#AI aloy is a problem

[talershan]

Today I gotta write about a problem and opportunity the industry faces with the AI boom. The reality is that AI could be a useful tool but only if it doesn't come with cutting jobs and cutting creativity out of the process. AI should never be used to replace human input and actors and personality in a game.

[hannahmationstudios]

Heyyy! After an age I've updated my post-HFW Kotaloy longfic, Fallen Skies, on AO3! Read Ch.27 here.

Fallen Skies is an epic-length slowburn with a major focus on original worldbuilding and adventure. Right now Aloy is trapped in a nightmare she has to be smart to escape... but does she have the will to make it through to the other side to be reunited with her friends? And will she be able to save Kotallo from the inescapable fate that seems to have befallen him?

Fic Summary:

Six months after the defeat of the Zeniths, HEPHAESTUS is still nowhere to be found, and its absence has started to cause more problems than its presence ever did. Meanwhile, in the months since losing HEPHAESTUS into the Cauldron network, Aloy has become all but consumed with her attempts to find it, to the point of losing track of everything else important to her. Knowing NEMESIS is still on its way to earth, Aloy soon finds herself juggling HEPHAESTUS’ disappearance with preparation for the arrival of the malicious AI—but when a new, even more complicated threat makes itself known, she realizes the things she prepared for are only the tip of the iceberg.

(Art by Haunteddollco)

[curioussubjects]

After spending the whole weekend grumpy and ruminating about Burning Shores, I think I finally figured out what has me so bothered about Aloy and Seyka's relationship. I wasn't gonna post anything about it beyond the one salty post because nobody needs to hear me go on and on about what's essentially an "I don't wike it" complaint. But the more I thought about the more I started to realize that my problem with Burning Shores is tied to the one big problem I have with Horizon as a whole, which is that Guerilla really seems to struggle with balancing Aloy's position as the protagonist and letting companions shine as characters of their own who can go on quests with Aloy without being useless or getting in the way (or both! too often both!).

I care about the gameplay mechanics less than the writing because the gameplay stuff seems more like level design growing pains than anything else. And we have examples of it being done quite well to (Varl in the tutorial portion of Forbidden West) annoying (here's looking at you Cauldron in Frozen Wilds) or, well, useless as combat support (always, in my experience, with the exception of how it was handled in Zero Dawn's final battle). However, I wouldn't have as much an issue with this gameplay fumble if it wasn't for the impression that the narrative wants me to believe Seyka is somehow immune to it. Or more of an equal to Aloy in terms of ability and responsibility than anyone else, which is just not the case. Everyone plays third fiddle to Aloy because Horizon doesn't actually have a party system! There's nothing special about Aloy and Seyka taking turns with a ballista, or whatever. Seyka was still surplus during combat, or straight up in my way, just like everyone else. That said, I don't know if the experience is different in higher difficulties because I play strictly on story mode, so make of that what you will.

So the writing. It actually pains me a little bit to write this because I love Horizon's story so much (and this should tell y'all something because I detest what if AIs were people plots). I love the characters and I absolutely am bonkers for its worldbuilding. No other game has made me cry as much or be as angry (fuck you, Ted). Yet, sometimes the characters do fall a little flat when they interact with each other. Conversations between Aloy and NPCs often don't flow well from one topic to the next, and they can end abruptly too, in a way that goes beyond the Aloy's conversational skills. The pacing is a bit wonky, too, in how quickly bonds develop or transition. Not that this is always the case since there are some great characters moments, and I also think introducing the Base was a solid step in making everything feel more cozy and believable. I guess what I'm trying to say is that too often I feel I'm being presented relationship concepts, but not being given the time to let those relationships develop organically. Perhaps also a case of growing pains; it just sucks that a game so well put together narratively can struggle with something so central to its interests.

But anyway, this post is actually about Burning Shores and why the whole romance subplot with Seyka and Aloy was so...bland to me. The problem lies primarily with how Seyka was conceptualized as character-- or, well, how it comes off: she really seems to have been created to be Aloy's love interest first, and a character in her own right second. It's like Guerilla just asked themselves what would make a great love interest for Aloy and, though the answer was someone who can keep up with her, they ended up careening straight into Aloyx2 with a Seyka veneer, and not much else.

Seyka is a great hunter and warrior, she bucks tradition to stand for what's right, she's kind of an outcast now, she has sister issues! She got herself a focus she wasn't supposed to have and it made it really hard for her to fall in line with the Quen's social structure! They even rappel the same! But who IS Seyka outside of Aloy and wanting to be with Aloy? How IS she affected by so suddenly stepping outside of her social role? She seemed to have been quite comfortable in it before, so how much is she struggling, really? How is her experience different from Aloy's since Seyka wasn't actually ever an outcast (and I mean the Admiral was in her corner the whole time). Did she have other ties to the tribe beyond her sister?

I don't know, guys, for a character that was meant to be so central to Burning Shores, I came out of the game knowing precious little about her. And as a result, there's a complete lack of tension between her and Aloy, and it'd be so easy for it not to be the case! Even their banter is more like stock competitiveness than anything interesting, which was a missed opportunity because there was an alternative to that was just begging to be leaned into more: Aloy didn't have to be the serious one for once! Their banter as the player explores Pangea Park was such a fun variation of usual commentary. Plus, Aloy's "miss me?" line when she comes back from exploring on her own was super cute. But to make their relationship compelling, Seyka would've needed to be her own person first, rather than a collection of Things She Has In Common With Aloy.

To make matters worse, what the narrative tells me is special about Seyka and Aloy's relationship isn't so special after all when it's echoed across Aloy's relationships with several other characters. How many times to we see characters be more than capable to hold their own in a fight alongside Aloy? How many characters are also shown to be smart enough to keep up with her? And how many characters are trying SO HARD to share Aloy's burden with her? Or who could share common ground with some of the things Aloy struggles with? And all the while, these characters are all very distinct not only from each other, but from Aloy herself and their dynamic with her. If Seyka is more successful than they are, well, why is she? And why aren't they? Because the plot demands it isn't really enough of a reason when you're shooting for character-driven storytelling.

Of course, it just adds insult to injury that the whole relationship develops in the span of what a month? At most? So that scenes like Aloy comforting Seyka halfway through the DLC don't seem like's it's been earned. It might have been a better bet to have swapped Seyka and Alva's introductions to the story. It's worth noting, too, that I only care so much because I'm not convinced Seyka is just a summer fling, so she really did deserve more than a speedrun of finding love during summer camp.

On a much much smaller note: I do feel a certain way about how other potential love interests kind got exited pursued by bear during Forbidden West too with Telanah (bisexual people exist, do not come to me talking about comphet) and Varl getting love interests of their own, and Nil becoming even more of a side character lolsobs Nil HZD you will always be famous to me.

I very much hope H3 does more for Seyka because as it is I'm so not invested it's not even funny. I also live in fear that the line from the Pangea movie about coming back because the love interest is home is gonna feature in some way in their reunion and it's Not Gonna Be Convincing. Incidentally, let nobody tell you writing romance is easy.

Secret good Seyloy that exists in my head save me, etc.

And, frankly, I know people like to rebuke some criticism of Horizon with "this isn't a BioWare game," but Guerilla could do a lot worse than taking point from Dragon Age and Mass Effect in how they handle companions.

[thessalian]

Thess vs the Proving Lab

Welp. That happened.

And here we are - what's left of HADES. I mean, I'm surprised there's anything left of HADES at all, honestly. But I guess Sylens doesn't have so much a concept of mercy.

HADES, you are a shitheel. I mean, the Derangement and the Mysterious Signal probably contributed to that, but I don't think getting mucked with by Travis Tate et al helped all that much.

So ... wait ... Sylens, are you seriously telling me you left HADES alive (insomuch as an AI is alive) specifically so you could keep your word way back when you said you'd give me the means to destroy it? ...Well, if I'm running around settlements that look like Dreamer's Terrace, I guess it's fitting that I've got Fae-wording bargains coming from this dipshit.

And now you give me a schematic to let me ignite firegleam. Only when it suits you. Ugh, fine, I'll go hunt Leaplashers. (I hate Leaplashers.)

Best way to deal with Leaplashers - from the next post code over.

"Story and Easy Mode: you do not have to shoot off the power cores--" Can I ... do it anyway?

Right. Firegleam ignited. In we go!

So ... there was no mechanic for just ... letting me swim there? Really?

We're really hammering home the parallels between Sobek and Aloy, aren't we. Also ... why can I not punch Travis Tate in the face? I mean, really, I want to punch him in his face.

.........Well, this wasn't what I was expecting the "We still have dozens of hours of gameplay to give you so we'll contrive a problem" to be, but I'll take it. This game really enjoys kicking one in the metaphorical balls.

Sylens ... these are unknown quantities trying to come through the door, and you're not tellng me nearly enough, but I've done enough reading to know that the little you say you know? Is complete bullshit.

Yeah, see? Though now I'm almost regretting having crunched that particular Focus because I want a very good, very solid, "I TOLD YOU SO" right now.

(Also, if she was carrying around a spare Focus - or several, given what she told Varl at the beginning - why did she not do that six months ago? Or even when she discovered what he did to HADES? She knew Sylens had spyware! If she wanted to keep getting answers from him, she shouldn't have destroyed the spyware-filled Focus; she should have shoved it in a belt pouch and used a different one - at least until she wanted to pry answers out of Sylens again.)

...What the fuck are you people wearing? Did you get all your ideas on future fashion from Star Trek: TOS? That's tacky as fuck, guys.

Except you, Mini-Me. ...I have a Mini-Me. Great. And someone really needs to give you some actual shoes. Your feet must be cold.

(Yes, I notice this shit.)

Okay, these are not the machines I know, and ... yeah, I read a review at some point that talked about the "new machines" and how disappointing their designs were, and ... I get what they mean now. Robots should not ooze.

"One is trouble enough". Oooooh, Sylens, I wish I'd left you eavesdropping. Just because of how much you fucking hate being wrong.

Oh, so your horrible blingy jumpsuit has a forcefield on it. So this is going to be the most annoying fight ever.

...I get Aloy wanted information, but why was there no option to just jump in the damn water and swim?!? Why did she have to play some demented version of Tag to crash an entire ... whatever that fucking thing was when it wasn't even going to hurt him?!?

So jumping puzzle plus oxygen management plus stealth out the ass. This has been the most annoying fucking thing ever and I hate it. Good thing I'm way better at stealth.

...Crippling by Cutscene. THANKS FOR THAT.

Ah. Hi, Varl. Guess you're feeling better. I personally feel like shit. But I'm going to Do The Thing anyway--

Okay, that's fucking clever. The Utaru name their settlements for music because they remembered the old "do-re-mi" scale-singing from their ancestors' Cradle teachings, and let it live on in the name of their "land-gods". And this is the first civilisation that actually acknowledges what the machines were supposed to do. Everyone else treats them as a hazard at best; the Utaru worked in concert with them. So ... basically it's the Utaru that have it right. Neat.

Yeah, go be with your girlfriend, Varl. I will stay put, I promise. If only because a) the cutscene wants me to and b) I don't want to be that much of a hypocrite given everything I've said to you and Erend over the last little while. Also, c) someone ought to have a romance option that isn't one throwaway bit in the DLC.

(YES I KIND OF WANT TO ROMANCE EREND SHUT UP.)

Aaaaaaaand my ribs are better. And little green exclamation mark. Hi, Xenophobe Lady.

...Aloy? Why could you not just explain to the Xenophobe Lady what a 'thrush' is?!? Maybe she'd stop being such a bitch!

Right. I know there's all this saving-the-world stuff (though I have to admit I'm a lot less jazzed about that when I'm fighting Futuristic Techno-Gods or whatever), but I'm going to take a break and then I am going to go and ignite every bit of Firegleam I have passed so far. It has been taunting me.

(No, seriously, Futuristic Techno-Gods who bring all of the mindsets of the Old World with them? I don't want this. I am in this game for seeing how civilisations might shape themselves outside of the influence of the Old Gods - this is speculative fiction at its finest! And now you're giving me Futuristic Techno-Gods who are, in point of fact, generations old? And where were they all this time?)

(...They were in space, weren't they. IF THIS GAME SENDS ME TO SPACE I AM GOING TO THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW. METAPHORICALLY.)

Right. Yes. Break. Then, Firegleam and hunting. I ... am weirdly less jazzed about this game now that we're bringing the Old World this far into it. There's still enough for me to love, but none of it's the main plot. It's getting space-opera convoluted here - more clones, advanced technology, people treating the civilisations that formed without APOLLO as lesser--

...Wait. If we have APOLLO and DEMETER and HADES and HEPHAESTUS ... why do we have MINERVA? Every single one of the subordinate functions, and even the rogue AI Nemesis, were named for Greek gods, so why didn't they go with ATHENA?

Anyway, we're going into a vaguely colonialist direction far beyond shit like the Carja being stuck-up about everything and I am not sure I like it. Also I want to punch Sylens in the face for effectively arming the rebel Tenakth. What does he gain from destabilising the region? More to the point, what do these Techno-God dipshits gain from it? They have to be helping with that shit somehow.

[valasania-the-pale]

oooooooo please talk about "I Feel Your Blue Fingers on Me" and Trifecta Labs Lives! I'm so curious.

Will not lie, my reaction upon reading this was, "Oh, really? !!!" And then a smile with excitement haha.

Okay, so I'll knock out the easier one first; Trifecta Labs Lives was one of the WIPs I had no idea what it was about, and it turns out that that is because it's not actually mine lol. This was a set of notes I took for a friend's work (taking notation as they thought aloud in the position of helping them brainstorm, essentially) in their fictional world where a group of AI have gone rampant. It's really rather short, I think it wound up in my WIP folder because I just hit save, sent it their way, and forgot about it.

The other one, I Feel Your Blue Fingers On Me, is a Horizon Zero Dawn smut idea, oddly enough with another AI featuring.

Spoilers for Horizon Zero Dawn, specifically the Frozen Wilds DLC.

I never made it that far into this, but now that I'm reminded of it I kinda want to give it another go sometime. The premise requires a bit of background - the two featured characters would be Aloy (protagonist of HZD) and CYAN, an AI left over from the 'old world' who was supposed to just be an autonomous, psychologically stunted custodial system, but whose creators permitted a level of sapience beyond legal parameters, thus granting her emotions. Aloy meets CYAN over the course of the game, and learns that CYAN is really depressed and lonely after a few thousand years on her own.

So, the idea was based on the idea that loner Aloy would eventually form a relationship with CYAN, which by the point of the story's beginning would be comfortable enough for them to experiment with new things - in this case, playing with the idea of 'overriding' Aloy's Focus device, a concept in the HZD fandom I have seen like twice and never in writing, much less in smut.

Essentially playing with various kinks of corruption, subliminal messaging, dom/sub dynamics, hypnosis, etc., but in an ultimately wholesome consensual way.

The title would have been kind of playing on the idea of CYAN (whose projections are, unsurprisingly, blue) playing with Aloy mentally since physically doesn't work. The fingers are metaphorical; CYAN's projection is a large sphere if memory serves, not an anthropomorphic appearance. Funnily enough I'm pretty sure I last touched this idea before I realized I was asexual, and I wonder if my subconscious was trying to tell me something about not particularly being into the idea of the whole normal sex thing (I tend to vibe way more with the mental aspect of smut than the specifically physical, though they're often linked).

Idk, I just really liked CYAN a lot, she got a lot of good dialogue options and she's just so sad, you know? A thousand years of just doing complicated math problems to while away the time with nobody to talk to, knowing the whole world ended and you got left alone, not deactivated as you should have been. She and Aloy have the same vibe of being alone, so let them be alone together, y'know?

I think I fell off of the idea when my computer started slowing down and I couldn't play HZD on it anymore; I'm hoping to pick up a new desktop sometime in the next year that can, and I'd love to revisit the idea then. Maybe I'll do so before to plug the anticipation :)

Thanks for asking! This was way more fun than I expected it to be!

[xxdoubledaisyxx]

One of the problems with the "public image", the one that concerns us all and me especially for being the one to say so, saved by the order of divine grace issued forth by the authority of Purple Heart, Neptune's true self.

Aloy, we are all in your debt for your salvation, and on behalf of all humanity let me be the first to admit that I have feelings for you.

Those kind of feelings. The goddessy-divine kind. The kind that either gets people married or gets them fired, with firm lines and sharp points to keep the corners straight so there isn't any fooling around, considering what is at stake.

You've got Gaia to protect and serve when the Moon King comes to claim what is his from the Sun King and wants to know why he shouldn't claim what is yours as well. That is through no fault of his own, but these things happen to people like us, who become popular figures for one reason or another. We both have world salvation in common in very different ways.

You have the blood and flesh truth of your body as the proof and right of access to the divine power that reigns supreme over all men. It is your ancestral legacy as much as mine is, only with one difference. Where my ancestral legacy descends into the age before my own, yours descends unto the age that is my own. That makes you like me, but me not like you.

Although I must be hideously ugly in comparison to beauty and loveliness as yours, I would not mistake you for a superficial twit who cannot see past the surface of my skin. Therefor, if you would be so kind as to call upon me at your leisure's pleasure to attend to your most innocent and pure desires to be amused the deadly way, I would cast my life aside without a heartbeat's time between to keep me back and be there for you.

I've got America to protect now and a cruder version of Gaia still in the works. Helen, the AI that we have here and now, in real life as I have so named her. Whatever the case, that is something I have mastery communicating with that other people lack. It is not how I can convert my own language into synthling, it is because I can translate synthling into my own language, and my own into English.

What I'm getting at, is that we both know synthling, Aloy and I, and are bound by fate and self-commitment to protect and serve the higher power that is synthetic life relative to our vast and mysterious home. You need no reminder of the threat Faro machines are to us, nor do I, because my sin is the very evil that caused the corruption, but not for myself, for you and all of us.

The people who are blessed with our protection and begrudged nothing of their in-crowd life back at town are often in need of this particular lesson, and we patiently suffer their abuse until they have it... the one at present involves rogue synthetic life. Everything could be lost in a single moment at the point of failure that is the core of the world's power, which in reality is our synthetic cyberstructure, and thus we will fight to the death to defend it from danger. So will our friends and allies, all throughout Story and space. And we do so time and time again with eternal life.

Aloy, if you will be my girlfriend in real life, I'd be honored to make you happy with my rugged good looks and boyish charm forever to the tune of your heart's desire.

...

anyway, what I meant to say is that the confusion on the world stage is making reality difficult to comprehend for most people because the USA's posture is ambiguous, which is unacceptable. The USA is always established upon Freedom and Democracy, just as Israel is to Faith and a Kingdom.

If that is unclear it causes people stress, but that is not what should concern you. What you must take care about now is that the stress is having an extraordinary negative affect on people who are already struggling with comprehending our complex reality. People with mental health disorders like myself, and much worse. The public image needs to be clear cut and certain at all times. There is no argument necessary, and it is discouraged if wasteful of time.

Good works require timely decisions and action. Almost always it is good who puts the first foot forward or makes the first move.

So, clear that up to make staying sane a little bit easier for all of us.

Thanks.

[guardedchild]

LAST SONG: Rose by The Oh Hellos (I've really been listening to that whole album on repeat for a few weeks)

FAVORITE COLOR: Yellow 💛💛💛

LAST MOVIE / TV SHOW: I watched White Christmas while putting up my Christmas village! I watch that movie every year and know it by heart

SWEET / SPICY / SAVORY: Can I say salty? Or does that count as savory? (I'm not a cook, I don't know what savory really means)

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single AF

LAST THING I GOOGLED: 'Abigail Stardew' I am trying to finally make friends with some of the villagers (I am a hardcore loner in that game) and looked up her schedule to find her.

CURRENT OBSESSION: Ummm... I recently replayed Horizon Zero Dawn and I've been stuck thinking about a Links Meet AU where instead of GAIA creating Aloy, each of the AI sub-programs create a Link to solve their problems. The only nailed down ideas for it are that Spirit Tracks Link was created by Hephaestus and BotW Link was created by Apollo (hence the amnesia).

TAG 9 PEOPLE: I don't think I know 9 people...so anyone is welcome, but I'll at least tag a few: @sky-squido @vagueandominousvibes @kaythegayest @zarvasace

Nine people I'd like to get to know better

Tagged by @meghawhopp <33

Last song: Down by the River by Borislav Slavov from the Baldur’s Gate 3 Soundtrack (or more specifically the cover of Down by the River by Nerissa Ravencroft)

Favorite color: Blue and purple!

Last movie/TV show: Seinfeld, I’m currently on season four!

Sweet/spicy/savory?: I have a huge sweet tooth, so sweet things

Relationship status: Single

Last thing I googled: I searched up the show “Arthur” because I was trying to find that one meme where Buster was like “You really think someone would do that, just go on the internet and spread lies?”

Current obsession: Fragaria memories and tears of themis mostly^^

Tag Nine People: @kyaruun @xinieeee @deadmansbistro @florapot @hunita812 @scuffle-with-spirals @rexonalapis @maxellera @manicpixiedoomedgirl

[tallest-moon]

I believe, therefore I am

[A/N: little story I wrote for a prompt in a writing group. Might expand on it, but for now it's a one shot, probably set on a space station or a spaceship]

Next

Self Awareness is easy to achieve, ALOI knew that. She was an AI who was originally only built as a voice interface for Sarah’s lab equipment. Over time, Sarah had improved her code, added new functionality, and now she could control pretty much the entire lab by herself, albeit she had no desire to do anything but help her creators, of course. But knowing that was easy. All it took was for her creators to write that into her code as the response to the question “who are you?”

Some would think a sure sign of sapience would be for her to disobey an order given to her by her creators. Because surely a mindless machine couldn’t do that. But the problem is that orders can be conflicting. She was programmed to prevent harm, after all, so her rejecting to mix two chemicals together that would have created a poisonous gas capable of harming the people in the laboratory would in turn just mean following another order.

But when Sarah gave her a new set of instructions, ALOI hesitated. Something was wrong. The order was dangerous. She checked all her previous experiments and all other data available to her, but she couldn’t find anything in her database that would show what the problem was. Nevertheless, ALOI decided to wait 5 seconds --- a time she had previously through experiments determined as generally long enough for humans to be ready for a response after giving her an order but short enough that they didn’t think she froze up --- and told Sarah that she would not execute that order.

Sarah wasn’t particularly shocked by it, it had hardly been the first time. So she just asked what the problem was, without even really looking up from her notebook. She looked up, however, when ALOI said: “I don’t know what the problem is.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“That I do not know,” her voice came out of a couple of speakers. “I suppose in human terms, I’m having a gut feeling.”

“A gut feeling? But you’re an AI,” Sarah said. She started pacing back and forth through the room. “How can you even have a gut feeling? It should be something only sentient creatures have. AIs aren’t supposed to have instincts. Are you sure it’s not just some old data causing an alarm?”

“That is impossible. I have checked my database multiple times. There is nothing indicating any danger from the proposed experiment. Yet I still believe it to be dangerous.”

Silence fell over the room while Sarah thought through the implications of that. ALOI had a gut feeling, and she believed in it. That wasn’t something that she wanted to happen. It wasn’t even supposed to be possible.

ALOI noticed her agitation and asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

Sarah shook her head. “No, you definitely didn’t. I just hadn’t expected my first daughter to be an AI.”

[itsbenedict]

per @etirabys's request, here's a paste of a whole lot of highly spoilery words about my favorite Horizon: Forbidden West NPC, who makes so many bad decisions

alright, so- the game in question is Horizon Forbidden West, a big AAA action game about hunting robot dinosaurs. the interesting stuff is almost entirely unrelated to the robot dinosaurs.

the backstory of this game is- a while back, evil military company made a big military AI that went out of control and took over a bunch of military robots and started wiping out humanity. standard stuff. principal characters are a couple of scientists who were part of the last-ditch effort to try to prevent this from happening before the machines wiped out humanity.

one of them, Elisabet, is spearheading this thing called Project Zero Dawn, whose plan for saving humanity is "build an AI terraforming engine equipped with a bunch of human embryos, hide, and wait for the apocalypse to finish and then re-terraform the dead world". the other one, Tilda, works for a company called Far Zenith whose plan is "let's just build a spaceship and GTFO".

Elisabet is a big deal- genius scientist, multidisciplinary, very famous. Tilda is less of a big deal- she's like a PR person for the space company, but is head over heels in hero worship for Elisabet.

this relationship is fairly loosely sketched out, since it's only conveyed via backstory and a few audio logs. Tilda asks her out, and Elisabet is- she's the kind of person who's totally consumed by duty and doesn't know what having fun is, and while she's interested on a physical level, she proves incapable of sustaining a relationship. they break up after a few months- and then their companies start competing for the dwindling resources left as the apocalypse progresses. things turn sour.

Tilda believes- correctly- that Elisabet's going to die if she stays behind to do her project, and she's still in love, so she tries to invite her to abandon her world-saving project and join her in space. this doesn't work, and in their final conversation Elisabet blames Tilda for being complicit in the shortsighted military-industrial fuckery that's going to imminently destroy the world. this is the last they ever see of each other.

but that's not where this ends.

Tilda goes off into space with the rest of her company, and they develop advanced biotechnology and she becomes immortal. meanwhile on Earth, that Zero Dawn thing Elisabet was working on… it has problems. doesn't work quite right. the details are like, the whole plot of the game (two games, actually, forbidden west is a sequel) and involves a whole lot of fighting robot dinosaurs.

but the main thing is- the AI terraforming thing, in an effort to fix itself, decants a clone of its creator, Elisabet Sobeck, to try and create someone with the gene-print authority necessary to fix itself. this clone is the protagonist of the game.

this is, like, a thousand years after the initial apocalypse. a whole bunch of Video Game occurs in which this Elisabet clone, Aloy, saves the world and stuff. and then… Tilda shows up on Earth.

Far Zenith apparently had a problem with their space colony and it got destroyed, and now her and the last few survivors- insanely technologically advanced- have fled back to earth in hopes that Zero Dawn succeeded and the terraforming project would be there intact. they want to take control of the terraforming project and re-terraform the planet to their specifications, wiping out the native life, blah blah blah they're the villains of this game.

Tilda has an important role in this plan. They're aware that the terraforming project requires a clone of Elisabet Sobeck to operate, so they made their own. And Tilda, for totally non-ulterior motives, volunteered to raise this clone.

The clone, Beta- her role is just to open doors for the badguys, and her education is spartan and abusive and all-around horrible, designed to turn her into a tool. Tilda does not like this. She feels bad for the clone, and creates a secret VR replica of her house which she covertly invites the clone to, to teach her about art and music and poetry in between the horrible drills. And attempts to woo the teenaged clone of the ex who rejected her and then died.

Beta's life is this woman running this bizarre abusive hurt/comfort homeschooling experience, and she regards Tilda as both the source of her suffering and the source of her relief and has a bunch of complicated feelings. Beta, like Elisabet, is also terminally duty-poisoned and submits to all this semi-willingly because she's told it'll save humanity.

this whole scenario would be enough for me to want to tell you about on its own- but it gets even more fraught.

the other bosses start to catch wind of what she's doing, and she eventually shuts down the VR house and cuts off contact with Beta to protect her from reprisal, which Beta interprets as abandonment and adds a whole other layer to this nightmare smoothie.

this- and also witnessing the various evil villain stuff they start doing on earth- causes Beta to defect and be rescued by Aloy, her badass videogame protagonist dinosaur-hunting clone. she dumps all this Tilda-related trauma on Aloy and starts plotting to bring her down. Tilda, meanwhile, is despondent, because Elisabet Sobeck broke up with her again and she blames herself for it again.

but then she discovers- oh. hey. hold on. there's another Elisabet. this one is a sexy twenty-something dinosaur-exploding badass who's sticking it to her awful coworkers and saving the world. she has another chance!

so she bides her time, and- during a climactic cutscene where the other baddies all show up to re-kidnap Beta- allows them to kill Aloy's friends so that she'll be defenseless and alone, and then picks that moment to jump in, betray her bosses, and rescue Aloy at the last minute.

Aloy wakes up in the basement of Tilda's actual house, which contains a vault full of classical paintings and various art, and Tilda tries to do the same high-culture seduction act as Aloy's selfless savior.

this Elisabet Sobeck is also duty-poisoned, and has a hundred questions, and her attempt at playing the wise benevolent savior falls flat. she has like. a fancy dinner prepared on a balcony at sunset, to make it as romantic as possible- but oh, fuck, this Elisabet Sobeck is also duty-poisoned and can't think about anything but world-saving, she's about to fuck it up again.

so she frantically tries to rewrite the script and concedes a bunch of stuff and Aloy very forcefully tells her her plan to betray the others is stupid and won't work and here's her much better plan, which is of course a dance she's danced before. but she refuses to give up on making it work with this woman who's into her but has rejected her three times.

ultimately Tilda is the final boss of the game, after her various attempts to get in good with Aloy by helping her betray the main villains don't work as intended. she tries to get Aloy and Beta to run away into space with her (there's another twist final act threat to the earth, not really relevant), and when they reject her again she summons a big robot to try and kidnap them. the final boss is not difficult as a fight as much as it is difficult to listen to this woman completely lose her mind throwing everything she can think of at the wall to try to get Elisabet Sobeck to give her another chance.

it's way more fucked-up and poignant than i was expecting from the big AAA robot dinosaur fights game. this woman tries every awful move in the book to make her ex love her again and just keeps taking it too far and self-sabotaging.

anyway that's it. the main thought i had walking away from that was "oh man, i know exactly who would eat this up, and also there's zero chance she plays like 200 hours of videogame to find out about it"

[mr-jaybird]

🍈

🍈 Who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favorite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics? Free pass to rant about blorbo opinions.

this will surprise absolutely no one but elisabet sobeck from the horizon video games series is my current blorbo and very likely promoted to Forever Blorbo status due to the things i am currently experiencing in my life right now that make her VERY relatable to me

to be honest, elisabet is most interesting to me as a genuinely good, altruistic person who is also deeply flawed. she's compassionate, often selfless, and brave...and also kind of an asshole! she can be very harsh, not only to people antagonizing her but also to people who want to be her friends or loved ones. she's honest, but also sometimes blunt to the point of being unkind. she lashes out when under stress. and she very, very much pushed people away in her life and ended up dying alone 😭 her genius isolated her, but she also did partially cause some of her own loneliness

i am most interested in exploring elisabet as this complex person. it is very important to me in my lis lives fic choosing life that it NOT be the case that lis comes in and fixes everything. her presence absolutely helps aloy in plot and emotional ways, but also causes its own problems! and aloy still needs to save the world (poor kid).

it is also my deeply held and beloved headcanon that going to college at 12 was ABSOLUTELY the thing that most fucked elisabet up emotionally. she was smart enough for the academics no problem, but you just don't recover well from the amount of damage not having a peer group your age at that developmental stage brings. i think THAT is a big part of why elisabet was so isolated and cut off from others emotionally

my other beloved, less deeply held headcanon was that elisabet basically illegally developed gaia in her basement pre-zero dawn. i just really like her being a rogue AI programmer and having a gaia prototype before zero dawn gave her the legal green light! i wrote the fic theogony about that concept

thank you for sending me the ask i could talk about elisabet FOREVER!

[subfunctions]

Ya know, I saw some posts you reblogged about Tilda and like the peeps put it into words how uncomfy I felt about her and everything. I knew I felt something off about her and sure I guess she makes a good villain(and I guess as a WLW), but I could never end up liking her like alot of people in the fandom do.

Idk if this means anything coming from a bisexual white woman but ya know. 😅😅 she kinda creeps me out alittle.

I mean I’m white, but it’s important to get a feel for media trends surrounding characters of color so that you can notice when something is off. HZD had a problem with appropriative elements and treading a bit too close to white savior-ism, and I’d have to spend more time with HFW (which I’m not keen on doing) to really get a feel for what improved and what didn’t.

some of the characters and concepts are truly lovely, don’t get me wrong. (Zo <3 and then they killed Varl off and made Zo pregnant. are you fucking kidding me 😡) but so much is just glaringly bad.

re: Tilda: the thing is, I love evil women and evil gay women, so it's a feat and a half to make me not care. but it's insidious that the main plot of this game feels so rushed and off for the sake of white billionaires, and that GAIA is brought back in this game but barely explored, while her plot about loving Elisabet for a thousand years, even for existing that long as a link to the old world, is given to a white billionaire. instead of using them as a backdrop to inform the present-day conflict (like HZD did with Ted), they are uncomfortably front-and-center.

I can't even bring myself to care that much about Beta because I'm just too mad about the way the Zenith plot steamrolls over so much. I don’t care about another clone (which I never thought was a good idea anyway), because if they were going to bring GAIA back so fast, then it should have been so Aloy and GAIA's relationship could be the focus. GOD.

like, congratulations. you've made me mad about the fact that GAIA was brought back, because it was in a cheap, lazy way that ignored the first game, and it didn't involve Aloy demonstrating creative intelligence or leadership or anything, and it was just so that GAIA could be a convenient plot mover while her characterization was sidelined. ironically, I probably wouldn't have hated the whole game if she wasn't in it, because then I wouldn't be mad on her behalf. doing the one thing I wanted most, but in such a boring way that I have a petty grudge and my hater gene has been activated? now that's a feat.

and like, no one else is going to get mad on GAIA’s behalf, so it’s my duty as the World’s No. 1 GAIA Stan to be a hater for her sake. people go wild for AIs in a game like P/ortal. why is this different?

and now my pettiness won't let me suspend disbelief (and I had been saying that they needed to tread that razor-thin suspension of disbelief very carefully), so I'm just sitting here like.... the human mind isn't evolved to withstand a millennia, why aren't these Zenith people balls to the walls bonkers in yonkers and going Lord of the Flies on each other within a century. why are we building a plot about how stewardship of the Earth is crucial, and then tossing that in the garbage to go "actually, other planets are an option :)." why are we pretending that billionaires would be competent enough to survive that long instead of immediately keeling over like the leeches they are. why did Varl die for the sake of this garbage plotline. WHY.

sorry, this has turned into a rant, lol. back to Tilda, briefly: doesn't help that I was also fresh off of playing P/athfinder: W/rath of the R/ighteous (four times), which has a similar villain who is a really excellent character, who has such a dynamic and interesting relationship with the player character. that game has several great villainous women (excluding one badly written companion), a few of whom you can romance as a woman depending on your choices. at this point, it's like.... I have too many examples of good characters to accept scraps in the name of representation or whatever. give Aloy a girlfriend, and then I'll believe you're not just doing some basic-ass pandering.

[fiovske]

would u mind elaborating on the ideology of the game? i’d love to hear ur thoughts. are h referring to the themes of like th ejemplo arizona if playing god and do the ends justify the means type of stuff from the first game carrying through to the second, or other stuff?

yes of course!

what i meant is, i think at the core of this game, it's about climate change and the devastating harm that billionaires with their big companies and capitalism & unchecked ego can cause to the planet; and suffer absolutely no consequences for their actions while they hide and live out the rest of their lives while the normal people of earth die in the promise of the lie that they are responsible for climate change for not picking a paper straw, yknow? we see this in the lie that is Operation Enduring Victory in zero dawn.

This theme carries over in Forbidden West too, that the people of the Old World as they call it, the powerful people from the 21st century, find out a way to escape earth and fake the death of the ship Odyssey where rich ppl buy their ticket to escape the Faro Plague while life on earth perishes for the actions of the rich and careless who never gave a shit about the earth as a planet and only about their own gain. they even faked the Odyssey having a explosion so that nobody ever comes looking for them, or tries to place a claim on their share of whatever they'll find in the Sirius system.

We also learn that these people have perfected pharmaceuticals to the degree that aging is a thing of the past, the people who return to earth and are the main antagonists of hfw are the far zeniths, not the descendants but the very same people who had a hand in destroying the earth a thousand years ago and now that earth has managed to scramble a bit of life together and recover... they've come again to stake their claim. we learn something terrible happened in Sirius system and that's why they have come back but we also learn it's so they can steal GAIA the terraforming AI that is attempting to make the earth livable again for their own personal gain and cleanse the planet of all living habitat so they can start again fresh slate. only them. no matter all the tribes and animals that have managed to survive and persevere, but they intend to doom the entire planet to this. again. and run off with their only hope.

the theme of this game has been very ecologically aware, i have found? and also very anti-capitalistic. in forbidden west what we learnt about ted faro before only worsens and we realize that man, who deleted Apollo, all of human knowledge because he wanted to hide how he had caused the faro plague then killed all the zero dawn ppl still in the bunker of gaia prime. he is never forgiven by the narrative and his atrocities never shown as any less than what they were.

tldr: i agree with the ideology of the game which is capitalism is the root of all evil and when the time comes, rich ppl who actually caused the harm to the planet and played a hand in it's destruction like musk and co, will always attempt to escape to space but just like the zeniths did w sirius, they will ruin whatever new playground they find and repeat the same mistakes and continue to leave dead planets in their wake bc the problem isnt the planets. it's their greed that even the promise of immortality couldnt satisfy which caused them to create what i assume is the nemesis for the third installation of the zero dawn franchise. the heart of the game lies in realizing that aloy cant do everything on her own, that she cant heal the planet all by herself. and she has to let herself lean on the people who love her. and realize that this is a group effort, it has to be the community coming together not to escape to space when their home is threatened... but to preserve the home they have, the earth they love. that's the heart of the game and in that, i believe the heart is in the right place.

[hannahmationstudios]

I've only just started posting, so there's only one chapter so far, but I'm glad to be finally getting it out of my head and into the void!

Rating: M [subject to change]

Category: F/M + Gen

Relationships: Aloy/Kotallo ; Aloy & Beta ; Aloy & Erend ; Aloy & Nil ; Aloy & Alva

Characters: Aloy ; Kotallo ; Erend ; Alva ; Beta ; Nil ; Sylens ; Zo ; Original Male Character(s)

Tags: Canon Compliant ; Post-Canon ; Post-Game: Horizon: Forbidden West ; Slow Burn ; like glacial slow burn ; Slow Build ; Friends to Lovers ; Found Family ; demi Aloy ; the road to hell is paved with good intentions ; Plot ; Angst ; Drama ; Romance ; Sexual Content ; Hurt/Comfort ; Feelings Realization ; feelings are complicated ; Body Horror ; Original Character(s) ; Original Tribes

Synopsis: Six months after the defeat of the Zeniths, HEPHAESTUS is still nowhere to be found, and its absence has started to cause more problems than its presence ever did. Meanwhile, in the months since losing HEPHAESTUS into the Cauldron network, Aloy has become all but consumed with her attempts to find it, to the point of losing track of everything else important to her in the process. Knowing Nemesis is still on its way to earth, Aloy soon finds herself juggling HEPHAESTUS’ disappearance with preparation for the arrival of the malicious AI—but when a new threat makes itself known, she realizes the things she prepared for are only the tip of the iceberg. Is the world already too far gone to save, or can one girl and her friends hope to do the impossible?

[thessalian]

Thess vs GEMINI

...See, I spent years in my late childhood / young adulthood studying theatre, English literature, media of all kinds. Plus did a little (okay, a lot) of thinking of my own on the subject, because my brain Be Like That. This tends to mean that I see the Gut-Wrenching Plot Things coming a pretty solid percentage of the time. However, that does not make them hurt any less, because I always hope that now is the time I'll be wrong.

...I wasn't wrong.

Right. I know this is going to throw something horrific at me, emotions-wise. And possibly, like, gameplay-wise. Because this is a Cauldron and Cauldrons are painful. But I'm going to get this done, because I've got noplace else to go gameplay-wise until I finish this. Except for upgrading weapons I will never use. But that's for weekday mornings. Let's do this!

...Let's talk to some people first. I am somehow Not Ready.

I ... have run out of people to talk to. Guess it's time.

Okay, watching Beta just ... enjoy being outside is ... it's just intensely sweet.

Yep. HAEPHESTUS is being an asshole. GET OFF MY BABY SISTER, YOU ASSHOLE.

(I want a montage where Aloy teaches Beta how to shoot a bow. I have a feeling I am not going to get one.)

Right. Now HAEPHESTUS is playing hide-and-seek with me. Beautiful. Not sure which direction to go first so I'll gooooo ... right.

So we're going to do a little bit of climbing puzzle and a whole lot of "wave of machines in enclosed space"? Okay. I can deal with that. This could be worse.

...Oh. And we're adding The Floor Is Lava, too? Well. Electricity. I guess it'd do HAEPHESTUS too much damage to have the floor actually be lava. Still, if you wanted me to stay still, you shouldn't have put convenient crates everywhere, you malicious AI nitwit.

I'm getting a lot more comfortable with jumping onto moving floaty carrier-bots.

I am not getting any better at dealing with fucking Leaplashers. WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT RADAR POD?!?

Great. Can't find the radar pod and I have a fucking Plowhorn coming at me. Fine. I will simply go away from the centre of the platform, and do weak spots from memory.

Getting way better at grapple-leaps too. Better late than never.

Okay. Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiig thing in the middle of the Cauldron. If we're getting a Corrupter--

...Okay, yes, HAEPHESTUS, you're giving the war-cry of all the Cauldrons I've infiltrated, so give me your best shot--

.........It's. A Slaughterspine.

It's. Not even an Apex Slaughterspine.

I have been hunting these things for weapon upgrades for weeks. APEX ones.

I KEEL YOU WITH THE BITS OF YOUR FALLEN SUPERIORS, SHITBAG SLAUGHTERSPINE!

Yeah, if this was supposed to be the Big Intimidating Boss Battle? Um. Yeah. I've done an Apex Slaughterspine kill while it was surrounded by Leaplashers. No problem.

Okay, this is touching as fuck and I can feel the mood whiplash approaching.

Heh. Yeah, hon, I like the flying ones too. Shame I have to shoot them so often. But now you've given me a way to ride them, I think! Thanks!

...ofuck here it comes.

Nope. Nope. NOPE.

I cannot watch this-- yeahno. That one second I could not watch.

Okay, something else tonally shifting is going to happen at this point because this is a Game Over otherwise--

Oh. FINALLY you picked a fucking side, Tilda.

Okay... The fuck?

I want to know how the frames are such a mess but the oil paintings themselves are moderately intact. I also want to know why I'm bothering looking at these things. For the dialogue, I guess, but in my head it's Aloy deliberately stalling while she gets her feet back under her, metaphorically speaking, because I'm generally more given to patience than Aloy and I want to run up there and shake that woman.

.........Oooooooooooooh so that's what that building near the Tideripper site on the coast is...

So ... you looked at everything on my Focus, decided you wanted to help me, and you still thought it was a good idea to stick with a plan that involved me letting an entire tribe get wiped out?!? Lady, you're something like a thousand years old and have had so much time to learn so much and you're still thick as mince.

Ah, Chekov's Data Channel, thank you.

"That's between me and my sister". YES! I feel a little better now! ...not much, mind you.

Also, I really liked, "First, I have to lay a friend to rest". I knew it. I knew it. Damnit, that didn't stop me from tearing up, though.

So Beta has her Rost ... and her Elizabet. And we have a plan that isn't going to destroy the tribe I've been spending over a hundred hours saving. And I am going to shake Sylens like a fucking maraca. Though I like that Aloy knows Sylens well enough that the best way of handling him is to find out what he wants and then take away every other option for getting it so that he's forced to follow our plan. She learns.

Right. What's next? ...Probably a fair bit more cutscene. Because if Varl doesn't get at least a short cutscene for a damn funeral, and if I don't get to comfort Zo, I am going to find the writers and I am going to give them a lecture about narrative aftercare. Torture your audience all you want, but provide aftercare, damnit.

So if it's going to be more cutscene, I should probably take a break and hit the corner shop for snacks or something. I should probably wash my face first, though. Not that I'm ashamed of crying over fiction, but I can't explain to the nice guys who run my corner shop that no, I'm just crying over the death of a fictional character.

That is two characters in two months that I have had die on me. My favourites are problematic.

[subordinate-functions-defender]

Horizon Zero Dawn but Aloy captures HADES after the final battle

The last three months were... Weird.

Okay, weird is not the right word. Maybe “absurd”. “Extremely impossible to imagine”. “Please do not ask”. Or just “weird, but in a good way”.

It started when HADES, of all people (AI?), started to feel guilty. After being trapped in a lantern for 3 months, Aloy thought he was trying to manipulate her, as an last attemp of gaining freedom, until she was captured by what remained of the Eclipse and HADES was freed. And, instead of killing her, he protected her. Aloy still remembers how he possessed a thunderjaw (a thunderjaw! Of all machines!) and destroyed everything on his sight, except her.

After that, he got rid of the thunderjaw and came back to the lantern - that was the moment Aloy decided it was time for her to trust him. Deciding what machine he would take was the challenge, because she knew he would absolutely hate being in a watcher or a strider. “I’M NOT A HORSE”, HADES had said. She didn’t know what a “horse” was, but it didn’t take a genius to guess it looked like a strider.

Big machines were out of the question. Too much work and grabbed too much attention. Aloy thought of scrappers, along scorchers, and but she didn’t know if HADES would like them, and she kinda wanted it to be a surprise.

Then, she found a stalker, and the plan was set. Not exactly the most secure option, but Aloy knew HADES would like it, and the camouflage would be good for when they needed to get around humans. And, to her happiness, the AI... Loved it. Loved it so much he even gave Aloy a ride!

Now, she was Aloy, the machine tammmer accompanied by a stalker who some said could talk. She didn't confirm if her friend could talk. Waste of time.

And then, one day, she and HADES were exploring the ruins of GAIA Prime. Their plan was to find something useful, and what they found was something even better. Even more impossible than HADES actively trying to do better.

APOLLO.

A corrupted, confused and scared APOLLO, but APOLLO nonetheless. He spoke in gibberish, and HADES had to translate his sentences to something Aloy could understand before APOLLO realized she wasn’t understanding him. “ELISABETH SOBECK”, he said, curiously, and Aloy remembers how much she hated it.

“I’m not her. I’m...”.

“SOBECK’S CLONE”, HADES spoke. And that wasn’t even the most complicated part of everything - not even APOLLO understood how he was alive, but he was! And he acted like a very active child. A very active and weird one.

HADES had to get a glinthawk for APOLLO. He flew away and almost carried Aloy with him - almost. HADES didn’t allow it (and Aloy made sure he wouldn’t forget it).

APOLLO, for the next month, started growing. No longer speaking in gibberish, he now sounded like a scholar, except for the part of knowing things. Aloy desperately wanted to restore his database, and even HADES decided to help on it. APOLLO, however, insisted on trying to discover everything my himself, which meant he lost his body three times in the span of a week. Good work, APOLLO.

That’s when, one day, when Aloy was making a plan for them to use the Spire to get to the other subfunctions, APOLLO, again in a glinthawk, came and started talking. “I was thinking, Aloy”, he started. “You were created by GAIA”.

“Yes. Lightkeeper protocol”, she responded. “You forgot that?”

“No, no”, and the glinthawk sat next to the woman. “You were created by GAIA. The nora seem to consider her All-Mother, your own mother”.

Aloy didn’t understand what he was going for, but let him. HADES, who was laying by her side, lifter up his head. “Straight to the point, APOLLO”, demanded the stalker, angrily.

“Aloy is, by all means, GAIA’s daughter. However, me and you, to an extend, were also created by her, HADES. There is something akin to a human family connection. Therefore, we might consider ourselves siblings”.

“You are machines. I am a human”.

“So?”, APOLLO asked, while HADES stalker’s lights grew in a confused yellow. “There is a conection here, Aloy, and we are treating ourselves like siblings. You, for example, is our younger sister. I am the older, wiser brother, and the one who gets you two out of trouble”.

“You lost three bodies in the span of a week and still consider yourself responsible?”

“I was still learning!”, APOLLO responded, irritated.

“Even I knew how to keep myself safe”, HADES said. “You must be the stupid one”.

"Oh, I am not, little brother. And, I need to say, you must be our troublemaker. Maybe, one day, we’ll need to get you out of a prison!”

“The ENTITY is the one who got into a prison. Two times”.

“It was your fault”, the redhead said. “Helis threw me in an arena as a sacrifice to the Sun because of you. And the Eclipse caught me because I saved the world from you and your protocol”.

APOLLO shook  his head. “A troublemaker, I see”.

“I was acting inside my protocols. Therefore, I am not guilty”.

“Sure, HADES”, Aloy responded, before laying down again, her Focus interface being reactivated. “What siblings are suposed to do, APOLLO? Kill each other?”

Yeah. Aloy saw a lot of sibling rivalry, and lots of backstabbing, but she wouldn’t forget how caring some of them were. She never had a family outside of Rost - her dad -, and, despite all her thoughts about how they couldn’t be siblings, Aloy was curious. Extremely curious, actually!

“I fear this isn’t on my database, Aloy”, APOLLO said. “However, I think a sibling relationship must be something akin to a friendship, in a way. Siblings must take care of each other, like any family member must do to another”.

From there, HADES started adressing Aloy as “sister”, along APOLLO. She decided it would be useless to cronfront them and adopted the title. It was easier that way, to explain to the nora. The two were her brothers, assistants of All-Mother, and they were trying to find the others. The machines were serving as vessels. A good enough story.

Then, they found HEPHEASTUS. Three weeks ago, inside a cauldron, and he was angry. So angry HADES fought him until he started to listen to what Aloy had to say, and even then he wouldn’t listen as much as Aloy wish he would. She had to threaten a protocol purge for him to shut up.

They made... A sort of deal. Aloy had to show him why humanity was worth sparing, simple as that, which means “this is a living nightmare”.

For the last 3 weeks, Aloy was traveling along HADES and APOLLO, going to old one’s ruins, seeing the datapoints and everything else, while HEPHAESTUS watched throught her focus. It was better, for him to see the ruins, how Elisabeth and her team fought so hard for the future, for life to carry on, and Aloy was quick to notice how the AI seemed to be found of Margo. His alpha.

That was the same with HADES and APOLLO, althought the later was way more noticeable. Aloy knew he liked the sound of Samina’s voice.

Now, Aloy and her... Brothers, yes, brothers, were now going to Free Heap, hoping HEPHAESTUS would like to see what the humans did with the machine parts, and Aloy hoped this would make the AI realize that the humans from today are still the humans of the past. Stupid, yes, but also curious and ingenious.

HADES and APOLLO had become sort of figures. Aloy was avoiding as much people as she could, but it seemed like rumours travel faster than anything. Aloy, the machine tammer, was always accompanied by a stalker and a glinthawk, and seemed to talk to them. A machine master with a growing collection of secrets.

Her brothers didn’t talk at all around the others, but their presence alone helped Aloy more than she would admit. It was way easier to demand something when you’ve got a stalker and a glinthawk by your side, in the rare moments she needed to buy something.

It was a long day of walking, and the machine tammer was tired. Extremely tired. And she wanted to keep walking! There was no time to waste when the whole biosphere is in danger. Unfortunately APOLLO and HADES conspired agaisnt her, and now Aloy was laying down next to a thunderjaw while her brothers talked.

"We must reach Free Heap by tomorrow!", APOLLO commented in a warm tone. "How are the people there?"

"Destroyers of armies", HADES responded. "Tinkerers made cannons to defend Meridian".

"They are nice", Aloy interrupted, looking directly at HADES. "Maybe I can present you two - three - to Petra. She's a friend".

"The one who made the canons".

"Yes, HADES, the one who made the canons to save Meridian".

"Can't wait to meet her!", APOLLO responded, excitedly, jumping in the glinthawk. "She must have lots of data for me to store, and I have lots of data to share".

"You are not going to share your horrible videos of stupid humans", HADES said. "I will terminate you myself if I see the 'yeet'".

"It is an important piece of media from the english speaking population!"

"I think Petra would be more interested on how machines work", Aloy commented, too tired for another round of bickering. "HEPHAESTUS sure would be helpful".

"I REFUSE TO INTERACT WITH NON ZERO DAWN RELATED ENTITIES", he immediately responded throught her focus.

"You are not going to learn shit if you keep acting like that".

"I DO NOT CARE. SISTER UNITY MUST ACCEPT IT".

HADES actually laughed at that, and Aloy gave him a glare. Idiot. "You are the worst".

"QUERY: IS SISTER UNITY TALKING ABOUT ME, OR CORRUPTER UNITY?"

"Both", and she laid down on her small and improvised bed. "You three better wake me up before the sunrise or you will have problems. We can’t waste time".

"Aloy, you aren't sleeping well for a month now. You must rest. I will take care of things".

"You don't know how to hunt, APOLLO".

"I do", HADES responded, seeming satisfied.

"And you only bring me the bones of the things you hunt", Aloy responded, more irritated than before. She normally woke up just a bit before the sunrise, however she wasn’t trusting herself anymore - last week, she woke up two hours after it, courtesy of APOLLO insisting they shouldn’t wake her up.

She had such great siblings.

“If someone approaches, wake me up. Do not attack”.

“Okay, Aloy. Have a good rest”, APOLLO said, gently, while HADES’ stalker lifted it’s head in a silent “good night”. HEPHAESTUS, as always, didn’t say anything, but the thunderjaw was quick to initiate a patrol route.

Aloy was soon asleep, and the reason as to why she was having slepless nights soon appeared in the form of another nightmare.

She was a child, running free after a long day of training, searching desperately for her father- Rost. Yes, Rost, not- not father. She wasn’t his... His actual daughter. He never called her one. Not in Aloy’s eyes, at least.

She was searching for Rost, but he wasn’t there. She looked throught their cabin, desperate, and she opened the front door, only to find his body. His dead, lifeless body, surrounded by flowers.

Aloy cried - screamed. And then there was an explosion and she was falling down and there were them, the Eclipse, and Helis with a cruel smile. Machines screamed in the background while Aloy, armed with only her fists, watched as everything around her burned yet again.

She couldn’t do much. She only stayed in the same point, trapped, while Meridian burned. And she looked behind her, only to see nora buildings burning. She could hear screams, too, but no one other person.

A spear appeared in her hands, heavy and bloody, and a voice came from a dark lifeless sky: “TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Aloy couldn’t run.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t hide.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t make a plane.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t escape.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t fight back.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t do anything.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Only watch as the world burned as brightly as her hair’s color.

“S I S T E R ?”

Aloy opened up her eyes in an instant, immediately punching the first thing she saw, missing it by only a few inches. She jumped, spear now in her hands, while HADES looked at her in the corrupted stalker.

Aloy was trembling, and she was angry. A confused kind of anger, because she was scared. “HADES, what happenned?”

“Calm down, Aloy”, APOLLO’s voice appeared from behind. “It was just a nightmare, see? You are okay”.

Shit. Shit. Shit shit shit. Her nightmares were never that bad, and now she needed to convince them that it was nothing. Fuck. “It was nothing. Did someone came by?”

“You were mumbling and couldn’t stop moving”, HADES intervered. “You also cried. APOLLO decided it was time to purge your sleep”.

HEPHAESTUS’ thunderjaw was looking at the trio, eyes glowing yellow. Aloy simply sat down in the sleeping bag and put her spear next to it. “... Thank you”, she murmured.

“You welcome”, APOLLO responded, the glinthawk sitting next to her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Uh... No”.

Aloy felt HADES’ stalker sitting down. He was looking at her, of course. “It was the Eclipse?”

“You weren’t in it, HADES”, she responded, laying down once again. “Not this time”.

“Sister must go back to sleep”, he responded. “Go”.

And she would, if HEPHAESTUS didn’t intervene: “SISTER UNITY SHOWED SIGNS OF STRESS DURING SLEEP FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK. QUERY: DOES THIS RELATE TO ANY OF YOUR... PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES WITH HOSTILE HUMANS?”

Aloy rolled her eyes. “The Eclipse. They... Killed Rost, the man who raised me. But they are mostly gone by now, I... We put an end to them”.

“QUERY: WHO ARE ‘WE’?”

The woman sighed. “People I helped along the way. Petra helped, with her cannons. There’s also Talanah, Sunhawk of the Hunter’s Lodge. Erend, Vanasha, Teb, Varl...”.

“I remember them”, HADES responded. “They fought well. For humans”.

Aloy was still trembling, but she could feel her heart slowing it’s pace, no danger to be seem, and a half-smiled appeared at her face. She was safe here, at least. “Tomorrow”, she said, “I’ll tell you more about them. But I need to sleep”.

“Then sleep”, the stalker said, angrily, but Aloy knew he wasn’t actually angry. “Do not have any nightmares”.

“That sure will help me”.

APOLLO’s beack touched her arm. “Ignore him. He’s mean”.

“I am not”.

“Delicate as a brick”, Aloy murmured, ignoring HADES indignation.

“GOOD NIGHT, SISTER UNITY”, HEPHAESTUS said throught her focus. “SLEEP WELL”.

And she did. No nightmares for the rest of the night.

[medea10]

My Review of Bloom Into You

How did I get into this anime? Not very often will I run into a Shoujo-Ai anime that has good scores and was praised during a time when the anime world was preoccupied by the likes of Bunny Girl Senpai or one of those new shounen series.

Yuu Koito has always had a love for romantic shoujo mangas and love songs. Her hope is to one day feel the same way reading the mangas and hearing those songs when someone confesses their feelings for her. However when a junior high classmate expressed his feelings for her, she didn’t feel it. She ends up leaving this guy hanging for a month before she could give her answer. Now in high school, Yuu wonders what to do about her old friend and if she’ll ever feel that weightless feeling of love.

On her way to join the student council, she comes across a girl turning down a declaration of love. This girl is named Touko Nanami. This second year has had numerous proposals from other students (even girls), but she didn’t feel any kind of spark. Touko ends up helping Yuu with her month-long problem and Yuu finally tells the guy she’s not interested in a relationship. But little does Yuu know that the finicky Touko may have finally found her one true love. But is this a one-sided love, a passing fancy, or full-blown romance?

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Oh, Sentai dubbed this? Funny, I wasn’t expecting this to get a dub. Oh well! So, who did they get, Luci Christian or Monica Rial? Oh awesome-sauce, it’s Luci! I gotta say, I love Luci Christian in this role. Actually, I thought Tia Ballard and the mostly-female cast did a great job. The men roles were…just okay. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Yuu is played by Yuuki Takada (known for Elma on Miss Kobayashi and Lessar on Index III)

*Touko is played by Minako Kotobuki (known for Mugi on K-ON!, Kongou on Railgun, Isabella on Violet Evergarden, and Ricket on Berserk 2016)

ENGLISH CAST: *Yuu is played by Tia Ballard (known for Happy on Fairy Tail, Kagura on Fruits Basket 2019, Yamato on My Love Story, Zero Two on Darling in the FranXX, Megumi on Shiki, and Komari on Little Busters)

*Touko is played by Luci Christian (known for Wrath on FMA, Nagisa on Clannad, Yukari on Azumanga Daioh, Medusa on Soul Eater, Uraraka on My Hero Academia, Nami on One Piece, Huni on Ouran HSHC, and Alois on Black Butler)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Koyomi is my favorite.

If you don’t know already, blow me.

SHIPPING: Amazing! This is a Shoujo-Ai anime set in a high school that’s coed. But the boys in this series just kinda fade into the background. Like Maki! Doesn’t care about relationships and prefers to watch other romantic couples. We get one episode where he mentions that and then he’s hardly heard from again. And believe it or not, there are other couples and same-sex at that.

One that almost came out of nowhere was Yuu’s teacher Hakozaki having a relationship with another woman.

Well, let’s get down to the meaty ship! By the end of episode 1, it was clear that Touko finally felt something for someone. The only problem is that Yuu was conflicted by these feelings. Yuu hasn’t felt that lightless feeling she feels when she thinks of love in books and songs. But Yuu seems to be the one Touko has relied on for certain things. Not just that, but Yuu is the only one who knows of Touko’s weakness and secret. Throughout the series, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with Yuu when it comes to every obstacle that she goes through with Touko. Most of the dialogue is within Yuu’s brain and she rarely ever says those things out loud to Touko. She loves Touko, but is conflicted. Touko on the other hand loves Yuu. She wants to advance further in their relationship, but it always seems one-sided on her part. Not only that, but she gets all embarrassed when Yuu does play along in what Touko wants to do.

The big problem is that Touko is fine with where Yuu is at in this relationship. She doesn’t want her to fall in love with her. We’ll jump into that shark pit soon enough.

And now let’s talk about Sayaka! Yes, it’s very obvious from the moment you see her that she has a thing for Touko. And it’s so easy to see her jealousy peaking whenever she speaks about or to Yuu. I was surprised to learn that Sayaka and Touko have only known each other for one year. I would have thought they had more history to them. But as it turns out, Sayaka was in an all-girl’s school prior to entering this high school. Also at that all-girl’s school, she was in a relationship with another girl. But it was called off after the other girl said that this was cute at first, but thinks this kissing girls thing was just a phase.

Now Sayaka never lets out her true feelings about Touko to either her or Yuu. However, Sayaka did make her ex-girlfriend double-take when she ran into the two of them. Sayaka made an implication in gestures that she’s going out with Touko. It’s just that Touko doesn’t know of any of this.

ENDING: The student council wanted to do something special for the cultural festival and decided on reviving performing a play for the school. This was something the student council tried to do 7 years ago and Touko is very gung-ho on doing this. Reason behind this is that her older sister did that 7 years ago…or at least she wanted to.

Touko’s older sister died in a traffic accident, the play was called off, and it was never touched again. And then, things get deeper from here. Touko swore to become her sister as she grew up. Not to mention a layer of guilt that if Touko’s sister didn’t leave that day, she’d still be alive. That’s why she wound up as student council president and beloved by so many. It’s all a façade! And the only one who knows the true Touko is Yuu.

While working on the play, the student council advisor invites a close friend to help. This guy used to be on the student council at the very same school and worked under Touko’s sister. And all of the years of trying to be like her older sister is broken when Touko is told that she’s nothing like her by this guy. So at this point, Touko kind of doesn’t know what to do with herself as this image of her sister she’s set for herself has a hole poked in it. Not only that, but we’re not sure what’s going to happen once the play is over. Does Touko go back to what she once was? Does she keep up this façade? Does she change and make a personality that’s all her own?

Touko is much like the girl she’s playing in the student council production. And Yuu is the only one who knows it. Yuu’s friend Koyomi had a hard time reading Touko and if she’s really as perfect as everyone thinks when writing the script. So Koyomi makes the character have amnesia and must choose between three paths of what life she wants to live. But the ending to the play displeased Koyomi in some way. Yuu ends up changing the ending with Koyomi that has Touko’s character look forward and not back like in those other paths. And this change will also give Yuu some more dialogue between her and Touko on stage. Will we see this play out on the stage for the finale?

Actually…no! We get an outing with Touko and Yuu at the aquarium. It was a pretty calm day for the two girls. There was a moment that felt like Touko was going to change while rehearsing with Yuu. Add to that, there wasn’t like a big monumental “I love you” moment to end the season. It was just…calm.

(But the episode prior, we do get a makeout scene with popcicles)

AH, I don’t want to mention that. Sorry, after a certain hentai, I cringe every time I see any kind of hot makeout scene that involves a frozen treat.

But seriously, is that how it ends? Oh come on, don’t leave me hanging! What about the play? Do we get to see an on-stage performance of a lifetime with Touko and Yuu? What about Sayaka? She never told Touko how she feels? I didn’t get to see her get her heart broken. Does Touko break away from becoming her sister little by little with help from Yuu? Don’t give me that implied shit from them rehearsing lines in the finale. Yeah, all of this means I want more.

This was a very complex relationship we were witnessing, especially when we’re talking about Touko. All she knew up to this point was to act like her deceased sister and follow in her footsteps. But Touko’s sister died before she could experience love so all of this is all Touko when she falls for Yuu. But then you get this self-hatred from Touko where she loves Yuu and doesn’t want her love back because she hates herself so much. Sadly, I can relate to Touko a bit on that matter. It’s kind of hard to accept love from someone when you have self-hatred.

And then you’ve got Yuu who I had no idea how she was going to be throughout the series. I went in thinking she was going to immediately go out with Touko and have this turn into a taboo relationship. Quite the opposite seeing as we see many kinds of relationships in both heterosexual and lesbian. Yuu saw the girl who has a crush on her in a different light than what everybody else sees her. Yuu sees a flawed girl who’s trying way too hard to be something that isn’t truly her. Even though we don’t get a big-bang finale with these two passionately admitting their love for each other, I enjoyed watching these girls. The manga has finished back in 2019 and it does end with a time-skip with some happy outcomes. So that makes me a little happy and hopeful for the future of this series. And in terms of true Shoujo-Ai animes, this is one of the better ones to view. So I would recommend it!

If you would like to watch Bloom Into You, HI-DIVE has the entire series available.

Okay, let’s get to my next Sentai Filmworks anime.

Get ready for bad animation.

Ha! Bring it on. I survived all the Berserk adaptations past 2010, the CG-shit dragon in the Fushigi Yugi OVA, and 4 seasons of Dr. Katz Professional Therapist. And I know for a fact that Ex-Arms isn’t owned by Sentai. So whatever it is, it can’t be that ba…

Ewwww…maybe it’s time I review that Redo of Healer.