revivalproject | Volcano Things

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Volcano Things

WHO: Keith, OPEN
WHERE: The Warrens
WHAT: Keith wanders around, checking out things underground, feeling a little useless and redundant, but he's making a map. Find him wandering, find him taking notes, find him drawing, finding him trying to burn off the excess energy he had from being bored.
WHEN: During the shelter-in-caves part of the volcano stuff
WARNINGS: Nothing, yet; Will edit if needed

So, it seemed that this was definitely something that the current data point for Keith was no good for. One would think otherwise, of course, because he could have loaded everyone up on a ship and gotten them off the planet. How is being stuck in a cave safer than that? He wasn't sure. But, here they were... stuck in a cave network, and Keith was feeling... well, useless.

But there was definitely something he was good at that didn't need a data point, and that was navigating things. He had a very good visual memory, and finding his way through a cave network wasn't hard for him. It wasn't hard for him to remember where things were or where he'd already been, either, and he was going to use that to his advantage, at least, in figuring this place out. So, he spent most of his time down in this 'warren' exploring and looking around, mapping it all out in his head, and maybe even sketching things down when he had the chance and supplies to do so.

Excellent visual memory combined with decent drawing skills was useful to have.

He also could be found trying to work out from time to time. Jogging through the tunnels, using any wider spaces to practice his fight skills, it was a way to keep busy and active. Keith didn't do well sitting still for too long if he wasn't doing something while he was taking that down time.

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"I'm not saying don't. Finding stuff to keep yourself busy with is good. But if you're just walking an edge, that's not good."

Cayde patted at the floor, not necessarily to get Keith to move closer, but just to point it out. "Taking a nap's something to do too, though. Harder with restless energy, true, but it can help. A refresh."

Keith squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, and then shook his head with a tiny snort. It sounded almost like an unamused laugh.

"I've been having trouble sleeping since we got down here."

"Even with all your running around? Not that I recommend the 'running yourself ragged' route."

Cayde fell silent a moment before he pushed himself upright to sit.

"Wanna talk me through it? What's on your mind?"

"I've done that," Keith admitted. "It doesn't usually go too well."

He let himself sink the rest of the way to the floor, leaning his head back against the wall with a soft thud.

"I just never did well with being cooped up," he said quietly. That might sound strange coming from someone who was a space explorer. After all, one would technically be 'cooped up' inside a ship. But it was different. The ship was moving around. There was a level of control over where it went and what it did and how fast it traveled. There was space around you. And, yeah, maybe it was a little hard to pick out the details that made regions of space different, it was still there on a fundamental level that you weren't stuck in the same spot.

But this?

"I just feel trapped, and I don't like it." Especially with the knowledge that they were underground, and the volcano had erupted and dumped lava on top of them, effectively sealing them in. Would the way they came in hold it out? Were they going to have to dig their way out once it was over? Was there another exit that they just didn't know about yet because it wasn't "time"?

Keith had questions and concerns, and his brain wasn't letting him push past them.

Cayde listened, drawing a knee up to rest an arm over. He nodded.

"No, I get that. I don't like being stuck in one place either. Gotta roam, wander. The novelty of being stuck on a new world ran out real quick once you figured you couldn't go anywhere in it. I've tried. Nothing out there, no way to just fly off and find another world to explore."

He made a face before forcing a dry chuckle. "And then they only make it worse by making our options smaller. Gotta say, wasn't expecting a volcano." He doubted anyone had.

"No. The volcano thing is definitely new," Keith said quietly. And he'd seen a planet decimated by a meteor while still in Drift Fleet. But they'd managed to get a good number of people to safety, at least... like here. Though, with less people in general, getting everyone to safety first had been a lot easier here than trying to rescue an entire planet.

"It was easier, I think, in the Fleet... we were at least moving around, going from planet to station... we usually stayed for a month or so before moving on again." Keith sighed. "Yeah, we were stuck in the ships, but we weren't just... stuck." If that made any sense. "Even being here on this planet isn't terrible. It's being stuck inside... in these stupid tunnels." Yeah. The small space was definitely getting to Keith.

The Exo tilted his head.

"Haven't heard too much about how it was in the Fleet. So you were stuck there too? I thought most of those who had previous experience disappeared."

He chuckled dryly. "Being stuck in some glorified reality show aside, I think I would've preferred the freedom of going between planets to being grounded, any day. This is probably the second longest I've ever been on any one planet."

Keith nodded.

"I think me and Lance are the only two left," he said quietly. "I'm not positive on that. Maybe a few more... but you're right. Most of the people who came here from the Fleet are gone."

Which was something that bothered, as well, in its own way. Why just the few of them left? Why weren't they sent home, too? Or sent back to the Fleet?

"But, yeah... it was... better," he said. "Less prone to feeling trapped or stuck." Which, honestly, Keith had actually been doing pretty well being on Agra IV all this time. Sure, they'd gone out and explored a few things a few times, so that probably helped. And he'd never traveled off planet until he was 18 anyway. All the training at the Garrison had been in simulators.

But, as far as being stuck on a planet versus in it? Yeah. Like Cayde had pointed out, they'd made an already "small" space "smaller". And it definitely felt more like being trapped than being on the surface.

"Soldier's one of 'em too, right? I know, the guy's elusive, but he's around." Cayde hadn't gotten around to tracking him down now that they were all confined, but he seemed confident the guy hadn't been left outside in volcano town.

"Better until you get to end of the leash and remember it's there, I guess." He wasn't sure how close the Atroma kept tabs on people wherever these ships went out to, but when you were dealing with beings that could access other dimensions and times, it clearly wasn't difficult.

"I think so," Keith said. "I didn't see him much back in the Fleet, either." He shrugged a little. "Not a lot of the people from the Fleet that I spent the most time with are here... if they even came at all." He gave a small sigh. "But... yeah. We had a pretty long leash in the Fleet, surprisingly enough. But, even then, we were still tethered pretty securely to the Marsiva."

He frowned, remembering that they ran a 'test'.

"One time, we tried to see how far we could take the ships out, and what would happen if we went past that limit." He smirked a bit. "We rushed the limit, pushing the ships we were willing to risk to their max speeds, and the ships' computers started to threaten that they'd self-destruct. I didn't push mine past. None of us did. We all pulled back right before we got too far." He took a breath. "It was still a pretty long leash, though. We got decently far before even the first warnings kicked in."

"Marsiva?" That was a name Cayde hadn't heard before. He leaned forward a bit as he continued to listen.

"Ah, the old game of chicken," the Exo grinned appreciatively. "Do you think they would've actually exploded? Wonder what those guys would've done if all their entertainment decided to test that. They'd be losing you either way."

"Yeah. It was the main ship," Keith explained. "We could only access it at certain times, and it was never on our own terms. New arrivals would wake up there, and they were there until they got assigned to a ship. And then we went there during Calibrations." And the last thing that would give them access to the Marsiva also tied into Cayde's next question.

"Well, maybe... but also... not really." Keith looked a little bothered by this next bit. "If people died, they came back. They'd wake up on the Marsiva, just like if they were arriving in the Fleet again. There was a time that they would stay there to overcome feeling sick and disoriented, and then they'd be returned to their ship."

Cayde's metal features pulled into a scowl.

".... Well that is pretty messed up. Mind, the whole concept of dying and coming back is something I'm used to, do it all the time back home, but these guys were just playing with you." Which probably wasn't a surprise at all, all things considered, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth. You couldn't even die to escape being stuck in that situation.

"And it's not like everyone is the type that can just die and come back," Keith said. He could accept that there were races who could do that. He'd met enough different types of beings by now to be okay with that idea. "For those who can't, it's... not a pleasant experience... or easy to deal with."

"No, no. And that's a good thing, really." Cayde shook his head then, forcing a laugh. "You make it sound like it's fun. Dying's never fun. It makes us a little more reckless when it's not permanent, but actually going through it? I know there's more than a few of 'em I could've done without the experience. And when you're new to the whole thing, it's probably damn frightening."

"Yeah, I..." He couldn't hold back the slight shudder. "I wouldn't want to find out."

"Wouldn't wish that on anyone," the Hunter agreed, nodding. He only vaguely remembered Awakening for the first time. Certainly he told the tale now with a lot more humor, and looking back at it, it was kind of funny, but he knew it had been terrifying. Maybe that was more for the lack of understanding, but he couldn't imagine it being entirely different for someone being brought back by the Atroma's means.

"You mentioned... that it's happened to you before?" Keith looked a little concerned. "Is that normal for your race?"

"Well, I wouldn't say normal," Cayde clarified. "Definitely not a race thing. It's... complicated." He drummed his fingers against his arm.

"I'm a Guardian. That's a title as much as it is an occupation. I don't know what the qualifications are save one- we all started off dead. Exos, Awoken... Humans. We got brought back by the Light, little to no memory of whoever we used to be, but called to be something else. There's big bads out there, and not everyone can fight them. So we do. We face off against the things that want to beat us down and snuff out humanity. Sometimes we die doing it. But then we just get right back up and continue."

Keith frowned.

"So, you have no idea who you were before?" That must be frustrating. Also, to just keep getting... revived... like a tool with a dead battery getting recharged... Keith felt that was diminishing them as people.

"And this... this 'light'. That's what does it?"

Cayde folded his arms behind his head as he leaned back again, bouncing a foot over his knee.

"I have ...snippets. Pieces of a puzzle that probably won't ever get completed, but that's mostly on the account that my memory's been more or less shot even before I came back as a Guardian. They didn't exactly encourage Exos to remember who they were before they were Exos," he said, snorting lightly.

"Pretty much. The Light of the Traveler. Still not entirely sure who or what the Traveler is, 'cept that it's a big giant eyeball in the sky that's been hanging around forever. Basically looks like a small moon hovering out there, just within Earth's atmosphere. But I guess it saved humanity once, and when it couldn't do anymore, it gave us the Ghosts, and they scoured what was left of Earth, some still do- in search of their Guardian."

That was an odd mental image to have, and Keith looked a little perplexed for a moment, but then nodded.

"Do you ever wonder what you're missing?"

The pause was longer than he meant it to be, but his answer was ultimately unchanged.

"All the time," the Exo replied with a chuckle. "How can you not, right?" He sighed, the upper half of his face going dark as he shuttered his optics. Still, as he opened his mouth, amber light continued to spill forth from his throat with each word.

"But is it really missing if you're starting off fresh?" Yes. "I've been other numbers before I became Six, and I don't know if they've ever felt that they were the best of them, but me? I'm good where I'm at. Maybe bits of past me's have clung despite the reboots, and maybe some of that even belonged to me when I was still flesh and blood."

Blue flared open again, outlining the edges of his brow plates and the rims of his optical sockets, chasing away the shadows from horn and hood.

"But I know I'm Cayde-Six, and that's all that matters."

"Hm." Keith considered that for a moment and then nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I guess that is all that matters. That we know who we are."

He'd gone through something like that already, too. He didn't know anything about his mother, or where he'd gotten his Marmora Blade before. Didn't even know what the blade was. His dad had died before he'd been able to tell him anything more than his mother had left when he was an infant.

But he'd discovered that it really didn't matter. What mattered was that he knew who he was. And, yeah, that sometimes faltered still from time to time, but he always came back to the same thing. He was Keith. He was a Paladin. He was a Blade of Marmora. He was the Red Paladin, but he was also the Black Paladin. He was human. He was Galra. But he was still Keith. He'd always be Keith.

"I know what you mean."

It was a nice speech, or at least he thought it was. Say something enough and you just might convince yourself. And it wasn't that it was an outright lie, it just wasn't completely true.

Because for all that Cayde was proud to be who he was, he knew there were still those moments when he'd feel lost, find himself at the edge of that hole that always threatened to never be filled. He'd found a plug for it, an unhealthy one, he'd admit, but it helped him, even if they were ultimately lies.

He smiled the smile that came all too easily, so practiced along with the rest of his casual carefree air that even he wasn't sure when he was pretending and when he was being sincere.

"Don't you forget that," he said, chuckling a bit. "Even though this situation seems the worst, maybe you can remember even worse times. But you got through them. So being in here? This is nothing. We got this."

Volcano Things

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