revivalproject | ♤ There's a Method in His Madness

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♤ There's a Method in His Madness

WHO: Cayde-6 and yooou
WHERE: Around this weirdo city
WHAT: ~~Getting into trouble~~ Trying to track down people he knows
WHEN: Mid-May
WARNINGS: N/A

Arson
We'll both have to do something separately. Each should try to get the attention of one of those groups or try to find others that remember Temba. It had sounded like a decent plan to Cayde. The question had just been the what. He supposed vandalizing Stark's place was out of the question, not to mention the security he'd have to avoid. The same probably goes for the other big-name buildings. Who's this Djarin anyway?

In the end, the only casualty is a billboard. That had been a slight mistake on Cayde's part, having underestimated how quickly one would catch fire, and he only hoped at least something of that by now trademark Agrii face he'd traced out had been seen before the rest of the board had been caught up in flames.

The second attempt had been bolder, down a street and done at late hours when traffic was near non-existent. Few witnesses would say they'd seen a hooded figure running about the middle of a street for the length of a block. Just before he vanished, the street was lit up in flames. Images taken from above street level would see the message better, a fiery, strange message by someone who obviously couldn't spell:

DON'T FORGET, HE ROWS

((OOC: Not actually a prompt Cayde will be responding to so much as a 'here's a thing he did' but reactions are welcome! Unless someone wants to catch him leaving the scene of the ~~crime~~ message. If so, only one taker please!))

The Super Sleuth..?
The newspaper he'd borrowed from Echo had shown him some interesting things, and not just Captain America in a tree trying to rescue the cat Cayde had also borrowed. Obviously after that strange alien invasion the other day, it's probably safe to assume that this city is anything but normal- aside from the fact that it probably shouldn't even exist. He'd seen Ikora blasting aliens with void magic. The Soldier had suddenly taken on some hero roll and seemed downright chipper about it. And then there were other names floating about in articles that got him thinking.

Hopefully Echo doesn't expect this paper back. It's got circles around names in headlines and things. Names of local heroes (he rows?) and vigilantes.

"Oh yes, Cayde, you are so very clever," he tells himself as he folds the paper up while he crosses a street. Which he totally has the right of way! The hand thingy's not flashing yet! It's the truck's fault for having its brakes go out as it comes down the sloped street, horn blaring as it lurches this way and that in the driver's effort to shave off some speed but it's still coming rather fast. "-seriously?"

Warlock Hunt (For Lark and Ikora)
Spending time thinking and reminscing about Ikora to, what was it- acclimatize the wool thread he'd bought had been extremely strange and borderline creepy in his opinion, although it had also been a sobering suggestion of what could easily just be gone if whatever was going on in this city continued. Cayde had given Lark the thread once she was ready to work with it, eager to see how things panned out with this magical map she said she could create. And he had not been disappointed.

"So does that work with like...objects too or just people?" he asks as they set foot into the library. That map trick had worked spectacularly, and Cayde being one who liked his paper maps had bought a city one just to match up with the one Lark had woven. He'd almost smacked himself in the head. Where else would a Warlock be in a city?

"Let's see. Do we ask for Miss Rey...?" he wonders aloud even as he tries and fails to stifle snickers at that. He wonders if Ikora's ever been called 'Miss Rey' in her entire Guardian life.

Wildcard
((OOC: Want his 'sleuthing' to have him end up where your character is, provided he might have seen a hero name in a paper and took a guess at who they might be if it seemed obvious to him, or if they had their own names come up in it! ~~...oh gosh is he gonna get kicked out of the newspaper office too...~~))

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Ikora kept her hand out for Lark to work on her sleeve as she absorbed all that. She was quiet for a moment.

"It's a very powerful spells. Almost like a Hive throne world. Reality shifted and contained." She looked between the two of them. "We're going to have to break it."

Because trapped in this alternate reality was not how Ikora wanted to spend her life, as much as she loved being surrounded by books.

"A spell this large will be hard to unravel without a better understanding of the source, the means, and perhaps more capable magic users than merely myself and you," Lark noted, setting the selected bit of string against Ikora's sleeve along the cut. Then she twitched her fingers and fed magic and intent into the string.

It wove itself into a quick ladder stitch down the length of the tear, binding the cut and then the thread even went to weave its ends into the material of her shirt.

"Nicer than Hive-craft, I think. Although maybe that's what also makes it more sinister," Cayde opined.

He leaned in close to watch as Lark magically mended Ikora's sleeve. It wasn't the first time he'd seen her work, but it was no less entrancing, and he stared like an overly curious child. When it was completed, he grinned even as he shuddered, straightening. "That will never not be weird- in a good way!" he amended quickly. Just as creepy as Petra with her magical knife tricks.

"So yeah, breaking the spell. That's the million glimmer question- where's the source?"

"You've said in the past that these Agrii have played tricks and taken you through time and space. I would think they could be responsible for something like this."

She inspected the repair and then inclined her head towards Lark. "Thank you."

"But a spell this strong has a source and if we can find the right energy to track perhaps we can find it." She had no idea what sort of scanning capabilities pre-Golden Age technology had. It might not be able to detect magical energy like ghosts could.

"I am pleased to amuse," Lark told Cayde, her voice flat and clearly far from amused. Yes, she did not think that this was all that interesting. But once it's done she steps back and offers a brief curtsy.

"I could try and weave another map, but maps to magic and of magic are not my specialty."

"I don't see what good making us all think we were in some city living out normal lives would do towards fixing up their own city," Cayde pointed out. "Otherwise they'd be the first to point fingers at. This? This isn't helping with anything. Also, I don't think magic's their style."

Not that there was really any hard proof that they didn't use it, and something was getting them to go do this or that without them being aware of it. The Exo frowned, shaking his head. He stuck with his gut feeling, even with the lack thereof.

"Anyway, they didn't really play tricks. They sent us on vacation, then they asked us to come rescue them, and then there was that surprise trip to Coruscant. But there was always a point, and usually they'd say something if they could."

Either way, it still left them with no leads. Cayde glanced at Lark then. "Might not work out so well if this whole place is magic. We'd have to find something else to home in on." That wasn't really easy either, but they didn't seem to have much options. "Guess in the meantime all we can do is keep an eye out for others who might still remember."

"So, who else have you encountered with magic that can warp reality on this scale? Another alien race? Jon mentioned the Agrii might be controlled by another alien race. That we were their reality show." She gestured to her office, her boring, normal office where she has things like "Budget meeting" and "Summer Reading Camp planning" on her schedule.

A normal life might be more interesting than rebuilding rubble to those aliens. Ikora was still figuring out the world they'd left behind for this one.

"My Light has been transformed to magic," she explained. "Even Ophiuchus has been effected."

"I don't want to talk about it," the black cat said. The ghost had clearly regained his memories and now he was sulking.

"Perhaps there's something these new powers can do."

And now they had most definitely passed what Lark could offer proper information for. But she could learn things, so she was quiet as she considered the woman's words. She did open her mouth in shock and confusion over the cat talking. This was all... very strange.

"If it is possible to be useful, I can attempt another scrying map, such as brought us to you, Miss Ikora. Cayde can vouch to the usefulness of it. However, as he has noted, this whole spell is something I cannot map, so I cannot be certain it would work. But if there is another you would seek, I might be able to get you where you wish to go."

"Heehee, look'it yoooou," Cayde cooed as a hand gravitated towards the Ghost-turned-cat, grinning. "At least you're here. I have no idea what's happened to Sundance." Which of course bothered him, even if it wasn't the first time without his Ghost. "I'm not sure if it's magic or something else, but I found out I can still use Solar too." He didn't go into detail on that. Even though it had been useful finding it out, helping Tony Stark out had resulted in a bitter parting.

"I have no firsthand experience with the Atroma, so everything I've told you is stuff I've heard from other people that were part of their Fleet thing. I'm not sure if what they do is actually magic. Otherwise I'd say it seems like something up their alley- throw us into a situation, see what comes out of it? Something on this scale though..." The Exo shook his head.

"It's tricky, right? If everyone was in their right minds we could just figure we've all been teleported to a new world. But we have people believing they've been here forever, powers not quite working the way they were... an alternate sort of reality." His faceplates scrunched up. "But whose reality? This is pre-Golden Age so far as I can tell so it's not yours or mine, and Lark's not familiar with things here so it can't be influenced from her. It's Earth, definitely. That's really all I got. Maybe we should stick to looking for others for now. They're swimming in this city-soup somewhere. I don't think any of us would be able to provide enough to work with for another map though. We might just have to do this the old-fashioned way."

"Pre-Golden age does give us some options," Ikora said as she went to sit at her desk. She gestured for both of them to sit as well, though she doubted Cayde would sit still. "All the social media sites of the time seem to exist here. If no one has a new name, we should be able to simple search the internet for them."

Ophiuchus did not appreciate Cayde cooing at him. He's not a cat. He's a Ghost. He huffed and slipped under Ikora's desk.

"Some names are even well known. Tony Stark. Padme Amidala. They're easy to find but getting close enough to talk to them might not be." Ikora wasn't familiar with them either. She didn't know if she could help return their memories like Cayde did for her.

"You know the people of Temba better than me or Lark here. Who do we bring back to start the cascade?" she asked Cayde.

Ah, seats. Lark moved happily into one and lowered herself into it. Though she wore a pencil skirt she gathered her legs below her as if she were in something that it was easier to curl up in. This whole place, and the fashions, were of no comfort to her.

"There is a chance I can provide access to people," Lark offered, reaching into the bag she carried. A purse, she had been told by Cayde. They'd discovered a wallet and identification in it, though the name on it was not fully her own. Clipped to it was a badge she had awoken wearing in her office.

A press badge for the premier gossip columnist of the local newspaper.

"The place where I awoke, people seemed to share information there, and assumed information would be given to them. Does this business sound familiar, Ikora? If they believe me to work there, I might be able to use whatever resources they have as well."

Cayde was too busy trying to chase after Ophiuchus, which proved short-lived once the cat darted beneath the desk. He flopped into the other chair that Ikora indicated, optics narrowing as she mentioned the more renowned names, or rather at least one of the two.

"Already talked to Stark. He's caught up in this place too," he said, his earlier expression chased away with a headshake. "So far in general, aside from Stark, I've run into and spoken to Billy, that Soldier guy who apparently thinks he's Captain America here, Echo, and Kaz. Kaz was kind of in the same situation as you, Lark- but he was struggling with trying to separate this place's memories from what he knew. You can count him in with us though."

He folded his arms, drumming his fingers anxiously. "Anyone seen Jon-?" he started to ask, but then fell silent as Lark presented he press badge. His drumming fingers froze, optics blinking.

"Ooh! That- yeah, why didn't I think of that! Brilliant, Lark!" he said excitedly, hopping back to his feet so fast that he nearly upset the chair he'd been sitting in. "If Ikora's turned out to be some big-name superhero then there's a good chance that's the running trend. Stark, Tommy, Billy- they're all hero-types back where they're from, I think. And this city seems to have a really weird concentration of strange things going on- or is that normal for pre-Golden Age? I think most of the stuff I know is fiction." He shook his head, waving his hands about as he herded himself back on track. "Anyway! Headlines! Someone's name or names related to possible someones are bound to pop up in the paper, right?"

Edited (lol cayde totally railroaded my train of thought off the tracks) 2021-06-07 06:30 (UTC)

"A newspaper," Ikora said to give Lark a word to go with her profession. "Not a bad place to start with. They do have a lot of information and access to certain people. If you want to go back and pretend to be that other life for information."

Ikora would keep pretending to be a librarian and her persona of Vanguard protecting the city. She wasn't usually comfortable pretending but in this case it was necessary.

"I think we should get Kaz first then. Make sure he is willing to help us. And we can search the papers for our friends and familiar names. That might be on you, Cayde. Lark and I don't really know anyone yet."

News paper. She understood both of the words separately. Together she thought she could draw some conclusions.

"Perhaps I could get one of you in to help me search? All of this," she gestured at Ikora's computer, "is strange to me. When I arrived in Temba the young man, Billy, taught me how to use the speaking device. But I don' know much."

She had another one in her purse. She had no clue she had Tony Stark's personal number in it.

"If you could just start listing known hero-names that come up, I think that'd be a good place to start for research," Cayde considered. "Heroes, important people. I'd bet some good glimmer that a majority of those names belong to people we should know." To Ikora, he nodded.

"I'll talk to Kaz. If I find anyone else of interest I'll steer 'em this way. The library's at least an easy place to find."

"Okay." Ikora entered a simple search of "heroes" and the city's name. There were Top 10 lists, Chatter postings which seemed to be some sort of social media site, and Friendbook fan pages.

She turned the screen more fully towards the pair. "Here we go. There are even pictures of some."

A man with giant robotic cats. A woman who looked a lot like a Stormcaller with a hammer. A man in gleaming silver armor and his large eared sidekick.

"I think we have a good place to start."

"Alright then," Lark said with a smile. "We shall look. This newspaper could be a good resource but... Uh, I don't know that I know how to get back there. This city is very large, even compared to the Summer Sea and other places I have been. I do not believe even the Empress could claim so large a city. Perhaps someone could guide me?"

And keep her from being sent home once more as 'ill'.

"Jackpot."

Cayde grinned at Ikora, giving her a nod as he glanced away from the screen. He looked about to laugh when Lark admitted she didn't know how to get back to her own workplace, but given how unfamiliar she was with a lot of things in the city in general, he supposed it was understandable. And while he was sure he'd given some decent explanations about the mysterious workings of traffic lights as he came to suddenly know for himself, he wasn't about to send her off into the citywilds with just a map.

"If Ikora can pull up the address, I'll walk you over," he offered.

"I can do that." Ikora typed quickly and brought up the local paper. "There, that's the address. It's practically right in the center of downtown."

Which would be good for a paper. Ikora typed a little bit more and brought up Lark's profile. "You write the gossip column for the paper. You find out what celebrities and rich people are doing or who they're doing and tell your readers."

It didn't sound like a very exciting or fulfilling career in Ikora's opinion but it seemed to do well for Lark. "You're very popular."

"Oh dear, that sounds like a horrid job," Lark said, frowning at the very suggestion. Gossip, like that? How inappropriate. Even popular didn't make it better for her.

"I should very much think that it is an unseemly job. If I am forced to linger here long, I will find something else."

This all sounded terrible.

"I would thank the escort, though."

"Now I'm curious as to what sort of things you've purportedly written," Cayde teased. "At least you've got a hook with a certain group of people. Maybe you can turn up some more names. I'll give you a list of the ones I can remember from Temba."

He committed the address to memory, nodding. "All right. Should be no problem getting there. We got anything else we needa discuss, or shall we leave you back to your librarying?"

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♤ There's a Method in His Madness

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