Destiny: Legend Untold, Chpt 12 Pt 3

[u]Chapter Twelve: The Old and the New[/u] Part Three "You know Craggy?!" Trixie shouted. "Oh no..." Crag groaned. "Craggy?" I asked incredulously. "Sometimes, when he's extra grumpy, we call him Crabby," Trixie whispered as if she thought Crag wouldn't hear it. "She's part of the fireteam that the Vanguard usually sets me up with," Crag grumbled, seemingly unhappy with the arrangement and definitely with the names she gave him. "Really? Well it's a pleasure to meet you Trixie," I turned to her, bending slightly at the waist in a greeting bow, "I am William, I've worked with Crag before." "Oh you're Willy!" Trixie bounced with joy, then turned to Sierra, "That must mean that you're Susan!" "Sierra," Sierra corrected her sharply. "That's what I said," Trixie smiled, oblivious to her mistake. "Willy?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at Crag. "I never said that," Crag snapped, "she changes names on her own." "I make them better!" Trixie giggled, but suddenly turned dour and continued seriously, "For what are names? Meaningless words to describe ourselves? No, we cannot be defined by something so simple, especially not something also owned by someone else. So I change them to mean more." She finished with a happy tone returning to her voice for the last sentence. We all stared at her in confusion and shock, Crag nodding his head slightly in some form of agreement. "Wow, never thought of it that way," Drew said in wonder, then smiled contently, "But I've made sure Drew-22 is a defining name." "Crag, this is Drew, my normal third teammate. Drew, this is Crag, the Hunter who fought the Baron with us," I introduced the two, recovering from Trixie's mind-bender. Crag looked Drew up and down, taking in his brightly-colored Future War Cult armor. "I think I just threw up a little," Crag muttered. "Could have invited me over once you actually started talking," a voice called from the stairs, and we turned to see the female Warlock coming over. Her helmet disappeared from over her head to let her long, blood-red hair spill down over her shoulders and back. She was Awoken, and her skin was the most vibrant blue I had ever seen from her race, contrasting well with her bright red lipstick and framed softly by her flowing hair. The armor and Warlock robe she wore were as crimson as her hair and lips, but the robe was unlike any other I had seen on a Warlock. Sacrificing some protective covering, her robe had a very low cut v-neck, revealing a large amount of the softly glowing skin of her...well, her impressively large cargo. Another irregularity of her robe was that it went nearly all the way down to the ground at the front and back like other Warlock robes, but was open at the sides to expose all parts of her leg uncovered by her knee-high boots. Making soft clicks with each step, her boots sported rather tall heels; not something you'd expect someone who spends their days running around and fighting to be wearing. "So you're the two that Crag keeps going on about," the Awoken Warlock said as she walked up to us. "You must be the hotheaded one," she pointed at Sierra, "And you must be the one that's way too happy," she finished, pointing at me. "Sounds about right," I chuckled while Sierra began muttering angrily, "I'm William, this is Sierra." "William, that's right. I'm Veronica," she made a sudden move forward, taking my chin in her hand and turned my head, inspecting my face, "You're cute." "What?" I asked, flustered, my cheeks heating up as she released my chin. "Quit flirting with him," Sierra warned, "This boy hardly understands anything that women say." "Oh don't worry, I wouldn't dream of taking him from you," Veronica replied warmly, winking knowingly at Sierra and leaving me clueless as to what she meant. "I prefer men that you have to get to know slowly and carefully," the Warlock assured Sierra, then wrapped her arm around Crag's waist and looked to him, "Now isn't that right, baby?" Crag muttered some incomprehensible response while Sierra ground her teeth together and I stood with jaw agape. Someone was flirting with Crag and he wasn't drawing his weapon? "Hi Veronica, I'm Drew," my companion saluted to the newest arrival. "More like hot hunk of metal," Veronica said with a sly smile. "What kind of name is that?" Drew scoffed. "Now you really are wasting your time," Sierra snickered. "I'll get to him, all men have a soft spot," Veronica trailed a finger up Crag's arm as she said this, finding her way up to his hood and flipping it off of his head, revealing all of his Helm to me for the rust time. It was rather plain and dark like the rest of his armor, but somehow translated his harsh nature in its stark appearance.. Crag quickly reached to pull it back up from his shoulders, but Veronica stopped him. "You haven't even shown your new friends your face yet," Veronica tutted, "Come on sweetie, show me those pretty eyes again." With a frustrated grumble, Crag lowered his arms and crossed them indignantly across his chest, but made no move to stop Veronica. After a moment, Crag's Ghost realized his Guardian had given in and removed his helmet for him. Crag was Awoken, and his skin was such a pale, near-white color that it could barely be called blue. His hair had the same bleached look to it, only a slight touch of green keeping it from being white. Just behind the strands of hair that fell over Crag's face lay the one feature with any true color; his eyes were a rich, dark green like the pine needles of a healthy coniferous tree, only his glowed dimly and took in all that they gazed upon, seeming to look into everything. "There's my Leonard," Veronica said warmly, gently touching a hand to his cheek. Crag wordlessly moved Veronica's hand from his face, but he did so gently, and in the split second before his helmet rematerialized on his head I thought I saw a slight touch of deep blue in each of his cheeks. "Who's Leonard?" Drew whispered to me in confusion. "Leonard is Crag's first name," I answered. "Oh. Hey Leon-" I put a hand over Drew's mouth before he could finish the name, but not soon enough to prevent Crag from glaring at Drew through his helmet. "Don't call him that," I ordered in a hushed tone. "But Veronica did," Drew pointed out. "I don't know why he let her," I replied. "Oh my goodness I almost forgot!" Trixie exclaimed out of nowhere, "We need to get going guys!" "Aww already?" Drew whined. "Yes we have a busy day ahead of us!" Trixie explained, then shook hands with each member of my fireteam vigorously, "It was soooooooo fun meeting all of you!" "You too, Trixie," Drew shook her hand with equal energy, then shook Veronica's before moving to Crag. "It was a pleasure meeting you Crag," Drew said happily, reaching for a handshake. Crag looked at Drew's outstretched hand and then back to his face. "I hate you," Crag told the Exo flatly, not taking the hand. Drew put his hand down and looked back to Trixie. "He's warming up to me," Drew told her confidently, and she nodded in agreement. Crag huffed angrily and turned away from the gathering, beginning to walk away with only a wave of his hand. Trixie skipped after quickly, but I caught Veronica as she was turning. "Where are you all off to?" I inquired. "Don't really have a plan," Veronica shrugged, "We were thinking Crucible so Trixie would have some good targets and Crag could vent his...well, he always has one emotion or another to vent." "We were thinking Crucible as well, would you guys mind if we joined you?" I questioned. A smile spread across Veronica's face, but it was one that I felt had a touch of wickedness to it. "We absolutely would not mind," she answered, "But would you three mind staying on the other team? I want to see how you fight." "Oh we wouldn't mind that at all," Sierra practically purred. I saw her fingering the handle of her hand cannon and figured she just wanted to establish dominance. "Great, Clash it is, then," Veronica chimed, then turned to look across the Tower courtyard, "Crag! Trixie! We have some competition!" I looked over to Crag and Trixie as well, but found myself struggling to hold in a laugh as I saw Trixie trying to wrap her arms around Crag, who was trying desperately to push her away. Trixie stopped at Veronica's call and Crag took his chance to slip away. "YAAAAYYYYY!" Trixie's shout carried across the Tower grounds, drawing the eyes of some Guardians and civilians that had been going about their own business. _____________________________________ Link to Chpt 12 Pt 2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/223245367/0/0 Link to Chpt 12 Pt 4: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/223245529/0/0 Link to ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0