♤ Desperado

[deal_me_in]

WHO: Cayde-6 and you mental intruders you. Guardian gear optional.
WHERE: The Tower In the mind of Cayde-6. Run.
WHAT: Exploring the Exo's memories and then some
WHEN: Through the Calibrations Event
WARNINGS: Nothing I can think of? Potential violence? That's an FPS for you


"It's funny, the things you find yourself missing."

The room is large and tall with its vaulted walls and the giant window that makes up an entire wall, overlooking the vast expanse of Earth's Last City. There are roughly two levels to the room, stairs immediately leading down to the central, sunken area, with no shortage of computer terminals and screens along either side. Smack in the center of the sunken area is a large table with a sizable map laid out towards the middle of it, among other things.

"Like that. I kind of miss that table."

The Exo steps down alongside of you and then past, holding a chicken in the crook of one arm, stroking her under the beak. And no, that's not your imagination- she really is wearing a tiny cloak and a paper horn reminiscent of her caretaker. He steps over to the table, shoving stacks of paperwork off the edge with relish that plainly says he's doing something he normally shouldn't, before he sets Colonel down to wander about as she pleases.

The other things on the table are as follows: a small scattering of playing cards, although all save an Ace of Spades and Queen of Hearts are flipped face-up. A glass of some glowing blue-green liquor sits atop a few sheets of paper, which upon closer inspection look to be the yellowed, torn pages from books, hints of handwriting in the blank spaces. A worn pistol sits there at the edge of the table, and stacked nearby, a few poker chips. On the floor, sitting unobtrusively by one of the table legs is a dusty, hand-stitched ball.

Draped over a chair by one of the side terminals is a banner in black, orange and white, the symbol of the Vanguard.

Cayde himself takes up a spot by the map, setting his hands on the table to lean over it as he nods thoughtfully to himself.

Comments

[deal_me_in]

Cayde would rather focus on the present. He doesn't mind a little sympathy, but then it just makes the old ache come back, and the memories just remind him of why he's chosen the paths he has. It's hard to play it off when its your own head or whatever betraying you.

"Wish it wasn't the case. But I guess whenever there's a possibility, there's going to be someone or something that comes along and figures some way to twist things around."

The memory's one of his favorite recent ones. He can't help but smile. Why yes, he likes being called 'slick'. "My team's pretty much on the fly in general. Never been together before this one mission. I knew what they were good at and figured they'd be the right people for the job."

[hulkintraining]

"Tell me about it. For something that is supposed to expand our knowledge and solve problems, science can be a double-edged sword. Only as good as the person who wields the knowledge," he states with a bittersweet smile. "But that can be said for all types of power."

But Teddy doesn't want to linger on such thoughts long. It's not his place to comment on whether Cayde's experience was right or wrong. Or if the experiments were morally right or not. What matters is the Exo's experience. But for all that he's learning about Cayde, he feels he should at least be willing to share a bit of his own experience as well. For what it's worth.

Talking about the Exo's teammates is a welcome topic switch. "That was the first time you had ever worked together? Man, my first team's big debut did not go nearly that well. We didn't really have a clue what we were doing."

[deal_me_in]

Oh, he knows it, and he only nods. There were plenty of stories about the early days when the Guardians came into being, where that power and the ability to come back from the dead could be easily abused, when there wasn't a clear sight of what was to be achieved, and when people were still trying to get their feet under them and survive in a second dark age.

"Pretty much. They did all right, I think," Cayde grins. He's proud of his choices, unseemly a lot as they might have come off as. "I'm sure there could have been a lot of ways the mission could've gone south. Two of 'em hadn't been out in the field even longer than me, but being a Guardian's kinda like riding a Sparrow- you pick right up once you get back on." Jin and Banshee certainly hadn't disappointed.

"Teamwork's important, but I guess you don't always have the luxury of picking who's on it or ironing out how things'll work between you all. I picked my team based on what I knew they could do, and most of 'em had fought in a fireteam before so it wasn't completely a new drill for them. We know the game plan, but we also have each other's backs."

He tilts his head at Teddy. "That a story you care to share?" There's little he knows about the kid, about a lot of the kids stuck around here, come to think about it. At least he's giving the option, and he feels better asking about it than poking around someone's thoughts to see what might come up.

[hulkintraining]

Cayde is right that you don't always get to choose your teammates. At least, that had been Teddy's own experience being recruited for the Young Avengers. Not that he would have changed a thing. His teammates had become the closest thing he'd had to family after his mother's death, and they remain important to him even now that the team is disbanded.

"Okay, so we were recruited as a team by a guy named Nate, who was going by Iron Lad at the time. He wanted to form a next generation of the Avengers--a superhero team who had recently disbanded--so he found other teens with abilities to join him." He had technically found out about them through a fail-safe program Vision had created in the event that the Avengers fell, but Teddy is trying to keep this explanation as easy to understand as possible.

"We all got together out of costume like once and introduced ourselves before our first mission. We did a couple of demonstrations of our abilities and all but..." he trails off with a chuckle. "We were all fifteen and sixteen with limited knowledge of our abilities and next to no actual fighting experience. Our first bad guys were a couple of burglars, and while we were able to round them up for the police, it wasn't without a couple of hitches. We got in each others way, mistimed coordinated moves, you name it."

[deal_me_in]

Cayde settles in to listen, brow arching. "Well, everyone starts somewhere," he notes. Some Guardians have had decades of years of experience over others. He's seen all the varying levels, having been stuck in the Vanguard, but it's something to see a greenhorn turn into a seasoned, confident fighter over the course of time.

"Sometimes the best way to really figure things out is just to go for it. At least with a small job, you can still find out where the problems are." He chuckles. "The important thing is to get out of it in one piece and not be discouraged from trying to work things out. Takes time. I hope everything turned out eventually."