#chalco yong

[awokennerd]

Everyone, I am deceased. Chalco Yong disturbs Ikora's mediation in lore during this solstice and Ikora gives in to Chalco's distraction. And then they get dumplings together. My headcannon Chalco x Ikora is still strong. Chalco uses void light which is fun because I've always imagined she's an arcstrider first and foremost, but stealthy void hunter is her second go to, just for her hidden work. Gosh, I'm so unwell. I didn't expect to be eating so good. Bungie give me more of this! Please give Chalco a character model too! Now I'm picturing this whole scene and Ikora and Chalco leaving Ikora's hidden office to get dumplings while holding hands. I need to draw more Chalco fan art.

[sunshinehunter]

I'm all up in my Ikora+Cayde friendship feelings tonight like fuck

thinking about how Ikora probably took the deaths of the 2-3 Hunter Vanguards she was Vanguard for as badly as she did Cayde

bc all of them she was equally unprepared to deal with

Ikora and Zavala gladly making friends with Kauko after Osiris’ banishment and Saint’s self imposed exile to find him, and Kauko I always write as a Reasonable sort of Hunter. Doesn't have any weird baggage. Runs a tight ship and is agreeable to hang around with. Aparajita Dared him personally and they see this as the best they could hope for of the Hunters passing the torch

and then Kauko goes out on a routine mission just to stretch his legs after decades of dedicated service

and he doesn't come home

and he doesn't come home

and the Legion or the Hidden never find his Ghost

Andal takes up the Dare after that and Ikora and Zavala try their best to ignore that there's a man they don't know in their friend's seat

they didn't know Aparajita as closely as Kauko because she didn't stay Vanguard long after Osiris was banished. They found her Ghost in the mountains

but eventually Ikora and Zavala warm up to Andal as much as Xander does (Xander likes Andal. Ex Pilgrim Guard fireteam lead, they get along well). He's not as tight cut as Kauko was, has more smiles and easy manners. Brings his friends around more. But Ikora always has this distance with Andal.

Its been so long since she lost a close friend. And then Andal showed up one day at work like nothing had happened. Like the militia didn't hold a vigil for Kauko. Like the Hunters don't come by his empty desk and leave card, trinkets, or bullets in mementos. And Andal has them all placed to the side in their own place of honor but decidedly out of the way. And that annoys Ikora but it annoys her more she's so annoyed with it. Of course Andal needs his part of the table to be cleared of trinkets and mementos. Kauko did the same thing with Aparajita. But Ikora didn't know Aparajita like she knew Kauko.

she's friendly with Andal and his silly band of friends he brings around but she's not friends with Andal. Andal probably recognizes that and doesn't pry. He knows Warlocks get all up in their feelings, especially ones like Ikora. Best to just let them work it out on their own

and then he goes out and is killed by Taniks and suddenly he's gone and Ikora is staring at another empty Hunter Vanguard chair. And she realizes she never knew Andal. She held him at arms length and a member of her Fireteam is gone and she never knew him. Regret that she 'hated' Andal for not being Kauko, that he just so casually replaced her friend, is a hell of a thing. She should have been more pragmatic. She should have tried to get to know him better. She should have-

She just should have

then Cayde shows up with Andal's Ghost and his cape and makes a stupid joke when he sits in Andal's old seat. And shit when did it become Andal's seat and not Kauko's?

and Ikora will not make the same mistake twice

But Cayde isn't like the Vanguards they've had. He's irreverent, sarcastic, cracks jokes, and is absolute dog shit at the job. He covers up the last part pretty good until he can actually figure out how to do the job. Not like there's a manual for the Hunter Vanguard. They don't exactly train their replacements. So Ikora gives him the benefit of the doubt. And he's also not like Andal because he doesn't remove Andal's mementos, not all of them. He wears one and its impossible not to be reminded. Sometimes he lets a card or trinket linger at his station. Cayde likes to banter and he's always playing with something, for the first decade its usually memento for Andal left by a Hunter for their fallen Vanguard.

Ikora doesn't know how to be friends with someone like this. But she sure tries. She doesn't know how well she succeeds. She worries Cayde doesn't think well of her. She's so serious all the time. But he teases her the same as he teases Zavala and its clear Cayde likes him. Even if the 'three baldies stuck in one room together' jokes get old after the first one. In Ikora's mind she's the best friend she can be the Cayde. She's closer to him than she was with Andal, maybe even closer than she was with Kauko.

She actually learns how to banter. Cayde might be the funny one of the Vanguard but Ikora isn't immune to the smug feeling of satisfaction when she has a quick comeback and the Guardian they're talking with breaks and bursts out laughing at what she said, and not Cayde. Even Chalco mentions how good Cayde’s friendship looks on Ikora and Ikora values Chalco’s opinion on things almost more than any other. Especially coming from another Hunter.

and then Cayde wants to check out the Prison of Elders. And Ikora won't do it again. She can't lose another friend. She refuses to lose another Hunter Vanguard. It isn't hard to convince Cayde he should take the Young Wolf. Hell, he thinks it was his idea at the end!

then the Young Wolf brings her back his body and his Ghost

and the Hunter Vanguard is vacant for a long, long time

[synnthamonsugar]

💖🧡💛Happy Pride! 💚💙💜

Wanted to make a fun tribute to the queer girls of Destiny, and thought now would be a good time. As someone who's sapphic and outside norms of romance & gender in some ways, the range of queer women's representation in this game, and the sorts of relationships that exist between women has brought me joy and is something I always want more of. This is my way of contributing and I hope it brings you joy too. :)

[lizzieraindrops]

like oh my god. yes ikora is extremely aromantic. yes chalco is the love of her soul. yes it's entirely platonic and all-consuming. yes she's also demi for eris. yes it's incredibly lesbian/sapphic. yes that's equally important. yes this does incorporate them into the greater reef polycule. what's not clicking

[viiridiangreen]

Seth really saw the idiot children calling Ikora "uSeLeSs" bc she doesn't give them bounties and decided to end their whole entire careers forever 😹

"IKO-006 ranks in the upper fraction of the 99th percentile of assessed Warlocks on most available metrics of precision, restraint, and raw power. She is, in simplistic terms, a fifth sigma Guardian: 1 in 3.5 million. Given that millions of Guardians have been activated over the centuries since the Collapse, and assuming that performance of Guardians on these metrics is normally distributed, we would expect about ten Guardians of similar power to have existed. Probability favors IKO-006's existence but also her rarity: she is neither an average Guardian nor evidence for some special intervention by the Traveler. Complaints that her talents are overblown or inflated in order to reinforce her authority, or that she benefits from the special favor of a higher power, are sorely mistaken and ignorant of basic statistics. (These complaints come from the same people who ask why we haven't reconquered the whole solar system with our vast strength, forgetting how many Guardians are either in abeyance after exhaustion, still working on mastering their first subclass, or already committed to the protection of populations and resources here on Earth.)"

[awokennerd]

One time I mentioned to my bf that Eris is a hunter and he was like, no, she's a warlock. And so I had to explain to him that no, she is very much a hunter lol.

I like picturing hunters and titans who are very much researchers (Eris and Chalco being hunters but doing their own research and experiments and my titan, Cynthia, is an exo scientist who the fireteam questions whenever she is taking apart an exo frame in her apartment). It's not just warlocks who obsess and do experiments lol.

The fact Eris was a Hunter when she still had her Light still baffles me, sometimes. She's the most warlock-coded character there is, more so than some actual Warlocks. The whole "obsession" thing, being referred to as a witch, the slightly unethical experiments, the general mysticism...

Then I imagine Eris as a stereotypical hunter, smashing into ceilings, accidentally stabbing herself with her own knives, getting her cloak caught in things...it's pretty funny

[awokennerd]

Ikora and Chalco holding hands, going to catch up eating dumplings (and copious amounts of tea) after everything that happened during the Final Shape (see this lore entry)! My contribution to Ikora week 2024! It's been fun making sapphic fanart of them. I need more gay fanart of them in the world!

[synnthamonsugar]

Chalco: 14 and 25

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Green color scheme. Dragon theming. Brocade accents. Gold jewelry. Long hair in a braid / braids. Leans toward trousers and vests.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Just some Hidden guy (gendered "guy": the first lore piece I read didn't have pronouns and I assumed she was a man)

Now: A close confidant of, and non-romantic-more-than-friend to Ikora; fearless Hidden agent willing to lead teams where others have not survived; hive expert in her own right.

[lizzieraindrops]

Written for IkoraWeek2024, Friday: Favorite Ship, which in my case is the inimitable Eris/Ikora&Chalco polycule with romantic Eris/Ikora and queerplatonic Ikora&Chalco.

Ikora is still hard at work after the defeat of the Witness. Ophiuchus gets his Guardian to agree to take a break, but it will take the best efforts of the two people closest to her to make it actually happen.

Seal the gates Before what's out is in Or offer a treaty A chance for reprieve // And now we're suddenly Fate's latest casualties —Vallis Alps, “Reprieve”

Ikora stared at the endless reports on her datapads. Her eyes moved, but the words they read did not translate to meaning, no matter how many times she retraced them. Why couldn't she regain her focus? Waves of frustration crested and crashed within her but brought no resolution. Even taking a few minutes' meditation to center herself only steadied her. It did not impel her forward through the avalanche of paperwork that trailed after the Witness' demise—much in the same fashion as its many-faced foggy head once had. The tedious aftermath was as banally omnipresent and mundane a drudgery as its evil. It was hard to imagine the distant day when they had sorted through a universe's worth of the ramifications.

Ophiuchus suddenly compiled before her.His outline was blurred. She scrubbed at her eyes, then squinted at his glimmering wine-red shell.

"Take a break." His tone was quiet, but brooked no argument.

She rolled her eyes. The oft-repeated words of their ritual were already on her tongue. "I'll never get through all of this if I don't—"

"You need a break. I'm serious this time."

They stared at each other. This was a departure from tradition. So instead of continuing her usual excuses, she asked: "Why now?"

Her Ghost hovered before her, rising and falling uncertainly in this new territory.

"We won," he said softly. "There's time now."

Ikora went so still in body and mind that Void light pooled within her as if she had called it forth.

She dismissed the gathering Light with a clarifying shake of her head. "There is still much to be done."

"There always will be. But are you going to remain calcified into the same person you have been, or are you going to adapt to the new world?"

Ikora looked her Ghost in his single blue eye, really looked at him with a rare intensity of regard.

"The work we do—I do—is still necessary. It will be for a long time."

The petals of Ophiuchus' shell spun, rotating the front hemisphere 180° clockwise and the back half 180° counter in perfect synchrony. "Yes," he said. "Nonetheless."

He stared her down in a long, adamantine silence.

At length, Ikora sighed. A few years of painfully cautious words between them had done little to heal the silence of decades. This was, in a way, the root of their cleaving. Ophiuchus had never approved of some of the necessary sacrifices she had made. Some of those sacrifices had required her to forgo the aid that was a Ghost's calling to provide, if she was to become what was needed. If she was to give herself utterly to the cause. If she was to do the most good of which she was capable in a dying world.

His quiet dissent was his right—and how could Ikora blame him, when she had shed her skin so many times that she was no longer the same Lightbearer he had raised? But neither had he remained the same Ghost.

What did that make them, now, the day after the end of the world, other than two not-quite-strangers who knew every painful detail of each other's lives?

She didn't want to fight with him anymore. Not again.

"Perhaps you do have a point," she admitted with chalk bitter on her tongue. "After I finish this round of reviews, then."

Grudging acceptance emanated faintly from her Ghost through their bond, intangible yet apparently unbreakable. "Two hours?"

Ikora nodded once. In a flicker of Light, he disappeared once more into the back of her mind.

With the awareness of an impending deadline, Ikora sped through a number of Guardian reports regarding the successful raid on the Witness' fortress. She had passed well beyond amazement at the sheer improbability of the topic in the past week. She had just begun skimming individual reports on its final, true defeat when the faintest breeze shifted one of the floor-length curtains that muffled sound in her personal library.

Heavy green drapes silently disgorged Chalco Yong. The grass-green of her armor blended into them, but burnished copper accents shone in warm complement.

"Brought you a snack." Paper crinkled into the silence as Chalco set a little brown bag at Ikora's elbow. It smelled sweet, sugary. Ikora looked at the clock. It had been exactly two hours and forty-five minutes.

Ikora sat up very straight to stretch the muscles that paralleled her spine, then turned to Chalco with a yawn.

"Hey," Chalco said in a quiet voice. The hardwood desk creaked as she leaned her hip against it. One hand splayed over wood and paper. She smiled subtly at Ikora with her eyes.

"Hey, friend," Ikora said warmly. Chalco's familiar face lit up.

"Did I catch you at a good time?"

"As good a time as there ever is." Ikora sniffed at the aroma of pastries that was taking over her desk. "Definitely, if that's what I think it is."

With another crackle of paper, Ikora unrolled the bag's neatly folded top. Half a dozen flat, round cookies were stacked on the bottom. They were a soft, rich violet color. Ikora smiled and pulled one out with care. She took a delicate bite off one side and closed her eyes, savoring the way it crumbled like powder and melted on her tongue.

"Good?"

"It's perfect. Thank you, Chalco." Ikora dusted crumbs off her fingertips into the wastebasket below her desk. Then she lifted both eyes and one hand to Chalco, who clasped her hand with ease and held her gaze with dark eyes, unafraid of the intensity of her regard. "What brings you here?"

Chalco quirked an eyebrow at her. She looked at the bag, then back at Ikora. "Trials. Obviously."

Ikora rolled her eyes. She pulled on Chalco's hand to help herself to standing, only to be tugged into a casual sideways hug with Chalco's arm looped about her waist.

"Just wanted to see you." Chalco picked a piece of dust or lint off Ikora's robe. "See if I could coax you out of your cave for a minute."

"It's not a cave. It's my library."

"Yeah, and that's not your dragon hoard of books either. You definitely don't curl up on piles of them with a smug grin when no one's here."

"I don't."

"Maybe not physically."

Ikora rolled her eyes again. "Was there somewhere else you wanted to be?"

"Maybe. We can't leave quite yet, though."

"Why's that?"

Another presence rippled through the room. Ikora's head whipped toward the source of the disturbance that unwove the continuity of the empty air, but it was just Eris arriving in her usual dramatic fashion. Ikora relaxed back into Chalco's embrace with only mild embarrassment.

"Hey Eris." Chalco flung a hand up in casual greeting. Eris nodded acknowledgement as she emerged from her Hive portal. Behind her, the seething lime-rimmed black disk contracted back into an aperture the size of the medallion hanging from Ikora's neck, then nothing.

"It's good to see you, Eris," Ikora said, deliberately ignoring the gray dust she tracked on the carpet. "Although I do wish you wouldn't gate directly in here. I don't want to risk Hive piling into my personal library from the Ascendant Plane following any traces you might leave behind."

"Yeah, Eris, you know she keeps her first editions in here," Chalco said cheerfully. Ikora squeezed her shoulders in exasperation.

"My apologies, Ikora. I did not have enough time to fly in from Luna while you were available. Although as I have told you before, this particular type of portal does not actually transit through the Ascendant Plane, but rather bypasses—"

"—but it uses the same basic spell elements as the ones that do, and I'm not convinced that one could not reverse-engineer it—"

"—Okay, okay, enough, enough," Chalco interjected.

"And what do you mean, 'while I was available?' How did both of you show up just as I...ah," she trailed off. Ophiuchus. making good on his unspoken threat. Her suspicions were confirmed by Chalco's grin and Eris' small smile, both equally wry but the former with greater pretense of innocence than the latter.

"We are escorting you home," Eris announced.

"What? I'm only taking a break, I'm not—”

"We're here to make sure you actually do," Chalco said. "Come on. We'll walk you there."

"I can't." Ikora hadn't intended to say the words. But so many similar reiterations over the centuries had carved the habit as deep into her as a river its bed. The flicker of disappointment that surfaced within her was submerged again so quickly that she scarcely felt it.

"Why not? Wasn't that your plan, anyhow?"

Ikora disentangled herself from Chalco. She expected the disappointment and hurt on Chalco's face; but she was so unprepared for the bitter lack of surprise that accompanied them that the same old true excuses slipped past her lips before she could think to stop them.

"I don't have that long. We're in uncharted territory now. We don't understand what's caused the Traveler to emit this aurora, nor what pressures the Witness' sudden absence will exert on the universe. What other threats might either have spawned? We're still so vulnerable after all our losses. We can't afford to be complacent after a single victory."

"See, you're doing the talking in circles thing again," Chalco said. Her voice, only moments ago full of joy and lightness, had sagged with sorrow like a kite with the wind withdrawn from its sail. The sound of it lodged between Ikora's ribs like a needle of Strand. "All of those things are true. But none of them are actually reasons why you can't step away for a little while."

"It is my responsibility!"

"That doesn't mean you have to do everything alone."

"But if I do not—"

"Ikora, is that what you actually want?" Ikora flinched from the words despite their even tone.

"Stop." Eris' voice was quiet, but its power stilled them both. She laid a hand on Chalco's shoulder. Chalco shrugged her off without malice, but paced to the far side of the room away from them both.

Eris crossed her arms and faced Ikora, as implacable as a stone in a stream. "If you truly must remain at your toils, then we shall leave you to them. But if not..." Eris hesitated, then spoke even more softly. "I never thought I would be the one to say such things. But can you not afford yourself a moment's grace from the fight, even now?"

The word grace immobilized Ikora's mind, stunned at this echo of her own secret philosophies from the unsuspecting lips of her longtime ally and inevitable lover.

"Is it always going to be like this?" Chalco whispered from across the room.

Gone rigid as Ikora already had, the hopelessness in Chalco's voice shattered her heart like a shockwave. It broke her, the way it pervaded the voice of her oldest friend, the very kin to her mind and soul.

"No," Ikora said—or tried to say, but her voice cracked into merely a soundless exhalation. She swallowed, then tried again. "No, I—I'm sorry. Both—all three of you," she said, conjuring Ophiuchus in her palm. Eris and Chalco stared as he hung there shyly, shell tucked tight into a perfect sphere.

She spoke to Ophiuchus, although his eye was the hardest to meet out of the six in the room.

"I know I haven't done well by any of you. Not for a long time." She met each of their gazes in turn: one, steady and square and glowing blue; two, clear and dark and too knowing; three, blazing green, defiant and tender all at once. "The Guardian's work that unites us has also long consumed me and kept me apart. But...perhaps you are right, that the world has changed. That it could, if we chose to let it. To create it."

Ikora laughed softly at no one but herself. All these years of championing the Traveler and its ever-changing, ever-growing Light, and she herself had failed to change and grow; had failed to allow the possibility of a world beyond the war of eons. Perhaps, paradoxically, she would best embody the philosophy to which she had dedicated her life by loosening her grip upon it like a free-flowing skein of Strand. By remembering her past like Darkness; by making a different choice in the grace of Light.

Ikora reached up to haltingly brush her fingers over the curve of Ophiuchus' shell with a familiarity she hadn't expressed for many decades. She nodded to him like a promise. He merely blinked his digital eye at her and vanished once more, but the bittersweet ache that seeped muted through their bond revealed how deeply he was affected.

She turned to the two women watching her with pride and cautious joy. She stepped toward them.

"I don't know how to find a balance with...any of this," she admitted in an undertone. She stopped a few paces away from Eris and clasped her own hands before her uncertainly.

Chalco silently returned from the fringes of the room and took her hand.

"If you want to try, I will too," she said simply. A tightness narrowed Ikora's throat.

"I will."

Eris took her other hand. "That is all I could ask of you, and all that I do."

Ikora pressed her eyes closed, clutched their hands tightly, and tried to breathe. Emotions moved strangely through her, since the day long ago that she had fed them to a dragon. But still, they moved.

"Come on," Chalco said with a light tug at Ikora's hand. She opened her eyes. "Let's get you out of here for a bit. We don't have to take you home, but let's get somewhere we can see the sky." Eris nodded agreement.

"Alright," Ikora said. Her voice rasped just a little. "I know somewhere. Shall I transmat us?" The others made sounds of assent, and Ikora mentally flicked a wordless intent toward Ophiuchus. With a frisson of surprise, he gathered them all up in the buzz of transmat and deposited them in open evening air.

They landed in a small tiled pavilion at the center of a rooftop garden. They were in the northeastern part of the twilit City; the deepening ink-blue of the sky was still shot through with gold at the horizon. The Wall was quite visible behind the lightly dancing branches of saplings lining the perimeter of the rectangular space. They were close to the Tower, which peeked from behind a tall trellis heavily laden with squash vines. Regularly spaced beds of autumn-blooming flowers and garden vegetables sprawled around the rest of the space and spanned the whole range from well-tended to neglected.

A soft gasp came from Eris. Meanwhile, Chalco spun to scan the skyline, squinting and crouching a little as if that would replicate the view from nine stories instead of twelve. "Wait, isn't this your apartment building?"

"It is."

Eris turned to her with wonder. "Is this your work?"

Ikora shook her head. "Not the majority of it. It's a communal garden. I come here to meditate sometimes, but I haven't been here very often. Just enough for something small."

She led the way from the central pavilion toward the southeast corner of the building facing the City. She took a seat on the bench there that overlooked the shelled cradle of the Botza District from between more of those saplings that would one day form a proper windbreak. They could just see the telltale purple gleam of a Servitor's eye drifting through the reconstructed Eliksni Quarter far below.

Ikora breathed deeply of the gentle evening wind. Her eyes were drawn toward the shining downtown lights. She was still adjusting to the Traveler's absence from its silhouette, but now, paper lanterns floated up through the space it once held. As they had every night for the past week, those tiny golden lights rose and rose as if the new hopes they carried might reach the heights of the eclectic fleet of myriad alien and allied ships that now guarded the skies. Once night fell, the light of the rising full moon would limn a thousand different hulls each in silver.

"Which ones are yours?" Chalco asked, prowling between the nearby garden beds. Eris prodded at an intimidating-looking bushy nightshade with interest.

A modest waterfall of vines with heart-shaped leaves spilled over one side of the nearest bed. Ikora gestured to it. "Sweet potatoes."

"Huh. Why sweet potatoes?"

Ikora shrugged. "They're hardy. Useful. Quite nice simply steamed, if any tubers set. Not that it seems likely." She leaned forward to pluck a dead leaf from one of several of the more wilted-looking vines.

Chalco's Ghost briefly manifested to shine a light on the vines in question in the dimming of evening. "Ikora. They're purple." To her credit, Chalco was trying not to laugh.

"They are," Ikora agreed.

"They're beautiful," Eris said reprovingly.

"They're really not," Ikora said through a smile.

Chalco laughed and clasped Ikora's shoulder for a moment. "Thanks for sharing them."

Ikora looked down into her lap. She didn't know what to say in the face of their sincerity. She supposed she simply had to trust them to understand, to witness this imperfect, unimpressive effort of hers.

"Here. You forgot these." Chalco pressed the paper bag of cookies into Ikora's hands. She opened it once more with a smile and passed it around to share.

"I wish I'd made tea before we left," Ikora said once they all had taken a bite.

"Fear not," Eris said as she came over to take a seat beside her on the bench. She transmatted a large metal flask into her hands and removed the lid. Then, she somehow contrived to immobilize it just above the green flames that always sprang from her Ahamkara bone, so that both hung in midair before her.

Ikora perked up. "What did you bring?"

"Merely water," Eris replied. She pulled a crumpled, unlabeled packet out of her tunic. Shaking some of the utterly unidentifiable contents out into her palm, she tipped it into the flask’s wide mouth as it began to simmer.

"Is that even a plant?" Chalco asked with idle interest.

"It is a calming herbal draught."

"...Did you bring anything with caffeine?" Ikora asked.

"No," Eris said flatly. Chalco snorted.

"Then it's a tisane."

"Hold on, it could be something decaf," Chalco said in an unspeakably reasonable tone.

Scandalized, Ikora refused to look at her. "Eris wouldn't do that to me. Would you?"

"No."

"Thank the Light."

The gleaming of Eris' eyes narrowed in a smile. She leaned in to kiss the sugar from Ikora's lips, then poured a measure of the brew and pressed a small porcelain cup into her hands. It was Ikora's favorite cup. She must have stolen it from her kitchen several days ago, at least. How long had they been planning this just for her?

She caught Eris' eyes, but only a mysterious smile answered her unspoken curiosity. Ikora squinted at the near-black liquid in the cup with suspicion, then shrugged. Her eyes widened as she took a cautious sip. It was far more delicate than it looked, and it formed a pleasant contrast to the cookies' sweetness with a soothing, earthy mushroom-like flavor chased by something like citrus.

They watched the night deepen and brighten across the City while sipping their 'tea' by the green foxfire of Eris' bonelight. Chalco lounged next to Ikora and draped an arm around her shoulders to hold her close. On the other side of the bench, Eris laced their fingers together. Between them, high above the surface of the world and below the sparkling gaze of the clear, breezy sky, Ikora slowly sank into a strange peace that was warmer and more comforting than even the profound stillness of the Void that had so long sustained her.

Somehow, Ikora must have let her guard down enough to nod off into a doze at some point. She distinctly recalled the receding of the fresh air and the dim confusion of being shuffled sleepily into her own unlit apartment by familiar hands.

She surfaced briefly again into consciousness and found herself in the nest of her bed. More golden lanterns floated past the undrawn curtains of her bedroom window, casting slow, diffuse shadows across the wall. Perhaps their shifting lights had wakened her. Although no blanket covered her, some tactile weight still anchored her in place.

The dark ponytail in her face and the arm flung across her neck and chest confirmed that Chalco was half sprawled over her, as was her wont. How those contortions could possibly be comfortable, Ikora never would know. The dim peridot glow in the corner of her eye and the hand draped around her waist located Eris on her other side.

A small, faint blue light flickered to life in the shadows across the room. On her dresser, just above the small velvet cushion that lay on top of it, her Ghost's shuttered eye opened.

Ikora tilted her head slightly to see him better. But that only made Chalco shift in her sleep and kick one leg so far over Ikora's that she brushed Eris' calf. Eris twitched with a hissed breath, then resettled herself against Ikora with a grumble.

Clasping Eris' hand to soothe her, Ikora softly blew Chalco's hair out of her mouth. As gently as she could, she eased the tie out of Chalco's slick hair so that she wouldn't have a headache in the morning. She slipped the elastic band onto her own wrist. Chalco hardly noticed, only nestling her head closer into Ikora's shoulder.

A faint wash of concern or apprehension trickled through her bond with Ophiuchus. She would wonder if something was wrong, but for the same uncertainty being directed toward her.

Oh. He was worried that Ikora had woken with the intent to withdraw from this brief reprieve. He was worried about her, and for once, he was permitting her the awareness of it.

Without moving at all, Ikora reached out toward her Ghost with all the slow comfort and gratitude that currently bathed her entire being. Reassured, he sent her ripples of his own quiet affection. His eye went dim once more.

Ikora watched the lanterns drifting past the window until she slept again, lulled by quiet breaths and the gentle press of limbs. When she woke draped in dawnlight and soft regard, she remembered that the war was over.

_

We must remember the value of unshakable, irrational hope. The choice to act as if we lived in a better world can create a place for that better world to exist. —Eris Morn, Book: Unveiling; “Trust and Hope”

also—the cookies are ube flavored polvoron. they're purple and they're round. they were made for her.

[awokennerd]

Me with Chalco

i love people with favorite characters who barely have any content. i hope you feast well on your three comically tiny bread crumbs tonight

[thefirstknife]

Stuff about Nezarec from the TWID:

 CLASSIFICATION  - Disciple of the Witness   - Dread   - Prime Tormentor   - Resonant   - Unknown origin species   - Other names: (The) Purest Light, Darkest Hour, Whispering Nightmare 

Unknown origin species! Prime Tormentor!

INTEL  - Created from Rhulk’s blueprint, Nezarec was the first Tormentor from which all others owe their lineage. Nezarec relishes in sowing fear and pain, feeding off the terror of sentient beings. He can induce nightmares across entire worlds.  - Nezarec—in possession of the Veil—lead the Black Fleet as it assaulted Earth during the Collapse but was betrayed and killed by Savathûn. She separated, cursed, and entombed his Lunar Pyramid within the Moon and stole away the Veil. Guardians uncovered the Lunar Pyramid when the Vanguard mobilized to assault the Scarlet Keep, and they uncovered the Veil when they made contact with Neomuna on Neptune.  - For centuries, Nezarec remained buried. Then his disembodied head, held aboard the Witness’s Pyramid, was struck by a terraforming beam fired by the Traveler. It revitalized him as it reshaped the Pyramid, where an undaunted fireteam cut him down once more.  - Much that is known about Nezarec is derived from anecdotal experiences, engaged fireteam raids, and a tome recovered from the Golden Age that was entitled "Of Hated Nezarec.” 

Really interesting implications in the first paragraph. Created from "Rhulk's blueprint." What does it mean Bungie. Is he a result of Rhulk's experimentations? Or is this in the sense of the Witness using Rhulk's base biology to create something new? Or to corrupt some "unknown species"? What does it all mean.

OF NOTE   - An old Psion Exotic relic known colloquially as “Nezarec’s Sin” has long found its home among Warlock operatives. The helmet has known many owners throughout the years, all of whom have perished under mysterious circumstances, been rendered comatose, or have since relinquished their possession of the helm to another owner. This helm is currently believed to be in possession of the Guardian, [NAME REDACTED], a hero of few words.   - Mithrax, Kell of House Light, is currently afflicted with Nezarec’s curse despite Nezarec being destroyed. This occurred when the Kell led an effort to recover Nezarec’s scattered remains. He wants to distill Nezarec's essence into a mentally revivifying elixir while siphoning the corruptive elements into himself. Attempts to dispel or cure this curse are ongoing. CHA-319 was assigned to monitor it and report back any changes.   - Legends from the Dark Age speak of Lightbearers and non-bearers alike suffering night terrors when the Moon is at perigee. The legends detail rituals with the nearly extinct Earth-plant lavender, long thought to hold protective, calming, and cleansing properties. Furthermore, there are later legends detailing victims of these night terrors smelling lavender after waking, as if the nightmare mocked their attempts at protection. This led to a subsequent switch to a myriad of other panaceas. 

PSION MENTION!!!!!!! Nezarec's Sin is a Psion relic! Super cool information about it. Basically confirms that there's only one in existence and the YW has it.

Mithrax????????? Man. I was hoping that plot point turned not as terrifying as it originally sounded but nope. Apparently this is an active investigation into his wellbeing. Please. Don't do this. CHA-319 is Chalco Yong!

Love the silliness with lavender though. Incredible.

[silence-of-autumn42]

Question for my fellow Destiny 2 gays - is Ikora Rey butch? While she doesn't present particularly masculine by our standards, gendered presentation among Guardians seems pretty minimal, but I feel like she has the right authoritative, takes no shit, "I'm always in charge" personality to be considered butch. And I also like the idea of her having Chalco as her hyper-femme knife obsessed hunter girlfriend.

[awokennerd]

Spoilers for Act I of Heresy below!

When we went to Eris’ apartment and she made final messages for everyone and Ikora Rey was first, I cried. Like, I really do feel bad for drifter, because he and Eris had their relationship forming and it was good, but Ikora and Eris go back centuries and just omg, I feel so sorry for Ikora losing someone so important to her. And I’m sure Ikora didn’t think Eris and Eriana were going to come back from Luna. Gosh, it just hit in the feels so much. I think the people Ikora would be most fucked up by dying are Eris, Chaco, and Osiris. And bungie did it and killed Eris freaking Morn.

I went in seeing the spoiler Eris has a throne world, which checks out entirely for her, but it still just hit right in the feels. It doesn’t help that I may have a headcannon that Chalco and Ikora were planning on getting married this spring since we are at a slightly calmer point after killing the witness, and then bungie goes and kills their best/queerplantonic friend. I have too many feels rn. We need Eris back asap.

Thinking about Ikora devastates me terribly. I can't really add context without spoilers, but I feel bad for her.

[sunshinehunter]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Characters: Savant-3, Cat | the Grey Dawn, Ikora Rey, Chalco Yong (they both have minor speaking roles), Original Ghost (Orion)

Additional Tags: The Red War, The Light, Cabal, Canon-Typical Violence, Thunder and Lightning, atypical uses of the Light

You ever have a hee hee ha ha funny guy Guardian but secretly he's a monster who can knock out the entire City's power grid if left to his own devices? Yeah, he's that bitch. Featuring @acel1en's Savant (who's also my adopted son).

---

It had been an argument that had made the Young Wolf nearly explode the barn at the Farm but dozens of Guardians shouting her down had won in the end. Everyone was sick of just sitting on their hands while their planet was invaded, their City pillaged, humanity being made Cabal. They wanted to do something. They wanted to fight. If the plan succeeded it wouldn't even be a final death, simply a temporary one. The Red Legion needed to be routed from the City and the outlying mountains and a single Guardian couldn't do that when the Red Legion had had a year to entrench themselves into the City.

As a member of the Legion Savant felt a strong sense of responsibility to see to the safety of his fellow Guardians. The mission statement of the Scouting Legion was more or less 'we keep each other safe', they made sure no Guardian went in with bad intel as best they could. Being a member of the Legion was also why Savant had been given lead of a six man fireteam. They were his to protect for this mission and his seriousness in the situation was a stark contrast to his normal demeanor.

That was how he ended up hunkered down behind a bollard in an eastern part of the City gripping his scout rifle so tight the servos in his hands protested. Three Ghosts not his own clustered in the shadow of his coat. Through no fault of anyone's they'd just been caught unaware by a squad of Cabal Legionaries. They'd dealt with them but not without temporary casualties. Savant wasn't undamaged either, he'd taken a few gunshots to his flank but he'd forced the alarm systems to cease functioning. He knew he was injured, the simulated pain receptors weren't helping. Another of his fireteam was alive and the sixth was trying to bandage a wound that was bleeding deeply. Both were a ways back in an abandoned street shop.

Savant peered around the bollard and heard the thudding steps of Cabal on the street. If he was organic he'd swallow. Instead the servos in his head groaned nervously.

He wouldn't call it an explosion but he didn't know what else to call it. He looked up and west towards the Traveler and... what the actual fuck was that!? It looked like an angel made of Light, except it was enormous and did not look like the Young Wolf. It looked- it looked like Gaul. Ah shit. Had the plan not worked? Had the Young Wolf failed? He didn't want to think that. That was loser thinking. She'd never lost before and Gaul wasn't shit compared to a literal Hive God- and she'd killed two of those!

"Guys, look at the Traveler," Savant said quietly over comms, almost at a loss for words.

"Kinda busy-

"You're going to want to see this," Savant said as the Traveler started to glow.

"What is it-- oh fuck."

They watched the Traveler glow and Light poured off it like rivulets streaming down and all around it. He couldn't hear the horrible Gaul angel but as the Light became blinding Savant had to look away. When he looked back the Traveler was free of its cage and was its damaged white sphere as usual.

Then the shockwave of Light smashed into Savant with nearly enough force to put him on his ass.

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[crow-posting]

"There's basically zero content for Destiny's female characters ☹️ the fandom hates AFAB and femme characters ☹️☹️ the fandom only cares about women when they can ship them- ☹️☹️☹️"

Listen, I don't disagree, but half of my feed is Mara, Elsie, Eris, Ikora, Riven and Savathûn and sometimes Caiatl. Failsafe and Eido just got big upticks bc of the past two Episodes. Sjur, Maya and Chioma are popular on Awoken- and Vex-related blogs. People are discovering the "Your Friend, Micah Abram" lore book thanks to TFS. I've been flashbanged by Tallulah Fairwind and Chalco Yong a few times, like- the list goes on and I don't even follow any related Tumblr tags. So yeah, I agree that there could (and should!!) be more female-character-related content, but I'm also sorry that your algorithm* is broken.

*I'm aware Tumblr doesn't have an algorithm per se, but also, if I was able to passively follow the entirety of Ikora Week and you weren't, then something is broken imo.

⚠️ EDIT: forgor to mention that if you want me to send you "Destiny female character"-related content, I'm happy to do so! I mostly see it in passing so just poke me about it haha.

[sovpologist]

“Then, you talked to me about circles. Circles! Do you know what the Traveler's reawakening meant for the geometry of circles? You told me it changed everything about the semiotic role of circles in some paracausal invocation of the Light. And I'm going to tell you the truth, which is, you didn't want to talk to me, so you talked about circles instead. I know people who can talk in circles, but you're the only one who can do it by talking about circles. I really admire your efficiency.”

-Chalco Yong to Ikora Rey

“’A sword can be part of a bomb if the swordstrike is the detonation mechanism,’ Mara says. ‘It's impossible for a cellular automata game to change its own rules, but it is possible to create subgames with their own rules, and for those subgames to yield advantage in the master game.’

‘That's cool,’ Sjur says. ‘You know, when you talk like that, what you're actually saying is, “I don't want anyone to understand me, but I want them to understand they don't understand me.”

‘Yeah,’ Mara admits, and then, hoarsely, she makes herself say, ‘Sjur, I have this secret, this thing I did, and I don't know if anyone can know it without hating me forever.’”

-Sjur Eido and Mara Sov