[i]A first person account of the weekly mundane struggles of a Guardian.[/i] [b]Handshakes OP[/b] By way of greeting; hi. I'm Ricochet. I'm a Titan and, if you haven't already stopped reading, I'm also the most boring variation of Titan. I am a Defender. If you're wondering why on Earth (or Luna, or Venus, or probably back on Mars, but certainly not Mercury for any reason ever) I chose to be a Defender, you're already asking the right questions. Apparently upon seeing crazy space magic bombs and crazy space magic guns and crazy space magic hammers, some of us just decide [i]meh, actually I'll just blow really ineffective bubbles at dudes and call it a day.[/i] So hi. This is me. [b]Current Events[/b] I roll with a group called the [i]Vanguard Assault Lance[/i]. Sound official right? I assure you it is not. I am ostensibly the leader of the Lance, in the sense that when I get a sweet bounty to go ruin something's day I am the most likely to ask for help (because you know, bubbles) and the most likely to get the help that I ask for. The roster's not very large. [i]Ricochet (Myself) Fox - Sunsinger Bishop - Gunslinger Doss - Nightstalker Wally - Striker Fault - Voidwalker Drake - Stormcaller Punk - Voidwalker Eagle - Gunslinger[/i] We're hardly ever in the same place at the same time, and when we are it's probably because we did something wrong, or because Wally fell into the Hellmouth again (which at this point I think he does intentionally because an endless supply of Thrall is easily mistaken as an endless supply of fun for him). It'd be cool if I could tell you that, actually, we're somehow the strongest Guardians ever. But we're not. Honestly, we're a group of idiots in armor (or in Fox/Punk/Fault/Drake's case, really comfortable but really well shielded robes) that have managed not to die in any way that stuck. When you're [b]not[/b] one of the strongest ever (you know the type, singlehandedly fisticuffed Atheon to death, got in a sword fight with Crota and in said fight only used a toothpick and won, took Oryx---that sounds dirty no matter how you say it so I'm going to leave it there---and probably for some reason knows exactly where that one crazy dude on Mars gets all his rockets) there are long... LONG dry spells at the tower. Find yourself doing menial things like chasing down a particularly crafty Dreg. Or, if you're into sport, competing for glory and worthwhile (see: random) loot... [b]TRYals.[/b] So. Doss, Bishop and I have been competing in the Trials for about a year now. Never set foot in it before then, mostly because of that mess with Red Deaths and Thorns killing people like they meant it (see: permanently)... but with that sorted, and our shitty little 'Lance' feeling really desperate for gear and supplies, the three of us drew the short straw and wound up competing. I want to say it has been fun, but I would be lying. It has not been fun a single time. Now, we've gotten passage to Mercury a half dozen times, so winning isn't entirely rare for us. That's not the point though. I think Doss and Bishop both forget that, while I am known for rather enthusiastic use of Auto Rifles (yes, that is where the nickname comes from---maybe) that's sort of all I have going for me. For example: [i]Last man standing. Doss is having a hard time doing what he does best, because the sand crunches whenever he walks. Harder to get his footing to sprint, and makes invisibility almost useless. The wind isn't helping. Whenever the competition is on Mars, the windstorms seem to decide now is the time to be assholes and blow everything around. Not enough to push Bishop's shots in unexpected directions, but definitely enough to obscure visibility. That's how they got him. Last I heard was "I lost track of him," and then a shotgun blast in the distance, and my Ghost informing me that a Guardian was down. Doss had gone down much earlier, he and one of our opponents vanishing into the same puff of smoke before their Ghost's orbs calmly bobbed over where they fell. Motion tracker shows two. One has the shotgun---the other? I have no idea what he's packing. The round whizzes right by my face. The rational thing to do would have been to duck back into cover, but I decide to let off a burst in that general direction---[/i] Arminius-D if you're wondering. Hakke makes some good, cheap equipment. Perfect for Guardians like me who just want to be able to shoot back at what's killing them without deluding themselves with notions of actually killing it back. Variks doesn't like me very much. [i]---and try to move up. The sniper wasn't all that far away, to show up on the tracker. The sniper was one of those 'good' snipers, who seem to use a sniper rifle from literally every range ever, to the chagrin of anyone using any other weapon ever. Effective? Obviously. War's not fair. This contest is supposed to emulate war somehow. If it [b]WERE[/b] something that was supposed to be fair, that weapon type in its current frequent usage would be outlawed. Obviously. Right? Anyway, I'm sprinting. Signature moves to my right, I slide toward cover ahead of me, ShotGuardian (the one with the Shotgun, yeah) blinks out from Light knows where, and I'm basically dead to rights. But my armor is charged. I've got this bubble. Might as well, right? Wrong. I activate the system, and I'm right in the middle of deploying it when ShotGuardian Shotguns me. It's one of those deaths I don't even remember. It happened so fast. I do remember that it turned out the sniper (remember, didn't know what [b]HE[/b] was packing?) was a she. She teabagged me anyway.[/i] ...next round starts, and all I hear is "Good try man." in that voice Bishop uses when he's pissed off that we're losing and wonders why he had to get the shittiest Titan in the system on his team. He gets over it after we win a few rounds, usually---but I wonder the same thing. [b]Up next?[/b] Variks is sending out creepy messages again, trying to get people back into the Prison for some contest. I've gotta mention something that strikes me as odd, though---Eris asked this, and it's been bothering me. Side note? I kinda like Eris. She's creepy as hell, and pretty obviously going to turn on us all at some point. But I dig it. At least she's upfront about it, unlike the weird Traveler cults which, while I thank them for rezzing me and all, kind of get under my skin. Overhead Eris ask somebody [i]"That...'prison'...holds nothing which does not wish to be there. Tell me, then; why do the Taken stay?"[/i] Good -blam!-ing question right? Anyway, we're probably going to try out the challenge just as a way to take a break from getting our asses kicked in Trials. I'll let you know how that goes. Stay awesome Guardians, ~Ricochet [spoiler]Want to be featured in a Destijournal volume? Drop me a message and we'll talk! These will be coming out weekly, and will include sound/video in the future! Thanks for your interest and support![/spoiler]