Star of the Crucible

Aries waved to some passerbys who recognized him as he leaned against the counter of the ramen shop. He waited for them to walk off before he turned his attention to the girl working the store.

Ladon

Resurrected in the middle of the Dark Ages, Ladon became a relatively successful soldier under Lord Segoth. Much like his warlord, Ladon was a brutal Guardian who knew how to exploit the mortals under his protection. His loyalty to Segoth was merely born out of convenience and when the warlord eventually fell to the Iron Lords he saw it as his opportunity to rise to power.

Splintering from Segoth’s kingdom, he built his own following and managed to become a relatively successful warlord in his own right. Ladon was never big enough to attract the attention of the Iron Lords but he did come to control a sizeable chunk of territory. The kingdom that he controlled lasted out of the Dark Ages and even beyond the founding of the Tower.

Ladon was known for being a ruthless warlord but fair under his own principles. His laws were rigid and not even he would break them. That isn’t to say some of his subjects wouldn’t have preferred chancing the wildlands on their own, however.

His rule finally came to an end in the form of a large scale raid by the Red Legion. Ladon only just managed to escape but many of his subjects and soldiers were not so lucky. His kingdom was scattered and the power of the Vanguard would have made rebuilding a risky venture. And so he did the only thing he could to better his situation. He traveled to the Tower and joined the Vanguard.

Many there were uneasy of whether or not to allow him in. After all, Ladon has killed a few ghosts in his time. Ultimately he was allowed in but has been kept under strict watch by Ikora.

Skadi worked while they talked; dislodging lights and testing them, only to find that they were long broken and burned out, tossing them to the floor. “I know that they usually buy lights in the Tower and City, and they have factories there,” she replied, “and I think the Farm gets a lot of stuff coming in from the City now.”

She hummed at his next suggestion. “I’m not sure the Legion’s technology would be easy to work with; I’ve been inside their base, had Valravn scan some things; Legion technology runs on this kind of…black oily substance. I’m not really sure how it works. Fallen, though, that might be a bit easier since they also scavenge. Most of their stuff is patchworked; a bunch of different technologies slapped together and prodded until it works.”

Skadi was more familiar with the Fallen than the Cabal; the former had been on Earth, and subsequently in the EDZ for longer. “We could try swiping some lights from the Fallen.”

“Mmm... Buy lights...” It didn’t sound very appealing to him. The concept of buying or trading things was still off putting to him. Stealing them from the Fallen seemed like a much more comfortable idea to him. “Take from Fallen easy. Just... need not blow up lights. Hmm... Not need many. Find small outpost,” he said and lowered her down once she’d finished looking.

Tolvaks heard the sounds coming from outside their current post, but with the recent rain, picking up the Titan’s scent didn’t happen until AFTER he’d kicked the door in and nearly startled the Eliksni out of their wits. The snapped retort that Maxim was lucky they hadn’t been holding a weapon was cut off with a confused and resigned chuff as the other proceeded to pick them up and carry them outside like they were no more than a hatchling.

Of all the things they imagined they might have seen, a repurposed WALKER CANNON wasn’t one of them. Set on their feet again, they walked around it, inspecting the integrity of the makeshift weapon as Maxim explained. It was a job any Eliksni would be satisfied with, and the Vandal stepped back again after a moment of consideration.

“There’s Taken north of here. Let’s deal with them first,” they said, ducking inside to retrieve their rifle (backup never hurt). “And we can move this easier with two people.”

Maxim turned back to the makeshift artillery and lowered into a squat to lift the back brace up with a grunt. The old car tires mounted to the front might have been flat but they were better than nothing. While Maxim wasn’t very well adjusted to most things he had picked up on cardinal directions fast enough. So while Tolvaks was getting his things he turned the cannon in the direction of North.

“Spare time? That’s a rare thing! Usually I like to relax in Horizon’s VIP section. It’s a more exclusive club so a lot of us higher ups in the Crucible hang out there after matches. Helps to relax a bit before I get back home.”

There was a brief moment of consideration.

Aries has a Tilt Fuse sparrow

BONUS

“yeah! we’ve spoken briefly before, I’m the gambit queen” she smiles “seems like your a bit occupied” she laughs lightly moving through the crowd “I used to have crowds like this, though I am popular with the young ones.” she smiles softly adjusting her cloak  “Care to join me for lunch?” she asked softly 

“Oh right. The Gambit girl.” He looked away briefly to sign a shirt for somebody, giving them a clap on the shoulder and brief exchange of words. Then he turned back to her, “Used to, huh? What happened?” he asked while giving the same treatment as before to another fan, this time signing a Crucible poster they somehow had with them.

Skadi stood back and watched, but that chair looked really old. “Uh, Maxim, I don’t think—“

Too late. The chair splintered under his weight, and he went tumbling to the floor. The hunter moved to his side, brow furrowed in worry. “Are you okay?” Never mind that he was a guardian.

She nodded. “I’d be glad to help you.” She looked up at the old lights. “Lift me up, I’ll see if I can find one for you.”

Valravn popped into existence nearby. “I don’t know if we’ll find much of anything functional here. A lot of these are really old, and broken. Not to mention the Fallen tend to scavenge any tech that’s not nailed down or on fire.”

Maxim sat up, flakes of concrete falling from the fur of his armor. Cracks and shattered flooring revealed as he stood, much of the chair reduced to sawdust. “Okay,” he answered her. There was nothing to worry about so long as he hadn’t landed on his ghost.

He grabbed Skadi by the hips after her offer and hoisted her up to look at the lights. But he listened to her ghost as well.

Skadi had been scavenging the ruins for Golden Age media when she spotted Maxim, giving him a wave back. Their paths often crossed out here in the EDZ.

“Oh, hello, Maxim,” she smiled beneath her helmet. She held up a backpack that was about half full with various objects. “I’m just looking for things from the Golden Age. Books, movies, pictures. I like collecting them, seeing what life was like before all of this.

She pulled an old, mostly intact magazine out of her bag. It looked like an old fashion magazine, featuring all sorts of models in different kinds of clothes, from casual to formal. “Sometimes I find things that haven’t been destroyed by time. It’s interesting to see.”

She watched him for a moment. He must be scavenging things for his stronghold. He’d told her about it once. “What are you doing? Would you like some help?”

Maxim checked the other lightbulb by shaking it next to his helmet. A rattle and then a prompt smash into the floor. He shifted his weight to step off the old chair and walked over to take a look at the magazine she’d found. He didn’t exactly see the value in it but he knew it was important to her so he was sure to be careful not to tear it. He grunted at how strangely the people in it were dressed and then turned it back over to her.

“Tower and Farm always bright. Want home bright. Need find lights.”

Maxim walked in close to look over the human’s shoulder as they messed about with some ancient electronics built into the wall of a bombed out building. He was comfortable watching right until they opened up an old panel and started prodding about the wiring. The Titan picked them up from behind by the cloak and lifted them up to set them down a foot or two away from the electronics.

A small crowd had gathered around Aries in the streets. He was supposed to be getting lunch but it was hard to ignore a fan, let alone an entire crowd of them. He’d been busy signing just about anything they wanted to throw at him. When he caught a glimpse of a Guardian behind the crowd.

He signed a few more items before excusing himself for a moment to approach.

Maxim stood on a chair in one of the many run down buildings of the EDZ when he heard a noise down the hall. He stepped down and walked to the end of the room to the footsteps, ready to see if it was a human or if he needed to grab on and start ripping. A few moments later and his question was answered.

Not just a human, but a Guardian. And not just a Guardian, but a friend of his. “Skadi,” he said and gave her a wave. He was still uncomfortable with the gesture, never sure if he was doing it right. He’d heard it was too stiff and he should let his wrist, or anything, bend. But he disliked how weak it felt and so she was greeted with more of an impression of a windshield wiper.

Then he turned back into the room to resume his original purpose there.

A bit of grunting sounded from outside before a few moments of silence. Then a certain big green guardian barged unceremoniously into Tolvaks’ home.

“Bug,” he said and grabbed Tolvaks by the back of his armor, lifting him easily with one hand. “I make something. You look.” With that he hurriedly carried Tolvaks out into the open to look at what he found.

Outside Tolvaks’ home was what looked to be the remains of a Fallen walker tank’s barrel constructed into a makeshift artillery cannon on wheels. A box of scavenged shells sat beside it. Maxim thrust Tolvaks out towards it as if to prompt him to look and then dropped him to his feet.

“Blow up tank. Take parts. Make this. Shot at Legion, they think bad Bugs do it.”