Chapter
The sounds of explosions can be heard from all the way down the corridor. Golden gun rounds, explosions, and knife slashes ring through my ears. The door slides open and I enter a room with a big window, revealing the side view of a training dome, similar to a fish tank. Inside I saw Leslie sitting on the ground, panting from exhaustion. The hunter on the controls was too focused to acknowledge my presence.
"So, how's the training?" The exo turns around and just sneers. "Well, I would be glad to explain all the benefits of this regime, but you're feeble titan mind probably wouldn't comprehend it." We both laugh and he goes on, "She's doing well, improving on every aspect of her subclass. She's able to use Golden Gun accurately and efficiently now, her throws for both her knife and grenades have certainly improved as well. She's still working on unlocking her skill perks and any other abilities that come with the class." "Thanks Arc, I knew I can count on you."
This exo is Arc-7, and no, not Arcane. Arc is best friends with Alex Nova, whom is used to meet Arc in the first place. He's still young in human years, but he's just as good as the rest of us. He generally uses Gunslinger as his preferred subclass, and he uses it well. He's never really one to lollygag, so he's usually the one pushing me and Alex to finish our objective. He may be of weaker light, but if it wasn't for him most of the time, we'd be dead in a river somewhere in Old Russia.
Anyway, I asked him if he could train Leslie to use her golden gun properly and excitedly replied yes. So far, it's been a week since she's started this training, and she's improved a ton. "Well, it looks like she's done for the day." I turn to look at him and ask, "It's been two hours already?" he just shakes his head and points to her in the window. I'm surprised to see her spread across the middle of the floor, huffing and puffing. "Yeah, she's done."
The airlock releases with a satisfying 'tsss' and Leslie stumbles out, looking like a mixture of sleepy and drunk. "Hey…Jason…that was…some good…training." As soon as she gets close to me, she collapses and I manage to catch her. "Good catch, Jason. She's worked hard all day. So she'll need this to recover." Arc gives me a recipe for a nutrition shake. It's filled with everything that gives you energy from fruits, even some ice cream thrown into the mix. "Give this to her as soon as you get home, and maybe, take her out tonight, she could use some relaxation. You know, like a date." I glare at him, "We're not dating Arc." He puts his hands up and replies, "Whatever, just let her have a little fun, alright?" I stare at him and agree, "Fine." I look at the digital clock on the wall and take note of the time: 1:15.
Shortly…
I sit her down on the couch as I go prepare her recovery smoothie. From the living room, I hear Leslie, "Jason, what's going on? I can't move." I continue preparing as I respond, "It's called exhaustion Lez." "Oh…this sucks." I smile as I reply, "Yes it does Leslie, yes it does." She just sighs and stays quiet until I finish the drink. When I bring it to her she looks at me with sleepy eyes, and still can't move her body. I sit next to her and hold the glass as she drinks the smoothie with a straw. She downs the beverage in about a minute and sits back to let its benefits take action.
"So Leslie, how are you feeling?" She sighs and looks at me, "This is horrible, did you have to go through all this?" I nod my head, "And more." She just sighed and put her head back.
I turned on the TV just to make things less awkward. "Hey so, I thought I'd reward you for training so hard, so how bout we go out to eat tonight?" She looks at me with curious eyes. "Ugh, I don't want to go out to a fancy shmancy restaurant." I smile and say, "Well I was thinking we could go to that popular burger joint in the City." Her eyes widened with excitement. "Travelers' Grill?!" I just nod my head and smile. "Yes! Oh that would be great!" She tried jumping but she ended up just falling on me. We both laugh as she struggles to regain strength in her body.
Later that night…
We both get ready to go out to the diner. She dresses in a simple t-shirt and jeans, while I dress in a t-shirt, jacket, and khaki shorts. We take the shuttle down to the station of the last city, and then start making our way to the diner. We walk past the shopping centre of Main Street, where many goods are sold. A bunch of stuff catch our eyes, but most of them not really interesting. We finally arrive at the diner, and the place was jam packed. We get ourselves to the front and request a table. "Good evening sir, how many for the reservation?" "Only two. For Jason" She smiles and writes it down on her clipboard. "Would you like to pay now?" I nod and turn to Leslie, "Alright, what looks good?" She looks up at the menu and hums a tune while choosing. "I'll get that #2, with no pickles and tomatoes. Oh and with a Warlocola please." I turn back to the Cashier. "Can I get two #2s, one plain and one without pickles and tomatoes." She happily punches it into the machine, "And to drink?" "One Warlocola and One Dr. Rahool." She punches that into the machine, "Okay, the total is gonna be 1,200 glimmer." I use my Vanguard Guardian card, which the Vanguard gives to every guardian just in case they do something that deserves a cash payment or gain glimmer through the field or the Cryptarch.
The lady swipes the card and her eyes widen in shock. "You're a guardian?" Leslie replies, "Well, both of us are. He's a Titan and a Hunter." She smiles with excitement and talks into her earpiece. She turns back to us and says, "Looks like a table just cleared up, follow me please." We walk towards the end of the diner where a table just for two is empty. Above it hangs the Vanguard symbol. We both take our seats and the lady says, "You're order will be priority. It's a small thank you for your sacrifice to the city." And with that, she walks away. We both look at each other and Leslie says, "We should go out to eat more often."
After our delicious meal and unwanted paparazzi attack, we head back down through Main Street and we take more time to look at the shops. We both stop by a stone shop and take our time browsing. I walk up to the old lady manning the counter and I ask about the stone changing color. "Ahh this, it changes color based on your mood. Touch it and see." She put the stone on the glass counter and I held it in my hand. The stone turned black, then slowly faded to red. "Ahh, this is a good color to see now and then." I smile and say, "Does it mean I'm kind, strong, good looking, or…" "It means that you are in love." The old lady smiles. I put the stone down and say, "Okay I've had enough of this." I turn around and see Leslie still looking at some stones. "I'll meet you outside." She looks at me and nods.
Soon after…
We finally make it back to the dorm. I check the time and notice its 9:50 already. Leslie decides to turn in early and goes to her room. I decide to watch TV for a bit. Pyro wakes up from his nap and says, "Hey Jason, I have a transmission that was sent earlier." I mute the TV and reply, "Alright let's hear it." Pyro projects a tiny Cayde on the coffee table and he begins speaking, "Hey Jason, I have a mission assignment from Zavala. You and your usual fireteam will join with another fireteam of your choosing, and together you will go do a patrol of a Fallen establishment of Old America, New York. That's tomorrow so get some rest." And then the transmission ended. I lean back and tell Pyro, "Make sure Arc and Alex's ghost forward them the message. Looks like I have to get another fireteam tomorrow." Pyro spins his shell and agrees. I decide to hit the hay too, because it seems that I have another busy day tomorrow.