Desmond Miles is an Assassin (subject_17) wrote in angellogs, @ 2019-10-13 23:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, desmond miles, yvette moore |
Who: Desmond Miles, Yvette Moore, Calum Vael
When: Current, Before Sherr's rescue.
Where: Craigcrook Castle, Ediburgh, Scotland
What: Desmond and Yvette flee with slightly pilfered sweets to Scotland to have a quiet tea. The conversation cycles around what's going on lately.
Rating/Warnings: Desmond discusses MAJOR spoilers for AC 3
Status: Complete
There’s an army of boxes with legs making its way through the HQ, a few of which seem to be British. The slightly taller ones are having some sort of an argument at this point, and Desmond’s shaking his head, watching them go past.
“I’ve never been so glad I have the one arm now.” he mutters, as one of the boxes gets set down abruptly to the sound of running feet and a slamming bathroom door. “Never EVER.” he adds fervently.
"Hello." Yvette waves at him. "Would you like to sit and have tea?"
“Hey.” Desmond grins over. “I’d love to, actually. Somewhere in a slightly different room, I think? This is entertaining but they started moving Evie’s stuff over yesterday and I swear, a more dramatic family I have never known.” he pauses. “Which is horrifying considering I’m part Kenway.”
"Lead on? I've got a tiny kettle, mugs, and a box of tea. We could set up anywhere in the world." Or actually. "I could see if the Vaels have room? If you seriously want space."
“Actually, that WOULD be kind of nice.” Desmond laughs. “It’ll be fine in a couple days, but…” And, like on cue, there’s a burst of… He pauses a second. “Okay. I THINK that’s gaelic. Considering Shay only understands about thirty words and phrases, it’s probably a good sign to get out of here. Before I’m asked to moderate a duel. We should definitely sneak by the kitchen though. I hid cookies.”
"Excellent plan." Yvette follows him toward the kitchen. "Let me message the Vaels and make sure we're welcome. We might end up in the gatehouse. Have you been there?"
“I haven’t, actually.” Desmond says. “I’ve been over a couple times with Shaun, or for group type things, but not to any huge extent like some of them. Shaun fell asleep there that one time but I’m pretty sure Tadgh was the one who picked him up.”
She suspects they might end up doing tea with Calum, but she can ask. "Message sent. Let's go sneak." She's messaging Shaun too just to see if he wants to slip off to Noah's bakery. After all, Shaun's work is portable as long as he has a secure connection.
“Sounds good.” Desmond’s creeping along like he’s really got reasons to avoid being detected. Then again, they’re the really GOOD cookies, so it’s understandable. He does NOT need Ezio or Bayek hearing something. The others he thinks he can reasonably get past.
They’re largely distracted after all.
Yvette heads off to help hold a door to help act as distraction. She's guessing if the Vaels aren't open, they can find a quiet room.
Luckily, Desmond’s making a quick and stealthy grab, and, while he’s at it, secreting a few other treasures that don’t have names on them. Hey, fair game food is fair game food. He’s in and out pretty quickly and grinning. “Got it.”
And they’re able to head over if they’d like.
Yvette punches in the coordinates and offers her arm. "Let's go then." She waits until they're heading up toward the house. "What'd you grab?"
“The cookies, some unclaimed chocolates,” Desmond grins. “They were in the communal area with no post its. Fair game.” He looks sort of proud of himself. “They might have gotten a little bit messy, considering I had to hide them, but...nowhere THAT weird. Hoodies are the BEST for that sort of thing.”
And there’s a Calum hanging around as they arrive, waving them over. He gets the feeling of needing peace from insane people, and well. He’s met Jacob. He knows perfectly well by now how Frye drama usually ends up with the twins looking like they’re going to end up murdering each other and….anyway. Anyone he can help escape he’s going to.
“We’re a bit quiet today.” he explains. “So it’s a good time to come through. I got a kettle filled and a few things set up when I got your message. And well, things SHOULD be pretty free and clear. Sebastian’s at work, Iomhar’s up at the school to deal with whatever THEY wanted, Meghan’s not home til around fourish and I have no idea what Aedan’s doing but he’s doing it out of sight, so it’s probably fine.”
“He’s...got a thing.” Desmond figures he can say that much. “It’ll be fine. Low level risk. Spying on a couple potentials, actually.”
While the potentials help him steal abstergo’s crap from the shops but...it’s Aedan. It’ll be fine.
"Thank you for this." Yvette gestures. "I was hunting somewhere to make tea, and well - it's a bit loud back there. Moving. Would you like a cake?" She's fishing a box out of her bag.
“The Evie saga, right?” Calum laughs. “Aedan’s been filling me in on those details. It’s a nice idea, honestly, but I’m REALLY not sure how Shay and Arno are a less stressful option. Then again, that COULD be bias. Arno’s always seemed on the brink of…”
“He’s one disaster away from global extinction?” Desmond nods. “I think that’s a French thing. Connor had some French Canadian trappers who were...uh...well...they were INTERESTING people, don’t get me wrong. But the DRAMA.”
"Isn't some of that being alone sometimes in the work?" Yvette's heading to set up her kettle and producing her finds. A box of cakes, the tea cups. A box of ginger crisp things. A box of chocolate ones that are really nice with tea. "I was planning mending, and offered Desmond could join me for tea." She got some second hand things that would work, and she's doing enough conservative courtroom / legal office stuff that having a set of somber stuff is good.
Plus, she's been doing a bit of stuff for Evie.
“I mean, if it was just Arno, sure.” Desmond nods. “I could see that. But as a representative sample thing? I’m not always sure.” He’s removing his own treasures to set up.
“And we’re the LOUD sort of drama.” Calum laughs. “At least most of the people around here. And you’re usually welcome this time of day when you need to sneak off. Barring emergency or chaos, of course.”
"Care to have a cup with us? Thank you for welcoming us." Yvette sits down and smiles at Calum. "And I think we've got our own chaos. It's fine."
“I’d like that.” Calum smiles back. “It’s been quiet here today, thankfully. Then again, everyone’s GONE, which has something to do with that. “ He laughs. “Is it weird that our Aedan’s mentioned he sometimes prefers YOUR brand of chaos?”
“I mean,.” Desmond shrugs. “It’s a different brand of it, right? And there’s a lot of high places for us, so…”
"And I'm new here and can beg a lack of any familiarity." Yvette's got the kettle bubbling and she's got her cups set up. "I did love having tea here, and Noah said that there was space sometimes, if I needed some quiet? So, how has your day been? I just got a load of paperwork off my desk and three Abstergo employees moved to new apartments and new work."
“You work FAST.” Calum nods approvingly. “I should have tried to snatch you into my team. You and Evan together? Could have moved MOUNTAINS. Not that the behind the scenes of local societies and such is all that...it’s important for here and needs to be done and Sebastian’s made a point of making it clear it’s valued by the city, by people who aren’t him, so it’s not nepotism at work, but when you’re talking actual people’s lives being changed...it’s amazing.”
He smiles.
“And not bad today. I met with a few people involved in a restoration project, descendants of people, and then there was a meeting with the music society.” He grins at this. “We managed to finish writing a grant proposal to fund a few scholarships.”
"It's not too much change but - they were being paid minimum wage and - at the least I can get them more money and a better life, and give someone at Abstergo a headache." Yvette pours the water and dunks her tea bag. "You might like this one, Desmond? This is a sort of rich sweet tea, that we'd do at home sometimes. If you don't - at least I'd know to keep my box of it well hidden."
She's perking up a bit at the grant proposal. "This is the - language stuff, right? Scottish gaelic?"
“Giving Abstergo a headache is always a good plan.” Desmond smirks. “It’s weird how the templars here are normal people. I mean, I still don’t agree with the overall mission statement and I’m not going to go joining the club. Too cynical for me, but I’ll give it to them that they actually believe they’re acting for the good of humanity. It’s patronizing as all hell, but they’re not trying to hurt people. Abstergo’s brand on the other hand…” he winces. “That’s messed up.”
“Aye, it is.” Calum grins. “Language revival, or significant advances in the field of what’s already out there. I get the feeling it’ll be largely graduate school grants but you never know what they’ll come out of regular secondary school wanting to do, right? Eventually, it’d help to get a few clubs on the ground. No one in their right mind’s going to offer it as a basic education class or part of the school leaving certification program. Too much history for that, but...it’s a start. If someone had tried to take it away from me...I’d be fighting like hell for it to come back too.”
"I wonder if you could fund school clubs? Language immersion stuff, or that kind of thing?" Yvette's looking thoughtful. "I could see, in America or the like, where there might be Scottish communities who'd be interested in taking up the language again?"
“Oh America’s got that sort of thing going all around.” Calum nods. “We have a few college groups we’re working with on that front. The interest is huge there. Their South of all places. You wouldn’t think it, but towards the Carolinas, there’s a LOT of people with the roots, who had to leave it for whatever reason. Not so much on the school level but no saying it can’t be done.”
"And it was - hunted here. Is your language close enough to what's spoken here? I spoke a local dialect, and sometimes I can find the right mix of accents." Yvette's got tea now and a cookie. This is good.
“Oh, so far as I can tell, it’s quite the same.” Calum nods. “There’s not been much case, aside the regional varients in names and places with some of the idioms that come out that change. The actual gaelic bits themselves though? Dead on. It did make the music much easier too. We’ve got most of the same tunes, but Shay and Molloy and this fellow I used to know from the pub, before he got famous who did all sorts of Irish songs, said that those usually work that way. You know one of the most famous irish gaelic poems set to music is about a lost Jacobite leader? Some shared religious imagery. We haven’t got one of those but…” He shrugs. “I could see it cropping up in Starkhaven, considering we’re rife for it now.”
"Sounds like it'd feel a lot more like you're at home." Yvette's sipping her tea and sliding her hand over to Desmond's leg. "I'm sort of France, edge of Spain, good amount of Russian and German spoke on the streets. Mother was French. Father was Moroccan."
“Well, it does as is.,” Calum says. “The music in and of itself, the language...I’m happy here for the most part. I think the others are as well, now. Some obviously more than others but it's working.” He worries about Meghan, because she’s newer to this, but it might be more like it was with Ellie, where things didn’t really improve for her until she found more magic users in Greece.
Desmond smiles at that and nods. “And in my case, well, I can say a bit of everything and that’s technically true. My father’s got British, Welsh and American Indian roots we knew about, and my mother’s, well. There’s Italy and Syria and likely other things I’m forgetting on top of that. Or haven’t had the chance to explore. Honestly, I think I liked Istanbul the best, when Ezio was there. I keep wanting to check out the modern one.”
"I could see that being interesting." Yvette's nodding. "I know Citoyen Balthier was talking about how he kept hunting music, since it's very different here."
Desmond nods at that. “I think that you could probably find a LOT of interesting new stuff. I’m not really a music guy, but there’s a lot of stuff out there. I’d get musicians in at the bar in New York a lot of the time and it was always kind of neat.”
"I'd love to see what you like." Yvette tilts her head. "The - Gaelic wasn't welcome, back home?"
“Honestly, I have no real idea,” Desmond says. “Not my thing but I guess it was an English imperialism deal. You could probably ask Jacob, actually. His thing is Welsh but the same thing happened there. You know, you own a place so you conquer the populace by not letting them speak their own language sort of a thing. Which is pretty crappy, but also pretty English.”
Calum LAUGHS at that. “That’s...about what I’ve been learning. We didn’t USE ours much, at court. Mostly Orlesian for diplomatic purposes and common for most people, but it was still a thing we LEARNED. No one would have taken it away.”
"Having a thing that feels familiar is a powerful thing." Yvette agrees. "I know that - a lot of people at home got into gangs because it was a way to be safer, and when you're young, you don't understand the consequences of getting the inkwork done."
“AND you could use something they didn’t understand as a way of moving against them.” Calum points out, grinning. “So, that all in mind, it explains a lot.”
"Oh yeah. There was definitely some of that at home."
“We had some of the gang stuff in my neighborhood when I was out.” Desmond says. “It was a pretty crappy cheap place willing to rent to a sixteen year old with no proof of ID, so I mean, you can imagine. And hah, inkwork.” he laughs. “I have my share of those. Is it screwed up some of them are from The Farm and before and my dad didn’t even blink?”
"Anything you're pretty fond of?" Yvette's tilting her head. "The guy I knew - sort of a bodyguard at home showed me his. He had the Washer's tattoo on him."
“Actually, yeah.” Desmond nods. “The eagles are pretty cool. They’re a big thing for us and they mean a lot MORE, considering everything else now. It was a stupid impulse but it wound up meaning more later on. And…” He eyedarts. “I’m pretty sure Shaun’s got one somewhere that’s not an obvious thing but still assassin...y enough. Nothing that templars would pick up on, probably. And I have no idea where but…”
He glances away a second, then eyedarts.
“I may have come by that information in secret ways. Like bribed it out of someone.”
Yvette raises an eyebrow. "He told me to ask about the yogurt story, the one I knew."
“Oh god, that.” Desmond laughs. “That’s more that Shaun’s a yogurt thief. It was a big deal with...with our team lead. Obviously, easy ways to get to people happen when you’re stuck and bored.” It’s too weird to think about Lucy and how that whole thing was his fault, so he’s not going exactly there.
“And then it became this whole thing with him trying to hide it. But the email chain found its way to her anyway. Somehow. It was a mystery.”
“Mmhmm.” Calum snorts. “A mystery. The sort of mystery my brother would be part of? Iomhar.” he specifies. “Sebastian wouldn’t DO these things.”
"Is - Noah always that serious? Not to gossip -" Yvette gestures with her cup. "He reminds me of someone I knew."
“Rather.” Calum says. “He has his moments. I’d say quiet is more of the term to use, really. And funny you mention that. I think he would have gotten on quite well with my wife.”
"He seems like the type who'd guess he wouldn't but - he seems happy here." Yvette smiles. "I'm sentimental. There's - so much I wish I had at home."
“Oh?” Calum raises an eyebrow. “Here, in general? Could you not make some of it a reality if tomorrow you woke up back there, memories intact?”
"Maybe? Lorena's too much of a morass of problems to swiftly change, but I could get my friends out, probably. But - they'd be happy if they were here, if that makes sense."
“It does.” Desmond nods. “I’m lucky most of mine ARE here. I mean, I worry about, the rest, but that’s...not something I could impact. I’d like to think those could be happy too.”
"And well - do the best you can with what you have, right?" Yvette smiles. "I'm trying, at least."
“Exactly.” Desmond has to agree there. “We all are. You’re doing amazing with the Abstergo thing alone.”
"You guys are. All I'm doing is trying to do something." Yvette nudges the cookies toward Desmond. "I just think if they were any other company, and not paying their workers well, it's just as ethical to try to get them better pay and a safe job. So - the fact we know some of the company's rotten just makes it all the better reason to try."
“Makes sense.” Desmond nods. “It’s weird to think of it in normal terms, but you ARE totally right. I guess it’s the divide with them being a thing from home, huh?”
"I mean - I'd like to think the company as a whole would hate the idea that they grabbed a guy, but -" Yvette sighs. "Humanity's pretty good at not caring about ethics like that."
“The company as a whole?” Desmond snorts. “That’s….Abstergo was founded uh, by templars, for templars. They lost the morality somewhere along the way. Probably AT the founding, actually. You had Henry Ford and Edison and well...other people like that. Capitalistic types who thought controling the world was great because they’d get power, not because it would help anyone. It’s a nice IDEA though.”
"And people point at communism and all that." Yvette gestures. "Still, you'd think there'd be people here who weren't as bad. That Joe in the mail room isn't as terrible as someone who knows the full story. But Joe still needs to get out."
“Here, yeah, slightly different story.” Desmond nods. “I mean, hell, they didn’t recruit Shaun into the templars when he was there, either. But anyone with actual power? That’s where it starts getting iffy. And they get a lot of people in on their corporate brainwashing, so true.”
"Power's power, the danger is how you abuse it." Yvette shrugs. "All the better reason I don't take over Lorena, as much as I love the town. I'm too angry, and I can't accept that - sometimes you can't hit the numbers you hope for. I need the space to not be anything at all."
She frowns. "That makes sense right? I was sort of - running a not quite legal aid group back home, and - that was fine, but actually being Ms. President and all? I don't think I could take it. Not without a lot of good people to make up for me."
“That’s true.” Desmond nods. “It’s one of those things where, you don’t mind some leaders, if they do things well and actually care about someone’s well being. And yeah, things like that...it’s better when people... Actually…” He glances sideways a little.
“When I was asked to choose, between stopping the end of the world as we knew it and freeing Juno, and letting the world burn and stopping her...part of that reality, the second one, the deal was I wouldn’t die and I’d emerge with what was left of civilization and I would become a leader, a SYMBOL to the survivors, who rebuilt humanity and they’d see me as a hero, as a legend and then, eventually…” He gulps a little.
“As a god who’s power and legacy would be used to harm people. Juno said that they’d be used for wicked purposes, that whatever I said would be made unwise with time. I’d be the justification for taking life, on a huge scale...I could NEVER do that. Humanity might have had a future too, in that outcome, with me living, to lead them but...they’d never be free. It isn’t right, things like that rarely are. You can’t force safety and peace at that cost.”
"People would sooner starve in their own dirt than live in a gilded cage, a lot of the time." Yvette eyes Desmond. "I can't imagine trying to make that choice in the moment. At that kind of stakes. I literally get queasy at blood and get lightheaded in a basic fistfight. Mom said I got ashen whenever I did big public speaking stuff as soon as I had a chance to be alone."
“Well,” Desmond smiles. “The stakes were...not too bad, considering that. I mean, my death and the world continues on to fight another day, or I run away from facing it and plunge the world into chaos? There was no real choice. And huh, public speaking does NOT sound fun. The other stuff, for me, I guess it’s more second nature. Blood’s not my favorite but I know how to handle it.”
"Clotting issues as a kid, and that's not the topic to have with tea. Is the chocolates for sharing?" Yvette's leaning to top off her cup. "We were house hunting, Calum. I thought I'd mention it since the plan is that I'd get a big enough place that people we know could move in? Offices or housing or whatever."
“Those definitely are.” Desmond sets them out a bit more prominently now that he’s thinking about it.
“That sounds like it could be nice.” Calum nods. “I mean, we’ve somehow become a local stopping point for some people, so seeing that spread out’s a good idea. I’d guess the idea of being alone’s pretty weird for some. I don’t think I could do it, for one.”
"And sometimes you want to be - not alone, but not so together." Yvette waves a hand. "I mostly wanted a 'normal' address while i was being a thorn in people's sides."
“Those are always good.” Calum grins. “Iomhar always liked having something like that around. A place to retreat that wasn’t filled with everyone else, and could give him and his family peace. I half wonder if he’d prefer that now.”
"Well, I can chat about it with him? Can't promise it won't be a mess, because - well - getting a convenient spot which is also in good shape is hard." Yvette leans back. "I just - want a place for us. People who'd understand."
“It makes sense.” Calum nods. “And well if Hari did, I feel like he’d want it NEAR the rest of us...near ME. We’ve been uh...he’s a little clingy. Wanting a place where people understand is perfectly reasonable. And you sharing the chance with others is helpful and kind.”
"Hey, all of you helped me out. I can return the favor." Yvette has tea and chocolate. This is good.
“Just, in general as a concept it is.” Calum says again. “It’s one of those..it’ll help a lot of people, I’m sure.”