dear_mun | On the worst kind of anniversary

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On the worst kind of anniversary

Okay, mun? This? This...was a terrible idea. I mean...yeah I saved the world and everything on this day, but did you forget the part where I died? Horribly, and in horrific pain to boot. It's been four years, I doubt anyone remembers or even cares about what I did. At least tell me that you're gonna go see that new movie with Subject 18...what's his name...Callum? Because I know you're gonna as soon as you can.

And hey, don't feel bad about letting me drop at that place you had me. I liked it there on account of the whole "being alive" thing, but I know you were having trouble keeping up. Maybe in a month or two you can send me to this other place you're looking at, yeah?

Just...don't take on more than you can handle, and don't worry about me in the mean time. Your head's as good a place as any to dodge the whole "death" thing.

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Tell your mun to be prepared for ages of previews before it. [scoffing noise] Took an hour to just get to the main event, it was ridiculous.

Well it is almost Christmas. All the big movie companies've gotta peddle their wares somewhere. Thanks for the warning though. My mun'll make sure he's prepared to sit for a while before the movie.

Pfft, none of the previews were remotely Christmasy. In fact, two of them were horror and quite grotesque. If you see a car hit a deer, just...don't watch the rest.

Movie was supposed to start at 7pm....started at 7:20. [eyeroll]

Oh it's not about being Christmas-y or not. Christmas and early summer are always the biggest times for year for the advertisers, since that's when people are seeing the most movies. They drop all of their big blockbuster trailers then, to try and bring people in when those movies come out. Advertising's a racket, man. Manipulating the masses for maximum profit. [Thanks, Clay. Desmond knows WAY too much about corporate manipulations and psychological tactics now.] That's a fair chunk of previews though, yeesh.

I know! It was on the fifth one and the mun was like "Come ooooooon, show the movie already! It'll be on dvd before I get to see it!"

How do you know so much about corporate jazz?

Oh...I've got a buddy who was a real conspiracy nut. He hacked into some big company's servers and found out a bunch of stuff they didn't want known, and I was pretty much the only person he told any of it. Clay was...he was a real character, that one.

Good times.

Oh, hey and now the mun decided after the movie that more was needed. Just now started the video game....

Pretty sure she's going to run in circles and die immediately.

Tell your mun that it gets easier with each game. Like Ubisoft realized how bad they'd fucked up the first time, and decided with each one after that to make things a little easier on the player. I'm...assuming she started with my little jaunt through Altaïr's memories, right?

The one piece of advice I'll give, only because my mun missed it his first time around, is to look for when Vidic's got his back turned in-between Animus sessions. I can grab his access pen to read some e-mails that he may or may not have wanted me to see.

Bingo, on the nose. Figured it was the best place to start (and Steam had it on sale).

Yeah, um....really didn't get the point of that inbetween session bit. She walked around...

[ahem]

I mean, YOU got walked around (that sounds weird) but there wasn't anything to interact with. Had to wait till they were done arguing in the next room before anything could happen.

Anyhoo, still trying to figure out the controls and such. First game I ever seen with a "gently push people aside" button.

Edited 2016-12-25 07:54 (UTC)

The stuff I mentioned comes later. Just make sure that your mun pays attention, because even though it might not seem like it, my stuff with Lucy and Dr. Vidic is important.

[He laughs.]

I forgot how weird the old Animus software is. You'll come to like the "gentle push" button when tailing a target in a crowd. Keeps collateral damage to a minimum, since Assassins aren't supposed to kill innocents.

Keep getting the urge to say "scuse me, pardon me" every time.

Aaaaaand dead. The riding-a-horse-simulator distracted her.

....can you pet the horse? Is there a secret button combination?? [Jackie leans over keyboard and starts button mashing.]

Welcome to desynchronization. You will die a lot. I don't know if it speaks of how badass Altaïr was, or how shitty the Animus 1.28 software is, but you'll get used to it. Do yourself a favor and spend as much time in Masyaf as it takes you to get used to how the freerunning thing works, as it's one of the best places to practice it

[And Desmond laughs again.]

If there is, I never found it. Altaïr was a pretty stoic guy, so he never really let himself enjoy much of anything, as far as I ever saw. Until he met Maria de Sable, anyway.

[This isn't horse petting simulator, this is Assassin's Creed!]

Stoic? Seems like he's got a head full of steam on him to me.

...no offense to your ancestors.

Ohhh...you just wait until you meet Ezio. Altaïr'll seem like he was carved out of wood by comparison. I mean...I love Altaïr, don't get me wrong, his memories gave me Eagle Vision after all, but he's pretty typical of the Levantines back then.

[Desmond remembers all of the conversations he had with Al Mualim and the Bureau leader in the Middle East, how focused he'd been on the List of Nine in order to restore his honor, and how the whole thing had turned out to be a con, with Altaïr merely cleaning house so that Al Mualim could seize more power through the Middle East.]

[Jackie sniggering at mun.]

Yeah...when she booted up the game...*pfft*...the eagle vision was a bit confusing. And she crept by every single Assassin thinking they were bad guys cause they were glowing.

You think that's confusing, try waking up to that, and seeing pictures on the walls that you're pretty sure were painted in blood. [He laughs. This is not something to laugh about, but he's gotta.]

But yeah, a handy guide to that is blue=good, red=bad, and gold=a target. It's a handy way to know who's who in a crowd.

Ew, ew ew.

This was so much easier in Hitman...

Hm, wonder what would happen if I got in that Animus thing. [Now she's curious.]

Yeah, it was gross, and more than a little worrying. I don't wanna spoil anything though, so I'll shut up about that stuff.

[He shrugs.]

Got anyone famous or badass in your family tree? I kinda hit the genetic jackpot, with so many of my ancestors ending up in the Assassin Order over the centuries. I've sorta got that "chosen one" thing going on.

Well, if a psychic detective cousin counts.

I'd probably end up being random person number 53 or something in the crowd. One of those the Assassin pushes aside and forgets to say excuse me.

It's something, but probably a little too far removed to get good synchronization. I think it's a like a great-great-great-great-great-great grandparent kind of thing, like how I'm related to the Kenways going back about 5 generations.

[He shrugs.]

I think you might be surprised. Go back far enough, and we're all Genghis Khan's children. [He laughs.]

[She makes a face.]

Do not want. I don't want to roleplay as Khan. He was bad enough in Star Trek.

[Um, wrong Khan.]

Whatever.

Different Khan. Pretty sure the Khan you're thinking of was like...a genetically engineered superbeing. Although you could argue that Genghis Khan was too, what with all of the raping and pillaging he did across Europe.

[He laughs.]

There's a thought, you should get that Animus modified and then you can live out future events instead of past ones.

Yeah I don't think it works that way. The Animus analyzes our DNA and taps into genetic memories stored in our genes. Can't access what hasn't happened yet, y'know?

[He laughs.]

Though I'm pretty sure the First Civ has something like that. Their "Calculations" or whatever, that predicted that I'd come along and save the world or whatever.

Hey, who's to say...someone could be using your memories from the future right now about how you're experiencing memories from the past.

[She mimes brain exploding.]

People remember and care, even if it is just a few... it matters.

Thank you, by the way.

Like...I know better than to expect gratitude most of the time "We work in the dark to serve the light", but c'mon, I pretty much kept the Templars from destroying the world out of hubris. You'd think those dumbasses would have taken a step back and reexamined just what they were trying to accomplish, at least.

[He laughs.] You're welcome, Malik. I just feel bad that it took so damn long to finish what Altaïr started.

We have a thankless job, rather like retail workers this time of year.

It is not so simple as it should be, especially with the Pieces of Eden in play. Both sides have been fighting over them for longer than anyone can remember because of a base difference in how we view the way peace should be achieved. I have faith that freedom will prevail however, and every step we take towards it is one worth all the pain and loss it took to get there.

Right? I swear...I get more recognition as an Assassin than I ever did slinging drinks at Bad Weather. [He laughs.]

It never is. Feels like every time the Assassins and Templars get close to like...working together and working out their differences, thing just end up worse than they were before. I hate to agree with the First Civ, but we never should have gotten our hands on the Pieces of Eden, when you think about all the horrible shit that's been done with and for them.

I know first hand the prices we pay in the pursuit of the Pieces.

[He sighs]

Knowing what comes to pass? I would have seen to the destruction of the Apple and whatever others we got our hands on.

Well and like...it isn't like there weren't good things that came from the Apple. Just look at what Altaïr did when he had it, writing the Codex, and what Leonardo da Vinci did with it. We would've never found the Grand Temple if he hadn't gone looking for the Temple of Pythagoras, and I never would've even gotten the door open if I hadn't found Ezio's Apple in Rome.

[He waves a hand]

But I get what you mean. Almost makes me wish I could see the argument between Cain and Able over the Apples, figure out what the hell went wrong. Like...yeah there's the philosophy, free will versus control, but what pushed Cain into thinking that controlling people was the only way to achieve peace?

Edited 2016-12-27 01:35 (UTC)

And if Altair had listened to Maria and I about getting rid of it, Abbas likely would not have done as he did to try and get his hands on it. If Al Mualim had not wanted it, my brother would not have died and I would have both arms.

At what point does the good stop outweighing the tragedies?

[Malik just sighs.]

It is an old argument that will only end when the fighting over it becomes more than either side can survive.

Hey, the Solar Maximum was still gonna happen either way, you know? If we'd never gotten our hands on that stuff, we never would've known, and I wouldn't have known how to stop it. I know it's just an excuse, but I've gotta believe all of that horrible shit happened for some kind of reason. The things Juno showed me...it could've happened to us.

[He shakes his head.]

One of these days we'll get smart. At least...I'm hoping we will.

There are always dozens of possibilities, we can only really chose one and hope it is the wisest of them.

[There's a bit of a laugh.]

I believe that there is some sort of agent in a black suit from a movie that says something about that. A person can be smart but people as a whole are unprepared for the truths of the world.

[For a moment, Chrom feels like he's about to remember something, but then, it slips from his grasp, unseen and unheard. He chooses to speak up, anyway.]

A person's sacrifice... cannot so easily be swept under a rug.

Even so, it is a sorrowful day for a life to be lost. Even if the end result is to the benefit of many. You have my condolences, for whatever worth they present, to the life that you lost.

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On the worst kind of anniversary

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