rekindledtitan | Excerpt 007: Lay of the Land

Adia peers curiously at the hamster-wheel vehicle. She wishes that she was more mechanically inclined, a salvage yard sounds promising. But before she can ask any questions about what sort of tech need custom repairs, Blaze points out the tiny robed person hustling into the alleyway. "That's not a child, is it?" she asks worriedly, even as she dutifully follows her friends.

It wouldn't be much, compared to a planet like Leonis, or what Adia has heard of other Earths, but it sounds wonderful to her. Pigeons, lizards, dogs... you don't realize what you take for granted until it's gone. "The eagles are probably hunting the pigeons, especially if the pigeons are fat. Do people feed them?"

She gives Ghost a faint smile, grateful that the little bot understands her situation so well. "They live on their basestars -- their ships. Some of them work with us. There's a Six in my lab, for example. But aside from running the detention center, we don't see them often." She pauses, her frown returning, but softer this time. Sadder. "Caspar's model doesn't work with any humans, so far as I know."

"Some kind of little alien, I think," Blaze explains, though the Titan adds after a moment, "I hope so anyway. You see them running around the Nexus all the time." And sure enough, the alleyway contains four of them, adding to a small pile of varying-condition mechanical gadgets on a sled.

Their heads snap up at the Guardian's approach, revealing nothing of their faces except glowing yellow eyes. One of them makes a muffled sound that comes across suspiciously like 'uh-oh'. Might have something to do with the rod-shaped sensor beacon in his arms. One of his friends steps forward to jab a finger at Blaze, scolding her in a language even the Nexus apparently doesn't feel like translating. The Titan strides past him like she doesn't even notice and picks up the sensor beacon... thief and all.

"Hmh." She gives it a shake, trying to encourage him to let go. "Come on, that ain't yours. Don't make me do this the hard way."

Speaking of scavengers... "Some people do. Especially if they've got lunch to share. They seem pretty tame; I even had one of them sit on me before and I didn't have anything to give it. Besides, they don't backtalk like the birds in the Nexus."

"That's odd. I wonder if that's preference or a strategic decision?" Blaze doesn't see how, but what does she understand about Cylons aside from 'they're bad at making friends'.

Adia watches the scene unfold from the safety of the mouth of the alleyway. Not that the little aliens are paying her any attention. She looks poorer than a backwater nerf herder, with nothing of value to scavenge and no credits to her name to purchase even one busted droid.

She'll wait for the small robed figure to give up the sensor beacon in his arms before she replies. "Pigeons are pretty friendly. The can carry diseases, but that wouldn't be a problem for you. What birds backtalk in the Nexus?" Adia has not yet run into the crows that occasionally hustle for change in the Plaza.

"Probably both." Adia shrugs and put her hands in her pockets. "I know some of them still hate us. And the less you know about the enemy, the harder it is to fight them." She smiles wryly. "Even I know that."

The little guy (or whatever gender they go by) lets go about as soon as Blaze stops shaking him. He lands on his butt, and with a chuckle the Guardian reaches down to set him back on his feet. He doesn't seem terribly appreciative of the gesture, mind you, and Blaze has to wave off the renewed harangue she's getting.

"You make certain none of that belongs to anyone else," she warns them, pointing at their sled. "If I find out it does I'm going to be back, understood?" She examines the beacon as she returns to Adia, lifting it up for Ghost's inspection as well.

"Looks all right, doesn't it? -Yeah, the immunity is a pretty good perk, but it's still important to know when to get a decon shower. And there's a flock of crows around the plaza most days, don't know if you've seen them. Arrogant and mouthy little things, up close. Almost as bad for tampering with our beacons as those guys." She points over her shoulder with the one in her hands.

Adia's stuffing her hands into her pockets draws the Exo's notice as they resume their patrol. "You aren't getting cold, are you? Wind's picking up a little." Tickling her antennae a little, actually. She may have to get her hat out. She doesn't get enough opportunity to use it.

"Hmm. Maybe." Not that Adia isn't right, under most circumstances. Blaze is trying to imagine why she might avoid someone, however, and it makes her wonder- could the Cylons have more in common with Exos than she thought? It's not something Adia can answer, though - not something she can even ask without confessing things that won't help either of them.

"That's the cowardly way, though," she says, vocaliser running while her mind is half elsewhere. Who's mouthy now? "And Caspar wasn't a coward. Do models share base personality traits?"

Adia tries not to smile, but there is something comical about Blaze shaking the little alien off the beacon only to help him back to his feet. She keeps an eye on them while Blaze talks, watching them sort through what looks like a pile of garbage. "I haven't seen the crows, no. They're clever birds... smarter than pigeons, anyway." She points at the beacon. "Is that what that is? What does it do?"

"Oh... no, I'm fine." She feels the wind blow through her hair as if on cue, pleasant and not at all chilly. "It's nice. Less stuffy than the humidity on New Caprica." She assumes it's been a very mild winter in the Nexus, and silently thanks Reynard for taking it easy so far.

Adia is a little surprised when Blaze's attention drifts. Her non sequitur about Caspar only enforces that surprise, and it's a moment or two before she answers. "Well... in theory. I don't know how much of that is them hiding their individuality from us. But... well, I only know Julia well, but I've heard that most of the Sixes are rather pious. The Eights are hard workers, and the Fours tend to be doctors." She frowns to herself and adds, "I've yet to see a Five who looks like he wants to be on New Caprica."

Asking about the beacon prompts Blaze to hold it out so Adia can take a good look for herself. It's a simple-looking piece of equipment, well-made but sturdy rather than elegant. "It stores encrypted messages from authorized people back in the Tower - usually that's some mission or request they want any Guardians in the area to handle. And it collects environmental data, ambient temperature and so on. There's a bigger type that co-ordinates our transport systems in places we want to land regularly, but we didn't plant any here."

"You must be very used to the cold," Ghost notes. It's harder for either bot to judge, but the other humans around seem to be bundling up more than Adia is. "I agree, though: I don't like humidity much either."

Blaze is getting watched by Ghost too as she mulls things over. "Guess they aren't getting out and having new experiences either, by the sound of things. Makes me feel kind of sorry for them." Not enough to outweigh everything else, of course.

She pauses for a second. Adia's remarks aren't doing anything to stop her suspicions, and she has to at least try and ask. "They aren't built for combat, are they? I mean as a core function. Primary, even."

"You put these here?" She sounds surprised. "I didn't know you'd invested so much in the Nexus..." She's continually surprised by how much people care about protecting this place. It warms her heart and she smiles up at Blaze. "Thanks for looking out for the rest of us."

"Oh, well... I guess. I must have built up a tolerance at some point." She frowns a little in puzzlement before shrugging it off. If Adia was aware that Reynard had blessed her with cold resistance, she would have shared that information. It might put the Winter spirit in a better light, or at least cause Blaze to worry less about how he treats Adia. "Does it interfere with your sensors? How do you do in harsh weather, Ghost?"

Adia makes some sort of non-committal sound, wondering why Blaze is asking so many in-depth questions about the Cylons. It's natural to be curious, particularly if you are a sentient robot yourself, but she's not really following Blaze's line of thought. Her next question, at least, she can answer. "I don't think so. They are stronger than humans, but they leave most of their fighting to the Centurions." She sighs and adds, "The original Cylons, the robotic ones, were built for combat. And dangerous labor."

"It's nothing." She tries to rub an antenna with the beacon in hand and ends up waving it in a an abashed sort of way. "Just what we Guardians are here for. Besides... our universe contains some terrible things, Adia. Word has it some of them know a thing or two about warping dimensions themselves. If anything of the Darkness ever finds its way here, we have to be ready to halt it in its tracks."

"Losing our system to the Darkness would be bad enough..." Ghost doesn't even want to think about it spreading to others. Not least because at this point, they feel more than a little invested in the safety of all their friends' homes.

Better to commiserate about the cold, right? "

It does make it harder to take good sensor readings, but I especially don't like how it sticks on my shell. Getting rained or snowed on isn't so bad unless it starts to freeze onto me.

" The little bot shivers with the memory. "

Actually though, high winds are the worst part. Before I found Blaze, I had to find shelter by myself. I um, got blown away more than once.

"

Blaze probably didn't intend her grunt of understanding to come out so... relieved, there. "So maybe they do need to keep those barriers up. Even though you're not supposed to be enemies any more." She snorts. "You ever just want to grab them by the shoulders, give 'em a good shake and yell 'Explain!'? Because I sure as hell do, and I'm only hearing about them."

Adia's smile turns into something of a grin, in response to Blaze's modesty, although she loses it all together when the conversation turns serious. She nods soberly. "That's why I haven't told anyone on New Caprica about the Nexus. No one is in a position to use that knowledge usefully and if the Cylons found out..." She sighs. "It probably wouldn't be as bad as what the Darkness would do, but it still wouldn't be good."

The cold is a better topic, although hearing about her little bot friend getting buffeted around by the wind makes her frown sympathetically. "Oh, Ghost, that sounds awful. Is there any way you can keep that from happening?" Maybe he needs a stronger propulsion system. Or at least a little snow hat to keep him dry. (And not that tea cozy that Reynard shoved on him when Blaze wasn't looking.)

She's not sure what to make of that relieved noise Blaze makes. The Guardian is usually so forthright with what she's thinking, but whatever has her ruminating over the Cylons isn't making sense to her. "Not really," she says, laughing a little at the absurdity of shaking a Cylon by the shoulders. "Maybe Julia, a couple times... Blaze, why do you want to know about their motivations so badly?" She looks up at her friend, hoping that she isn't imposing. "Is it because they're sentient robots, too?"

Blaze nods. "I think you made the right call. If you asked a while back maybe I'd have hoped the Cylons'd get some sense knocked into them here. Now I think they'd be just as likely to get the worst of themselves reinforced and blind themselves to the good. They're not yet ready for a place like this."

"It's all right, Adia." But Ghost drifts down in front of her, grateful for the concern. "

I have my Guardian now. I can always take shelter inside her systems when I need to. And if it does snow, I have a hat to keep me warm. Well, we both do.

"

Blaze, meanwhile... Blaze hesitates. "I'm trying to understand where they're coming from. What kind of people you're dealing with, what's going on in their heads." She takes a moment to scan the street again. "They aren't Exos. I know that. Our creation's a parallel thread, not a shared one. But some things we ought to have in common. Maybe if they were combat models I'd be able to understand them better."

She shrugs, giving a shake of her head. "And yeah, I guess the situation feels more personal because they're machines. But I care about both sides in this." She finally looks back at Adia, optics brightening. "And the people who'd rather not have sides."

"They'd use it to their advantage," Adia replies. "To wipe out the Resistance. I'm not sure if they'd try to hurt humans from other worlds, but I think you're right, they wouldn't listen to anybody's advice. Julia acts like the Cylons know everything already." She's pleased that Blaze agrees with her decision, although it takes a while for the worried expression to leave her face. The Cylons discovering the Nexus is not a thought exercise that she likes to indulge in.

She'd give Ghost a hug, if she could. She settles for smiling at him fondly. "I'd love to see these hats sometime. I'll bet you look very nice in yours."

When Blaze pauses to scan the street, Adia takes a moment to look at her friend, grateful that she hadn't let her own prejudices get in the way of becoming her friend. "I look for those things, too, when I come to the Nexus. Someone's story will resonate with me, or I'll hear about an Earth's history that reminds me of my own world. But you aren't much like them, for what it's worth. You're honest and forthright. Maybe that's because you don't have anything to hide, but I really appreciate it." She ducks her head a little at Blaze's comment and smiles modestly. "I'd rather people were more like you and simply tried to do the right thing without playing games about it."

"They'd bite off more than they could chew in about five minutes. That just wouldn't do much to protect your people. As much as I'd love to talk to one, it's not a justifiable risk." Blaze glances at Adia's face and makes an attempt to lighten the mood. "Hey, I think this beacon's got a scouting mission on standby. Want to try a taste of some real patrol work?"

She could absolutely get away with hugging Ghost, but Adia can be forgiven for not wanting to hug his spiky metal shell. "Oh, well, it's a very nice hat. I have it right here." There's a little white flash as he summons the woolly unicorn hat atop his shell. It ends up a bit lopsided, as it tends to do. "Oh. Um... could you maybe...?"

Blaze is quiet again for a moment before she says, "Everyone has secrets. I don't have a lot of time for lying about it, though. As a rule it's dishonorable, and when you end up in my position you- you need to be able to trust the people around you." She looks Ghost's way, at that, before her gaze shifts to Adia. "And they need to trust you. It means a lot to me that you do, Adia. Thank you."

The attempt to lighten the mood works; Adia brightens considerably at Blaze's offer, eager to help. "Sure! Um, what would I have to do?"

Maybe someday she will attempt a hug. For now, she is content to stare at the cuteness that is Ghost in a woolly unicorn hat. "Oh, that is a lovely hat, Ghost! Hold still, I'll fix it for you." She adjusts the hat so it's on properly, then stands back to admire her handiwork. For a moment, she is overcome with the cute and very nearly squees out loud. She settles for gently patting the top of the woolly horn instead.

"I don't begrudge anyone their secrets. But withholding information that could help someone else seems unnecessarily cruel." She smiles at Blaze again. "You're welcome."

"Well, first thing we have to do is retrieve the message. Ghost, want to do the honors?" She lifts the beacon up to the little bot. He dips down to access it with a sweep of blue light from his optic, relaying an audio message in a male voice quite different to his own.

"All right, Guardian. It's another beautiful day in the Nexus- at... least that's what the sensors say - and you know what that means: I need a new map. I'd send you specific scouting co-ordinates but- you know. Nexus. Just see if you can find something tall to climb. Details follow."

Ghost adds, "

That's Cayde-6, one of our Vanguard commanders. He specifies getting a view of the Industrial District, so at least we're in the right area.

"

The tiny bot bobs under Adia's pat, peeping out from under his woolly cover. "Thank you! It was a very kind gift. Blaze should have hers too..." It's not in shipboard inventory, so...

She glances down at him, then reaches into a pocket of her armor to fish out a larger but similarly styled panda hat, which is duly pulled over her head and tucked around her antennae. "...What, we're showing off now? Here, how's this?"

Ghost is much cuter, in the Titan's opinion, though she appreciates her hat well enough.

"When it's important." She nods in agreement, though that qualifier is an admission that things are slightly more complicated in practice. But she's glad Adia agrees with her philosophy, and the look Blaze gives her is equal parts fond and grateful. A pity her face doesn't do such nuances justice.

Hearing a different voice come out of Ghost is surprising, at first. She listens attentively to the message, then nods thoughtfully to herself. It makes sense to her, with the Nexus as ever-changing as it is, that Guardian's commander would want to get a periodic layout of the land.

"Great. So... what do you think you'll climb around here?" Hopefully there will be stairs or an elevator involved, otherwise Adia will have to wait around on the ground.

The panda hat on Blaze is admittedly not as cute as Ghost, but it comes in at a close second. At least based on how Adia's eyes light up all over again when she sees it. "Oh, Blaze, that is such a cute hat!" It makes her wish she had something nearly as fun and whimsical to wear. Not that she needs a hat, currently, and scarves are more her thing, anyway.

Not a nuanced look, but one that Adia accepts warmly. if Blaze reminds her of anyone, it's some of the brave, honest humans she's known over the years. Not the Cylons.

It's a good thing Blaze can't grin, in this instance, because she'd give away her thoughts much too fast. She takes a look around them, then nods at a windmill tower with a bit of walkway near the top and a scattering of lower buildings around it.

"I reckon that'll take us. What do you think?" she asks, her tone a little bit playful as she heads that way.

Adia's reaction makes the Titan duck her head and chuckle a bit self-consciously - although given how shameless she is about sticking vegetables and paper masks on her head come Halloween time, she really shouldn't feel silly showing her friend a cute hat. "It's a good hat. Keeps the snow off. Too bad it doesn't cover my antennae but it'd have to be a pretty funny shape for that, hah. You'd look cuter in one, you know."

Rest assured, 'Adia likes cute hats' is going on her internal notes for next time she's ~~looting~~ shopping. She gets stuck on gifts for civilians too easily not to use every bit of intel she has.

Adia follows along dutifully. "Uh... sure. So long as I can get up there." There is a walkway near the top, so presumably there is a way to climb it, although the Nexus is full of plenty of beings who can fly or otherwise access inaccessible places. But Blaze wouldn't ask her to do something she isn't physically capable of doing, and the boots she has on, while mud-caked, are sturdy. She'll manage.

It's her turn to duck her head, in response to Blaze's compliment. "They make everyone cuter," she says, smiling modestly. A cute hat would not be a bad present for Adia, although she'd only wear it in the Nexus. Wearing cute clothing in a grim and dirty environment like New Caprica is reserved for either the very young or those few humans who have zero fraks to give about what other people think.. Adia fits into neither of these categories.

"You need a boost, that's all." Blaze isn't heading directly for the tower, but stops a little way off from one of the smaller buildings and holds a hand out to Adia. Her optics are bright, the mischief sounding in her voice. "If you think you can trust me."

"A boost?" Adia echoes skeptically. She trusts Blaze, but she doesn't know what to expect, and that makes her a little nervous.

Still, the physical unknown beats the social unknown by a longshot. She takes Blaze's hands and nods resolutely. "Okay."

On the bright side, whatever else happens Blaze has to give her credit for taking up the gauntlet. She leans closer and wraps an arm around Adia's waist, tightening carefully and secure as any safety belt. "All right, hang on to my shoulders."

She crouches a little bit before she springs upward, hitting her thrust pack as they sail above the building's height and land with a jarring thump on the roof. Hopefully nobody inside comes out to complain. They'll need a couple more jumps to make it safely onto the tower, but first Blaze relaxes her hold and checks on her human friend. Ghost flashes into view beside them, quite happy to teleport-spam his way around instead.

"Not so bad, huh?"

Adia does as instructed, tightening her grip on Blaze's shoulders a bit frantically as her friend launches them both into the air. The strangely familiar lurch of upward momentum keeps her from doing more than letting out a startled gasp, although she does oof rather loudly when they land, feeling the aftershock in her bones. All that traveling in space has prepared her well.

"No, n-not so bad." She giggles involuntarily, a natural reaction to the sudden burst of adrenaline coursing through her, and smiles. "Kind of fun, actually."

"Haha! It is that! Ready to go again?" Adia only has to give her the nod, and Blaze will take them bounding up on to the next roof - and the walkway of the tower - and then up again for a slightly gentler touch-down on the uppermost maintenance platform, around the roof. She'll give Adia a second to adjust before she relaxes her hold again, the Titan right there to grab onto if she feels unsteady. Although the platform does groan conspicuously under her weight...

"This is more like the view we need," she says, turning to give the Industrial District below a good look. Ghost floats out above them and turns in a circle, scanning the area. "Take a good look at the streets, see what landmarks you can pick out."

"Okay," Adia says, once she gets her bearings. She doesn't make any more sounds during the jumps, although she's holding onto Blaze's shoulders like her life depends on it. (Which it does, technically, but Blaze could likely keep her safe without her enthusiastic contribution.) She recovers from the last landing more quickly than the others, although she's not about to let go of Blaze until she can transfer her grip onto the safety railing.

Gosh, they are up high. Untroubled by heights, Adia admires the view as a whole before she tries to identify anything. Everything seems stable, but perhaps not as orderly as she had assumed on foot. The Plaza and the Wilds are easy to spot off in the distance, distinct from the compactness of the Shopping District. "I see the Plaza's fountain... and the Wilds over there. Oh! That meadow is where I went horseback riding on Shadow." She points it out eagerly, a pleasant open space between the Shopping District and the Wilds.

"Right there? It's closer than I thought." Ghost stops scanning to peer that way. "Just a couple of minutes and I'll have all the data we need for Cayde."

"Looks like a nice place," Blaze notes. "Good spot for a beacon. Hey, see that part of the residential district? You can't see it from this angle, but there's a river running right through it. And there's an underground shopping area that's good for taking shelter in a hurry. Got an armorer with some interesting designs in there too."

"I didn't want Paladin to have to go too far out of her way," Adia explains. The meadow looks so small compared to the vast expanse of the Wilds, but it had been more than enough space for a horseback ride.

She re-directs her attention to the residential district. "A river? Wow. I didn't know about the underground shopping area, either." The shopping district is another part of the Nexus she hasn't explored much. Having no currency of value, she hasn't bothered to window shop much, not wanting to be tempted by things she cannot have. "Oh, I see Crossroads Cafe, too." Where's the weird place where she got lost and surrounded by ice mirrors? She doesn't see any evidence of that anywhere, no matter how hard she looks.

Excerpt 007: Lay of the Land

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