Tale of the Phantom

Chapter 19: Entry Log 59 - 00:14:12

"...and she's not too happy about my mask I guess, frankly I think I did a stellar job getting her likeness, don't you think Sky?" Cayde appears on screen in a chair, sitting near Skylar's bed in the hospital room. He's holding out a mask that looks quite a bit like Eris Morn and grinning like a cat. After a few moments of silence that are only broken by the constant beep of the heart monitor he drops his hand and sighs, chucking the mask behind him. "She's giving raisins to the Guardians. Can you believe that? What a party pooper..." he pauses and clears his throat slightly before sinking into his chair.

The screen pans out, widening the view of the room. Skylar is still unmoving in the bed, but she'd been redressed in a short sleeved gown that peeks out from the covers. The table behind Cayde has two vases filled with flowers and a small stack of engrams all different tones of purple. There's even a small stuffed bear of all things and her two recovered guns, both of which have seen better days. The constant sound of the medical systems was the only real sound in the room and seemed to make Cayde slightly agitated as he stared at a spot on the wall across from him.

The door opening is what breaks that stare and Tevis steps into the room. For once he's not wearing gear from head to toe, but more casual wear. He raises his brows at his friend and smirks. "Wow, Zavala was telling the truth, you really are here," he pokes fun at the Exo as he walks over to stand near him. Cayde snorts and rolls his eyes at the man.

"What are you doing back here?" he grumbles, ignoring the jab completely. Tevis crosses his arms, giving Cayde a pointed look.

"Well, I didn't want to miss all of the festival's fun. Got back a few hours ago and then ran into Z. He told me what happened so I went to the Vanguard but you weren't there. Zavala said you've been here almost every free shift, says you feel guilty. Ikora disagrees, thinks it's something else entirely." He takes a moment to grab the other chair in the room and pulls it next to Cayde, sitting down and almost immediately slouching in it. He does this slow enough that the Exo has time to think over his words, so that when he is settled Cayde replies without delay.

"And what do you think?" he muses lightly, daring him to actually say something. Tevis, being who he is, takes that dare without pause.

"I'm inclined to agree with the warlock."

"Tich, traitor."

"Hey sometimes it happens, doesn't mean I'm going to stop making fun of their 'gliding' jump. Bloody flooffing." That gets a chuckle from both of them, but it doesn't last as long as it should, both of them lapsing into silence for a full two minutes of the timer.

A closer look at Tevis shows he's looking over Skylar and then he reaches for the clipboard at the edge of her bed and starts thumbing through the paperwork on it. He pauses several times, grimacing at details before reading on. Cayde watches all of this silently, eyes darting from one friend to the other in the room. "There hasn't been any change since Eris was here?" he asks after he's done and returns the clipboard to the right spot. Cayde lets his gaze linger on the amber haired hunter for a moment before he shakes his head.

"None. It's been nearly two weeks since they came back. Everyone else is back on their feet doing missions again, but she's just... unresponsive. Sterling came back online but he couldn't do anything so he's just been in rest mode for the most part." Cayde taps a finger on his shin, fidgeting. "I don't feel guilty, not that much. I just don't want her waking up to an empty room. She's been through enough."

"How did they even get her out of that mess? Her medical notes say she was basicly a thrawl chew toy," Tevis questioned, his eyes trailing down to her torso which is covered in blankets, as if he can see the wounds still healing there. Cayde made a clicking sound, one that a human would have made with their tongue but is probably done with a metal hinge somewhere.

"Apparently when they realised what was happening, Z, Haar and Will all ditched their posts and ran down to get her while the others took out Crota. The Exos fought back the Hive long enough for Z to drag her away. Wasn't long after it was all over she had to be carried back to the ships because she was apparently unresponsive and kept screaming and ripping at her wounds. Corvan was able to get her to use his armor as a stress point instead of her own skin for her hands."

"Shit," Tevis curses and looked over the woman again, a deep frown there. After a few minutes he glances behind them at the table, eyeing the items there. "Well, apparently you're not the only one worried about her it seems. The flowers from Winter?"

"Yeah. She's in here whenever I'm not and she's not on a mission. Reads to Sky and talks to her. Thought I'd give the talking a try." Cayde shook his head. "I can't see that it makes a difference, but I can't get myself to stop coming by..." he sounds slightly confused by his own admission, as if he doesn't know why he's doing it.

"She'd be happy you're here. You guys are close after all." Tevis stood at that, walking over to the table and Cayde turns to watch him. The Nightstalker picks up what was left of the Fatebringer and grimaced. The gun is nearly in pieces and when he tries to pull the hammer back it won't budge. "Looks like her gear took a hammer too. Where's the rest of it?"

"Probably long gone by now. Most of it was ruined. She didn't even have her knife on her."

"So why keep this thing" he looks at the broken gun. "Can't even fire it anymore. It's a shame really, it was a nice gun."

Cayde shrugs his shoulders. "I was thinking about trying to see if it could be fixed. You know I'm good with my hands and with Banshee's help, it'd be easy." Cayde sees the grin on Tevis' face and quickly keeps talking. "She liked that gun okay? Thankfully her rifle just needs a new paint job. I don't want to mess with something that complicated."

"But rebuilding a hand cannon isn't?" Tevis teases. Cayde just scowls at him and the man chuckles setting the gun back down. Then he reaches into his pocket and takes out what looks to be a brand new pack of cards. The hunter passes it back and forth between his hands for a moment before setting the deck on the table. "Was hoping to play a game with her," he said off hand before looking to the still figure in the bed. "You hear that? Get your ass back here and wake up Little Falcon. Playing poker won't be near as much fun without your ass to beat."

There's a beat of silence again where both men seem to be waiting, hoping that she'll do as commanded. She doesn't and then:

"You done being corny yet?" Cayde asks and Tevis huffs at him.

"You're just sorry you didn't think of it first."

"Ha! I'm much more clever then that."

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that."

"...Would you just leave already?"

Sundance sighs her gentle hum and let's the video fade out, knowing that the banter could go on for quite a while, but at least Cayde is smiling again.