Destcember Day 28: Ironborn

Destcember Day 17: Past Days

People often long for past days. The days before the Collapse, back in the Golden Age. And it makes sense, considering how hectic things have been recently. But for me, past days have never been what I longed for. I can't remember my past, so all I have to long for is the future. And I do believe that the future will be better than the past, even better than the Golden Age. Though we have lost much since then, we have gained much too. We are more diverse than we were, having gained the Awoken, the Ghosts, and hopefully someday the Fallen too. We are more unified than ever before, being joined into one by tragedy. We know we are not alone, that there are others besides ourselves and the Traveller. If we fight for it, the future will be better than the past. So long not for past days and instead work towards future days. May our second Golden Age far outshine our first.

Proposal for a new type emote: Emotes that let your Ghost emote with you. The possibilities are endless, but include:

Your ghost flying around your head

Sitting with your ghost on your shoulder

Disco ball ghost

Ghost spinning on your finger like a basketball

Ghost scanning you and using their little laser on different spots

Multi-person emotes where you stand around and your ghosts talk

And many, many more.

Destcember #1: A New Look

"Should I even ask why you have a screwdriver in you head?"

"Ok, so you know how exos can have the same base body but different colored eyes? Well, I think it might be a setting I can manually adjust and I want a new look."

"Then buy some shaders. All you are going to do is blind yourself."

"No I'm not, and even if I did you could just revive me good as new.

There, I think I got it. Let's see, red, orange, white..."

"Black?"

"No, I blinded myself. I'll just turn it back... and its stuck."

"I told you."

"You did. Now just reset me before I fall off the Tower."

"In a bit. It's funny to watch you stumble. I'll be back one have learned your lesson. In the meantime, enjoy your new look."

"Hilarious Yew...

You still there, Yew?

Well, she's gone."

Destcember Day 7: Say My Name

In my studies, I have come across the bones of a number of ahamkara. They whisper to me when I examine them, offering wealth, power, knowledge, or whatever else I wish for. Every one of them has a slightly different manner of tempting, but they all seem to have one thing in common. They never say my name. It's always "oh bearer mine" or the like. I know they can read minds, at least to some extent, as they always try to offer what I want at that moment. Hell, I've even had one try to offer me a bowl of ramen before. But I have never had one say my name. So, the last time one tried to make me an offer, I made them an offer instead. If they could say my name, I'd take their deal. They must have been silent for a full minute before admitting that they couldn't. I must have made it angry, as it hasn't whispered to me since, so whatever knowledge I could have gleaned from it is lost forever. But it was worth it, because it was both hilarious and reassuring that they don't know everything.

Destcember Day #2: A Glimmer of Hope

In a cluttered study tucked away deep in the Last City, an exo bangs his head on the table. The slight force imbalances several stacks of notes and books, sending a cascade of work into the floor. Nearby, a ghost floats, watching with mild amusement. Still with their head down, the exo mutters to his ghost.

"Yew, do we have any more ideas on how to break the curse on the Dreaming City."

"Well, there was the one about singlehandedly killing Dûl Incaru while empowered with a massive quantity of Light."

"Didn't we decide not to try because it was likely a trap or trick to waste our time in addition to being nearly impossible?"

"Yes, but I only mention it because someone reportedly just did it. It apparently took weeks of constant work and preparation. Quite impressive."

The exo's head shoots up in surprise, looking hopefully at his ghost.

"Really?! Did it work? Please tell me it did"

"No. Furthermore, there seem to be reports from guardians about hearing strange laughter and experiencing memory loss following the attempt."

Wordlessly, the exo stands and walks to one of the many displays flowing through the room. While the rest are cluttered with notes, this one has just two words and numerous tallies. One side reads "Guardians" and lies empty. The other side reads "Savathûn" and has far too many tallies for comfort. With a sigh, he adds one more to the count. The ghost snickers.

Sorry if my writing isn't that great, this is the first stuff that I have ever posted.

Destcember Day #5: A Day Off

A concerned guardian stands in the doorway of their friend's study. Inside, a frazzled looking warlock is scrawling notes with handwriting almost as indecipherable as the Hive language they are studying. The glow of the runes cast a green light on the face of the exo, forming shadowy bags under his eyes. He looks up from his work as his friend begins to speak.

"Ash, you look terrible. When was the last time you took a day off? No, forget that, when was the last time you even slept?"

"Does dying count as sleeping?"

"No."

"In that case, I don't know. I think it was Thursday."

"Today is Wednesday."

From beneath a pile of scrolls, a muffled voice joins the conversation.

"First of all, it wasn't even a Thursday this month. Secondly, could someone please help me out here."

Surprised by the voice of his ghost, the warlock quickly unearths his buried ghost. Now freed, the bemused companion floats up to hover above her guardian's shoulder.

"Sorry Yew. I was wondering where you had gone. How did you end up under there anyway?"

"I fell asleep. Honestly, it's a miracle you haven't collapse yet. The only rest you have gotten in the past week was the time one of your expirements killed you and even that was only for the few seconds until I could resurrect you."

"Technically, exos don't have to sleep. Nor do we have to take days off."

Finally shaken out of their shocked stupor by that statement, the titan calmly walks into the room and proceeds to throw the warlock over their shoulder. They protest weakly as they are carted off before they fall silent. Ignoring their protestations, the titan explains what is going to happen to happen, making it clear that their cargo has no choice in the matter.

"That does it, you are taking a day off. No! You are taking a week off. You may not physically have to sleep, but it is terrible for you mentally. Not to mention the effect that prolonged exposure to all this Hive stuff must be having on you. Don't bother trying to argue, I won't take no for an...

Aaaannd he fell asleep."

Among kinderguardians, it is almost a right of passage to get your own sticky grenade stuck to your hand. In fact, there is a somewhat secret betting pool in the Tower for how long until it happens to each new guardian. The longer a kinderguardian goes without it happening, the larger the betting pool grows. The current record is two weeks.

Destcember Day 11: Guardian of Nothing

Guardians have a tendency to hoard. I think it has something to do with whatever the Traveler did with our brains when it brought us back to make sure at least most of us would help people instead of just wandering off. But as a side effect, we tend to take things we like and guard them too.

We all have things we store away, myself included. There are always a few dozen guns and bits of armour that are rattling around in our vaults that we tell ourselves will come in handy one day. All those ghost shells, mods, shaders, and shiny bits that we gather by the hundreds. We regularly spend enough glimmer to feed a family for months to buy things from vendors, put it in the pile, and promptly forget. And it's not just physical things we hoard. We love hoarding power.

Everyone loves power, be it physical or status. The Vanguad and the factions all cling desperately to positions. We all grind for that next arbitrary rank in crucible. We want more numbers. Bigger numbers and better numbers than our friends. It's more subtle than the physical hoarding, but it's still there.

I think that's why Guall's attack hit us so hard. Sure it killed people, but everything does that. But for a bit, we lost everything we guarded. Our guns, our gear, our ships and sparrows. Our ranks, our power, our people. Even our Light. For a while, we were guardians of nothing.

Good Job Bungie

You broke free from Activision before they killed you and Destiny. I have full faith that you will be able to bring about an even better version of Destiny without them looking over your shoulder. But be careful, because there are too many examples of studios with great ideas becoming drunk on freedom and over reaching, leading to disasters. Regardless, we are all proud of you and excited for your progress. Good luck and best wishes.