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crispyjenkins · 10 months ago

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FINALLY got you on my dash again, only to discover you've written an AC fic that you are giving us dribs and drabs of, heathen *shakes prison cell bars* please tell me more about "Miles" before I combust

HI UR MY NEW FAVORITE (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)

“Your name is not Miles.”

Desmond tenses for a barely a moment before relaxing again, and doesn’t bother to look up from the hidden blade he’s tweaking to have a faster release. Even if he didn’t recognise the voice, the dark blur leaning against the doorjamb out of the corner of his eye would tell Desmond sure as anything who had come to haunt the armoury at his side. “Of course it isn’t,” Desmond eventually mutters to Francesco Vecellio, the only one of Ezio’s brotherhood to wear dark gray instead of white.

Francesco snorts, eyeing Desmond from under the beak of his hood, Desmond’s own pushed down around his shoulders to better see by lantern-light. “You should have thought to pick a more common name if you did not want others to question it.”

“ ’Should have thought to pick anything before I showed up.” He grinds his chisel a little deeper into the metal casing of his blade, and then nearly cuts himself slipping on it when Francesco gives a startled laugh.

“You didn’t have one prepared?”

Desmond blinks up at Ezio’s highest-ranked protégé, not sure if he should feel embarrassed or not. “I, uh. Didn’t think that far ahead?”

And for someone who had managed nine years evading Templars and Assassins both, you’d think he’d have known better.

The look Francesco gives him tells Desmond he feels the same. “You’re smarter than that, fratellino.”

Desmond scowls. “Well, obviously I’m not.”

“... You snuck into the main headquarters of the Italian Brotherhood in less than an hour and then fooled us all into thinking you were supposed to be here for nearly a week — Machiavelli isn’t sure even our Padrone could have managed that.”

Swallowing uncomfortably, Desmond scoffs and tries to return to his hidden blade, but that still leaves his entire profile in view of Francesco’s far-too-discerning gaze. And he’s the only one other than Desmond to have been training for this since childhood: his observation skills are beaten only by Ezio, and even that is mostly thanks to his Eagle Vision.

Actually, Francesco is a born Assassin, too, does he have EV?

“Miles–”

“Do you have the Sight?”

They blink at each other, and Desmond isn’t sure who is more surprised by the interruption. Snarky he may be, Desmond has also had politeness beaten into him, and deference besides, and everyone in the Brotherhood had clocked it.

“To an extent,” Francesco eventually admits, sounding puzzled, “Nothing so refined as il Padrone’s.” He looks away, crossing his arms over his chest. “It is... finicky, I can only use it while motionless, and it really only tells me if someone means me harm.”

Desmond bites back the offer to help train his EV into something far more useful — it would never reach the level of Altaïr’s, or Ezio’s, or Ratonhnhaké:ton’s, because that had more than a little to do with Isu fuckery. However, the Levantine Assassins (at least until Altaïr’s death, though it was Al Mualim who started the practice) were able to train most initiates to have at least some grasp of the technique, as long as they had that genetics-dictated spark to start with. Desmond was lucky enough for his time in the Animus to awaken his own Vision, and living as Ezio slowly mastering it into Eagle Sense had improved it in leaps and bounds for Desmond on the outside, and prepared him for experiencing Ratonhnhaké:ton’s advanced form of it. Though that, and Eagle Sense, never actually awakened in Desmond Miles.

But “Miles” hasn’t told this Brotherhood that he has Altaïr’s Sight, Ezio’s Gift, partly because Desmond forgot they didn’t know, but now it’s also an active decision, because it would without a doubt make them insist he’s Ezio’s son with even more conviction. And until Desmond has figured out what he’s going to tell Ezio about the whole time-travel–thing, he isn’t going to confirm or deny anything the other members cook up.

Except Desmond watches Francesco tilt his head, and then his eyes burn golden for just a moment. “Why do you ask?”

He’s smart enough to guess, but he’s also smart enough not to assume, and patiently waits for Desmond’s response.

Ahh, fuck it, he’s already screwed up this whole identity thing by talking with Claudia (not that he meant to reveal so much to her but, well, she’s Ezio’s baby sister. And [redacted]. Fuck, time travel is so weird).

He looks up from his carving again to flash his eyes right back, and is more than gratified to see Francesco glow a steady, deep blue. He tends to avoid looking at the Brotherhood with his EV, he’s too much of a coward to confirm just what they actually think of him, and he’s only looked at Ezio once, before they properly met.

Francesco smiles in the shadow of his hood, seemingly pleased with Desmond trusting him with such a secret. “Does il Padrone know?” he asks without judgement, and Desmond winces as he looks back down at his tinkering.

“No, I... I became so used to it that I didn’t think to mention it, and then it had been so long that it was... awkward?” He chuckles nervously at admitting such a weakness, especially when he’s pretty sure this is the longest conversation he’s had with Ezio’s star pupil. He has double blades, for Christ’s sake, despite not being a Master Assassin.

Oh. Is Desmond jealous of Francesco? Hm, something to think about.

“And then you did not want the others gossiping,” Francesco agrees, nodding like that is the obvious conclusion. Desmond still doesn’t relax, but he’s glad he didn’t have to spell that out for him.

Desmond scratches the bridge of his nose awkwardly. “I’m not Master Ezio’s son, but I don’t think any of our siblings would believe me if I tried to tell them that.” And hadn’t finding out his real parentage been an absolute trip; he’s still scarred mentally and physically from it. Which reminds him, he should respond to his mother’s last letter before she begins to worry about him taking too long.

Having a mother to care about him is... still an experience he’s getting used to. It’s only been, what, two years since he found her again?

She had glowed a blue so dark it was almost black, a colour Desmond hadn’t seen even once in either of his lives, or the lives he’d lived in the Animus. He knows she kisses her letters before sending them from the indigo left behind like lipstick.

... Which is also how Desmond found out he had progressed from Eagle Vision to Eagle Sense, which was also the point he realised he hadn’t told Ezio about his EV in the first place.

“I believe you.”

It’s said so simply, Francesco even gives a little shrug, but Desmond whips his head back around and is... absolutely floored. As dehumanised and used as he was in the 21st century, his little jaunt to the past has almost been worse, if he lets himself think about it too hard (and he never does). People don’t just... believe in Desmond. Something must show on his face, because Francesco offers him a tight smile. Then, blessedly, he changes the subject and nods to Desmond’s hands, “What are you working on?”

#real talk tho im so happy you asked about this fic #i haven't worked on it in quite some time just due to shifting fandom interests but i love it to absolute PIECES #and it was good to revisit it again #also love being called a heathen by someone with witch in their user wheeze (/lighthearted /genuine)#savage price #crispy writes #cj answers #wearethewitches #all posts are linked in my masterlist which is my pinned post!#i have an assassins creed sideblog crispybureau!!#yoinking some tags from the last posts:#this whole fic is based on the trope of time travel des not knowing how to lie for shit and people making assumptions #(à la esamastations' study of flight)#except their assumptions turn out to be mostly right #des isn't ezio's kid tho 👀#title from poor isaac by the airborne toxic event #which was my second most-listened-to song last year

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madamegemknight · 10 months ago

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Okay I'm gonna finally. Ask about the MOTU playlist. Which is what I intended to do before all those other asks hit me like a train. Curious in particular about the inclusion of

GHOST - Honey I'm Home

sodikken - people eater

Brian David Gilbert - i wish that i could wear hats

(cracks knuckles) OH BOY HERE WE GO -

HONEY I'M HOME

Honey I'm Home revolves heavily around two ideas - religion and parenthood - both of which tie in very heavily to Teela and her storyline in CGI. Teela has numerous parental figures; Man-E-Faces, who adopted her and who she ran away from as a young child, Evelyn/Evil-Lyn, who took her in as an apprentice, and Eldress, who was explicitly described as being like family to Teela (despite them having like two conversations at that point :P).

The "father" is Man-E - distrusting the World Above (and, as we learn in Season 3, following Eldress' orders), he tried to keep Teela in the Lower Wards, where she stayed until she "landed a gig" with Evelyn.

The "moth" is then Evelyn, who is symbolically 'tied up' due to being just as much of a victim as Teela is, albeit from the opposite direction due to their role as Nemeses. Evelyn takes Teela in as part of a plan to use her, yes, but as the end of Season 3 and the few tie-in materials that discuss the Season 4 plans reveal, she's being used just as much when it comes to the battle between the Power of Grayskull and the Coming of Horokoth as Hordak's possible child. She's also tied up in the sense that she is irreversibly "tied" to Teela as her Nemesis.

This leaves Eldress as the "God", the figure who controls the entire thing from behind the scenes. At first glance, this might not seem like an appropriate role for Eldress to slot into - despite her numerous wrongdoings, she spends her time alive as a guardian serving under King Grayskull, and her time as a ghost as...well, a ghost, unable to do anything except watch from the castle. However, when looking at two of the tie-in books (specifically I, Skeletor and Into The Void), the reasoning for her being the "God" is clear: Eldress is canonically responsible for the entirety of the series happening in the first place. I, Skeletor establishes that Keldor was supposed to be the heir of Miro that took the throne (chosen to be by RANDOR, no less), only for Eldress to burst in, transfer the throne to Randor, and then refuse to explain why she chose to do so. Her line about how she "cannot see the threat" is a lie as well - Into The Void establishes that she was fully aware that Horokoth (and by extension, Hordak) were coming, and it's the reason she chose to come to Eternia in the first place. While she isn't a puppet-master by any means, her actions were carefully planned in order to make sure Adam was in a position to gain the Power of Grayskull, and in doing so caused the entire series to occur in the first place. And while I, Skeletor is told by Skeletor, who is naturally an unreliable narrator, the end of the book has Teela establish that for the most part, he was telling the truth about this specific moment.

The "there's so many things that you'll never understand" line is referring to how Eldress never explains any of this - she leaves everyone, but ESPECIALLY Teela, in the dark about critical aspects of not only her grand plan, but of their lives in general. In every other continuity where Sorceress hides her relationship to Teela, this makes sense as Sorceress can't tell Teela about their relationship without dooming Teela to her fate far earlier than she's prepared to deal with it - but here, it's so she can make sure Teela will "never go astray," as Into The Void establishes (via Teela meeting an alternate universe Eldress that's a bit more open about her past) that if Teela did know what Eldress had done, she would hate her.

The repetition of "Three voices" in the chorus, whether it be "from the gramophone" or "all alone" refers to how despite what the show tries to claim, the fusion of Teela and Eldress into Teela Na is incomplete and illogical - it's not Teela Na who we follow for the rest of Season 3, it's Teela (with Eldress' memories in her head) occasionally switching into Teela Na mode in extreme emergencies. Three voices, not one, despite the show's best attempts to present it as otherwise.

The "God devoured that of Father" line is one I don't take literally, but still fits in with the idea of Eldress enacting total control over everything, especially Teela. As I mentioned prior, she is the one who instructs Man-E-Faces to not only tell Teela nothing of her past, but to call her Teela in the first place, establishing a sense of control and regulating her destiny through Man-E. Eldress symbolically "devours" Man-E's role as foster parent by ensuring her regulations are still enforced through him.

Finally, there are the lines "A vivisection of me/Done by God, for all to see." This is representative of the moment where Eldress and Teela "merge" - despite the show's attempt to have this come across as a positive thing, playing inspiring music and ending on Teela triumphantly talking about how Eldress ~isn't really gone,~ at the end of the day Teela has still been ripped open and had an entirely new person shoved into her mind and body, said person talking the entire time about how Teela has never been any of the identities she chose for herself. Notably, vivisection refers specifically to the act of viewing the internal structures of a living being, and by fusing with Teela, Eldress becomes part of that internal structure.

tl;dr: Teela has religious trauma AND parental trauma, and they are the same person. and also 'her'. and this is treated as a good thing.

PEOPLE EATER

people eater is an interesting one - there are a few songs on the Teela side of the fanmix that are from Eldress' perspective, not Teela's. The goal of them was to come across as jarring compared to the others as a reflection on how even though the show presents Teela and Eldress as one unified being now, they're incredibly fractured and are in fact two completely separate people with two completely different sets of memories and opinions. people eater, along with Louise and Eat Your Heart, are about how Eldress ultimately views Teela as a means to an end and not as the family unit Teela perceives the two of them as.

Teela sacrifices so much for Eldress, to the point where she gets her memory wiped in Lost in The Void for figuring out too much in her attempts to save her. Despite that, Eldress never gives up anything for Teela - any moments of "reassuring" her, like encouraging her to tap into the powers of Sorceress, are ultimately just further steps on the path to making sure her perfect plan succeeds. Eldress will never take care of Teela's needs, no matter how much Teela takes care of Eldress'. Ultimately, this stems from the fact that their relationship is inherently an unequal one; Eldress can talk as much as she wants about the two of them being two halves of the same coin, or more than who they are combined, but at the end of the day Eldress needs Teela to be alive again, and Teela doesn't. It is impossible for Eldress to give up Teela, because without Teela Eldress looses her chances of living again.

And so Eldress lies. She lies about how Teela will be able to decide her own future and won't end up like Eldress. She lies about the extent of her involvement with the events that have permanently reshaped Adam's life and resulted in him having amnesia. She 'lies' to Ork-0 about the original Orko the Great lacking true heart (arguably this is true, considering Orko the Great worked with King Grayskull and was thus involved in the colonization of Leviathae, but in-universe it's revealed to be untrue so I'm counting it here). And what's notable is how whenever she lies, she isolates whoever she's lying to from the others, keeping them alone with her.

And ultimately, this ends with Eldress using Teela for a second chance to live, without her consent or even explaining what she plans on doing. The first time Teela is informed about this connection with Eldress is the same time that she is merged with her, seemingly permanently though given the cancellation of the show we'll never know for sure.

I WISH THAT I COULD WEAR HATS

i wish that i could wear hats is tied very critically to two aspects of Ork-0 that I find incredibly interesting, but that the show never addresses.

First, he never gets a costume change. When he goes from RK Unit 1983 to Ork-0, he dresses up in an outfit similar to what the actual Orko wore...and then never changes it. The kids have their Master forms, Cringer has his prosthetic claws, Adam has his formal outfit once he rejoins the royal family, Krass has her Dark Master form...and Ork-0 never changes out of the outfit mimicking Orko the Great's, even when he starts working to define himself outside of the Trollan's influence. It gets to the point where the rest of the RK Hivemind start wearing palette swapped versions of the exact same outfit - this is not Ork-0's costume, this is somebody else's costume, and it's obvious to everyone involved.

Second, he doesn't realize he's a robot until discovering that all the Trollans have left Eternia despite knowing that he's changed. He knows he's been out for a long time, he knows his body is different, and his bodily autonomy is stripped away from him by Kronis via Maker Override, something he remembers happening after the fact because it makes him even more insistent that he's a real magician. Combine this with the fact that the RK Hivemind instinctively do things like try to eat, and it becomes clear that Ork-0 has a massive disconnect between his actual body and how he perceives himself.

Even actually meeting Orko does nothing to help, because it just makes it clearer how the outfit Ork-0 wears is a crude imitation of Orko's. Furthermore, while Orko manages to resolve his issues in the exact same episode he debuts, disappearing from the plot forever after that, Ork-0 ends up regressing even further, going from "robot with Orko's memories who is learning to be his own person" to "robot copy of Orko who just had to learn to believe in himself 🙃"

The real tragedy of Ork-0 is that the show refuses to have him acknowledge anything about his robotic aspects and the clear trauma and body dysmorphia they cause him to go through, while increasing his ties to a figure that on a literal design level he is only meant to be an imitation of. Despite being created as an original character, he's reduced to nothing but "orko but robot" until the creator of the show himself seems to think that's all he is. His imitation costume has become his sole sense of identity.

#collapses in a heap. so many thoughts about these songs.#thank you so much for all of your asks Crispy I am SO sorry it took me this long to answer em #I wanted to post them all at approximately the same time. and then it took me 50 million years to get my sources for this one.

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