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Neri enjoyed his company quite a lot. While most people just crossed him when being summoned for Gambit matches and the rest just steered clear out of his way, she actively went out of hers to look for him and talk to him. There was a certain... sadness, maybe? No, that wasn't right, but the truth was that there was something in his eyes that made her wanna stay. Even when questions asked crossed an imaginary line that he had created so he, in a not-so-subtle way, had to urge her to leave.
"Hero. Not a surprise to see you here, but what brings you to ol' Drifter this time?"
He raised his head from the kitbash that he was working on his desk. For a second, Neri didn't say anything; she just stared at him, feeling a very familiar sensation overcome her. Everything about this... character, was always so familiar to her- the way he spoke, he moved, he faked a smile that never quite reached his eyes.
"Just taking a moment to say hello. The last match was a bit rough on me, so I was hoping to cool off for a while."
His laugh mesmerized her. He could fake the spiritedness of it so well, and she was never quite sure if he finds things funny or he is staggering to decide his words. For a man that seemed to never run out of things to say, the second option appeared unlikely, but she knew better. This man was all but real, yet she clung to him like it was the only thing left in her life.
"So what, you came here to hear more boring stories about the Dark Age? C'mon, darlin', we both know you have better things to do. For your dear Vanguard, nonetheless."
She knew he did not understand why she kept coming back. Hell, she didn't even grasp it herself, all she knew is that every time Neri could slip from Vanguard business, she always headed to the Derelict or down to the Annex so she could spend some time with him. He never shushed her away immediately and, even for a tiny bit, maybe also enjoyed her visits, though everything ended the moment she was called to duty or made a wrong question to him. She had a mental note of the ones she knew he would never answer to her- at least not right now.
"Turns out the Big Hero isn't needed very much when war isn't in our immediate doorstep, so I was able to get some time off to fool around."
She always tried to play it casually, continuously failing. Not because she was a bad actress, though Neri definitely was, but because he always knew better. She tried to avoid his eyes to continue.
"So, would you mind telling me more about The Dark Age?"
The tiny stool squeaked under his weight when he turned around to face her directly. She pretended to fiddle with a loose thread from her cloak until she heard his voice.
"In the list of stuff others would say about me, I don't think I'd 'ver see "story-teller" but I guess times really have changed, huh?"
She sighed, relieved at his response. Though he has never dismissed her right away, she still half-expected him to do so. Neri knew very well she was nothing to him, only a famous guardian that was better to keep at your side than away. Part of her didn't mind that though, as long as she got to be here.
"Though I wonder," he continued, earning a curious look from her, "what would the Vanguard say if they knew their little hero is infatuated with the big, bad Drifter?"
If anyone doubted awoken could blush, they would only need one look from her right now to clear their doubts. Infatuated is, undoubtedly, a... fitting word. Though Drifter didn't need confirmation, her nervousness, constant blushing to a deeper blue, and her lack of words at his comment could tell him everything. Neri was an open book when she was with him, and how did he enjoy reading her to bits.
"I don- I don't see how it's... any! Of their business! If- if what you said would be- not that it is. No. I don't. It's just, an- it's unusual to-"
What happens to the suave, cocky, and lethal Hunter when the Drifter is near? She could barely open her mouth without closing it again immediately, unsure and unable to say anything coherent.
"A dream." Neri blurted out and regretted it instantly. Drifter opened his mouth to ask if there have been more visions of The Nine, but Neri continued. "I mean, I had one. I haven't had one since..." Nightmares. Cayde. "But it- it didn't just look like a dream. It felt like a memory. And-"
Almost sure of what she was going to say, he stood up and closed the distance between them. His proximity did not help ease her embarrassment, though she tried to calm down before continuing.
"I saw you, but it wasn't you. You were younger, much younger, and it felt like... a dream within a dream, it felt so far away but real at the same time. We talked, maybe for hours, and then someone- something took me away, I-"
She could remember the cries, the feeling of panic when she shadow grabbed her, taking her away from him. She pleaded, moved frantically, but to no avail- the shadow was stronger, bigger, and didn't care what she wanted. The fear she felt rivaled anything she has ever felt as a Guardian until now.
Neri could not remember the look on The Drifter's face when she was taken away, however. The Drifter. It feels wrong to say that nickname when she remembers she called him a name in the dream (memory?), but now that name was blurry in her mind, inaccessible.
She dared raise her eyes to him, and the view left her speechless. For once, he had lost his smirk, face as serious as she has ever seen him, and his eyes were pressing her, analyzing her. For once, he didn't know what to say, so instead, he just felt.
He felt anger towards the Traveler. Towards his Ghost. Towards his life as Risen, towards all the people that have attacked him. He felt fear. Fear for the future, for what's coming, and fear for what he was messing with. He felt powerless in not having his memories back when he was a human. He felt disgusted his humanity had been taken away from him. And above all- he felt hungry. Though for the first time, it wasn't a hunger for food, but instead for something more. He hungered for something he could not have.
"Go away."
Neri's stomach fell to the floor when she heard those words come out of him. His stern tone pierced through her, rendering her speechless. She tried to reach out to him but stopped once he backed up. The Drifter turned away once more.
"Leave, never come back again, and don't look back."