World Tree MUSH

    One might think that someone high-tech in appearance would prefer surroundings of a similar inclusiveness. True, such places feel more familiar to him, but Cayde finds himself gravitating to places borderline rustic if not just slightly more low-tech than where he's come from. 

    It's the atmosphere he enjoys, really. The sights and sounds of people going about their daily business, not restricted to a singular cityscape to do so. Roads lead out and everywhere else in a world that hasn't been touched by darkness or the like, although that doesn't mean it's far from its own brand of trouble. 

    Truth be told, the Exo would be a little unsettled if there existed such a place, if only because of what he's come to know all these centuries. Yet maybe, somewhere out there existed a world that actually had peace. Then again, if he ever came upon such a place, that meant it'd be just as openly subjected to other outsiders, and that peace would be severely threatened. It's a thought he hadn't liked to consider too much, a whole new avenue of responsibility he just isn't ready for. 

    So sticking to the main branches seems the safest bet, and here it is that Cayde's found himself in an average 'modern' city, he supposed people would call it. People had vehicles to travel by, electronics and entertainment. They also had a ramen bar, although by his sampling it hadn't been as good as the bowl he'd had at the Lucky Cat Cafe. Ignoring curious glances he now strolls along down the street, wondering how best to wile away his time here. Sundance hovers at his shoulder, the ghost taking in the scenery just as curious as those around her.

Ghost was not like that, not quite. She sought adventure, fun, chaos, anarchy! And, frankly, as long as no one got hurt, she didn't really care how or where she found it. Which was why she was riding a horse down the street. Now, it would only take someone about ten seconds(and the fact the horse was covered in... .very strange armor. And was that a plasma blaster on the back? WHY?! HOW?! WHAT?!

Oh, right, and the drones that were flying AFTER HER AND SHOOTING THINGS! WHAT DID SHE DO?! Wait, did that really matter? If nothing else, they were calling outwords of 'surrender' or 'give in to the light' or 'blood for the wurm king' and other things that might make them suspect it probably wasn't the good guys chasing her. Then again, Ghost wasn't exactly the goodest person around...

 Of course, as she raced, her eyes fell on him... And then she jumped onto the back of the horse, and then jumped OFF it as he was close and tackled him, sending them both to the ground. 

"Hey, Old Man Cayde!" OLD MAN?! "Just who I wanted to--" And a blast zoomed past her head, hitting the ground by HIS head. "You still shoot straight, right? Give me a hand, I've had a misunderstanding!" And then jumped off, rolled, narrowly avoiding another blast. "Eek!"

    "Cayde..."

    By his ghost's tone he can tell that trouble is expected soon. The Hunter Vanguard glances back just as he registers the sound of hoofbeats. Wait, what? His optics narrow as he squints at the sight barreling towards them, unsure that he's actually seeing what he's seeing. By the flat look Sundance is giving, it seems to be an actual thing.

    "What the he--"

    The familiar figure aboard the horse suddenly leaps at him, and even though he should have seen it coming, he's knocked down all the same. Staring up at Ghost, he glares just a bit. "Hey! Who're you callin' old?!" Never mind that it's more or less true, it's just rude! "Whoa!" And then they're also being shot at. This is not cool! He didn't do anything this time! There is absolutely no reason he should be getting shot at!

    Ghost gets a bit of an incredulous look. "'Still shoot straight'- you sound like it was a one time thing!" he snorts, saved the trouble of having to get up with an extra weight as she does so herself, although there's still a chunk of sidewalk that goes missing right by his head, his face spattered with fragments of concrete. 

    With a grumble he throws himself to the opposite side that Ghost's gone, shoving to his feet and bringing out his Ace of Spades in the same fluid motion. Sundance zips over and disappears into the Guardian with a wink of light, one less thing to worry about with all the crossfire. Well, time to let loose with some of his own. 

    Cayde wastes no time in firing off several shots to dispatch of a few of those annoying drones, looking like he barely spares it a second thought as he does so. But then shooting things comes as easily as breathing- not that he does the latter anymore anyway, but you get the picture.

    "So I kinda wanna ask what you did -this- time, but at the same time I'm kinda afraid to find out," he says as he rises to his feet, pivoting to avoid another blast sent his way. His arm snaps out, his handcannon barks out in return.

Ghost shrugged. "I don't know. Something about 'Contraband' and 'unlawful seizure' and 'Oh my gosh GET OUT OF THE TANK!' I mean. There was a tank. How could I NOT drive the tank? But, msotly? I think they're upset about this," she said, once the drones were gone and... She was holding a... Wow. That was a biiiiig piece of quartz gemstone. And WHY was it glowing? "It's not radiation. Jacker checked." Oh, well, good for that. "Also, he's yelling at me now so I have him on mute. ANYWAY! So like, I got this, and suddenly all the alarms were going off and--"

The street had cleared out, mostly... which was probably good. Because there was a BOOM as a... twenty foot tall mech turned the corner. Four more drones rose off it. "THAT thing came after me and like, you know, here we are. Also, we mayyyyy wanna run. Shoot, where'd silverbolt go? Oh, right. I got a hore. I called him silverbolt. I think he might be a mutant, though. He has a--" She yelped and dove for cover as a hail of gunfire went off. "Any plans, Cayde? You're the one with all the experience!"

... Wait. Was she calling him old again?

    "You -stole- it?!" 

    "--and wait, you had a tank and left it??" And got a horse?! There are so many things not matching up to him in terms of how he would hypothetically do things although he has to remind himself that he would -not- be stealing anything unless completely warranted. Yeah. That...that sounds fair.

    Any further commentary from the Exo is cut off by the loud noise that has him ducking his head out of reflex. Slowly peering over in the direction that Sundance starts pointing out, he turns, half listening to Ghost as she rambles. He lifts a hand to point over at the hulking mech.

    "Now -that- thing looks like a far better ride. ...or is that weird to say if you're a robot? Oh. Right, uhhh..."

    He turns and grabs Ghost's arm, yanking her to her feet as he starts to run off. "First, we get out of its line of fire and find cover!"

    Pff, she's asking -him- for plans??? 

Ghost says, "Stole? No no no no. No. I liberated it!" OH AS IF THAT WAS ANY BETTER! "And i didn't WANT to! But by the time I left it, there wasn't really much of it left! But yes, before you ask. It. Was. AWESOME! I was all 'Pew pew' and they were like 'Surrender to us!' and I was like 'Mwa ha ah ah ah, eat that giant floating head!' and all that! you know, normal wednesday things!" Pause. "What day is it?"

"Oh, I know, right? I TRIED riding it, but, well. Some kind of neural anti-control field.... thingie! Or something. You know? It's a real pain in the butt and I can't just jack it! So I gotta wreck it and all!"

"Okay, whatever you say Grandpa Cayde!" OH MY GOSH SHE WAS TOTALLY CALLING HIM OLD! "But I was thinking more we could try and blow it up!" She glanced back and shot eight times, wiping out two of the drones as two more flew after them. And the machine unleashed a swarm of missiles at them.

"And I promise, I liberated it for good reason! I was hired to!" HOW WAS THAST A GOOD REASON?!!"

    Open mouth. Close. "You know what, I have no idea," Cayde admits. He doesn't keep track of days! Who knows if it's even the same between worlds?

    As they race around the corner, he lets go of her, throwing a look back at the android. "Okay, first off! Quit it with the 'grandpa!' Never mind that I-- Know what, just never mind." He screeches to a halt at his ghost's internal warning, yelping as missiles come flying towards them. If Ghost isn't dodging or too busy explaining, he's just going to tackle her to the side, which is more or less just a fancy stumble as he's thrown off his feet anyway by the first of the explosions from their impact.

    "Secondly," he grunts as he turns to shoot at another missile, "-if that's your job, fine by me, but if you're getting me caught up in it better be worth my while!"

Ghost nodded somberly. Yup. It was difficult, the whole day things. "Fine, Uncle Cayde." .... Seriously? "And I mean, you're older than I am, bigger than me. I'm just trying to be polite to my elders," she teased. And then missiles! She yelped and dove for cover, covering her head as they exploded around them. Once they stopped, she turned to him.

"Isn't helping a pretty young android reward in its own? Fine. I'll reward you. Five percent, for popping in at the end. IF we manage to blow up this giant robot. Deal? Good! I got a plan!" HE DIDN'T EVEN AGREE! wait, idea? Oh crud...

She jumped OUT from cover and ran at the thing... then disappeared. It stopped, scanning around and...

Then she was behind it, shooting at it in the back of the head! Take that, you over sized-- Oh crud it kicked a car at her and she was smashed into a wall by it... "O-ow..." she groaned as the robot advanced on her... but... its back was to cayde.

"Surrender and prepare for dismantling."

"Not... a chance..."

    "Oh, so first you're calling me old and now you're saying I'm fat!"

    And...now he's upside-down because missiles pack a punch even when they don't hit you directly. At...least he doesn't seem to be objecting to being called 'uncle'? Wait, absence of response does not mean agreement!

    "...kid's gonna get herself killed," he mutters, watching as she goes racing off towards the big mech as he pulls himself to his own feet again. By the time he starts to run towards it himself, Ghost looks like she's already bitten off more than she could chew as she gets promptly car'd. ...okay, so she bit off more than she could chew when all this started happening, but who's keeping track?

    The Exo vaults up the side of a building, hooking onto ledges and boosting up until he reaches the rooftop. He immediately resumes his run, making a leap towards the mech's head. 

    *CLANG*

    He should really...work these things out better, he thinks as he grabs for whatever handhold he can manage, boots scrabbling for purchase. "Hey! Only one getting dismantled here is you!" he says as he gives up on finding a proper handhold and jams his knife into the thing instead. "And kid, five won't cut it! Twenty-five!"

Ghost groaned as she looked up. Oh, hello really big gun. That's a really, really big gun. That's gonna--

*CLANG* "Yay uncle Cayde! And I never said you were fat!" She kicked and managed to shove the car just enough to crawl out. "I said big. Big doesn't mean fat, it more means... clunky. And awkward! Like a drunk horse, you know? Besides, just because you're not that fast on your feet any more doesn't mean you don't make up for it with experience, that's what all old timer soldiers do, right?" WHAT?!

The robot roared and tried turning, trying to get him off it, before ramming the side he was in INTO a building. "And wait, TWENTY FIVE? No way! You're coming in after I did all the hard work!" She shot at it a few times, before drawing a rather large gun and... Lobbing GRENADES at it! GEEZ! "I'll give you ten percent! But ONLY because I really like you and that thing you did with your gun last time was bad! Ass! EEK!" Missiles rained down on her as she stumbled and rolled across the ground, narrowly missing and getting peppered with pieces of cement.

    "OH MY COTTON SOCKS! You meet someone ONE time and--"

    CrrrrrrrRRrunch!

    Well, that's one way to scrape a Hunter off of you. 

    Twitching, Cayde crawls back towards the gaping hole left from his painful entrance into some poor office. Thankfully Exos are built pretty tough, his damage not terribly threatening but he's been through worse than being smashed into the side of a building. Waving off Sundance's offer of repair for the moment, he lifts his handcannon, his entire form suddenly engulfed in golden flames as he takes aim outside at the mech that's distracted by Ghost's liberal application of firepower.

    "Fifteen," he says, squeezing off several high-powered shots, each golden beam punching into the large target until the flames taper off.

>> GAME >> Cayde-6 spends an Edge for: Golden Gun- Blasting thing's heads off for fun and profit!

Ghost giggled. "What? Fifteen, you gotta be--"

Boom. BOOM. BOOM!!! The third shot blew a hole through the massive robot, making it drop to the ground and go entirely still. She blinked and walked forward, kicking it with her foot. Clang. She nodded. "You know what? I'm feeling generous. Fifteen percent it is. Also. Again. That was bad ass," she said with a smile, staring up at him and grinning. "So, you got hit pretty hard there, Uncle Cayde. It didn't knock any teeth out, did it?" she asked in a definitely teasing way as she walked towards him. now that the danger was gone and... Sirens were coming. "Also, err... We should prooooobably go. I'm still teeeeeeechnically a criminal. I mean, I doubt I am here buuuuut... Why take that risk?" She then took his hand.

And hauled him off.

    Gun spun in hand, he holsters it as the mecha behemoth goes toppling down. With that apparently sealing their agreement for how much he gets off of Ghost's job for assistance, Cayde grins, giving her a thumb's up.

    "Hah, funny. I'm fine..!" he huffs, dropping down to street level as she comes to meet him, with just a bit of a stumble in his landing. Okay, so maybe something got misaligned with that impact, but at least he's not falling apart.

    When the sirens sound he looks in that direction, nodding in agreement with the assessment. "Yeah. That sounds like a good idea," he replies, abruptly finding himself being dragged off either way.

Ghost nodded. "Oaky, now, where are you, hi ho silver..." she mumbled. "Ah! Black breeze!" she said when her eyes fell on the horse. The gun had fallen off. Armor was still there. "You ran away!" The horse just looked at her. "Awwww, I could never be mad at you, whisper..." she said, befire patting the horse on the nose, before climbing up(less than gracefully) onto its back and holding out her hand.

"Swing up and I'll take you away," he didn't even get to steer? She'd take off, though, galloping a bit away and then.... through a vine.

Before long, they'd be arriving at a strange... camp? It was a high tech camp, with people and robots and.... A rebellion?

"Here's the power source! Now, my fee?"

The man nodded, though gave Cayde a long look. "And.... him?"

"My old and cranky uncle. IT's his nap time soon, so let's move this along."

"... Okay then," the man said as he took the glowing power source and carried it off.

    At this point Cayde's not complaining about the method of transportation, not when they've got whatever passes as local law enforcement on their tail. Riding passenger though? He almost seems to be pouting, but nevertheless takes Ghost's hand-up, swingin up easily behind her before they ride off.

    It's another path previously untraveled to him, but he imagines there's no shortage of those, and at least someone knows where to get to where they need to be. He looks around at the camp set-up, hopping down once Ghost's pulled to a stop, dusting himself off. Trailing after the android, he eyes the man who's delivered the crystal thing before narrowing optics at Ghost's comment.

    "...really?" he asks, eyeing her as the man goes off.

Ghost grinned up at him innocently. "What? He wouldn't believe me if i didn't say that. Young girl robot, old man robot. And you're realllly cranky today. Isn't that right, awesome floating pixie robot?" she asked with a smile, as she waited.

"So, can you teach me that flaming super shot thingie? Cause that is AWESOME! and I think--

She urked and let out a whimper. "O-ow. So, apparently Boogen objects to the idea of me getting even MORE fire power. Which I can't imagine why. O-ow..." she whispered, rubbing her ears. "If I could feel anything, that would have hurt. Aaaanyway. So like. I think I--

The door opened and she went silent. The man stepped forward, holding... small cards. Credits? He held them out. "Your up front... fee, has been delivered as well."

"I know, they already put everything in." she said, taking the cards and, after calculating a bit, she held one out. "Here you go, fifteen percent, as agreed. Thanks for the help. So, that's my job for the day. What do you wanna do?" she asked with a big smile.

    Cayde continues to eye her as his ghost hovers about, blue light playing over him to patch up any internal damage. He gives his shoulders a few rotations in testing. "Ah, much better. Thanks Sundance."

    Vertices rotating, Sundance gives something of a nod before turning her glowing core towards Ghost. Then she glances back at Cayde. "I think you can handle this one," she says before vanishing again.

    Sighing, the Exo looks at the android again, although he can't help for a little smirk as it looks like Ghost gets her own reprimand. "Eh, Boogen's lucking out anyway. Not something I can teach anyone. It's kind of a part of what we are." And explaining how Guardians work is kind of out there as well.

    He folds his arms, head lifting as the man returns with their payment. "Nice doing business with you," he says once Ghost hands his portion over. He'll just have to figure out where all he can make use of it later, but it never hurts to get paid!

    "Do? Hm. No idea. You don't have to get checked up on or anything? You took a good hit back there too."

Ghost stopped and then... He could see it. The problem with having such an emotive face? She was... fear. Not terror. But jsut fear, and sadness, played on her features for a bit. "Yeah... I guess. Eventually. But not for a bit. Once I get... one second. Yeah. I'll talk to you guys later. Yeah, I know. I KNOW! Oh no, going through a tunnel, ksss, can't hear you, kssss, goats, kssss--" Click. "There, signal terminated," she said with a roll of her eyes as she walked by him.

"Yeah. I do. But like. That's boring? Boogan always makes me hop out when he fixes the body, then I have to spend HOURS just... you know. Not doing anything. Floating there. Ignored. JAcker usually leaves the TV on for me but like... IT's still awful. It's not THAT bad, so I wanna have a bit of fun before I head back, you know?" she said with a smile. "Not that that WASN'T fun. It was a blast. Totally. Wanna teach me cards?" she asked, glancing back and giving him a smile, no sign of the upset look on her face any more.

    It takes a lot to upset Cayde, really. Earlier was more him being annoyed than anything else, and once she lets up with the 'old' references he's fine.

    Old as he actually is, he's not blind, and the expression, fleeting as it is, does not go missed. He gestures for her to walk along with him, and while he has no idea what all there is to do around there, they can at least move away from the place of the guy who'd given Ghost the job.

    "Hopping out? Oh, so you have to be out of that body to get it fixed? Gotcha..." he muses, stroking his chin. Maybe it's kind of strange that a fellow robot would be finding this unusual, but metal as the Exo is, he certainly behaves like a human. Of course there's also the possibility of things just being different between robots of different worlds and dimensions, which is also true.

    "No, I totally get that. Being stuck somewhere you'd rather not be. All right then." He turns, looking at her again. "I -could- try and teach you cards, or...we could go wander somewhere else and sightsee and see how long it takes before someone tries shooting at us." Because he's just come to accept that it's one of those things.

Ghost gives a little chuckle. "Sure. It's always fun when the shooting starts. Can you believe how many people think they're going to kill us? Oh, that reminds me. If I get a job, will you be interested in joining me? I think with you and Ash, that'd make a really great team. And I know just the heis-- errrr. Business venture that the three of us would accel in," she said with a big grin.

As they walked, she glanced over. "So like. What IS the flying pixie thing? What exactly IS it that you do? You don't strike me as the whole... you know... Okay. Yuo totally strike me as the wild west 'Listen, jimmy, tell your mama I'm not coming home anymore. I got some business to take care of' thing. But it'd be kind of boring if you were that cliche. What are the robots from your world like. What are YOU like?"

    "Always a lotta things back home out to kill us. Sometimes they even succeed." The Exo can't help but laugh a bit himself, if dryly. "But I guess that's what makes us better at avoiding it, right?" Or something. "A 'business' venture, eh? Sure, why not? I've got oodles of freetime and not much to do with." It certainly gave him plenty of reason to look for trouble- er, things to occupy himself with.

    "Pixie thing? Oh, that's Sundance, my ghost. Partner. We look out for each other, have been for...years." Her comment is somehow sobering, and although his face isn't nearly as emotive as her's by way of expression, in that moment it seems like she's touched upon something deep, a brief melancholy that one might think they've probably imagined for the slight flicker of his optics, a faraway look. He shakes his head, that familiar lopsided, cocky expression resurfacing like the straightening of a mask.

    "Well, I'd rather be anything but boring," he says with a chuckle. "Back home, we're called Exos. We still have robots around too, but Exos are somethin' different. Sentient warmachines, some'd call us. Guess all things considered, they're not completely wrong. But we're people, an' we pull our weight same as everyone else in the Last City, as residents. As Guardians.

    "When it comes to Guardians, you got your Titans, your Warlocks, and your Hunters. Me, I'm the last sort. Charge in, weapons out. First into things, with an itch for bein' out there in the wide world. Lone wolfs, some, but good comrades when you got 'em. I used to be out and runnin' around with the best of 'em, exploring new terrains, ruined shells of old human settlements on other planets before everything went to hell. Shooting things, looting. Lotta good salvage out there, just gotta get to it first or reclaim it." He sighs wistfully. "That was a long time ago though. Before I ended up lost around this whole tree business, I was saddled with Tower duty at the city. Got roped into being part of the Vanguard, Hunter's representative. So it's been a glorified desk job giving advice to new Guardians and directing old ones, trying to keep what's left of our people and city safe."

    He shrugs. "Sorry, that was a bit longwinded."

Ghost nodded, chuckling. "Yeah, they succeed a looooot against me. Well. Used to. Gotta be a lot more careful now," she said with a small giggle. Then... "Yeah... Partners are nice. I used to get blown up a lot before I had them," she said with a giggle. "It's nice knowing you're not alone anymore," she said with a smirk. "Though, oh my gosh. Does your partner ever do that whole 'Stop almost getting blown up' or 'don't cause so much property damage' or 'stop bringing home creepy robot dolls to scare jacker'? Wait, all but the last one."

She nodded. "Sentient, huh? Yeah. Sentience can be a bitch like that," she said with a nod, turning to walk backwards and watch him, listening in.

"No, I don't mind. It sounds... nice. Sounds like you have people back home who depend on you. Who need you." That's what she took from that? "Probably a bit heavy sometimes. But hey... if you really disliked it that much, you could have just left, right?"

"... Though It hink I'd rather take a bullet than spend all day doing paperwork. I mean. Paper. Work. That's like the two things I hate MOST!"

    "Ha! I think she learned right away that that sorta talk won't change anything," the Hunter Vanguard laughs. "More than that though, I think we've just come to understand each other pretty well. This Jacker sounds like they could use some loosening up though."

    Was 'sentient' even the right word for it? They'd all been human before, or...something. Right? It's those kind of thoughts he doesn't particularly like dwelling on, especially when all he's got of a potential past life are fragmented memories and more questions than answers. Still, those are things he holds onto tight.

    "...huh. Yeah. I...guess so," Cayde says quietly, as though Ghost's summarization of his circumstances puts things in a different perspective he hadn't considered. How's that saying go? 'You don't know what you've got until it's gone'..? 

    Cayde shakes his head. "Nah, that position's not something you just leave. Hard enough trying to snag a Hunter into it. Any Hunter worth his salt would rather be out free, doing what they do." He pauses. "...but...I guess I didn't -completely- hate it. I mean, sure. It got super boring just hearing all the Guardian chatter about all the things going on out there and you're stuck at command center while they're handling all the action. That, I definitely miss." But the rest, now and then? Zavala's perpetual scowl, Ikora's sly smile as she tries not to laugh at your terrible but actually wonderful jokes.

    Although speaking of paperwork. "...man, I do -not- look forward to the report I'll inevitably have to file about all this whenever I do manage to get back."

Ghost nodded. "Yeah. He really could. He's one of the most tense people I know... but... I owe him my life. I couldn't be where I am now, if not for him. And there's no one else I'd rather have at my back than him and Boogan. Even if he IS super up tight. 'Protocal' is his favorite word, I swear. And oh my gosh, he always gets annoyed when I don't use the key word 'houstan' when answering calls. Can you imagine? Someone THAT up tight? Ugh."

She nodded. "When the day comes, if you want me to like... shoot you a few times to get pity points so someone will do it for you? Let me know. I'll consider it a mercy shooting," she joked.

"So like. If you get blown up, can you be fixed? Come back? Or like... I mean, are you remotely controlled or something? Or... well. That, I guess. What happens if you get hurt or blown up?"

    "Eyuch, you've got a by-the-booker too, eh? Yep. I know aaall about how that is." The Exo laughs. He can totally imagine someone that uptight.

    At Ghost's offer he arches a metal brow, giving a light snort as he smirks. "Don't think I'll be hurting for getting shot at, but thanks," he replies. 

    Her next question has him slow to a halt as he considers how to answer it. "Hm. Well, the short of it is...yeah. If I get killed, I can be brought back, but only by my ghost. You saw her taking care of my hurts earlier. That's how it is with Guardians. Not controlled by anything, we're...who we are. But I guess in a way we're also kinda powered by something else. The Light. It's what brought us back in the first place. Really long story and there's a lot that even we don't understand." 

Ghost nodded. "Uptight pain i nthe butt, sometimes. But... still my friend. A lot of fun when you get him in the right mood," she said with a grin as she walked.

"Oh, I know. But I, at least, know how to properly aim. That's likely different than most things you shoot at, old man~" she teased.

"Your ghost? You mean-- Oh, wait, your pixie. Heh. I keep forgetting what you call those things. Really? That's useful. I've got to get myself one one. Not for the repairing thing, that'd be pretty rad. But oh my gosh they are SO CUTE! You just wanna grab it and tickle it under it's adorable lil circle screen!" she said with a little giggle. Weirdo.

    Cayde chuckles. He's not sure that there's a 'fun' mode to Zavala, but the rest sure sounds pretty accurate.

    Ghost seems to have an unhealthy obsession with his own of the same namesake. At Sundance's internal commentary he can only grin. Yeah, he's not saying that it isn't creepy, and nor can he disagree with his partner about preferring not to be grabbed and tickled, no matter how pointless it'd be. With the next 'old man' crack he suddenly reaches over to loop an arm around her neck to haul her close for a noogie. "I'll show you old man," he huffs.

Ghost let out a yelp as she was grabbed. She shrieked and flailed her arms around. "No no nooooo!" she whined, giggling helplessly. "Stooooop! You know this doesn't even hurt, right? I can't feel thiiiings!" she whined, flailing. It might not hurt, but it didn't stop her from flailing and whining a bunch, shaking her head. "Gahhhhhh! stoooooop! I give, I give, you're not old! You're young and hip and totally rad!

    She may not feel things but that doesn't stop Cayde from treating her like she's some normal...not-android. And really, if he can't treat other bots like people then how does he expect to be considered likewise?

    With Ghost's surrender he releases her, looking smug at that. "Darn right," he agrees.

Ghost nodded, rubbing her head. "Oh my gosh. I think you scratched my head!" No he didn't. "Ugh, boogan is gonna yell at me again." Definitely, but for unrelated reasons. She then glanced up at him. Finally, she cocked her head to the side.

"Hey. Can Exo's love?" GEEZ!

    "Didn't think you were that delicate," he replies, poking a finger lightly at her to boop where her nose would be. Hey, it's his turn to tease!

    Ghost's question just has Cayde give her a look. "What? Where'd that even come from??" Because seriously, it was from left field. "Unless you're falling for me. I know, I know- I get that a lot but I mean, after calling me 'uncle' and all it'd be kinda weird..." He's totally messing with her.

Ghost eeped and reached up, gripping her nose in both hands. "Hey. I am NOT delicate!" she whined. "I am super tuff!" she said, glaring.

And then stared, before snorting. "Oh, gosh, no. I just have a really old motherboard who looks like she'd be just your style. Her processing power is a bit slow, but hey, I'm sure you'll st like feeling fast for once," she teased back. "But in all seriousness... I'm curious. Like... well. Back home? There was a whole big thing about our rights. Were we humans, or robots. Were we sentient, or just reeally well programmed? We were designed to be life like. But..." She trailed off.

"I wanna know about your world. You're sentient... what led to it?"

    At that retort the Exo points at her with a barely audible '-You-...' But he lets it go as Ghost goes on. "That...sounds like a reasonable thing to have come up under the circumstances." He sighs. "I really don't know for sure though. I've been about a pretty long time, and that's just as a Guardian. My memory's full of more holes than a pegboard, and back before I was a Guardian, before the fall, I don't know how many times I might'a got wiped before I got to version six."

    Shaking his head, he folds his arms, starting to walk again, slow, thoughtfully. "My world's messed up. Did I mention that the last time? But before all that, it was...normal, I guess? I don't even know for sure how long in between, centuries at least, but there was a period known as the Golden Age. Big boom in technological developments. It started with the discovery of the Traveler, who I'll add is responsible for the Light, for our Ghosts and all." He waves a hand.

    "Anyway, somewhere within the Golden Age Exos were developed. I couldn't even begin to tell you the process of or even how I function. Most of what's pertinant's probably long gone but I've clung to some things. It's... We're not really encouraged to hang on to the past though, you know? For whatever reasons. Lotta Exos forget and just let it go. But when we die, and come back, we get bits and pieces in the influx. Like a hard reboot except the data's already damaged, so you only get fragments back at at time."

Ghost nodded, walking by him. Listening to him. She was quest, calm, relaxed. Listening to every word he said, pattiently and obediently.

Then, her heart tore. Just a bit. "You don't... know... huh. Yeah... I..." She sighed. "You're like me, in a way, then. At least... yeah. I'm ghost, now. But I don't know who I was back before, you know? I'm one of like... a million people. Or more. Millions. Who all had our brain sucked out and frozen. I was just.... different. You might say special? But more lucky. Pumped full of drugs and trained to be an agent. And for the longest time, I didn't know what I was, really. Who I was." She checked her coms a few times, then... "Yeah, still can't hear me. It's... scary. The most terrifying times were when I didn't know. What I was. Knowing i mgiht never know... then those seconds. Those few, scant seconds before I found out. When they had my brain on a pedastol and were preparing to blow it up. That fear, realizing how weak and vulnerable I was, you know? But..."

She glanced back to him. "I still don't know who I was. My real name. If i had a family. Was I a little kid, an adult? When they made me an agent, they wiped everything with a slurry of drugs and who knows what else. I don't even get fragments. So... Now? I just wanna live. And like... have fun, you know?"

She'd then reach out and take his hand, giving it a little squeeze.

So just... remember. You're not alone. Okay? Mister 'wanna run off on my own cause I'm a badass hunter'. Cause trust me. I understand the not knowing. I understand exactly how that feels." And then she'd let his hand go. "But uhhh. Don't tell anyone that, okay? I'm kinda trying to get a rep as a bad ass robot mercenary. If people find out I'm some old science project, well, I'll lose all my cred. And it'll suuuuuck."

    He stops again then, looking at her as her words pour out. Her hand finds his, his optics, for how bright they are, somehow softer and it reflects in his expression, angles and lines all.

    "...you didn't have a choice." That's what he takes from it, and the thought stokes something. There were people like that. Heck, Clovis Bray might have even done it that way, and the way he recalls it, maybe even he didn't really have a choice himself. "...I...think I was human before. Long while back. Mercenary work or something. A job went bad, the guy who hired me got mad because there was more damage to things than he bargained for. So he made a proposal, with a promise to wipe all my debt."

    He's never spoken about these things. Wrote about them, yes, and if anyone's found his scrawlings then that's one other, but here now, one more. He knows he holds his cards close to his chest but with Ghost setting her's down, he felt it only fair to follow suit.

    "I can't remember my name either, before I became Cayde, or if I've always been Cayde something'r other. I've...found notes to myself. Maybe from times when I still remembered, knowing I might just forget again. ...I might've had family. A wife. A kid. Ace, that's the kid's name. I'd write Ace letters. Words of advice. Words of regret." He knows that it's too easy to let it gnaw on him, the thoughts, the wonderings of whether or not it had been true, or if it was just something else he'd made up. A coping mechanism. Maybe in some time, in some life, he might've had it better.

    Angles shift, the sides of his metal jaw lifting, optics lidding slightly as he pulls up the semblance of a smile again. Wistful. Sad. Understanding. He squeezes Ghost's hand back, nodding as she lets it go again.

    "We all got our secrets. I'll keep yours if you keep mine." He winks.

Ghost nodded, glancing ahead. "You... seem human. For what it's worth. But heck, what do I know? I can be anywhere from three years old to a hundred or so. Bleh. Not like it matters."

She put her hands behind her head, fanning her elbows out. "For people like us, though, who really needs a past? PRobably best we forget it. Shove it aside." But they both knew they wouldn't. Just a silent agreement to pretend they forgot. From one reckless idiot to another.

"So. I know a place, lots of gamblers, big mafia boss, you'd have to be absolutely NUTS to piss them off, every time I go near it, they get a whole batch of guys eying me...." Then she grinned wider.

"I'd say if we went now, we could have them realllllly pissed off. Because I found their special little 'debts and loans' file last time I was there through COMPLETELY legal means... Wanna go blow it up?" she said with the biggest grin.

    Cayde nods, smiling in that lopsided manner of his that he likes to think makes him look roguish. "Well said," he agrees while disagreeing simultaneously along with her. What they didn't forget was a precious part of them, and he knew that they weren't letting go of it any time soon.

    Taking in what she says, he at first narrows his gaze, even as she her grin broadens. As if waiting for a punchline it finally breaks and he grins back, just imagining all the looks of disapproval he'd be getting from a certain Awoken if word ever somehow reached him about it.

    "Do I?!" he pipes, looking for all the world like a kid who's been asked if he wanted to raid a candy store. Stepping back, he gestures to Ghost with a bit of a mock bow. 

    "After you!"