.
“So, you still want to climb the building, huh?” She couldn’t fault him for the desire to do so as it would have been the best method to know where the hell they were and where the best area might be to go from here. She raised her brows at the mention of them finding a place to stay.
“Fair point,” she nodded, crunching up the paper gown she’d been wearing and tossed it off toward a rubbish bin nearby. “Alright, so we figure out where the hell we are and then check out places nearby to stay at.”
After a beat, she added: “For now.”
This wasn’t really the place she wanted to be and that she was here without the others of their team was a little unnerving. Desmond’s presence comforted her a little bit; it might have meant that the others were lingering around here somewhere as well.
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The novice smirked lightly at the blond's comment: "Yeah, why? Afraid you're not going to be able to keep up with me?" There was a bit of playful smugness in his tone, though never for one moment he doubted Lucy's skills.
Once Lucy was ready, Desmond walked out of the store and started to make his way up the front wall, quickly hoistering himself on the rooftop of the building. He gave their surroundings a quick sweep of his eyes before helping his team mate up.
"Yes, for now." The bartender didn't have in him to tell Lucy that he wouldn't be very surprised if they ended up staying in the city for longer then what they wanted to. After all, if anything his stay in the Underworld had taught him, it was that they didn't have anymore control on their life now.
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Arching a thin brow at the cockiness, she set a palm to her hip, returning his smugness with a grin of her own. “I guess we’ll just have to see who reaches the top first, mm?”
Following him back out onto the sidewalk, she lifted her gaze to look over the building before beginning her own ascension to the rooftop. Nearing the top, she took advantage of Desmond’s offer to help and grabbing his hands, hoisted herself up onto the roof. Standing straight once she was up there properly, she brushed herself off and glanced to the young man.
She wasn’t naïve. Lucy was more than well aware their stay in the city would probably be an extended one; there was more to this place than it seemed at first glance. After all, it wasn’t every day that someone woke up in a morgue with a tag on their foot only to realize they aren’t actually dead. The city, however, appeared to be. There didn’t seem to be many signs of life out there, squinting her eyes as she looked around, Lucy gave a sigh.
“See anything?”
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He winced as a stab of pain shot through his head and quickly his vision came back to his normal one. He rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking back at the blond:
"There's a few more people around the hospital where we woke up. Some have started to explore the city from what I can guess. I think we're not...alone either. I'm pretty sure there are other Assassins here. And Templars as well..."
They really couldn't run away from this war, couldn't they?
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“Templars?”
Her brow raised and she gazed over the edge of the roof in the distance. Unlike him, she didn’t know where the red colors had appeared, she could only imagine where people whom might fall under the suspicion of being a Templar might be lurking around the city. The woman didn’t like the idea of them being here, too, but there was both nothing she could do about it and it was a lot to hope for that they not be present.
She sighed as she often did. “I guess it was too much to ask that we manage to get away from those assholes.”
After a moment she added: “Look, we should get going. Find somewhere to hideout, regroup - maybe Rebecca and Shaun are around somewhere. We should try to locate them somehow.”
And just like that, back to business. Lucy never could keep herself from being business oriented.
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It wasn't surprising to see Lucy back in her 'business' mode and if Desmond was being honest with himself, he would have admitted that he not only found it attracting and endearing, but pretty much comforting at the moment. Something about familiarity when lost in a new, strange place.
"Yeah, I guess that's probably the best way to go around. Food and shelter sounds like a good idea to me. I'm guessing we just take what we need in this place. Hopefully, there's some empty apartment or something."
Well, would you look at him? Already assuming they'd room together again. Old habits die hard? Kinda?
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Glancing to him, she gave a nod of her head. “Right, doesn’t seem to be much of anything in the ways of currency, so. Let’s find a place and then do what we can to gather information around here. Figure out where we are, what’s going on, see if there are any locals anywhere. Whatever we can find, anything we can find really.”
“So,” leaning forward to peer over the edge of the building once more, knowing now that they had to climb back down, she glanced to the man at her side. “First things first; time to climb back down and look for some sort of shelter.”
She gave him a slight smirk. “Just like old times, mm?”
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Walking to the edge of the roof and looking down at the wall, already figuring out a path to climb down the building, he turned around to Lucy, a teasing smile on his lips: "Need some help going down?"
He knew all too well that she didn't, but it was still fun to tease her: it was something familiar to him now and a habit he wasn't sure he really wanted to grow out of. And so saying, he moved to drop down on the ledge and started to make his way back to streets, making it there in no time at all. Long hours in the Animus were starting to pay off.
Once back on the ground, he looked up, wanting to make sure Lucy was all right to climb down, and help her if needed be.
"All right, the most 'friendly' people I saw were in that direction' he said as soon as she joined his side, his finger pointing to the north of their position.
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