♤ Into the Unknown

[deal_me_in]

WHO: Cayde-6 and OTA
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Weathering the storm...
WHEN: Midway into things
WARNINGS: N/A, will change as needed


If not for Sundance, he would have no idea how many days have passed since they'd arrived back on Agra 10, much less how long they've endured the storm once they'd left for the ruined city.

It was easy to say that that had been a mistake. The wrongness brought on by the storm had warped Temba's atmosphere somehow. He felt just as weak as he had when Ghaul had first slapped that oversized bear-trap across the Traveler and cut off everyone's Light. Naturally it didn't stop him. He'd survived before, he'd do it again. He treated this storm intrusion and all it brought to bear as a challenge, and being the stubborn Hunter that he was, he wasn't backing down.

At first he'd tried his best to play it off. He'd heard about what the previous storm had brought, and at least he had Sundance here to confirm that the things, the people he'd seen in the storm were not really there. It was only a slight comfort, because it was damn hard ignoring the accusing eyes of an old friend and brother. Except Andal Brask didn't leave. And eventually such visions came back...with friends.

Not actually friends.

Rain soaked most of the interior of his clocktower as though the wind had purposely made an effort to hurl water into every corner and crevice it could through the cracks and gaping holes in the walls. Thankfully he hadn't much he'd left behind, but as he picked up soaked, blank sheets of paper from dark puddles, Cayde felt like he was being watched.

The crack of gunshots wasn't as sharp as they would have been, not with the storm's relentlessness, but they were noticeable within the near vicinity of the clocktower, as well as the brief flash of light that accompanied each shot, flaring feebly through the ruined upper floor of the building, as though the darkness itself were alive and seeping in. But that was just one's imagination. Wasn't it..?

Comments

[deal_me_in]

"Lucky for the storm that I couldn't bring all my guns with me," Cayde says, and indeed he fixates on that humor like a moth to a flame. It's easier for him to do so, to re-don his carefree mask, with little urging.

Nodding, he starts on down, still keeping an eye out for anything weird, a gloved hand settled over his Ace of Spades, making him feel at least a little better prepared despite knowing how little good it would do. "Maybe. Yeah. I can see the sense in that," he acknowledges. "Never been in one of these before, but from what I heard, didn't seem to match up. The seeing people part, yeah, but...not everything else."

[seeingscarlet]

"These illusions are..." She trails off, unable to find a good word for it. "Last time, they didn't talk to us. They might have stood somewhere dangerous to reach, but they didn't try to hurt us directly. No more than seeing people we miss already did." She'd been more afraid that they'd somehow been stuck in some sort of cosmic maelstrom between worlds, unable to land on either side. And maybe that fear had helped fuel it, but there had been just as many people who had been sure it was only an illusion who had still been affected as she was.

"This is much worse. And I think it can still be worse than this? The Agrii didn't make us hide this time."

[deal_me_in]

"Don't think we had a choice this time. We were drawn here. I don't recall any announcements from the Agrii saying the ride was over, everyone get off. We all filed off into our ships, like we were expecting something. Didn't like that one bit."

Cayde shakes his head, pausing at the foot of the stairs, trying not to look towards every flicker of light, wonder at every shadow if something or someone was there. You're clear, Sundance assures him, and he knows she's one voice he can trust more than his own thoughts right now.

"There's probably always a worse, though," he begrudgingly admits. "This storm's not outright killing us. Something wants us to suffer through it."

[seeingscarlet]

"It's not the first time something like that has happened. Either here or...before." She doesn't like it either. A compulsion that can bypass whatever the Mind Stone had changed in her...she can shrug off the influence of an aspect of the universe made material but she's not even aware of whenever that compulsion gets its claws in her. It's scary.

Wanda looks out into the gloom of the street, wishing that she could summon even a small wisp of power just for the light. Even if it couldn't actually do anything, she'd feel better. But Cayde needs her right now, so she tries to put on a brave face. "Do you want me to take a look?" She doesn't see Taniks or the dark Witch or anything of those other nightmares...but given the inclement weather, that's not a guarantee that there's nothing out there.

[deal_me_in]

The Hunter Vanguard shakes his head. "We're good," he says, and at least he sounds convinced of that. Their chatting has helped him to forget the imagined pain of taking phantom slugs to the chest, and having someone else to worry about aside from himself helps with the distraction.

"Come on," he says, stepping out farther. True, they could do for some light, but given that they're connection with the Light has been cut off, he'd rather keep Sundance safe where she can't be touched. The storm's distorted everything with rain and wind, and the darkness isn't helping, but he's got a general idea of where they are and where they need to head, something he can confirm with each flash of lightning.

[seeingscarlet]

"I'm here," she says, reaching out to put a hand on his arm just so they both know where the other is. Cayde's eyes and throat light up, so he's hard to miss at least, but Wanda's not sure if he has heat vision capabilities or if she might be able to accidentally startle him. It wouldn't be kind or fair to assume that he has the same abilities as Vision or Ultron even if some of the physical resemblances between Cayde and Ultron are a little uncanny.

"Which way?" Her hood is doing very little to shield her from the rain and wind - it's a good thing he's here. However he sees, at least his optics aren't as affected by the environment as Wanda's eyes.

[deal_me_in]

He has his Ghost, which is something at least, and better for the solid sense Sundance still manages to have of the surroundings and actual people present. Wanda's hand on his arm is added reassurance. He'd like to think he doesn't startle easy, but the last thing he wants to do is give in to an itchy trigger-finger and do something terrible to a friend. This storm has him wound up tighter than a clock spring.

"Straight ahead," Cayde says, leading them onward along the rain-slicked and muddied road. Everything looks different, cast all in shadow and warped by the blurring rain, but he knows his way well enough.

A lone figure stands at the edge of the torn up path they walk, wearing the same armor and hooded, raggedy cloak as the Exo Hunter. Although the upper half of his face is in shadow, a flash of lightning reveals it to be a human one. Cayde forces himself to keep looking forwards, shoulders hunching just slightly as they pass him by.

[seeingscarlet]

They're close enough and it's a distinctive enough cloak that even hampered by the storm as she is, Wanda can tell it matches Cayde's. She doesn't ask. She can make an educated guess given the current situation and how ragged Cayde's cloak is and, well, it's not like she hadn't been glued to Pietro's borrowed jacket for weeks after...after the battle.

"I am going to make soup tonight. Lots of it," she announces to the air, in an attempt to give Cayde something else to focus on. "Or maybe something with the vegetables that are like potatoes and the chicken gel. It is not so bad if you fry it, and this is also fried food weather. Anything warm should help." She's rambling a bit, she knows, but even with her powers there wouldn't be much else she could do for him. "What do you have for comfort food in the future?"

[deal_me_in]

"Soup sounds good," Cayde says, latching onto the subject like a remora to a passing shark. "-Chicken gel?" That makes him glance at her in genuine...well, maybe not curiosity, but it's weird enough that it grabs his attention. "Should I ask? ...is there pork gel?"

The thought of something warm and not being out in the rain does sound a lot better than the present though. He looks forward again, almost smiling.

"Ramen. Spicy ramen. That's my go-to, anyway. There's this one shop? Absolutely delicious. I'm a regular. Even got packs of the dry stuff- never know when you're not in the city but craving a bowl. ...how 'bout you? Anything particular you go for?"

[seeingscarlet]

"From the protein dispensers, if I can find one that works. They have other flavors, but if you want pork you will have to ask the Agrii. And you know how they are." No, Ga Re, you are never going to live down feeding your He Rows meat-flavored ice cream.

"I've never had real ramen. I know there are places in the city but I've never had a chance." Which is technically true, if you count the months she did nothing beyond training and holing up in her room in her grief. And being in public isn't always fun for a famous - or infamous, depending on who you ask - telepath. "For me...paprikash, burek, or anything freshly-baked. Sometimes the baking is the comfort." A beat. "And the Americans do so much with cheese...it's simple, and I know it shouldn't be good, but it is."

[deal_me_in]

"Right. Agrii palates are weird." Although that might only make him try just to see what they'd end up giving him. It's more fun to think about than other things, anyway.

"No? Good stuff. Blows the instant stuff right out of the water. If we had ingredients I'd try cooking you up some. -if I knew how to cook." Cayde lets his puzzlement show as he's never heard of paprikash or burek. Baked? He can get behind baked.

"Guess one of the nice things about the Last City being the last city- you get people from everywhere. So all the foods and cultures and things are blended together from whoever came from wherever, survived and thrived. -think I can just make out the fountain."

He points, distant lightning casting faint outlines of the emptier square as it widens out between the buildings lining it.