[i]Table of Contents of "For What It's Worth":[/i] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/257262707/0/0][/url] [i]Previously:[/i] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/257262868/0/0][/url] [i]Life is a farce, but no less reality. Escape is always next door, should you find yourself there. Had you been inside the helm, well, it went something like this:[/i] π π π π π π π π π [i]"Don't start a band."[/i], I said, Ikora tilted her head in query, and drank from her mug over a saucer, closing her eyes; breathing in the aromas of autumn's eves ..then the pumpkins came out. [i]"This is truely something,[/i] [i]why did you pick today, of all days?"[/i], she asked, indulging in her spiced coffee, [i]"Let the speaker rest, and pick up that guitar."[/i] π π π π π π π π π [i]"It's not mine,"[/i], I replied. Wesley couldn't make it; show must go on. [i]Nothin is ever easy.[/i] My left plucked a baton off my chestplate, and pressed a button. It telescoped to a staff, driven in to the deck. Grabbing ahold of [i]'Merciless'[/i], I slip my right hand out of the glove, & set it on my staff, up in ethereal blaze. I slung the guitar around at the ready, trombone shouldered for duty. [i]"but I thought you'd never ask."[/i] I snap, assuming a pick would appear in habit. [i]"Heck,"[/i], I say thinking back on memory, I shake the guitar. It rattled, which was a welcome sign. After shifting it overhead, a pick fell like a petal to the concrete below. Delighted, [i]"Bingo!"[/i], was all I had in my hands. A bellowed laugh from Shaxx, from o'er the way in front of his monitors. He sabered right, straight to my person. [i]"A catch-22, that man's failsafe."[/i] We all looked. He threw his left out, and roared, [i]"WHAT?"[/i], [i]"I can do both!"[/i], he exclaimed, knife-handing his battlestation. During this time, I collect myself, wondering where to start. Sure, I could play guitar, just about everything, but when it came down to it, I had no words left. Silence is for taps. [i]and somebody's gotta blow this horn.[/i] Holstering a grip around the pick.. I put it in my pocket, knowing full-well that it was purposely in the guitar, because it was more likely to be forgotten than lost. [i]This trivial, yet pertinent information had been lost in the span of a few seconds. This is why I don't trust anything.. ..mostly myself.[/i] Though the cat was out of the bag, and 25 or 6 to 4 would have to wait until 9. [i]When the skeletons get here.[/i] Ikora, knowingly, indulged in her coffee. There was no need to explain myself, but this song wasn't just mine, either. [i]"The rhetoric is squashed, but this tale is far from done, so let me tell you about this guitar."[/i] [i]"OH, COME ON, THEN!"[/i] The warlock was back, with a mouth full of food, still waiting to finish business. I pulled a note 'a chest pocket, and forwarded. [i]"I wrote this for Wesley to say, but he's not here right now."[/i] Truely, it needed to be said, so I continued. [i]"Fortunately this is a genuine wooden acoustic, and Noland and I had an eternity to learn the guitar in the Forest. Noland got so lost, Vex were nowhere to be found, and niether was his pick."[/i] Noland put his hand up to re-inact despair, [i]"Mad, wondering where Saint-14 was, as well as a pertinent tool of information, Noland commited to sharing this fate."[/i] Determined, Noland looked at his hand, [i][b]'cause we were gonna get out.[/b]" [/i] claws unleashed from his fingertips. Breathing in, Noland tucked the note in a rosewood head, and stretched his hands over the guitar. A pick can't play like this. [i]and neither can the devil[/i] [i]"This melody that ripped machine atune.. .. and a golden dragon asked me what I wished through the mirror."[/i] Noland took one lask look at the crowd, straight through them all. [i]"I looked 'em right in the eyes, and said, 'Nothing.'. [b]'cause I had it."[/i][/b] A smile came over Noland, never knowing how Saint XIV did it. [i]"Saint XIV came another way."[/i] Noland sighed, but carried on. [i]"I can't remember that song, for the life of me, this is a tribute. Niether of them were meant to be played alone."[/i] The time was ripe. [i]"You better wake up, Wesley."[/i] [i]..to be continued.[/i]