Iris had to agree. She wasn't much of a drinker at all, but after something like this, even she wanted something to soften the edges a bit. After a moment, she turned her attention back to the men. It was easier to pretend things weren't so weird if she wasn't staring out the window.

"We seem to have hit a bit of an impasse, Brother," Ezio said to Altair, using the honorary title. "I do not trust you yet to touch the Apple, and you do not yet trust me to. Clearly, we both understand what it does, as far as can be understood by man." And that was the crux of it. They both knew what it did, it seemed, and neither trusted the other to remain in control of himself when he touched it.

Anna decided that staring out the window wasn't quite crazy enough. Promising herself she'd have a few shots after this, she looked over at Ezio. "Oi. You. What year is it?"

Altair found himself rather amused with her form of address, which he'd never heard before, but found himself puzzled by the question. The year? What kind of question was that?

Ezio blinked as well. What kind of person didn't know what year it was? Still, he would humor her for the moment.

"The year is 1489," he replied carefully. "Why do you ask?"

Iris blinked.

"There's no way," she said in disbelief. "That's not possible." She looked at Anna. "1489? That's smack in the middle of the Renaissance, there's no way it's 1489."

Ezio watched the girls warily. He knew what year it was, so where were they getting the idea that it was wrong?

"Try 2012," she said to Ezio before turning her attention to Iris again. "Hey, at least our guessing skills are spot-on." And at that she had to bite her lower lip to stifle a hysterical giggle.

Altair blinked. It was certainly not 1489. The year was 1200. They were both wrong. He eyed them all warily. Either he was with a group of crazy people... or the Apple had done something.

Swiftly turning his attention to Ezio, he stepped forward. "Let me look," he said quietly. "Let me see what is going on, Brother." Before things got any crazier.

Ezio watched Altair for a moment longer before nodding and stepping aside. Now things were strange enough to warrant activating the Apple. He eyed the girls again warily. There was no possible way for them to be from the year... 2012, was it? That was so far into the future it was mind-boggling. He couldn't even begin to imagine what the world would be like in another five hundred and twenty-three years. And besides that, he was very sure it was the year 1489. He had just turned thirty, after all.

Iris was pretty close to hyperventilating, and just about as hysterical as Anna was.

"Oh god, Anna, the Renaissance painters are out there running around," she said to her friend. "And-- and--" She couldn't even gather her thoughts enough to form any more complete sentences.

Altair moved over to the Apple, picking it up and focusing his will on what he wanted to know. The Apple was evasive, showing him a few other things, before it gave him and showed him what he wanted to know.

And he damn near almost dropped the thing when it did.

"Oh god, Leonardo da Vinci," Anna managed to gasp out before she broke and started giggling hysterically. She managed to sit down before she fell down, though.

"Oh god, he was Italian," Iris added, her eyes wide. "It's not a big country and it's the right time and oh god we could trip over so many people--" She cut off her own ramblings and bit her lip, leaning back against the wall.

Ezio watched Altair's expressions as the other Assassin activated the Apple. His attention was captured, however, when he heard one of the girls say the name of his friend.

"What do you know of him?" he asked warily. He didn't get a chance to listen for an answer, though, when Altair flinched and almost dropped the now-dormant Apple. Ezio turned his attention back to that.

Altair set the Apple down very gently, feeling just the tiniest bit faint. Okay. So they were all right. Sort of.

"It would seem the Apple has depths we had not dreamed of." He turned to look at Ezio. "We are all correct, in a manner. I was in 1200, and they were in 2012. The Apple did this."

Anna was still having trouble controlling her hysteria, leaning over herself as she tried to stop laughing. She didn't dare look at either of the males; that would just set her off again at the moment.

Ezio looked at the hysterical girls, and then back at Altair.

"If that is true, then they are from a future that none could even dream of," he said. "Over five hundred years ahead. It is practically unfathomable." Now the question remained of why the Apple did what it did.

"Oh god we're in Renaissance Italy," Iris murmured, mostly to herself and partially to Anna. "No, that's just-- no, wrong, we can't be--" She shook her head, but refused to look around. "This can't be real. It isn't possible."

"Indeed." Altair was quiet for a moment. "But one of them was able to activate the Apple." Which was a puzzle in and of itself. Any human could be entranced by the Apple; that was part of its power. But activating it was an entirely different story.

Anna took deep, gulping breaths, trying to calm herself down. Okay. Time to stop freaking out and start thinking. Or they were in even more trouble.

"True," Ezio replied, the gears in his head also turning. He looked at the girls. "Ladies, if I may ask, you mentioned that the Apple responded to your touch. Which of you touched it?"

"I did," Iris replied, finally looking at them again. Her voice was shaking and the rest of her was trembling as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. She couldn't help but notice how similar both men looked, even aside from their identical outfits. "All I did was pick it up, it reacted on its own, and I don't know how or why."

Altair nodded. Alright, so that one at least could activate it. Which did not explain why the Apple had brought a passenger along for the ride. Dismissing that from his mind for the moment, he focused on Iris. She looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown or something.

He glanced at Ezio briefly. "Wine?" he questioned quietly. They both looked like they could use a little stabilizer at the moment. At least he and Ezio had the advantage of knowing about the Apple and having some idea what was going on.

Anna stayed where she was, her arms curled around her middle and her forehead against the floor. She was having difficulty keeping herself from getting hysterical again.

Ezio nodded. Wine sounded like a fantastic idea for everyone at the moment, and he went to get some. There was always some good wine on hand somewhere in the building. He came back a short time later with the bottle and several glasses. Pouring some into each glass, he handed one to Altair and then coaxed each of the girls to take one.

Iris took a tentative sip of the wine and immediately blanched.

"Dear god, how much alcohol is in this?" she asked, making a bit of a face. After a moment, though, she took another sip.

Anna looked at her glass, considered Iris's statement and the last time she'd had food, before she just downed the whole thing. Okay. Definitely not modern wine. She let out a little cough before she put the glass down again.

"I think we found Italian vodka."

Altair watched the two for a few moments, sipping his own wine more cautiously. He never got drunk, but a little bit of wine wouldn't hurt. Besides, he was sure it was still safer than the water.

"Don't ever tell the Russians that," Iris muttered as she continued to sip her own wine. It was still strong as hell, and she was hesitant about drinking all of it, but she still desperately needed the stiff drink.

Ezio just shrugged slightly. It was wine, nothing more. It wasn't even a particularly expensive wine, either. Maybe wine was different where (when?) the others were from.

Anna snorted and leaned back, feeling a little bit better now. Now for the hard part.

"Okay. So what are we doing here?" She looked between the two Assassins for answers.

Altair shrugged. "The Apple saw fit to bring us here. I am unsure why." He glanced at Ezio to see if he had any ideas.

"What's the Apple?" Iris asked. She was feeling a little steadier after the wine, for the moment. "What does it do?"

"It is unknown what the Apple is capable of," Ezio replied carefully, watching the girls.

"You mean apart from pulling people across time and space." Anna crossed her arms over her chest. The wine helped clear her head a little, ironically, and it made her feel better to settle with mouthing off.

Altair raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes."

"Anna," Iris chided gently. It didn't seem like such a good idea to be a smartass when they had no idea how to get home or even how to function in Renaissance Italy. She glanced at the two men, as if trying to figure things out just by sheer logic.

"What? It's true." Anna looked over at Iris before she deflated a little. But only a little. "But I probably could have phrased it better."

Altair waved off her concerns. "It is of no matter." He rather expected all their tempers to be shorter than normal. He just had to remind himself that it was not nice to smack impudent little girls who didn't know what they were saying.

"Probably," Iris agreed, nodding. She glanced at the others. "So... now what? What do we do now? Clearly, we don't belong here."

Ezio was silent for a moment, thinking. He was really the only one who did belong there, and now it seemed he had a pair of girls and another Assassin to look after, seemingly from each end of time itself. It was nothing he'd ever thought he would need to deal with before.

Altair glanced at Ezio. "We should be safe enough in whatever building you Brotherhood has," he said, as if it was a given. "For the moment. Until we have figured out why we are here."

"You ask for something that does not exist, Brother," Ezio replied to Altair. "There are only a few of the Brotherhood left, and all have their own places to stay." He kept having to remind himself that the other Assassin was from 1200. Perhaps the Brotherhood was far more prevalent back then?

Altair blinked. No established Brotherhood? Perhaps that was why he'd been brought, to help reestablish his order. But then there were the girls...

"I see," he said after a moment. "Then we will stay here." And perhaps in the meantime he could figure out what was going on and why he was there.

"What about us?" Iris piped up. She had no idea what they were talking about. Brotherhood? Brotherhood of what? Clearly, it was inside information, since the two men understood what was being discussed, but she and Anna had no idea. She looked at her friend.