cannotrest | maskormenace inbox and overflow threads

[After the hubbub at the Base has slowed to something of a manageable pace, Ashley will find an Ace of Spades playing card resting atop a folded over piece of paper that looks like it's been torn from an old journal. The handwritten note reads as follows:]

Hey. I never know how to start these. It's been a helluva time lately, hasn't it? About that. Part of that.

I lied. Well, me-in-a-dream lied which means ... I lied. About the Dare. Sure, Hunters get it on a level other folks don't, but it's not some kinda secret that you wouldn't understand. But I'm rambling, better get to the point 'fore I run outta paper.

The Dare's an honor thing, about keeping your word, no matter the consequences. As a rule us Hunters aren't keen on Vanguard duty; we belong out in the Wild, blazin' new trails and recovering lost treasures. But it's necessary ... so that's why there's the Vanguard Dare. Whoever loses the Dare has to hang up their hat and lock themselves away in a Tower.

Well, a while back the Hunter Vanguard spot was empty on account of Kauko Swiftriver goin' MIA and his Dare never showed. So me and Andal were up late, drinkin', and we got the idea to dare each other to hunt Taniks the Scarred, as he'd just made things hell for us. Long story short? I got him. Well, I thought I got him. So Andal up and left us and went to work for the Vanguard.

But Taniks didn't stay dead, so the Dare was still in play. And ... yeah. You can figure the rest. That's the short version, anyway. But I thought it was fair for you to know.

—C6

[Cayde is conveniently not on-base, out on a long walk.]

[It's a while before Ashley's reply comes through, because first she thought it over, then she tried to find him, then she rethought her wording since she wouldn't be able to get instant feedback, then she made a valiant and terrible attempt at handwriting her reply which she had to type up because. Well.]

Hey. Sorry I didn't write back but my handwriting sucks. You can wait to read the rest of this until you get back if you want, I'm not expecting anything right away. Yeah, it's been intense lately. That's probably why I figured that what we have means I'd have your six. Except I think I just assumed you'd know that instead of actually giving you my word, so this time it turned into me having your six whether you liked it or not. I'm not going to pretend I get basing your chain of command on a drunken dare but I get honor, and I've worked out the rest. So I think I'm starting to get why you lied. I was expecting honesty in our relationship, at the very least when both our lives are at risk and/or I'm trying to help you, so I don't like it, but it's making more sense now. Better than me hoping I'd just had a nightmare that you disliked me enough to lie to me so you could run off on a suicide mission (not a preferred breakup method if you ever feel the need), and then waking up and realizing it was really you in there. Thanks for clearing that up. I could never figure out how you ended up Hunter Vanguard, and that dream left me with more questions than answers.

[Something about Hunters seeing Vanguard duty as locking oneself away struck a chord with words she knows by heart. So there's also a Post-It at Cayde's work station:]

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life!

[Ashley's self deprecatory assessment of her handwriting was entirely accurate - a side effect of being from a society that mostly uses digital communication is that her handwriting's as (il)legible as a doctor's. Her best effort to improve it was to just write bigger, taking up almost the entire Post-It with three lines. As if anyone else on the Force might be chicken scratching him poetry, there's a little "AMW" squeezed into the corner. She got as far as thinking of signing it but not to the fact that she hasn't told Cayde her middle name.]

[There isn't a text response for a good long time, time enough for Cayde to make it back to base and find the poem at his workstation. He doesn't mention anything in person, as after reading her response he feels as though he's gotten a lecture much like he often gets from Zavala and therefore does what he usually does in that scenario: awkwardly ignore it.

The poem is a headscratcher, and indeed the handwriting doesn't help. It's not the first or probably the last time he's had parsing handwritten notes, having gotten "Brian" from "psion" at least once before.]

'K I'm pretty sure ur my poetry gifter and I'm tryin' my best but I told you that it's not my thing. I had Sundance search the network but she can't make sense of it neither. Any clue what 'How doll it is purse, to make ennead/to rust unburrnd (unburnt?), not to shine in use/ as thot breath were life' means?

You sayin' I'm a rusty thot?

(Just kiddin I don't think u think that)

(unless you do)

(then I might put it on something. Maybe a business card?)

C6

p.s. what's the M stand for? Ashley-Most-Williams?

[ Ashley's nervous as she waits for a reply, playing with the Ace of Spades at her desk. She almost lunges for her phone when it goes off, only to stare when his answer only addresses her note, not the text.

[ but it's an honest attempt to engage with something she knows isn't his thing, so she'll take it. ]

I told you my handwriting sucks.

[ she types up the same three lines. ]

That's you bored to death in the Tower, because life isn't just the physical stuff (I guess for you it'd be circuits still firing instead of breathing?), it's being out there on the move, so being stuck in one place feels like the end. It's from my dad's favorite poem. The longer I'm with you, the more one of the verses sounds like it's about Hunters. --Ashley Madeline Williams

OH yeah that makes waaaaay more sense. I like it. Your Pops has good taste.

And yeah. Yeah I thought that for a long time. Since the Red War, though, I started to think different. Still bored out my mind, jumped at the chance to do some work with my buddy Petra out in the Reef but ... as weird as it is to say, the Vanguard's the best bet I ever lost.

Also Madeline is pretty.

Had. He passed on some years ago, until my family moved to Earth I recited that poem to his grave every time I went home. So my code name's from the same poem, and Madeline's from a poem by the same guy. I'm glad you came around on being Hunter Vanguard, but I'm sorry it took a war for that to happen.

Oh. I'm real sorry to hear that. You must've been real close.

Yeah ... yeah, me too.

Thanks. He wasn't around a lot because he was on duty so much, but he got me. He's probably still watching, so be good ;)

I'm ALWAYS on my best behavior

... he's not like a spooky little-g-ghost, right? he's not gonna haunt me or nothin, is he

[ she has a handwritten admission in her hand that he is not, but she will do him the service of not pointing that out. ]

Haha, no, I meant from Heaven. Is the idea of an afterlife a bit weird to you as someone who comes back from death, or do people still believe in it for non-Guardians and Guardians who die for the last time?

Edited (Phone!!) 2019-05-29 20:25 (UTC)

No, no it's not weird. Lot of us like to think that those who left us are somewhere else.

What do you believe?

Not really sure, to be honest. But y'know, it'd be nice if people were waitin' for me on the other side when my number comes up, y'know?

Yeah, I like that thought as well.

Say, it's been a while since we did something together. Whaddya say we hit the town, just you and me?

You reading my mind, Cayde? I was about to ask if you wanted to come over tonight.

Hey, you know what they say about great minds. I'll be there.

[At this point she goes looking for him in the base, his note in hand. Date night's a good sign, but she does want to check in with him about her reply before things can be awkward at her place.]

[Cayde and Sundance can be found busying themselves with base repair, still chipping away at the mountain of wiring problems that need to be fixed. It turns out Archie was on the money assigning Cayde to this job; he has more than his share of experience coaxing old, broken systems back to life out in the Wild.

He wraps some electrical tape around a frayed wire and bangs his fist twice against a breaker panel, and looks to his Ghost.]

Try that.

[Sundance shoots a beam into the panel and rotates the back of her shell in an excited affirmation of whatever he just did worked.]

Nailed it! Come on in for a high-five, little buddy.

[He raises his hand and Sundance bonks herself into his palm playfully.]

[ oh no, they're cute

[ Ashley leans one shoulder on a wall to watch them, a fond smile spreading over her face. It's tempting to just let them work - it's work that still needs doing, and on top of that high-five being adorable, it's nice seeing something else Cayde's good at - but she doesn't mean to take long with this anyway. ]

Hey, guys. Nice work.

[ her gaze slides to Cayde alone. ]

Do you have a minute?

[Aw damn, and he'd tried so hard to avoid this exact 'can we have a minute' scenario. Well. Guess it's time to power through it. He plasters a grin on his face and clasps his hands together.]

Sure thing. What can I do ya for?

[ she holds up his note. ]

So, uh, I really like handwritten notes - as you probably guessed from my writing, my world mostly uses digital, so this was, you know, special.

[ there we go, lead with something positive. She takes a deep breath to prepare for the serious part. ]

But I just wanted to know: Did you read my reply? The text, not the poem. [ quickly: ] Yes or no's fine if you don't want to get into it, just please don't find another wire to fix.

[ she winces, that last part having come out more needy than she wanted. ]

[On the plus side: hey, he's big on handwritten notes, so if she likes that sorta thing he's always got that in his back pocket. But dang, she managed to head him off at the pass for his conversational line of egress.]

I, ah. Yeah. Yeah I got it.

Okay.

You don't have to say anything, but I thought about it some more, and I figured I was expecting too much, too soon, as well as not actually saying any of it. So, uh, that's on me.

[ she reaches out, her fingers light on his hood, wary of scaring him off again. ]

And I am sorry about Andal. I think I forgot to say that.

[ there. With his lack of acknowledgment of her first reply, she wanted to be sure he'd at least receive this one, and watching for his reaction's a bonus too, even if he doesn't actually answer her. ]

Anyway... What's a thot? Because I tried Yahoogling it and I think I understood less than I did before.

It was a dream of a memory, Ash. Emotions were runnin' hot with no context. So I don't think it's on anybody.

[He squeezes his eyes shut when she touches his hood and mentions Andal.]

Yeah ... so am I.

[He all but adds "every damn day" before moving onto the next thing.]

Oh I think it's what the kids these days are callin' folks who are ... shall we say, eager and generous with their ahem physical favors? Kind of a weird thing to get twisted about but what can I say? This is a different time.

maskormenace inbox and overflow threads

Text But Like The Physical Kind That's On Paper Wow

text of the digital kind, mostly

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