♤ More Than Fine, More Than Bent on Getting By

[deal_me_in]

WHO: Cayde-6 and all'a you
WHERE: IN YUR SPACE Here, there, anywhere! Ugh, just tell him to go home
WHAT: Someone is totally not having attachment issues and just wanting to hang out because that what u do
WHEN: Post-Billicity, through June
WARNINGS: N/A I think
NOTES: Prose to start, will match as preferred.



♤ Fancy Meeting You Here!
For the lack of adrenaline Cayde had still found himself able to go along as though nothing had happened, because things being 'normal' acted in its own way like an energy boost, just being in familiar territory with people whom not only did he know, but that knew him back. He knows it's not nearly so simple, of course, but that's a different sort of problem that he knows he can't personally fix for everyone. Not that it means he won't try to make things a little better.

He certainly hasn't been particularly shy about popping by the more frequented places of the town to begin with, and now it's like he's doing so with a vengeance. The greenhouse, sure. The diner? Of course. The hangar? You bet. The Deep End? Absolutely. He may even be there more often than usual, if only because he knows it's a sure place people come by, if not for the hard liquor then maybe for some coffee. Thought you were about to have a quiet drink? Well, look alive, you've got company. Maybe he'll even try picking out a tune on that guitar there that's practically become a communal instrument. And then there's the amphitheater, because he knows some people use that as a place to blow off some excess energy.

For people he's more familiar with, it shouldn't come as a surprise to find him just there in their space at some point, invited himself in, made himself at home. It's fine, we're all fine. Yes, he's terribly clingy (even though he will attempt not to make it obvious) because being in a busy city and yet finding yourself able to still be isolated is an experience he could have done without. No, he's not going to outright admit it, but it's been a long month. Let him have this. Please.


♤ Great Googly Moogly!
It never fails; you're just going about your day like usual and then you turn and suddenly find yourself startled by a pair of googly eyes staring at you. Unless you're Ikora, in which case this will probably not startle so much as prompt an arch of a brow. But there they are.

Helmets are a prime target, especially on the back. Doors, trees, Jon's chair, someone's mug, a random wrench, Ophiuchus, glasses (I mean, how can you not?!)- free game. Sky's the limit- although if Cayde had the means, he might have very well tried that too.

Not to worry. This too shall pass. Probably.

Or at least it will when he runs out of googly eyes.


♤ Not-Home-Away-From-Not-Home-Away-From-Not-Home
The days and nights in the city facsimile had been more like regular days back on Earth and yet they still had felt incredibly long. Staying awake most of those nights just lent to the impression. He's sure that the exhaustion he feels is more mental than physical, but he's been most determined to make his rounds.

The old Agrii furniture store is one of Cayde's more random haunts, a place he enjoys poking around for supplies and random knick-knacks when he's bored or to sprawl out on one of the many beds. At the moment it's the latter, and should anyone happen to wander into the bed section, they'll find the Hunter lying across the end of a bed on his side, an arm tucked under his hooded head, optics shuttered, hand cannon still holstered at his side. Exos don't need to sleep, but in keeping with the habits of their formerly fleshy selves they can if they wish, and low and behold, it looks like he's doing just that, finally given in to all the running around.

Hovering watchfully nearby is his Ghost Sundance, and should they suddenly find themselves with company she'll swivel around to look at whomever might come upon her sleeping Guardian.


♤ Aces Wild
((AKA if you have any other ideas or something you want play out, toss down a starter or bother me to hash out some deets, whichever!))

Comments

Hello there!

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra looks up from his work in the Greenhouse, and when he spots Cayde flashes him a smile tinged with relief.

"Hey, man. Thanks again for finding me and letting me know I wasn't alone in remembering another life. It was really Tommy who got through to Billy but - it was better trying to come up with a plan together than flailing alone on my lonesome."

[deal_me_in]

"Aw, no thanks necessary," Cayde says as he wanders along down the row Ezra's in, a gloved hand brushing some of the overhanging plants.

"I was just glad to find someone else out there. Not quite the first meeting I thought we'd have but hey." The Exo shrugs. "Anyway, I guess sometimes it's better having some help in things. We might've never figured the Billy-angle until finding you."

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I kinda got the impression Tommy figured it out completely separately," Ezra says with a shrug, "But maybe we all together pushed it to a point that they could remember."

[deal_me_in]

"Group effort. Sometimes teamwork's not so bad," Cayde says, grinning. "I think having the Agrii break through helped a lot too. They definitely got more reach than us."

He's not sure how much longer things would have kept on if the Agrii hadn't managed to help with even that much. Going through a whole city looking for people wasn't impossible, not with the resources available, but getting through to the ones they found was an entirely different matter.

Fancy meeting you here

[demjiin]

Kaz wasn't generally a drinker, so he mostly stuck with coffee whenever he had need of it. In fact, he would use coffee or the mild stimulant of chewing dried jurda blossoms when he was pulling a long con job.

But today he did not want any stimulating chemicals or caffeine, he just wanted to sleep for once. So he had found his way to the Deep End and did not say anything about the guitar playing. He searched the shelves until he found the bottle of whiskey and set that along with a shot glass on the bar. Leaning against it instead of using his cane he poured what was easily half the glass, then slammed it in one go. He grimaced once he had swallowed it, and for the second shot, he only poured about 2 fingers worth and sipped that.

"So how common is memory warping around here?"

Kaz didn't think that was a part of the Atroma's MO, but if it was mostly the other prisoners he needed to worry about, he needed to know.

[deal_me_in]

Wedged comfortably in a corner so that he had the wall at his back and the counter at his side, Cayde idly strummed a few chords as he watched Kaz help himself to a drink.

"Not very," he said, fingers still brushing strings, his other hand shifting up and down the instrument's neck. It wasn't so much a song as it was just an exercise in minor keys. "Of course, if there were some memory warping going on then who would know if they were made to forget? -but so far as I can say, there hasn't been anything of the sort."

[demjiin]

"Well, that's a terrifying thought."

Kaz took a judicious sip and looked at Cayde.

"I suppose you have less to worry about than the rest of being that I highly doubt you have squishy brain meat squirreled away in that metal head."

[deal_me_in]

The Exo chuckled.

"You might joke, but that's how some consider us. Honestly I don't know how true that could actually be, but given no one knows how we function or are even built anymore, it's still a possibility. I mean, would explain why there's a hard limit on the reboots. Scrambles things pretty good in there," he said, pausing in his strumming to twirl a finger beside his head.

"Never sure what you'll keep and what you'll lose- although ultimately you're still losing."

Not-Home, to be contrary

[in_extremis]

Sundance was not a surprise. Not visually, anyway, though Tony did give a start when something in the room suddenly moved and she turned her glow on him. That it was just the Ghost was a relief enough for him to sigh a noisy breath, hand on his heart and shoulders dropping, tongue to his teeth ready to chastise her for abusing a man with a heart condition. His gaze had darted expectantly, though, knowing Cayde couldn't be far, and anything he had to say was reduced to a tsk as he raised his eyebrows at the sleeping Exo, then at Sundance inquisitively. That was weird, right? Finding him like that and up for auction was definitely worse, but the similar scene still made Tony slightly uneasy.

Slowly, he raised a finger to his lips to signal to Sundance that he would be absolutely respectful of Cayde's rest, then offered her a kiss of greeting and a small frown of concern for what had become of her all month under Billy's new rules. Of course, Tony wasn't going to be that respectful. He did sneak carefully as he approached the bed like he was trying not to disturb Cayde any further, but once he got there, he made the clearly deliberate choice to ignore any other avenue and clamber over Cayde, all knees and elbows, to get himself up and over the Exo and flop just as gracelessly down onto the bed against Cayde's back, one arm left behind and draped like it had been forgotten.

[deal_me_in]

Sundance seemed to relax once she saw who it was, her back half twisting half-way around before spinning back as she watched Tony's approach. She remained silent to the implied inquiry. It wasn't such an unusual thing. She was just thankful he was on a bed and not on the edge of a cliff.

Getting kissed wasn't something she was accustomed to, her points fidgeting just slightly, but given how much she'd come to know about Tony, she supposed it wasn't completely strange, coming from him at least. She hardly believed that quiet signal, and would have bet glimmer that it wouldn't have held up as she continued to observe the man's approach. Her vertices fanned in something that might have been a shrug or a sigh, accompanied by an eyeroll as her glowing core skipped upwards in that moment.

Blue optics flickered open just as Tony went flopping over his body, but since Sundance hadn't sounded any alarms he hadn't bothered to pull his gun. He closed his eyes again,

"...just had to go over instead of around, didn't you?"

[in_extremis]

Since he was be so incredibly respectful, Tony didn't immediately have ten answers prepared to spout and instead drew in a slow, contemplative breath to sigh again before muttering, "You know me, always very direct." That was supposed to be kind of funny, but Tony gave his own twitch of dismissal with his hand dangling over Cayde's side before either of them thought too hard about the games that very familiar version of himself was capable of playing. Maybe it was a mercy that he hadn't recognized Cayde and drawn him into more of them. "Do you always sleep in your clothes?" he asked abruptly so they didn't linger, "Or were you hoping a charming prince would show up and kiss you? I think Billy's out of commission for a bit, you'll be waiting on a prince for a while, maybe set your ambitions a little lower."

[deal_me_in]

Tony was Tony, whether it was here or some fantasy city. Dwelling on what had happened just seemed like an exhausting thing, and Cayde was quick to dismiss those thoughts, snorting lightly at his friend's response. Well, there'd be no more napping in the meanwhile, that much was certain.

"You get used to it," he said, rolling with the subject change like a gambler's dodge. His eyes were open again, but he wasn't feeling very inclined to move from his spot on the bed right then. Much more comfy than the ledge of a cliff. "No beds out on the moon, or the EDZ. Not many walls either. Also, I like being fashionable even when I'm taking five."

His jaw twitched in something of a grin, sobering quickly for mention of Billy, the poor kid. Cayde turned his head as far as he could manage without having to roll completely over, not that he could see much from his current angle. "I'm already awake 'cuz someone crawled all over me like an overgrown cat. Plus you already kissed my Ghost."

Let's mix these a little~

[beholding_archivist]

It's in the amphitheater that Cayde comes across Jon. Though the Archivist isn't doing much aside from sitting at the center of the theater with his tape recorder and a few cassette tapes lying in front of him. He isn't recording, however, merely staring quietly at the items - With the recorder staring back from false, cross-eyes plastic eyes. It also matches Jon's silence.

The Exo may be well able to move incredibly quietly, and yet his approach doesn't go unnoticed and Jon looks up and over to the Hunter, offering him a small smile in greeting. "Hello, Cayde." Everyone may still be chewing on what happened in Billy's warped world, but Cayde is one Jon doesn't expect to be holding any grudges against him. If anything, the set of large googly-eyes stuck to the entrance of the library seem to be a good indicator for that. "I admit I was a little disappointed that you didn't find one large enough to cover the entire ceiling of the library's main hall." A pause, and a slight tilt of his head. "How are you feeling?"

Which is an honest question, and one that doesn't swing with any compulsion at all. Sure, Jon could possibly look for the answer, but he refuses to do so.

[deal_me_in]

Cayde bounces down at an angle so that by the time he reaches the level Jon's at, he doesn't need to take more than a few steps to get any closer. He grins as he catches a glimpse of the recorder, glad that for all the overload of eyeballs, the googly ones are apparently well-received.

Flopping near the Archivist, the Exo stretches out, lying with his arms folded behind his head as he stares upwards with a sigh. "Eh, if I had one you know I would have. I'm guessing these are as jumbo-size as they come," he snickers.

"Feeling great, really! Things're all back to the weird normal that is Temba, everything's pretty much as we left it. My one regret is the food. Was that even real, what we were eating? That is going to keep me up at night now."

[beholding_archivist]

Cayde's confirmation gets a little chuckle from Jon. He knows the Exo has tried all he could to find the largest false eyes he possibly could. Which is an oddly refreshing thought to have among their daily doom ad gloom.

"The food was real." Jon offers with a little nod. "Billy wields some incredible magic. He literally reshaped part of reality to create that city. The people weren't real, though. Which is- Comforting. Magic still doesn't simply create life..." And he didn't bring harm to more innocent people. Only his friends...

"I'm sorry for how I acted. And for attacking you."

[deal_me_in]

He'd been pleased when the Agrii had delivered upon his request. After hearing about the mysterious 'Ask' box, the Exo had mainly treated it as a new potential venue of entertainment, treating it like a scavenger hunt for the Agrii while being all too eager to see what sort of things they might end up sending.

"Yeah. It's pretty crazy stuff. I mean, after figuring out his connection I guess it start to make more sense. The kid made a whole festival ground for everyone the last time, after all."

His expression sobers a little as Jon goes on. He remembers the screams. Jon's not the only one thankful that the people hadn't been real, but it had still been pretty horrifying. The grin comes back in full force as he shakes his head when the Archivist offers his apology.

"Hey, you were hardly the only one not acting like yourself back there. It's fine. I'm sure things could have gone a lot differently so..." He shrugs. "Anyway, things just got more messed up before they got better so at least it all turned out fine in the end."

[lionunchained]

Shiro had been spending time in the greenhouse recently, helping to tend to plants. Nothing too crazy, just general upkeep, but it was likely appreciated anyway.

He was humming to himself when he heard the sound of someone else coming in. He looked up, smiling seeing who it was.

"Hey. Long time no see."

[deal_me_in]

"Shiro! My man! How the hell are you!" Cayde greeted, hand raised with an enthusiastic wave, maybe just a bit relieved. There'd been quite a few people who had remained unaccounted for in that strange city shift, and he wasn't fond of disappearances.

"Didn't know you had a green thumb. Or at least picked up on it."

[lionunchained]

"I'm doing well, doing well." He waved back before pausing to whip his brow with the back of his hand. He was glad to see his friend was still here after that. It had been... really weird.

"I don't know that I do," Shiro admitted. "But I can help with things like weeding. Can't do too much damage that way."

[cardsyouredealt]

Not like she could put it off forever was it?

Ikora had prepared her, and she was thankful for that, but the change hit the city and things got real weird real fast and she didn't even know who she was let alone anyone else. Once things were back to what passed for the new normal she figured it was time to hike up the big girl pants and finally talk to the only other person from back home that was around here.

He was shockingly easy to find, that might have been what surprised her the most. She spotted Sundance, rather the Ghost spotted her first and bobbled a bit in the air with recognition, a small trill of recognition before Amanda put a finger to her lips to hush her.

Amanda got close enough to take a lean on what remained of a wall, arms folded and an amuse smirk. "That has got to be about the laziest Hunter I've ever seen."

[deal_me_in]

Even with Sundance's gentle head's up, it was still a surprise to hear that voice. How long had she been here? He stopped his thoughts from getting too far ahead of him as he opened his eyes.

"You only say that 'cuz you didn't see me running around everywhere earlier," the Exo said with a mild huff. He stretched out his arms before pushing himself up to sit, tugging at his hood to make sure it was still in the right place. Resting an elbow over a knee, he propped up his chin, giving Amanda a lazy grin.

"Heya, Holliday." He paused as though a thought struck him, straightening to glance around, as though the bed under him wasn't enough proof of something. "-we're still in Agrii-land?"

[cardsyouredealt]

"Heard you were up to some antics." Hard to miss out on the chatter and who people said was behind it, part of why she'd decided to look him up when things seemed like they were settled back to whatever this was now with the Agrii again.

She nodded in greeting and then chuckled, pushing off the wall to pace a little bit and look over the remains of the store he'd made his current hole up. "Yeah, seem to be. Least it ain't the weird land that we were a bit ago."

Not-Home

[on_repeat]

The furniture store was a good place to hunker down for a few hours. When he wasn't actively trying to keep himself busy with other things around Temba, Echo had gotten used to the idea of stopping in whenever he could.

He wasn't expecting to see Cayde-6 'out' like a light and prone on one of beds, but he did glance up briefly once Sundance shimmered into view, giving her a silent nod in greeting.

Leaving his helmet on another bed, the clone appeared to wander off, only to return later on unfolding a blanket with creases that were practically a permanent feature in the material. He quietly shook it out, lightly tossing it over the Exo while trying not to disturb him too much. He then stepped away, heading over to the closest reclining chair to sit and sink into with a sigh.

[deal_me_in]

Since Echo wasn't inclined on waking Cayde up, Sundance refrained from notifying her Guardian. She watched curiously as the ARC Trooper returned with a blanket, and when the man went to collapse into a nearby recliner, she took up watch for them both.

It wasn't until maybe a half hour later that the Hunter stirred, going through the motions of waking up. He blinked as he noticed the blanket, lifting it as he tilted his head. Sitting up, he looked inquiringly at his Ghost, who only swiveled slightly in the air to indicate their current company.

[on_repeat]

From the Exo's perspective, the angle of the recliner was facing away from them, the shin guards and boots standing out with their recognizable spots of blue.

Echo was...dozing. Maybe dead to the world already. Whatever it was, his eyes were closed and his breathing was even, looking both comfortable and uncomfortable in the armor he always wore.