♤ The spaceman says everybody look down, It's all in your mind

[deal_me_in]

WHO: Cayde-6, his crewmates (Ren-Ren, Kitty-Catra, Dapper Cap), and whoever else!
WHERE: Aboard the Starduck, over the communicators
WHAT: SPACE TRIP...?! It's been anticlimactic so far and this Exo be bored Cayde they just started
WHEN: Beginning of the trip
WARNINGS: N/A, will adjust as needed.
NOTES: Will match preferred style as tagged. Feel free to make your own threads! Shoulda thought of saying that earlier but you know, hindsight all that stuff



Finally, he's been able to get aboard a ship. He's not really disappointed either; the Starduck's a swanky little thing. Maybe a little over the top. It's fine. Over the top is fun.

He's still been quite adamant about not touching the datapoints, not that it keeps him from trying to do things without them. Probably no one aboard will notice the extra singing about the edges of his hood, and he's had worse to the face when the Agrii "death tool" had bit back. It's nice having a metal head.

Naturally he would have made a beeline for the cockpit, sat himself in the pilot seat, and would have had to be shooed away for the actual pilot to take the controls. And so the next spot he'd be found in would be the bunks, where he's totally laid claim to the Captain's because it being the only single bed, was the most obvious choice.

Lying with arms folded behind his head to stare up at the ceiling and not the underside of someone else's bunk, it serves to keep him entertained for maybe a while unless someone challenges him for the bed. He's willing to give it up within good reason, but if no one complains, this is where he's keeping his stuff.

If it was hard to keep track of the time on the Agra 10, it's even harder on a ship out in space. Thus the question he voices, both aloud and over the network that he assumes is still connecting them to their buddies aboard the other ships, he poses the ever eternally important question:


are we there yet?

Comments

[brooklyn_boy]

"I was on the Bishop, but the ship was pretty much the same. We didn't have control over it, really. The Atroma did most of the navigating and speed control."

Steve goes to get a cup of water for himself. He'd like something stronger but he has no idea where he can find that, right now. He hadn't thought to pack any red fruits for the trip. Getting drunk hadn't seemed like a priority, then. Probably shouldn't be now, either. Lord knew it didn't even last long for him.

"Sorry if I interrupted you resting," he says. "I was just getting some exercise."

[deal_me_in]

The Exo scowls. He's heard some about these Atroma. "The Atroma sound like such a pleasant bunch. At least we're being trusted to fly the thing."

One might be surprised what he's packed. He's brought a few bottles of beer and wine that he'd gotten from Eli for his bar. Seemed silly to leave them. They're in the fridge along with a bottle of fresh-squeezed red.

"Eh, no interruption. I welcome all the interruption. Wasn't really resting anyway." Hard to rest when one is restless.

[brooklyn_boy]

Steve opens the fridge and sees... huh. Okay. Okay, someone had better packing lists than he did. Beer and wine wouldn't do anything for him but the red juice? Steve looks at the bottle for a long second and then just gives in by pulling it out and holding it up for Cayde to see.

"Is this yours?"

[deal_me_in]

"Help yourself," is Cayde's response as he shrugs, gesturing vaguely. "Figured it couldn't hurt to bring along something, especially when we're all out here."

Not that he can get drunk either on any of the stuff, but he can still provide. And after seeing the ship's selections? He does not regret it.

[brooklyn_boy]

That works for him. Steve will process it fast but he will at least get a buzz if he drinks it quickly. He pours himself a glass and slams it back in one go in order to hit that level. Being a super-soldier sometimes was just terribly inconvenient.

"Thanks," he says honestly. "After these days I really needed a drink or two."

[deal_me_in]

Cayde grins crookedly as he watches.

"I figure everyone does in general. Which is why I've been trying to put together a bar for the past month. Would've been nice to have it up and running, especially after all that calibrations crap."

And now this. A part of him can't say he isn't eager to see what all sort of trouble the Agrii have found if it means a fight, but not if that fight's drawing all of their number in.

[brooklyn_boy]

Steve smiles himself, remembering. "Where I was before this, there was a bar that was run by some friends of mine. I spent a lot of time there for a few weeks. It would be nice for everyone to have a place like that here. Someplace to relax."

Steve rolls the glass between his hands and glances toward the wall. Just like the ship he had spent nearly a year in.

"Hopefully after this mission we won't all be looking to drown out sorrows."

[deal_me_in]

"My thoughts exactly." The place couldn't hurt for somewhere to try and get your mind off of things, or just hang out. It'd be nice.

"Guess we'll see. We can't even be sure what we're really getting into," the Exo says, shrugging before he looks back over at the man. "How much do you trust the Agrii?"

He's genuinely curious. A lot of those he's spoken to have their doubts, and yet it's funny they've all piled into ships at their call.

[brooklyn_boy]

It's a good question. Steve thinks about it a moment before trying to give an answer.

"Before I came here...The Atroma were more or less transparent. They told us what they wanted from us and the parameters of our imprisonment. I thought the Agrii were the same but for slightly more understandable motives. But now I'm not so sure..."

[deal_me_in]

"That's not really saying much when they were using you guys for entertainment. At least, so's I heard."

It was not a pleasant thing to be informed of. He's been super suspicious of the ships because of it.

"The Agrii are definitely something to wonder about. I'm still not completely sold that the cutesy drawings aren't a front for some horrible, three-eyed vampire aliens. They're either just really clueless about...socializing with people outside of their own, or they are sinister folk who've crafted this whole story about them needing help."

The Hunter shrugs. "Either way? I'm hoping we don't get there too late. Trap or no trap, I aim to get some answers. Although I have a feeling that if they're letting people have death tools- somethin' serious is definitely going down."

[brooklyn_boy]

Steve nods and uses this comment to refocus himself. It's not the moment to feel sorry and grieve. Cayde is right: this could be a battle and one they are, in Steve's opinion, ill-prepared for. A few guns and weapons? If the Agrii were so technologically advanced that they could do all they had, why couldn't they defend themselves? What was going on?

He taps his finger on his glass in thought.

"I want some answers as well. I will admit that I was beginning to trust the story the Agrii told us. But after the last month or so. I am not sure... It is too strange and too similar to things I saw before.

"If it is a trap, I hope we're ready."

[deal_me_in]

Cayde manages an easy-going smile despite everything said.

"Well, the nice thing about being brought somewhere by suspicious aliens is that everyone to some degree is already suspicious of anything that is forthcoming. Trap or not, we're ready for something, and I guess that is about the best we can manage."

They were already looking out for each other. That was better than nothing.

[brooklyn_boy]

"You're not wrong."

Steve exhales and runs a hand over his face. "And at least we have weapons. That at least makes me think we'll be able to put up some sort of fight. Everyone seems to be gearing up."

Steve sips his drink again and leans back. "Part of me really hopes to see the Agrii, though. Prove that they're real instead of just a mask."

[deal_me_in]

"Weapons with a catch," the Exo points out. "Glad I still got my own." He grins, giving the holstered hand cannon at his hip a fond pat. "Limited ammo though, but aside from knives, I got a few surprises."

He gives his cup a bit of a spin on the table, watching it wobble in a clumsy half-circle. "Oh, I get that. Much as he hasn't returned my calls I'm kinda fond of Gary. It'd just be nice to know the Agrii actually exist, and that someone hasn't been pulling our chain this entire time."

[brooklyn_boy]

Steve had the same thought many times as well. He still remembers the Atroma and way they hadn't at all been what they seemed. The idea that the Agrii could be more of the same and that he was back where he started was a hard pill to swallow. Still, he would rather know than be in the dark.

"It would also be good to know if that is where the technology is for them to keep taking people. Give back the option to come and go as wanted."

[deal_me_in]

"Exactly," Cayde says with a snap-point in Steve's direction. "That is a big concern." He drums his fingers on the table then.

"...although that does just bring up more questions. Why are they keeping such a distance from their home planet? If it's just some instability from these storm things they keep talking about, then there's no reason to be in like, another star system or something away from it."

[brooklyn_boy]

Steve's thought about that question but not enough to have real ideas about answers. It did scream as suspicious. Why would they be so far away? Was it intentionally to be out of range from the shuttles? Surely the effects of the storm couldn't reach beyond the atmosphere. What was the real reason?

"I've also been thinking," Steve says carefully. "They were supposedly gone for so long. Thousands of years. If that's true, how do we keep finding things? The whole place should be completely overgrown. At the very least, we shouldn't still have usable medicine or buildings, should we?"

[deal_me_in]

"Thousands? Hah, hundreds, maybe. The ruins back home look about the same as what we've seen here, and they aren't thousands of years old. Hell, I've got a few centuries on me and I still look good."

Cayde shakes his head. "Who said they were gone that long? The Agrii? That seems kind of a bit of a while to decide they wanna clean house, don't it?"

[brooklyn_boy]

Steve can't actually remember what was said in that beginning message. Centuries, maybe. But even then it seems too well preserved. He's thought about it abstractly, but with Cayde his suspicions come to a finer point.

"They might have said centuries. I can't remember. But you're right. Why would they stay away so long? Why would they need to stay so far away?"

He frowns.

"It makes no sense..."

[deal_me_in]

"Things that make no sense seems to be a running trend with those guys," Cayde suggests, dryly.

"There are things I'm willing to attribute to language barriers, but there's a lot more going on here than I like." His finger drumming continues for a bit before he finally folds his arms to lean against the table.

"...those data thingys are all that's left providing any direct info about the Agrii, right?"

[brooklyn_boy]

He thinks about it and can't come up with anything else that wasn't provided by the Agrii in some form. "Yeah. The data points seem to be the only way we find out anything. Unless Ga Re says something to us which hasn't been a lot."

[deal_me_in]

Somehow the metal plates on Cayde's face shift enough to convey a scrunched up expression, a wrinkled nose.

"...so we're only learning things about them that they want us to. Because other than that, funny that an entire library hasn't survived, and you'd figure there'd have to be something left of records or culture."

[brooklyn_boy]

"You're not wrong."

It is always a bad idea to take biased information as fact. They've had nothing else to go on, though, so it was the best option in the short run. Now, however, they could potentially be able to get more. The truth. Whatever that ended up being.

"Maybe on the ship they will have computers we can access. Something with data."

[deal_me_in]

Data is good. Preferably data that doesn't have to download directly into your head. Cayde's still super wary about that method. Still, he nods his agreement.

"Yeah. Here's hoping there's still a ship to get to. If our ships travel any slower we'll be going backwards."

[brooklyn_boy]

"I take it your ships are much faster where you're from?"

He's talked to many people over the years and have heard it all. Warp. Jumps. Light-speed. For a lot of people, space travel is a matter of normal activity instead of being novel. Before the Fleet, Steve had never been in space once.