One | Altaïr Can't Swim (it's a trending tag on AO3)

[eaglesonofnone]

WHO: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
WHERE: South Village fountain
WHEN: Beginning October 28
OPEN TO: Anyone who wants to find a half-drowned and confused Assassin.
WARNINGS: Arabic cursing. (Both cursing in Arabic and an Arabic man cursing.)

---

Water.

It would permanently be his bane.

He had expected his afterlife to be anything but that, if he was to have one at all. After all he'd seen, he'd more suspected that after death came nothing. A lack of existence. An ending, and nothing more. If he ascribed to the Christian notions, he would surely be relegated to their hell for the lives he'd taken, and for a moment, it occurred to him that this was it. A form of eternal torment by the water filling his lungs, his hands finding no purchase. Was he to spend the rest of time dying over and over again in water?

But his body had panicked for him. Fighting against the water, struggling, flailing wildly and completely without skill. He could feel his lungs burning from what he'd inhaled before he'd begun to hold his breath, the ache of a cough wanting to break free but he knew that if he opened his mouth, only more water would rush in--

He coughed. His lungs filled further, and fear took hold of his heart. No. No, he could not spend eternity this way, dying again and again with what looked like sky past the water's surface. Again, he coughed. His lungs were getting heavier, his vision dimmer. No!

And then--

And then, even in the depths, he could breathe, except it... it wasn't breathing. Water was still passing into him, but his vision began to clear and his limbs felt less sluggish and his mind slowly climbed away from the base reactions of survival toward true and rational thought.

He was breathing water. How?

His mind sought reasons, but with his calm came buoyancy. He began to rise toward the surface, a hand reaching out toward the nearest wall, touching stone, able to use it to push upward, and when he broke free and took hold of the stone with his entire arms, he bent over it. He coughed once, twice, water pouring from his mouth and nose in a painful rush, but then he was breathing air. Clear, cool air.

Willpower pulled him over the edge, onto the ground, where he laid on his stomach and relished the simple act of breathing. He'd been short of breath for years, coughing with any exertion, but never had it felt so horrible as that. "Al'ama," he groaned, head turned sideways to rest on the ground before, with excruciating slowness, he pushed himself up to sit. "'Ana kabir fi alsini lihadha."

Comments

[eaglesonofnone]

Breathing, yes - deep, full breaths with occasional coughs, with what appears to be gills fading back into his skin on each side of his neck. He was wearing a shade of pinkish purple that didn't really suit him, his skin fading back to a more normal, natural shade instead of the paleness his brush with death had given him.

And when he heard a voice, he looked up, met her eyes with his own proving to be amber-yellow, and was immediately aware of three things: he was not in Masyaf, let alone his library; the young woman speaking to him was European, most likely British though her accent didn't match; and his vision was clearer than it had been in years. All three of these things were confusing, each in their own right, but the first thing to address, he decided, was the worry in the woman's voice.

"Yes," he half-croaked, having to clear his voice but then managing to say more clearly, "Yes, I do speak English. And I am... recovering from that ordeal." He motioned toward the water - a fountain, he belatedly saw - with a four-fingered hand. A fountain with surroundings so far from anything he was used to in his life that he looked about with a sort of wonder. Perhaps he would have to lend some credence to the idea of an afterlife after all. "I will be fine, given time. Shukran-- that is to say, thank you."

[connatural]

"Okay, good, that's a start." She takes a breath herself, exhaling slowly as if guiding. Not that he seems to need it. "I'm going to ask if you're hurt, but you can just nod. I mean, coming up out of those depths, it's nervewracking."

She's dealt with a lot of things, but waking up drowning just left her with a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Take all the time you need," she says, shifting where she's kneeling, trying not to loom over him. Not that she truly does with her size, and dressed as she is. "If you need it, there's a medical clinic but I know a bit of first aid. Mostly field work."

But she suspects it will be useful over time.

"When you're up to it though there's a inn, and your bag there should have dry clothes in it." She knew that had gone a long way to helping her get her head straight. After she armed herself and bolted to try and find a friend.

[eaglesonofnone]

"This seems like advice you've given before," he answered, breath finally caught. He would need to get up before long, soaked as these oddly-coloured clothes were, shedding a near pool around him where he sat. "This isn't the first such... occasion, then. People appearing in this fountain."

It was an easier question to ask than any of the others swimming in his mind. Where this was, what was happening, where his robes had gone. He lifted a hand and found his head uncovered, something that made him frown, but he would survive. Malik had eschewed the cowl after losing his arm. Altaïr had only barely done so after his beard had gone fully white.

But this young woman was in clothing unlike any he'd seen. Her accent was nothing like the English who occupied the countryside, and especially not the French who had accompanied them.

He would have a flood of questions later.

[connatural]

"It's what someone tried saying to me when I popped up out of that water. If it helps, I didn't listen to him and won't be surprised if you don't either," she allows with a smile. "And I've seen and heard of a few. There's a lot of people here and most of them from what I can tell nearly drowned as well. Though..."

She pauses, maybe what she saw was a figment of her imagination.

"Not everyone is quite as adapt at swimming as others," she admits, shrugging. Somehow it seems rude to ask if he had those before. Especially if he hadn't, it might not be the way to point out to him that he's suddenly an abnormal. She hadn't handle that knowledge well.

'There's an Inn nearby. You can find food, a place to sleep, get to know the lay of the land and all. Especially all of the craziness that is this place."

[eaglesonofnone]

"The inn, dry clothes, and rest all sound welcome. Especially if warmth comes with it." His smile was small, polite, but real - and he extended a hand up toward her. "Might you help me stand, Shabbah?"

He wasn't sure how he felt. His lungs burned. He still felt somewhat tired, but the thought of getting dry overwhelmed it all. He had never been fond of getting his clothing wet. Now, in these strange garments, that hadn't changed. They were so odd. Shapeless, not covering his head as he'd much prefer. He needed a ghutrah if not a cowl. He'd make one if he could find the fabric.

[connatural]

"Of course," she says, moving to take his hand and bracing herself to help him get to his feet. The only thing that had gotten her on her feet was panic and fear when she had showed abilities she'd never known before. "Take it easy though. We'll get you into the Inn for warmth and changing and I'll get you something to drink and some food."

Anything she can do to help, because Ty had done so for her and given the chance, she's always going to throw herself into helping others. She had for the Sanctuary, and she will in this place as much as she can.

[eaglesonofnone]

"I am very grateful - though I am beginning to wonder." He had gotten up with too much ease. His knees didn't protest, his hips didn't ache. He didn't tend forward as he had for longer than he wanted to think. When he looked up, he had the full motion in his neck. Something had changed, and once he was standing, he looked down at his own limbs, his arms, his legs - and what he saw was, in a word, shocking.

His skin lacked age spots, lacked the papery, thin quality it had gained in these later years. When he breathed deeply now, despite the water he'd inhaled, he could feel it to the depths of his chest rather than stopping just past halfway. When he raised his hand to his chin, the thick, white beard he had worn was gone in favour of one shorter and suddenly, he thought, darker. He couldn't see it, but he knew the look of youth when he saw it.

"Al'ama," he muttered, turning his hands over. No wrinkles. No knuckles standing out broadly against narrow fingers. "How can this be..."

[connatural]

Ashley remembers coming from that water. She was panicked and scared and adrenaline coursed through her. She hadn't known where she was, and had dealt with an ability she was uncertain about when she'd fallen out of the fountain without climbing out.

So she let him have a moment, shifting uncertainly as he inspects himself. He looks okay to her. In shape, maybe a bit older than she was, but all in one piece and all. Not bad looking either, though he seems a bit uncertain about something.

"Okay, I had a weird power when I came out of the water, but... Okay, what's wrong?" Because something is so off given the look on his face.

[eaglesonofnone]

Altaïr shook his head slowly, staring at himself with a look near panic until he glances at the fountain. She'd had... a power? His mind couldn't quite figure what that meant, but perhaps it was related to-- "Did you lose years as well?"

It was all he could think to ask, all his thoughts offered that might apply. "When I last knew, I was a man of ninety-two years, but these hands are not the hands that come at that age. I'm without the aches and pains that were my daily companions. I... dare not complain, I will not, but I don't see how this is possible."

Unless it was the Apple, and then... And then, why now...?

[connatural]

That makes Ashley blink. "Uhmmm, no. Nope. This is the age I was last I remembered before this place. It.. I... It will sound so stupid. Or weird." Not so weird in her life, but she is glad to have learned that what she gained is this place and not her father's blood showing.

She speaks softly, thinking about what he's saying and not sure what to think of it.

"There's a lot that can happen here I can't explain. Not sure how to explain it but I can show you some of the things I've seen here though. None of them said anything about age or anything though," she admits, folding her arms and looking him over. "It's probably their best stunt, I have to say."

[eaglesonofnone]

"I would be very grateful to see some accounting of this place," he agreed. "Especially if it can take a man who felt his own heart slowing to a stop and give him back more than fifty years."

The way she looked at him was... unusual, he decided, but not something he wanted to remark upon. He wasn't sure what to make of it, truly. It wasn't a look he'd been given before. One he wasn't sure how to react to. So he simply let it be. Maybe he would figure it out in time.

[connatural]

"Honestly? I'm not sure I can help you. My mother has lived well past her lifetime,' she admits in a low voice. "I know people that have died and still live so... Whatever this place can do, it's not that entirely odd as my world might seem."

She gives him a bright smile then. "But could be worse things than finding out you got your life back?" She knows it's not easy, and she's dealt with her fair share of weirdness, but silver linings and all?

[eaglesonofnone]

A woman living well past her lifetime? Interesting, and something he would have to ask about, especially if their situations were similar. It would be worth drawing parallels. As it stood, though, he had only this knowledge: that he was young once more when, by definition, he shouldn't be.

"It's true - this is not a disappointment," he said, though. "A surprise. A confusion, yes, but... as fates go, there are worse things than to regain youth at the moment of death. Even if it makes me wonder."

[connatural]

"It's kind of nice to know this place does something right for people," she says, thinking it nice to do that for this man. Even if she's instantly wondering why, what it benefits them to do this for him. Not that she can know yet that she herself was saved in much the same way. She didn't get infected, and didn't get turned on those she has worked hard to protect.

"Yeah well, it's something to think about and look into," she says. "I mean, why would they do that and what do they get for it?"

[eaglesonofnone]

"They?" he echoed, catching that word. The context was interesting, and it brought to light something he'd yet to think about. So far, he'd considered the work of an artifact like the Apple, if not the Apple itself. But a 'they'? That made things infinitely more concerning. He knew of a very dangerous 'they', after all, and if this mysterious 'they' had brought in an Assassin - him, especially - he had to maintain his suspicion.

[connatural]

"Mysterious general they," she admits, shrugging. "I mean, someone has to be behind all of this, right? And that someone is likely not working on their own to make all of this work. So they. I think most refer to them as the observers, but I'm not sure where it started, of it the context means they think they're watching us all the time."

Which she has considered. More than once.

[eaglesonofnone]

Observers.

It sounded a bit too familiar. He sent a glance toward the sky, as if he understood something nebulous - but then shook his head. "I am used to such scrutiny," he said. "In many ways. I will cope with this as well, though not without a sensible amount of suspicion. But then." He gave her a look, the corners of his eyes showing a touch of humour that he didn't entirely feel. "Isn't that sensible for most things?"

[connatural]

"Well, in fairness, if you're going to be suspicious? Everything I'm saying could be a lie, and a set up. Trust me. I've thought it a few times," she admits, though maybe not the best thing to help this newcomer adjust to this place. "But for now I'm doing my best to trust most because we don't have may other choices.

"Though you're right. Definitely sensible. Though I kind of had that drummed into my head since I was a kid."

And she knows it keeps her distant from people, especially here, but it's kept her alive long enough as well. Though learning why made it easier to understand, but not easier to overcome that distance she's put between herself and others.

[eaglesonofnone]

He motioned to their surroundings. "I have no doubts that much of this will not be as it seems. I have seen too much in all my years to take any information without evaluating it for myself. However, I have no reason to refuse courtesy, to offer rudeness in the face of those who will first offer help. You may be lying - but as yet, I've no reason to believe you are. Suspicion is good, to the point where it makes its own obstacles.

"But enough talk of unpleasant things for now. Is there a place where I can get warm and dry? The chill isn't so troubling, but to prolong it may be."

[connatural]

"Oh. Yes." She winces, shaking her head at her own folly. "I'm sorry. I should have thought of that first. Come on. There's the inn, where you can get a room and a shower, hang your clothes out to dry and get some warm food," she says, giving a jerk of her head and turning.

"Come on, it's that building right there," she says, gesturing. "I'll show you around."