Who: wanda and others When: april & may Where: solvunn, horizon What: catch-all for the month, closed and open prompts within. Warnings: none at the moment, will mark as needed.
[It's interesting to think how true to life the garden is, left to its own growth, and he has to wonder how far that could go, if there is a limit — but now isn't the time to get lost in his own wonderings.
Altaïr allows the dog to sniff him and gives the expected pat when it seems to be the thing to do. He's not much of an animal person, but he's not against animals, so it's fine.]
I am. I've found it fulfills my desire to roam and offers more variety in what can be found.
[The wasteland is beautiful in its way, but not all that compelling.]
I can leave if you don't wish to be disturbed, though/
I'm not against having company at times, despite popular belief.
[she knows that she can be rather... closed off, or seem rather uninterested as far as social interactions go. at least, wanda has a feeling that altaïr might feel similarly towards some of these aspects, though.
with the twig in hand, she offers it to him, and her attention turns to the horse.]
[Does he say it because he's embraced it or because being who he is, he found it forced upon him and adjusted? Hard to say. But if she's fine with visitors, it's a moot point anyway.
He accepts the twig as what it seems to be, a gesture of welcome, and if he looks a little awkward about knowing what to do with it then or how to hold it — well, he's new to hands-on interaction with gardening.]
No name. The notion felt strange, when she's only just been created. But my favorite mount in my homeland was called Faizah.
[wanda can tell he's put him in a bit of an awkward spot, with the blooming twig. so, she makes no comment on it, hoping he can find his bearing about it or feel confident to do with it as he likes.]
Faizah is a beautiful name. Arabic?
[it's not hard to discern, form his features and the names he has provided her thus far.
ah, she doesn't know much about him, does she? wanda turns to him, arms crossed.]
I find that giving animals a name in the Horizon makes them more in-tune with those who have named her. [it was important to name the lizards, too!] It's Veliki and Mali, not just two random lizards we found.
Personally, I think that Hilda is very persuasive.
[it is hard to say no to hilda, and it doesn't (necessarily) have anything to do with her acting like a bit of a conceited princess. she has definitely proven that she's not some airhead.
some people just happen to be more vivacious and sparkle more than others, is all.]
—I also didn't expect to nail the language. Sometimes it's a stretch to guess, considering the different worlds we all come from. Can I ask what country you're from?
[her own lack of formal education as a child and as an adult really limits what she knows. history was never something she could focus on, but if arabic is the language he speaks… well, it gives her an idea.]
But I think I know the general area. We might have been a little close. I’m from Eastern Europe, close to the Mediterranean.
[here she smiles lightly.]
Many of us share a similar world geography, but interestingly enough, the majority are American in some way. A continent all the way to the west.
[Ah, that gives him more context — a reference point to work from, if not precise directions.]
Close indeed. I've been to the Mediterranean many times.
[Not for vacation or other leisure, but he'd stalked Acre Port often enough in the months prior to his summoning.]
And I've seen that continent — not on person, but before I arrived here I was given the chance to see that the world expanded for beyond what I knew of it.
[He can still remember the moment vividly — a transparent glowing globe, hovering without explanation. But he'd known instantly, instinctively, what it meant.]
I was frustrated not to be able to explore this knowledge further, only to find that I could learn nearly as much from those who've been there.
[wanda doesn’t know anyone who is further into the future than she and her own are, so it is difficult for her to feel that she could learn about anything beyond her own time. it feels unwritten, almost, so she cannot imagine what it must be like for those who are of a less modern time, realizing the opportunity to explore and learn from the account of others.]
It sounds like there are a couple of centuries between us.
[said lightly, not quite saying something about being ancient comparatively, because comparing ages when the summoned are from all wheres and whens is a moot point.
[Wanda is probably right. Time and space both make a significant difference to those who come from the same world, he's learned, but in many ways it's time that makes the bigger one.]
What I did had little to do with that brief glimpse at knowledge of the world.
[He could give the answer he's given others, that he made his trade in mapmaking, and may yet. He doesn't know Wanda so well that he's inclined to be fully truthful. Something about the keen intelligence in her eyes and the way she's looking at him also makes him uninclined to lie.]
We found...an artifact, would be the best word. Something with knowledge and capabilities no one yet fully understood. I didn't have time to delve deeply before I was summoned.
( ooc: i feel like this is an important convo! we can handwave if you prefer, tho. sorry for hiatus-hell delay. ;w; )
[wanda can tell when there is honesty when it's being spoken to her, and she gratefully doesn't have to delve too deeply into altaïr's mind to find out if he is or isn't. the tale he tells, in any case, is one to make her profoundly interested.]
An artifact?
[relics she knows of, of—indeed—artifacts of a magical or mythological nature that can change the way the world is perceived. but, then, it's obvious that he has an incredible amount of questions at what it was.]
—I suppose it frustrates you more than it does for me to not know more about it. Where did you find it?
[She's more right than she knows. It doesn't matter to Altaïr that there is surely as much to learn right here in Abraxas as there was from the piece of Eden — maybe more. It is still a beguiling mystery even out of his reach, a power that compels as much as it horrifies.]
It was hidden within the Temple Mount of Jerusalem when I first laid eyes on it. But I don't believe that was its origin.
[He doesn't think he could guess at any origin. Something about the Apple made him very sure that it had little to do with any society that touched his lifetime.]
I think it was made very far away, a very, very long time ago.
Oh, Jerusalem. I know where that is — more or less. [now, that’s a name she does recognize.] Though I’m not sure such a thing was ever uncovered in the world that I come from.
[they’d hear about it, certainly? even if vaguely, if generally; something that was made far away, and a very, very long time ago? hm.]
Are you a treasure hunter, then?
[not quite what he described, but this is maybe a mystery she can get more concrete answers to.]
[That gets a small smile, although there's a distance in his eyes. The amusement of characterizing his work like that doesn't take away from the sourness of betrayal from the one who'd sesnt them after the treasure.]
We were there to retrieve it and keep it from the hands of our enemies. I had no personal interest in it.
[hm— a man of many mysteries, then. as much as her curiosity sparks a sense of wanting to just fuck the rules, wanda doesn't want to outright just read anyone's mind to get information from them. much less a friend's mind.
she tilts her head, then smiles lightly in return.]
Except now that you're really curious about what it was, huh.
[He takes a long moment before responding, and that's as much an answer as anything he says.]
It corrupted someone I would have told you embodied the best of our people's ideals. I would like to know how that was possible as much as I would like to avoid it falling into the hands of those who would use it with ill intent.
[And he knows very well that someone who uses the Apple that way might have started with very different intentions.]
Maybe knowledge uncovered in this place can help put the pieces of that puzzle together.
[though wanda knows that it’s not entirely the best case scenario, it’s at least something that could be held onto to satiate that want for knowledge.]
Do you think the men who asked you to get it knew about what it could do?
[Altaïr doubts that's possible...and is glad for it. He may not know much about the Apple, but he's instinctively certain that it would be a very bad thing for its power to be unleashed in Abraxas.]
He knew something of what it could do.
[Otherwise Al Mualim would not have been so insistent that they take it from the Templars. Already he hadn't trusted his fellow conspirators.]
Whether he knew would it could do to him, I can't say.
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no subject
Altaïr allows the dog to sniff him and gives the expected pat when it seems to be the thing to do. He's not much of an animal person, but he's not against animals, so it's fine.]
I am. I've found it fulfills my desire to roam and offers more variety in what can be found.
[The wasteland is beautiful in its way, but not all that compelling.]
I can leave if you don't wish to be disturbed, though/
no subject
[she knows that she can be rather... closed off, or seem rather uninterested as far as social interactions go. at least, wanda has a feeling that altaïr might feel similarly towards some of these aspects, though.
with the twig in hand, she offers it to him, and her attention turns to the horse.]
Does she have a name?
no subject
[Does he say it because he's embraced it or because being who he is, he found it forced upon him and adjusted? Hard to say. But if she's fine with visitors, it's a moot point anyway.
He accepts the twig as what it seems to be, a gesture of welcome, and if he looks a little awkward about knowing what to do with it then or how to hold it — well, he's new to hands-on interaction with gardening.]
No name. The notion felt strange, when she's only just been created. But my favorite mount in my homeland was called Faizah.
no subject
Faizah is a beautiful name. Arabic?
[it's not hard to discern, form his features and the names he has provided her thus far.
ah, she doesn't know much about him, does she? wanda turns to him, arms crossed.]
I find that giving animals a name in the Horizon makes them more in-tune with those who have named her. [it was important to name the lizards, too!] It's Veliki and Mali, not just two random lizards we found.
[she smiles at that.]
no subject
[He imagines that's unsurprising if she knows what Arabic is.]
I suppose that's possible. A practical effort to strengthen one's capabilities here.
[Probably not what she was getting at but he can't not be pragmatic.]
I wouldn't have thought twice about leaving the lizards nameless, but it seems I was outvoted.
[He knows a losing scenario when he sees one.]
no subject
[it is hard to say no to hilda, and it doesn't (necessarily) have anything to do with her acting like a bit of a conceited princess. she has definitely proven that she's not some airhead.
some people just happen to be more vivacious and sparkle more than others, is all.]
—I also didn't expect to nail the language. Sometimes it's a stretch to guess, considering the different worlds we all come from. Can I ask what country you're from?
no subject
He thinks Wanda probably already knows how well these descriptors fit, though.]
I'm not certain whether the boundaries between nations as I know them still apply in your time. But I was born in the Levant.
no subject
I don’t really know where that is.
[her own lack of formal education as a child and as an adult really limits what she knows. history was never something she could focus on, but if arabic is the language he speaks… well, it gives her an idea.]
But I think I know the general area. We might have been a little close. I’m from Eastern Europe, close to the Mediterranean.
[here she smiles lightly.]
Many of us share a similar world geography, but interestingly enough, the majority are American in some way. A continent all the way to the west.
no subject
Close indeed. I've been to the Mediterranean many times.
[Not for vacation or other leisure, but he'd stalked Acre Port often enough in the months prior to his summoning.]
And I've seen that continent — not on person, but before I arrived here I was given the chance to see that the world expanded for beyond what I knew of it.
[He can still remember the moment vividly — a transparent glowing globe, hovering without explanation. But he'd known instantly, instinctively, what it meant.]
I was frustrated not to be able to explore this knowledge further, only to find that I could learn nearly as much from those who've been there.
no subject
It sounds like there are a couple of centuries between us.
[said lightly, not quite saying something about being ancient comparatively, because comparing ages when the summoned are from all wheres and whens is a moot point.
she tilts her head, looking over at him.]
…what is it you do, back home, Altaïr?
no subject
What I did had little to do with that brief glimpse at knowledge of the world.
[He could give the answer he's given others, that he made his trade in mapmaking, and may yet. He doesn't know Wanda so well that he's inclined to be fully truthful. Something about the keen intelligence in her eyes and the way she's looking at him also makes him uninclined to lie.]
We found...an artifact, would be the best word. Something with knowledge and capabilities no one yet fully understood. I didn't have time to delve deeply before I was summoned.
no subject
[wanda can tell when there is honesty when it's being spoken to her, and she gratefully doesn't have to delve too deeply into altaïr's mind to find out if he is or isn't. the tale he tells, in any case, is one to make her profoundly interested.]
An artifact?
[relics she knows of, of—indeed—artifacts of a magical or mythological nature that can change the way the world is perceived. but, then, it's obvious that he has an incredible amount of questions at what it was.]
—I suppose it frustrates you more than it does for me to not know more about it. Where did you find it?
[at least that much he could be able to say.]
no subject
It was hidden within the Temple Mount of Jerusalem when I first laid eyes on it. But I don't believe that was its origin.
[He doesn't think he could guess at any origin. Something about the Apple made him very sure that it had little to do with any society that touched his lifetime.]
I think it was made very far away, a very, very long time ago.
[ooc - agreed! no worries re delays]
no subject
Oh, Jerusalem. I know where that is — more or less. [now, that’s a name she does recognize.] Though I’m not sure such a thing was ever uncovered in the world that I come from.
[they’d hear about it, certainly? even if vaguely, if generally; something that was made far away, and a very, very long time ago? hm.]
Are you a treasure hunter, then?
[not quite what he described, but this is maybe a mystery she can get more concrete answers to.]
no subject
[That gets a small smile, although there's a distance in his eyes. The amusement of characterizing his work like that doesn't take away from the sourness of betrayal from the one who'd sesnt them after the treasure.]
We were there to retrieve it and keep it from the hands of our enemies. I had no personal interest in it.
no subject
she tilts her head, then smiles lightly in return.]
Except now that you're really curious about what it was, huh.
no subject
It corrupted someone I would have told you embodied the best of our people's ideals. I would like to know how that was possible as much as I would like to avoid it falling into the hands of those who would use it with ill intent.
[And he knows very well that someone who uses the Apple that way might have started with very different intentions.]
no subject
[though wanda knows that it’s not entirely the best case scenario, it’s at least something that could be held onto to satiate that want for knowledge.]
Do you think the men who asked you to get it knew about what it could do?
no subject
He knew something of what it could do.
[Otherwise Al Mualim would not have been so insistent that they take it from the Templars. Already he hadn't trusted his fellow conspirators.]
Whether he knew would it could do to him, I can't say.