Hot Summer Days and Karaoke Nights

[deal_me_in]

WHO: Cayde-6 probably and you
WHERE: The Deep End
WHAT: Absolutely nothing
WHEN: Through this month
WARNINGS: N/A


I. BYOB

Things have been slow and quiet, both things of which Cayde never trusts, especially around a place like this. Naturally it leaves a Hunter bored, but when there's nothing to be found or done around the city and even less beyond, it's almost enough to make him desperate to do even paperwork.

Almost. He's not that desperate.

At least the temperatures don't bother him, but he knows the heat makes things miserable for a lot of people. The lights are always low in the bar, the water out the window at least keeping it from being too warm since the light's got a whole lot of gallons to filter through.

Cayde doesn't spend too much time behind the bar counter, so it'd be easy to think the bar's empty as it more often than not is. The Exo himself has parked himself at the table nearest the bar however, over by the window. Sometimes he'll be shuffling cards, or he'll be balancing them in a precarious cardhouse with Colonel settled in the opposite chair if she's not roaming the bar floor for inspections.

He looks up when he does find himself with company other than a chicken, flashing a grin. "Hey, you busy?" This may not be the Tower but he's not beyond handing out a quest or two if someone's just as bored as he is. Although it probably isn't much of a quest so much as it is an errand.


II. Music Makes the People Come Together. Yeah.

There's an off chance one might come across the Hunter in the opposite corner of the bar, feet propped up on a chair as he idly strums the guitar Tony had made him what seems like ages ago. It's been more of a communal sort of instrument by now. Cayde's at least managed to learn a few chords enough to play a song or two, which is enough for him to add to the subtle western vibe he tries to evoke now and then.

He's better with a harmonica, although it's anyone's guess as to where he gets the breath for it, much less manages a tune with no lips.

"Oh, didn't know I had an audience. What's with the face?" He smiles crookedly. "Thing's all set if you have something else in mind," he says, nodding towards the karaoke machine.

Comments

[thelastechidna]

Knuckles flushes. "Oh. Right." Money wasn't really something he had to worry about back home.

"Well, that's ... good then. Weren't you angry they were taking your stuff?"

[deal_me_in]

"Eh, annoyed, but I can't really be mad at someone taking initiative, 'specially if it's in the best interests of people's survival," Cayde shrugs, shuffling his remaining cards as he considers where to start the next build.

[thelastechidna]

"True, that's better than if they were taking it to sell or something," Knuckles says, thinking of Rouge the Bat with irritation.

He looks to the cards for a distraction. "... How do you get them to stand up like that?"

[deal_me_in]

The Exo chuckles at that. "Who'd they be selling it to?" Not like any of them had expenses that really did much of anything around here.

"Skill," he says, setting what's left the deck down so he can pick up another pair of cards.

[thelastechidna]

"Under normal circumstances, they might." Knuckles is sure it's only their weird situation and the Master Emerald being powered down that keeps people like Fang from trying to steal it.

"Well, yeah, that. It must take a lot of calculating to know just how to place them so they won't fall." Some of the traps he set up back home were like that.

[deal_me_in]

"Yeah, but things are hardly normal here," Cayde points out. "And who's got money or use for it around here anyway?"

He shrugs before lifting the cards. "More like chance."

[thelastechidna]

"Let's hope it stays that way while we're here."

Knuckles blinks at that. "You mean there's not really any secret to getting them to stand? It's just a gamble every time?"

[deal_me_in]

"Well, now that you've said it, things'll probably go completely haywire," Cayde jokes. He smirks, easing the cards into place.

"Life's a gamble, kid."

[thelastechidna]

Knuckles rolls his eyes a bit. "Those sound like things Sonic would say."

[deal_me_in]

The Exo laughs again. "Well, isn't it? Can't guarantee what hand your dealt each day, you just have to play it through. Sometimes there's risks to take, but sometimes they're worth it."

[thelastechidna]

"Yeah, I guess. Life used to be a lot less confusing and uncertain before I ever met Sonic and Eggman."

But it was also pretty routine and dull. And lonely.

[deal_me_in]

"Eh, that's usually how it goes. Things are all within expectation until suddenly they aren't. That's the real test. How you deal with it. Even if you fight for that normality, things'll never be the same. Or you could get swept up in the changes, for better or worse."

The card house falls abruptly, fluttering about the table and onto the floor.

"...like that."

He tosses the two cards he has left in his hands.

[thelastechidna]

Knuckles ponders that. "Things never have been the same," he agrees. "And I always get carted along on their problems. Or I did, before I ended up here."

He starts at the fall and then sighs. "Yeah."

[deal_me_in]

Fifty-two card pick-up isn't his favorite game, but twenty-something card pick-up is at least a little better. Cayde gives another shrug before he starts gathering them up again, first the ones on the table and then the ones that had fallen to the floor.

"Things don't end after big changes. Still matters what you do afterwards."

[thelastechidna]

Knuckles helps with picking up the fallen cards, looking deep in thought as he looks at one without really seeing it.

Coming here was a big change. He'd kept trying to go on as he always had, keeping to himself unless others needed help. Losing Sonic was a big change. Now he's trying to integrate more into the team, for whatever reason.

"Yeah," he says gruffly, setting the cards back with the others. "You're right, it does."

[deal_me_in]

The Exo murmurs a thanks as he collects them, gathering them all together and setting the stack on the table.

"Anyway, it's all about attitude. Has quite the effect on things. I know things may not be all that great, but looking at anything with a hopeless sort of perspective just makes it seem a whole lot worse, you know?"

[thelastechidna]

"Sometimes it seems like the realistic way to look at things," Knuckles says. "But I understand what you're saying. We wouldn't have beat the Meterex if we'd just felt there was no hope."

[deal_me_in]

"See? You know what I mean. It's easy to just not realize or think about it at the time," Cayde says. "But you know what they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty or something."

[thelastechidna]

"Yeah." Knuckles can think of a lot of things he would have liked to do differently. Maybe even to have not been as antisocial while Sonic was here.

"... Do you know how often people end up back here again when they've left?"

[deal_me_in]

The Exo gives a headshake as he idly picks his cards up to shuffle between his hands.

"Nope! Odds for repeat arrivals are pretty slim. Not impossible, but I think I can count the times its happened on one hand, if even that."

[thelastechidna]

"Well, that figures," Knuckles grunts. "I wonder why it happens at all."

[deal_me_in]

"That's like asking why any of us get chosen once," Cayde says, amused.

[thelastechidna]

Knuckles rolls his eyes. "I've wondered that too. Is it really completely random like they say?"

[deal_me_in]

"I think that applies under my previous point," the Hunter notes, cards seeming to fly between his hands as he brought them apart in his continued shuffle.

[thelastechidna]

Knuckles sighs in frustration. "It feels so pointless in that case, like no one's being brought here for what they can actually contribute."

Can he really contribute anything? He doesn't feel like he has so far.