Only On Paper

11 - "Jump."

Waking up from my sleep felt like being revived on a battlefield.

I sit up in my cot and look accross at Vario-644. He's still lying down but he's staring at the ceiling, eyes moving back and forth as if he's studying the grains in the material.

He finally looks over at me after a moment or two, and promptly sits up as well.

"Those stars," he says slowly. "Were they in your dreams as well?"

I nod to him, wishing he wouldn't have said anything about it. Yes, the stars from my fever-dream seemed to have followed me into my normal dreams, and I don't like it.

Their very presence is disheartning, they bring with them the sense that my whole world is false. That feeling is the most gnawing feeling I've ever had - and I'm a Warlock.

I shake off my brief despair, and stand up to stretch. The popping noises all accross my limbs and back indicate I slept very heavily indeed. I make for the door and before I can even grab the handle, it swings open to reveal a grinning Skelter. I motion for him to come in.

He's already loaded out in battle kit, so his bulk is significant enough to make the small room seem absolutely tiny.

"You'll probably want your jumpships back at some point," Skelter tells us as he squeezes into the door. "I had my Ghost store them until we could find you two." He holds up two slips of TransMat codepaper, which my and Vario's Ghosts promptly appear and take.

"I also had Roni add a new sparrow to your inventory." He adds to me, giving a look of pride mixed with modesty.

"Wow, I had almost forgotten all about that," I feel a rush of gratitude, and I clap him on the back, "Thanks!"

He smiles and shrugs. "If you're feeling ready, everyone is waiting for you in the Hangar." He glances at Vario, who is standing now, but still looking up at the ceiling. Skelter's eyes dart to the ceiling and then to me to look for assurance. I shake my head and step out the door.

"We'll meet you there in ten minutes, then." I break away from Skelter and head towards the outfitting ward to get suited up. Vario follows close behind me.

The Tower seems to be alive with a special kind of buzz today. Every time we round a corner where Guardians or civilians are speaking, their conversation makes full-stop and nobody tries to hide their blatant stares. Warlocks stop studying and smile at us, Hunters poke their heads out of doorways to get a look at us, and Titans stop loudly recounting their victory stories to give us respectful nods.

When Vario and I enter the outfitter, the pleasant hum of conversation stops cold. Everyone turns to face us as we step into the equipment pods. Vario looks disinterested. Rather, he looks preoccupied and I can tell that he's having a harder time shaking the Vex visions from his head than I.

The pod encloses me and begins to TransMat my battle-rattle in front of me. I step into my boots, pull my gloves on and throw my robes over my shoulders. The last piece to come out is my helmet, and I see for the first time a nice, long gouge through the left side of it - I assume where Gideon nearly took my head off during our match. I laugh at the sheer absurdity of it.

Once I'm fully ready to go, I meet Vario back outside the outfitter and we head toward the courtyards. As we enter, Banshee-44 gestures to me and Vario and I begin walking over. Banshee has the LMG cleaned up and propped on it's bipod. It looks spectacular, and as we approach I can almost feel a new energy to the sentient weapon.

"If you don't mind, I'd really like to come along for this," it says in a rather enthusiastic voice. "I think I could be a great asset, now that I'm all in one piece again." It pauses before adding, "Plus, you've demonstrated real solidarity with my work, and I'd like to get some first-hand experience with your marksmanship."