I'm not sure about you guys but the holidays are crazy. Like super crazy. Still have time to write though, so at least there's that.

Once again, a big thanks to my Beta and everyone who supports this story!

Warning, adorableness ahead.

DROH

Entry Log 77 - 00:41:25

The night sky is lit with stars that are rather bright given the time of night on the camera feed. There's no moon tonight, but the Traveler takes its place with ease, as large and luminescent as the one in the sky would be. Cayde has placed himself on the outstretched shelf outside the tower's main floor, a spot normally occupied by his rookie rather than himself. He leans back on his hands from his lounging position, letting out a long, tired breath that puffs out in a white cloud due to the frigid temperatures.

Artemis is floating near him but she pans her camera around in a slow, wide motion, taking in the sky, the Traveler, her partner, and the area behind him where railing edges the normal boundary of safety. Not that Hunters ever follow that rule. The feed catches sight of a figure in that normal zone and stops, watching as a familiar armored up guardian makes their way slowly toward Cayde. Their movements are silent, despite the crouched way they walk. It's not a surprise, hunters are trained to make little sound for recon purposes and apparently, sneaking up on their mentors. Cayde yawns loudly, back relaxed and to them as the hunter makes a dash forward and Blink Jumps over the railing, landing lightly behind him in a crouch. They have no gun or knife out, just gloved hands that begin to reach out and close the distance to the Exo, looking as if they might cover his eyes.

Then the Vanguard leader suddenly chuckles, head being thrown back slightly. "Nice try, but not good enough Rookie," he quips, not turning to look at the suddenly frozen hunter. Fingers twitch inches from his head and then a heavy sigh rushes out of the female, shoulders sagging. Hands go to her vizard type helmet, knocking back the black hood of their new cloak and undoing the latches.

Skylar shakes her hair out, running a hand through it and shoving her helmet under her arm. "When did you pick up on me?" she asked in a grumble and Cayde chuckles again, a smirk plain as day on his face.

"Your mistake was using Blink. Sure it makes you untrackable for a few seconds, but if you listen very carefully you can hear the sound of you taking off and appearing again," he explains. After all Blinking isn't a teleportation, rather it's the guardian moving so fast for a few seconds they appear to teleport. Finally, the Exo looks over his shoulder at the human woman, still grinning. "It was a good effort though."

Skylar huffs and crouches before quickly turning and setting herself up so that her back is pressed against his like he'd done before Crota. The Exo seems a bit surprised but not uncomfortable, and he simply adjusts his position to match her weight. "I'll get you next time," Skylar grumbles out finally, setting her helmet down next to her. Cayde hums, clearly not too concerned about that happening. The feed zooms in on the two hunters as Skylar relaxes a bit and Cayde looks back out over the city.

"How'd your mission go?" It was one of her first since being on duty. She stretches a bit, yawning and pulls her hood back up over her head to cover her ears which are turning red from the cold, the small pieces of metal edging the hood glimmering in the Traveler's light.

"Exciting as always. Z finally found that crazy Fallen and radioed in for some back up. I was nearby so I arrived just in time to follow him into a Vex gate. We got him finally, the Queen even came by to pick him up personally. Variks is starting up with a weird event called 'Prison of Elders' too." She rubs her hand along the edge of her hood thinking. "You know I don't much like the queen, and her brother is the worst excuse for a hunter I have ever seen, but I like Variks. He's fun. Gave me a new cloak."

"That doesn't surprise me," Cayde admitted. "Not often we find allies outside of other Guardians, nice to know we have a Fallen on our side. He hasn't tried to steal your Ghost has he?" he asks and Skylar laughed at that. Laughed. For the first time in over a month. Cayde blinked, listening to that sound as he tilted his head slightly.

"Oh he did, and Sterling got in his face and told him off, ain't that right buddy?" she called. With a glimmer of light the transitioning blue colored Ghost appeared, pieces angled to look annoyed.

"He needed to remember personal space," he grumbled, and spun his back pieces. It was meant to be threatening, but honestly a Ghost no matter whose it was, could never quite manage it. Skylar pokes him lightly in the side and he gets sent floating to the side a few feet from the action and blinks.

"You are the best," she nearly sang out, half teasing, and Cayde shakes his head at their interaction. She shifts against him again, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath as Sterling floats towards the feed and then out of it, coming to rest near Artemis. "Did I miss anything while I was gone?" Skylar asked, changing the subject and Cayde hummed with a thoughtful expression.

"Not too much, it's been a quiet week. Which you know, means something is bound to happen soon." It's a hard truth about their lives and Skylar frowns but doesn't open her eyes, appearing comfortable. A few minutes tick by on the clock after that as the pair of hunters just enjoy each other's company. Cayde stares out over the dark city and the Traveler hovering above it. Finally, after nearly ten minutes, Skylar speaks.

"You think that will ever change?" Her voice is that of a whisper, as if asking such a thing isn't something you should do. "The Heart, the Vault, Crota, Taniks… it seems as though with each victory, another is needed. Do you think we'll ever have peace?" There's unspoken words there, still healing wounds from her own experiences that brought about conclusions. Would Guardian's ever not be Guardians? Could they ever live like the people they protect - the people they had once been?

"Not sure," Cayde replies honestly after a moment. "The Darkness is something we may never be able to get rid of. For all the good the Traveler did, it brought more bad with it than that. Maybe, if it ever wakes back up again things will change, you never know. For now though, it left us with our missions, and while it's not the best of one, it did give us a second chance at life." He's got a point and Skylar opens her eyes and turns her head slightly as if to look at him, even though she clearly can't. "I know it can be a lot at times," he goes on sincerely. "We don't have easy lives, hell we don't know ourselves that well, but if we did win, if the Darkness was gone, I'm not sure what we would do."

Skylar nodded slightly, looking thoughtful and pressing her lips into a fine line before speaking again. "I guess it would be kind of boring after a while but...I just wonder what it would be like..." She trails off and sighs. Cayde chuckles slightly at that.

"Yeah, I get that, but you know Sky, we are alive. Being alive means we can do what we want in a sense, when we're not fighting the Darkness, we can have lives. There's no rule against that." After all, would they be sitting as they were, so close together, if there was? Skylar hummed, her hand brushing over the hand cannon at her waist, gloved thumb resting over the heart. She takes her time in replying to his words, thumb stroking idly on the gun.

"No, I guess there's not," she agreed. "Maybe there's more than one reason we were brought back after all." she nudges her back against his slightly. "Think we can find it?" Her tone is light and hopeful for the first time in a while and Cayde smiles softly at the sound of it, reaching back with a hand blindly and brushing his fingers over the top of her own that's resting on the ground.

"You bet we can Rookie, after all, if a hunter can't find it, then no one can."

That gets another small laugh out of her, a tired one, but still a laugh all the same. It ends quickly, but leaves a smile behind as she closes her eyes again. She doesn't say anything to that, but it's clear she agrees. As the minutes tick by on the clock she doesn't pull her hand away from under his own, as if it's belonged there all along.