#save me eris/ikora

[ahamkara-apologist]

you're so right fr. there are so many incredibly written female characters in d2 but there's a mere insignificant pittance of fanworks around them. as a day 1 failsafe lover it drives me nuts how little people seem to care about her. like. maybe bungie was right the fanbase doesn't even see her. and Ada? Ana bray? Elsie? even Eris or ikora? they may as well not exist for how the fandom treats them. but crow is a twink (twunk?) so yknow

A Failsafe stan omg...I'm so sorry my liege you're in the fucking trenches and have my deepest sympathy. I remember when Echoes came out people were like 'eugh Failsafe's humour didn't age well' and I was like...buddy. Failsafe is fucking hilarious. The fact that people were complaining about her humour as if Cayde wasn't the personification of annoying 2014 funnyman is fucking insane to me. I'm convinced that the only reason why Cayde's humour isn't cringe to them while Failsafe and Nimbus's jokes are is bc Cayde is perceived as a cis straight man to the gamerbros (even if there's not a snowflake's chance in hell he is, and robots are inherently trans) while they aren't. And the other girls? Whatever. Practically don't exist as far as fandom is concerned. Again, the fact that Revenant has Eramis as one of the main players in the plot- a nuanced, morally grey old grouch- and yet there is almost NO fan content on her ain't just because Bungie's quality has been piledrived into the ground. It's because she's a woman and a lesbian and thus everything that SHE does is awful and annoying and irrational and hypocritical, when you KNOW that if she were a man, nobody would give a fuck. It would all be 'oooh babygirl I love his dramatic ass' and shit with people crying over how tragic 'he' is and whatnot. But bc Eramis isn't some conventionally attractive twink, it's just radio silence out here. Meanwhile Crow is just a member of the supporting cast, and yet almost all the fanart and fanworks seem to feature him. It's a goddamn travesty, and I'm saying that as someone who likes Crow!

You're wrong on one account tho, and it's that Eris DOES exist to the fandom- but only if it's in ship content with Drifter. Nothing else. Though half the time she's not even acting like Eris bc a lot of shippers seem to think that they're 'fixing' each other instead of bonding over ways to do batshit insane bs in their free time. All her other significant relationships? Out the window. Gotta pare them down to an enemies to lovers trope where slurs are seen as cute. Which is insane to me bc like...the thing that makes Drifter and her relationship great is the fact that they're both freaks, and yet many people seem to want them to fit the parameters of a normal relationship. Like my sister in the light those are two new guys at this point

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

I love it when Destiny takes time to show the smaller moments of the universe.

Eido nerding out over preserving culture, people celebrating the Festival of the Lost, baking cookies when the temperature drops, Zavala knitting, Osiris and Saint being tender, random guardians and their friends that we might never get another lore entry on, guardians who we get a handful of lore entries for their shenanigans, conversations about beliefs between characters we know and love, and so, so much more.

In the face of tremendous loss and pain, there are always moments of unconquerable joy and love, even if they are brief. Love can be found in every tale, every crevice, and every event in Destiny despite despairing circumstances and it wins. Maybe not immediately, maybe long after the lovers have perished to their situations, but it always triumphs. It’s seeds always burst through an inhospitable soil to grow into the shade others will lay under, resting their heads upon a person they would propagate a whole forest for.

It is the small moments like finding unlikely companions, enjoying a deeply brewed tea, or collecting candy on holidays that keeps people fighting for the ability to experience such delights.

Destiny is about a universe of people who will choose to survive and endure no matter the cost. It is the assuring sight of different species of children playing in the streets of the Last City that people will suffer time and time again to protect. It is the thought that there will always be a precious experience in life awaiting in the future that makes people want to even keep the very POSSIBILITY of suffering.

Eris has saved the universe to bring justice to her fireteam, protect humanity, and save the ones she loves like Ikora, Mara, and Drifter. That is enough.

Misraaks has helped us in our endeavors to protect Sol for his people and Eido, to see them prosper and grow. That is enough.

Some guardians may fight just to bring in enough glimmer to enjoy a drink at a tavern. That is enough.

Some people right after the Collapse may have continued on because they didn’t know what else to do, they didn’t know why they had it in their spirit to continue on upon a charred Earth. That is enough.

These are all enough to warrant the continuation of a universe that allows for these possibilities. These are enough and more to fight for with bleeding callouses and busted knuckles.

It is moments so fleeting and small that leave such an impression on us that we will fight against odds so enduring and large. We fight for justice, for hope, for good food, for the smell of blossoms in Spring.

We will do it over and over again for it is our right to determine our fates, no matter the indifference we receive from the universe itself and no matter the wants of those who equate the small to be inconsequential.

[night-dark-woods]

man nothing like returning to a creative project Months later and having zero memory of your plan. what were we up to, past me? and why did we not note down any of the brushes we were using.

[cassiefisherdrake]

As an addendum to this, what would make me happiest this season is watching Eris changing physically as the story progresses, becoming more and more Hive-like in physiology, and for Ikora to be there for her anyway. I'm worried that Eris is willing to throw herself at this so thoroughly that she obliterates not only her physical form but herself because she deems herself disposable so long as our plan succeeds, and I want Ikora to be there to take her newly-made Hive God hand and say, in effect, "I don't care that your body didn't come back the same or even that you were changed by this experience. I only care that you lived and came back as you."

I want Eris to grow to realize she is important to us not just because she is the witch who can guide us through the Hive's mazes but because she is Eris, our friend, and for Ikora to step away from the perpetual circular talk she never seems to leave behind, to stop dancing politically around everything in her life in steps so precisely timed and perfectionist, to be forthright with Eris about her importance to her as a friend and comrade, to help her see that importance so Eris can remain Eris in the end, so they can continue to help each other in the future.

Ikora: Will you come back from this?

Eris: Does it matter if I do?

gnawing my own fingers off with worry and hope that a major theme in this season will be Ikora reminding Eris that her survival DOES matter, for the Vanguard's campaign to save humanity but also to Ikora herself, and that they can find peace in each other after all of the friends they have lost, that they don't need to lose each other too

[thefirstknife]

i unironically hope Eris stays in her Hive form at least physically bc im already loving how both her & Immaru are pointing out Ikora's (and humanity's) inherent dehumanization of the Hive.

Eris being all "If this form does not leave will you still view me as a friend?"

Immaru when asked where the Experiment Subjects come from and responding with "Don't act like you care."

Honestly, it's so good. I really love the Eris stuff and some of these questions being posed. A lot of people react negatively to Eris doing this, forgetting that Eris has already been part-Hive for a long time. She was just hiding it behind the eye cover.

Technically, nothing inherently changed about Eris; she just embraced that part of her. And that's super important for her arc I think because she's been on a journey of accepting her trauma and her losses for a very long time. We helped her face her fears and traumas in Shadowkeep and she came out of it victorious. And the story never treated it as her traumas being gone; she still has them, but she has the means to tackle them and handle them and live with them. Since we helped her, she became more open and more involved with what we do to save our home, even if it meant tackling dangerous things.

And the thing is, now that her traumas cannot be exploited by Darkness anymore, she's capable of involving herself in these things, knowing that she has friends to fall back to and a support system and better mental fortitude. We've seen it through her endurance beneath the Pyramid on Io, and her grasp of stasis, and her dealing with the Crown of Sorrow and egregore and the Lunar Pyramid nightmares. And now with her embracing her Hive self. It doesn't change anything about her, but people prefer when she hides it so they don't have to see it. And she knows it (Sororicide lore book, page 1):

It's a perfect example of how we inherently view the Hive as untrustworthy. Obviously, there are good reasons for it! The Hive have caused immense pain and trauma to pretty much everyone in the universe, Eris included. It must take an incredible strength of character to embrace the fact that you're physically half-Hive, creatures that traumatised you in the first place. No one else has dealt with anything similar so naturally they're afraid for Eris. But I believe in her strength. And so does Drifter and Drifter is never wrong:

He'd read the reports. He saw the theories on VanNet. He didn't trust them. He trusted her.

There's a cutscene that people skip and can cause people not to see it, I recommend replaying the thing on a different character or seeing it online, but it shows Eris taking off her bandage in front of us:

It's such a powerful image to me. A symbol of her taking off her mask. Not pretending to be the same as us anymore. Because she isn't! The Hive are a part of her and have been for centuries. And she's always been in control. Our mistrust has always hurt her, but before this, we could act with pity towards her. Now that she's fully in Hive form, people's perception of her changed, for really no good reason other than prejudice. She is still Eris.

I definitely think that eventually we will have to reconcile with the idea of the Hive not being inherently evil in totality as a whole group of people. Obviously this is going to be difficult, especially when their leaders act the way they do, but eventually I do believe we will have to accept some of them, even if it's only Eris for a start.

[phthalology]

“Will you help me?” The wound is not life-threatening. But sometimes letting someone else care for you isn’t about necessity.

“Lot of fuss about Ghosts lately,” said Drifter, and he sat down bonelessly on the lush grass of the Pale Heart.

Ikora didn’t move. She stared at the pool where the Speaker’s orrery had once spun. “Of course there is. Ghosts were the ones who destroyed the Witness, in the end.” 

It all gave Drifter the creeps. To look at the Pale Heart was to look at a tyrant’s idea of paradise, an endless growth inside a glass-walled prison. Cancer in a greenhouse. Other people found it comforting, for some reason. “And how is that sitting with you, with Ophiuchus as he is?”

Ikora laughed softly. “With me as I am, you mean.”

“It takes two.”

“That’s the point,” Ikora said. “If I had been with the Guardians who dealt the final blow, would Ophiuchus have been there for me? I don’t know. But I won’t give that to new Lights as a lesson. We need confidence now.”

“Ha, I guess there might be new little Lights after this who never even knew the Witness. Weird that the Traveler would keep making ‘em. Talk about a lack of confidence.”

“With that aurora in the sky and who knows what coming next, maybe we’ll need more Guardians after all.” Finally, she looked at him, with a directness that made him wonder what he had come here to say in the first place. 

Ghosts, sure. Even Eris was buddy-buddy with Immaru now. That Micah was a regular home for orphaned Ghosts. Drifter couldn’t shake his initial impression of his own Ghost as a tool, a vindictive resurrection machine that thought of humanity as a gun it could field-strip or fire dirty until a mechanical piece gave out. So, he’d made his Ghost into the same, striking first. Drifter had no doubt his muzzled Ghost would have fired at the Witness, because he’d have ordered it to. 

“I could use the near end of the world as an excuse to reconnect with Ophiuchus,” Ikora said. “But it’s been so long … I don’t know what sign I gave that let us reach this place, he and I. I don’t know what sign could bring us back together.”

“Ask him to help you.”

“I don’t need help.”

“It doesn’t have to be world-saving help.” Drifter gestured up at the vines built of memory, at the place where outside the real Tower, the Traveler had once floated. “Just a little favor.” He sleight-of-handed a coin-sized stone eye, one of the strange pieces of detritus he’d found in the Pale Heart, out of his sleeve and across his knuckles. “A little gift.” 

Fact is, the Drifter had a little bit of that Warlock magic nowadays. He did not care what class any Guardian of this temporary age would call him, but between the Light and the Dark, he knew things even more than usual. Now, he knew Ikora was thinking of giving that heavy, little stone eye to her Ghost, trying to wrest some meaning out of the collision of Drifter’s Dark Age history and the wilderness of Light she walked. 

Her thoughts itched against his like someone stroking a feather along the inside of his skull. 

How do you stand this? He thought. Hearing other people’s brains going?

Peel thoughts apart with careful fingers, said Ikora. 

Her mental voice was somehow the exact opposite of her piercing looks. Eyes like stars, heart like the jet off a black hole. Some strange genius in between. Drifter remembered what he had come here to say. “Look, anyway, I’m setting up a Gambit arena in that little beachy spot underneath the Blooming. Forgiveness, permission, you know. Thank you, good night.” And away he would amble, neat and peachy clean, on the side of the Light and with a neat little side gig too. Only problem in the world was Guardians kept asking him if he could make some sort of tincture or moonshine out of Dread, and he’d have to say again that he didn’t do that stuff for fun, there were plenty of plants and regular supply runs in the Pale Heart now, eat those while you can, you sick freaks. 

Ikora caught his intent to amble before it even started. “So, you’re telling me I need to let Ophiuchus see I care, even after the world didn’t end.”

Drifter looked over her shoulder. “Now, I wouldn’t go that far. World might still end.” 

Ikora tossed the stone eye in the air. It floated above her palm. “I just don’t know how to do it,” she said, shoulders slumped. “How to let him help me. I can’t hug him like I can Cayde or Zavala.” She looked up, and Light her features looked different when she was about to cry, puffy and reddening. “Will you help me?”

He almost sighed with how badly he wanted to make some joke about the great Vanguard asking him for help. But he and the Vanguard hadn’t played those roles in a long time, not really. 

Without touching her, he slid his palm between her hand and the stone. He tried, Light he tried, for the first impression she received not to be of his constant urge to run as he opened his mind to hers. 

Look, he tried, clumsily. Do this. Remember the victory your people just brought you. You’re alive and Zavala is alive, and Ophiuchus and them. Remember they’re — Except he couldn’t hide anything. They’re not gonna stay forever.

Except Ikora wrestled that thought back, thinking of the people who had stayed. When she took a breath, his own lungs expanded, mechanically linked to her body now that their neurons thought they were the same brain. Could you do this to kill somebody? Drifter thought.

Ikora took another breath which had a distinct note of disapproval in it. Or maybe that disapproval came from his breath, his vicious hatred for what the Traveler had made him.  

Then Ikora found a memory of great love, of love like a field of yellow flowers under gentle sun. Gold filigree on his shell. Drifter pulled away, prey-beast startled by the second-hand affection of the Ghost. He had completely ignored his sight during the mind-meld and had to blink against the Pale Heart’s fake day. 

Ikora smiled like she hadn’t in years. “That’s it. That’s exactly what I’ll show him,” she said, looking sidelong at the Drifter. “Thank you.”

“You got us most of the way there,” he muttered. 

Ikora gave another unlikely smile, looking so gentle and comforted it shamed him. He saw in one of their minds’ eyes her hands holding the purple-and-gold shell to her cheek. Then the Light untangled from them, leaving him not sure who had tangled it in the first place — Ikora or himself or the Traveler, giving those orders it called blessings. 

Well, Ophiuchus would maybe be more likely to be around when Ikora needed him now, and she hadn’t said no to the new Gambit arena either. Off he ambled, Ikora behind him happy. 

[eosofspades]

Something always confused me about the messages Cayde left to his 'killers'. Like, while he could be annoying at times, I just don't see, say, Ikora or the Guardian killing him. Could you clear it up for me?

not sure what prompted this ask, but i would LOVE to talk about Cayde let's go

to me, the thing about Cayde that a shockingly small amount of people seem to understand is that this guy is deeply self-loathing. the best way i've ever seen it summed up is "he was a terrified man who was mostly terrified of himself." (you can read that post here btw.)

Cayde blames and guilts himself for so much. Andal becoming the Vanguard, Andal dying, Taniks not staying dead, making up Ace and his Queen, not remembering Ace and his Queen, probably the Red Legion attack on the Last City (i think it might have been written somewhere that satellites/security was his job, but don't quote me on that) - he's constantly running away from his problems and responsibilities, and when he isn't, he's doing everything he can to try and fix them himself (e.g., one-man suicide mission plan to kill Ghaul.)

moreover, his entire jokester persona is so deeply ingrained into his identity that he genuinely doesn't know if anyone even knows him. in his message to Ikora he says he wasn't even sure if she ever liked him, and Ikora confides to the Guardian that she considered him one of her closest friends.

as such, i think it's completely reasonable within his character for him to assume, somehow, that there could be a reason for Ikora or the Guardian to kill him. he doesn't consider himself integral to the Vanguard "team," and, by extension, to the City. he would like them to like him, of course, but even if they like the lax, aloof, jokester persona he puts on - he doesn't know if they like him. he doesn't even seem confident that anyone would like the real him.

so, if they had to kill him for whatever reason - "the good of the City," because he messed something up, because he did something terrible, some kind of Darkness-corruption (him or them), maybe even if he was just that insufferable and they'd finally had enough - he thinks of himself so lowly that he wouldn't really be able to blame them. (in most of his audios he even sort of has a reason planned - he pissed off Eris badly enough, Zavala had to kill him for the good of the City, the Guardian saved him on Nessus so he "owed it to them anyway" - i think that he carries so much guilt and exhaustion, especially with regards to everything that happened to Andal, that, on some level, he feels like he deserves it.)

so, in regards to your question, sure, WE can't imagine Ikora or the Guardian killing him, but we are the audience, and Cayde doesn't have any idea as to how anyone else might feel about him when the chips are down.

(in fact, life on the line, if someone had to die, i doubt Cayde would even let it be anyone in the City but him. i have a whole post planned about Forsaken + themes of sacrifice, but his whole "Not if I get there first," followed by personally sailing down into a deadly explosion (even with a Ghost) is very indicative of this and a much broader sort of self-sacrificial-ness, but that's... a much longer post.)

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

Destinytober24: Day 9 - Path

Link to Ao3 if you prefer to read it there

Elsie,

I have attempted to visit you on Europa several times now, accompanied and alone, but each time you have been away.

The Drifter has suggested I write to you, since it is a format with which I am comfortable and will allow thoughts to be articulated in a manner I find constructive.

As with all letters, there is no guarantee this one will reach its recipient, nor, further, that the recipient will read it, and no assurances, beyond that, of a response. Yet, the assessment is accurate, I do find it a method of communication more aptly suited to my demeanour.

The Witness is dead. There are continued threats to our survival, yes. But, the threat which caused your repeated reliving of events is past.

You now have time to explain.

More importantly, if you wish it, you have time to listen and to learn.

Your instruction in using Stasis saved our world, our universe, existence itself. It saved me. I have read the accounts provided to Ikora of your alternate futures and I see within them that which you fear.

You have seen that those fears have not come to pass. You have watched as I ascended to godhood and retained my humanity.

And yet, the silence grows between us.

I can only assume it is based upon memories of different times, when I was your antagonist, your betrayer, the one who caused you to murder your beloved sister, the one who destroyed the world.

I accept this, despite having no control over it, and yet, I find myself reaching out to you again.

For I, too, have a past which haunts me and continuously informs my sensibilities now.

Yourself, the Drifter and I were, if only briefly on Europa, a fireteam. The Drifter claims others even went so far as to call us the Dark Vanguard at the time.

While considerably less painful than watching my closest and dearest friends be slaughtered, it is nonetheless highly discomforting to me to feel how the distance between us only seems to increase over time. I have lost so much. I would prefer not to become completely disconnected from you as well.

Yet, I also understand how being faced with maintaining a friendship with the murderer of everything you love countless times over might not be something you are emotionally prepared to do. But I am not those other Eris' from those other timelines.

You were able to put that aside once, to teach me, to develop the closeness necessary to function together as a fireteam, to behave, almost, like a friend.

You taught the Drifter and I how important it was to walk a careful path through the Darkness. At the time I did not realise just how careful you were being. I do now.

But I would posit to you, a different, equally valid, truth: That while the path one treads is important, there is one factor which is greater than where we go and what we do.

There are many paths, some more disastrous than others. But it is not the path alone that matters most.

What matters most is that we do not walk it alone.

You know where and how to find me. I hope, one day, your path will join with mine again.

I remain, your former student and, perhaps one day again, your friend.

Aiat.

Link to the entire month's worth of prompts on Ao3, posted daily.

[flowers-of-io]

Fic Rec Friday #1

Inspired by the fic rec reblog chain spurned by @a-driftamongopenstars and @synnthamonsugar last Friday, I thought it would be cool to do a weekly rec from my personal fic library! I’ll try sticking to Fridays, and the tag for it is izzy's bookshelf, should you wish to either follow or block.

What I want to present to you first is this absolute banger:

What Has She Found? What Has She Found?

by @synnthamonsugar

Read on Ao3

Eris Morn and Mara Sov grow close enough to suffocate on their mission to Outer Sol.

Rating: Gen | Relationships: Eris Morn & Mara Sov, Eris Morn & Oryx | Word count: 1,458

Warnings: none

"If you never want to see me again, I understand," Mara said.

"I won't leave you," Eris replied. She spoke from her heart, tired and aching though it was, but she wasn't sure they could separate themselves from each other even if they wanted.

I’m very biased in favour of this fic, because not only did I get it in early access as a beta reader, but also the title is taken from one of my favourite loretabs and it sounds so powerful and cool. I'm truly impressed by how the characters’ dynamic is navigated and dissected here. Mara has long been a focal point for Eris, her Queen, confidant and friend—and now there she is, cloaked in the form of her worst terror, and what Eris has to do is reach out and save her life, despite all the fear and revulsion she’s feeling. The visceral awareness that Mara is Oryx, just as Eris is part Crota’s kin, and that it will never cease to be so, that Mara will always bear that mark upon her… And that when they lock eyes, there is a whole different history taking place, in which they are only proxies, in which the devotion between them is a vestige of the love between the monsters they destroyed.

She and Mara had become terribly alike, two lost souls saved through the fearlessness to transform into that which sought to destroy them. So perhaps it should have been unsurprising to Eris that when she looked at her friend, cloaked in the form of a monster, that monster looked back and recognized in her the vesage of his dead Son's kin. The sense of familiarity froze the blood in her veins. The feeling of love, a parent's love for their child, powerful enough to rend apart the universe for a second chance, made her want to flee.

A PARENT’S LOVE FOR THEIR CHILD, POWERFUL ENOUGH TO REND APART THE UNIVERSE FOR A SECOND CHANCE……….

(She thought about being in the Hellmouth. The eyes of Crota's brood in her hands, no weight at all, but infinitely heavy, the knowledge of what had to be done making it no easier —)

I think I hauve covid

She had taken the extracted debris and, guided by compulsion whose source she could not name and technique she could not describe, etched memory into its surface. Sent it by ascendant manifold to Mare Imbrium, where Owl Sector rangers or patrolling Hidden would hopefully find it. If she was to die in the far reaches of Sol, she wanted Ikora to have an accurate account of her final moments. There had been enough uncertainty. Too many questions and too much left unsaid. Her parting gift would be closure.

This bit makes me absolutely insane. It combines Eris’ relationship with her own mortality, her relationship with Ikora, and her view of herself; the readiness to die on duty; the very Eris-like resourcefulness even in her next-to-final moments. Gosh. Being ready to die in the outer space, struck by debris, and the last thing she’s thinking about is ensuring Ikora gets closure after her death. 2d8 emotional damage.

Oh and also what this fic has is platonic bed-sharing! Which is like, so important.

[xentari94]

Back again with another hot take on how I think Cayde could be coming back- back. Or me just fusing different thoughts together to try and make them make sense idk. I try to write these things down when I think about them because I forget stuff easily. Especially long thought out stuff. But- okay so yeah I’m still betting on the 15th wish to be the way that Cayde comes back but- I just thought of something else…

The reason I’ve always assumed the 15th wish would have something to do with Cayde is because there’s lore where characters have wished for him to be here. And Cayde and Sundance were the ones directly affected in Forsaken, which is where we got the raid and in turn the 15th wish. I think of it like how Osiris could only use the Sundial for Saint alone because it was connected, Saint was directly linked with the Infinite Forest, the Sundial was built on Mercury where it was. All within the same season. Cayde’s death, the wish… all within the same DLC. So I’m not changing my stance on the 15th wish.

However- it would be way too obvious and that is one thing Bungie is not. I don’t think. They’ll put one bit of info out but it’s never as it seems.

So- what if instead of the wish being the direct way Cayde comes back, it is instead a big core piece, but not one that works alone and without actively helping it to. “This one you shall cherish.” An end goal so to speak.

The events of Forsaken, while yes I have hated with a passion, I cannot deny was the reason we have Crow and how he’s come to have a better life. But at the same time- I don’t believe the Traveler would use the end of a life for another life without there being some kind of failsafe.

A portion of light from Sundance being imbued into Ace being that failsafe. That’s the only valid explanation I can think of on how we got Memento Mori. And I think the perk is only called that because we as the player, up until when we see Cayde again, have believed him to be very much dead. There’s nothing that’s happened before now to make us believe otherwise.

I think in the teaser, Cayde and his cracked Ace are the saved copy of our Cayde we know and love, being formed by his light that returned to the Traveler when Sundance was shot. And the reason his Ace is shown cracked is because not all of his light returned if the real Ace has it. I think Ace is another key piece here. And damn wouldn’t it be emotional as hell if the gun that had saved Cayde on so many occasions, was able to indirectly save him once again before that final shot.

I think another key piece are the literal pieces of Sundance we know through lore to be in the possession of Ikora’s Hidden. In the teaser we see Ikora with her Ghost but Sundance is not there with Cayde and it makes sense because Ikora is not dead. I 100% believe that. But Cayde technically not technically is. I think he’s in some type of limbo. Which- maybe could explain why Eris could hear his voice. Maybe he was trying to tell her something idk that’s just another side thought. The Ghosts are made separate from their guardians in a way because they have to search for us, but they know deep down who we are when they find us. So that leads me to believe each Ghost and Guardian are originally paired with their own unique light signature. We’ve yet to actually know how Ghosts are made or how they are connected with everything (this meaning the Darkness and the Witness) if they are.

We don’t know what the Witness means by “your pale heart holds the key” either yet do we? Idk but the theory that someone is inside the Traveler controlling it is interesting. Ghosts come from somewhere, if we find out how they are created, could we possibly use all the key pieces being the Cayde we meet, the Ace we have and Sundance to find a way to restore Cayde’s light and life through first restoring his Ghost? Letting her once again be able to bring him back?

The 15th wish is the goal, but it is not given freely and takes us to fight for what we would cherish.

And as for the Traveler not forsaking Cayde in favor of giving Crow life, what if Crow is in turn right alongside us in getting Cayde back.

Could also explain why Cayde-6 warned us about Cayde-7. Maybe he knew something was going to happen. There’s his line in D1 where he goes “It’s calling me, thank the Traveler I only have a year left.” And we’ve been presented with the knowledge that we could try bringing him back through the Clovis Bray facility because his consciousness could be there, but we know by what Cayde said to us this is not the right way and if we see him as 7 then someone isn’t playing nice because it’s not actually him. But the way we go with the key pieces we ensure it’s the true Cayde-6.

[disciple-of-frost]

10 5 fandoms - 10 5 characters

Final Fantasy - (Shiva) I'm gonna cheat for this one. Cuz while each entry in the FF series is distinct there are constants throughout each game, summons being my favorite and Shiva topping that list in every game.

Kingdom Hearts - (Xion) I grew up with KH. It was literally the first video game I ever played and beat, and I saved my own money to buy myself every console each new game came out on. While 358/2 Days wasn't my favorite in the series Xion had a chokehold on my adolescent, emo brain. Her existential crisis with her identity and purpose in life really struck a chord with me and I cried so hard when she, Axel and Roxas reunited in KH3.

Sailor Moon - (Hotaru Tomoe) While it is no secret Sailor Mercury is a big inspiration for how I characterize Ishita, my favorite is actually Sailor Saturn. I was/still am interested in astrology and a combination of Capricorn's ruling planet being Saturn, Hotaru being a character with a tragic backstory, dark aesthetic and abilities, and Sailor Moon being my first anime I ever watched cemented Hotaru as bing my favorite.

Destiny - (Savathûn) This one was really difficult, because the female cast of Destiny is so good and I don't think there is a character I don't like (except Immaru but he's actually a jackass) and Ikora, Elsie and Eris are my favorite guardians, but... Savathûn....Savathûn is something else. She's a big monsterous moth, corpse, thing and she is terrible. Like she can join Yotsuyu and Fordola in the "We support women's wrongs" camp.

Dragon Age - (Solas) I'll admit it. I was a Solasmancer. I got into Dragon Age while I was going through my Tom Hiddleston/Loki infatuation so trickster God falling for a mortal and questing his world domination plans got to me.

Tagged by: @heart-of-corundum Thank you dear! This was fun! 🩵

Tagging: @lilbittymonster, @hikari-ni-naritai, @elizabethrobertajones, @shavri-ffxiv, @hythlodaeus-mynewoldfriend and anyone else who would like. You can be as detailed as you want, or not detailed at all. Totally up to you I just wanted to talk about my favs. 😊

[synnthamonsugar]

Spoilers for Lightfall CE Lorebook (Elsie's) (Doesn't spoil Lightfall)

OUGH THE ELSIE AND TOKKI AND ELSIE AND POUKA INTERACTIONS IM OBSESSED WITH ELSIE ALWAYS HAVING A LITTLE FRIEND AROUND. MORE OF THIS PLEASE (eats up the human-familiar/companion dynamics two-handed)

The brief Nightmare-Eriana & Eris interaction killed me. Seemed to be one of Elsie's bad timelines (I think? I would like to hear opinions on it), tho given she could get through to Eris I'm not sure she was, or was very far, lost to Darkness. Knowing how nightmares operate the idea that Eris is or could be carrying a germ of an idea that she betrayed her friends by turning to the hive to save herself SLAYS me and casts Eris' reaction to Mara taking a piece of Oryx's power for herself in a new light.

Speaking of Mara. Mara commanding Taken (but being on Elsie's side?) at some point. Easy to chalk this up to Dark Future timeline weirdness but given we know (from the WQ CE) that Mara made off with some aspect of Oryx . . . guys I think this isn't something specific to this timeline. I think this is just how Mara is (or a skill she can develop).

OH. ERAMIS TOUCHING ELSIE'S CHEEK.

Ikora killing Elsie in one timeline UGH OUGH HOUGH AOUGHHH (weeping throwing up etc.)

There being room on the ship for Ana......I die.....................

[thefirstknife]

As someone who's been talking about Drifter being bi/pan for years, I feel obligated to add all the Drifter lore here because it's fascinating and really funny to boot. It's all listed in this link which is to my post from a year ago (and like 5 months before Bungie made the wallpapers), but here it is again.

Drifter obviously likes women because he had an obvious crush on Orin, as well as tried flirting with Efrideet, and very clearly likes Eris. So that's a done deal.

But he has so many instances of also flirting with men. Love this one where he never specifies gender:

And you know me. I like to keep some folk close—real close. I feel somebody's hand on my throat, I figure they're about to kill me or kiss me.

Personally, I like to keep my options open.

This one is truly something else (I'll keep my HC that this is about Shin):

"Had a face like the end-times and eyes like manna in the desert. One look at him, and I knew I wasn't gonna be saved." —The Drifter

Then his flirting with Zavala?? From Arrivals:

Drifter: Got a visitor...again. Hey, Cue Ball, got some time to kill? Zavala: I was passing by. Drifter: Not checking in on anyone? Zavala: No. Drifter: Someone special? Zavala: Send me your report. Today.

And then in Witch Queen Collector's Edition:

Hey Ikora,

Did you sign off on this? Zavala ordered a search of my ship to get samples of my plants? "There are known similarities between your vessel's infestation and the growths aboard the derelict Glykon Volatus." Tell the big guy that if he wants to get at my garden, he'd better start pounding some Primevals.

Transmat firing,

D

This innuendo is like... I am genuinely surprised that this got past the ratings, if I'm being honest with you. LMAO.

And it's already been mentioned in the tags, but for full explanation, yes, Drifter has very obviously been hooking up with Rahool for access to the Cryptarchy archives. Like, it's straight up in the text. In Ada's lore book when she's requesting access to the archives, Rahool refuses to which Ada tells him that obviously letting people access the archives isn't a problem because he's letting Drifter do so:

Ada scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, I've seen that Drifter perusing this data on a weekly basis for his own amusement."

"That's not— there's no way—" Rahool stammered and blushed. "I assure you, no such breach has occurred."

Stammering and blushing? That's insane. Like, if you saw this in a fanfic, you'd know immediately what it means. Ada has seen Rahool sneaking around and visiting Drifter (she's literally next door to them). Also fits with his obvious thing for Awoken (Orin, Zavala, Rahool).

Since then, there's also been lore of Rahool filing complaints against Drifter in which he refers to him as "Mr. D" (I'm in tears) and this honestly feels like Rahool is mad he got caught by Ada so he's trying to save face, rather than anything else.

But yeah, these little details have been all over the place ever since Drifter was introduced. I didn't even think it was a question whether he's bi/pan and pretty much used these lore tidbits to "claim" him for years. Seeing it confirmed with the flag was really nice, but ultimately not surprising. I'm glad they're being consistent!

Also super glad they're being consistent with Ana. The girlfriend mentioned last season is Camrin Dumuzi, who Ana has been with for years. They're also technically the first LGBT+ kiss, but since it happened in a comic, it doesn't have the same weight as Saint and Osiris. Still:

They're adorable. This also happened when they weren't allowed to put these things into the game, despite wanting to. Who knows if we may have gotten stuff like this in the game sooner if not for the execs blocking it.

Also, they've been so consistent with Ana that's we're told she also had a girlfriend in the Golden Age.

She throws her arms around you, and you taste the sodium laurate in her shampoo and the long-chain fatty acids in the rosehip oil that lingers from her girlfriend's kiss, and it is all so good.

This woman's lesbianism transcends death.

Destiny, despite all it’s drawbacks, had the funniest rep drops in that wallpaper post. This bug alien space terrorist is a lesbian, this time paradox cyborg is gay, Elric of Melnibone girl version is bisexual, unmatched.

To their credit: Saint-14 and Eramis being gay and Mara being bi are things that are very openly established (largely in optional off-screen unlockable stories, or web serials, which I have Some Feelings about, but they've gotten a liiiittle better about making these things more front-facing). Ana had a little bit of dialogue about her girlfriend last season, apparently!

Drifter Pansexual Moment, as far as I know, literally started and ended with that pride month wallpaper of him holding his gay little cocktail. I think it's the funniest thing in the world.

[night-dark-woods]

I have been Agonizing over the quote “Hold me like water/ or Christ, hold me like a knife” because it fits Eris so perfectly in regards with her relationships with both Ikora and Mara respectively that I have been wailing into the abyss about it

This can also be said regarding the same quote with Petra/Mara because AAA

YEAH YEAH YEAH that line ALWAYS makes me think of eris. like. im sure you are thinking of the same lorebook sections i am but im pasting them here regardless bc they are just so good but. letters ofc:

Undelivered, damp.

Both crowns have been sundered, and Sky save me but I am unmoored. I have been a blade crying for a hand to wield me for so long, but what is a blade with nothing solid to cut? You will gentle me. You will tell me I can rest. You will try to pull me to the libraries. I cannot. I cannot. I cannot.

& then i think this forsaken lore tab:

This will be my last letter for a long while. The Queen needs me more than the City does. And I need her. When she looks at me, she does not see an invalid, or a madwoman, or a burden.

She sees a Hunter.

She has pointed me at the true enemy, and with her help, I will see my quarry caught.

is fun to compare to this arrivals one:

I ache from the hike. Ikora says I am full of hairline fractures and deep muscle trauma. I never noticed until other pains had healed. The illusions of recovery: one pain obscures another.

There is danger in this traffic with the Pyramid. Kuang Xuan's logs make that plain. But I must continue. I MUST continue. What worth have I ever been, except that I know the enemy?

(More worth, Mara would remind me. I am more than my uses.)

bc clearly sometime in that gap they've had a conversation abt it!!! possibly on their little recon trip where mara DIES and eris has to fetch her back from the ascendant realm, & eris gets gravely injured and mara bandages her thigh homoerotically. which i wonder if thats also when mara told eris her Secret. because eris knows. eris knows mara was the first and she is the ONLY one alive/in this universe who does.

see UNBORN:

The enemy suggests that our rebirth was an evil mistake. How Gnostic—they were a cult (a fleet? a school? a horde?) who believed that the source of all suffering was not in our poor choices but an error of the world's Creator. A false, deluded god. Mara would laugh, or weep.

(lost is not canon to me mara would not fucking tell the guardian that. idr if she tells the YW all of it but i rmb it coming up as part of the "mara is solely responsible for all of uldren's crimes" part of that season.)

god. eris/ikora & eris/mara both drive me nuts. i need to finish my eris/ikora lyricstuck i was working on. im a little over halfway done i think???

ALSO. re: petra, so i never played d1 (started from scratch playing thru it right before TFS though and will be finishing it!) and so while ive read the grimoire cards there's a lot of mission dialogue & item descriptions ive missed, and my friend jackie was sending me some that are eris comforting/bolstering petra post TTK which i think is SO good. thats so fun. two very different knives of the queen & also glad petra had a single person in her corner at least since the paladins were trying to have her assassinated lmfao.

[destiny2paladin]

This Season is a Lie

We are not being haunted by those who have gone before us, we are not haunted by the dead. At least, not the spirits of the dead. Those who are haunted this season? They’re haunted by themselves. I will explain.

First, Crow, haunted by Uldren. It’s not Uldren at all. It is the voice of the darkness trying to influence the Crow by speaking through the one voice that will get under his skin. Crow isn’t afraid of Uldren. He is ashamed of Uldren and the legacy that hangs over him as a result. Uldren's voice and words causes Crow to unleash a Golden Gun on Uldren, and all Crow wants is to get RID of Uldren. Crow isn't afraid. Not in the slightest. But he is ashamed. Ashamed of his past and ashamed that because he remembers, he might become Uldren again. His shame haunts him, not his fear. And his shame manifests with the voice and face that he is ashamed of.

Zavala, Vanguard Commander. Haunted not by fear, but by Grief. Loss and letting it weigh on him. Safiyah would never shame Zavala, cut at him, wound him in the way the Nightmare did. But Zavala believed the Nightmare, because he loved her. He loved her so dearly he was ready to give up his own immortality and agelessness in order to atone for not protecting his son. Zavala's grief consumed him from within. It ate him away. And the Nighmares chose Safi because Zavala would never be able to ignore her words. They would cut deeper than any knife a hunter could ever wield, and unless we helped him, Zavala would crumble under the weight of his own regrets.

Caiatl. Empress of the Cabal. Daughter of Calus. She didn't fear the Dominus as we did. She admired him, was mentored by him. No. Caiatl was angry at herself. Angry for failing Torobatl, her home. Angry at Calus, for escaping and causing so many problems. Angry at herself for not seeing through the betrayal of her own trusted advisor, which led to the fall of her home. And who would tell Caiatl that she was pathetic, a failure, a weakling? The one who taught her. Her mentor and idol, Dominus Ghaul, the Ghost Primus. Caiatl's anger at herself began consuming her and making her reckless much like the shame of Uldren's past consumed Crow and Zavala's grief consumed him. There is not fear. There is the voices of those who can get so far beneath our skin they swim in our marrow.

Further proof of this idea, that the Darkness haunts us with the most painful voice and not with our fear, is in the Lore Tab of Tresspasser. Ikora ventures onto the Leviathan and is confronted by a ghost of Cayde. He taunts Ikora with malicious intent, which given the voice logs he left, he would never do. Saint knows Osiris will be there as his nightmare on the Leviathan, shaming him, scorning him for failing to save him. "Why didn't you come for me, Saint? Why did you fail me?" Osiris would not say these things. A voice meaning to cause pain would. Misraaks, Kell of Light, hears the voices of those of his kin he has slain. He hears those who shame him for his violence. Calus himself fears not Caiatl herself, but being forgotten, overshadowed. It is why he makes such grand shows of himself. And for us, the Young Wolf? We face down nothing. We cannot regret our choices, because we have yet to do something wrong. We have slain gods. Saved the universe. Pushed back unstoppable forces. We rose from rust and death into a being that creates fear in those who serve the dark. We have no regrets, because we do not know failure, at least not in the way Crow, Zavala, and Caiatl do.

This season is not about being haunted by spirits. It is about being haunted by ourselves, wearing a mask and speaking a voice that causes the worst pain possible. And Eris? She knows this. It is why she knows how to fight the Nightmares. Because she has suffered under their weight for nigh on two years. Two long, cold years on Luna's surface.

And she has bought us time to strike back.

[thefirstknife]

Hey, would you happen to have lore receipts for Drifter being bi? Just curious, it’s been a while since I read trough his lore :) I would also add Petra to the list of gays as well, while not confirmed, she’s heavily implied to be in love with Mara.

Oh yeah, Petra! 100% wlw and heavily implied to be in love with Mara. Awoken just be like that.

On to Drifter, yes! He is my blorbo and he is the best.

First, we know he likes women because he very obviously had (still has?) a thing for Orin. He also tried flirting with Lady Efrideet (disastrous result). And he very obviously likes Eris. To what extent, we can't tell, but he enjoys her company and has explicitly said that he likes how "freakyx she is. He also most recently dedicated time to make her a nice meal in seasonal armour (Eidolon Pursuant set).

The other hints are in how he talks about certain things in general. For example:

And you know me. I like to keep some folk close—real close. I feel somebody's hand on my throat, I figure they're about to kill me or kiss me.

Personally, I like to keep my options open.

It doesn't specify gender!

Also this:

"Had a face like the end-times and eyes like manna in the desert. One look at him, and I knew I wasn't gonna be saved."

Who is this man whose eyes he's complimenting? (probably Shin)

More directly though, he's very openly flirting with men for no reason and out of nowhere, as well as using as much innuendo as possible while he talks.

His first target? Zavala. These lines from Arrivals for example. He's so direct when asking if Zavala came to see him because he's special. Like, hello? Also this absolutely bonkers innuendo about Zavala he sent to Ikora (from Witch Queen CE book):

Hey Ikora,

Did you sign off on this? Zavala ordered a search of my ship to get samples of my plants? "There are known similarities between your vessel's infestation and the growths aboard the derelict Glykon Volatus." Tell the big guy that if he wants to get at my garden, he'd better start pounding some Primevals.

Transmat firing,

D

I think that's as far as they could've gone with that one without crossing the ratings line.

And my fave for last. So, there's a lore book about Ada-1 making the loom for transmog and at one point she visits Rahool for help. And he explains that it will take a long time to search for things she needs so she asks if she can search herself. And then:

Rahool shook his head. "Access to the classified archives is limited to sanctioned Guardians, Tower support staff, or the Vanguard themselves. You are none of those things."

Ada scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, I've seen that Drifter perusing this data on a weekly basis for his own amusement."

"That's not— there's no way—" Rahool stammered and blushed. "I assure you, no such breach has occurred."

I'm sorry, but nobody will ever convince me that this isn't confirmation that Rahool and Drifter are hooking up and Rahool is giving him access to the Cryptarchy archives.

The way this is written is beyond funny. First, Ada practically lives next to Drifter and she says she's SEEN him using the archives. So she has personally seen something going on between Drifter and Rahool. On a weekly basis.

And then also Rahool "stammering and blushing." That's fanfic level acknowledgement. Why would he stammer and blush if he didn't allow it? Wouldn't he be angry about it and ask that Ada tell him all she knows right away so that he can report Drifter? Nope. He's stammering and blushing. Case closed.

In conclusion, Drifter likes dangerous women who can snap him in half and Awoken men. I don't blame him.

Additionally, something I like very much, a certain bounty you can take for Gambit:

The text changes depending on your character's gender. This is the text for the female Guardian, but if you're on a male Guardian, he'll say it the other way around with king/queen.

Drifter says trans rights!