sixthiterationlogs | A man of peace? Ideas take precedence.

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A man of peace? Ideas take precedence.

WHO: Leonard da Vinci
WHERE: Various places
WHEN: Through February, more specifically February 8th-23rd
OPEN TO: OTA, one locked to Alistair (in comment)
WARNINGS: Nothing for now, will update if necessary!

All of Feb 8-23rd

After Leonardo's declaration on his wrist band, he got straight to work in the smithery. It would take time to change his ingots into something workable, and he had many long days and late nights ahead of him, but he was very happy about it. He started on Ezio's hidden blade, of course, always his first priority, the mechanism not difficult to put together with all the proper supplies. But then there was the steady clang when he started on blades. He can be found in his forge so if anyone requested an item from, they can swing by to give direction or ask questions.

He also occasionally remembers to take breaks from the forge only to enjoy the sunlight as he works on patching up a boat he identified as the best possibility for the pod. He can be found out back of house of house 26 doing that

Color Change, February 16th-23rd

Leonardo wakes up on February 16th feeling unburdened by some of the anxieties he'd be living with. He felt good, actually, and at first he chalks it up to certain things happening most recently, but eventually he can sense this particular boldness is something else. When he notices his wristband changed its lovely violet to a vivid red, and remembers people speaking of this on the network, he almost gets concerned. And then he doesn't actually end up caring, because really, it is what it is. So be it.

It is not overly noticeable at first that he's changed, but he does find himself more honest, feeling less like he has to reconsider everything he does. He can be found eating at the inn, walking through the greenhouse, lounging in the hot springs, and generally walking around with his head held high and a sharpened focus in blue eyes.

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Wait, was it supposed to be a secret? North considers this thoughtfully and looks a bit ashamed to have said it out loud. Clearly he's feeling bad about it.

"Your personal records, arrest records, other 'primary sources.' Yeah, it's known. In fact, I understand it was inspiring back when there was a big push for civil rights for LGBTA people. One of the greatest minds of history, and he was gay. Clearly it's not a perversion then."

He settles further down into the water, wishing he could sink in to his nose.

"I definitely believe in taking time," North smiles thoughtfully, eyes closed as he relaxes. "But I'm a romantic, you know? Take time with a guy, get to know him, learn what you want from him and what he wants from you. But I'm also big on neither party being obligated to pursue things beyond where they feel comfortable. My sister always said I'm a bit slow paced, but it makes me feel more comfortable with a partner."

Leonardo just tries to let that sink in; it's a lot, like so much that has been said about him and his work. "I am glad if that fact helped others ... like me." He frowns slightly. "I think I am going to have to get used to gay as a term, I keep thinking people mean happy. I can see how it would make one happy were they free to openly be who they are." He doesn't know where the term came from that tied the two together. "It is a good thing this is only known in the future, if it was known so well in my time, I would have died long before I could become what you all know me as."

If North had said that before Leonardo was informed about homosexuality being acceptable, he would have been horrified even with the shiny red band. It is an adjustment, to know that it was public knowledge, but there is a strange release in that too. People know in the future. He won't have to keep saying it. How interesting.

"This is a brand new concept for me. I have no idea how to approach a romance." Leonardo isn't panicking about it, as he thought their walk was very nice, and they had lovely conversations too. "Neither does he, so at least he doesn't expect me to know everything." Or did he? Leonardo didn't think so. Romance was unnerving. It promised possible greatness and a lot of trouble too. "Your sister was not as slow paced?"

"Well, another term we use is 'homosexual', if that helps," North offers, because really, terminology can be pretty important for feeling confident about yourself and your life. He'd been pretty happy when he'd settled on his own terms, and it had been useful for him. Perhaps for Leonardo it would be useful, especially since it had a slightly more 'scientific' taste to the word.

But the idea of not knowing how to approach romance gets North to laugh. Yeah, he gets that pretty seriously.

"I'm from the mid twenty-sixth century, Leonardo, and I haven't figured out how to approach romance either. It's... something personal. The choices you and your partner make. What works for you. So I think you two should be okay, learning it together. What fits the two of you. Find what works in your friendship and keep going with that. But don't be scared to try new things. Trust the guy to tell you what doesn't work for him, and offer that same honesty back. At least, that's what I'd want in a partner."

His sister... North sighs. "South was complicated. But she was also a firebrand so no, slow-paced wasn't her at all."

"Ah, I see. Homosexual." It still feels strange to say out loud, acknowledging that he wanted men and no one else, but it does help with every passing day to be less afraid. Leonardo wishes to be from a later time for a variety of reasons, mostly because he would love to see the amazing inventions and technology they say exists then. But the security of being slightly more accepted might be nice too. Although Leonardo doesn't believe he needs to be with a man to be happy. It just seems like it might be a nice option.

"I suppose we will learn as we go. I've never thought about what I wanted in a partner." Chastity wasn't that terrible of an existence. He got so much brilliant work done, he filled his hours and time well, and he wasn't lonely, he had friends and apprentices. "I think starting from a friendship is wise, and we are friends. I consider him one." New friends, yes, but that foundation was genuine. He smiles thinking about Alistair and his shyness, his kind eyes. Yes, he is pleased with his choice.

Leonardo hesitates, having heard the tense. "What was she a firebrand about?" The was said gently, since it sounds as if he lost his sister. Perhaps he misses her. .

"Everything. About being younger than me. About who she could take in an arm wrestling competition. Who could do more pushups, who was quieter at infiltration. There wasn't anything my twin wasn't passionate about. And now..."

And now she was beyond him. His fingers came up to brush the nasty scar over his heart. No matter what others said, he knows this place is it for him. All the tech of the 26th century and he knows his world can't save him. Death had come for him, and it bore a friend's body and his sister may have betrayed him to ensure it came. Fun.

"South was fire, and I... I guess I was water. Or ice. Whichever people felt was more appropriate at the time."

Leonardo's gaze was sympathetic. He had half-siblings but he was close with none of them. North clearly had an intense relationship with his twin sister, and she was deceased, from the way he spoke of her. "I am very sorry for your loss," he said gently. His relationship with Ezio was the closest one he had, but they were still not blood. Still, he could speak passionately about his friend and their differences and similarities, and the loss of him would leave a gaping wound in his heart.

He noticed the movement toward the scar, wondering if he got that at the same time his sister may have passed. It seemed like a good explanation of why the two were connected. North did not seem to have difficulty speaking of her at least, for he was now; perhaps it was healthy for him to do so. "Was she always likes that even as a child?"

Close, Leonardo, but not quite to North's knowledge. Of course he didn't know everything from back home so he had no clue that Leonardo was quite right. Still, he felt obligated to correct Leonardo.

"My sister isn't the one who died. I am," North says, tapping the scar he had previously been fingering. "Massive blade, right through here. And my friend in town confirms it killed me. So who knows how I'm breathing. But yeah. Always. You could say that I mellowed out to balance."

Leonardo is surprised, eyes widening, and it reminds him then that his Alistair is in a similar situation. It is so terribly sad. "I am sorry, my friend, that is a true tragedy. Although perhaps this place in a way is a miracle." A strange and not always great miracle, but not all of them can be. "I do know there was talk of a support group for people who have nothing to go back to."

Leonardo knows he still has many years ahead of him at home, and he considers himself very lucky. "I do not know how they are capable of it. If we are taken by ... some kind of force, at a point in time they choose, that would explain why you are here, but not if you did feel the injury and have a scar. That is ... fascinating." He runs a wet hair over his beard thoughtfully. "And if we are clones as they say, why keep an injury such as that?"

Nothing to go back to. North grimaces. He can never go back, he knows that and casts his eyes skyward rather than think about it. Still, no one has suggested clones to him before and North frowns as he looks at Leonardo.

"That doesn't make sense to me. Cloning is a thing in my world, and it's not always very stable. It will not recreate scars, or even the brain. We use it almost exclusively for organs and things like that when people are hurt. There's pretty much no proper way to replicate a human brain, even if you have a detailed scan of that person's brain from moments before they died. In fact, that's how we make AIs. Scanning brains before death. And it creates something entirely new. It's more believable that we aren't actually us. We're completely artificial."

"There is no proper way to replicate a human brain that you are aware of," Leonardo counters. "There are many things about this place that seem impossible or unlikely, perhaps they have technology even farther in the future from you that is capable of doing more than we know." The world has changed so substantially from his time to five hundred years later, he can imagine very well that there are infinite possibilities of what people can come up with. Or no end to it. "If there is anything I've learned from being here, it is that if the brain can imagine it, people will find a way to make it work eventually."

Or perhaps not. It could be something else. Leonardo has no real inclination toward any explanation, because they are all equally above his head. "Who would we be if not us? You think they fabricated lives and such entirely?"

"I guess that's a good point," North says, and the idea of it worries him. Because human technology has jumped enough since the war. And with Covenant tech to work with now... he's scared.

He'd rather not think about it actually. Oh well.

"I think I'd rather not fathom what future tech there is. Because I'm a bit broken at the possibilities. I don't like where tech is going now."

"Like all knowledge, it can be used in good and bad ways. Humanity's flaws are parallel to its strengths, always." Leonardo is much easier to imagine technology, because in truth, he tends to expect the best in people, not the worst. And he knows that is short sighted and may lead to being disappointed, but it's simply his natural urge to see glory, not gloom.

He does grow a little somber. "It has been brought to my attention that even the best intentions in creation cannot stop it being used. My inventions are precious to me, but I am not so naive to think they can't be used for evil as well." Leonardo knows that, he's seen it, and every time he comes up with a new design, he can see the flaws in it, how they can be tapped into by the wrong people. "And yet I have been assured some of it has helped in small ways to bring goodness to the future as well."

"Yeah. Your art too. You inspire people. There are still people, in my time, that go out of their way to see your paintings and sculptures."

Of course he won't list which ones. That much is obvious from the little frown North offers. Some of them Leonardo hasn't had a chance to make yet. Which is why there has to be some evasiveness. Still, the thought is one he understands.

"I can't think of a single creation man ultimately hasn't used for evil. Except for pizza."

"I am glad to hear that. It is good to know when you haven't wasted a life." Who could possibly ask for more? Leonardo will take it gratefully and humbly. "I don't know that I ever thought much about my work living on. It is what all artists seek, in a way, to leave something behind that will survive the tests of time. But I also didn't give it much consideration." He lived instead. He painted and he worked and he helped Ezio. It turned out alright in the end.

"Ah, I am pleased pizza survived through time as well! It is very good. You know it was in the Aeneid? A reference, at least, to round dough with cooked vegetables on top." Leonardo smiles. He is very proud of Italy and its contributions to the world, pizza included.

"Wait, you had pizza?" North asks, almost recoiling in shock. See, popular culture had the meal as coming from later in time than that. At least, popular culture by his time.

And internally, Theta was bouncing with excitement. North has talked up pizza quite a bit over the years, but they've never had a chance to have it. Which means it's an experience Theta's wanted to have, and one North has been trying to do.

"Do you... Leonardo, can you tell us about pizza in your time? I'm hoping to try and make some here once I have the right ingredients and everything."

"I do not believe it is the same as what ... perhaps in modern time they had, but it was in essence similar. Bread, dough, vegetables and cheeses on the top. Or other things cooked, depending on who was doing it." It wasn't exactly sold on the street, but he did know it was an easy meal to prepare for those who had the ingredients at home.

Leonardo smiles at him, chuckling. "Oh my friend, you may be surprised to know that they have it here! Or at least I was told at several celebrations it has been here." He thinks back. "There was an event where many of the thinkers in this place, before my time, came to talk about their theories, and it was served there. So there must be people in this place who know how to make it, given the ingredients."

"I know, but I think I'd rather try it in a more classic sense, the way that it was originally done. I figure by my time it's drifted a lot. I mean, I don't think barbecue chicken was the original vision," North laughs. But with everything else he smiles. It would be a fun event.

I still think Hawaiian style is the best.

Sacrilege.

How rude. The AI has a really weird fixation on pineapple and North doesn't get it. Sweet things don't belong on a pizza.

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A man of peace? Ideas take precedence.

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