Excerpt 002: Traveler's Rest

[rekindledtitan]

TYPE: Personal log

LOCATION: The Last City, Earth

PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Ghost-type, [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Class Titan [rekindledtitan ], One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Willis, Verity [brave_heart_verity ]; [other parties redacted]


ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Verity Willis; Earth; The City; Vanguard; Blaze-37; Glass-smiths


An Exo ought to be good at waiting. They're soldier and machine both, trained for stoicism and designed for tireless analysis. Blaze sometimes thinks she’s the only one built who ever gets bored. (Aside from Cayde, maybe, and he makes it sound like he's had a very long time to learn.)

Her patrol concluded without much incident, she paces back to the Forum, guns still dozing at her back and her Ghost zipping curiously from one side to the other ahead of her. It murmurs its observations to her in passing, and she responds gladly. A fight would be better, but she’ll take the idle chatter. Her memory is brimming with new half-processed data, even from one patrol in the Nexus – odd discussions heard and alien kitchens smelt, the weird spiky grass in the park crunching under her boots, so many- one hundred and forty-three new faces since the last trip, ninety-one human by visual-

But she isn’t one for dwelling on things. So she circles the Forum to take in the sights, cutting her route through the spot where she and Verity last spoke to make sure of spotting her friend.

Comments

<3

[rekindledtitan]

"Aha! Plotting to invade!" Cayde winks an optic at her. "Seriously, though- you want to throw a party around here, I know where to get the best drinks. And! I can bring games!" Gotta have games! And cheating!

"It's not so much about inspecting you as your, uh, powers of inspection." He nods to the Ghost that appears by his side. This one has a bigger shell than the others, more elongated and marked with orange bars. "My buddy here has a few audio files I'd like your opinion on. You mind taking a listen? Won't take long, I promise. I know you've got important... fun to go have."

"What kind of files?" Blaze asks curiously, her Ghost drifting in closer to the conversation.

Cayde shrugs. "Intercepted comms traffic, mostly Fallen. Beyond that- well, we're hoping Verity can tell us."

:-*

[brave_heart_verity]

"Caught me," she admits with a smirk. "I'm planning to invade and throw you all awesome parties and then go home and make everyone else clean up. I'm dreadful, really, you should discipline Blaze for letting me in."

This new model of Ghost gets her attention, but she's still listening. "I'd be happy to help however I can."

We go now to our Fallen correspondents...

[rekindledtitan]

“Absolutely. That’s why she’s on clean-up detail.”

“Uh-huh.” Blaze doesn't need special powers to know better.

As soon as Verity agrees, Cayde nods to his Ghost, who floats in between them. “All right, brace your eardrums. Take it away, Ghost.”

His partner abruptly changes configuration; the pieces of its shell split apart as the light within expands, forming a glowing blue orb around which the shell plates spin. The audio it emits is harsh and definitely non-human: growling, guttural speech conversing with a higher-pitched voice that chitters and snarls in answer.

Blaze stirs immediately, but Cayde lifts a finger and shushes her, optics flicking back to Verity as the clip ends. “First clip.” He lifts another finger. “Second.”

The next is similar speech, both deep voices – but this time one of them is lying.

[brave_heart_verity]

That's unpleasant to listen to, but she'll endure it. The first recording gets a shrug from her, but the second has her frowning. "There's a lie in that one. Play it again? I'll hold up a finger when I hear it again."

[rekindledtitan]

Cayde's expression doesn't flicker as he watches Verity, and the Ghost doesn't wait on his word to repeat the audio. The lie comes more than halfway through, one part of a rapid argument from voice number two.

Blaze's Ghost seems to be listening raptly; she's shooting hopeful looks at her partner in case it knows something she doesn't.

[brave_heart_verity]

"There. The second voice. Beyond that, I can't tell you anything, because I don't know what they're saying." She gives a little shrug; her powers have their limits until Schon gives her a magic translation bauble. "I hope that helps."

[rekindledtitan]

“Not bad.” Cayde glances at his Ghost. “Okay, give us a few more.”

The next trio of clips is shorter; the first doesn’t sound like it’s from the same species at all. The rhythm is more ponderous, the pitch so low that to human ears the syllables blur into one another. It sounds angry, threatening, but contains no deceit. The two that follow are more Fallen comms, only the second of which contains a lie. Once Verity points that out, Cayde will nod thoughtfully and cue the last recording.

This is slightly different, and Blaze’s Ghost starts visibly: more Fallen, but the deep voice that roars out (thankfully the bigger Ghost turns down the volume) is answered by a succession of others. Each answer is somewhat similar to the others, as if they’re repeating phrases. But from one, right near the start, it’s a glaring lie.

[brave_heart_verity]

Ghost's reaction didn't go unnoticed, and he gets a worried look from Ver. She almost reaches up to touch him, but... maybe not in uncertain company.

"Mm, someone doesn't buy the party line," she remarks when the last recording is finished. "I'm assuming that was a call-and-response ritual?"

[rekindledtitan]

Ghost seems to have settled down again, but he's listening intently, looking between Cayde and Verity. Blaze is shifting her weight a little: she can hold back her impatience, but not disguise it.

"Close enough. The head honcho gives the order and all ships report in." Cayde lifts his brow ridges and cocks his head. "So who's telling tales to their boss?"

[brave_heart_verity]

Sorry, Blaze, but there's a price of admission. This seems to be hers.

"Ah. Close enough. It was the second one. Big lies, possibly including the pronouns."

[rekindledtitan]

"Woah! You can tell down to the individual words?" Cayde's optics flash brighter blue: he's impressed. And amused, a second later. He waves a finger at her, his Ghost folding into its usual form and floating back to his shoulder. "You are a very dangerous woman, you know that?"

"I recognized that audio," Blaze's Ghost says, for the sake of all those in the dark. "We intercepted that transmission during our mission to the Citadel with Samus."

"Right! After we got jumped by a pack of Fallen trying to steal something important!" Blaze is much happier all of a sudden. She pounds a fist into her palm. "So what are they up to? And where do we find them?"

[brave_heart_verity]

"Am I?" Surely, if she were dangerous, someone would have done something about it by now. SHIELD doesn't just let dangerous people walk away unsupervised...

"Samus will be pleased to know she scared someone into lying," she points out with a smile. "Does anyone know what they were saying?"

[rekindledtitan]

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you?” Is that a curious look from Cayde, before the joker returns? “If you know how to gamble I’d call you downright lethal – at least to our glimmer accounts.”

They definitely have to tell Samus the good news. Once they’re clear on what the good news is, anyhow. It’s Cayde who answers the question. “I got a translation earlier. Doesn’t mean much on the surface. Some interesting little numbers, a dash of grovelling, everyone claiming they have no idea why Vex are falling out of the sky… except now we know one little Baroness was lying.” He nods to Verity. “Thanks for the tip. Could be just what we need. I’ll get my scouts on the trail and see what they turn up.”

“This mean we’ve got a mission?” Blaze asks eagerly.

“Oh, I’ve got work for you, don’t worry. You know someone dropped half a Citadel on the Ishtar Sink, messed up all my charts of the place?”

[brave_heart_verity]

The joke is met with a delicately arched eyebrow and a deadpan tone. "I'm a fucking lady. I don't gamble." Don't ever take her to the local casino, in other words.

"You're welcome. Happy to help."

She glances up at Blaze, and it's harder to maintain the expression now. "Ah, sounds like it's time for me to go."

[rekindledtitan]

“Ooh, of course. I'm so sorry.” He lets out a soft ‘whew’, miming a relieved wipe at his brow.

Blaze looks startled at the suggestion that Verity should leave. Sure, she wants to hear about the Venus situation, but… “But you just got here! And you didn’t- I mean, we’ve- still got a lot to do.”

Using this trip to cheer Verity up is the one incomplete objective, after all. And the primary reason she wanted to bring her friend here.

“Hey, don’t cancel the party on my account. You’ve given me everything I need for now. I'll go put it to good use.” Cayde nods to each of them before he heads toward the Warlocks' door. “You know where to find me, Titan. Verity, good meeting you."

[brave_heart_verity]

Cayde gets a smile for playing along. She likes him.

Oh, no, incomplete objectives are not to be borne. Quest logs get so messy then. Ver's not opposed to the idea of staying, not at all, but she's lived in the proximity of heroes long enough to know how to prioritize these things. "If you're both sure. It was nice to meet you too, Cayde."

She can't help be a little mischievous, though; after he's walked away but before he's out of earshot, she'll pseudo-whisper to Blaze, "He's not at all like you told me he'd be."

They can have fun with that.

[rekindledtitan]

Cayde pauses, lifting his head for a moment as if he’s about to look back. The suspicious ”Hmmmm….” as he keeps going is perfectly audible. So. Rookies telling tales about their elders, huh? He might have to find out what’s been said. Correct any underestimates misconceptions.

Blaze, on the other hand, looks taken aback, her optics flaring and blinking as she looks at Verity. “Oh, ‘cause I- wait, I say something funny about Cayde? I don’t- don’t remember that.” She rubs the side of her head, gaze dropping to a point on the floor. That really can't be good.

“Verity’s just having a little fun,” Ghost reassures her, floating down between them. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Cayde will only tease us for as long as it’s funny.”

[brave_heart_verity]

Cayde took the bait, which would normally be good, but Blaze seems too upset for this to be funny anymore. "Yeah, I was just teasing. I'm sorry." Ver glances up at Ghost to see if he's upset too before reaching out to pat Blaze's arm.

[rekindledtitan]

On the bright side Ghost doesn’t seem upset. He’s just watching Blaze very closely, blue optic twitching over her body language.

“Ah.” And there’s another bright side - Blaze cheers up… pretty much instantly. Apparently the joke itself doesn’t bother her. “Right. Guess I should’ve figured.” She slaps her forehead with a clank and laughs, if only to get the mood back on track. “So where were we? Tracking down some music? Come on, I’ve got an idea where to start.”

She strides for the lift without further ado, Ghost shooting a glance at Verity and darting to keep up.

[brave_heart_verity]

Not the outcome she was hoping for, but overall, could have been worse. She'll make a mental note to not do anything to call Blaze's memory into question again and follows her friends to the lift. "Music, yeah. You mentioned something classical?"

[rekindledtitan]

“Right! You have a favorite type?” The lift can’t come fast enough: it’s empty this time, for better or worse. Blaze keeps talking as they step in. “I kinda like anything fast and loud. Ghost’s more sophisticated about this stuff, but that figures.”

[brave_heart_verity]

"Let's start with fast and loud, and we can let Ghost pick when we've worked off some excess energy?" She stands beside Blaze in the lift and tilts her head up to Ghost. "Does that sound fair?"

[rekindledtitan]

"Of course." Ghost won't be doing much dancing after all. It's happy to leave them to choose most of the music.

"Little while back we spent about a week listening to ancient ballet music," Blaze remarks.

"Research for a mission," Ghost explains.

"Yeah. Wasn't bad, though. Made an interesting accompaniment to fighting- uh, space-turtle marines."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Space-turtle marines?" ...okay. She can accept that premise. "How'd the ballet music figure in?"

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze nods. "Out around Mars. They look sorta like turtles, but they're built like rhinos in high pressure armor."

"Extremely unpleasant people. And terrible neighbors."

"Yeah." Blaze hums cheerfully, remembering the encounter even while she answers Verity's question. "We were trying to figure out a present for the Warmind- he's this ancient AI who lives up in Russia, more or less. The word is he's got a taste for Tchaikovsky and he's been dormant for centuries. So we figured he might be interested in any performances by the City's musicians. You know, hearing what kind of spin they put on it."