Work Text:
There was nothing worse than the word that he kept hearing coming from Malik’s lips. He had no right to say it! He had earned his title of Master Assassin back and he demanded respect! Looking over to the other assassin as he awaited his next contract, he couldn’t help but let a small leer slip onto his lips before turning back around on the couch where he sat. Who was he to even consider him a novice when he was anything but? Hell; Malik had once been a novice under him! It was only a guess that that knowledge made the word all the more irritating to him.
With a sigh, he turned back around and continued to flip through the channels on the television; nothing interesting him in the slightest. How could they have the, practically, best cable around the area and still nothing was on to watch? Even the movies that were currently airing weren’t even that good! But, before he could even complain about it to himself, because he already knew that Malik wouldn’t entertain him, there was a small series of dings coming from his cell phone. Finally, a contract!
With a small smirk spread across his face as he pulled his phone out and flipped it open to look at the small, square screen. As he went to open the message, his ears perked at the sudden silence that had enveloped the room (other than the soft white noise of the television). Altair darted his eyes away from his phone’s small screen for a moment to look over to where Malik had been working on the opposite side of the couch. The man had paused in his work, but didn’t look over at him. Must be reading something..
It had only been a few moments between looking at Malik and going back to the message on his phone before he heard the word. That wretched word. A snarl curled his upper lip, but no sound escaped his throat. Instead, he snapped his phone shut and glared at Malik, whom was now looking over at him with a raised eyebrow, but otherwise stoic expression.
“What was that?”
“I said, Novice, ‘novice’.” Hearing the word twice in one sentence had Altair biting his cheek from completely losing his temper at the other assassin. Instead, he let out a strained breath before speaking.
“I am not a novice!”
“Well you must be one with a phone such as that.” Malik did a small nod toward the phone in his hand. His brows furrowed as he looked down at his cell phone. He didn’t see how it would be considered a ‘novice’ device… But, of course, he was not about to let Malik know that he didn’t understand what he meant! So, he did what he did best: try to play it off as if Malik was the novice whom didn’t understand.
“You are mistaken Malik. This phone is not --” But, before he could get in another word, Malik held up a hand before pointing to the TV in front of them. With the roll of his eyes, he looked. He had thought of some remark to, again, disprove him or his phone being novice, but he was silenced at the ad that now played.
A...smart phone?! With a touch screen?! And it was the size of your hand and could connect to the internet with ease?! Altair had to consciously force himself to not let his mouth drop open. Just the thought of putting his small phone up against one of those...he silently admitted that Malik was right...silently.
And, as he turned his head back to his fellow, to try to speak once more against his phone being a novice device, even though the ad that just played spoke otherwise, he was again caught with his words in his throat.
Was that… a nokia? Sitting right in the palm of Malik’s hand. No, it was not the same Nokias that were just advertized. This was a Nokia that he had seen elders use, as well as young children’s first phones a few years back. The Nokia that was turned into a joke for being indestructible! A snort left him. Who had the novice phone now?
“You say I have a novice device, when you have that?” He laughed, incredulously, nodding to the phone in Malik’s palm. The man looked down at his small Nokia and...shrugged! He appeared to be indifferent as he slid the phone back into his pocket before returning to his work.
“A phone is only a novice device when it is held by one.” There was a pause between them. Altair blinked several times before he grasped at what Malik had just claimed. His shoulders slumped, face relaxed, and eyes held a certain, ‘are you kidding’ aspect to them as he turned to stare right in front of him at the wall.
He...was not...a Novice...