( OPEN-ISH )

[exorion]

Who: Cayde-6 (exorion) and his FIRETEAM || Cayde-6 (exorion) and team Rescue This Dumb Robot
When: Backdated for Day 8
Where: IT'S IN THE FRAKKING SHIP
What: Exploration & also Cayde has an accident

Thread starters in the comments, plotting here!

Comments

[bringguns]

[Clarke elects to take a deep breath to steady herself, drawing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. Everything is such an unknown right now, and she hates feeling this unsure.]

[Sorry Lance she's not much of a conversationalist right now, but the frown on her face certainly speaks volumes as to the arguments she's raging with herself in her head.]

[ceruleo]

[ Jess is tough. She's tough and reliable. If anyone can do this, she can. He's seen it first-hand, though he has to keep reminding himself. As Clarke lapses into silence it's all he can do not to fill it with nervous chatter, his own fingers curling and uncurling.

There's nothing to do but wait, now. ]

[exorion]

[GUESS WHO'S BACK.]

[First a hand comes up for leverage and Cayde climbs out of the hole with basically no effort, turning to lean over the edge and reach down for Jess. He looks over his shoulder at the other two in the meantime.]

Hey, look who it is! [Lonestar and that guy] You miss me?

[sobriquette]

[BACK AGAIN.

Jess will accept that helping hand, because she's starting to run low on power and doesn't want to push herself too hard, though she still pulls herself up relatively easily.

Unlike Cayde, she doesn't have many words in the way of greeting, but Clarke and Lance both get a nod that could be interpreted as grateful if they squint.]

[bringguns]

[Clarke looks very relieved to see them crawl out of the hole, and she gets up immediately when she sees Cayde's head pop up.]

Oh, thank God.

[ceruleo]

[ Lance sucks in air sharply when Cayde's hand appears, then releases it in the form of a hoot, grinning. ]

I knewyou'd be okay!

[ He wasn't worried at all. Not even remotely. ]

[exorion]

Course. I'm hardy.

[He winks at Lance and looks back at Jess, then to his wrist. He's doing okay, but who knows about the others.]

What say we get out of here, huh?

[sobriquette]

That might be the first smart thing you've ever said.

[That probably isn't true, Cayde has said a few smart things before probably, but Jess is ready to get the hell away from this stupid ship.

She's not even going to wait for the others before she starts heading towards the exit. Bye nerds.]

[bringguns]

Wait.

[Clarke starts to follow Jess, but she looks back at Cayde as well and hesitates until he starts moving.]

What was down there? How did you survive that fall?

[ceruleo]

[ He's also falling into step, about to open his mouth to mirror Clarke when she beats him to it. ]

Yeah! What she said.

[exorion]

Gravity's kinda wonky down there.

[He's right behind Jess; his tone may be breezy but he really wants off this damn ship.]

We can talk about it when we're outta here.

[sobriquette]

[They could walk and talk, but Jess isn't sure if Cayde wants to let the others in on the whole alien thing, since it might be a) a bit troubling or b) make them do something stupid like go back down there to try to find it.]

I don't know about you two, but I'd rather not pass out in here when my suit hits zero.

[bringguns]

[Clarke considers pushing the issue, but then she stubbornly presses her lips shut and follows Jess, matching her pace.]

Okay, but when we're outside I want some answers.

[ceruleo]

[ Unlike Clarke, Lance doesn't press the issue--he's too glad to see Jessica and Cayde in one piece, and is weighed down by the knowledge that Jessica used up that much strength because of his idea.

Gonna be a long walk out, though. ]

[exorion]

[Well unless anyone has anything to say, it's a quiet and brisk walk to the outside. Letting out a heavy sigh of relief once they're out.]

[sobriquette]

[Jess is pretty happy to not say a damn thing the whole walk out, focusing instead on the power display on her wrist, watching it crawl down towards zero.

By the time they make it outside, she's at a grand total of four percent, but it's enough.]

We found where the bugs came from.

[She shoots a look at Cayde, a silent I'll back you up however you want to play the alien thing.]

[bringguns]

[THE DEEPEST CONFUSED FROWN.]

What do you mean? Was there a nest?

[ceruleo]

[ The big one--the queen--was stomping around here, so it would make sense for there to be a nest. Right?

At Cayde's sigh, he offers: ]

You okay, man?

[ If Cayde were human, this is where he'd offer food or something, but since he's not, Lance is left kind of awkwardly wondering. Even spacefaring robots gotta get freaked out sometimes, right? ]

[exorion]

[God, with everything else he'd kinda forgotten about the nest.]

[What a full hour of his life.]

[He keeps walking, looking for a spot away from the ship if they wanna talk, but he's feeling a bit more conversational now too.]

There's a whole bunch of eggs down there. Didn't see any hatchlings, but I'd wager that's what the Queen was protecting.

[sobriquette]

Was being the operative word.

[It all looked empty and dead, just like the queen is now.]

[bringguns]

[Clarke swallows her fear at that. She thinks probably they've seen the bulk of the bugs the queen was protecting, and they at least know how to handle them, but still the eggs could have been something else.]

You still haven't told me how you survived that fall.

[ceruleo]

[ Lance points at Clarke, backing up her (completely valid and also relevant) question. ]

Don't tell me you landed in a pile of eggs.

[ He makes a face. He'd found a half-rotted broken kharid egg inside a cache earlier, and the memory is a nasty one. ]

[exorion]

Ugh, no.

[Though he's pretty sure he explained it already, and he shrugs with a hand on his hip.]

I told you, the gravity down there's weird. Didn't land that hard at all.

[bringguns]

[She knows he said it already but does not feel like her question has been answered.]

I don't know what that means. It doesn't even make sense for there to be less gravity that far down, unless there's some kind of technology that can emulate it.

[There she goes again, frowning at the sand like there's a math problem drawn in it.]

What else did you see?

[exorion]

[Cayde kneels where he is, brushing his hand over a flat patch of dirt to even it out and then starts drawing with the tip of his finger, narrating as he goes. It's a vague map of what's down there since it's easier for him to explain with a visual aid.]

This is where I landed, looks like it might've been some kind of research center? There... Well there was a decontamination chamber here. Security turrets dotted around the ceiling, some kinda terminals... [And he draws out the path the Last took him down and the little room at the end.] Down here it's more dirt than ship, but there's a safe room at the end here? It's where Jess found me-- didn't drain my suit at all while I was in it.