Statesman - Chapter 6: A grand day out.
Been ages since I updated any of this, and I’ve agonised over the text too damn long, but here we are. More of Alt!verse Cesar, getting caught up in political turmoil and violence on the isolated Outpost of the Crag.
Title: A grand day out Setting: Fairco ‘verse Warnings: Violence, confinement, suicide mentions. Summary: The Warden has organised a walkaround to show off the Crag’s newest resident, but things do not go to anyone’s plan. The EXO is thoroughly demonstrated. D_N befriends a gull. Characters: Cesar Castell, D_N, the Warden. Words: 5850
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After the sealed sanctuary of the tower, the watery light that poured through the first cracks in the main door was half-blinding. Cesar tilted his head forward to bring his visor into position, and the EXO’s skull sections adjusted smoothly with his movement. He felt a flicker of pride at the unhindered motion of the metal – he hadn’t done old-school maintenance like this for years, and getting an EXO of this age to move like a younger rig was gratifying.
She still wasn’t his suit, but… well. It was a fraction closer to something familiar.
A new more grinding noises rattled back into the tower’s interior as the interlocked metal slabs of blast plating finally disengaged, casting small eddies of dust out into the world beyond. Goggle-helmeted guards trotted through the opened door and fanned out into escort positions, rifles swinging lazily at their sides. After a moment there was a faint clang of the Warden tapping on Cesar’s arm.
“Shall we, Private Castell? Best foot forward, and all that.”
There was a waxen eagerness in the man’s expression as he gestured out at the maze of tall wire fences that surrounded the tower. Beyond that, the jagged angles of the Outpost were harsh against its grey sky. The Warden turned back to Cesar, bending until he could see up under the EXO’s faceplate, and smiled broadly.
“Let’s show the masses just what you are.”
Smile. Stand up straight. Don’t complain.
He could do this.
With the dull sunlight glinting from his fresh paintwork, standing half again as tall as the loftiest of his escorts in the EXO’s shielding bulk, Cesar Castell stepped out onto the Crag.
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