Sangheili : "It is so over...
Catholics : "Our boss wears a big funny hat."
Sangheili : "WE ARE SO BACK !"

A Sangheli whos shattered belief leads him to another religion and becomes a devout Catholic priest

Grunts loved human culture and would routinely bring back humanmade contraband- so there is most likely a grunt out there with a bodypillpw

Imagine calling the exterminator for a nest of worms under your house and it turns out to be a lekgolo colony. Next thing you know, the walls really are talking and your house is turning into a scarab.

the cole protocol worked so well that when the covenant DID find earth, they didnt know it was in human-occupied space, much less humanity's homeworld

A Sanghelli Ultra operating a noodle cart in Tokyo, and becoming a weeb because of the overlap with Bushido and Sanghelli culture.

Theres a subtle chill to the idea,
"The alien horde that had destroyed their fleets, decimated their armies, burned their world, and driven humanity to the brink of extinction, had suddenly awakened to what they had done, and they were sorry ."

A buddy cop drama between a human and a grunt

If I remember the lore right, The kig-yar and sanghelli's quickly found a niche in human space. Kig-yar some how became communication and security specialists. More then a few sanghelli went out of their way to "repent" for their wrongs.

A Darktide-like game where you can play as a squad of ex-Covenant and UNSC would go hard tbh.

there is this cute cashier at the grocery store, but she is Sangheli...

I want a show called "My New Neighbor, the Elite Sangheili"

A Human and Sangheili walk into a bar.
The Sangheili picked up the human by the neck.
The Human said, "Hey. How yah doin?"

I like to believe that an elite was in a store trying to figure out human currency to buy a slushie or something like that lol

Just picturing getting off work to go have beers with boys, that includes a grunt, 3 humans, 2 elites, and a jackle lmao just vibing, swapping stories and jokes

There were a lot of Sanhelli that were already starting to question the prophets long before the end of the war.  Many did not understand why the humans were being exterminated instead of being invited into the covenant like all the other races had been.  They had a lot of respect for human soldiers and many actually felt bad about what they were doing.  I would say a lot of those were also asylum seekers after the war and many likely joined the arbiters faction when it emerged against the prophets at the end of the war.

A jackal that becomes a ruthless gang lord and loan shark

Honestly, a game where you play as a squad of sanghelli stranded on Earth, being hunted by hoards of human forces hellbent on revenge AND your supposed saviors in the Brutes slaughtering you on sight would go HARD. Honestly, I feel like that's a concept that needs to be a dedicated full length novel at least.

From the Anvil Accord waypoint chronicle, a letter from lord hood to the arbiter:

> Not long ago, I told you that I couldn’t forgive your kind for the atrocities committed against mine. I still struggle with it, but our recent deployment to Sanghelios with Infinity opened my eyes to the reality that things are far more complicated than they seem.

> I’m sure that Infinity’s involvement in neutralizing the hostilities on your doorstep has only complicated things further for you as well. We both find ourselves having to take unconventional actions in unprecedented times. With that comes an opportunity to lay a foundation of hope for the future.

> After our last conversation, it’s become clear that we both have emerging generations for whom the Covenant War will eventually be a distant memory. Difficult as it is to imagine, there will come a time when our peoples will not carry the burdens and prejudices of the many who suffered over the last twenty-eight years... I believe they will hope to be part of something greater. Even as certain elements aim to ensure this alliance does not grow beyond a momentary accord of convenience, I have to believe that the children of our children will one day see the best in each other.

the only long term options are coexistence or extinction of one or both species, coexistence is easily the better option. why delay that and kill billions more for the same long term effect?

A phrase I think youre looking for is "Demobilization". The literal counterpart to Mobilization, "Demob" is the process by which an army is turned from a fighting force back into working civilians - and its arguably one of the hardest parts of fighting major wars. Peace can't happen without demobilization.