Accidentally Undercover - Being a secret agent is a risk, and not a small one
But of course, the story doesn't end there:
It’s still rather early in the morning when his phone vibrates - twice, so not work. That’s something. Everything else can’t be too terribly urgent, so Sun takes his time buttoning up his vest. The matching jacket completes the look, and a glance towards the mirror proves it’s a good one. Perfect.
Now it’s time to see just who texted him - there aren’t too many options, really. Apart from various automated messages, the only one occasionally texting him would be -
You..
Hi Sun, sorry to ditch you for a while, I’ll be at the hospital for a couple days at least. Appendicitis - hurts like a bitch. If anything happens at home, if it’s not urgent I’ll handle it when I’m back. If it is urgent, you have my express permission to handle it however you see fit. Just don’t burn the house down.
Toodles,
And signed with your name. So the house being quieter than usual wasn’t just his imagination, or Moon’s, well… He’ll forgive the cursing, too, considering the circumstances. While they fortunately are exempt from ever experiencing appendicitis, they do know just how debilitating the pain can be. For a civilian at that! Maybe he doesn’t know what you work as exactly, but he doubts you encounter pain at your workplace. Hopes it, too.
He types a quick reply, wishing you a speedy recovery, and that he has the house handled - it’s in good condition, so really, a few days will be nothing.
Finally, Sun addresses the silent presence in his head with a thoughtful hum.
“I wonder if we should organize a get-well-soon basket. Should I ask what hospital they are staying at?”
‘...’
Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. But at past 8am Moon still isn’t in rest mode - if he insists on staying awake, he can suffer Sun making conversation.
“I know you two never personally met, but they are still your landlord, too!”
And still Moon remains silent, heavy tension settling in their head. Of course Sun knows what this is about. He may have gotten only a rather clipped rundown of last night’s events, but he knows why they would weigh on his counterpart.
“Or perhaps you are still worried about someone else?”
It’s not quite movement, trapped within their thoughts, but he finally feels Moon stir. Got him.
‘I’m not worried.’
Sun doesn’t even consider entertaining that notion. Just a little more…
“No, you’re just brooding so much the entire house feels like a nest. Someone missing his pet bird?”
There he is.
‘I am not brooding! I’m angry, because the idiot got hurt - they should have been more careful, they know better! They’ve been at this for so much longer than us, as they so kindly remind me almost nightly, and still -!’
Wordless frustration saturates him, and only the thought that it isn’t his keeps him from falling down the same rabbit hole of negativity Moon is currently residing in. As it is, Sun gives him the space, and after a moment the emotional wave ebbs away. Still lingering in the far corners of his awareness, but no longer threatening to overtake him, too.
‘... I’m angry at myself, too. I was right there, I saw, and I didn’t - I didn’t do anything. Just let them get hurt. I should have done something, anything. Pull them away, knock out the guy who literally took a stab at them, I don’t even know - something! And now I won’t even know what happened to them after I took them back to headquarters, because of these stupid secret identities, and I have to wait for them to come back, and… And that’s if they come back.’
And Moon wonders just why Sun doesn’t care much for this alleged rivalry - the care with which he speaks of Robin is palpable even under the most mundane circumstances. After all, there really isn’t a reason even Sun would need to know the history behind all their scars. (He is somewhat impressed - their little rival has racked up quite a record on their skin. But he has no doubt that this stab wound will join the list of “tried to kill them and failed”).
He sets in for a reply - but then Moon interrupts him, subdued.
‘They have to come back. They have to. This wasn’t supposed to happen.’
Sun rotates his faceplate with a click, then hums again.
“I’m sure they will be fine, and you can discuss sharing your secret identities during your next shared mission. Quite the intimacy, if I do say so myself ~”
He can feel Moon bristle, and squints happily. Got him.
‘Wha- We’re not sharing our identities! That’s against the rules and you know it!’
Continuing to hum, he pats down his pockets and looks around the room for the last of his necessary gadgets.
“Well, you’re the one complaining about the inconvenience. Would rather spend the nights at their bedside -”
‘Will you shut up!’
By now he’s laughing freely, glad to have distracted Moon from his own gloomy thoughts. Now he’ll at least be receptive for reassurance.
“You can always ask the higher ups to deliver a message for you, and who knows, maybe you’ll get one back. Or a gift basket! I’ll go buy some things for our dear landlord after my shift, I can wake you then, and you can pick some supplies for your little bird!”
Hard to keep a secret when you share a mind - Sun can feel him consider the suggestion, though his continued silence does its best to convince him otherwise. After a long moment, a sigh echoes through their head.
‘... Fine. But I need you to stop by the pet store, too, and buy some bird food.’
Sun chuckles, but doesn’t get to tease - Moon is in rest mode before he can get another word out. Amused, he shakes his head, leaving the house with still a few minutes to spare in his schedule, despite the delay.
Rivals, of course.
Y/N, high on painkillers while recovering from a stab wound, receiving two gift baskets: What.
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Thank you TK for the ask!!!!
Fanfic Writers: Director’s Cut - author's pick!
So author's pick is a cruel cruel joke bc as soon as you sent that my head emptied of like. everything ever that i wanted to talk about 😂 and i could talk about a lot of things.
So! i'm going about this bit from Take the Photographs (and then like. The Bleeding Effect as a whole):
"[The animus] doesn't work like that," Desmond disagrees, shaking his head. "To pick up the skills you have to synchronise, and to synchronise is to invite them into your head to Bleed. Can't have one without the other."
So! Okay!! My kinda headcanon kinda How It Works in BTMTMIM for the Bleeding Effect, and the reason Desmond's all kinda fucked up about it.
There are 2 ways that the animus could work:
you watch your ancestors memories as like. a movie. 3rd party observer style
you experience the memories as though they're your own.
Rebecca is trying to move the animus towards the first way, to reduce the Bleeding Effect. But. okay. how much do you learn if you just watch someone else do a thing? i could watch martial arts videos all day and at the end i'd still be just as incapable as i was when i started. SO. Realistically the first way would achieve nothing to help train Desmond into a better assassin, which was the whole point.
Therefore, the second way, where you experience the memories as though they're your own, would be the way to gain the abilities of your ancestor. you'd build muscle memory off of their actions bc you're remembering them as your own actions. so it'd be functionally the same as practicing for the amount of memory-time that pasts. Kinda.
Which is where i come in with the sync thing. So obviously there's sync rates - higher is better, lower is worse. So the way i'm thinking of it is like. the more you can immerse yourself in the memory, the higher the sync and the more effective it is for learning shit, bc you move away from the 3rd party observer thing. but like. a memory is not only actions. it's thoughts and feelings. so the more Desmond sync's the more he feels like you is his ancestor, bc he's remembering the events as Altair or Ezio or Connor would remember them, and he remembers being Altair or Ezio or Connor. He remmebers being them. In that memory he stops being Desmond and becomes his ancestor.
And that? that lingers. right. so sure there's 25? years of memories rattling around in his skull in which he's Desmond Miles. But there's also like. a decade worth of being Altair, and fucking. 4 decades of Ezio and another 2? or Connor. and there's a part of him that is convinced that he was that ancestor for that time. they're his memories.
(Which is what fucked up Clay so bad. He could remember too many people and couldn't figure out who was who was when.)
Anyway. So. Desmond achieved high sync which meant lots of memories of not being Desmond. and so the Bleeding Effect is just. when his memories of Alltair or Ezio or Connor are more who he is than Desmond. for that brief instant. So now he's desperately trying to organise the memories into some kinda way? and hoping that if he can box it all up right, acknowledge each memory as whose it is as Desmond and make it Desmond's memory, rather than his ancestors, he'll manage to curtail the Bleeding Effect personality shifts he's dealing with.
And then there was this bit from You'll Find a Man:
"It's good to meet you," Booker says perhaps halfway down. He's moving better now, easier, the drugs having worn off a bit. "And no offense, Jack, but I'm glad to be out of your head."
"You as well, fratello mio," Jack says, crooking a smile at the pale blue-gold figure. It's as good a name as any of his others.
which long story short, and was not have been 100% clear in the story, but Des got a new personality wholesale bc like. He's wildly fucked up and Desmond couldn't deal with being in That Room in Abstergo. Self preservation kicked in and he ended up just. remembering everything from everyone, (where usually the Altair/Ezio/Connor shift's only remember themselves) and accepted the new name bc he wasn't really any one of them, but all 4. bc all memories.
and That. spoilers. is going to eventually lead into my Fix for Desmond's fucked up brain problems, where he does get a handle on the Bleeding Effect. bc like. Clay did it... (Clay doesn't count he rend himself down to code and could rewrite his whole being if he wanted.)... actually. there is a hint of this eventual solution in When The Lonesome Whistle Cries. kudos if anyone can pick it out and draw the correct conclusion. I've been building towards this for fucking ever and cannot wait to get to it proper in the fic.
i'm actually fucking pumped to get that whole bit out, even though it's. uh. ???? idk when it's gonna happen but it's there. it's one of those threads i've been carrying along from the start. Apologies if any of my readers wanted to wallow in the uncertainty and angst of the if Des will ever fix his brain. spoilers, i guess?
Anyway. there you go. that's my mildly incomprehensible and incoherent rambling thoughts on the Bleeding Effect, as it exists in Bless This Mess This Mess Is Mine 'verse. Thanks for letting me talk about it!! <3<3<3<3
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