SWHFTTSUNDAY

SWHFTT‼️‼️SUNDAY‼️‼️

Destiny 1

I still live! I'm just very busy with commissions and school starting but here's some stuff I've been working on! ....the stuff is Ghost- becauseeee he's just slaying -

It's still a wip

Hey friends, have you taken your medication? 💖

you know how it is

More names I have come across while playing! Final Shape edition

last solstice bit

Targe

Zavala considered the cottage and fireplace within, but decided against it. Instead, he built the fire just out of sight of the graves. Something felt rude about being too close.

The comms pinged at him, and he allowed the link. "I asked for privacy," he said, hoping it was someone that didn't know. If they did, he would have to be firm, and he wasn't in the mood.

Caiatl's voice carried a note of apology when she said, "I know." More solidly, she said, "I would ask to join you."

The Commander considered it.

"I understand the telling of stories of past heroics to be part of this tradition," she said. "I would like to hear yours about your Targe."

The loss of his Light, she treated as a disability to work with, and he had. She had been treading delicately around the loss of his Ghost because she knew she could not understand.

So to hear the request surprised him until he remembered last year. It rarely came up, but the way she talked about Ghosts and Guardians changed since she befriended the one. 'Your Targe'. He was sure she'd similarly call him Targe's, were he alive.

"You may," he sighed.

"Thank you."

He waited for a while, sure she was still there. "Caiatl."

"Zavala."

"Thank you."

She didn't respond immediately, and eventually managed, "It is my honor to celebrate your belated Ghost with you."

~

"I considered asking to meet your Targe. I am sorry I did not." The giant woman sat on the massive rock nearby as Zavala constructed the small pyre.

"I considered offering an introduction," Zavala replied. "I am also sorry I didn't. You would have liked him." A smile stole the corner of his mouth. "You would team up to chide me for worrying, or avoiding paperwork. He would side against me often. Always into the right course of action, as much as he could determine it to be."

He glanced back to see Caiatl sitting at half-attention, helmet still on. Respecting the ritual.

To his surprise, he heard more feet touch down nearby, and he looked to see Ikora. "Caiatl had the manners to ask for an invitation," he teased.

"Are you asking me to leave?" she replied, placing a hand on his shoulder before she ventured into the trees to gather her own firewood. "I also want to celebrate Targe."

The bittersweet joy stung his heart and stole the corners of his lips. "I thank you," he said honestly.

Fire felt different without the Light. Zavala had always been a Striker, and yet the distance never felt so long. It took a few moments of white smoke to eventually take, the environment being wet even without rain. He didn't realize his memory of this place was so gray; possibly aged, possibly clouded by pain. The dead grass and twigs stubbornly singed and ashed without a flame, until Zavala worried he would have to ask for help.

Finally, the pyre took true light, orange flame flickering as it grew.

He turned back to the stone hosting his audience, surprised to see Saladin appearing close by and stepping forth with a bundle of sticks and herbs tied together. They briefly exchanged a glance and a nod. Zavala almost missed him passing another to Caiatl, who didn't know the tradition yet.

He didn't have a speech prepared. He didn't expect an audience. He didn't know why not; why he would think he would be the only one with stories of Targe, or that Saladin wouldn't come to pay respects. It felt silly now, and disrespectful of everything Targe did that wasn't resurrecting him. He could hear his memory of Safiya telling so many of Targe's advocacy and appeals. Those were certainly some of his heroic moments to share.

He watched the fire burn for a minute as he collected thoughts. He would begin at the beginning, he supposed....

"I remember meeting Targe. He found me in a crashed ship, and told me that I was destined for greatness...."