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]

There are some very peculiar things there: relics gathered by Warlocks past, an empty case marked 'Fragment of Glass'. It's hard to say whether the holograms are diagrams or art pieces: some focus on geometric relations, mandalas illustrating the cosmos. Not all the runes marking them derive from Earth. All of them are trying to convey some meaning, though.

"Never had a reason to come," Blaze answers. "We went to take a look at the halls of the Titan orders, way downstairs. But I don't really know any Warlocks." She slows down for a second to take a look at a hologram she recognizes: the triad of sparking blue clouds, a molten orb, and a tiny purple nebula, linked and intertwined within a complex cycle. It's pretty, at least. Less weird than the next stand, where there's a trio of rather large fossil vertebra. Or rather, two replicas. The only real bone is the one plated in silver.

Verity doesn't have to worry too much about being left behind: the Ghost is trailing as well, sweeping the blue light of its scanner over the displays. "Warlocks like to encourage curiosity, I think. I suppose that is what drives them."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Curiosity killed the cat," she murmurs when she stops to study fossil replicas. "But satisfaction brought it back." On point with the audience, or too close to home? She's hoping for the former.

"Curiosity drives innovation and invention. It's not a bad thing to encourage." How the Warlocks would love the museums back home. Pity she can't bring them. Too many questions she's not sufficiently able to answer, and everyone would end up in a SHIELD holding facility.

But she can bring them books. That's almost as good.

[rekindledtitan]

"You're getting it," Blaze chuckles. She can't be sure that's the basis for a few local philosophies, but it's likely.

"No. Warlocks unravel our enemies' secrets as well as what the Light can do. I'm just not convinced they need to get as mysterious and cryptic as they do," Blaze comments. If they got arrested by SHIELD, the Warlocks would probably find that fascinating too. Books require less comical reality-hopping shenanigans and won't make the Commander yell at anyone.

The Ghost drifts up while she's examining the fossils, true and false. Verity might be able to detect that the silver-plated bone is far less dead than it appears. But it's quiet, for now. "Ahamkara bones, from Venus. I've never seen a full skeleton."

[brave_heart_verity]

It'd all be great fun for the Warlocks if it weren't so likely to end badly. It's not like SHIELD would let them go just because the world is ending. "Are they cryptic because they don't want people to understand, or because they forget they're speaking a foreign language?"

Magic is a decidedly foreign language even when it's in English.

"Ahamkara. Is it silver-plated because it's not dead?"

[rekindledtitan]

"Honestly? Hard to tell sometimes. I have to figure they're trying to explain, it's just not easy. Human languages weren't really meant for this stuff, you know?"

Her question makes both of them look surprised at her. Then Blaze drops her gaze to give the bone a hard look, as if she expects it to own up.

"I... think so. It's probably just a precaution for this one. Silver is supposed to help with damping the, er, auditory hallucinations," it adds as Blaze opens her mouth to ask.

"Hmm. Guess the Ahamkara really were strange." She sounds a little wistful. She gives Verity a shrug, though. "Maybe later we'll find someone who remembers them. Or at least knows the stories."

[brave_heart_verity]

"They really weren't."

Her curse is all kinds of surprising to other people. She's used to it, and to how people react. (Like that, when she's lucky.) "Huh. I haven't heard anything, so I guess it's working."

Ghost gets a grateful smile for the explanation before she looks at Blaze again. "I'm not sure you want to give me the idea I get to ask the Warlocks infinite questions. I might never stop."

[rekindledtitan]

She did warn them. It's just a bit unexpected when someone remarks on things you can't see - but nothing to be troubled by, at least to Blaze.

"Ah, don't encourage them too much." Blaze presses the pad by the door, producing a soft chime. "Besides, if we ask a Titan we'll get to understand the story." There will also be about five hundred percent more punching in it.

There's a robed woman at the door when it opens, a tablet in her hand and a Ghost peeking over her shoulder. Blaze lifts a hand in greeting. "Hi. Blaze-37 and Verity Willis. We're looking for the Glass-smiths. Hirune Markel's team."

"Ah- well, that's easy-" The Warlock's eyes take in Verity as she lists off a short string of directions. There are two machines in the group: she can count on at least one of them having a reliable memory. "Just... knock before you go in."

[brave_heart_verity]

"I'll be careful." Stories with punching in. Where has she heard that before... right. Asgardians. But it's a type of story she can understand and that's not a bad thing.

Verity turns to the door when it opens and gives the woman and her Ghost polite smiles. She mouths the directions to herself after they've been relayed; maybe her memory isn't so unreliable, lady. The sight of another Ghost does bring to mind a question for when there's another private moment with her friends.

[rekindledtitan]

It's definitely not a coincidence that Norse myth tends to influence Titan iconography in particular. But they're pretty fond of legendary warriors in general.

"Thanks for the help." Blaze gives her comrade a nod, and off they go into the halls of the Warlocks. There are a few others about, and not all of them are space magicians, but the colorful robes are the ones most in evidence. The architecture is simple, but not overly harsh; the floor is tiled quite prettily in simple patterns of grey and blue. Carpets tend to meet bad ends in the Tower. Blaze gives it all a curious but brief look, focused on finding the side passage they're supposed to turn down. Her Ghost pays more attention to the doors and people they pass.

"So about this team," she remarks, once there aren't too many people about. Not because she's thinking of being overheard, it's just easier to talk. "Figure I oughta fill you in a bit."

[brave_heart_verity]

Yet another reason they're friends: they both love (some portion of) the Norse gods, and neither of them drink mead.

She's paying a little bit of attention to everything. There's just so much to see. But finding the path is primary. It's good there are lots of different kinds of people around. Being over insular wouldn't be good for anyone, especially not in a place like this.

"Okay. I'm guessing they don't actually make glass?"

[rekindledtitan]

It's a pretty specialized club but they have great drinking games.

"Not that I know. There's this place on Venus called the Vault of Glass. It's a place where realities - all realities, all possible timelines - come so close they touch. Heh. Sound familiar? They say the Vex who created it can use that, control the boundaries somehow. Even rewrite the fabric of reality to suit them."

[brave_heart_verity]

Drinking games where nobody wastes all the honey because seriously, mead is gross.

"Huh. I wonder how many places like that exist?" Are there other Nexuses(Nexi?)? Are they all one big one? She wouldn't know how to even begin to find out. "That sounds dangerous. But I suppose the ones who get to use it know what they're doing."

[rekindledtitan]

"No idea. I mean, if the Vex can create one, who's to say how many other species ever figured it out. Across all of time and space? In every universe?" She shakes her head. Let's not even contemplate what it means if the Vex in one reality are aware of/synonymous with the Vex of all the others.

"It's incredibly dangerous, though. At least for intruders. The Vex use it to create weapons that can restructure reality - write the target out of it so that they never existed. And there's certainly no field that prevents violence. Anyway, these guys study the Vault and the data recovered from it. They're supposed to be experts on it- some of the best you can actually track down."

[brave_heart_verity]

"But are they all different, or are they parts of a greater whole?" Which has its own dangers. Dangers they've both witnessed.

"So... you're hoping they might know a little something about multiversal collapse?"

[rekindledtitan]

"Good question. For what it's worth, we've never detected the Darkness' influence in the Nexus. But the way geography works in a space like that, best to stay sharp." Which is to say, she has no idea how the geography works, or what 'distance' might hide creatures of Darkness and Light from one another.

"Exactly. If anyone here can find a way to set the bounds of reality straight, it ought to be them." How else to fight enemies who break those borders?

[brave_heart_verity]

"Yeah. There's no telling what will show up next." More demons or AIM or a vegan Loki. Oh gods. It could be terrible. Hopefully, it'll be cute, like Pikachu or the chao.

"That makes sense, and would be really helpful," she admits. But she's trying not to get her hopes up. That seems unwise. "I hope we're not bothering them."

[rekindledtitan]

"Hmm. It'd be nice if all the Guardians who ever got lost in the Vault just wound up in the Nexus. But I'll settle for friendly aliens. Those are great." That's one novelty she delights in, as much as getting to glimpse so many human cultures and experiences.

"Bothering them? We've got all this impossible data for them, and an urgent mission for the good of humankind. This is the stuff they live for!"

[brave_heart_verity]

"Maybe they will. And if they do, we know where to send them. But it would be nice to meet more friendly people, I agree." She finds humans alien enough half the time. People with fur or antennae don't much faze her.

She smiles in relief at that. Being interesting to other people is one of so many things she's still getting used to. "Oh? Well then. Let's not keep them waiting."

[rekindledtitan]

But antennae are totally cool, Verity. And the stranger the forms they wear, the more distracting interesting they are.

Blaze doesn't really get those kind of nerves much, but she kind of gets that Verity's more shy than she is. She gives a firm nod and zeroes in on a door not far ahead. "It's got to be this one." The instructions said so!

She remembers her manners: she hits the door chime and gives a heavy knock for good measure. It's meant to be brisk, even if it sounds a little impatient. She gives it a few seconds, and hearing no sound, knocks again. This time it's opened by a pale woman, dark brown hair bound and pinned up neatly, her robes purple-blue and sharply cut. She has a rather gentle looking face, but right now it's creased in a hard frown.

"Yes, yes, you don't need to- oh." She looks Blaze up and down, expression easing as she blinks. "You must be the Titan. And... contact?" She gives Verity a puzzled look. "You're early."

"We are?" Now Blaze is puzzled, looking at her Ghost and shrugging. There's laughter from inside - a male voice, faintly electronic? "Well, we're here now. I'm Blaze-37, this is Verity Willis. She's a friend of ours. You're Fireteam Glassforge?"

The Warlock lifts a hand, waving almost sheepishly. "Of course. I am Hirune Markel. Come in, and welcome."

[brave_heart_verity]

Antennae are totally cool, and distracting, but she tries not to make people uncomfortable about their appearances. A world full of mutants has taught her some particular matters. "I hope so."

The Warlock gets a smile when the door is answered. Her gaze flicks behind the woman briefly, wondering about the laughter. "Thank you for agreeing to see us." She didn't realize they had an appointment. Or that they'd managed to be early. Maybe it's someone's idea of a joke?

"Call me Verity, please."

[rekindledtitan]

"Hirune, then." Her smile is returned, the Warlock seeming to recover her manners. She shows them inside a large room, bare enough to suggest it's a lab or workroom of sorts. There are a couple of other doors but no windows; crates stacked high in one corner beside a heap of cushions, a wall of machines that look set up to contain and examine samples. Next to a rack where rest various guns is a desk piled with books.

The center of the room is taken up by a broad table, currently projecting a hologram of a bizarre, tangled structure whose components fade in and out arrythmically. There's another Warlock standing over it, an Exo with a bronze and blue paintjob. Hirune gestures to him and the pair of hovering Ghosts as he bends to switch off the display.

"I apologize if I seemed... surprised at your arrival. We, um, lose track of time quite easily. This is Ulysses-10, one of my team-mates."

"Hello." He tips a salute to them, eliciting one from Blaze in turn. Hirune's already pulling more chairs over to the table, snatching cushions from atop the crates to pile up on the seat she offers Verity. "I have to say, I am all kinds of curious about you two. Three." He's not discounting you, little Ghost. He can see you there, hiding in your Titan's shadow.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Thank you." It's certainly an interesting space. Guns, books, machines that go ding when there's stuff... she chalks the lack of windows up to being too far inside the tower to allow for that sort of thing. She's not thinking about it much anyway, because that hologram is fascinating.

"It's okay. I didn't know we were expected, so, surprises all around I guess." Awkward jokes are the best jokes in these situations, right?

The Exo gets a smile from Verity. "Hello. So... do I want to know what you've heard?" She definitely wants to know what they've heard and what they're expecting from her. She can only breathe metaphorical fire, in the form of swearing and sasstalk.

[rekindledtitan]

Ulysses chuckles again. "It's more about what I haven't heard. According to your friend's Ghost, you have some data for us. Data for people who study one very special place in all the universe - all the universes. You're not a Guardian, there's no record of you in the City, and either you've never been here before or you've been away for a very long time. And after all that, well..."

Rather than clarify the thought, he shifts his attention to Blaze. She's giving him a very hard look. "Then there's you. A novice Titan. Still alive despite all expectations. You've never done business with the factions - real business, you know what I mean - no loyalty to anyone but the Vanguard. No interest in mysteries you can't beat into submission, I'm guessing. You've never been into the Vault. So what could either of you know about things that interest us? More importantly, how can you possibly know it?"

While he's talking, Hirune's been quietly arranging chairs (with cushions for the non-Titans), making sure everyone has a comfortable seat around the table while also watching their faces. Blaze snorts at the end of the other Exo's speech. "That's all? Whole lot of talking to ask something we're already here to tell you."

"What's your connection with the War Cult?" Hirune asks, straight to Verity.

[brave_heart_verity]

That's a lot to take in. By her expression, some of those things that sound insulting to Blaze don't sit well with her. But she'll sit down and wait until the question is posed to her.

"I have no idea what that is. I'm not from here, as you guessed. I'm from another part of the multiverse. The section of the multiverse that includes my home is starting to collapse. I've brought all the data I could find about what's happening because Blaze offered to help me try to find... something useful. Maybe a way to save my world. Maybe a way to save others." She sighs and looks down at her hands. "She told me you're experts in this kind of thing."

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze is less annoyed by the Warlock's mild trash talk than what she perceives as a pointless attempt to rattle them. That's rude, especially to a civilian visitor. And why would his friend even bring up the War Cult? Pah. Luckily Verity's revelation seems to have stopped them cold. She's quick to follow up.

"No politics. No dancing around the questions," Blaze says firmly, making it both a promise and a ground rule. She sits back, folding her arms with a clank. "Just a threat to Earth and a problem that needs a Warlock's eye. Are you with us or not?"

Hirune nods immediately, if slowly, still looking at Verity with wide eyes. "But how did you... there's a stable crossing point, isn't there? How did you breach it?"

"Hive magic," Blaze answers shortly, and chuckles at the grimaces they pull. "But that's a whole other story."

"All right," says Ulysses. He seems to have sobered. "Then let's start by defining 'multiversal collapse'."