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

[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."

[brave_heart_verity]

"A reasonable theory," she agrees. "Did it work?" And what's that got to do with turtle marines? She does not love her ratio of not understanding to getting clear answers sometimes.

Maybe she should just move into the library. It'd make finishing all this research she wants to do a lot easier.

[rekindledtitan]

"Don't know - we haven't finished the job yet. But we found some files to give him and scouted out the best places on Mars to make the drop."

"Rasputin has been taking over data networks across the system, including Mars. Ahead he does, he won't let any of us in. We're hoping we can leave a care package ahead of him."

"Samus's idea," Blaze adds approvingly. "We're gonna leave the packages in a few other places. Just can't tell which ones he might pick up."

[brave_heart_verity]

"That's thoughtful. Is there any way of making sure that he's the only one who can get them? Biometrically-locked bombs, or something?" It's the future it's supposed to be awesome. If they don't have this stuff she's going to be really disappointed.

[rekindledtitan]

“Rigging some mines to be triggered by Cabal biosigns? Hmm. Guess that would work on them. We’d have to find some good bio-sensors though. Remind me to check what we’ve got, Ghost.”

They’re exiting the lift a little sooner this time, into a short and narrow hall that opens into a small garden set high on the Tower.

"Otherwise I'll trust my Ghost's security know-how. There are few creatures besides Rasputin who can even go toe-to-toe with a Ghost on encryption. And he's the only one I know can beat them."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Ah, I'm sure Ghost can figure it out. Maybe I should have him help me with passwords. But I'd have to be able to remember them." She gives them both a smile before turning her attention to the new surroundings. She does love gardens. "It's beautiful here."

[rekindledtitan]

"Passwords are quite easy. If you have any computer systems you'd like to secure, I'd be happy to see what I can do." Ghost isn't clear on the exact tech level Verity usually works at, but how hard can it be?

As with the plazas, the wind is much gentler than might be expected at this altitude, but there are small trees planted at the sides to add shelter. Small paths tiled with Guardian symbols cross the open grass to an arbor twined with flowering plants. A handful of big pigeon-like birds with deep red plumage flutter away from their feet, but not far.

"The Tower's sort of a sanctuary for us, as well as the heart of our defenses." Blaze says it proudly, looking around as she picks up the twang of guitar chords. Aha! There's a high-tech jukebox built into the wall at the end of the arbor - which in act is just cover for the array of speakers hidden among the leaves. "Sounds like the track's winding down. Let's go help them pick the next one."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Thank you, Ghost." She's used to StarkTech. It should be no trouble for anyone around here. Primitive, even; they've seen her silly little thumb drives.

Verity pauses partway down the path to slowly turn in place and look around. The flowers, the birds... so close to what she's used to, but strange enough to remind her she's in a foreign land. It's almost enough to make her head spin.

"It's easier to relax where you feel safe." The suggestion gets a nod; it's a good chance to see what the local selection and tastes are.