orendalogs | IT'S YOUR DESTINY!!!

Entry tags:

IT'S YOUR DESTINY!!!

Who: Anyone, everyone? Aoba and Declan to start.
What: Destiny
When: After the House of Wolves, before The Taken King.
Where: Earth, The Last City, The Tower and beyond.
Warnings: Could be sorta zombie stuff (Hive), could be xenophilia? I dunno. Gen warnings, yo.

Earth. 700 years into the future, humanity is all but gone, huddled in a massive city in the mountains, surrounded by gargantuan walls and living in the shadow of the slumbering, perhaps dead, body of The Traveler. The massive being of benevolence and light that came to Earth bearing gifts of knowledge that would bring about the longest Golden Age in Terran history, hovering in geostationary orbit over The Last City of men, protecting what is left from The Darkness beyond with the remains of it's Light.

For those on Earth it is a well-known story. With The Traveler's dying breath it created Ghosts, fragments of living Light that in turn resurrected men and women across the galaxy, bringing to bear the Guardians, warriors to fight the Darkness. Earth and all the nearby planets are populated by humans, the Awoken, Exos and a variety of species of ever more distant origins, some less generous than others. The Guardians make their headquarters in a colossal spire at the edge of The Last City. There, in the Tower, the Vanguard and other factions of humanity work together to hold the line and fight the Darkness and every other threat to the known universe. The little understood Guardians rarely venture beyond the Tower, preferring the company of their brothers and sisters in arms, but all look to the Tower as a beacon of hope.

There is danger and adventure to be had; the likelihood of death and the possibility of rebirth. The future is uncertain, but all who walk in the Light know the Darkness is coming, and the wise life to the fullest.

[ Destiny Wiki ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Just a feeling. It's one of the most dangerous places in the system, but I'm most at peace there. I love the Reef, and I'm always very happy there. Nothing seems better. But there are times when I go out of my way to get assigned to the Moon, and just stay there for weeks," the Titan answered, sucking crumbs off of his thumb.

"I like going out into the middle of an empty mesa and making camp far away from everything. I don't even bring my ship. Just my gear and something to lay on, and I stay there in the silence staring up into the darkness of space. There's nothing on the moon, no atmosphere, so it's clear all the way up and out. When you lay on a tall place, it's like you're just out there in space, closing in around you and opening up at the same time. The 'nothing' of it all is comforting...but I don't know why. Any other time being alone makes me feel a bit miserable, really."

It sounded a bit like being in the hammocks had been, Aoba thought. Looking out that great braced window and feeling like space was everywhere. Except Declan was removing the window…and thankfully had an entire moon at his back.

“It kind of sounds to me like it’s…maybe like meditation for you,” he hazarded after some thought. “A way for you to just get way from everything, pretty literally.”

He offered a smile then, tapping his headphones. Conveniently, they still fit around his neck even with all the Hunter gear on, tucked neatly inside the hood. They were such a permanent part of him that he had yet to leave them behind even on these excursions.

“My music is like that for me, sometimes. When I put on my headphones and turn them up, the rest of the world just goes away. Doesn’t mean I want it to go away for good, but sometimes you just need that feeling for a while.”

He nodded, giving it a little more thought as he turned and thumbed through a case of hard files and datapad documents.

"I usually go when everything just gets to be too much. Too loud, too angry, too lonely. Too anything. I go out and get away from everything and just remind myself how enormous everything is and how small I am, even when I feel too big. I wanted to take you to my favorite spot..." He huffed a sigh, pulling his helmet back on and shaking his head.

"I hope there's time before you go. We even have to cut Venus a little sorter than planned just so we can meet with the Sovs and Xur. Can't keep royalty waiting."

“We’ll make the time,” Aoba answered, letting his friend see his smile before he took the cue to put on his helmet, too. It was Aoba’s least favorite part of the ensemble by far. Remarkably it fit in such a way that he neither felt too smothered or like he couldn’t see well, but their helmets hid their faces, and that he wasn’t too keen on.

“Maybe royalty can’t wait, but I can. If everything you show me before I go doesn’t include your favorite place, that’ll bother me.”

"If you keep waiting just because I don't get to show you around, I'll keep coming up with things to show you so you stay," Declan chuckled softly, head turning away in a trademark gesture that accompanied one of his shy smiles. Even with the helmet, some things could be seen in their own ways.

"Let's head out. The research post is a bust. It was just a shot in the dark, anyways," the large man sighed, waving Ren and Ghost over, the latter disappearing the way it did when returning to being part of Declan.

"I'll ride through where the sulfur flats are so you can see before we leave. It's on the way back around through the canyon route. Afterwards, it's back to the stars and straight on until the Reef. I've got some more assignments out that way. A meeting with the Queen costs."

Well. At least the helmet hid Aoba’s surge of a blush. That was unexpectedly convenient.

“Aa,” he gave his little sound of acknowledgement as he bent to pick up Ren the old-fashioned way, having no such means to carry the Allmate as a part of him. (And as of yet still devoid of awareness that a long time ago that had been the only way he’d carried him.) “Ready to take more pictures, Ren?”

“I have taken several hundred thus far and still have the storage space for a hundred times more,” came the ready agreement.

"Are you liking the upgrades?" Declan asked conversationally. He was always easily inclusive of Ren, treating him like a person as deserving of respect as any living biological being. He had a lot of experience with artificial life.

"Let's get a picture together on the cliff over the center before we go. The sun always looks amazing reflected on the water past the ruins. Like emeralds and amber. We can take our helmets off long enough for that. I think it'll look extraordinary with your hair this color," he reached out, cupping a hand against the side of Aoba's helmet with a nod before turning to lead the way.

Wait, no, he had a helmet on to hide his blush and now Declan wanted him to remove it again? Maybe the walk would be long enough to get his cheeks to cool down again.

And maybe Desire could stop giving him those pointed ‘looks’, too.

“They are incredibly beneficial,” was Ren’s initial response as the two men walked and he was carried along. After a bit of reconsideration, he adjusted his answer. “I like them very much. With Ghost’s assistance, I am functioning as if I existed in this state from my beginning, though I remain aware of my vast improvement.”

“H-Hey, I did the best with what I could,” Aoba threw in, half using the jibe to distract himself.

“I know, Aoba. And I am not ungrateful. The advances of technology in this era we are in do not discredit what you had to work with in our time. I would not exist without you.”

It was a walk and a bit of a climb that Declan had to help with because Aoba didn't know how to use the jets in the suit, so he had plenty of time to recover. Provided he didn't lose it when Declan princess carried him for a bit of the steep climb, levitating up skillfully.

"Don't take it poorly, Aoba. You're using technology on him that's centuries ahead of your time. Anything is a vast improvement, even if you had him outfitted with the finest money could buy back then," he reassured his friend, giving Aoba's shoulder a squeeze before reaching to rub one of Ren's ears gently.

"I'm glad you get to go home with something to ease both of your lives," the Titan remarked, gesturing for them to follow around a stone arch overgrown with flowering vines. Pushing past opened out into a truly incredible view, a vast expanse of gem-like water and jungle shores stretching out before them with volcanoes in an amber mist on the horizon.

"I dedicate this view to my friends," the big man rumbled softly, gesturing out at the landscape.

He totally lost it. It was almost a mercy, though, that half of his embarrassment was just from the indignity of it all. Look, he understood that carrying gear on their backs made piggybacks out of the question, but come on…! And he totally wasn’t going to acknowledge Desire’s wondering if Declan might not have chosen this path on purpose.

The view at the top was definitely awe-inspiring, though. It was hard for Aoba to say if it was more so than any of the vistas on Earth, given the crowded cityscape that had been all he’d known for most of his life, but that didn’t mean he dismissed it to any degree. He set Ren down and the Allmate trotted off a ways, undoubtedly capturing a new photo of the scenery with every glance around that he took.

“You know,” Aoba began, still at the Guardian’s side, “as different as everything looks, sometimes it doesn’t really feel like an alien planet to me. It could just be a side of Earth that I’ve never seen before and I wouldn’t know any better, since I never really saw anything but crowded buildings back home.”

"When you are home again...you should take your Granny and go see things as they are. Enjoy life with her for a time. Life then, in your time, is fleeting, and the world is special. I want to see you again...but don't come back until you know your life there is more complete. You have people there that love you, that you love..." He sighed, reaching up and tugging his helmet off, shaking out his soft white hair.

"I'm not going anywhere...but they might."

Declan’s words gave Aoba more of a chill than they probably meant to. Not because of the implied mortality of everyone else he knew, though that was certainly a part of it, but…because he had to question himself again. If he was being irrational, if he wasn’t seriously weighing every single factor involved, if he was just—just momentarily infatuated, then….

Ren trotted back around, prompting Aoba to push back his hood and carefully pull off his helmet. There was less shaking on his part, and instead more careful finger-combing as his hair all spilled out of the confines and he directed it gently over his back.

“…You’re a much wiser man than me, Declan,” he sighed quietly, cheeks well cooled from feeling small and stupid. It was all his own fault, though. None of it was Declan’s.

"Not really. It wasn't until recently that I understood loss. You haven't even gone yet and already I am keenly aware of the void that will be left behind in your absence," Declan mused, looking at the other man a moment before gazing out at the water and the jungle outcrops on the white stone slabs dotting the shores.

"I am only speaking from the experience I know I'm going to endure; cherish the people in your life, and life fully. I will...survive your distance, Aoba. Because I will do everything in my power to make it so you can come back. But I can't help your life back home. I cannot make guarantees about that place, so all I can do is practice patience."

What am I even doing anymore? Aoba wondered, ignoring the many suggestions put forward from the back of his thoughts.

But he still stepped over, up to Declan’s side, putting an arm loosely around the bigger man’s back. He’d have gone for an over-the-shoulder sort of thing if their height difference hadn’t been so great, but this worked well enough as a substitute as Ren moved into place to take pictures that included them as well as the scenery.

“Like I said,” was all he could reiterate, giving the Guardian a wry sort of smile. “A wiser man than me. I’m lucky I’ve got you to learn from.”

He returned the gesture, his arm easily looping Aoba's shoulders as they leaned just slightly against one another, standing and looking out across the water. The air was heavy with sulfur gas, but still breathable. Just not recommended for strenuous activity or long exposure. It smelled unpleasant, but it was more comfortable without the helmets when they could be avoided, and he liked seeing the sights with his own eyes instead of through the heads-up display.

"I learn a great deal from you as well, Aoba. I never spoke or worked to communicate. I never wanted to. There was no one in my life I wanted so hard to make understand me. You've given my life meaning where before I never realized it only had purpose. Thank you."

“Heh…would this be a weird time to admit how much I wanted to understand you, too?” Aoba answered, remarkably devoid of any pink tints to his cheeks. It wasn’t the same kind of embarrassing as the way his chest did funny things at the weight of Declan’s arm since, after all, he was speaking instead of a feeling he’d gotten within those first couple hours of meeting the Guardian.

“I couldn’t see anything to explain why those people in the bar were treating you like they did. The bartender’s reactions made way more sense to me. Then, when we went to see the Speaker, I ended up telling him right there: it felt like you didn’t have a lot of friends, so I wanted to try and be one for you.” A soft laugh, and a matching smile. “I’m glad I pulled it off.”

"I haven't been angry since I've been with you," Declan admitted in regards to his reputation. "You've never been unkind, never sought to frustrate me. I...get confused easily when I don't have time to think about things. You always wait and listen. Other people yell and push and I react. Sometimes poorly," Declan murmured, inhaling deeply, nose wrinkling at the boiled egg smell of everything. Too bad the sulfur-water fed flowering plants did nothing to help the odor.

"You became my friend simply by merit of being you. You're the first person that just...gave me time. Even Mac goes out of his way to get me angry sometimes. He says it makes me more effective on the field, and that's probably true, but...when I'm confused or upset around you, it feels better. I know I can figure things out at my own pace and you don't usually get frustrated with me." Usually, because Desire had a bit of a short fuse and got mad, but Declan approached that situation very differently from others. There was no need to fight, just wait. Things would eventually have answers. And Desire was much more predictable than someone with a gun so the need to solve issues was much less urgent.

Usually, he said. Aoba actually laughed a little at that, a self-conscious chuff of sound with his face briefly turned away (causing an unfortunate blur in one of Ren’s pictures). It was kind of a nice change to be able to give Desire one of those pointed thought-looks for a change, though.

“Then I’m grateful I’ve never gotten you mad at me. Not because I’m afraid of it, or anything like that, but because…even the parts of me that get frustrated sometimes still like you. So…thank you, for being patient with me, too.” A little pause of thought, complete with some silence and something like puzzlement from Desire. “It was a good night, wasn’t it? Watching movies together. I was a different me, but it was the closest to ‘normal’ that we’ve gotten yet.”

Was Desire…huffing? He might have been huffing. Did that mean he was pleased, or embarrassed, by ‘Reason’s’ words? Hard to imagine him anything like embarrassed, though….

"It's all you," Declan replied, tilting his head. "Taht's the point, isn't it? You're not different people, just different moods," he shrugged, looking out at the water with a vague smile and propping a hand on his hip, finger tapping the holster of his sidearm.

"I had a great time. We didn't have any misunderstandings. Just watched movies and ate and talked. I...like quiet times like that. I mean I don't mind other time, but I don't really get to just spend time with people, and time spent with you is preferable. You don't...laugh at me and make me feel stupid for what I like," the Titan snorted, eyes flicking up towards the sky, as if he could cast a dirty look Mac's way from light years between them.

"But...I think pretty much anything is normal for us. We're just figuring out our lives at our own pace. I like that. Adapting. I worried I might be hard to live with but...you're very patient. Most of the time. Ha."

Another soft laugh from Aoba at that. In a funny way, he kind of liked Declan’s gentle ribbing. Not because he liked being poked fun at, but because he liked that Declan had the confidence to address him that kind of way. He was honest, kind, and didn’t have a single bone of ill-will in him anywhere that Aoba could see it.

Better to dwell on that than on how time with him was ‘preferable’, and how it wrenched his chest a bit to hear.

“It’s…less frightening now,” he found himself admitting in turn. For all that Declan was adapting to his differing sides with remarkable comfort, Aoba hadn’t said all that much about what was going on inside his head just yet.

“It’s like when people talk about a little voice in their heads, watching or commenting on anything I do. And then, when that side of me comes forward, I become the little voice instead. There’s still enough separation that I think of us as ‘we’ sometimes, but it’s less and less like we’re total strangers. Something in me split apart and maybe it won’t ever go all the way back together, but it still takes those parts to make a whole. …Does that make sense?”

"Aoba. Do me a favor when you return home," Declan turned to the other man, sliding his hand around to gently grip his upper arm, eyes serious.

"Be patient and kind with your grandmother about all of this. Don't get angry or too upset. What she did may not have been the best thing, but it may have been the only thing. And I don't ever want you to live with regrets. You may say or do something regretful out of reflexive resentment, but you've been growing through this well. You'll be fine, and there's no point holding onto ill feelings over it. I accept you, and I know other people will too. Find your peace, alright? You should go back home and get your answers, but they're just formality at this point."

Aoba was quietly thoughtful in response, his own hand reflexively grabbing onto a bit of strapping on Declan’s gear as the Titan shifted his own arm. Desire had some things to grumble there, but the gold didn’t press forward just yet.

“I’m going to do my best,” Aoba agreed, nodding gently. “And I think…that’s something I really owe you for. Even Ren was angry and suspicious the first time that ‘split’ appeared, and he’s been with me for years. But you—even when I lashed out at you, you forgave me. On top of everything else I’ve been going through with this ‘Chosen One’ stuff, it’s just….”

He trailed off, thoughts meandering. Losing that particular train of them, he picked up another with a soft sigh.

“…You’ve been everything I’ve needed, when I needed it, right from the moment I wound up in that bar’s restroom.”

"Not everything. You need your home and familiar things, too. You need your answers and you need the people that can give them. But, when it's done and you're content, I'll still be here. You can have two homes, and if it's safe for you to come back, if you ever need to get away, you know where you can go. And I'll keep trying to be what you need," he smiled, tilting his head and sliding his arm back in for a strong, almost crushing, warm hug.

"You've been everything I never knew I needed. This whole time I thought I was broken somehow. Just turns out the right person hadn't come into my life yet. You're the best friend I'll ever have, Aoba. The best thing that's happened to me since I woke up into all of this. You fixed me."

Edited 2018-11-13 02:00 (UTC)

Definitely strong enough to leave Aoba wheezing in surprise! But there was a laugh buried in it too, and the pressure of it eased when Aoba turned in to it somewhat, hugging Declan from the side in return. (Ren, in the meanwhile, had ceased taking pictures. He was outright filming, now.)

“You can’t be ‘fixed’ if you were never broken,” he countered, but still smiling up at the larger man. “I think it’s better to say I just…helped you come out of your shell. So, maybe that can be the favor you do for me, while I’m gone.”

Aoba lifted a hand up to that broad breastplate, patting Declan’s chest just off from center. His heart and his home.

“I don’t expect you to go out and suddenly be a social butterfly or anything like that, and I don’t want you to replace me either-” slipped out selfish little words, “-but it’s a big City out there, with people and other Guardians from all walks of life. I bet you can find a few others to be quiet-type friends for you. Counteract Mac and Cayde a bit, huh?”

Stepping back enough that Aoba had space enough to move and breath, the Titan nodded slowly. Replace Aoba? Of course...the man had no idea what he meant to Declan, so it was probably easier for him to imagine, while the Awoken thought it impossible.

"I don't know who. The only other person I've ever felt even slightly as comfortable with is the Speaker and...well, he's not the sort I imagine I'll be sitting and watching movies with," Declan remarked a bit wryly. Certainly not.

"But I'll try to...I don't know. Open myself to more strike teams, maybe. Talk to other Guardians. Hang around different places in the city," he trailed off, sounding less and less sure and comfortable as he went on. Really, the idea of dealing with all those other possibilities made him feel more than a little anxious. He simply didn't want those people; he wanted Aoba. But whatever the other man wanted, Declan felt compelled to do.

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