[ OPEN ] split tomorrow from today

[godshattering]

Who: Claude and various
When: November + December
Where: Nocwich, Cadens, TBA
What: Catch all for both months
Warnings: None currently, will add/mark as needed


( Open and closed starters in the comments! Also good with prose or brackets and please feel free to wildcard into the open prompts with something else. If you'd prefer plotting first, you can find me at indech, arboria#1862, or by PM at any time! )

Comments

[aquilus]

[The missing finger is absolutely a casualty of war and not at all a willing amputation done for ritual and practical purposes.]

I'm not too humble to say I'm competent with a bow. But I know men who can shoot far more impressively every time.

[Which would have bothered him more had his other skills not outpaced theirs. He'd told himself at the time that a real Assassin would not need to rely on a bow — an early sign of arrogance.

He readies the second arrow, aims, and does hit the bloom, but only at the edge.]

See? You may yet do better.

[godshattering]

[ Claude just hums in response to that first part considering it's true enough. An honest statement, he thinks, and one that could be voiced by archers everywhere. Or not just archers at that since Altaïr's other skills are curious on their own and individually, and more so when put together. ]

I may, or fate might decide that the arrow I draw ends up being as curved as the one in need of repair. Or maybe even if it's curved it'll be on my side this time around.

[ Laidback enough; Claude's not in any rush to prove his skills and not only from unvoiced confidence alone. He's content to continue studying Altaïr as long as the other man sees fit to continue with his turn, and in the meantime? Some gears have been turning in the back of his mind. ]

Mapmaking must be a much more treacherous occupation than what I'm used to in Fodlan. I can't imagine having to be armed so well since I think not even our traveling merchants are, unless you count their hiring of mercenaries.

[ There's a question in there, maybe. ]

[aquilus]

[He picks up on the question immediately, quiet as it is. He's perceptive, and getting to know Claude more — better than most of the other Summoned, if he thinks about it. It's possible that it would make no difference at all if he were to offer even a shortened version of his true background, given the man's amiability and his lack of context for Altaïr's world.

But he's not accustomed to revealing much of himself or taking chances.]

I mentioned that my homeland is plagued by war, I think? And has been for quite some time, unfortunately.

[This part he absolutely means. The Crusaders, Saladin's armies, all of them have contributed to the violence. He has hope for the future, but men aren't easily swayed from the paths they set for themselves.

Even the most peaceful would be foolish not to learn how to protect themselves. And their people. When one's home rests in the mountains, arrows make an excellence defense.

[godshattering]

Yes, you did mention that.

[ Just a confirmation and one said in an ever so slightly distracted way, as if there's other thoughts crowding in behind that short response. Which - there are, but Claude's letting that show through intentionally now. It's not exactly a way of saying he doesn't believe Altaïr, especially given he has absolutely no way of ever proving whether that statement is true or false or somewhere in between. Just a way of slipping in another question beneath it. ]

Something likely to be true in Fodlan as well these days. The war might be over, but there's still going to be unrest for some time. All the more reason I think those mercenaries might have a reliable source of coin, and possibly a reason I should worry about my former professor going back to it himself.

[ Claude's kidding about Teach abandoning his responsibilities for another set with a sword the man in question once upheld, but if Altaïr might wonder if it's another careful test for a response? He wouldn't be wrong. ]

[aquilus]

[He hears this question as well. He won't acknowledge it or answer it. Not directly.]

I can't imagine any aftermath of war lacking unrest. [And he'd be deeply suspicious of such a scenario.] I expect your people will need to be vigilant for quite some time.

[To give himself something to do, he nocks another arrow and takes another shot. This one is closer to a bullseye, if they had one.]

Mercenaries aren't the greatest danger in the world. They tend to be predictable. If they're employed by those in pursuit of a cause, that's a greater danger.

[godshattering]

I'd expect the same. The changes that happened were... abrupt, and they'll continue to be. That's the sort of thing which makes everyone restless.

[ Even those in on the plan, or close enough to being so. But it helps that he trusts everyone set up left to be in charge before his intended departure to elsewhere before the Free Cities changed his destination to somewhere else entirely.

Not something he wants to share immediately, and not in favor of letting out an appreciative whistle at Altaïr's clean shot before a slight shift in topic. A very slight one since it's all interwoven. ]

Another true statement for where I'm from as mercenaries aren't invested in the job beyond the coin aside from very specific cases. But those who have an axe to grind either literally or metaphorically? A rather dangerous combination. The main church of Fodlan tends to use their knights in the same way as they were often sent to punish those who stood against the former archbishop. Something I'd rather also never see repeated again.

[aquilus]

[He's fairly pleased with the shot. He may have shed his arrogance, but a man can still take pride in his skills.]

Sometimes it's hard to believe we come from different worlds. The Templars that plague my homeland and the knights from yours would agree on a great deal, I think.

[Which is why he's glad they will never have the opportunity to meet. Unless some of them are summoned here, he supposes.]

[godshattering]

[ There are a number of similarities. An almost alarming number of ones, and nothing Claude could have predicted. Almyra was not the same as Fodlan when it came to that level of religion seeping into everything. And sure, his disbelief and scoffing at the Almyran gods was looked down upon and earned him a certain level of disdain, but he'd never had to worry about being executed for it.

Rhea, however, did not have that same tolerance. Something which made slightly more sense in the end in the face of everything with more history revealed, but she and the Church still have his scorn for their actions. Fodlan might be changing, but that part never will. ]

The Templars you mentioned. Are they also the extension of a church or their own organization meant to bend others to what they feel is right and nothing else?

[aquilus]

[That's a question that gives Altaïr pause, and not because he doesn't want to answer it. Are the Templars more one than the other? Were they ever? The presence of the woman he'd fought, Robert's steward and decoy, suggests that they have their own ideas about what's acceptable even in day to day affairs, but she'd worn the cross like the rest of them.]

They're both, I think. They do their duties and fight for what they claim their God wants. But that's not all they are. Control is what matters, more than who they call master.

[godshattering]

[ Claude considers that for a long moment in which he says nothing, stays silent, and lets Altaïr do what he wishes with the bow while he considers. It takes a bit of time to come to an answer as he loops the different bits of information he's gleaned through his mind in comparison to Fodlan. ]

Control is exactly what the Church of Seiros wanted and what they had for centuries. They were involved in so much around Fodlan from start to finish, and used the knights as a holy order supposedly to mediate situations but what it ended up being was a way to enforce their beliefs and those alone under the guise of guidance. If there were challenges to the mass amount of authority they had before the Empire started the war to overthrow them, they were stamped out quickly before they truly started.

[ And, rather dryly, ] we do have much in common after all.

[aquilus]

[Mostly he fiddles with it, testing the tension of the string and such. Nothing's changed since his last shot, but speaking of the Templars takes away some of the enjoyment of testing himself.]

So it seems. I'm glad the Church you know and the Templars never had the opportunity to meet. It seems likely they'd only encourage the worst tendencies of one another.

[Or go to war again for control of the Apple of Eden — but it's best not to think about that.]

[godshattering]

It's fortunate that they can't somehow meet each other through us somehow what with all these worlds intersecting. And doubly fortunate we can't run into the same situations here.

[ Or - that's not an accurate statement, is it? There's not a formally organized religion here like it sounds is present in both Altaïr's home and Fodlan. Almyra is the closest comparison with a variety of gods though there's still differences. But there is the Singularity, ominous rock formation that it is which apparently holds the key to so many things, and the nations' differing opinions on how it should be treated. All of them at odds with each other and none of them inclined to back down, but with the advantage that no one can approach the Singularity. Except the Summoned, which is no advantage for them at all.

Either way, that's not something Claude wants to dwell on. It'd require the Summoned to be all in one place for something to be done involving them and even with those excursions to Nocwich it seems unlikely. Better to reach over for the bow to show Altaïr a better way to change the string tension and to shoot some more arrows into their cactus friend. ]