Lucy Stillman § 001

[assassininheels]

Who: Lucy Stillman, Rebecca Crane, Desmond Miles and Shaun Hasting (Modern Day Assassin FTW)
What: Time to regroup!  And make sure Shaun doesn't get killed.  And that Becca is not fangirling too much.  And that Desmond is still sane.  So much work to do!
Where: House no 5, fourth floor, living room
When: Mid-morning
Warnings: None for now, will be

Comments

[needsheadphones]

Perhaps unknown to the others, Rebecca was sitting in her room, scanning the network for useful information. So far, it was a lot of the same -- panicking about where they were, looking for information, etc. Other than the appearance of a scientist on Tony's post, there didn't seem to be anything from the natives to the city -- just others like them.

Sighing, she tucked her PORTAL (which was basically her MP3 player, songs and all, only now with PORTAL capabilities) back into her pocket and was just about to head out to the living area to join Lucy when she heard the knock and the unmistakable sound of Desmond's voice.

Opening her door, Becca slipped out just in time to see Lucy wrapping her arms around his neck. Jackpot. Quickly and quietly pulling out her PORTAL, she snapped a picture before loudly shouting "EW" and running over the door to answer Shaun, his knocking, and his snark.

"I think Lucy actually called this meeting as a disguise for a mandatory sex party." With that greeting out of the way, she moved away from the door and went to plop down on the living room floor, grinning like the famed cat that had gotten the canary.

Sure, they had all been kidnapped, but all four of them were here and there was a lot to see. That was something to be happy about. Besides, without her optimism, they would probably all end up going crazy.

Possible posting order: Lucy, Des, Shaun, Becca?

[assassininheels]

The moment Lucy heard the telltale sound of a camera taking a picture, she tensed and turned around, sending her roommate a glare that would have made Altaïr proud. The blond woman gave a curt nod to the historian as he made his way in, rolling her eyes at Rebecca's greetings: "Don't project your dreams unto others, Becca." Still, there was a hint of smile on her lips. Their surroundings might have been different and confusing, their group dynamics didn't seem to have suffered the change of scenery. This was just like when they used to regroup in the Sanctuary after a full week of digging into Desmond's genetic memories, right?

She followed the tech to the living room and took her place back on the couch, leave enough space for someone else to sit down there as well. She grabbed her notebook again, suddenly wishing she could get access to a computer. It was more natural for her to type then to actually write down. Once everyone was settle down, she tilted her head slightly:

"All right, we've all seen and heard people panicking and demonstrating their frustration over the network. But there was very few good information that was given out though. Has any of you found something about this world that wasn't said on the PORTAL?"

First things first, make a list of what's known and what questions needed to be answer as soon as possible.

[hellogoaway]

Shaun scoffed at Rebecca's comment, giving her a look even as he made himself comfortable near their leader and her favorite dog. "Is that desperation I smell Rebecca? You know all you have to do for a tumble is say it, right? Admit I'm the intellectual better and all your fantasies may come true."

He smirked cockily, which he admitted probably made him look like a full-of-shit twat but he didn't much care and instead slid his attention to Desmond. If the other wanted to discuss people they'd met he certainly had a story.

"Mine's better. I was threatened with bodily harm by Malik Al-Sayf, I'd like to see that topped," Shaun said, in a tone that suggested he had won some sort of prestigious award. In his mind he had. They could tell him one of them had met the bloody Queen of England and he would still have won.

"As for why we're here or even really what here truly is..." Shaun opened his hands, palms up, before letting them fall. "I haven't the faintest idea."

[needsheadphones]

Casually flipping Shaun off from her spot on the floor, Becca rolled her eyes. "Riiiiight. Would I have to fake an orgasm, too?"

Despite her words, she couldn't help but grin. It hadn't been long, but she'd been worried about the others, and after both saving his life and working with him for way too so long, she was comfortable enough with the banter that Shaun and his ego didn't bother her much anymore.

Folding her arms on the coffee table, Rebecca took in what each of them had said, raising an eyebrow slightly at Desmond and his confusing. A girl who had a soul for a friend? Oookay then.

"I met... uh, some redhead named Lavi who lives in this house, a woman named Noah who's military and also lives here, a kid named Hope, and Tony Stark with his suit made out of metal that lets him fly. And apparently there are other Earths without Abstergo out there, or any of the other problems ours has."

Smirking slightly at Shaun, more to piss him off than anything -- meeting Malik Al-Sayf was pretty impressive, after all, Becca tapped her fingers against the table. "City is called Promenade, the Exile is feared by the natives -- you guys got that note, right? -- and the natives think we've all been here for out whole lives, some scientist is an asshole... uhh... Masks during the day, no sound at all but telepathy at night, freaky mirrors in our rooms..." Pausing, she rubbed the back of her neck. "One of the natives I bumped into said something about dreams -- like how they come true here or something? Though I mean, if that was true, I'd have some ice... cream..."

There was a tub of ice cream sitting on her lap. It was cold, too.

"... Uh. Guys?"

Picking it up like it was a bomb and setting it on the coffee table, Rebecca stared at it. "... That wasn't there a minute ago, right?"

[assassininheels]

It took all of Lucy's self-control not to throw her pen at Shaun for the comment he made. Now she would have nightmares.

Luckily, it didn't take long before everyone focused back on the task at hand. Lucy tilted her head as Desmond spoke. He seemed...a long way from where they were. As he curled to put his head in his hands, she almost asked if he was all right, with a hand ready to reach out for him, but stopped herself at the last moment. She didn't want Desmond to feel like she was smothering him and the blond certainly didn't want for Shaun to ruin this reunion with another sarcastic comment. Swallowing slowly, she chose to wait for their meeting to be over to ask the bartender if there was anything wrong.

Lucy scribbled down all what Rebecca shared, though she had already noted most of the same observations from watching the network. She wasn't really surprised that after only one day Shaun's life had already been threatened, but she had to admit that the one that had done so was pretty unexpected.

"Malik is here as well?" Lucy couldn't help the small smirk that graced her lips:

"I think I can top that. I met Altaïr. Who told me that we were not the only Assassins in this place. Apparently, he met another one named...Ezio."

She gave Desmond a side look, waiting to gauge his reaction. The whole time she had talked with the Syrian, she had wanted to punch the man: he was much more of an ass than she remembered, but Lucy didn't have the heart to tell his descendant. At least, not yet. Hopefully, the Italian would not disappoint as much as the Arabian had.

The ice cream trick was something Lucy didn't know about and she watched, completely taken aback by the sudden apparition of the bucket of ice cream.

"...No it wasn't. This....this is amazing..."

But then a frown creased on her forehead. If anyone could make anything appear in this world, this had the potential to get extremely dangerous. What if there were Templars and they chose to bring the Apple in?

[hellogoaway]

"Oh, that's very nice. I notice that none of you have expressed the slightest concern for my wellbeing. Was anybody listening when I said that I was threatened? Anybody?!"

Shaun let out a scoff of disgust, glaring at his teammates before Rebecca quite suitably distracted everyone by doing something completely unintentional.

Shaun stared at the ice cream, narrowing his eyes slightly and willing it to go away, adhere to the natural laws of order and disappear again and pretend it had never shown up at all. It was true that the Apple showed them all amazing things, the Apple had true power, but it was a power that had been created, it could be explained. Ice cream appearing out of the blue because Rebecca had wished it was not adhering to any sort of order!

"The Apple is, as far as I know, unique to our universe. It doesn't explain the presence of the rest of the people here," Shaun said absently, too distracted to really form a properly sarcastic reply. He stepped over to get a closer look at the ice cream, prodding it tentatively. It was cold and certainly looked like the real thing.

Shaun really hated things that he couldn't explain.

[needsheadphones]

Not particularly needing to comment on the fact that assassins from the past were here when she was certain Lucy would take care of it, Rebecca turned her attention to Shaun instead. Having dealt with him longer than the other two, he was less prone to ticking her off, and therefore 'handling' him was a responsibility she had unofficially adopted. "You're threatened all the time, Shaun. Now if you were actually injured, we'd be concerned and you know it, so chill."

Speaking of chill, Rebecca was moving to open up that ice cream. It was chocolate chip cookie dough -- she wasn't going to waste it, even if it had literally come from her mind. "Anyone want some? I'm sure you can dream up bowls or something." She then proceeded to do just that for herself, as well as a spoon.

Sticking a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, Becca mused over what Desmond had said. "I don't even remember you touching it. We were just walking onto the platform and it was glowing and stuff, and Shaun was starting to talk, and then I was waking up here and sound wasn't working. I wouldn't say that the Apple or the Templars or Those Who Came Before didn't have anything to do with this, though, at least not yet. For all we know, there eyes have been set on other universes, or they roped them in on accident. As for how any of it's possible..."

Sticking another bite of ice cream in her mouth, she thought for a moment before pulling the spoon out (now ice cream free) to wave it around. "We seem to be running into all sorts of impossible things lately, don't we? I mean, Minerva knew you would be seeing her through Ezio. I don't know about you guys, but not a lot is surprising me anymore." That or she was just a lot better at going with the flow.

[assassininheels]

Seeing as being threatened was something Shaun managed to do every day in their world, and since he seemed in a rather working shape, Lucy hadn't put more thoughts than necessary on how the historian had met the Dai. Still, she was relieved that Rebecca took care of Shaun's hurt pride. Maybe she should see that he received training with one of the older Assassins, while they were all in the same world. It couldn't hurt him to know how to defend himself instead of always counting on them, and this, no matter how much he didn't like the idea of killing people.

"I remember you touching the Apple", she started as she turned back to Desmond. "After that, I'm drawing a blank. But I think Shaun has a point. Unless you have the Apple with you, Desmond, I don't think it could have brought us all here. Especially if we don't seem to remember the same thing before getting here." She gave a look at Shaun, obviously expecting him to share what he saw last in their world before arriving at Promenade.

"And as far as I know, the Apple doesn't have that kind of power. Nor the one to bring people back from the dead." Lucy remembered reading at Abstergo about a Piece of Eden that could grant life back for a few moments. But there were nothing more than rumors and speculations about the artifact.

Curling her legs under her, the blond seemed to think for a moment before continuing on: "It's a little bit hard to see a good reason for Those Who Came Before to bring all these people in this place. But I suppose that's an explanation we could explore. Though, until we can gather more information, it's hard to point fingers."

And it also made it hard to decide what would be their best next move.

[hellogoaway]

"I am with Rebecca there. I was interrupted, quite rudely might I add, and suddenly found myself here. From how it sounds we were all transported around the same moment." He paused thinking about this. "Still, I don't think it was the Apple." He'd remain stubbornly sure of that at least, if nothing else. The facts were not strong enough to support the hypothesis and he appreciated the fact that his team was not foolish enough to disagree too strongly on that point.

Straightening and giving the ice cream a look he glanced towards Desmond, raising his brows and not bothering to hide the genuine surprise in his voice at the fact that the questions were not, in fact, completely idiotic but rather refreshingly thoughtful. For Desmond, anyway.

"Excellent question, Desmond! We cannot be sure yet of when any of your ancestors and their charming friends hail from and thus monitoring what we say to them is critical. We can't go about mucking up their histories, there really is no telling what problems that could cause but I am thinking paradoxical chaos on a scale I don't care to fathom! One wrong word and we could very well make sure Desmond here never existed."

Shaun said this all in a cheerful enough tone and they would all likely recognize it by now. Shaun's cynicism was more entertaining to himself when he made sure to deliver it in optimistic tones. He also found that it often caught people off guard, which also amused him. However, he feared his team was growing too accustomed to his quirks and much of his antics rolled off their backs like water off a duck.

Though really, he was serious. They had to be careful and despite the flippant tone he was refused to lose anyone to such a careless technicality. They had all best watch what they said, for all their sakes.

[needsheadphones]

Shrugging slightly when no one took up her offer of ice cream, Becca continued to eat, tapping her fingers on the coffee table.

"It definitely could be completely unrelated to Assassins, Templars, and Pieces of Eden. I mean, there are all these other people... other universes... and then there's this chatter about dreams and 'waking up'. The fact that the four of us and other important figures to us from our world showed up could just be coincidence."

It was a bit sobering to think about; back home, they were trying to save the world, some of the few who knew the truth. Here? They were just like everyone else -- lost and confused.

Tapping her spoon against her lips this time, Rebecca hesitantly spoke again. "If altering their histories is possible, then it could already be too late. They're here, after all, and nothing in our records showed anything like this. If anything, this could be a 'split' -- by coming here, another reality, different from our own, has been created. That reality might not have a Desmond, but I think our Desmond should be safe. It's already too late to keep them from seeing more 'modern' inventions, after all."

It was a good thing she was as into sci-fi movies and theories as she was, otherwise she probably would have started panicking about the idea.

[assassininheels]

If it was a coincidence that they were all here together, it was a happy one in Lucy's mind. Not that she would voice it out. Except maybe to Rebecca.

The sideways look she gave to Desmond was shot in time to see him rub his forehead. The blond frowned, this time reaching to touch his shoulder, concern written all over her face. "Are you all right?" It would be naive of her to hope that the Bleeding Effect would have lessened here in this world. But perhaps, since there was no Animus here, it would lessen with time? It was all speculations, no subject had stopped their time in the Animus long enough to see the Effect recede. At least none that were still alive.

Shaking her head slightly to push back those thoughts, Lucy tried to focus on the present discussion. Both Shaun and Rebecca had provided good insights on Desmond's question. Which had been a good one too. But the technical expert was right: it was too late to not alter their futures after all.

"Alternate realities or not, the simple fact that Altaïr and Ezio have met one another will mostly likely change things if they can be changed. Altaïr didn't seem to be overly concerned with another man walking around with his face, but it's impossible for Ezio not to know who his ancestor is." They all had seen the statue in the Villa after all. The blond Assassin turned to Desmond again before continuing on: "And even with masks during the day, you three look alike enough that people might start to ask questions. There's also the chance that Ezio comes from sometimes after visiting the Vault beneath the Vatican. If he hears that someone in this world is named 'Desmond', he will probably try to find that person. In that case, there's nothing much we can do to stop you two from meeting one another."

She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts for a moment. "I think we've all been cooped up for long enough now. Until we know about a real threat to us Assassins, or to the general population, I don't think anyone of us should be forced to hide in their rooms." She didn't like the idea, but then again it would simply cruel to ask that of them. Especially to Desmond, who was probably looking forward to some freedom after all this kidnapping and this hiding they've been doing. "I suggest that we try to stay in shape and keep training, in case we find a way to get back home quickly. We need to be ready in case of any eventualities." Here and in their world didn't really needed to be added.

[hellogoaway]

"Not what I was referring to! Of course it's a bit late to save them from the irritation of electronic channels flooded by the multimedia communication of dozens of the "concerned masses" but I would think it our responsibility to not, oh say, spoil their bloody futures for them. Depending on what point they hail from, and I can tell you that Malik was not full of love for his dear Brother, than I believe it wise not to blither on about their future one true bromance or Altaïr's role as the Brotherhoods's greatest rebel with a cause. Maybe you're right Rebecca, and it doesn't matter what they learn here, but as we're not sure of it yet I'd like not to risk it."

Shaun watched Rebecca eat her ice cream, a mask of condescending indifference smooth over his features before he swung on Desmond, arching an eyebrow in his direction.

"Yes, I'd rather not. In all due respect you are much better acting like the suicidal monkey on acid. I'll just continue to be intellectually useful and provide you with detrimental information that more than often saves your life. I'll do my best to begin data collection within the city."