Tale of the Phantom

Chapter 11: Entry Log 32 - 00:29:32

The screen flickers on in a long hallway, both walls lined with doors about eight feet apart from each other. The camera follows Cayde, Sundance floating slightly behind him as he walks down the hall, passing idle guardians who are talking to one another, some resting on the doorframes of their open rooms.

"I'd forgotten how crowded it was down here in the normal guardian quarters. Makes me glad the upper staff have more room and privacy.... I doubt she's getting any rest with all the chatter." Indeed, it is loud, much like one would assume dorms might have been during the Golden Age. Cayde passes a group of female guardians, two Exos and an Awoken, who follow his path till he rounds a corner and then giggles are picked up on the mic. He lets out a sigh, shaking his head, though a small smirk does linger in the angle on his jaw. Ego brushing is always nice. He turns his gaze to the feed, apparently realizing it's on and tilts his head. "So Skylar is sick, or at least that's what Winter said when I ran into her this morning. She was pretty worried and asked me to come check on her roommate as she was headed to Mars for a few days. Well okay, not really roommate, all they share is a bathroom, but I'm sure they see each other a lot either way... I should probably explain. See everyone gets their own room, but every two rooms share a joined bathroom."

He turns a corner and walks four more doors down before stopping at one labels '#652: Skylar- Hunter class.' Raising a gloved hand to the door he knocks and waits a few moments. When the time clock ticks by two minutes the Exo grumbles and pulls out a key card, slipping it into the reader and opening it.

"Hmm, looks just like mine did. Wonder if every room is laid out the same." The camera shows a wide-open single room. There's a door on either side adjacent to where Cayde stands, and a large window to the back of the room looking out over the city. The room is cluttered, with a desk filled with papers and books; the wall to the left features dozens of hooks holding guns and blades of all kinds—past weapons no longer used but still full of memories. A map is left lying on the ground near a large bed, pushpins and their holes littering it. Said bed is rumpled and littered with used tissues, Skylar's bright hair poking out between covers and pillows.

As he walks closer, peering over his charge, his ghost floats over, camera focusing on her pale skin and reddened nose. She's breathing through her mouth, the skin on her lips cracking. Just as Cayde reaches out to touch her, her ghost, Sterling, appears in front of his hand, pieces arranged around its eye making it look angry.

"Don't touch her. She just finally fell asleep an hour ago," he informs Cayde, hovering higher and out of his partner's face. Cayde blinks, letting his hand drop. He considers the AI for a moment before resting his hands on his hips.

"How's she doing?"

"Her temperature is high. I kept tellin' her to go to the medical wing but she hasn't even gotten out of bed yet. I told Winter to stay out, Skylar wouldn't want her sick too." While the ghost's voice is clearly artificial, even more so than Cayde's, there is an edge to it that sounds like worry on the southern accented tone.

"Hm. Well, good thing Exo's can't get sick then, just hacked, and no one has tried to do that for a long time with me." Cayde moves to sit on the edge of the bed. "I'll get her to the medical wing, but it will be hard to get her there unseen. It would be better if I woke her up and she walked there." It wouldn't vote well for people to see him carrying her there. Skylar might be one of the heros that killed the Heart of Darkness but rumors like that could cause fragil reputations to crumble.This time, when he reaches out, the blue ghost doesn't move to stop him. He shakes her shoulder slightly, and her breathing changes instantly, and her eyes peel open, breaking up the blue line across her face.

"...Cayde... what you doing here?" Her voice is anything but normal, all broken up and gritty. Cayde smirks at her bewilderment because really, it must have been bizzare to see her mentor in her room.

"Making sure my number one rookie doesn't die from a bad cold," he muses, before standing up. "Get up Sky, I'm taking you to the medical wing, and that's an order." The camera pans, making whatever her reply is unseen as she grumbles and sheets are ruffled. Instead, it focuses on Cayde as he walks over to one of the doors. "I'll just get you a coat or something."

"W-what! No, don't open that-" Her voice doesn't reach him in time as he turns the knob and is quite suddenly engulfed by a small avalanche of different colored engrams that come pouring out of the small closet. Cayde blinks, looking down at the floor where purple, green and blue glittering hexagons cover his feet, one comically thumping on his head on the way down. "Sorry..." Skylar's voice says off-screen and Cayde looks in her direction.

"Why do you have these in here? Take them to one of the Cryptarchs."

"I do... but...all I get are boot engrams, and Raoul said he couldn't take them all because he didn't have that much room for boots. I've been turning them in..." Her explanation is cut short as she starts coughing and the camera pans to her again. She's sitting on the edge of her bed, a hand over her mouth as she coughs, her ghost hovering nearby looking worried.

"You have some of the weirdest luck – oh hey this is an exotic, you really should get this in." Cayde's voice echoes off screen again before he reappears in the screen, gold engram in hand. He sets in on the bed before gesturing for her to get up. "We'll worry about this mess later. Come on, let's go see what one of the doctors can do for you, thankfully most of them are Exos too."

Skylar simply nods her head and stands and soon both hunters are headed out the door, Cayde's hand resting on her shoulder for support as she stumbles. As the door opens to the hall the clip fades to black, ending the entry.