#amongallorders

[dirtybets-blog]

“Nothing can hurt me now.”

five word prompts - accepting

"Now?" Cayde echoed the word with an intense, half-forced tone of disbelief.

For a moment, he paused, eyes searching for any movement ahead of them as they walked. Guns were cocked and ready, but that part of the burned-up city seemed to be clear. For now, at least. Satisfied that nothing was going to catch them off guard for the immediate moment, he let his glowing gaze drift back to the woman beside him.

"Has anything truly hurt the almighty Ikora Rey?" He teased. And, of course -- he knew the answer was yes, but she was pretty much a legend in many ways. Warlock of the wilds. Crucible champion. Unbreakable, terrifying vanguard. Ikora had quite a list growing for her.

His mouth opened, another comment about to fall from it, when the distant sound of pig-like grunting seemed to rattle his metal head. Pretty far away, but close enough that they could probably find it.

"Hey. How about a bet -- no, no, a game." He makes the comment. Zavala was somewhere else in that moment, meaning there's a chance he could convince Ikora to have a little shred of fun in the slightly horrific time they were experiencing. "First one to get pancaked by one of these guys loses."

And if she took it -- well, honestly, he would hope for a draw. But hey, why not have a moment of friendly competition while everything else around them burned to the ground?

[dirtybets-blog]

“I don’t want to lose you.”

“Aw. So–” Cayde gasped quietly, but struggled to still finish his words, despite the situation. “So you do care.”

The words, though, they didn’t feel like his own. Everything felt distant, tinged with numbness and partially unreal. The gash in his side was still bleeding ( perhaps the exo equivalent of actual blood, but the purpose was the same ) and didn’t seem like it was going to stop.

The air was thick with darkness, suppressing his own light and making things worse. He’d known that the little mission he’d assigned himself was a stupid risk, but Cayde never really took the possibility of it going badly serious enough, not until… well, this.

“Ikora.” He said her name, obviously struggling as he did so. “I may have some... bad news for you.”

[dirtybets-blog]

@amongallorders

Her silence was tinged with heat and the smell of ash yet burned as she glared at him, eyes narrowed but bright. She had worn the same expression since Owl Sector first contacted her hours ago - brows furrowed tightly, mouth turned pointedly downward in a harrowed scowl deeper than ever before.

Those with a keen eye ( and a bit of caring, maybe ) would notice how she balled her hands into fists over and over, how her shoulders raised with such tension, how she kept her head down as she tried to imagine as many outcomes as possible and how to disarm them before they could happen - and perhaps most importantly, how she quaked in place for only a second at a time, but a second long enough. Cayde was the least of her worries, but he was rising in priority. She could not work with his voice in her ears alongside all the others.

“Watch your damn mouth, Cayde.” It was almost a growl. “Unless you have something useful to say.”

It wasn't that the body language was entirely lost on Cayde, but at the same time, he had still let himself say it. Speaking when almost anyone else would have had the brains to do the opposite. Maybe being around Ikora so much had numbed him to the fact that she could be terrifying.

Though, he was quickly reminded when she looked up at him with those burning, deadly eyes. And then her words were like poison, spat at him. It wasn't often that he heard Ikora actually seem to lose her temper, even if it was in a composed way.

And then, Cayde recoiled. Just barely, but it was visible. His hands moved up protectively, before he caught himself and let them drop. Disappointment sparked in his chest at her tone and words, and he wished that Ikora could have a sense of humor for once.

The exo groaned, shaking his head. "Whatever." He breathed, letting his arms slump down again. "If you need me, you know how to get a hold of me. There's no use in me hanging around the hall while you guys try to figure things out."

Since, obviously, they didn't really want his input anyway. Why did they bother having a hunter vanguard, again?

He moved then, trying to leave. But his steps caught at the front of the hall, and Cayde came to a stop. He stood there for a long time before he turned just barely, looking at Ikora again, thinking to himself how she just took everything so seriously all the time.

"Hey." He found himself saying, almost hesitant to even address Your Warlock Majesty; Ikora Rey. But he pressed on. "So far, we don't have any proof that this is going to turn out bad." He stated. Factual. Hopefully she could appreciate that. "So for now, relax a little. If shit is going to blow up, it will. And we can deal with it. We always do."

[theawokenqueen-archive]

@amongallorders

[ Text to: Mistress Ikora ]: hey!!!! [ Text to: Mistress Ikora ]: i know this probably says it’s from the Queen but uh its ronja [ Text to: Mistress Ikora ]: i stole mum’s phone thing bc its been forever and i miss u :((