Destcember Day #3: A Long Shadow

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 9: They See Me Rolling

"Hey, Yew."

"What is it?"

"I bet I could jump that canyon on my sparrow."

"You said that last time."

"Yeah, I can definitely do it."

"You said that last time, too."

"I fail to see your point."

"Last time, you didn't even make it halfway. You fell 1000 feet and died."

"Eh, I'm sure I can do it this time, though."

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

...

"See, I told you I could do it."

"Yes, but after you landed, your sparrow rolled 15 times and then exploded, breaking both your legs and an arm and leaving you in the middle of a group of hive, under the feet of an unusually large ogre."

"But I did it, didn't I."

"Yes."

The Last Word quest is like trying to run up a greased slide while a bungie cord holds you to the ground. I have been at this for two hours and have made no progress. I'd say to kill me, but then I'd just lose more progress.

Destcember Day 4: Little Joys

As a guardian, you become very thankful for the little joys. Among them is the rare gift of a hot shower. When you're out in the field, you accumulate more grim than you'd think possible. Every enemy splatters you with something or other, from the simple blood splatter of a Fallen fighter to the splash of a dying Vex's radiolorium. Fighting the Cabal is the worst of all, as whenever you shoot one of them in just the right spot, their suits depressurize and spray everything around them with a thick coating of black oil. When there is finally a moment without an impending disaster to halt, I get to go home and wash all of the grime off. Just a little bit of Solar Light will keep the water hot for hours. Another rare joy is the privilege of a full night's sleep. Technically, guardians don't need to sleep, as whenever our ghost revives or heals us, they bring us back to maximum compacity, and that includes being fully rested. Of course, after a few weeks without sleep you start to feel a bit less human, or Awoken, or, as in my case, Exo. It is an amazing feeling to slip into the comforting ablivion of a dreamless sleep. The last small joy is that of good meal. Being both an exo and a guardian I could probably go forever without eating, but where is the fun in that. My favorite place in the City is a little ramen shop that Cayde introduced me to. They have the best ramen of every kind, possible the literal best in the world with all that's happened to humanity recently, and a fine assortment of alchohol to forget your troubles and deaths. All together, it's the little joys that add up to make an amazing day, even after weeks of disasters.

Destcember Day 26: Sweet Dreams

Every time I sleep I have the same dream. I doesn't matter if I take a five minute nap or sleep for twelve hours, I dream of this and nothing else. I am standing in the a field of purple millet, stretching as far as I can see. There is a cool breeze at my back, pushing me forward. Behind me is the setting sun. In front of me is a tower, reaching up above the clouds. It is not The Tower, but is somehow just as familiar, even though I have no memory of ever being here while awake. I have to walk towards the tower, because the dream will never end otherwise. I have tried standing still, walking away, and even having Yew wake me up as soon as I fall asleep, but I only wake up once I walk into the tower. After a few minutes of walking, I reach a clearing. Across from me, the ornate doors of the tower stand, both imposing and inviting. But between myself and the doors, there is a massive yew tree, glowing slightly from within. Beneath the shade of its branches, there is a wooden table, two chairs, and a chess board, set just as I left it last time, white for me and black for her. Sitting across the table, reading a book and waiting for me, is the ahamkara Ephialtes. I have never seen her reading the same book twice and I have never found or heard of any of the books while awake, but she assures me they are all real. She doesn't always look the same, but across all her forms she retains her startlingly purple eyes and slightly too sharp teeth. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we play, but always she tries to strike a deal. Usually I refuse, but on a rare occasion, we can come to an agreement. Once we are done or I get tired of talking, I walk through the tower doors and wake up. I used to dream of other things, but I traded that away in our first deal. Hers were the strongest of the bones that I had collected, her whispers invading every waking thought while I was anywhere nearby. But, she was too knowledgeable and powerful, so it would have been an unbearable loss to rid myself of her. So I made her a deal. She would no longer whisper to me without consent and would use her power to suppress the whispers from the rest of my collection, and in return, she could inhabit my dreams, negotiating with me every night, and I wouldn't put her bones inside a silver lined safe and drop it into the Mariana Trench. She agreed and now I dream of this and nothing else. It isn't all bad. My old dreams were not that great and Ephialtes isn't bad company, if a bit manipulative. Enjoy your dreams, if you can. Sweet dreams.

Fireteam member, helping to drag a heavily traqulized Royal Beast back from the Pleasure Gardens to my ship:

"So why are we doing this? It would have been easier just to kill it and take the loot"

My Warlock:

"I need it for... ... ... psionics research."

*whispering to the dog* "Good boy. New Pet."

If Mara Sov's shade of morality had a hexadecimal code, I'd say it would be around #383838. Not evil, but definitely not good. Mara Sov: committing pretty evil acts for the Greater Good*

*Terms and restrictions may apply

Destcember Day 22: Drifter's Gambit

The Drifter walks a fine line, a tightrope made of the sharpest razor wire. On one side lies the forces of the Light, with the forces of the Vanguard and the Man with the Golden Gun ready to strike if they suspect that he has gone too far. On the other, the forces of the Dark, ready to consume him or break his mind if he makes a mistake. If he wavers, he will fall to one side or the other. Too late to stop or turn back, he walks on, hoping to eventually reach his goal. He uses the the Dark to fight the Dark, using Guardians to kill the enemies of humanity and collect the Motes of Dark that fall from their corpses. His menagerie of constructed monsters and summoned horrors slaver to consume, accepting motes in lieu of consuming a guardian's light to turn their path of slaughter where the Drifter directs. But I've noticed however many motes he uses to conduct his games, there are always far more collected than used. I don't know what he plans for them, but I want in. I understand that it may take more than the Light to beat the Dark. So I work with the Eliksni and bargain with the Ahamkara. And I do his bounties, and earn the ranks, and bank the motes. I use weapons of the Dark Age and forged a new Weapon of Sorrow. I will earn his trust, even if it puts me on Malphur's list. Because I believe that the Drifter's Gambit will pay off, and when it does, I want to have been a part of it.

Down with blade barrage and down with the Last Word quest step 2.

Destcember Day 2: The Last City

I don't get to go home often recently, with all my time being split between helping Petra keep the Dreaming City from falling to the Taken or Scorn and trying to track down the Scourge Syndicate and their stolen weapons. When I do get a chance to take a break, I have an apartment deep in the Last City. A lot of guardians prefer to live in the Tower, but living up there has never appealed to me. Too much Vanguard supervision, asking hard questions and giving me sceptical looks when I come back with a new set of Hive tomes or Ahamkara bones to study or a few tanks of either for my Eliksni friends. The citizens though, they don't ask questions or give looks, just chalking it up to the eccentricities of a guardian. They never mention the whispers from the bones inside my silver plated cases, no matter how loud they seem to me. I find it reassuring to see so many people happily going about their lives, even when everything seems like it's all going to hell outside the walls. I don't agree with Zavala on many things, but at least we agree on this. This city is my home and its people are worth protecting.