revivalproject | It's All the Same, Only the Names Will Change

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It's All the Same, Only the Names Will Change

WHO: Cayde-6 and you
WHERE: Temba and its outskirts
WHAT: Just an Exo doin' his thing
WHEN: Nnnow. -ish.
WARNINGS: N/A
NOTES: Will match tagging format preference.

I. The Deep End (OTA)
He wouldn't call it routine, but by now he knew to appreciate what freedom they had in a scenery change and a mission. It's something Cayde had come to appreciate long before even being brought to this strange little prison of a planet. And it's because of that that he knows there's something bittersweet about coming back to what's become familiar territory, every time.

There's things you grow fond of, and maybe it's just him, but he's been used to ruins and wilderness just champing at the bit to claim it whenever someone so much as blinks. He's glad his bar's in one piece, something he's made with his hands, thankful the glass has held and nothing's sprung a leak. Just a bit of dust but that's an easy fix, although the most he gets around to is the main counter and the stools and his domain behind it. Maybe he can rope someone into helping out with the rest. That Eddie kid probably, or maybe Richie.

Cayde's poking at the fish tank opposite the huge wall that looked out into its own tank of water, counting whatever critters still remained within. He doesn't look up even when he hears the sound of someone entering.

"Hey, you any good at catching fish?"

II. The Great Beyond (Para Antonio)
If it was a game of actual tactical advantage then between the Exos, Felwinter had him beat. The security tower had been built with the intention of a clear view of the city's entirety. Now, if Cayde were paranoid and wanted to be able to see as much of anything at any given time, he would've staked a claim to the place long before the Warlock had arrived. But it just wasn't his style.

The clock tower had definitely seen better days, and while it certainly didn't look like any clock tower he was familiar with, it still had the important bits to suggest what it had been, even if the inner workings had long corroded beyond any hope for restoration. That was fine with the Hunter. It'd be really annoying otherwise, if the place were ticking and cranking all the day long, and who knew what sort of chiming it ever did. Those parts must have broken off or never existed to begin with, so far as he'd been able to tell.

As for views, it afforded him a decent enough one. He could see enough, especially when he was up on the top where the broken remains were barely holding anything together. Currently he soaked in the imagery as though to refresh his memory from the last time he'd seen it, coated in snow. The lack of snow made it much easier to see things too, such as familiar people doing curious things somewhere below.

III. Exploratory
The woods just beyond Temba aren't unfamiliar territory. They are however by Cayde's standards, pretty unspectacular. It had been disappointing a venture in more than a few directions, and only because for several days straight, the Hunter had only come across more and more forest.

That doesn't mean they aren't full of surprises, and after having more than a few brushes with antagonistic wildlife in the past, the Exo feels better doing a bit of patrolling along the perimeter of the city and just beyond. It's something to do. And if it gives him an excuse to shoot something, who's he to complain?

IV. Wildcarde
((OOC: Got any other ideas you wanna run with? Throw it down here!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The answer Tony had couldn't have been entirely confident, because he took his time, staring up then raising the telescope again like he might come away with something better after the thousandth check. The change was subtle, not even enough that he could attribute it to a reasonable interference, and eventually he had to say, "It's still going...up." They could save the pessimism for when it turned around. Luckily, it was reserving its surprising behaviour for less dire outcomes, making Tony take a breath like he meant to add more, and reconsider with a sidelong look Cayde's way, not sure how many of his mistakes he should be admitting. The longer he hesitated, though, the harder it was to ignore, "It should have hit. 1,200 feet ago." Still going up suddenly didn't seem to be the optimistic position.

The missile had stopped being visible long ago, so Tony's focus fell to Cayde's tablet for something to keep his eye on instead of squinting up into the sun, and even then he flinched a second before the feed in Cayde's hands started reporting the explosion, and the smear of blue could be seen distantly in the camera's eye.

"Up is good though, right?" Better than down. Or somehow making a midair U-turn. It was only when Tony said the target point had already been surpassed that Cayde remembered just what they were expecting it to hit.

"...oh."

Somehow he wasn't too surprised. If someone was always watching, always expecting... which seemed entirely too exhausting that Cayde was convinced their invisible overlords had no life- then of course they weren't going to let this experiment work. Always left them questioning.

He squinted against the fierce blue of the skies again before turning his attention to the tablet's screen.

"What the..." Blue? The Exo looked at Tony in expectation of some kind of explanation.

Again, Tony was slow to respond, still this time like the grass as he stared up at the sky, where the bloom of the explosion finally marred the even blue. His shoulders had dropped, and there wasn't much else for him to do but watch the very expensive puff of smoke. Even the dye that Tony hoped would have been overlooked, blending in enough to not reflect too differently than whatever was pretending to be sky up there, seemed to be falling uselessly into the jet stream. Tony scrubbed at the knot of tension in his neck, then swung around to gather his jacket and the scattered cigars. "Plan B," he announced. He'd work out what that was eventually.

The response or lack thereof had Cayde looking back towards the sky, considering this new challenge, as clearly that was what it was. He had to wonder how things would've gone if he'd clung to that missile. Would it have been enough to present that barrier that Tony had been seeking? They didn't have much of anything to confirm that things would react the same at any given time, and that was what was annoying.

He continued to watch while Tony went to gather his things, nodding once. Plan B. Well, whatever it was, it didn't seem like they had much choice, given Plan A hadn't performed the way they were intending.

"-where's it going?" he asked aloud, the blue still tricky to discern but it seemed to be moving, gradually easier to catch glimpses of as it drifted lower in the atmosphere.

At this point in a munitions demonstration, Tony was supposed to be raising a toast and already half way into the car to hurry on to his next meeting with a bottle. All of those times, though, the bomb had done exactly what he promised it would do, and the contracts were a formality. This time, he was as eager to get away, and only turned slowly to look at Cayde quizzically at his question, then up to follow his gaze. Like every other part of the missile, what was left of the dye should have been dispersing in the upper atmosphere; by the time it fell, it should have been atomic. The opposite of easier to see. Tony's cameras were already trundling across their respective roofs to try to track the cloud, calculating its trajectory.

Tony did not understand, but he could answer, "This way." Then, more urgently because he was already running, throwing his jacket aside and back into the mud, "This way!"

Clearly that wasn't supposed to be happening, another curve ball to their attempted results. Cayde frowned, cigar dropping from his hand as he stowed away his tablet. As Tony started to run, the Exo took a few steps to follow, distracted as he watched a little longer before finally turning and going after the man.

Charging through the field at a sprint sent the rest of the crickets springing away and tugging at his focus, and felt like vines grabbing at his ankles. It got easier to run once they hit the uneven road, though there was never going to be a chance of outrunning terminal velocity, as strangely organized as it was presenting. The smudge of blue was dipping below the tops of the roofs already, and Tony's lungs were burning like they might start to bleed by the time he slowed and had to double over, holding his heart and staring down the narrow flare of light between the looming buildings. As the dye sunk lower, it got easier to pinpoint where it was going to land, and with a hand on his knee and gulping for air, focus still on that crack of light, Tony said, "That's the forge."

He could have easily outpaced Tony, could have scooped him up and sprang along but then he wasn't sure if catching up to the swirling blue was necessarily a good thing. Its path of travel was becoming suspiciously specific the lower it drifted, and the lack of any real errant breeze in the area made it even more suspect.

The feeling was only underlined once he came up beside Tony, ready to grab him should he look about to fall over, his glowing gaze already focusing beyond, and even before Tony put a name to the anticipated area, the Hunter already had it guessed. He pulled the communicator out again, bringing up the visuals from the cameras and their higher vantage point, not that they likely needed the confirmation.

"Yeah...that definitely can't be coincidental," he said, affecting, somehow, a sour look on his metal features.

Tony's chest still ached too much to take in a proper breath, but he was pushing himself up and gasping, "You should get out of here," to start running again. Just a little momentum, and he could push through it, get back to a sprint and make it to the forge before anything he couldn't fix happened. He could just text Donnie, make sure he wasn't there. He already had it typed, hovering over the image of the dye spreading gently across the ground. He had to breathe to be able to run, but at some point he had forgotten, vision blurred with the cascading possibilities that every answer was the wrong one.

Leaving had never been an option that had come to mind. Cayde knew he was already probably on a List and had never made any attempts to keep from drawing attention to himself any chance he got.

He was up beside Tony quickly enough, not that it took much effort on his part. This time the arm did snake out, hooking around him and under his other armpit to keep him on his feet the moment the Exo caught him starting to flag again.

"Nothing's exploded," he said as they continued on. "And Sundance isn't picking up anything from the area."

Tony wanted to shove him away and point out how stupid it was to have stuck around this long. Everyone else was smart enough to keep their distance, and Cayde was always there. Instead, when Tony flailed his arm up, it was to tangle tightly in Cayde's cloak, hanging onto his shoulder and urging him on, and when he fought through the blackened burn of his throat it was to ask, "Anyone?"

Cayde was never going to abandon any one of his friends. He'd lost enough and the regrets still haunted him, the things he should have done and the things he didn't. He knew when risks were high-stake and he was more than willing to take them because that was how he rolled. Tony should have known by now that Cayde would never leave him to suffer any consequences alone, would gladly and boldly claim affiliation.

"No one's there," he confirmed, even as they continued on closer towards the forge. "Place is empty, area's empty. We're the only ones within range."

Some of the desperation seeped out of Tony, making his feet drag more, his knees harder to convince to keep pumping without such an immediate threat. They had to run through the hulking, blinded factories, looking out of place in the bright sunlight suddenly, squatted among new green spring growth. When they finally broke free of the block of buildings, the dye was easy to spot, yards away but some of the blue still hanging in the air like a shimmer as it settled daintily into its perfect formation. Tony finally let himself stop, keeping his hold on Cayde, only able to hear his heart hammering in his ears as he watched at a distance. It must be doing something. It had to mean something.

The Exo dutifully played the part of a supporting pillar once they came to a halt. Despite the stillness he was still on alert, scanning the area with his eyes, listening for any updates from Sundance.

"...hm." He pulled out his tablet again, holding it out to Tony while he brought a hand up to summon Sundance. The Ghost unfolded from that mysterious space between spaces, shaking out her vertices before she drifted up and up over the forge for an aerial sweep of the area.

"The marked perimeter extends in a radius roughly sixty meters around the focal point of the forge," she reported upon her return. "No damages."

Tony wasn't sure where to look, watching Sundance drift up then scanning back over to where the missile had finally exploded, no trace of it left in the unbroken sky. What had made its way down to the forge didn't appear to be anything more than the stain that Tony had mixed himself. He finally had to ease himself away from Cayde to go slightly loping toward the new mark on the ground, not sure he should step beyond it yet, but crouching to observe it closer, like he might catch what had made it move so precisely.

"And above?" he asked Sundance, not sure she was any better attuned to sensing what might be focusing on them now than Tony squinting through the sunlight. Drawing an obvious target and still hiding the barrel pointed down at it sounded like the kind of cruelty he should expect.

The Ghost tilted on an axis as she turned her 'eye' skyward, her core light shrinking in and out like an adjusting lens before she started to drift upwards again. Cayde looked on, managing not to look anxious until she'd come back down once more, and by then he'd trailed after Tony. He toed at the blue that had settled upon the ground.

"Nothing that I can detect," Sundance relayed. Not exactly an all-clear given her range was only so broad, but she knew Tony should at least be aware of that given his and Cayde's earlier exchange when they'd prepared to monitor the missile launch.

Now they were all standing around a circle that someone had deliberately placed down for them to contemplate. The next look that Tony cast up at the sky was a stubborn pout for potentially being tricked into doing what he was told. Cayde hadn't blown up for his cautious nudge, so as Tony swung back up to stand, he slid a foot clear across the blue line, smearing it through the dust and breaking the perfect circle. He did stop there, straddling the line, listening with his breath held, and risked another glance up. Nothing. "Could be a distraction," he proposed, but he couldn't see anything out of place in his camera network.

"Or a warning, probably," Cayde put forth as he smudged out another part of the line. There wasn't necessarily anything volatile that Sundance had picked up from it, so it seemed it was only whatever was left of Tony's experiment, artfully scattered around such a specific area. "A slap on the wrist."

A warning shouldn't have been so ambiguous if it was meant to be effective. The only thing it was really going to do, Tony thought, was make them paranoid, and even then it was a matter of degrees; they were already thoroughly paranoid, enough to be glaring at a blue circle. Still, he explored, "For which part? The explosion? Trying to break the atmosphere? Or just..." He gestured vaguely at the chosen medium, which seemed to be entirely the dye. He hadn't gotten any such warnings or slaps when he tried to get up there himself.

Drawing himself up and flicking away the matter of what they were supposed to be worried about, he said, "Okay, but, positives: we learned some things. We got a reaction, which tells us more than no reaction. We just have to figure out what those things are."

"They know we're testing boundaries and want their playthings to behave I guess," Cayde snorted, only sure about half of it, really. He pointed at Tony with a nod.

"Maybe we're annoying them every time we do something destructive. Most of the time it's us reacting, right? We're forcing their hand when we pull stuff like this. Maybe we should be looking for where a possible response is coming from aside from what we're attempting to do."

Just how they were going to do that when the 'possible response' felt like the natural order of this world that they were railing against had Tony taking a breath and wrinkling his nose, without an immediate answer. In the time it took him to produce one, it occurred to him to step fully inside the marked circle, hands out at the ready like this commitment might be what finally got him knocked off balance, and still survived unscathed. They both should have expected that he propose, "More missiles." He spread his fingers in a shrug and twisted his mouth to the side a little helplessly, not exactly happy with himself either, but beholden to his instincts. Not that they didn't have their own logic. "We set off a bunch at a time, different altitudes, different strengths, different directions, force them to choose, to problem solve," he explained. That way, they might start to get an idea of their jailer's priorities, or some variation in their response time to get a sense of how their influence worked.

'More firepower' was a tactic Cayde usually approved of, so it was probably to no one's surprise that at Tony's proposal, the Exo grinned. Direct from the label it seemed like a standard response, but he doubted that they'd ever be flat-out ignored for such efforts. He nodded as Tony outlined further.

"We'll need more ways to monitor for responses," he added. "Something more than visual? They're watching us, right? There should be signals or something maybe. I'm not sure how they pulled this off though," he had to admit as he looked at the blue that marked the ground.

Tony was better at provoking a response than accounting for where it might be coming from, and even if he had the full array of the Iron Man's monitoring systems, he doubted they were as advanced as Sundance's. He frowned and considered the strange blue stain over the weeds poking through the broken road, feeling exposed and predictable compared to their opponent. Eventually he had to admit, "You're the hunter. How do you hunt something that you can't see?"

"You lure 'em," Cayde replied, his own gaze traveling upwards as though the skies would impart whatever secrets there were that they sought.

"The first step was proving there was really someone or something acting out." He paused. "We're at the disadvantage because our real target's probably far away and we're grounded. The most we're doing is provoking them, but if they can nullify our efforts from a distance, we need to figure out how to make them come out where they have to be take a more direct course of action, reveal themselves."

Cayde pointed his fingers at the sky again, pulling an invisible trigger. "Unless we have the means to get off this rock and out there again. I have two reference points to trace, and I have a feeling if we can get a third, we'll be able to nail down where they are, out there."

Trying to get off the planet had been the goal, and right now Tony wasn't feeling optimistic about it. Bringing their opponent closer seemed more viable. There were already a couple of places where they felt the closest, so with an unsure finger pointed to make a hesitant point, Tony offered, "We have to do something that they don't want or expect us to do," then lifted another finger, "They've spoken to us before. In the tunnels."

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