#diana-3

[diana-3]

Lol this feels like "same hat" 😂

"we saw the same post!"

[fantasiesescape]

Cookies with Eva

The sounds of the Tower trying in vain to pull Diana’s attention from the vast sky, dotted with snowflakes as they lazily danced to their resting place. Passing conversations, yelps and cries of victory as the “whump” of snowballs found or missed their targets. A few people had tried to speak to her, to wish her “Happy Dawning”, and she had successfully ignored them into leaving her be. Only one showed concern for her out of ordinary eccentricity, Shaxx had tried to convince her to her feet or at the very least to sit up and look at him properly rather than lying on the ground above the Eververse shop. He had been the only one Diana had not been successful at ignoring.

“I’m fine, Shaxx.” She told him flatly, looking blankly up into the orange and white helmet.

“I would believe it if you were running about and trying to hit someone with a snowball like last years Dawning.” Shaxx boomed at her, his hands curled into fists at his hips. “You’ve laid here for hours, just…watching. That’s not like you hunter.”

“Maybe it’s a new me.” Diana sighed, folding her hands onto her stomach, “Maybe I’ve calmed down a little.”

“A little would look different.” Shaxx persisted, his helmet cocking to the side. “What’s got your mind so snared?”

Diana sighed heavily and closed her eyes, struggling to find a way to put voice to the feelings whirling around inside her mind. She didn’t want to admit to them, if she didn’t give them voice and identification then she could not admit to their existence. Shaxx waited patiently for a response, a retort or a snap but Diana laid there with her eyes closed. She didn’t bother thinking about time, and when Shaxx gave a dissatisfied grunt and his footsteps faded away, Diana was upset she didn’t feel any better.

“Hello my dear,” The warm, elderly voice took Diana by surprise. She opened her eyes to see Eva standing over her with her gentle hands clasped in front of her. “Happy Dawning.”

“Happy Dawning Granny.” Diana sighed, feeling too pre-shamed to no reply to Eva. “Are you here to set up for the Festival?”

“Oh Yes,” Eva looked behind her, and Diana was forced to sit up and look behind her to see several manual worker frames carrying supplies. “This year I decided to set up over here, it’s closer to where everyone will come home, but out of the way enough that people can visit without making too much fuss.” Eva turned and gestured in her slow, matronly way for the frames to get started setting up the temporary shop where she would be staying.

Diana finally climbed to her feet, noticing that Shaxx and Banshee were watching from afar. When she took notice of them, Banshee raised one hand in silent greeting and turned to go back to his shop, leaving Shaxx standing with his arms folded across his massive chest. Diana raised a hand as Banshee had and the former warlord gave a tip of his head before leaving his spot to return to his designated area.

“I think you will like this year’s festivities,” Eva said softly, touching Diana’s elbow, bringing her mind back to the present before she could slip into voidless thought. “I had so much fun with you last year, baking treats for everyone and more people have decided to help—so I had a commission made for a bigger oven.” She pointied to a large, blue pot like oven with Dawning symbols painted white to make them stand out against the blue and dark metals. “I’m afraid my little lantern oven just wouldn’t be enough this year.”

The elderly woman smiled but Diana couldn’t find the heart to force a fake one back, which drew the older woman’s attention and concern. “What’s the matter my dear? You look so glum?” When Diana couldn’t meet her yearning eyes, Eva put a hand under Diana’s cold metal chin and lifted her head. “How about you make some cookies with ol’Eva hm? And you can tell me what is bothering you?”

“Granny I’m fine, I’m just a bit down right now is all. Tired I guess.” Diana lied and replaced her gaze to the ground.

“Nonsense.” Eva scolded lightly, waving a finger at the exo, “You are the liveliest person I know. Come, we will make treats and you can tell me what is really wrong.” Diana looked up and was shocked to see that the frames had worked quietly and deftly, constructing the makeshift shop with ease. They were in the process of hanging the curtains and cloth that would keep the chill and wind down while standing at the shop and two frames had just finished constructing a pull-out table which Eva assembled and began covering with ingredients and utensils.

“Come my dear, I am afraid my joints won’t let me go quite as hard as I used to.” Eva began pouring dry and wet ingredients into a bowl before picking it up and placing it and a whisk into Diana’s hands. “You want it to be nice and thick dear, so don’t over work it if you please.” Eva turned and busied herself with the oven, leaving Diana to start mixing the mixture in the bowl.

“How is the city Granny?” Diana asked, the pressure of silence occupied only by the sounds of work too much to bear quietly.

“It is recovering,” Eva smiled over her shoulder as she placed logs in the oven. “People are getting things back to normal after the Red War. What about you? How are you with everything?” She closed the oven and stood, glancing into Diana’s bowl as she approached to show her work. “That’s good love,” She sprinkled flour onto the tabletop and took the bowl from Diana who moved to the other side to assist. “I know at the Festival of the Lost you were not quite as…present as you were at other years.”

“I…had a lot going on.” Diana tapped the side of her metal head. “Been uh.” She glanced around as Eva worked, “Been missing Dad a lot lately, been…messing with me. Just didn’t fee like partying as much this year. But it looked amazing as always Granny. So does the Dawning.”

“I had a feeling it had to do with Cayde’s passing.” Eva sighed, watching as Diana fiddled with one of the cookie cutters. “DD.” Diana looked up, her hands freezing. “Cayde would not want you to carry on like this,” She reached out and cupped Diana’s cheek, “He wouldn’t want to see you this way. Missing out on times with your loved ones and beating yourself down.” She watched Diana closely, “You know he does not blame you, he told you as much, did he not?”

“Granny,” Diana’s voice broke, the pressure swirling around her threatened to crush her into scrap metal.

“You hunters,” Eva removed her hand from Diana’s cheek and waved it in a circle as she went back to prepping her surface, “You have this…debt ritual you go through yes? When someone you love is killed in cold blood and you…oh how did Cayde say it?”

“Settle the debt.” Diana finished, “Yeah. We uh, we avenge…or get revenge, depending on who you talk to.” She watched as Eva put the cookie dough onto the table and rolled it out with a wooden rolling pin. “That’s just the thing Granny.” This made Eva pause as she put away the rolling pin, “I went through hell to find Uldren Sov. I took down every one of those Barons he made and put a stop to them. I killed countless Scorn to work my way up to Uldren.”

Eva worked more slowly, listening as Diana ranted, her eyes unfocused and staring into nothing as she continued. “I pull him from the maw of a giant meatball with tentacles and teeth and put one of three bullets into him myself.” She lowered her voice, the feeling of pressure shifting from an overwhelming, towering force into the pinpoint of a knife in her side. “But that…that bastard.”

“DD.” Eva scolded lightly, watching as Diana began pressing the cookie cutter into the cookie dough a little to hard, the tone in her voice shifting from loss and pain to anger and hatred. Her posture went rigid, her arms shaking slightly, causing objects on the table to rattle slightly.

“Uldren Sov, is walking around…hiding out near the city…as a guardian.” Diana finished, going still, the cookie cutter still pressed into the dough. She waited a few moments before pulling it free and moving on, making more. “It just…makes me so angry to think that he, he of all people Granny, gets to come back as a Guardian. The one who took away one of the greatest Guardians of all time…” When Diana had reached the middle of the dough, she let Eva take the cookie cutter from her and start on the other side. Di busied herself by placing the freed cookies onto a pan to be put into the oven, grateful that Eva wasn’t trying to lecture her the way some of the Warlocks and Titans had when they had witnessed her reaction to the rumors.

Neither spoke for a while, finishing the prep work for the cookies and sliding the pan into the new oven before taking up the task of cleaning up the station. A few people stopped by to wish Eva a Happy Dawning, get recipes and ask about cookie deliveries, offering a nod and a Dawning greeting to Diana. Some had remarked how they were happy to see Di up and moving again rather than lying in a open, strange area as she had taken to doing when she had no work to be done.

When the timer on the counter buzzed, Eva turned it off and removed the cookies from the oven before lying them on the counter to cool. Diana watched as the old woman worked, making icing in different colors and preparing bags to start decorating the cookies with. It wasn’t until she started washing dishes in the small make-shift sink that she spoke again, drawing Di’s attention.

“I understand how, complicated the matter must be.” She offered as Diana picked up a rag and began drying the bowls and utensils they had used. “You had a lot of justified hatred toward the Awoken Prince and his Scorn.” She said the word with a level of distaste that surprised Diana. “And you ‘settled the debt’ as Cayde would say. But…” Eva dried her hands and sighed, “The Traveler thought that one worthy of fighting on the side of humanity.”

“He—” Diana felt the rage boil inside her chest, an itch to her finger that longed to kill something that deserved it.

“I said ‘that one’, I didn’t say Uldren Sov.” Eva warned her with a stern look. “When you Guardians are woke up, you don’t remember anything of your past life. You wake up with no identity and a clean slate, right? You do not hold any grudges toward anyone you would have known in your past life.”

Diana said nothing, she had heard others try with this reasoning before, but she wanted to hear nothing of it. She was still too angry, too hurt to admit that there was truth behind it as Eva continued. “His body might be up and moving around, he may even still look the same, but he is not Uldren Sov anymore. If he is hiding out, he is probably too scared to come to the City. I would say that those who had taken notice of him and know what Uldren Sov did while he was alive, have tried to settle the debt again.”

As she spoke, Eva tapped the cookies, testing their temperature before handing Diana a bag with the end clipped off, black icing inside. She started decorating her own portion of the cookies, covering them in the black icing before using a small metal stick to fill in all the holes and move on to the next cookie.

“He has no memory of what he did to Cayde because the man who killed Cayde is dead. This is a guardian. Not Uldren Sov.”

“Just the meat-suit,” Diana mumbled, remembering something that Cayde had told her long ago, before the Red War—when she was still new to being a Guardian and didn’t understand the new concept of Death to the world.

“I don’t like to word it quite like that…but yes.” Eva offered, nodding her head as she swapped bags to a red one and began decorating the outer edges. “Cayde’s debt was settled and while it does not mean that you should go out and be best friends with this new Guardian—I think it does mean that you need to learn to let go of some of that anger concerning Uldren, my dear.” Eva glanced up as Diana’s hands stopped moving, her cookies less immaculate than Eva’s. “You did your part. Uldren paid his price. You wouldn’t want to be held responsible for something you feel you didn’t do, would you?”  

Diana closed her eyes, and felt the twist of the knife in her side, how could she start to feel guilty about holding a grudge now? To him? She remembered the shock on his face, the way he replaced his helmet and how deftly he had gone into hiding. Rumors hadn’t circulated in a while about a new Hunter on the edges of the city. Would she ever be able to forgive the walking body that had been Uldren? Would she ever be able to look at him and know him by another name? Or would he always be Uldren Sov. Reef born Awoken Prince. Cayde’s murderer?

Diana slowly went back to working on her cookies, lining the sides with red and attempting the lions crest that Eva walked her through as her mind walked in circles. The knife pain subsided, the pressure faded away as Eva loaded the cookies into a box and held them out to Di. On the box was a little sticker, a label written. To: Zavala, From: Diana-3.

“Oh no,” Eva complained as she looked through the cabinets the frames had constructed, “I am out of ingredients.”

“I’ll get you some Granny.” Di offered as she lowered the box to her hip level, “I think I need some fresh air anyway.”

[diana-3]

Hey guardians! Here to tell you (again) that I am uploading no commentary Destiny content so you can enjoy the cutscenes without my loud ass talking over talk of it.

S17 is up (still uploading) and I'm working on getting S18 going too.

Destiny 2 S17: Season of the Haunted

Psst. I also play other games and will have playlists for those too soon!

[diana-3]

So I started uploading my guardians story to A03

Been seeing a lot of profanfic posts so I took it as a sign to dust it off, it's still in progress

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[diana-3]

YO HO YO HO! LETS BE PIRATES!

[diana-3]

Hey crow lovers, it's time for his therapy!

I got my third YouTube video up 😍

[diana-3]

Crow’s Nest.

Diana sighed as she climbed the last few stairs to Devrim’s perch. The Gentlemen Sniper pulled his rifle back inside the windowsill and turned, having earlier waved to Diana he smiled at her approach. “Ah,” His warm tone brought a smile to her face, “Di, hello dear, how are you?”

“I’m alright I guess..s’been a while...huh?” There was guilt layering her tone, like a child who was admitting to a wrong--ready for a scolding.  

“Works kept you busy,” Devrim settled against the wall and his smile held, but his eyes turned downward and with it the mood lowered. “Seems as if the whole world is trying to burn around us.” He nodded to the radio on the shabby table with the teaset near by. “I’ve been keeping up on the radio chatter, you’ve been busy out toward the Tangled Shore lately?”

“Oh yeah,” Dianna removed her helmet and went to settle on the floor next to Devrim who glanced out the window. “There’s this new baddie, Xivu Arath? A hive celebrant...whatever that means...trying to corrupt Fal---Eliskni and Cabal into being Hive mind slaves. Causing a lot of trouble on the Shore and in the Dreaming City. Been working with Spider’s crew to get it cleaned up but its been weeks now.”

“A month yesterday,” Joel corrected as he appeared by Diana’s side. “I overheard Glint and Crow talking about it as we were walking away yesterday.”

“A month…” Diana repeated with weight behind her long sigh that followed. “Has it been that long already?”

“Between the constant crucible matches and vanguard operations to charge the lure, not to mention the individual hunts themselves, I’m not surprised we hadn’t realized.” Even Joel sounded exhausted, flying low until he settled in Diana’s hands as she crossed her legs and closed her eyes. “It’s been...hectic to say the least.”

“When was the last time you had any time off?” Devrim asked, raising a dark brow as he removed himself from the window completely now. Hanging his rifle on carefully placed hooks in the collapsing church to avoid accidental misfires. “You both look absolutely ragged.”

Diana hummed in thought. Her head slowly lulling from side to side before she spoke. “The Festival of the Lost?”

“Can’t really count that as time off when we were fixing the infinite forest…” Joel reminded her and she nodded.

“Soooo, before then?”

“My word,” Devrim’s shocked outburst made the tired guardian and her ghost both open their eyes and look at him. He was standing with his teapot in hand, “You’re going to need something a bit more strong than tea then to unwind.”

“You know what I want?” Diana chuckled softly, the fatigue showing through her defeated tone. “A nap. A nice, warm nap.”

“You’re more than welcome to come back to the farm,” Devrim offered, putting down his teapot and reaching for clean cups and saucers. “You could rant about anything bothering you until you can rest, or you’re free to do so after over a nice hot cup of tea.”

Diana smiled, watching the older man go through his motions to prepare his staple drink. The care he put into making it and the glance he gave her when he felt her stare. “Thanks,” She smiled back, “But,” She tapped Joel’s shell and woke the little Ghost from his quiet rest, his eye blinking open and his shell twitching in a stretch. “I think seeing Mythrax would just wind me back up again...remind me of everything going on on Europa.”

“Ah,” Devrim’s smile fell as he watched Joel take a lazy flight, hovering just above Diana’s shoulder as she climbed to her feet wearily. “Do you have somewhere else to stay then? I have no bed or blanket here, but I can offer great conversation and drink, a little light on snacks I’m afraid.”

“Actually…” Diana rubbed her head before her face and sighed, “I think there’s somewhere I want to...revisit. It’s not the Tower, but right now I’d rather avoid the tower if possible too…”

“Just seems like there's nowhere for us to go to get a rest away from everyone.” Joel admitted, his eye downcast as his shell shook side from side. “There's always someone looking for the next report, the next ship out, the next bounty to be taken…” He glanced at Diana who was lost in thought, her cyan eyes following the floorboard toward the window. When she slowly walked away to peer out Devrim’s window, Joel flew near Devrim and whispered. “She’s had a lot thrust onto her shoulders lately Devrim, I don’t know...I don’t know how to help her right now…”

“Is she alright?” Devrim asked, pretending to busy himself with cleaning his table as he waited for the water to boil.

“Physically she’s fine, she’s just so mentally worn out...A lot of old emotional wounds opened up…” Joel twitched in the air, flying a few degrees lower, “You’ve heard about Io, Mercury and Titan?”

“I had.” Devrim nodded, his face stern with thought. “She had friends on those planets didn’t she?”

“Yes, Asher Mir for one,” Joel shook his shell, “She’s still holding out hope that he’s in the Pyramidian, holding out. But no one’s heard from him...or Sloane and Vance...Then...we heard about Sagria…”

“Sagria?” Devrim whispered back, glancing over his shoulder to Diana, who was watching something out the window. “A guardian?”

“

A Ghost,” Joel corrected, “She was Osiris’ ghost...she sacrificed herself to save Osris from Xivu Arath’s influence...he’s Ghostless now...without the light...he’s taken refuge in the tower and asks Diana about how she and Crow--”

“Crow?” Devrim asked, raising a dark brow as he picked up the teapot and began pouring the tea into two cups. “Is that a guardian?”

“S-something like that…” Joel hesitated a tad too long and it drew a long and measured look from the marksman. “He’s a new guardian but...it’s part of the old emotional wounds opening up...that’s all I can say…”

“Mmhmm..” Devrim kept his stare on the little ghost who twitched and flew a few inches away.

“The less you know, the better.” Joel sighed.

“Wouldn’t happen to wear red pants...would this...Crow?” Devrim asked softly, glancing back at Diana who was still preoccupied with scanning the distance.

“You’ve seen him?!” Joel flew close to Devrim’s face, making the older man chuckle and straighten his back a bit.

“I’ve seen someone bustling around in the distance,” Devrim nodded with his head toward the direction of the dam, “He’s never come close though, and always seems to keep a hood up or a helmet on..I’ve never seen his face. Causing our girl some trouble is he?”

“He doesn’t mean to,” Joel said, “He’s new to everything and Di….she doesn’t know how to handle her feelings. He really reminds her of someone she’d rather forget, but at the same time she’s grown closer to him, and is having trouble letting go of that….resemblance.”

“Sounds messy,” Devrim picked up the cup and took a small sip to taste before nodding. “She needs a good rest, and time to herself away from everyone to let herself work through things. Is there a Hunter hideout where she might be able to take cover?”

“None that wouldn’t turn her over to Zavala to keep themselves from being called to the tower..” Joel had a hint of irritation in his voice, “We tried a few of the old spots, but some people have a sore spot for Di. Shaw hasn’t exactly warmed up to her and he’s made a name for himself in the cosmodrome. People think, that she thinks she’s too important, that she abandoned them in their greatest hour of need…And with the Hunters still without a leader...”

“Did they forget the part where the entire universe was at stake?” Devrim asked too loudly, drawing Diana’s tired attention finally from the window.

“Who knew the Cosmodrome was separate from our universe.” She had no mirth to her voice now, she seemed to shake slightly from side to side as she pushed away from the window and walked over to take the cup offered to her gingerly from Devrim. “Thanks…”

“I’m sorry that you’re dealing with so much,” Devrim put a gentle hand on Diana’s shoulder and squeezed it. A flicker in her eyes caught him off guard, was she going to cry? “I hope that the vanguard has at least given you some hefty time off to recoup after running you so ragged?”

“Hawthorne helped,” Joel said with a hint of pride, “When Diana was ready to just drop off the tower to get away from Zavala and Shaw, she spoke up and advocated for Diana to have a relief mission.”

“Tore into them did she?” Devrim chuckled warmly, “Ah, I can hear her now.”

“It was quite a sight,” Joel laughed, his shell squinting as he bobbed up, like a smile. “She wasn’t about to let Zavala just walk all over Diana.”

“M’ just too tired to fight anymore.” Diana admitted as she took a drink from the cup, taking a moment to shiver at the bitterness. “I wanna sleep for a week in a hole in the ground…” She paused…”Or...in a wall…” Her eyes widened slowly before she downed the rest of the cup, filled only half of the way before handing the cup back to Devrim. “If anyone asks,”

“I haven’t heard from you in months.” Devrim winked at her as he took her cup and replaced it on the table. “No idea where you could be. Haven't’ seen you in the EDZ in quite some time.” He turned and lifted his own teacup to her in salute, “I really should contact you via radio to come spend some time with this old man.” He could hear Diana and Joel speaking softly as he turned and sipped at his tea, trying not to listen to the quiet planning. He couldn’t help but hear.

“Are you sure you want to go there?” Joel was asking, concern filling his voice.

“Where else can we go right now? Unless you really wanna watch me dig a hole and bury ourselves.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this...but we could go to the Derlict?” Joel offered in a hushed tone, “Drifter would hide you for a while.”

“He’d also bug me to death for answers, or to get me into Gambit again…” Diana sighed heavily. Devrim kept himself turned around, studying the hand written notes from Marc laying on his desk, hidden out of direct sight behind the radio he used to listen to chatter, or talk to Suraya who was living in the Tower now. “No, I think it’ll be the one place no one, except one person would think to look…”

“Do you think he would?” Joel asked softly.

“No, his leash is too short right now. He might wonder to himself, maybe to Glint, but he won’t actually come looking. Which will give us all the time we need to rest.” Diana sounded sure of herself and her mind was made up. Wherever they were going, it was going to be a secret between them.

“It won’t be very comfortable,” Joel complained slightly.

“We can find a few ways to make it work.” Diana said a little more loudly, the time for private conversation over with. Devrim was refilling his cup, still pretending to be lost in his own little world when he felt two taps on his shoulder. He put down his cup and turned to receive the gentle hug Diana offered without thinking. “I’ll come by again soon Devrim, thank you for letting us rest and clear our head.”

“I don’t need to tell you that you are always welcome,” Devrim told her as he squeezed her, returning the hug. “But I will anyway, just so I’m sure you know. You can always come up here to hide out, and I won’t tell a soul if you don’t want me to.” He felt her start to pull away and he kept his hold until she leaned more heavily against him, allowing him to share her weight. “You be careful out there, hm?”

“Yes sir,” Diana’s chest vibrated with her voice, chuckling into his ear as she squeezed him back. “I’ll make sure to stop by for the dawning.” When Devrim pulled away she nodded, “I’ll remember the Shortbread cookies you love so much.”

“It pairs so well with my favorite festive tea,” Devrim sighed at the thought of such a comfort item. “It is getting around that time...isn’t it?”

“A few more weeks…” Diana nodded, “Hopefully I’ll get to feeling better before then. I’d like to go to the tower to see everyone…”

“Then you best get to it,” Devrim winked at her and grabbed a small bag from under his table, protected by a sheet that had hidden it from sight. “Here, take this, a self care package if you will.”

“Tea?” Diana laughed as she took the bag without looking at it.

“And a few biscuits and hot cocoa, some tripemines to set up a perimeter, clean water etcetera.” Devrim smiled as he poured a second cup for himself. “Little things that will help make the roughing it less...rough.”

“Thanks Devrim but shouldn’t you need this?” She asked, holding the bag up.

“Not for a while, I’m going on vacation too..of a sort. It’s Marc’s Rezzing day soon. We decided to go to Suraya in the city and spend time together. I’ll have all the comfort I need. And I can replenish my supplies.” Devrim watched as Diana nodded and looked toward the stairs. “Go on now, I won’t keep you any longer.” He turned his back and pretended to busy himself with the radio dial until a heavy baritone voice came over the waves.

“Thanks again…” Diana gave a small salute before disappearing over the ledge, not bothering with the stairs.

“It’s like they’re allergic to safety,” Devrim mused to himself, chuckling as he watched her go.

//

“Are you sure about this?” Joel asked as Diana picked her way over the rubble, careful to make sure that Devrim’s care package wouldn’t rip.

“Like I said, I’m out of ideas, unless you know of somewhere else we can go…’S not like we can go chill with Asher anymore…” She paused down the dimly lit corridor and sighed. “I miss him.”

“I know,” Joel touched his feckle to her cheek and accepted the loving caress she gave him that pinned him to her cheek gently. “I do too.”

“So this is the one place I can think of that...they won’t know to look and if they did think to look, I don’t think he’d tell.” Diana finished softly. She was outside the  little alcove now and started to go inside but hesitated.

“What's wrong?” Joel asked, blinking his yellow cat eye and watching how she hesitated. It wasn’t like her.

“I should ask permission…” She said firmly. “This is the one place that’s his and his alone...if I were just to barge in here and use it without asking? I’d be taking that away from him, I’d be just as bad as Spider. We’re not that close...in reality. He might think...I’m overstepping boundaries if I don’t ask…” The heavy silence in the air didn’t last long before she asked, “Can you patch me into a secure line to him?”

“Just a moment.” Joel busied himself with twitching, extending his shell and rotating back and forth until the sound of static washed away and a familiar voice asked.

“Who is this?”

“Glint, it’s us. It’s secure right?” Joel asked, replacing his shell to its rightful shape. Diana noticed one of his cat ears was coming untapped and tried to push it back down in place, only to knock it off and make her gasp in both shock and sadness.

“Of course!” Glint’s voice perked up, “It’s the Guardian and her Ghost!”

“You can call me Joel,” Ghost reminded him, “And Di.”

“New news on Xivu Arath or some wrathborn? A new cryptolith?” Crow’s voice came over the coms and Joel watched Diana pause in her fussing over his shell.

“No,” Diana admitted after a moment of silence. “I’ve...I’ve been given some...a reprieve…” She said slowly, remembering once what Glint had said over coms after a hunt. “But I…” She paused again and the lights inside her mouth dimmed with a sigh. “Could I...Would it bother you if I...used your...nest, for a while?”

“It’s most certainly not a nest.” Crow said a little too quickly. Diana could practically hear the flush to his blue-grey face. “But...why? I thought you would have a place in the tower in the last city?”

“I do, but not everyone understands the need for...alone time.” Diana admitted.

“About your report, could you do this run for me, we should go out tonight, could you sit in on this mission debriefing, we need someone on coms for this vanguard operation, could you help me adjust my sights,” Joel started listening off all the things that had been asked of them when they had returned to the tower the last time. “It’s like it never ends. We used to go hide out on Io when things got like this…”

“I see.” Crow interjected before silence could fall and swallow them up. “You...need a place to breathe for a while. Of course, feel free. I’m...honored that I could help you this way...Guar--”

“Di.” Diana reminded.

“Di…” Crow’s voice was soft, like he was afraid of breaking her name should he say it with too much force. “I’m sorry it’s such a mess, I haven’t been out there in a while and Glint’s a terrible maid.”

“It’s not my fault you keep everything you find that has a little shine to it.” Glint said playfully, hinting at his name.

“It’s not exactly comfortable either, but it works...in a pinch.” Crow continued, ignoring Glint’s jest. “Use it as long as you like.”

“Thanks,” Diana smiled and looked inside the alcove at the small collection of crow’s things. “I owe you one.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Crow chuckled softly, “You could have used it and I never would have known. It’s not as if I’m in and out of there a lot these days.”

“Boundaries and Respect are important.” Diana told him firmly. “Guardians and good people a like do not trample over either…” She put a hand to her head and realized how much like Quin she sounded. She shook her metal head and continued. “Want me to get you some time off?” Diana asked as she stepped through the crack that served as the door. “You deserve it as much as I do.”

“Spider wouldn’t allow--”

“Spider won’t know the difference if I tell him I need you in the EDZ to track down Hive movement. Maybe they’re trying to set up a cryptolith here? Savathun did find that piece of the Traveler where we found the new Hawkmoon.”

“Not to mention we could give you a run through on being a Lightbearer. Guardian school if you will. More tips and tricks to make you more effective for Spider.” Joel added, his shell contracting in the way that made Diana say it looked like a smile.

“Time away from Spider,” Diana said in a singsong voice, “Nice hot fires under the stars, good drinks. Stories swapped.” She flopped down on the sleeping bag Crow had left on the concrete slab and regretted it, there was still a bit of debris under it and it hurt. “R and R is just as important to Guardians as it is to non-lightbearers.” She added with a grunt.

“That’s true...I just don’t think Spider would allow it.” Crow sounded defeated, tired and annoyed.

“Well, I am not going back to work for a bit….you think about it and when you want me to, I’ll talk to Spider.” Diana stood and rolled the sleeping bag up, watching how the dust and concrete of the collapsing ceiling was leaving a layer of dust on everything.

“Spider called him.” Glint said in a hushed tone, “I think some time off and not so alone would be good for him. He’s been obsessing over these Cryptoliths. He’s so sad to see the Eliskni that was good to him turn into...wrathborn…”

“He needs time away just as much as we do,” Joel sighed.

“It would be good for him, all he does is talk about work, and when he asks about Guardian things, he feels like such a stranger to it all. I think a fellow Guardian talking to him would make it feel more real, for now its just...stories of something he thinks he doesn’t deserve..” During the pause, Joel and Diana gave a look to one another. Sadness. Fatigue. Guilt. “I’ve been called by Spider, cutting the link. You two have a good rest.”

“Glint--” Joel started to speak but then hesitated. “The line’s dead.” He rotated to see Diana removing rubble from the concrete slab and cleaning it off with her hand. “This place really is a mess...huh?”

“He’s tried to make it his own…” Diana said softly. “It reminds me...of that cave in the Cosmodrome we had when we first started out...Remember?”

“Heh.” Joel floated closer and bobbed before rolling his shell over. “You kept Hive bones until you heard about Dredgen Yor, then you dumped them all over the cliffside and wanted nothing more to do with them.”

“Got rid of the dice I whittled too.” She nodded and replaced the sleeping bag, stretching it out to find it wouldn’t fit, the slab was too short. She glanced around the tiny alcove, at all of Crow’s belongings. A sleeping bag that had holes in it. A pristine Dawning bowl. His death shroud. A hive knight sword from when he save Osiris. A table and chair. A tool chest as tall as her and tools to fill it with. 8 things. He only owned 8 things. Yet the room told so much about him.

He was a repairer. Using things left over and forgotten to serve a new purpose. “It’s almost...poetic...or.” She laughed, “Ironic, whichever you wanna look at it...I guess…”

“What is?” Joel had floated off on his own, inspecting the crack in the wall that filtered in some sunlight from a room beyond the rubble.

“He takes things that are broken or forgotten. Things people don’t think twice about because to them it's used up and gives it new life...new purpose…” She picked up the bowl and placed it on the sleeping bag. “Like a guardian...we were just empty shells until you guys came along.” She smiled at Joel who twitched in silent thought. “You found me, an empty shell. Having used up all my life and been lost to time and the elements and you gave me a purpose. You brought new life into me and told me what I could do to help those around me.” She picked up his death shroud and frowned. “Uldren was a cold hearted bastard of a person.” Her grip tightened on the cloth before she sighed heavily.

“He paid his price. Blood for blood. Eye for an Eye. The debt for Cayde was settled. I know his tapes said he’d be…” She started folding the shroud gently. “Crow was a shell that was tossed away. People were trying to forget...or avoid remembering for the time. Including myself...And Glint gave him new life and purpose. He’s a guardian now. He’s not who he was before. And now he takes things Spider tries to throw away or has forgotten about and makes them into new things.” When the shroud was folded into the shape of a flag, she placed it into the bowl and busied herself cleaning off the slab where it had been placed haphazardly. “He’s just like a Ghost that way. A repairman. An artist..” She recalled the art form he had mentioned before when she saw his nest the first time. “He mentioned an artform with precious metals...do you know what it's called?”

“I hadn’t when he first mentioned it, but I talked to Zavala’s ghost and he knew what it was called, apparently it's called Kintsugi, or kintsukuroi, it’s a Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.  It treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.” He paused for a moment and flew a little lower, “Oh, I see what you mean.”

Diana straightened up the room in silence for a while. Dusting everything with her hands as best she could and being as gentle as possible. It didn’t take her long to clean up the room, tossing out the debris into the hall. She looked around and realized it wasn’t cleaning she wanted to do.

“I wanna do something nice for him.” She said out loud, throwing out a fist sized piece of concrete into the hall. “And I don’t mean dusting.” Joel was flying around the room and scanning the area, inspecting the walls and ceiling.

“He doesn’t have a lot does he?” he asked as he came down to her height. “We could get a few things for him.”

“Yeah..spruce the place up a bit...he deserves better than this but…” She glanced at the shroud sticking up from the bowl where she had placed it. “Baby steps.”

“What do you think he would like?” Joel asked.

“Anything is better than this…” she glanced at the mop bucket in the corner, and cringed. “We could get him a sturdy cot to sleep on. A better sleeping bag…” She looked back to his area and tilted her head, “Another table, a chair...we could clear these slabs out.” She kicked at the one he had been using for a bed. “Hang that sword up.” She pointed to the sword as it was propped up against the wall, waiting to topple over. “And a heater…”

“A heater?” Joel asked, spinning back to watch her as she nodded.

“It’ll be snowing soon. If he’s gonna get time off and come stay, then he’s gonna need heat...and some food that won’t spoil…” Her faceplates shifted to show irritation. “The boy doesn’t even have the basic necessities to live on his own. He won’t be under Spider’s four thumbs forever.”

“You think he’s going to let Crow go eventually?” Joel didn’t sound convinced, but when Diana settled her cyan eyes on him, he knew that look. He’d seen it before the battle against Crota...Oryx...Gaul and the darkness. It was what he called her ‘try me’ look.

“Oh he will. And we’re getting that bomb outta Glint too.” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Glint doesn’t deserve that treatment, and neither does Crow. The boys are literally as pure as new fallen snow, and Crow’s as green as Venus.”

“I remember when Leland used to say the same about you,” Joel offered softly, flying close to her chest, his sign he wanted to be held in her hands. She obliged him, cradling him gently and stroking his feckle lovingly.

“I’m not gonna comment on that,” she chuckled and planted a kiss on her Ghost’s shell. Going to sit on the sleeping bag. “I guess this means we’re going back to the city after all.”

“What are we gonna tell people who ask what we’re doing?” Joel twitched his shell so he was looking up at Di from her hands she stared longingly at the Dawning bowl.

“That we’re helping out a kinderguardian. They’re new and scared to come to the city. Or that I’m literally burying myself in a hole and making a fuck off bunker so people will leave me alone for once.” She stopped and blinked, “By the light, I sound like Osris now.”

“I like the second one better,” Joel laughed, “It sounds more like you than Osiris.”

Both of them laughed, their voices bouncing off the three and a half walls until it sounded like it would drown all their sorrows. They hadn’t laughed like that in a while. It made Diana sad to realize this. She tried not to look at it, but it was like a living thing staring at her. The death shroud. One of the triangle corners was peeking up from the bowl and taunting her until she stared at it.

“I’m not...weird am I?” She asked Joel, still staring at the white cloth.

“Is that a question you want me to answer honestly, or be serious?” Joel asked with mirth still in his voice.

“No, I mean…” Diana’s tone made Joel twitch in her hands, bringing her attention to him. “I know I didn’t remember anything, not a thing when you brought me back. But you said I’d been dead a long time...I’ve never…” She trailed off and looked toward the floor. “I’ve never run into anyone who recognized me before. But Uldren...he…” She sighed. “He killed dad...I know I said Crow was different and he IS but…” she made a clicking noise. “Sometimes when it gets quiet, and I see him, I can still SEE Uldren there. Does that make me a bad person?” She looked to Joel sadly. “Am I a horrible person because I sometimes still see him inside someone who's new? If Crow didn’t have the same meatsuit...if he’d been changed into an Exo like me when he was first brought back...I woulda never known….I wouldn’t be...questioning myself like this.” She looked to the shroud again. “He’d just be a new guardian. A fellow exo. A nice guy...But I find myself wanting to reach out to him. Be...more than kind to him. To be someone for him and then that moment happens when I don’t see Crow, I see…and then I feel like I’m betraying Dad’s memory by being chummy with the meatsuit that killed my leader...”

“I could tell,” Joel admitted softly, speaking in barely a whisper, as if afraid the truth would cause the ground to swallow them up. “When you two are having a good talk and it gets quiet, I see the way you look at him. It’s kindness and then fear, mixed with guilt.” He twitched again and the eye blinked. The other ear was starting to come loose and Diana peeled it off with a gentle hand. “You’re trying so hard to not hold him accountable for a crime you know Crow didn’t commit. But it’s still the same face. It’s still the same hand.” he blinked again, “It’s a situation I don’t think any other guardian has ever had to face like this before.” Only a heartbeat passed before he added. “I don’t think it makes you a bad person, I think you’re struggling with a situation that no one else has ever had to be in before and you’re doing a lot better than others who have seen his face.” He flew up from her hands and hovered a little ways from her face.

“You loved Cayde like a father, and he was taken from you by someone you didn’t particularly care for when you knew him. Now that person is no more, but their body is still up walking around with someone new inside...sorta. It’s like that pottery thing, he has his scars. His past is part of him, but he has a new life and a new outlook.” he tilted his shell toward the ground. “Uldren hated Guardians, he tried to make our life hell when we had to deal with the awoken. But,” he titled his shell upward and squinched himself into a smile, “I’ve seen Crow absolutely light up when you walk in a room. He’s excited to see you, to work with you. If that’s not proof he’s totally different then I dunno what would be.”

When she didn’t respond he bonked her on the forehead with his feckle and made her blink at him in bewilderment. “Others have outright killed Crow when they saw his face. You didn’t.”

“I tried…” She put a hand on the spot where he hit her. “If Quin hadn’t stopped me...I would have put a bullet in him.”

“Are you glad she stopped you?” Joel asked firmly.

“Yes?” she sounded unsure, when Joel tightened his shell around him she felt like he was glaring at her so she repeated with conviction. “....Yes. I am.”

“Would you put a bullet in him now?” Joel’s voice was hard, he was trying to test her resolve. He already knew he answer, he just needed her to know it.

“No, absolutely not, I’d...” She paused and remembered her fight with Hunter-1, they still hadn’t spoken since they introduced Crow to him. When he tried to murder Crow, even after learning he was a guardian and Uldren no more. Quin had ushered Crow to safety while Diana wrestled with the fellow Exo. He hadn’t looked at her the same since. On Wrathborn hunts he wouldn’t watch her back anymore, and he would ignore her when she spoke to him. “I’d fight those who would try...”

“Then you’re already leaps and bounds ahead of others.” Joel told her with a flip. “And the fact you want to give him what he needs to survive on his own, until he can be accepted as Crow and not as Uldren, shows you have compassion for him.” He tilted his shell halfway, like he was being coy. “And do not think for one millisecond I haven’t seen you smile at him with that same look you used to give Drifter either missy.”

“I. Give. No. Looks.” Diana’s voice was low, gravely, she was willing to die on this hill.

“And I wasn’t born in the Light.” Joel gave a small hummpf sound before flying out of the crack, forcing Diana to follow along behind him if she wanted to argue.

[diana-3]

Now thats a pretty sight lol