Cayde-6 (
deal_me_in) wrote in
revivalproject2020-11-23 09:19 pm
โค Like Moths to a Flame
WHO: Cayde-6, Jonathan Sims, and Tony Stark
WHERE: The Green Quadrant
WHAT: ...IS THAT BLINKY LIGHT
WHEN: Sometime this weekish
WARNINGS: N/A - Will update as necessary
It had been a mystery that had consistently nagged at the Exo ever since he'd first noticed it. Taking up residence in the clocktower had only verified that he hadn't just been seeing things one evening, and every time he looked off in that particular direction of the city, the blue, intermittent glow beckoned, or perhaps taunted was the better term. He'd get to it, he promised himself.
Naturally he'd had it in his head that he'd try checking it out alone at first. That was back then, and being without his Ghost, he supposed it would be better to exercise maybe a little more caution than he tended to. He was sure that if he'd left a note saying where he'd gone, certain people might be upset with him. Clearly the answer then was to invite them along, and he'd be in good company. They had the time now, hopefully, and Cayde fully intended to make use of it before they found themselves suddenly on another extended space voyage. Jon had wanted to check out some places, and Tony, well surely he'd been curious about the light's source as well.
His message was pretty cut and dry so far as one could expect by way of invitations and intentions. He even hand-wrote them because he thought it'd be cute, and left them where he'd hoped his buddies might find them.
๐ฎโด ๐๐ฝโด'๐ ๐๐
๐ปโด๐ ๐ถ ๐๐พ๐๐๐โฏ ๐ถ๐น๐โฏ๐๐๐๐๐พ๐โ? โฌโฏ๐ธ๐ถ๐๐โฏ ๐๐ฝโฏ๐โฏ'๐ ๐ถ ๐
โฏ๐๐๐พ๐๐โฏ๐๐๐๐ โ๐โด๐๐พ๐โ ๐ท๐๐โฏ ๐๐พโ๐ฝ๐ โด๐๐ ๐๐ฝโฏ๐โฏ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐๐ธ๐โฏ๐ถ๐๐พ๐โ ๐ฎโฐ๐โโฐ๐ฏ๐ฎ.
๐ซ๐โฏ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐โฏ๐ถ๐โฏ โ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ซ ๐ถ๐ ๐โด๐๐ โฏ๐ถ๐๐๐พโฏ๐๐ ๐ธโด๐๐โฏ๐๐พโฏ๐๐ธโฏ. ๐ณ๐ช๐ณ๐ช ๐๐ถ๐๐นโฏ
Like as there would be some light planning at best, although the Exo wasn't very big on plans, but Jon and Tony might have otherwise to say, especially considering their previous exploration endeavor. Cayde packed the essentials, which amounted to his trademark hand cannon, a few knives, and one of the guns that he'd claimed from the Graq. At least those didn't blow up in his face when he tried shooting them.
They'd met up in front of Cal's workshop and then made their way out towards the far northeastern corner of the city, well beyond its main roads.
WHERE: The Green Quadrant
WHAT: ...IS THAT BLINKY LIGHT
WHEN: Sometime this weekish
WARNINGS: N/A - Will update as necessary
It had been a mystery that had consistently nagged at the Exo ever since he'd first noticed it. Taking up residence in the clocktower had only verified that he hadn't just been seeing things one evening, and every time he looked off in that particular direction of the city, the blue, intermittent glow beckoned, or perhaps taunted was the better term. He'd get to it, he promised himself.
Naturally he'd had it in his head that he'd try checking it out alone at first. That was back then, and being without his Ghost, he supposed it would be better to exercise maybe a little more caution than he tended to. He was sure that if he'd left a note saying where he'd gone, certain people might be upset with him. Clearly the answer then was to invite them along, and he'd be in good company. They had the time now, hopefully, and Cayde fully intended to make use of it before they found themselves suddenly on another extended space voyage. Jon had wanted to check out some places, and Tony, well surely he'd been curious about the light's source as well.
His message was pretty cut and dry so far as one could expect by way of invitations and intentions. He even hand-wrote them because he thought it'd be cute, and left them where he'd hoped his buddies might find them.
๐ซ๐โฏ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐โฏ๐ถ๐โฏ โ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ซ ๐ถ๐ ๐โด๐๐ โฏ๐ถ๐๐๐พโฏ๐๐ ๐ธโด๐๐โฏ๐๐พโฏ๐๐ธโฏ. ๐ณ๐ช๐ณ๐ช ๐๐ถ๐๐นโฏ
Like as there would be some light planning at best, although the Exo wasn't very big on plans, but Jon and Tony might have otherwise to say, especially considering their previous exploration endeavor. Cayde packed the essentials, which amounted to his trademark hand cannon, a few knives, and one of the guns that he'd claimed from the Graq. At least those didn't blow up in his face when he tried shooting them.
They'd met up in front of Cal's workshop and then made their way out towards the far northeastern corner of the city, well beyond its main roads.

no subject
"So it got me thinking after that whole mess last however long ago, things were way too tailor-made for us to flip out and react to," Cayde began, gesturing vaguely. Sundance continued to keep an eye on the other two for him, she'd tell him if anything else happened, but so long as they were talking, he figured they were at least still together.
"Something has to get in our heads for that. I don't know if it's the same with every storm but it sounded like this one was different. I don't have much of a baseline to go by but we've already had a similar experience, being in each other's heads. So what if that calibrations crap was just an excuse to dig up our juicy memories and experiences and load 'em up into whatever's fueling these storms to make them that much more effective? At least it makes sense to me if this is all something someone made..."
Hearing practically magical words from Jon, he glanced at the Archivist, almost grinning. If a few shots from his Golden Gun wouldn't be enough, he was sure that between him and Stark they'd be able to rig something up with the spare gun he'd brought along.
no subject
The melody came to a collective halt at Jon's question, Tony looking his way at the same time as Cayde with a more contemplative expression. Destroying it was a gamble when they didn't actually know what it did. After a beat, "If we have to," Tony was willing to offer, sure he'd never had a problem blowing something up that was in his way. He peeled off then to try to circle enough around the tower, hoping to spot some aberration in its base to tell him how anyone would be utilizing it, but ended squinting up at the brownian sky. "Are we sure it's a light?" he asked.
no subject
Though before his fingers make contact, Jon's attention follows Tony's direction upwards and he grimaces a little while squinting up at what's on top. "...I don't think it wants us here."
Whereas wants probably isn't the correct word. Or maybe it is, which would add a whole different layer to their entire situation. Which would open up the hidden door to a whole different explanation for a lot of things that have happened. But those explanations wouldn't be any more comforting than the lack of one.
no subject
Cayde halted as they found themselves at the tower base, cutting himself off with a look that was met with his Ghost's. "Power's back on," he said with a grin, an almost ambiguous statement, but his Ghost nodded. The Exo set his hands at his hips and looked on up, squinting at the distant light.
"...pff. 'course it don't want us here. It's still trying, whatever it is." He was sizing up the tower, eyeballing a potential path up as only a Hunter who had jumped plenty of precarious places would.
"Bet I could make it up."
no subject
That wasn't an actionable thought, though, and Cayde climbing the tower definitely was. Tony finally dropped his gaze to consider the Exo, not entirely sure he wanted to encourage that experiment with the looming threat of a distracting hallucination, but eager to find out what they had trekked out here for. "Bet you a deep clean--my forge, your bar--you don't," he challenged. If that didn't get Cayde all the way up there, Tony had misjudged the Exo's pride.
no subject
He quickly looks back down, shaking his head, refocusing. "...should have thought of figuring out some climbing gear, I suppose." He murmurs rather than speaking as loud as intended.
no subject
As Jon looked down, the Exo was already leaping up. His first jump was an impressive height in itself, but in midair he bounced upwards again as though finding some invisible foothold, and then again a third time before he actually moved to hook his boot on the tower's edge and repeat the motions. He got about a third of the way up when he seemed to slip, take a misstep. His hand grasped for purchase, and there was a tense moment before he managed to get propped up against something to continue scaling the tower. Just because the power cut-off had seemed to stop, didn't mean the things playing on their senses had.
no subject
"Do you see that?" he muttered, but he was already dumping the heavy length of rope he carried into Jon's arms, freeing his own and, hopefully, slowing Jon down should he find some lure in the seconds that no one was watching him. Laser focused on the narrow edge, Tony stalked closer to the structure and ran his fingers along the dent. Maybe he could find out what this thing was doing if he could crack it open.
no subject
Is Cayde- Jumping?
Though just as he opens his mouth to put that question into words, Tony is next to him and wonder is replaced by a warm reassurance that apparently this is perfectly normal. Which doesn't make Jon's face any less baffled. Especially when he finds himself being handed a rope. He blinks at the rope, then back up after the Exo, and finally over to Tony before walking over to the latter, refraining to mention that Tony's discovery has been there the entire time, yet Jon hasn't thought much of it.
"Wait, you- You think you can open this?" Oh, someone is very much out of his depths at the moment, indeed.
no subject
"From the light, or...something else something?" Cayde asked, tugging himself closer to the tower as he pushed off again. He started feeling it soon enough, an added pressure as though he'd jumped headfirst into water. Was it his senses throwing him off again? Things flickered again and everything was upside-down. He shut his optics. "-dance???" he blurted, reaching out for the tower to grab hold of.
Everything was incredibly sluggish. His hand felt like it was moving through sludge. Depth perception went sideways and when it snapped back, his fingers had closed on air. In panic he boosted himself once more, to try again, but this time there was hardly any lift. Thankfully he had no tongue as he was sure he would have bit it off between the curse he began to mouth and the sudden push before he found himself free-falling.
Naturally, going down was a lot more quicker than the trip up, and that last jump and the gravitational resistance behind it had acted like two opposing magnetic forces. "INCOMING! COMING IN HOT! MOVE MOVE MOVE!" the plummeting Exo shouted, desperately waving his arms for his buddies to get clear.
no subject
With a glance up to spot the source and the blooming shadow that fell across his face just as Cayde's voice came in to confirm that, at the very least, this was a more robust hallucination than the others, Tony's eyes widened and he was suddenly doing some very quick math. Not that his math was ever slow. He grabbed and yanked Jon roughly to flatten against the tower just in time to launch himself directly through the Exo's velocity, trying to shove the energy into a more survivable tumble than a terminal pitch straight into the ground. How survivable that exchange would be for Tony was not as clear.
no subject
Things fall in place for Jon just as Tony acts and he, too, looks up at what is coming down their way. His initial scream is cut short, though, knocked out of him along with any air his lungs may have been holding when his back hits the tower roughly.
He is not being left with enough time to do much aside from watching the Exoโs impact much closer to where they have just been standing than he likes to admit. โTony! Cayde!!โ
no subject
It didn't take him long to figure out what the man was intending. It couldn't have been all that comfortable throwing yourself at an Exo even if he were standing still. Momentum was sufficiently diverted but still had plenty to burn off, and Cayde meant to take the brunt of it, even with knowing Tony had the extra plating.
He wrapped his arms around him, feeling his shoulder hit the ground funny, eliciting a garbled yelp in pain that was cut off as their skid transferred into a tumble, and he turned his head so he wouldn't accidentally gore the man in the face as they continued to roll several good meters from the initial point of impact. Finally enough of their momentum had been killed that they came to a halt, dust already settling in their wake.
no subject
The dust seemed to hang an impossible long time in the unnaturally still air, descending as slowly as Tony could bring himself to move as he peeled away from Cayde, the shoulder he had braced against the Exo grinding in its socket and making Tony utter a strangled groan until he could drop himself onto his back in the dirt next to the absolutely terrible pilot, wheezing. How much the undersuit, sprung like fire across his skin in the scant seconds before Cayde reached the ground, was actually holding him together was not something Tony wanted to think about. "I win," he croaked, and immediately regretted it, really hoping that wasn't the last thing Cayde heard anyone say to him.
no subject
Jon wants to scream.
What he does instead, his look up, right above him, at the massive eye lookin he back at him, unblinking.
โFuck.โ
Thatโs an initial assessment. One followed by Jon dropping the rope, pushing himself off the tower and darting forward into the wavering field of slaughter just ahead of him as it reverts back to a less bloody, but no less disturbing reality. And all the while Jon mutters harsh curses towards himself.
โShit. Shit! Fuck- Shiโ SUNDANCE!โ The Ghostโs name is barked loudly. A desperate command as well as a plea. โSundance!! Help Cayde!โ
And he can only hope the Ghost can hear him as Jon scrambles to a halt next to Tony, falling to his knees and quickly checking the manโs head for any obvious injuries aside from the apparent bruise on his forehead and the scratch to his nose and cheek. The Archivistโs panicking muttering only continues. โChrist, Tony. Why did youโ D-Donโt do these things! I- I am not Billy! I canโt- I- I... I am not Billy! Donโt do this. Be okay. Be okay, please, be okayโ
no subject
"Ugh."
It wasn't exactly a response to Tony's statement, but it could have been. Cayde's eyes slowly opened to see Sundance staring down at him, but she held no judgement as she floated back to give him room, looking back at Jon however. She could patch Cayde up a least. Tony would be a different story, so she hoped he hadn't suffered too much from the landing. Already she could tell the extent of Cayde's injuries. Quite a few things still got knocked out of alignment, but it could have been a lot worse without Tony's intervention for sure.
Slowly the Exo leveled himself up- or at least that was the plan. It didn't go quite that well in practice as he lifted himself maybe a few inches. "...you tell 'im, Jon," he murmured with a raise and drop of his good hand. Sundance took her cue, light flaring briefly as she expanded, her points separating from the spherical core and orbiting around it a she hovered over her Guardian. All at once she snapped back together, light shimmering across Cayde before he successfully pushed himself to sit up giving his shoulder a test rotation.
no subject
"Thank god," he grumbled about Jon not being Billy, definitely in no condition to handle someone trying to do magic to him right now, although whatever Sundance was doing over there looked a lot like magic. Shit, they were sitting up, they were supposed to be better already, and Tony was going to have to stop clinging to Jon's hand to be able to leverage himself up, much slower than the Exo and with his eyes squeezed shut. Belatedly, he realized he should answer, "M'okay," through grit teeth, then, in a panic, shoved as much of that away to stare apologetically at Jon and ask, "You hurt?"
no subject
Tony follows soon after and Jon finds one of his hands being taken captive. Which in itself isn't an unfamiliar or even unwelcome move, if it weren't for how weak Tony's hold feels. And it echoes in how laborious Tony makes it look when he sits up. It makes Jon grimace, putting one hand on Tony's shoulder and the other on his back to keep him steady.
Being asked if he is okay? Jon just looks at Tony for a moment in surprise, then presses his lips into a thin line and frowns as his own fretting panic is overtaken by concern again. Yes, this is a very Tony way of reacting. The man has somewhat self-destructive priorities and this little stunt only has proven that again. Once more, Jon exhales, but at least he has stopped babbling and pleading and instead just gives a gentle nudge to Tony's shoulder to try and prompt him back down while instead pleading with his eyes. When exactly has he taken another breath? "Christ, Tony- Stay own, please! I'm fine. You- We don't know if you broke a rib or something, but-- You're in pain. You're hurt."
At least that much is obvious. And at least something one would expect. It's normal. Jon quickly looks up to Cayde, raising his brows in the Exo's direction. "Cayde, you- You alright?" Will they have to worry about the Exo's ribs as well?
no subject
"Damn it Stark, if you broke something on account of me-" he started, forcing a crooked smile that jarred with his tone. He figured he was the easiest to fix out of the three. Maybe that was taking the Light, taking Sundance for granted, but he didn't want his people getting hurt. That was the Guardian part of him, but it was also the Cayde that was fiercely protective of the people he came to care about.
"Can you get up? We gonna have to take a raincheck on this venture?" He didn't even sound reluctant to suggest it. Wasn't like the place was going anywhere. "Or you want me to carry you?" If he kept things serious too long it'd just be weird. They had enough serious here, and he could be concerned while still being frivolous.
no subject
"What happened up there?" he prompted to push past this idea, shifting over and only conceding enough to motion for Jon's help to get back to his feet. If anything was broken, it wasn't something that was going to stop him from walking, so it shouldn't impact their immediate concern. "If this thing is pumping out storm energy, listen, easy job, I'm not heading back into town just to tell someone we didn't think we should take care of that just yet. Here." With Jon close, Tony shifted for him to see the gauntlet on Tony's uncooperative arm, and encouraged, "Release, there, at the elbow, and another, down--take it." It would be a relief not to be carrying the weight anymore, at least.
no subject
"Just let's agree to not do anything potentially dangerous anymore." He grumbles while fiddling a moment with the pointed out release. Which proves trickier than he thought, yet after a few additional moments comes off. It's- Odd. To hold a part of an actual super hero outfit. Or armor. But the concern is back in Jon's voice when he looks up from the gauntlet and back at Tony. "Did you injure your hand?" That? At least would be an injury Jon is familiar with dealing with. He has had to wrap his own hands plenty of times by now. And dealing with imminent injuries still takes priority with possibly taking out this tower.
no subject
"Hit some resistance higher up, pushed back with double the gravity. Something doesn't want us getting any higher to check out that light," the Exo explained, frowning. Jon's suggestion just had him give a Look. "Or we can just assume that anything we get into around here has that potential. But all right, we keep going once you guys are ready." Fine as he was feeling, he could still feel awkward about not being able to be of any use when it came to his hurt friends.
"Going up's a bust. We got any other options?"
no subject
"High energy output, invisible barrier..." he tried to work out, not sure what to do with this new data point as he shuffled his way back into the puzzle. "Not a barrier, a push--a pull?," he posited, glancing back toward Cayde to find out if that could have been what happened to him. "A mass of energy so dense it has its own gravitational field that--that's too localized, no..." Back at the tower, he could nod toward the aborted discovery of a possible access point for Cayde, and said, "Might be an option."
no subject
โMaybe climbing it in a more controlled manner is still an option?โ The Archivist muses aloud while carefully slipping the metal glove over his own hand. Of course itโs too big for him and his relatively small hands and lack of strong forearms, but at least that means he wonโt get stuck in it? And he does manage to wiggle his own gauntleted fingers at himself while mouthing a silent โokayโ at this process.
no subject
Cayde brought up the rear as their little group began to head back for the tower's base, but he started to move ahead once he saw what Tony indicated. Well, if they couldn't go up, why not down? Brilliant.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)