revivalproject | Network

[The helmeted visage that appears on-screen hesitates for a moment before nodding to a soft-spoken prompt from someone not on-camera.]

I... [Ugh. How do people even go about this?]

Greetings. [Yes. That seems about right.]

I have not been here long in this city, but neither have I made my presence all that known. I thought that this method would be most expedient to change that.

My... name is Felwinter. While I am no stranger to struggles of survival, I admit, I feel a little...out of my element here.

[By the slight turn of his head it seems that he looks somewhere past the camera, a point confirmed when the off-screen voice speaks up again with an encouraging, "Go on!"

Felwinter seems flustered a moment before he directs his attention to the tablet again.]

In my seeking to understand how I can be of better aid, I have explored the various datapoints and what knowledge they offer. The overwriting of information is...strange. -I digress, however.

My point being... What would be most useful?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That came as no surprise to him. People didn't seem to ever be fully content with peace. There were always those who wanted something more. Felwinter was perhaps a little disappointed. He'd hoped that maybe this would be a place that was actually different for a change.

His expression hardly shifted when Tony made his next inquiry. "The rest of what?"

The answer was a vague flutter of Tony's hand at...all of Felwinter, you know, the rest. With a tug at the hem of his own shirt, Tony said, "I'd show you mine, but it's not my talents that are under consideration here." Was it the flirting, or the promise not to attack that got the helmet off in the first place? The promise, obviously, but Tony only had so many of those, and plenty of pickup lines. "We're figuring out what you're working with and you're not giving me much. What's your thing? Flowers? Yoga? Sudoku? You're really..." he continued, and laid a steady hand flat between them only very briefly before he had to acknowledge, "Besides the sword thing, that was a bit dramatic."

From his silence, Felwinter wasn't really catching on. Apparently the Communications datapoint didn't cover Tony-ese. It was strangely unnerving conversing with the man, not that the warlord was much of a conversationalist to begin with. He held up his free hand, but rather than summoning up more flames or the Void, his Ghost unfolded in that familiar shimmer of light.

She wasn't nearly as fancy as Ophiuchus or Sundance. Her shell was the default in shape, her coloring a plain silver. Even simply shaking herself out she displayed more personality than Felwinter had in several sentences. Swiveling in midair, she looked Tony up and down.

"He's a warlord," she supplied. "Fighting and killing, protecting- that's kind of their thing."

"There you are," Tony smiled, just as pleased to see this new Ghost as he was to meet another Exo, and glad to be able to place the voice of encouragement in Felwinter's life. So far, the Ghosts of the other Guardians seemed to have been well matched, so Tony wasn't entirely sure what to make of her animation in contrast with Felwinter's stoicism, gaze darting briefly back to the Exo to try to spot some of that energy concealed somewhere in his posture as he said, "You must know him better than anyone. To whom do I owe the pleasure?"

The topmost of her points shifted downwards to give Tony the vague impression that he was being scrutinized. Felwinter may as well have been a statue for how much he'd budged since lowering his hand again.

"Of course. But that doesn't mean I have to tell you anything about him," the Ghost replied with a shrug. She glanced back at the Exo before turning back towards Tony. "I'm Felspring."

Tony welcomed the scrutiny with a hand on a cocked hip, tilting his head with an inviting smile despite the singes from his fingertips to his elbows and the black smudges staining his clothes. If he presented it like it was his finest tailoring, maybe she would buy it. "Felspring, that's sweet, like you're siblings. Are you siblings?" he asked, not about to assume he actually had the Ghost thing figured out. That was going to be an ongoing discussion with Ikora, he suspected.

"Listen, you don't, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, I'm just trying to figure out what you've got going for you and help you out. If all you're interested in doing is the fighting, killing thing, then, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but you're going to be on ice for a while," he said, gesturing out at the quiet city and the lack of immediate physical threat. "But I'll be sure to give you a call when we're out of options."

"No," both replied simultaneously, before Felspring added, "He named me." She wasn't taking responsibility for the name, apparently, and Felwinter still wasn't seeing why this was a problem.

"Our experience is limited because that is all we have had to do," the Exo said. He glanced almost hesitantly at his Ghost before continuing. "We were seeking information, old technology lost from the Golden Age that might better help people live their lives. I had...inherited a settlement, at the foot of my mountain. I wished to help them."

There was enough tension about the matter that Tony's gaze darted between Guardian and Ghost quickly, eyebrows raised and lips pursed before he blew out a breathy, "Okay." Tony wasn't all that interested in prodding at awkward family dynamics. He could see already how much Felwinter relied on Felspring, though, just in their few interactions, very anxious for a...warlord. Not much like any Tony had met yet.

"Okay, that's something. We've got some, uh, technical knowledge, archaeology, maybe, we have some experience looking for treasure," Tony observed, but they both had to hang on that pregnant pause before Felwinter landed on 'inherited', leaving Tony's hand winding in the air as he tried to decide how head on he wanted to confront that editorializing. "Community management," he eventually proposed, looking thrilled that he got there, then quickly skeptical with his mouth pulled to the side that Felwinter had the charisma for that skillset.

The response from both Exo and Ghost was a resounding silence. It was quite clear that they were more or less in agreement on that skepticism at least. They were barely managing their own community back home. Largely the people were left to their own devices, and if another power-mad warlord came along, they'd deal with them personally.

Eventually Felwinter shook his head.

"...perhaps I should take more time to consider things," he sighed as he took up his helmet in both his hands again, lifting it to slip back over his head.

Felwinter might have been having a difficult time reading Tony, but that signal came in loud and clear for the other man, making his hands working at the problem drop and his chin tuck back in awkward acceptance. He didn't think he had been that bad this time. He didn't even mention babies once. "Uh, yeah, sure," he allowed, and gave a glance around to try to ease them out of this uncomfortable loop, only ending up with a tense, aborted gesture back toward his workbench. "If you figure it out, let me know how I can make your life easier," he offered.

That was one of the most useful things Felwinter thought he man had said for the entire conversation, but he wasn't about to deny that he needed more experience dealing with people in general, himself. Maybe that was a start.

They exchanged not a word, but there was definite understanding between the Risen and his Ghost when the looked at each other once again. Then Felwinter nodded at Tony before turning, apparently leaving it at that. He started back towards the worn and partially faded road, Felspring looking back at Tony, then drifting off after her companion, not a flinch spared at the flickering light and movement from the back of the warlord's helmet where Tony'd see the wildly twitching core of a ghost embedded.

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