#toland the sarky

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Destiny + text posts 15/?

#destiny + text posts #phylaks #the shipstealer #kelgorath #the navigator #aunt savatûn #1000 voices #big bird #toland the sarky #destiny 2 #ghosts of the deep #scorn barons #shitposting tag

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My piece of an AMAZING collab @synnthamonsugar, @endivinity and I put together for @d2artevents Crimson Days event. This was such a fun thing to work on with you guys, and I’m extremely proud of us!!

Read on Ao3 // Full piece

Light filters through the massive rosette window on the far wall of the ballroom as thin, shimmering beams. It dances on moth wings and Wizards’ crystal pendants and rows of glasses carried on trays by Thrall waiters, their claws trimmed and chitin polished to shining. The walls and floor are polished too, almost mirror-like; the chamber reflects in them in an uncanny way, diffused and a little warped, the figures moving across them deformed and blurry at the edges but not entirely passing as shadows either.

And there are dozens of them, Knights and Wizards and even a few Acolytes in wormsilk cloaks and woven hoods. The Witch Queen hasn’t been known to hold back when it comes to theatrics, so the party is lavish, all flowers and garlands and hovering lanterns with shimmering moths fluttering inside. There is music as well—sounding surprisingly little like the tortured screams of the dying, played on strange instruments Eris has only read about in the World’s Grave but never seen before.

And there is dancing.

Through all her years of studying the Hive, Eris wouldn’t have thought they danced. Maybe it would have occurred to her earlier if she'd ever discussed it with Toland; he's always seen them as both more and less than she has, not only mindless beasts and not only gods. He would've said, of course they dance, they're a complex, highly advanced society, the kind that had built palaces and dreadnaughts before the Earth was even created. They have music and art and insanely complicated biotechnological mechanisms, philosophy and cuisine—why wouldn't they dance?

Toland is, at the moment, spinning away from her in a flowing gesture, his fan rising like a shield when she chases him with her sword. He has always been good at this, Eris thinks fleetingly—ever since those scarce and liminal nights a lifetime ago, when he would dance with Eriana in the yellow lamplight of her living room to whatever it was the radio played at 3 am. There is a sense of rhythm all Sunsingers have, perhaps, a certain attunement to the melody of the universe, and for all that Toland forfeited for Ascendance, he’s never lost that instinct.

He looks ridiculous, frankly, in his half-Warlock, half-Hive attire, the charms that tinkle louder than the music and sleeves catching on the buckles of her coat. He also looks gorgeous. The fabric flows and shimmers as he moves, and in a certain light, in the split-second glances between turns, Eris can almost see his true form underneath, the shivering spark of Ascendance wrestling free from her grasp as he sharply pulls away.

When the dance ends, they are both panting and bright-eyed, the rush of blood and adrenaline humming in Eris’ ears. It is not unlike after a fight, she figures; aptly put, for a Hive party.

She catches Toland glancing back at the cluster of Wizards over by the buffet, their claws wrapped around wine glasses and horns adorned with pendants glinting in the light. They have been staring at them since he dragged Eris onto the dance floor, and though she can’t quite interpret their expressions from so far away, the spark in their eyes is unmistakeable. She gives Toland a Look.

“Do try to return with a correct number of limbs,” she says mock-sternly. Toland scoffs, but his hands snake across her back and she is pulled into an embrace, long fingers knitting through her hair. She revels in the kiss, spiced up by the awareness that a good half of the room is looking at them.

As he scurries away, robes fluttering behind him, Eris gestures at a Thrall precariously balancing a tray of snacks in one hand. She has grown used to the Hive's questionable taste in sweet, mushy things, though the variance in what the Lucent Court's cooks have presented for tonight is truly astonishing. Chewing on a clam, she leans against a pillar and watches the dancers.

“I see you are enjoying the party.” She decidedly does not jump in startlement at the sudden presence behind her, head turning to face the hostess of the show in a much calm and stately manner. “My Court is certainly enjoying watching you, anyhow.”

“I’ve noticed.” She doesn’t take the wine glass Savathûn offers her.

“That was a good display of dancing right there,” the Witch nods appraisingly, a gesture so very un-Hive she must have picked it up during her time in the Last City, “though it lacked a kind of flourish. It grieves me to no end that you’ll never experience the delights of the Eversion Day balls on the Dreadnaught. Those waltzes were what everyone all across the broods would aspire to.”

Eris folds her arms across the chest. “I haven’t seen you on the dance floor tonight yet.”

Savathûn puts one hand over her heart and gasps theatrically, “I thought you’d never ask!”

In a swirl of fabric and light, suddenly there is a weight at the small of Eris’ back, and clawed fingers wrapped around her own lead her towards the middle of the chamber. The sea of dancers parts before them, heads turning and glowing eyes blinking curiously.

There is no use resisting, but she tries anyway. “This is not—”

“Oh, don’t break my heart, honey.” Savathûn’s voice is a silky murmur. Eris cannot quite tell if it's just illusion or if the Witch is using some kind of magic to fool with her mind a little, but the moment she is pulled into a closed position the atmosphere shifts near-imperceptibly, like a planet's orbit knocked askew by an inch. There is the sweet, heady scent of the throne world flowers, lingering around Savathûn like perfume. It makes Eris lightheaded. She finds her gaze fixed on the Witch’s brilliant eyes as if the star-dappled collar were a gravity well, drawing her in inescapably.

The waltz is slow and languid, so unlike the mad duel-dancing of the Hive. The edges between her and Savathûn seem to blur, the whole world shrinking just to the two of them, and some part of Eris’ mind thinks that this is mad too, the way she is letting herself be swept across the room like a ship in the arms of a gentle wave. Their faces inches apart, Eris curses herself for how furiously her heart is beating.

Savathûn reaches out and caresses her jaw with a single claw, smiling with her eyes. The music dies, but Eris isn’t aware of that, she isn’t even quite aware of where she is—and then someone bumps into her and she jumps, startled, head swivelling to the side instinctively. When she turns back, the Witch is gone.

Eris takes a sharp breath. She is standing in the middle of the dance floor, the crowds of Hive swirling around her, and there is a strange sensation on the side of her neck, like a feather-brush or a droplet of water trailing down.

When she touches it to check, her finger comes stained with her own blood, red like the train of flowers Savathûn leaves in her wake.

#my fics #d2valentines2024 #aunt savathûn #eris morning #toland the sarky #destiny 2 #hive #lucent brood

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we were talking about couples arguing at Target

#eris/toland #ships #shitposting tag #destiny 2 #eris morning #toland the sarky

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when do ghosts have nightmares

“I entered the Hellmouth with a sense of fateful inevitability. We would all die, or worse. I knew this to be true. Woefully unprepared was what we were. I stand by that. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t respect them. I did then, and I always will.” – Toland, the Shattered

Even in his formless form, Toland is not spared the torment of phantoms.

Read on Ao3

#fireteam sad #my fics #toland the sarky #eris morning #sai mota #omar agah #eriana-3 #vell tarlowe #eris/toland #destiny 2 #nightmares

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This Book Is Full of Lies — chapter 12

Come with me, Ór thinks. Tell me you’re worried and you don’t trust Toland and I’m making a massive, stupid mistake, and say you’ll come with me.

“Let’s go get coffee,” she says instead.

Chapter 12: Ring of Spears

#keeping up the tradition of updating this fic every half a year 😔 #The Filler ChapterTM #this book is full of lies #my fics #ór #oc #sad man from the basement #toland the sarky #eris morning #ikora rey #gensym scribe #traveler #destiny 2

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Drifter traps Toland in the gambit bank like in a jar reblog if you agree

#this WILL be a scene in Book #toland the sarky #sad man from the basement

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Destiny + text posts 14/?

(shoutout to @theshitpostcalligrapher for the worm one)

#destiny + text posts #shitposting tag #mara sov #will of thousands #eater of what's left #the navigator #petra venj #toland the sarky #aurash #sathona #xi ro #worm gods #sad man from the basement #destiny 2

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Toland for Character Impression ask pls

Weird Hive-obsessed old man, asdfhjk. He neither repulsed nor fascinated me, I thought of him like of a strange animal you see in the zoo and go “man, that’s a weird animal” and call your dad over like “hey come look at this weird animal”. But then I read STM (prompted by the “ewww Eris/Toland?!” first impression, it seemed like such a fucking weird ship that HAD to check it out) and my fate was sealed.

#ty! #toland the sarky #anon #reply

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So hear me out.

There’s this crazy story about an episode of a Russian TV show that aired in 1991, where the reporter held a mock interview with a guy impersonating a historian revolving around his “findings” that Vladimir Lenin, due to consuming large quantities of psychedelic mushrooms (and said mushrooms being made out of radio waves), eventually became a mushroom and a radio wave himself. You can read more about it on Wikipedia and in these two articles [1] [2], it’s a real thing.

In a prolonged conversation between me and @aceofdumbass​ we came down to the realisation that Savathûn, the Witch Queen, would indeed be a mushroom and a radio wave--if we assume that her viral Song is in some way a part of her, and it is proven that she can change her shape. The Witness represents the point of equilibrium, the final shape, perfect balance between both axes as well as the cold finality of nothingness, belonging to each and none of the categories at once. Besides it, this final symmetry has been so far attained only by Telesto, because as we know Telesto is the final shape.

The rest of the Hive/Darkness cast pretty much speaks for themselves (I love how close to each other Toland and Ir Yût ended up being, something I hadn’t planned), Savathûn encapsulating both energies to the fullest, yet in a form furthest and most different from the Witness. I wanted to add Crota as the most fungus/fungus, but Jenna argued he would be a “weak fungus” and didn’t deserve a place at the table.

With this introduction, I present to you our magnum opus:

#lenin is the final shape more news at 11 #i don't expect this post to get more than four notes #shitposting tag #beautiful creation #aunt savathûn #anime eyes #telesto #immaru #worm (derogatory) #azavath #eris morning #rhulk #little war sister #the navigator #toland the sarky #mara sov #destiny 2 #never thought i'd have to explain the backstory of a meme but here we are

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This Book Is Full of Lies - Chapter 11

“Come home,” the words sweep past her, past the burning rage, faint like birdsong in midst of a hurricane. The Gardener’s face fades to white. Savathûn reaches for her blindly—to hurt or to hold her back, she doesn’t know—but the vision blurs into a frenzy of colour and sound, pressing on her from all sides, pushing the breath out of her lungs. She falls forward through Light, blinded by it, carried by the breeze that still sings to her, pleading, “Come home.”

Chapter 11: Proof Against Despair

#:> #my fics #this book is full of lies #destiny 2 #ór #oc #runi #toland the sarky #aunt savathûn #our little brother #taken #the light

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11, 12, 13 for Toland

11. Would you date this character?

Is that even a question

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I know everyone draws his human form with green eyes, but I imagine him with brown! Something like chestnut/maroon? Not very dark, but lacking that green-yellow tint.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

🕳 (nobody in the first crota fireteam group chat knows what the fuck he means by that. they assume it's the hellmouth, but they are wrong. he does not correct them)

#ty! #reply #npc talk #synnthamonsugar #toland the sarky

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shower thoughts from earlier today: what if toland was right about the sword logic explaining /everything/ -- and I mean NOT the final shape, but the sword logic, as constant testing, constant strife? I was thinking about what could potentially be the resolution between the Gardener and Winnower and circled back to my idea that the universe can only exist at the point of tension between them, and that they can't exist in harmony by their very nature--so they would always be clashing for the universe to exist, so the explanation for everything in the universe would be a neverending battle, and so Toland would have been right. I'm sorry if it sounds very chaotic, the shower was short.

#i like my lore with coffee #the darkness #the light #sword logic #toland the sarky #destiny 2

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First Crota Fireteam as told in shitposts

Omar & Toland

Omar & Vell

Eriana & Omar

Eris & Sai

Omar & Sai

Omar & Eris

[by mothcub]

Eriana & Vell

Eris & Eriana

Vell & Sai

[by mothcub]

Vell & Eris

Eris & Toland

Toland & Vell

Toland & Sai

[by mothcub]

Toland & Eriana

Eriana & Sai

Bonus: Wei & Toland

#shitposting tag #'i was bored' is a lame excuse for this post but it's the only one i have #fireteam sad #eris morning #sai mota #omar agah #toland the sarky #eriana-3 #vell tarlowe #wei ning #destiny 2

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Eris and Toland for the character ask thing?

Eris:

favorite thing about them: there's an endless list of things I love about her, but one of the main ones is that "recovery is a spiral, not a circle" aspect of her. How sometimes your experiences change you so much that you can never return to the way you used to be, but that doesn't mean you can't heal. How these shadows will always remain with you, but you can use them to your advantage and draw something good out of them. It gives me a lot to think about, what with my own journey of wrestling with mental disorders for almost 8 years and slowly moving towards the realisation that maybe I will never recover = revert to the time before the illness

least favorite thing about them: there are a few instances of her just... forgetting fun exists? Like she *does* have a quite dry sense of humour and she can be witty, but at a few moments in the game she berates other characters for joking around in a way that doesn't feel natural at all to me, as if only to keep the veneer of her being the Serious One. It's odd, and a bit cringe

favorite line: "Be safe, Gensym Scribe. A storm is coming. And I will not be at your side when it finds its way to our shores."

brOTP: asher <3

OTP: toland probably, lol. tho I like drifteris and eris/sav a great deal as well

nOTP: eris/guardian, if only for the reason that I've never seen it done in a way that's interesting to me personally. But there *is* potential there

random headcanon: she lost a toe in the hellmouth

unpopular opinion: fireworks (among other things) send her into a panic attack because ptsd from mare imbrium

song i associate with them: oh I have a whole (albeit short) playlist!

favorite picture of them: that artwork in Grimoire vol 1 of her with Touch of Malice..... I want it framed on my wall

--

Toland:

favorite thing about them: probably his eagerness to help us slay oryx as the proof of his devotion to the sword logic. I'm so !!! about it!

least favorite thing about them: his eagerness to fuck with people's minds to get what he wants

favorite line: his monologue in the Awakening mission!! "You walk blind above an abyss, full of trust for a friendly voice" and the rest of it <3

brOTP: eriana and sai and sjur!!!!

OTP: eris. and ir yût, of course :p

nOTP: tbh I've never encountered a *bad* toland ship, maybe because there are so few toland ships out there in the first place, so I dunno

random headcanon: he is/was being haunted by the nightmares of his fireteam on the moon as well

unpopular opinion: before the hellmouth, he'd told eris and eriana point blank that he was not here for crota and he'd be showing himself out to ir yût's dwelling place the moment he got the chance

song i associate with them: I have a playlist as well, but if I had to choose just one it would be Firelight by Young the Giant OR Leave My Body by Florence + the Machine

favorite picture of them: lol kek imagine having pictures of toland. Tho there is that one drawing someone made of two guardians playing tennis with him as the ball

#ty otter!! #ask game #eris morning #toland the sarky #headcanon #ships #npc talk #reply

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toland

I would try to hug him and he would make an EWW song and dunk me right on top of somebody’s Oversoul because he absolutely cannot land a punch let’s be real

#ty hehe #reply #synnthamonsugar #toland the sarky #unhinged blorbos

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I had a dream I got reprimanded for referring to Toland as Toland the Shitted on Vanguard coms

Honestly though I'm not sure whether the actual Vanguard would reprimand or applaud you for that

#ikora hiding her smile behind a datapad #reply #anon #toland the sarky