#why wouldn't he take Elsie if he needed a life for a life?

[lesbians-all-the-way-down]

My friend: I can't think while I'm at work

Me, at work, earlier that day: word for word writing a fic In my head

[somethingclevermahogony]

OC Questionnaire

Rules: answer the questions as some OCs, then come up with new questions for the next people to answer

Thank you for the tag @mk-writes-stuff ! Sorry its taken a bit for me to get to this. I think I'll stick to main cast for this one, that's Narul, Ninma, and Otilia.

Would you take $1M if it meant the person you hate most got $2M (or equivalent currency)?

Narul: "Of course I would, do you know how much that would help us right now? Besides...I don't really care if the Deep Sun got all of that gold, I don't think a demon would have much use for that.

Ninma: She shrugs, "Yeah, I wouldn't have to sleep in tents or in the dirt anymore, I could eat meat again, I could wear new clothes. Akard is already King of Labisa, not like that gold will make much difference."

Otilia: "Never, I would rather eat moldy bread and rats for the rest of my life, then know that frog-faced ass is living it rich."

What is the hardest skill you’ve learned?

Narul: "Hardest? Hmm...oh, I've learned to make houses, lashing the reeds for rooves has been terrible." He holds up his massive hands, "It's hard to tie the knots. Babysitting has been a bit difficult too..." His face suddenly becomes somber, "Killing is...easy, and that's what makes it hard."

Ninma: "Writing! Why did I need to learn Shabalic and Ikopeshi Script? No one in Kishetal except the Fifnians, even use Ikopeshi!

Otilia: "Tact. Making the people you hate feel like you enjoy their company? Its an art."

Is there anything you’d break your moral code for? What is it?

Narul: "I don't really know what my moral code is...but, I think I would do just about anything to make sure that Ninma stays safe."

Ninma: "Ummm...hmmm....what's a moral code?" (She is five, so full on morals aren't quite developed yet.)

Otilia: "Break it how? There are a lot of things that I don't agree with. Some I would do for the sack of the people I care about...other things I wouldn't. And I believe they know that."

@illarian-rambling , @kaylinalexanderbooks , @elsie-writes , and @dungeonsandblorbos

Your Questions are:

Who in this world do you trust most, and why?

What was your favorite place in the world when you were young

What is your favorite memory?

[synnthamonsugar]

I’m sorry if this sounds rude but why should eris’s message have been to so someone other than drifter? Did ikora go camping with eris in the disciple’s bog? Did mara wield stasis with elsie on europa? I’m not trying to sound like a dreris shipper by any means but drifter is the one to talk to about this situation. He helped her make the nightmare harvester and is the one she would follow up with about its application. I agree with the rest of the take but I really don’t get this part at all

If she thanked him for his help studying the darkness/egregore & friendship I wouldn't have an issue with it. That would have made perfect sense within the narrative and been a nice piece of development for their friendship dynamic.

The implication that Drifter was a catalyst for a major positive change in her outlook on life is the part that frustrates me, given we have seven years of lore involving Ikora (mainly) and Mara helping Eris along on her path of recovery. "For so long I believed peace was beyond my reach. No more. I have found it in guiding others down the same path that saved me" would have been a stellar emotional payoff to Ikora's years-long mission to help Eris regain some sense of peace and happiness in her life. It would have made more sense for Mara to be the one Eris invited to the Pyramid with her, given their system-spanning journeys to track down and study them.

So why didn't it?

It's a rhetorical question, but I would offer that art doesn't occur in a vacuum, and while I definitely don't think, or want to suggest, sexism is at play, there's a compulsion in every level of media (executives to fans) toward prioritizing relationships between men & women over women & women. It's another reminder that even generally progressive fandom spaces will never be easy ground for people who want to explore women's relationships, and we'll always have to fight heavy headwinds.

There's also something ... not great? about the idea of a man providing emotional closure to a woman struggling with trauma & mental illness when hitched to a fan interpretation of romantic subtext. None of the interpretations are good: that what a woman needs is a guy to get her back on track, that men and women can't have emotionally gratifying friendships, and that friendship alone can't be a catalyst for positive change. This one is especially tricky because men and women's interactions will overwhelmingly be read as romantic even when explicitly platonic in the text, while anything short of an onscreen kiss will leave viewers debating whether two close women are in love or just good friends. I want more men's and women's friendships, but can't have them because they're always read as romances, which makes me wary of women's and men's friendships in media . . . ad infinitum.

For my part, I like Eris' and Drifter's friendship, but want to see it explored in a way that doesn't make it The Definitive Eris Friendship And Raison D'être which it's kind of been for the last two years. (Identical statement, in reverse, for Drifter.) I want to see Ikora and Eris get more than scraps of meaningful lore. I would like to see Mara and Eris get screentime together. If I could wave a magic wand there would be balance, equal exploration of all of these relationships but . . . it doesn't happen for whatever reason.

Maybe this is a long standing Bungie writing issue, because I'm certain if I was in the fandom back in the TTK days I'd be penning an essay about "so random xD" blue robot eating up most of the expansion dialog and playing Eris' foil. But I can't help but think the quality of women's interactions have kind of gone downhill since like ... Shadowkeep. It's demoralizing.