♤ 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

[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.

[deal_me_in]

Cayde slowly leaned off the bed and onto his feet, the blanket tossed over an arm as he went wandering towards the chair, Sundance floating along after. The Guardian peeked around and smiled crookedly at who he found there.

He decided to return the blanket favor, letting it unfold as he held it out in front of him, mentally betting against himself as to whether Echo would wake up once he tried tossing it over his legs.

[on_repeat]

For a moment it looked like he wouldn't stir. When he did, he grunted, squinting as he turned his head.

He had almost forgotten where he was until he refocused, blinking at the blanket before looking up at the Exo and his Ghost. "Nice to see you're awake," he then said with a mild smirk.

[deal_me_in]

Straightening up from having a look at Echo's helmet, Cayde seemed to match that smirk with a crooked grin of his own. "If you were supposed to be doing guard duty you slacked off," he replied.

[on_repeat]

Echo nearly rolled his eyes, stifling a chuckle as he tried sitting up. "For your information, I'm off-duty. You just didn't get the memo." He stretched his arms back slightly, arching his back before rolling a shoulder. "How long was I out?"

[deal_me_in]

"Not sure. Just woke up not too long ago myself," the Exo admitted. He jerked a thumb at the beds behind him. "Did you come by to nap? I can leave you to it." It was like he hadn't been doing so himself just a while ago.

[on_repeat]

That must be a perk of being an Exo, waking up without feeling drowsy. He wished he could feel the same, but the fatigue lingered, resting along his shoulders and spine.

The ARC Trooper rubbed the back of his neck, head tilting a few degrees to to his right. "Ahh, no, let's call that unintentional. I was originally checking in to see if you were in here. And, obviously," he gestured at Cayde, "you were. When I saw you weren't getting up any time soon, I thought I'd sit back for a few."

[deal_me_in]

Cayde brought his hands over his chest. "Aw, you came looking for little ol' me?" He laughed a little, waving vaguely at the rest of the store. "Most everyone's accounted for. Figured I could relax finally," he said, shrugging.

He spoke in his usual carefree sort of way, hiding truth in plain sight. It had been an exhausting month that he hadn't even been fully aware of until the spell had broken and they were released into the ruined city again. There'd been little rest when you felt like you were going crazy in a world that seemed too good to be true.

[on_repeat]

Echo also laughed, although he didn't bother to hide how weary he sounded. "Don't let that get to your head, now," he replied, shaking his head.

Much like everyone else, they were both the same as they always were. As they had been. Except he knew they weren't – not after all that. And he did remember how crazy active Cayde was at the time, popping in and out of an imaginary apartment unit that was assigned to him. "Y'know, you're hard to track down when you're not in your usual haunts, but it's good you got in some rest."

[deal_me_in]

"Maybe that's the point, not being trackable," Cayde suggested, still grinning. He hadn't meant to disappear, but he certainly knew how to disappear if he was going to be purposely sneaky. There wasn't any good reason to be doing so now, however, and putting distance between anyone here was the last thing he wanted to do after their last ordeal.

"Everything all right?"

[on_repeat]

Despite making a slight face at the Exo's sound reasoning, the smile faded. "Still trying to process everything that's happened, that's all," Echo sighed, leaning back in the recliner again now that it returned to its upright setting. "I'll be okay. I'm just wondering how everyone else is doing."

He ran his hand over his face, pausing to look at Cayde between the cracks of his fingers. "That includes you, by the way."

[deal_me_in]

That response was to be expected, and Cayde could only nod in his understanding. He circled around before hauling over an ottoman-looking thing to sit on. As he caught Echo's look in his direction he gestured to himself in silent question.

"I'm doing great, thanks for wondering. Everything's normal now- which is kind of a weird thing to say, all things considered, but it's how it's supposed to be and not..." He waved a hand vaguely in the air as though the rest of his sentence would just finish itself.

"-not...fake? Too good to be true? I'm not sure how to describe it. I mean, for me it was all just super unusual because things didn't stick. I don't have extra memories of an alternate life kicking around in my head, just like...terms of things that have long been lost in the Collapse- not that that isn't weird."

[on_repeat]

Despite the technicality, Echo had to agree, glancing away for a second as he slowly nodded.

"Yeah. That's...I think that's pretty accurate. 'Specially the 'too good to be true' part." It all felt too real to him, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it did make everything a more disorienting after returning to the reality they were all familiar with. "So this city we were all in was almost similar to the ones in your world. When did the Collapse happen?"

[deal_me_in]

"From a long time ago," Cayde nodded. "Definitely an Earth city. Pre-Golden Age era, so I think the only space travel they've got is to the moon and back."

He craned his head back as though looking for answers on the ceiling. "Collapse happened like....waaay back. I'm not even sure on the number. There was Pre-Golden Age, the Golden Age, the Collapse, the Dark Ages, and then where we are now," he said, bringing his hands up parallel to each other as he sectioned off each timeframe.

[on_repeat]

It sounded a lot like the Earth Kyle came from. Echo nodded, studying the Exo's hands as he went along the invisible timeline he knew by heart. Different periods of time all in a row.

"...Kind of like being thrown back nine hundred years in Coruscant, now that I think about it. But it was all based on Billy's experience?"

[deal_me_in]

"Except for some people this is about their actual timeframe." Cayde gave a noncommittal shrug. "Seems like. The world he's from? Where Tommy and Tony and Wanda and probably Steve when he was here... That city's probably a reflection of it. Superheroes are the big thing there."

Hearing about a place was a lot different than experiencing it for yourself. If it had been a genuine pitstop on another Agrii fieldtrip he wouldn't have minded at all.

[on_repeat]

"Makes sense." Echo probably wouldn't have minded a real-world visit either. Going through the motions of a life he never had gave him a different perspective, but it also made thinking about it all the more tiring.

"I think I get it, though. That world had a similar kind of urgency behind it, protecting the helpless and aiding those in need."

[deal_me_in]

There was definitely that sense. The city hadn't been perfectly peaceful. "I mean, just trying to get somewhere on foot was a potential risk because of crazy drivers!" Cayde said with an exasperated laugh. "That was on top of the mini alien invasion and the occasional crime sprees."

Was it all just there for 'heroes' to be able to make themselves useful? Or was it just part of the whole expectation from the world Billy knew? Maybe a bit of both.

[on_repeat]

"You're telling me!" The clone sighed dramatically, flopping back with a palm to his face before laughing along with the Exo. "I'd take the alien invasions and crime sprees over the drivers any day. They were awful! Who let them have licenses?"

Complaining about things like that felt natural. On a different scale, perhaps, one according to a world Billy knew best, like meeting up with a friend at a bar to rant about the day's events instead of a war at large.

He sighed again, staring at the ceiling between his fingers. "...And yet it wasn't all bad."

[deal_me_in]

"Who says they actually had 'em?" Cayde pointed out, smirking.

Leaning back to prop himself up with his hands, the Exo offered a sigh of his own as he looked up again as well. "Yeah. Yeah... I think if we had the chance, I'd rather visit the place by ship or Agrii teleportation than the whole being translated into the world like we belonged there, though."

[on_repeat]

A low and muffled groan stated he didn't want to think about that. Because it was true and he hated it.

"I'm with you there," he finally agreed, letting his hand slip off to point in the air. "One, it would be less confusing. And two, we could get real buffalo wings."

[deal_me_in]

It was Cayde's turn to groan. "Ugh, don't even start. The food is definitely what I miss the most out of that whole thing. All these flavors and dishes I'd either only heard or read about or never even knew existed," he sighed. He cast a forlorn look at Echo.

"And I can't ask you to run and grab me some either."