RICOCHET

    Savri blinks. First once, then twice as the comment registers properly. Was that a pick-up line? That someone just used? On her?

For a long moment, she’s too surprised and confused at the concept of it to be annoyed, and it shows.

     ❛ I– ❜ The Awoken actually fumbles, blinking again before the a darker tinge crawls up on her cheeks. Not that there’s an inkling of her being legitimately flattered, …but she can’t help but feel embarrassed about being put on the spot so quickly. Abruptly, she scowls. ❛ I could agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong. ❜

The response that he receives brings a prickle of disappointment, but he’s not surprised. That dark tinge of her face almost had him fooled, but -- she hasn’t outright told him to go away, yet, and so Ricochet doesn’t give up fully.

  The Hunter’s stance against the wall is casual if not somewhat stiff-limbed, halfway leaned up against one of the pillars on a second story of the Tower. The balcony overlooks many of the shops, arrays of weaponry and armor brandished by merchants peddling to eager gear-hungry Guardians.

Savri wasn’t especially sure what she was looking for and if she even had a train of thought before the other Hunter sidled up to her, though the look on her face says some minor sense of irritation regardless.

She glances down at the ground – nothing – and then back up at the Exo’s face, deadpanning.

       ❛ What. ❜

He half expects her to just walk away, or to say something that ruins the joke -- but she doesn't, and a jolt goes through him that almost makes him forget what he was going to say next. But, he manages to collect his thoughts, the tiniest hint of a smile finding it's way to his mechanical face.

Ricochet slid himself up to the woman, tall and stone-faced against his form. Even though he knew this probably wouldn’t go well for him, he still swallowed his own better judgement and spoke to her. He had a thing for women who looked like they could kill him, and on top of it -- awoken? Come on.

Surprised, Ricochet places his hands on Andreas’ hips, but there’s a small tug of a smile to his mechanical face. “ It has been. ” He agrees, but then, lets himself lean forward just barely, placing a small peck on his beautiful boyfriend’s lips. “ But I figure you’ll find your way back to me, if you want. ”

The words made Ricochet laugh suddenly, which was kind of unfortunate considering he was halfway through taking a shot. The vodka tried to rise back up in his throat, causing him to force it back down and try not to choke. Somehow, he managed, holding up a finger in a "one second" sort of gesture as he kept himself from dying.

Lowering his hand down, he tilted his head to look at the woman beside him. "You, lonely?" He echoed the word, laughing again, quietly. "Well, I imagine to a point, if you're drinking with me in a questionable bar."

But then, his tone shifted a little, looking her over and wondering if maybe her question had been more serious than he'd first assumed. Was she lonely? He couldn't imagine someone as beautiful as her having a hard time finding company. How much had she had to drink so far, anyway? Were they passing into Serious Emotions level of Drunk yet?

To say Ricochet was caught off guard was a bit of an understatement.

He took a quick step back – almost necessary, considering how tall this other exo was, towering over him. Reddish eyes, similar to his own, gazed down at him, and it took Ricochet a few seconds to fully process what had been said to him.

Slowly, he tried to make himself relax, shoulders slumping as he un-tensed. Giving Bashalon a quick look up and down, judging him. Intimidating. Scary. Kind of hot. Okay, definitely hot. But still pretty damn intimidating.

He knows that Ricochet is just trying to make him feel better, and honestly in a way he is right. Dallas is a legitimate Guardian, probably one of the strongest people that he’s ever met, his Light extremely bright. Powerful. But they don’t know. They can’t know anything for sure.

At that point, Trinket takes his leave, floating out of Blaise’s hands towards Baby, who’s probably just as uneasy as the rest of them. Blaise take the opportunity to lean into the Hunter’s embrace, his optics dimming. “Okay. Okay. You’re right. Dallas can take care of himself.” He pauses for a long few moments, trying to convince his own mind that’s true. He said the words, but… the what-ifs don’t stop coming.

Just keep it together, he tells himself. They’ll be back home before he knows it, and they’ll find his husband – ugh, he’s just not good at being positive!! Hands reach for Ricochet, his arms wrapping around him as he buries his face against the Hunter’s shirt. “I want to believe it…”

His grip gets tight. He hesitates before saying anything else. All the bad things he wants to say. “Maybe just. Hold me until we get there.”

It doesn't take much coaxing at all for Ricochet's arms to come to wrap around Blaise tightly. "Of course." He says, passively petting his boyfriend's back. But now that Blaise isn't looking at him anymore, he can't help but feel his face twist into a frown. "I'm here for you, okay?"

But, at the same time, he knew that wouldn't matter much if something did happen to Dallas. Dallas was Blaise's foundation, the pillar that had built him up from some really dark places. In the end, the fact that Ricochet and Blaise ever healed their own relationship was because Dallas was there for him, too. And if he was gone? Well... it just wouldn't be good.

Shifting, he moved to lean back a little bit, letting Blaise come to lay on top of him. He would be there for his boyfriend, yes, but there was also his own brand of worry. There were so many people in the city that Ricochet cared about... and if it was 'compromised', each and every one of them was in danger.

Blaise sits beside to Ricochet, needing to be as close to him as possible. He’s the only thing he has right now – this being the last possible thing he ever could have expected. He never leaves the City anymore!! And now this? The one time he actually takes a trip?

Trinket rests in the palms of his hands, single glowing eye looking up at him. Dimmer than usual. They can both sense each other’s apprehension. Uncertainty.  All he wants is to have his Ghost replay the message over to him, but he doesn’t want to do it in front of Ricochet. However, it doesn’t stop his mind from going over the words in his head. The City was compromised. The way Dallas told him that he loved him right before the transmission ended.

“Ricochet.” He says the Hunter’s name without taking his gaze away from Trinket. It’s hard enough to say what he wants to without having to look at his boyfriend. “If things get really bad… If we get there and Dallas isn’t okay…” Even being an exo, his throat gets tight. He doesn’t even know how to finish the sentence. Because if Dallas isn’t okay then he doesn’t know what he’ll do.

"Shhhhh." Ricochet quickly hushes his boyfriend, moving to put is arm around him. "Don't think like that. Dallas is, like, one of the most legit guardians I've ever met."

But, still, he knew that there was a chance. There was always a chance. Dallas didn't leave the city, and Ricochet honestly wasn't sure if he was as combat-ready as he looked. They probably had to keep up with their training, right? Plus, Dallas was an exo -- exos were naturally supposed to be good at fighting, right?

The thought might have been ironic if he hadn't been so worried.

Ricochet says yes, more or less, and that’s all he needs to hear. The rest of the details, they’ll figure those out later when the time comes. “Thank you.” He says, a sigh of relief. The fact is, he would have ended up going back to Earth with or without him, but he’s glad he doesn’t have to make that choice.

The exo stands, pulling Ricochet up with him before glancing over to where he knows their ship is waiting. “I’m sorry, we’ll make this up, I promise. Once we find Dallas and Dev and everything settles down.” It had taken them so long to take this trip together, their schedules never working out, both having other relationships and other commitments…

But this is serious. Probably more serious than anything that’s happened since they’ve both been Guardians. But Venus will still be here once everything is all said and done. And Dallas? That’s what he’s not so sure about.

"It's okay, Peanut. Don't worry about it." Ricochet says, more out of instinct than anything, because in the pit of his stomach he feels like nothing is okay. He knew that there was a chance that going back to the city was going to be hugely dangerous. Dallas' voice had been very serious in the transmission, almost scarily so thinking back to it.

They start to make their way back towards the ship, silence falling over them until they got there. "Baby, can you set the coordinates for the city?" He asked, and she beeped in response, floating over towards the cockpit to set the ship's flight pattern.

Sure everything will be fine? Dallas wouldn’t send him that transmission without good reason, and to go as far as saying the City was compromised? That isn’t something that just happens! “Ricochet, I have a really really bad feeling about this. Please!” He finally realizes his grip is getting too tight and he releases him. “Sorry.”

But he can’t stop thinking about Dallas, and yes, maybe he did fight at Twilight Gap all those years ago, but the City’s been relatively stable since then. Standing at the Wall, day in and day out. He hasn’t had a lot of first hand experience for a long time. He knows his husband is strong, physically, mentally, everything. It just. Doesn’t sit well with him. It still gnaws at his insides knowing he’s on Earth, fighting without him, and he has no idea what condition he’s in.

The thought hits him hard, the urge to cry even though he can’t. “If you want to stay here, you can.” Voice much softer now, the thoughts really getting to him. Horrible, terrible thoughts of his Dallas dying and not being able to come back. “I have to go to Earth. I can’t stay here knowing something might happen to him. I mean… I’ll come back for you later if you want, but..” He isn’t staying. He just can’t.

Ricochet exhales -- more of a sound than anything -- and then presses his mouth shut tightly. He knows at that point that there's nothing he could say or do to stop Blaise from going. And he knows that it means he has to go, too, even if he feels absolutely terrified at the mere thought.

"I'm not going to let you go alone." He says, words that could almost be brave-sounding if they didn't come from him of all people. "But, Peanut... we have to be careful." He said, then, knowing that there were times that Blaise got a little... irrational. "Go in slowly, see what's going on before we rush right into the middle of it. Okay?"

He’s still surprised when Ricochet says no, eyes flashing brighter for a second. Not used to hearing no, not from Ricochet at least, the person that always tried to appease him in any way possible.

“Of course Dallas is going to say to stay here!” Grip tightens against Ricochet’s arms without realizing it. “He doesn’t think I know how to fight!” Most of the time Dallas brushes him off as being a novice Warlock, when in reality his abilities probably surpass his. He’s not about to sit around on Venus while his husband is facing a life or death situation.

His mind scrambles for anything he can use to convince Ricochet that they need to go back, finally his thoughts stopping on Dev. “And what about Dev? What if he needs us? And Andreas??” He pauses, thinking about how Andreas was probably more helpless than Dev ever would be. “We’ll be careful! But we can’t stay here.”

The grip on his arm tightened almost painfully and, unsurprisingly, Blaise didn't back down from trying to convince him to go back to the city. Ricochet's gaze flicks to the side when his boyfriend continues to speak, saying that Dallas underestimated him -- which was true. Blaise was stronger than he looked, terrifyingly so, but Ricochet could understand why Dallas didn't want to think that. It was hard to really realize see Blaise as anything other than small and in need of protecting... until you were at the other end of his wrath.

Luckily, he doesn't have time to dwell on that thought, because Blaise pushes forward. Bringing up the same names that had passed through Ricochet's mind only a minute before -- Dev and Andreas. He looks back at Blaise, feeling completely hesitant and unsure about anything in that moment. It didn't take much to convince Ricochet to do something. His will was very weak.

"Peanut." He says the name again, half whining in a 'please just listen to me' way. But he knows that's probably hopeless -- yet, he's not ready to give up, not yet. "I'm sure they're fine. I'm sure everyone will be fine." His voice, of course, does not sound like he believes it, because he's starting to worry himself now. "I'm sure the Comms are back already -- r... right, Baby?"

As soon as he got the unexpected message, Ricochet had been suspicious that something was wrong with Andreas. It was almost 2 in the morning, a time that was a little late to plan an unexpected visit -- but, of course, he told him it was okay to come over, anyway. He wasn't doing anything else that night, and even if he had plans, there was a good chance he would have put them on hold for Andreas, anyway.