fanciestgeckofella: desmond transmigrates into liu qingge
(This is not that, sorry, but I do have a snippet where Desmond transmigrated into Yue Qingyuan which I don't think I ever posted, so, have that one instead.)
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First thing to go through Desmond's mind is something along the lines of, Oh fuck, here we go again. Next is complete and absolute bafflement. Because he's pretty sure he's supposed to be dead right now.
That alone is very confusing. Then there isā¦ this thing.
[Welcome to the world of Proud Immortal Demon Way! This System is designed to guide you as you go about your existence in this world. Operating under the guiding principle, You Can You Up, No Can No BB, this System hopes to provide you with an pleasant user experience!]
Desmond blinks at the floating screen in front of him. Itā¦ doesn't exactly look like any kind of Animus screen he's ever seen - it actually kind of looks like it's from computer from pre-2000s or something, with blocky grey boarder like something he's seen in old TV shows. No Animus programmer would be caught dead using aesthetic like that. Right?
ā¦ Well, actually. He could totally see some retro-loving techie liking it. Not Rebecca, though, she's a futurist through and through, but if she'd been into the old style Window XP or something, it probably wouldn't have taken much effort for her to install some sort of theme - aaand that's completely beside the point.
It's an Animus. He's in the Animus againā¦ somehow. Hm.
"Um," Desmond says out loud, and clears his throat. His voice is weird, different from how it should be. Not that unusual, in the Animus, that, but it feelsā¦ more than just having an ancestor transposed over himself. Man, they must've upgraded the Animus a lot while he was, uhā¦ "I'mā¦ aren't I supposed to beā¦ dead?" he asks slowly and feels a bit silly doing it, because he's clearly still around, and yetā¦
[You have indeed died! Your consciousness has been transferred, and your role has been bound: Yue Qingyuan, the Sect Leader of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect.]
ā¦ Okay, that's a bit different, but he can almost understand it. Consciousness transfer, role bound, that's probably new term for running around in your ancestor's skin. Yue Qingyuan, that's his ancestor this time around then. Cool. Sounds Chinese, which is interesting, Desmond didn't know they had any family there, but hey, Rebecca did say he had ridiculously low pedigree collapse, so that would mean his ancestry spread pretty far, right?
Ezio did have a Chinese student, Shao Jun, so, some pre-existing connections there. Maybe few generations down the line, they became bit closer. Rubbing a hand over his face and finding some of those familiar markers he shared with AltaĆÆr, Ezio and Ratonhnhake:ton - full lips, aquiline nose, high cheekbonesā¦ Desmond nods to himself. Yeah, yeah, seems about right.
And yet there's still something just a bitā¦ off.
"Okay," he says, drawing a breath. "I'm still kind of stuck up on the being dead part. Did you reboot my DNA or something? How am I here being, like, a living - or at least a thinking - person?"
The System window seems to consider this for a moment before answering.
[Your consciousness was captured from your dead body and transferred into your new role.]
Oh.
Desmond squints. "Captured how?"
[Your consciousness was captured from your dead body and transferred into your new role.]
ā¦ helpful.
So it was the Grand Temple - the Grand Temple did something? He'd been digitised like Clay and Juno, maybe? Okay, yeah, cool, that makes sense. Not sure how well he likes it yet, but hey, he's around, he's thinking, maybe sorta-kinda living and breathing - it's a step above from notā¦ doing those things. Yeah. He can do this. "Nice. And who's Yue Qi-qin - how do you say that name, again? Who is he?"
[Yue Qingyuan is the Sect Leader of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, also known as the Xuan Su sword.]
Desmond hums in understanding, eying the window, waiting for more. Nothing more comes, so he says slowly. "ā¦ Okay. And what am I supposed to do with him? I mean. What are we after here? Another piece of Eden, orā¦ what?" he asks, folding his - folding Yue Qingyuan's - arms. "What is the mission status?"
[ā¦]
That's all he gets. Literal ellipses, before the System window slowly flattens and disappear, leaving him blinking at empty air.
"ā¦ O-kayā¦?" Desmond mutters, making a face. "That was weird."
He'd never been left hanging in the Animus before. Not cool. The whole initialisation here process was a bit weird, really. Almost feels like they'd left him with an automated answering machine version of the Animus UI, or something. Was he even talking to an actual person there? What the heck. Why resurrect his consciousness at all, if they're not going to tell him what he's supposed to do here? Even Vidic didn't leave him completely in the darkā¦
Who resurrected him anyway? The Assassins or the Templars?
Uncertain, Desmond glances around for some sort of guidance or clue. The place is nice, and the graphic quality has gone through some incredible upgrades, like, damn. You'd almost mistake it for reality. But there is something seriously off about this. Not just the weird answering machine Animus, butā¦ everything, really.
It doesn't feel like any Animus he's ever been in either. Usually when he starts out, it's as a passive viewer in his ancestor's memory - it takes a bit before he gets control and even then it's sorta notā¦ not full control. Desmond is more used to being the passenger to his ancestor's actual driver. There's never not a moment where he doesn't feel like a second wheel on a unicycle.
Here, it's just him at the steering wheel, just him on the pedals. There's no other mind, no framework of another life - no shell of a person that once was. It's just him, in another body. Weird.
The terminology used was weird too - nothing like the lingo Rebecca or Shaun would've used. You can you up? No can no BB? What does that even mean?
Desmond rubs at his chin for a moment - baby smooth, not even a stubble - and then shrugs his shoulders and goes to get up. Might as well take a look around and try and figure out the limitations of this version of Animus. And it's not like he knew anything about AltaĆÆr or the others either, not before getting the synchronisation up and running, soā¦ better get started with that.
It's still a bit weird though. Usually he gets thrown into a cut scene first to get started with. Waking up in someone's - frankly rather fancy - bedroom is new. Ezio not counting.
Oh well.
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And then he walks out under dressed and scandalises all the disciples on Qiong Ding Peak.
Alas that is as far as it got really, but the idea of Desmond as Yue Qingyuan is still weirdly dear to me.
