nexus_crossings | The Fall of Every Sparrow

It’s a calm cold morning on the outskirts near the Wilds. The aeronautiloids are hibernating in their nests, the odd small creature chirps in the bushes, and the blue grass is hidden by a shallow layer of snowfall. It’s picturesque, and quiet: most of the Nexus visitors prefer the shelter and hot drinks of the built-up streets this time of year. In fact, someone’s counting on that.

There’s a white flash, a split-second burst of horrendous noise. An armed figure drops out of the air backside first, her plate armor in flames, and hits the ground with a low whumph. She rolls over immediately and pushes herself to her knees, swearing- then looks up, over her shoulder. There’s just a second to register the source of the noise above, and then the blazing, half-melted remains of a hoverbike crash down onto her.

It takes a minute before she pushes herself back up, twisting to shove the smoldering wreck off of her with a grunt. The fire on her own armor has gone out at this point, but it's black with chemical ash. Blaze lurches back a step or two and surveys the damage through the half of her helm that isn’t totally destroyed. The nearby snow has melted and begun pooling around the ex-bike, steaming away from the hot metal. Ghost materializes above her shoulder to scan his smoking Guardian, then the bike. Here’s hoping they didn’t land on anything important.

“Think we can salvage it?” Blaze asks him. The tiny floating robot gives her a Look.

Abashed, the Exo Guardian reaches up to try and detach her crumpled helmet, wincing at the pain when something jostles inside. Anyone getting close to help (or spectate) will get her hand lifted in sheepish greeting and a rueful look, the glow of one optic visible through her cracked faceplate.

“Ever had a great idea that you, uh, kinda regretted instantly?”

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"Aw, Solo, I didn't know you cared." Of course he's getting teased. And shoulder-bumped, albeit gently. She's touched, even if the Exo never quite knows how to react when her friends here worry about her well-being. Ghost always advises her to take it as a compliment. It does feel sort of nice, in an odd way. Like her existence really matters to someone outside the confines of the Tower.

Still, what's to worry about?

"So- all right, this is a little embarrassing," she admits, as if her rueful tone and every inch of her body language wasn't saying it for her. "It was running fine until I got this idea- uh. There's this power I can call on, for battle. The way I always used to do it, I smash my fists into the ground and lightning just explodes everywhere, it's amazing, sometime I've gotta show you-" Wait, getting off-topic. She lowers her hands from miming explosions.

"Anyway, I just learned how to channel that power into flaming hammers instead, so I figured I'd try it on a Sparrow. Problem is, when I do that it gets really, really hot and- well, you see." Blaze looks down at the sad immolated remains before them, and can't help the dry tone in her voice when she finishes: "Turns out, if you can summon the fury of undying suns... don't do it on your bike."

"The drive core definitely doesn't like it."

Blaze does seem a lot more durable than the average passerby in the Nexus. This Han isn’t even aware that Ghost can simply regenerate her, but still. There was something about pain and suffering that evoked a certain response in the average person and frankly, he’s glad that most people are wired that way.

“Huh.”

Han doesn’t know what to make about the fury of the undying suns. Was there such a thing as suns (or stars) that didn’t die where Blaze comes from? Was it a metaphor? Where did her power come from? There had to be a logical explanation for it, right? Because there wasn’t any faith-based mumbo-jumbo that could conjure fire or explosions.

“Well I mean ...” He scratched his shaggy brown hair, grasping for something to be able to add to the conversation. “... I’d imagine that would be pretty tough for most engines to take.”

She says it like she's quoting someone, (and someone very serious at that) so perhaps it is a metaphor. A poetic motto, at the least. There's pretty much no way Blaze can explain her powers that'll sound less confusing, though. She's learned to try and just roll with the weird things she's told, herself.

"I didn't think it through," she admits. "Would have made for a hell of an entrance, though..." Oh, well. Someday. When she and Ghost figure out a really heavy-duty solution to that little overheating problem.

"Hmh. You know the worst part? I finally had the systems tuned the way I wanted them. Now I've gotta get my hands on another Cavalier model and get it in shape to give you a race." She gives him a glance and a chuckle. "That got anything to do with why you're all the way out here, come to think of it? Scouting the terrain?"

“I can’t think of many ways that are better for getting attention than setting yourself on fire.”

He’s not sure that’s exactly what happens when she’s using her power, but he’s gotta imagine that’s probably what it looks like. ‘Specially to those unfamiliar with the light that comes from undying fury suns.

Having gotten that thought out into the open, he does offer her a solemn and remorseful nod for the loss of her well tuned bike. Having put in plenty of hours of repair work into speeders himself, he knows first hand what she’s talking about. You can waste hours and even days getting a machine just the way you want it, fussing over every little detail, then have it all undone in the blink of an eye.

“Well, somebody told me there was racing around here. I couldn’t help but want to see the terrain once I knew that.”

"I am very good at getting attention," she laughs. "If I get to be the brightest, hottest, most frightening thing on the field, that's half my battle won." She may have embarrassed herself a bit with her new powers, and she certainly didn't walk away from the Forge unchanged... but she does revel in that thought. Besides, her brother and sister Guardians are a flamboyant bunch, most of them. A bot's got to work to stand out.

"You know," she says thoughtfully, turning her helm in her hands, "the only time we saw one of those speeders was right after y- it got dragged out of a junkyard. How do they handle over rough terrain?"

She was gonna say you. He just knew it. It wasn’t the first time around here that someone had slipped up like that around him.

It made him wonder about the other guy for a moment. Where he had gone? How he was different and how he was the same as the other? If nothing else, people had seemed to have liked the last one, which meant that there was at least some kind of void he was walking into.

“More smooth than running over it on something with wheels by a lot, the tech is distorting gravity around you, so you only really notice any difference in the ride at all by the sounds and feelings coming from the engine.”

Blaze knows better. She ought to, more than most people. It's just a hard thing to avoid consistently, and she won't blame that on the tricks her memory's been pulling lately. He's not the same guy. He deserves better than for her to forget it.

"You're at least on par with a Sparrow, by the sound of it. Hmm." No easy advantage there, but it figures. Depending on a speeder's typical clearance it might even have an easier time with a rugged course. "Not as much fun if it's just rocky, though. I like dunes or little hills and ruins you can play around on. Most of the spots I know around here are more twisty and sharp- but that's a different kind of thrill."

He wouldn’t hold it against her. It’s an odd feeling to know that there was someone there before him with the same name and a close enough persona that everyone is reminded of him. It has to be odd for them too. He’s just trying to navigate through all of it.

“Any of the hills around big enough to get you some air?”

There is a devious little smile spreading over his lips and the memories of being chased through the business districts of his homeworld flood over him. Running from people in a speeder was one thing, but getting away on a bike was a lot more fun — and for him, it was because of the level changes you can do on a much smaller vehicle.

The Fall of Every Sparrow

so behind on tags this week aaaaagh

As you might have noted, me too. Lol.

Curse of the IRL busy times, oh well

Ikr

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