[Open RP @Blood_Strider - Lekalis]
-Eris, Underground Facility-
<3/22 DR, 03:30>

~A signal fluttered, faintly like the battering of an insect’s wings against glass, against the one familiar presence it could reach. Despite its weakness, a thread of strength pulsed in the way it continued. A shred of lodestone amongst iron shavings, or a planetary polestar visible only in one’s peripheral vision. It was wordless in its searching, a silent reaching that hummed search-friend-find even as it slowly lost its targeted focus and whispered, even more faintly, across all who had an ear to hear.~

/Lekalis/

With a wandering curiosity, Lekalis' Mantis burst into the thick cloud of debris orbiting Eris. The daybreak hue glimmering off battered holes and porous flesh alike as the Mantis drifted forward.
Scrap bounced off its reddish hull as it loomed forward, molding growths tried to cling to it but were brushed away with the odd but tactile bumps against larger sections of junk.

Inside, Lekalis sat; piloting his vessel in the dark interior, his hands flitting about amber holographic controls. Occasionally, the vessel shook as the strangled heart of a generator further back in his Mantis propelled the vessel forward, entering the denser and corpse ridden atmosphere of Eris.

Triangulating the source of this fluttering signal was difficult enough, let alone having to navigate the debris without aide... Now he had to pin-point it. He wished to reach out and simply pull along some string, some better sign... But this distant ripple was all he had.
He supposed, as he felt the sun warm the hull of his vessel, that it was like fishing...

... That was good, at the least. Soothing, as he felt his fingers relax, the legs of his Mantis flexed and flowed through the debris as he followed this ripple on the lake of dead data that surrounded Eris.
He came as close as he could wager, before slowing where that pulse had emanated from. Some thousands upon thousands of meters  down, something was buried.

It was here that he let his vessel stabilize, finding a groove in the wreckage and sinew laden net of Infestation, here he cast his line.

He shut his unseen eyes and reached out in kind to this distant but familiar echo.
Lekalis meditated, surrendering control of his vessel for a moment to try and pinpoint just where... Even what this buried signal lay.

~The signal grew stronger the closer he drew, the hazard of distance blowing away the fog that obscured the source and detail of the reach. The source was below the surface of the Infestation-surface, an echo of cold-trapped thrumming along its taut string. The Infestation itself shied away from overgrowing what might be an opening into a deeper cave system, the reason clear from the wafting of super-chilled air drifting out from the broken seal.

Blindly, the signal continued to broadcast, though the mental reflection of the pleasant sun-warmed hull had it leaning into the presence like a touch-starved kubrow. Wary, but wanting the connection all the same, the way a river slowly seeped in to fill a wound carved into its side.~

/Lekalis/

He was want to indulge; finding a place to fit, he felt a shiver in his spine as the warmth came through, the ship lilted and abruptly clanged against a shard of hull that'd been blasted off by some forgotten conflict.

It sent chunks of rubedo and junk and herbs clattering across the floor, The Strider with it, was knocked out of his meditative stance for a moment before he scrambled into the piloting dias and resumed control of the vessel. He shook his head and quickly locked into the tug of the void.

For once, he didn't feel lost as he led his ship closer and closer to the surface of Eris.

At last, he found an outcropping of flesh and steel close enough to the caves that he could plant his Landing Craft on. The legs turned and dug into the meat, curling inwards like a bug to perch on a stick.

The Strider was eager, and he swiftly slid out of the Mantis, decked out in his gear; he flicked the broken prongs of his horn, as if for good luck. He sighed, the vents clicking open and shut, immediately misting into the frosty air. Though, also vaporizing instantly as the lack of Life-Support quickly began to tick down his shields.

At a quick jog, he began to navigate deeper into the cave system, on foot. Keeping an eye out for any shelter or perhaps the source of the chill as it was the closest he had to a trail...

~The double hermetic seal remained unbroken on the inner surface, the outer ring's seal having only been broken recently by the constant prying and picking of the Infestation outside. A console, blinking cheerfully in open-access green, sat beside the gleaming Orokin door as it stood, blithe sentinel to whatever lay within.

The signal faltered as it lost friction on whatever it had found in Lekalis's presence, the first indication of mortality and fallibility in the signal's source; it resurged, returning to constancy, but the stutter had seemed to scar its reach, leaving it weaker and less sure than it had before.

Though still far further into the complex, more flavor seeped into the touch once the Strider had touched down onto the surface in his warframe.  Old, seething hurt curdled into an infected sort of pain, along with the brush of a bright thread of hope-waiting-knowing that was the core of its pure constancy.~(edited)

/Lekalis/

"Ahhh..."

He clucked his tongue, cocking his head to one side before brushing some unseen flecks of dust from his sash.

The skeletal caricature of his prosthetic reached out and swiped over the surface of the console, his mind pondered on traps even as his good hand moved out and planted a palm on it, hoping to initiate some means of activation.

His prosthetic excitedly tapped on the side of the console, eager to scry some measure of pursuit in this almost exhilarating sensation.

~A soft, clear ringing noise chimed blithely as it accepted the activation command, peeling back the golden door and allowing the chill air to seep into the inside of a freight elevator, the gears appearing to be still in rather workable condition despite their age. The outer seal had done its work, leaving the elevator and whatever it led to untouched.

The signal-source shuddered like a mammal’s breathing did when it hit bitingly cold water, the hurt drowning in ice and chilled air. It was controlled, then, brought to heel by whatever the source was in a display of control that betrayed the flavor of training that the Tenno preferred. Unairu. The mountain bedrock that kept the presence steady.~

/Lekalis/

His suspicions confirmed in that moment; the pure sense of stone, the Unairu's element... The Strider passed by the pearly, gilded and chilly gates with awe and surprise. With his good hand, he ran his palm over the sheathes the doors fell into.
A Tenno unfound. It was a curious day indeed.

Immediately his head snapped to look behind him, his eyes scanning his sensors for any sign of other Warframes or the Lotus... Presuming he found none, he relaxed and looked on and moved towards the apparent freight elevator.

He looked about for a means to initiate its descent as he made to stand at the center of the lift...

~The elevator's upper doors shut abruptly once the Strider was squarely in the center of the lift. A descent began, automatic and slow in its start though it picked up in speed until the brakes re-engaged, slowing the descent jerkily as the system's age betrayed itself.

The door to the chamber itself, however, opened just as smoothly as the first door to the elevator itself. Dim lights flickered on, only slowly increasing their brightness in consideration for the slow acclimatization of the eyes. A scantily gilded Orokin cryo-stasis pod took center-stage, surrounded by an impressive assortment of surgical equipment sets and examination tables. Most of them were dulled only by the settling of dust, but a few had begun to rust under a few dried pools of Void-touched blood.

In the shadow of the pod, the faintest of orange glows strengthened to the pulse of a heartbeat, a nebulous but no less powerful presence unfurling itself to support the signal source, the Tenno still imprisoned in the cryo-tube. An Infested facsimile of a kubrow stirred, the outline familiar but the details distinctly Infested as it stretched its legs and emitted a sound that sounded pleading and worried. A tentacle reached up from the beast's front leg and worried at the controls holding the cryopod sealed, ineffectual despite the ichor marring the control pad and the matching raw spots on the beast's tentacle.

The signal-source paused, drawing back its long reach and curling up into the warmth of the odd not-Infested presence. But bone-aching cold still clung to its being, a sensation of frost-bite at the edge of its mind.~

March 12, 2018

/Lekalis/
With a small jolt, and a bit of hasty adjustment, he rode the elevator down with some growing trepidation. His Harkonar breastplate whirred harder, the clicking becoming more incessant; his good hand reached around to grip the Marelok holstered at his lower back for some measure of reassurance.

There was a clear skittishness in the Strider's motions as he carefully stalked deeper, closer to the chamber door.  The stasis pod confirmed his suspicions, yet he still strode on with caution; his eye fixated on the rusting tools before the Infested creature made itself known.

The blood trail of its endearing insistence to connect with its presumed master was reassuring yet... worrying. Slowly, the Strider let go of his Marelok and gave a quick, chipper whistle to the hound as he raised up both hands, palms facing the Kubrow.
"What a lonely fate; to be a one-headed Kerberos."

He chuckled a sunny tune at the words, his good hand rose and flicked some unseen dust from his crown, stooping in practiced regality as he made his swaying advance, like some great snake.
"Tell me : Your ward, master... Fr-r-riend?"
Lekalis softly called out as he drew closer, pointing and eyeing the controls, making to approach unless stopped...
"... We die twice, little Kerberos. I may yet ferry her back."

~A low, throbbing whine emanated from the beast, pressing its mandible-edged mouthpieces against the glass of the pod with a series of harsh clacks, though the thick keratin only made more mucous-smears against the clear surface. A Tenno lay recumbent within, old wounds that looked too precise to be the product of sheer violence peeking out from an almost Dax-like suit. The only mark that broke the illusion of a quiet sort of injury was the split lip  underneath a blackened eye, opposite a set of Void-scars that curled up the side of her face. A hand had smacked her, its proportions having made her face seem childlike to its breadth.

The Strider's voice echoed two-fold in the air and along some resonance in the source, the Tenno. She stirred, once again, this time discarding the strain of reaching out-out-out for finding, and lurched to a stop before she properly touched the Strider's presence with any kind of proper focus.~

Sigyn:

"Hope-here-help?" Her mind extended tentatively, almost shy in its utter respect for the boundaries between minds until she had been given permission to connect properly instead of a raw, half-conscious broadcast.

/Lekalis/
The sensation was there and, where he'd doubted whether it was some sort of residual echo before, he now loomed over the cryopod with simple curiosity and fascination.
However, he didn't wholly respond to the voidly touch. Her own extension of will would be met with a murky and shapeless aura; a container of broken glass and briney water.
It reeked of Grineer tampering.

The sensation, as corrosive and shapeless as it was, still felt warmer than most things in the freezing hall. A phylactery of sunbathed water.

The Strider placed his good hand down on the glass surface of the crypod, idly scratching at the surface like a bored cat; then it rose, about an inch from the ancient surface, freezing abruptly like a claw. The twinkling lights from his palm flickered then faded. Then, the lights on his corpus faded like stars to starlight.
Before the Frame seized up like a statue, his helm quirked to one side so his good horn pointed out into the air, and he brought his prosthetic hand up to wave aimlessly down at the cryopod.

Now, the shapeless water reached out;

[CURIOUS : NATURALLY, ALWAYS, YES]

The mercurial sensation only intensified as the dawnlike eye of the Strider's orange occuli flickered, then went dark entirely...

[CURIOUS : WHO : ARE YOU?]

Sigyn:

With all the grace and awkwardness of a beat kubrow seeking some, any kind of attention, her mental presence curled as far into the warmth as it dared. Even the salted burn of the water against the raw spots in her mind were numb little stings compared to the feeling of connection, of not being alone in the dark with only a vague sense of other orbiting around her weakly.

: Unwavering-mountain-loyalty great-blue-sky-mapped-rivers-beneath-mountain-shadows. Sigyn Tsurgiintso. Dax-daughter, map-seer. You? Friend? Friend, yes, knowing-certainty-confused. Know-but-not-knowing how.:

Her mind faded briefly before resurging a moment, settling down onto a solid base of self even as she continued to stretch out towards the Strider, most of the fear gone and mostly a feeling of tired lassitude making her mind sluggish.(edited)

/Lekalis/

[STRIDER : A FRIEND, LISTENER, COMRADE.]

There was a growing sense of duty in the way he felt this voidly presence echo back,  the loneliness of it all... He wondered how long his pod had lain here, buried an unfound.

He knew this pain.

Slowly, moving as though through water, a pale and chitinous limb slid out from the bottom of The Strider's frame. A pale, flickering imitation of the Loki Prime's own arm, though sickly and caught in a fog of transference static.

The hand planted its palm on the top of the cryopod, before it reached out to the control panel. The limb extending like a river to poke and prod at the bloody and cracked screen.

The interlinked voidly communique of The Strider began to falter a touch. Whether by his own machinations or not, it was unclear.
The essence strained to comfort the other, but it was held back. A Lake made shallow by a dam.

[UNFORTUNATE.]

The limb tapped idly on the filmy surface of the control panel.

[RELEASE?]

Sigyn:

: ....Please? Interminable-state-ended. Fear-hope better outside. Safe? Enemy-hated-one gone? :

The flash of deep, vehement hate echoed down below the base of the mountain into its fault-lines, into the pockets of heated infection that simmered still in her core. Like an aftershock, however, it quickly stilled, leaving her shaken and hating and unsteady with the lingering feeling of displacement.

: Sorry-sorry. Protect-support-help want to return help. Too long without contact. Mountain rockslide-magma flows. Hurt no-hurt? :

The rock forming her mental base groaned a little at the strain of keeping itself contained, though where rock met water the jagged rock smoothed over and no longer threatened to break under its own weight.

/Lekalis/

The Strider made no response, the briny waters having extender their lapping reach;  they settled, stretched to a film over the Voidly ley lines as the pale phantom hand flickered and danced over the control panel, finding a means of release to the cryo-pod.

With some stress, a reply came through; though drowned in static and rust.

[NO]

~The control panel was almost insultingly basic - a basic application of precision was all it took to confirm the release command and depressurize the air within, sending it hissing out the release vents at the head and foot of the pod in a burningly cold pair of clouds that sunk quickly to the floor. The Infested beast scrabbled at the access as it peeled open, forcing itself awkwardly into the head of the pod and burying itself under Sigyn’s head and shoulders, propping her up almost a full 45 degrees to account for the massive bulk curled up tightly behind her.~

Sigyn:

A flash of too-hot pain before the thaw took hold, and her mental presence strengthened until it accompanied a fluttering of damp eyelashes. The Infested beast shoved its head under her arm, whining piteously until her hand moved reassuringly against the delicate sensory nodes of its face.

: Friends. SAFE. Relief. :

Her eyes opened properly, focusing slowly on the presence above her with a hazy, unrushed manner that plucked a low note of exhaustion that echoed through the Void presence.

“Hey,” she rasped, vocal chords still stiff from the cold.(edited)

/Lekalis/

The Pale Phantom limb flickered and faded from existence, the orange stars on the Strider's form quickly twinkled back to life, his fingers twitching back into motion.
"Ah; Hello."
He replied in a chipper tone, watching the figure in the pod come to life with growing excitement as his own essence slowly kickstarted the Grineer augments to life with various sputters, whirrs, hisses and clicks.
"My apologies : Kept you waiting?"

The Strider mused, his prosthetic stiffly pulling back to slip into the sash across his chest, while he knelt to come to eye level with Sigyn. His good hand rested on the edge of the cryo-pod.
The sunny eye of The Strider bored into Sigyn with an almost invasive intensity. Like a bird to a worm, his head cocked to one side suddenly and he drummed his fingers on the pod's metal.
"Good morning."

Sigyn:

"Can't really tell....how long it's been. Feels like a long time...and not. You're here now, though."

Her voice smoothed marginally, timbre still rough but allowing the words to come more evenly. Her muscles tensed, a preparation to rise and get moving, but some ingrained thought had her stilling herself, easing back against the fever-warmth of the Infested kubrow and allowing her muscles and nerves to realign and remember themselves.

"Morning. Strider, yes? I'm....having a hard time remembering things. I know you, but...I couldn't remember your name until you told me."

A flicker of uneasy disgruntlement flashed across her face, furrowing her brows for a moment before she relaxed again. Cautiously, however, she began working her extremity joints: flexing her feet in her boots, twisting her fingers and her wrists in ever-widening circles until a more reasonable amount of circulation and feeling was restored.

/Lekalis/

He watched the minute flexes and flourishes with humbled fascination, before his helm abruptly flicked to watch her face as she talked.

He nodded in some distant understanding, seemingly baffled in the moment as he stared at the newly woken Tenno.
"... You... Know me? But you've just woken up?"

There was a soft, chipper, but incredulous chuckle like wine over river stones,
"We should get you out of here... The cold..."
His helm looked about, and his gaze wandered over the interior.
"... I'm going to call for some assistance, is that alright with you?"

Sigyn:

"I feel like I've known you for a long, long time and just couldn't remember your name. I hope you don't think poorly of me for that."

Sigyn's slow, deliberate testing of her joints moved closer to her core, bending her knees a few times before bracing her arms on the sides of the pod and starting to apply pressure to lift herself up and out. The muscles trembled like she'd pushed past proper limits in a battle, and she huffed in frustration before shooting Strider a rueful smile.

"Assistance sounds good. As long as they're friends?"

The Infested kubrow rumbled softly as it sat up behind her, providing her with its broad, carapaced shoulder to brace against as she worked on rising from what had been her prison. Her eyes soaked in the Strider's presence gratefully, and seemed to glide unseeing past the medical accoutrement despite the wary, studying look she gave the entire area.

/Lekalis/

Like a light house, Lekalis' eye scanned the area as well; largely to double check for any traps or possible foes. He found it frighteningly pleasant at the moment, but he gave an indignant sigh (thankfully directionless), as he turned to face Sigyn again; staring. Again.
"Never : Familiarity, kindness, humbility... Not things to be taken lightly or poorly."

The lithe and long fingers of his good hand rose to pinch at the hem of his red sash around his neck, pulling it up a bit higher, hiding the garish scar of his broken helm in futility.
"Names are... difficult to remember, for me. But your face, your voice : A mountain's creek, shelter from the winds, safety from the fire..."
For a moment, the Warframe before Sigyn stilled and his fidgeting halted; his gaze became dire, a shark before a bite.
"... A landslide to halt the river, dirt to muddy the water. The Tide turned Maelstrom."
The gill-like vents along his ribs opened with a staccato of three clicks, hissed, then shut as he relaxed again; the eye of The Strider became sunny again and he looked off to lift that brought him down.

"Apologies : whimsy, curiosity, fickleness..."
He mused with unbecoming gaity. His hands brushed away some unseen dust, looking to the medical equipment then Sigyn again. He pointed to the rusty, bloody tools now.
"... Do you remember their purpose?"

Sigyn:

"All too well. Most of that blood is mine."

Her eyes flickered to take in one of the larger stains on the nearest exam table, shadows overtaking her for a moment as she stopped in her efforts to get out of the tube. An undulating whine rumbled from the beast's chest, which drew her back far enough to allow her to focus back on the Strider.

".....I wouldn't do that to you, Strider. I won't lie and say I'm not dangerous, but I would never...never hurt..."

She trailed off, Unairu-flavored energy flaring in righteous indignation at some long-passed argument before she steadied it, adding it to the density of her inner core. Silently, then, she flipped the hand nearest the Strider to face palm-up on top of the tube side-wall, open and offering a renewal to their trust even as she allowed herself to acknowledge her physical weakness and ask for his assistance.

/Lekalis/

With due grace, and neither hesitation or excitement, he took Sigyn's hand with his own good hand. Charred as it was, it still seemed warm to whatever had burnt it so, it was dry as sand, yet smooth as scales.
His gaze was level, and measuring as he helped her up.

"... Understood."

His tone neither malicious or approving, a state of neutrality taking his otherwise fickle tone.

"What did the tools do?"

Sigyn:

Her muscles trembled in fits as she leaned heavily on the Strider to leverage herself up out of the tube and plant her feet on the actual floor, half-seated on the curve of the tube's lip. Her hand released his reluctantly, falling back to rest on the beast's head that had followed their progress out of the pod.

"Ballas tried to convince me to go against my fellow Tenno. The Veiled Tenno. Listen, watch, and extinguish whoever it was that held dissent. I would not, and I was...brought here. He tried the Infestation last, but he modified a strain too much and too drastically to mesh with me. So...."

Her eyes drifted down to the beast, who upon noticing her direct attention pressed its head into her side with all the affection of a proper kubrow, whuffling softly from what looked like blow-hole air intakes along its head. After indulging in a moment of attention, it hopped out from the pod delicately and resettled itself facing Sigyn, resting its head attentively on her thigh as its sensory nodes took in her presence diligently, tendrils waving from the crown of its head as they traced over her bare skin.

"It didn't have a form, at first, but then it found some....supplemental DNA I suppose, and ran with it. I was lucky it did, or else it might have had no choice but to overwhelm me."

One hand rose and pressed against something underneath the high neck of her suit but still tangible to her fingers. Whatever she traced was roughly the size of her palm, just to the right of her spinal chord on the back of her neck, and obviously caused her no pain nor worry - just curiosity.

"It was originally just an enzyme that begins the hive mind - making one highly susceptible to suggestion and command. He distilled and implanted the strain here. After trying more...crude methods."

/Lekalis/

The Strider watched her first, ensuring she could stand on her two feet before his gaze flitted over to the Infested creature with thinly veiled curiosity. Though, his eye swept back to Sigyn and made to hold her hand still before relenting and humming; bringing up his hand to examine idly, pressing his thumb into his palm for a moment before  looking up to Sigyn with a growing excitement.
"Curious. . . The Veiled Tenno; I am comrades with Mataeru... It is who I intended to beckon."

"I am... Sorry. That does not sound pleasant..."
He nodded, his helm bent to inspect the newly awoken Tenno's fingers; clearly noting it, though he seemed nonplussed by the matter.
"Companions are important : Unconditional love, care, respect and loyalty."
The Strider mused happily shrugging and considering her words, then motioned to the creature
"Does it have a name?"

March 16, 2018

Sigyn:

"I think...I called it Vitaka. After one of the old Dax gods. A god of the hunt."

The beast - Vitaka - began to quiver in a full body wiggle, jaws lolling happily before it gentled itself again, pressing a little closer to Sigyn and sighing from its blow-holes in a kubrow-huff.

"Less a god and more a goof," she chuckled lowly, though it was brief and weak against the weight of the room and the memories in it.

"It is good to hear that Mataeru and the Veiled Tenno are still around. I was worried, based on some things that Ballas said, that he would try to continue what he tried to start with me."

A hesitating silence fell over her, watching Vitaka first for a long moment and then raising her head back up to meet the Strider's flared eyes.

"How long, then? Do you...know how long I've been asleep?"

/Lekalis/

With blind eagerness, he shared in her small laugh; keenly aware of his volume to not outdo her as she spoke on.

He nodded slowly;
"Asleep, ah... Hmm... Long..."
He vyed for time, then, looked off to the lift again; tapping the chin of his Frame, as nonexistant as it was for a Loki.

Then, with a bit of theatricism, he looked back and paused. On the cusp of an answer, he brought his hands up palms facing him and slowly began to count on his hands.

"One... Two... Three... Four.... Five."

The Strider shifted from one foot to the next, like a cat about to pounce, before starting on his other hand,

"... One... Two--"

Sensing something was off, he shook his head and raised his good hand up to face Sigyn; all digits splayed out.

"Five... err... Hundred... Thousand."

Sigyn:

".....ah. A long time, then."

Sigyn stared at his calculations with growing amusement before she chuckled, batting his hand down good-naturedly.

"Thank you. If neither of us know exactly when I was put in actual stasis, it's rather unfair of me to ask you how long it's been. You said you had a contact for Mataeru and the other Veiled Tenno?"

The ambient warmth of having a friendly face and presence nearby continued to thaw her mental process, smoothing away the tightness between her brows and turning the crumbling base of her Unairu presence to smooth, old rock. Her other hand continued to trace soothing patterns around Vitaka's facial features, its breathing evening out into something intensely at ease and almost asleep.

/Lekalis/
"Ah, yes. Of course : Mataeru : Shadowed One, Clan Leader of the Orokin Remnant... Dark, Strange, Brooding--"
The Strider paused, bringing up a message panel in his Heads up Display and pinged Mataeru Lloria with a message;
["On Patrol :  See, Eris : Tenno Located : Untouched, clean-ish, Knows you. Knows : Veiled Tenno, Ballas."]

A small realization had the Strider almost hop, as he looked to Sigyn now, his helm tilting to one side as his good hand pulled up from his vain grab at counting to tap against his scarred helm.
"Curious : Your name..?"

Sigyn:

"Ah....Sigyn Zurgiintso. An old cartographer family's name in the older Orokin tongue."

Sigyn straightened, looking around a little more thoroughly and testing her legs tentatively with a hand resting on Vitaka's shoulder carapace for support. A darkened alcove caught her eye, a recessed door that looked like it led to a hangar based on the warnings plastering the doorframes around it.

"My orbiter should still be landed, unless Ballas destroyed it."

/Lekalis/
"Sig-in..."
Like a newborn, he tested the word out on his vox; the static giving an unnerving distance with the word as he hummed, or perhaps it was simply his augments. Regardless, he stared, caught on a thought for the moment before he haphazardly traced Sigyn's gaze to the door.
"... I would... advise..."
His fingers pinched together anxiously, synapses firing as his mind stirred and he shook his head; his prosthetic raising up and twisting the cylinder jutting out from his prosthetic eye with two sharp clicks.

"... I remember your name."
The Strider's hand curled into a fist though he kept his eyes on the distant alcove, nodding to it before he looked to Sigyn and held out his hand to help support herself.
"I do not remember many names; Lekalis... My own. I think."

Mataeru:
A message pings the Strider back:
"A Veiled Tenno on Eris..? Will you need assistance with extraction? I can be there in a couple of hours. Who is it?"

Sigyn:

Her hand took his with a flash of a grateful smile, which morphed into a bittersweet sort of thankfulness as the Strider - Lekalis - continued.

"I feel very honored that my name is one you do remember, then. And Lekalis sounds...right. It clears some of the blurriness away, and it...feels like you. Thank you for gifting me with that."

She squeezed his hand in warm gratitude and reassurance, leaning on it a little heavier as she tested taking proper steps. It was an odd, shuffling kind of movement as she kept most of her leg locked to keep the shaking to a minimum, and the roughness of it brought a frustrated tilt to her brows.

"Would you like me to call you something else in public? Strider in public, Lekalis in private? If you like to keep the things you remember private."

/Lekalis/

With a soldierly duty, he attended Sigyn to the alcove; his stride quickly and easily matching hers with an undeniably preternatural air.

As they walked, he looked down to Sigyn, the whirring of his Harkonar breastplate mirroring the gears turning behind his helm.

"You are welcome."

He replied stiffly, momentarily avoiding the question as he looked to the door as they approached. His nature became quiet and contemplative with every stride; somehow, his prosthetics seemed quieter, the gentle clicking of the metal at the peak of his hooves seeming to be the only unmuffled noise

"... I don't know : my memories are... Foggy. I do not want them to be. I am frightened..."

He paused their pace for a passing second, his helm flicking over to look over at Sigyn again; studying for but a moment before he pressed on, t'ill they arrived at the alcove.

"... and enticed."

Sigyn:

The door flowered open into a deep darkness, broken only by the reflection of the existing light off the side of an orbiter crammed into an almost too-small hangar. The orbiter's ramp reached most of the way to the door, requiring only the slightest of steps over the gap to gain entry. A cephalon flickered into existence just inside the orbiter's entrance, greens and sickly yellows in a trapezoid looking as if some digital hand had worked to methodically dismantle the cephalon's 3D structure, leaving it pockmarked with the ghostly outline of its proper form. An odd mechanical grinding noise emanated from it, its form tilting in acknowledgement of the two but its speech unintelligible.

"Mori," Sigyn murmured quietly, acknowledging its presence warmly. 

"I would be, too, if I could only remember a few names. I hope it is only the passage of time and not some happening that blurred your memories so thoroughly."

Her eyes measured the distance still remaining between her and the inner depths of the orbiter and clenched her jaw even as her knees attempted to buckle. Unairu flared, a low ebb that took some of the wobbling away though more of her weight leaned on her supports.

/Lekalis/

With a solemn breath, he nodded and seemed dimly aware of the Cephalon's appearance; he stared at it for awhile, before noting Sigyn's shudder.

"Ah! It seems you've your own frights."

He offered with a spur of due warmth, immediately dropping to a knee and stooping to examine Sigyn's own; The Strider stroked the braid on his horn in idle thought.

"I can : Carry you? Vazarin therapy? Check ahead?"

Lekalis beamed, offering happily as he straightened and looked into Sigyn's eyes with a catty eagerness. The momentary trepidation of before all but evaporated as his interest returned to the freshly woken Tenno.

"Still : Somethings heal best with time, Vazarin..."

With a shrug, he glanced off, the motion betraying his dignity for a moment as he subtlty tried to narrow her choices.

"... Mori."

The Strider absently mimicked, his hand scratching the tip of his horn.

Sigyn:

A weighty pause as she did a self-assessment, accompanied by an intense flash of consternation before she shook her head slowly.

“Despite how much I might like to, I think it would be unwise to try and walk all the way up to the cockpit as I am. The power’s still on, so nothing’s broken. Should be a simple enough affair to start up the engines and get it running. Mori seems like he’s been taking care of the place.”

A fond smile eased the frustration away from her brows, allowing the Void-scarring to smooth out a bit as her jaw also relaxed.

“A good block of sleep and I should be fine. My brain’s just out of sync with the rest of me, I think.”

/Lekalis/

"Ah! Yes, fresh from cryosleep; like bread : must be gentle, careful. Wouldn't want any bones to break."

The Strider chuckled a bit morbidly as his arms flourished out; an ashen hued cradle to carry Sigyn.

"So :  I will carry you..?"

His Harkonar breastplate clicked and whirred, as the gill-like vents on either side rippled open and shut excitedly.

The eyepiece grafted to his helm seemed to hone in on her features, the way her jaw relaxed, his helm tilted to the other shoulder.

"And... Who is Mori?"

Sigyn:

"Yes. Carrying would be...best. Mori is my cephalon - a project from when I was little, when I wasn't very good with programming. He's more than a little fragmented, but he seems happy enough."

She removed her hand from Vitaka's back, soothing him with a pat as he whined at the separation, and shuffled in to lean into the Strider's torso. One hand settled itself over his shoulders, and her eyes fell cautiously to the Harkonar breastplate.

"This...this seems more integrated than decorative. Tell me if I'm putting too much weight on it?"

/Lekalis/

Surprisingly not seen before, his chest suddenly swelled with pride; the metal was surprisingly rough, but warm. Indeed, there was a soft rumble within like some old combustion engine as the fan whirred dutifully onwards.

Perhaps most comforting was the silken sash strewn over his chest; despite its worn color, it was impossibly soft and warmed by the breastplate. It bordered on hot, but fell comfortably shy of it.

"Meridian Forging! There is nothing to fear; it was forged with the heartswarthy of the downtrodden and hopeful, tempered by that flame of virtues which burns hotter than any star!
Invincible, really."

He made a laugh like a carnival puppet,
'HAR HAR', as he marched onwards, almost with a skip, before he subdued as he neared the Orbiter; moving to find someway to enter.

"Ah, er... Radiation : From prolong exposure, minute, inconsequential... Still : Shouldn't linger."

He tacked on like a warning label as he became more and more aimless in his wanderings around the base of the Orbiter.

"Mori... You made it yourself : Impressive, admirable, envious. But, you should see to repairs sometime."

Slowly, the vim and vigor in his tone drained again, his pacing became slower.

"I remember making my own... He was a good cephalon."

He paused... So close, the subtle hitches deeper within his Frame were clear; something twisted and whined inside his head. The noise transferred to something in his chest, the fan hitched now and stammered before clearing and his gill-like vents clicked open, then closed.

With another breath, he straightened and looked about the hull of the Orbiter expectantly.

"Can Mori show me the way in? I don't remember... how to get into these things... Hmm."

A worried hum, to be certain, as he took one step one way, then another in the other.

Sigyn:

The access panel flashed green twice, the inner access sliding open with an old but still smooth-looking action. Distracted by catching a glimpse of an old-but-new interior, all dusty and grey but familiar curves and stations, Sigyn remained tensed in Lekalis's hold for a long moment until the warmth emanating from the Loki's frame soaked through the layers of semi-protective suit.  Reassured, also, that there were no delicate wires or buckled metal to worry about pinching, she sunk bonelessly into the warmth and felt the last of her tremors begin to ease, giving way to a deep lassitude.

"Meridian? You'll have to fill me in on who they are. And it's up to the right. Mori will lead you to the cockpit from flashing his displays, but it's not hard. The ramp'll lower and we'll have access to the cockpit."

She hesitated for a moment before allowing her head to droop a little to rest against his shoulder, sighing as the cold tension seeped out of her trapezius, finally.

"Should be able to program Mori with a destination and then we'll be fine, if you need to get back to your landing craft," she added hesitantly. Vitaka followed close behind, his hoof-capped toes clacking organically against the gently humming floor as the ship began to come to life as Mori flickered ever-closer to the cockpit.

/Lekalis/

The Strider was quietly aware of Sigyn's sooth, something he was glad to see at last; noted in the way his steps found a flowing stride again as he made his way humbly to the blinking panel.

He shrugged his shoulders as he began up the ramp, shifting the Tenno in his arms carefully to better hold the lithe girl.

"The Steel Meridian--"

He clarified, looking down to the pin in the sash around his chest, his gaze lingered before he arrived at the top of the ramp and his own hooves impressed faint footsteps in the dust.

Lekalis looked down and slowly slid his foot across the floor, clearing away the substance with a humm.

"Five hundred thousand years... Right. Long time."

With a small chuckle,  he stepped on and saw to wandering his way towards any blinking lights Mori would ping.

Granted, his head seemed all aghast as it flicked from every nook and cranny of the stagnant Orbiter.

"The Steel Meridian : Good people, Colonists, Grineer Defecters... Fight to save people, fight to protect. They are... very good at fighting, protecting. It is something the System needs."

He mused on, passionate but distant as he meandered through corridors

"I'll walk back to my Landing Craft, don't worry-- Ah, a destination!

Mataeru; he founded the Orokin Remnant. Lots of things but, mostly: Bring Order to the System. It is bloody, it is chaotic, it is... balanced. Anarchistic Natural Order.

The Remnant will bring structure and safety. I hope."

Lekalis paused, looking down to Sigyn.

"You should go to Lua; there is a transmission with Mataeru's voice... If he doesn't come here."

He hummed again, pensive, as he looked up; forgetting something...

Sigyn:

"That sounds like a good plan. To be honest I'm not exactly sure how you found me, everything's quite...blurry from when I was asleep."

The ramp to access the command module revealed a few bits of personality tucked away in the cockpit. A tiny, crude statue in a corner, an urn left ajar that held the remains of nutrient packs. The main abnormality to the normally stark furnishing was a proper reclining chair in front of the star chart, all gently curved golden metal that was spun around as Mori flickered into being just to the side of the darkened viewport.

"You'll have to introduce me to them, if you think this Steel Meridian wouldn't mind. I didn't often have a chance to be friendly with the natives Before, but what chance I did have was....special. And I hope Mataeru can succeed - it sounds very much like something he would do."

[End RP - 05:00, 03/22}