[open catch all!]

[cryptsleeper]

WHO: Alucard + [open]
WHAT: Enjoying some new office space, exploring Oleuni Square, and more
WHERE: Cadens, Oleuni Square, the desert, and more!
WHEN: Throughout December
WARNINGS: Potential for violence in the hunting grounds

Comments

[aquilus]

[Altaïr is rarely in need of wild game for food or fuel, but he's found himself drawn to the hunting grounds when he's visited Nocwich. Perhaps it's because he's a hunter, too; there's a kinship, even if he hunts men, not beasts, and is hunting neither right now.

He moves quietly through the hunting grounds and comes upon Alucard from an angle to the side and behind him, but Altaïr thinks the other man already knows who he is when he speaks aloud. Call it a hunch.]

I can live without game. [He crouches on the outcrop, looking at the space below. Not much to see, though the emptiness is beautiful in its way.] Maybe I just wanted to enjoy the peacefulness here.

[cryptsleeper]

I could tell you to go find your own spot of quiet.

[Alucard's tone is light, even if he doesn't turn to meet Altaïr's eyes. Company is fine, at least this company in particular.]

At least it isn't a maze this time, hm?

[aquilus]

That depends how good one is at navigating the woods.

[Or avoiding the grounds' more dangerous residents if one were to wander farther.]

But I suspect we'll both be less frustrated here.

[cryptsleeper]

Something tells me you're competent.

[A hunch. And something light to dash away that memory of the maze. Ugh.]

How long have you been exploring?

[aquilus]

And I know you are.

[Also, the shapeshifting likely confers additional sensory advantages. What would be the point if it did not?]

Perhaps an hour. It's rare to find such a quiet atmosphere, outside of the badlands.

[cryptsleeper]

It's also nice to have a more temperate atmosphere. [Alucard will freely admit that as much as he appreciates the stark beauty of the desert, it is sometimes too sandy and hot. Even for him.]

This is much closer to what we have in Wallachia, the residents not withstanding.

[aquilus]

Is that so? I wouldn't mind traveling there, if I ever had the chance.

[It would be a long journey, and he has suspicions that most of his waking hours will be occupied by matters of the brotherhood for quite a while. But the urge to travel and explore is always there, especially after what the piece of Eden showed him.]

Do you miss it?

[cryptsleeper]

Oh, you want the cold and the wet and the snow of the mountains in deepest winter?

[Alucard raises an eyebrow, well aware of how different Wallachia is compared to the near east's climate. But the question is serious, and one Alucard has long accepted has a ready answer.]

Not especially. The climate of the Free Cities may not always be my favorite, but I've accomplished more than I could ever do back home.

[aquilus]

I was born in the mountains. I could cope.

[Admittedly, the mountains of Masyaf are likely not quite so cold.]

I find myself torn at times. There's much that would call me home, if it could, but there's been much to learn here.

[cryptsleeper]

--Were you?

[The question has a note of genuine curiosity, but Alucard won't pry about that. Family is the are that he treads about the most lightly.]

Mm. May I ask what responsibilities you must put on hold while here?

[aquilus]

[He's not bothered by the inquiry, though it doesn't occur to him to think Alucard might tread lightly because of family. Altaïr misses Masyaf because it's home, because he left so much uncertainty behind, but he'd killed the closest person to family he had left.]

That would be a very long story.

[And one he wouldn't want to go fully into. But...]

The leader of my people died hours before I was brought here. Already there was a great deal of unrest. It was an uncertain and dangerous time.

[cryptsleeper]

I think that these nations have a tendency to draw in those with long stories exclusively.

[It is both a joke and a gentle acknowledgement that the dhampir does not intend to ask for any more than his companion is willing to give. The circumstances of home should, in his experience, always come up organically.]

Having come from a country in similar circumstances, I can only imagine what it is like when the loss is that close and personal.

[aquilus]

[It might be a joke, but Altaïr isn't laughing. Of course, he rarely does, but the point is that Alucard isn't exactly wrong.]

It was a necessary thing. That doesn't make what comes next any simpler. I don't like to think about what I'm missing.

[To be cut off so thoroughly chafes at him constantly. It's one of several reasons he tries to fill his hours here and avoid any kind of idleness.]

[cryptsleeper]

Perhaps you're missing nothing.

[The suggestion isn't meant to bring comfort. Instead, it is an honest consideration of magic.] Perhaps you'll return and no time will have passed at all. And for the effort, you have more time and experience. Or at least, I think that's the optimistic version of the situation.

[aquilus]

Disturbing as the notion of frozen time is, that would be the ideal outcome.

[Older, wiser, more capable but having lost nothing while taking the time to become so? It's too good to be true.]

Which is why I can't trust that it's a possibility.

[cryptsleeper]

Not at all. The only thing that makes me think it possible is that for the brief amount of time that I had others from my own time and place here, none of our precise points crossed. I learned wholly new information from both of them.

[But there could be endless reasons for that.]

Apologies, I'm sure idle speculation does not help your concerns.

[aquilus]

It may not, but it seems as though we can't help doing so in the absence of certainty.

[Altaïr waves him off, not bothered by the natural tendency to wonder what-if. Despite his own words and even though he's set his mind to other things rather than torment himself with questions he won't be able to answer, it's impossible to fully avoid considering what the truth is.]

The others you spoke of — did they come from your future and notice no disappearance?

[That is interesting.]

[cryptsleeper]

Not my future, no. More...[Alucard pauses, then draws an imaginary line on the ground, then indicates three dots in a general area to one side.]

We came from similar points, but not the same one, but after a shared major experience. That matter was the source of some tensions, admittedly.

[Which is a very polite understatement of the total fall out of murdering my dad.]

[aquilus]

[Ah. He's not sure he understands the specifics of what Alucard's describing, but he gets it well enough.]

That sounds inconvenient as well as disorienting.

[Yes, he realizes that's probably an understatement.]

Have you resolved them?

[cryptsleeper]

One element, yes, but that was a very personal one. [He and Sypha had recovered their friendship after the dhampir admitted to his newfound trust issues. They were nearly romantic partners, and it might have become serious save for Sypha's disappearance.

So it went.]

The rest was family, and that will never be fully resolved. But the person involved with that seemed better than he was when he allied with my father.

[aquilus]

[He doesn't outright inquire about the specifics of the personal element. In Altaïr's experience, if one wants to share such things, they will.]

There's disharmony in your family, I take it.

[cryptsleeper]

There was. [There's no one left, technically.]

My mother was murdered. My father and I differed in how to handle those responsible. The disagreement ultimately ended him as well.

[aquilus]

[The past tense tells him nearly as much as Alucard does.]

Do you regret it at all?

[This is definitely pushing too far. So much for not pushing into personal elements. But in just a few short words, the other man has unexpectedly touched on a raw, familiar nerve.]

[cryptsleeper]

Of course.  [The response is without hesitation.]  Just as I hate that the circumstances asked me to choose between their respective wishes, which were at direct odds with one another.  And that his expression of devotion was annihilation.

[aquilus]

A strange manner of showing love, to be sure.

[As if he should know.]

My condolences.