In the Guardian's Tower, of the last safe City on earth, Striker Titan Jayla Rin walked thru the Bazaar on their way to meet her fireteam for breakfast.
Her ghost, Orrin, displayed a run-down of the days agenda.
"Routine strikes for the Vanguard...Banshee-44 has something for you to pick up…" He read thru the list. "Good thing we got an early start."
Jayla poked her head into the ramen shop. She gave a gentle nod to the memorial picture of Cayde-6 hanging on the wall, and heard the familiar voices of her friends. Facing the wall was a Warlock, with black hair and elaborate robes, and an Exo, most definitely a titan, because he was at least one-third larger than your average Exo.
She put her finger to her lips, letting her ghost know to keep quiet, and silently stepped over to the pair.
She spun around on her toes, and fell backwards heavily against the hulking Exo, hanging her head upside down over his shoulder so she could see his face. "Good morning Reno!"
The Exo, Reno-13 groaned under her weight and rolled his shoulders, dumping her on the chair next to him. "Good morning Jay. Sleep well?" He smiled a bit.
Jayla shrugged. "Normal." She pushed her blue hair out of her eyes and glanced at a menu. "Breakfast special for me, please." she told the waiter, and he scurried back to the kitchen.
Jayla turned to the final member of her fireteam. "Darren, you know, Ikora's not looking; you can put the book down for just a second." She smirked.
The warlock, Darren Vol, hardly glanced at her, as he was both reading and eating at the same time.
Jayla leaned over him and looked up, about three inches from his face. "Anything interesting?" She smiled.
"COULD you back off?!" Darren's voice rose an octave and he whipped the book away, almost sliding out of his chair.
Jayla and Reno laughed and Darren rolled his eyes. "I should have known; it's simply beyond your capacity to believe that someone would read simply for the love of reading!"
"I'm just jerking ya dick, man…" Jayla giggled.
Darren grimaced. "You know i hate that phrase…"
"Really tho!" Jayla sat back down. "I'm interested. Anything good?"
Darren relaxed a bit and straightened his robes. His voice returned to his normal, crisp British accent. "Some studies on the Vex from Asher Mir. He's a very prestigious scientist who has been living out in the wilds on Io since-"
He paused and glared at Jayla and Reno, who were smirking and snickering.
"Really." Darren scowled.
"He's a bit of a nut." Reno smiled. "But i'm glad you're finding his studies...interesting?"
"Very much so actually." Darren went on. "I may write a paper on it for Ikora; i'm sure she'd find it interesting as well."
"Unless she thinks he's a nut too…" Jayla whispered thru her food and Reno had to cough to hide his laughter.
"Are you guys almost ready? We've got a lot to do today." Jayla wiped her mouth and stood up.
Darren closed his book, and Reno stood up as well, cautiously moving his enormous metal body thru the chairs so he wouldn't knock anyone over.
"Banshee first? I have mods there." Jayla said.
Darren shoveled in the rest of his food, shoved his book into his robes and chased after his fireteam, who was already halfway down the hall to the Courtyard.
"Did you get anything good?" Reno-13 asked Jayla.
"Yep; a Boss Spec for my Hammerhead." Jayla danced. "It's going to make people cry in Gambit. Drifter says i'm one of the best he's seen. Optimal DPS, you know."
"Drifter says that to everyone." Darren said, catching up.
"Shhh…" Reno glanced around. "I still don't think the Vanguard knows anything about the Drifter, and i enjoy a good gambit as much as the next guy. Don't screw this up."
Jayla nodded in agreement and they walked to the gunsmith's station.
Banshee-44 was looking around, confused.
"Banshee, are you alright?" Jayla asked.
He looked into Jayla's eyes. "Mods...i have weapon mods for you, Ms…ahh.."
"That's right; thankyou!" Jayla smiled reassuringly. "There should be a Counterbalance and a boss spec."
Banshee turned to his shelf full of orders and found the one with her name on it.
"That's was special ordered, so it'll be 10…"
"15." Jayla handed the gunsmith 15 mod components in trade.
"Thanks Banshee. You've always got the best."
The gunsmith nodded in appreciation and the fireteam walked on.
"Commander Zavala next." Reno said.
The Titan vanguard seemed deep in thought when the fireteam approached him. They waited in silence for what felt like awkward minutes.
"Should we...poke him or something?" Darren whispered.
Reno shook his head and Jayla looked at him like he was crazy. "This could be an important thought! Don't interrupt."
It took another agonizing 30 seconds for Zavala to acknowledge them. He turned around wearily, as if he knew they had been waiting for them and he was just building up the strength to give orders.
"What can i do for you, fireteam?" He asked finally.
"We're...just here for the daily bounties and assignment, sir." Jayla said haltingly. "We assumed we'd be running strikes today. Unless...there's something else you'd rather-"
Zavala waved her off and handed each of them a tablet to add to their inventory.
"Be sure to return with any you complete. He reminded them.
"Yes, sir, we will. Thankyou sir."
She saluted and turned to leave.
"Be brave, fireteam." Zavala called after them.
Jayla wasn't sure in the moment what possessed her but she stopped and turned back around.
What was it in Zavala's eyes? Grief? Exhaustion? A bit of both? Something maybe even he couldn't identify?
"You...you as well sir. Thankyou sir." She said.
He stared back at her, and she was surprised he didn't look away. She just couldn't get a read on this man.
Finally he broke eye contact and returned to looking over the city.
Jayla skipped a few steps to catch up with her long-legged, older fireteam members.
"Did you just tell the Titan of Titans to 'be brave'?!" Reno almost exploded with laughter.
Jayla shrugged. "I guess i did."
"You know, mimicking his phraseology isn't going to make him notice you." Darren teased.
Jayla flushed a bit as she climbed into her ship. "It's not about that. I guess i just wish i could understand him better. It's hard to trust someone as a leader when you don't understand why they act the way they do."
"Good luck with that." Reno smiled as he settled into the cockpit of his ship. "We titans have a hard enough time conveying feelings and intents. Something tells me that the Titan vanguard is the worst at it of us all."