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A patricide on the throne

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As of today, this fic is now COMPLETED! I enjoyed writing my take on what a relationship between Zo and Avad might look like as it developed through the years. Thanks again to @horizon-events for setting up the Horizon Creation Celebration 2023 to help me get this off my WIP list.

Blooms of War, Laurels of Peace: A Horizon fanfic

Summary: It was an ebb and flow, a push and pull, a dance unique to them. Carja and Utaru, sun and earth. Two tribes historically opposed, two elements that should not coexist in harmony.

But in each other they found balance, purpose…and something more.

For the Horizon Creation Celebration 2023 event from @horizon-events.

Screenshots by Stef (RadiateLove on AO3). These are so lovely; thank you for letting me share them with my fic!

COMPLETED 12/15/2023

Chapters: 5/5

Chapter 1: Tension

Chapter 2: Truce

Chapter 3: Trust

Chapter 4: Thrill

Epilogue: Tribute

One thing I love about Horizon as a series is the possibilities it provides to expand upon the existing lore and explore different dynamics between characters. It's interesting to find similarities and contrasts and how those play off each other, which is why Zo and Avad appealed to me as a pairing.

This fic idea came from a discussion in the Kotaloy Elysium Discord server sometime last year about how Zo and Avad could be a potential match. They both stepped up as reluctant leaders for their respective tribes: her during the Red Raids to help push the Carja back at Barren Light, and him to liberate Meridian from Sun-King Jiran's reign of terror. Both lost the person they loved most before their time, making them kindred spirits in that regard. And, my sense is that they would come to understand each other despite their different upbringings and experiences.

The challenge for me was to create a believable romance between two characters that haven't met canonically. There isn't much action here compared to my first longfic or other subsequent fics I've written, but I hope the dialogue and the descriptions are engaging and help depict the developing relationship between Zo and Avad, as well as the friendships she has with Erend and Kotallo.

I'm happy to have participated with other talented writers and artists in the Horizon Creation Celebration 2023 event. It's been amazing getting to focus on these two characters and expand on their canonical background while bringing my own interpretation. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing this fic.

Please consider sharing the other #HCC2023 works on Tumblr and other social media and looking up the collection once it's up on AO3. 🤩

[little-box-of-wonders]

Dear Writer Pallies,

Let me break this down for you, plain and simple:

#1 - you are incredible. Stop doubting yourself. You have it within you, you just have to learn to trust yourself.

#2 - you have the most wonderful ideas. Run with them. Stop overthinking it til you talk yourself out of it and just go with it. If you mess it up, you can start over. Stop worrying so much about it not being perfect immediately.

#3 - the title will come with time. It's okay not to have it immediately. And if you're a person that can't start a story without titling it, just summarize the plot in a couple words, bam. You have a placeholder title.

#4 - I'm proud of you. You've come so far, keep going. Learn to be proud of yourself. :) because I know for damn well sure there's more than enough reason for you to be.

[little-box-of-wonders]

Mizu

[little-box-of-wonders]

🥹🥹🥹

They're all here. ❤️❤️❤️

Rebirth New Key Art

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INJECT THIS STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS AND LET FEBRUARY 29, 2024 GET HERE ALREADY!!!

FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH - Theme Song Announcement Trailer x

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Niloy November - Day 30: meme

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Until we meet again...❤️

The wonderful @quiche-draws brought my favorite rare pair to life with her art once more! Fashav and Ritakka deserve all the soft smooches under the stars. 🥰❤️

Thank you again for doing this commission, Quiche!💕 I LOVE THEM💖💖💖

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20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag @grexigone! n.n

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

33 as of Nov. 15, 2023

2. What's your total A03 word count?

135,824 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Only Horizon (Zero Dawn/Forbidden West) for now.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

To Know Peace: 103 kudos (Rated T) - First longfic

Live for the Night: 88 kudos (Rated E) - First smut fic

Bonding Moments: 83 kudos (Rated G) - Companion vignettes fic for To Know Peace

Devotion: 79 kudos (Rated E) - Kinktober 2023 drabbles collection

Visual Delights: 77 kudos (Rated E) - Fun, smutty 5+1 oneshot

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! Comments mean that someone took the time to read my fic and something stuck with them enough to tell me about it. It makes me feel appreciated, and I want my readers to feel appreciated in turn. :3

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oof, probably Shadowed Heart, which is my first rare pair fic (Fashav/Ritakka). I promise to give them a happier ending in my series.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'd say To Know Peace has the happiest ending so far.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I got a couple of comments on Bonding Moments about some choices I'd made that rubbed me the wrong way, but I haven't gotten hate publicly or privately. I think it helps that Horizon is still relatively small in the fanfic/fanart space and I don't share my ship-specific fics on the subreddit for the games.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do and I have no shame, hehe. It's mostly M/F and very light on kinks. Other than my Kinktober drabbles, the raunchiest fic I've written is Early Exit.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No crossovers. They're kinda tricky to get right.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

To my knowledge, no, but I haven't checked FF.net or Wattpad to confirm.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. Spanish is my native language, but I have no plans to translate my fics from English to Spanish.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

@jadefyre and I have a smut fic in the works that we started earlier this year. Also, not co-written but @murmart made a beautiful art of Fashav/Ritakka for my fic Heavy in Your Arms. :3

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Definitely Aloy/Kotallo. Not only did seeing their dynamic and conjuring up ship possibilities get me to write again after a long hiatus, but it's also allowed me to become part of a community of amazing creators both in the Kotaloy Elysium Discord server and beyond. n.n

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't necessarily think I'll leave any of my WIPs unfinished, but some are a little more complicated than others in terms of getting them to meet my own standards (yeah, I'm my harshest critic).

With longfics, I've since learned to write until completion and then start posting, only because I don't enjoy the self-imposed pressure to update something that's already out there since life can be really uncertain at times.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue! It takes me such a long time, but I love nailing the voices of the characters correctly and having readers comment on that and their characterization. However, I do find speeches a bit cumbersome to write because every word has so much weight to them, even though I do enjoy the end result.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle with describing environments/settings, because I never know if I'm being descriptive enough to paint a full picture for the reader.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think if it's a few sentences here and there is fine, but anything else might make it inaccessible to part of the readership unless it's stated in the author's note that the fic will feature two or more different languages.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Horizon, though I wrote a (thankfully never published) fic for Final Fantasy VII when I was around 13 years-old; trust me, it wasn't good and I still cringe thinking about the plot. HOWEVER, I miss that feeling of writing without caring about the end result, of just having a deluge of words on paper with a somewhat coherent narrative thread.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

It's hard to pick only one because all of my fics are special in their own way, but I'll go with Hurricane Drunk because I had so much fun describing Kotallo being drunk and struggling with confessing his feelings for Aloy in a humorous way.

Tagging @setavvo, @fogsblue, @hannahmationstudios, @destinysembrace-oblivion and @mwasaw. (No pressure! Only if you want to).

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EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (2022) dir. Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

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The Savior(s) of Meridian

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« Tuchanka is a place of great gifts. It kills the weak, torments the slow, and destroys the stupid. Survival is an honor, and here, krogan thrive! »

Tuchanka and its people. I especially remember the moment of Shepard's first visit to Tuchanka in the Mass Effect 2. A meeting with good old friend Wrex, stern krogans, funny pyjaks and varrens. Especially with cutie Urz!

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Oooh, this is such a cool crossover! I'll put the fic on my reading list. 👀

Nicely done littlelionpaw!🤗

My entry for Horizon Creation Celebration 2023! @horizon-events

The cover Illustration is a little bonus ;) The fic is the main event!

Freaky Friday (3156 words) by littlelionpaw Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Horizon (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aloy & Beta (Horizon), Background Aloy/Erend (Horizon) Characters: Aloy (Horizon), Beta (Horizon), GAIA (Horizon), Erend (Horizon), Kotallo (Horizon), Drakka (Horizon), Sylens (Horizon), Original Characters Additional Tags: Post-Game: Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores, Sister-Sister Relationship, Freaky Friday Situation, Inspired by Freaky Friday (2003), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Sisters being sisters, POV Aloy (Horizon), POV Beta (Horizon), They fight a lot, Don't worry they'll make up, Trauma, Self-Discovery, A Little Bit Of Ereloy, Light Ereloy, Feelings Realization, A bit of Magic, Original Banuk Character, Panic Attacks, Canon-Typical Violence, Psychological Trauma, HCC 2023 Summary:

„There are few things that annoy Eputak more than not listening. The old shaman cackles softly as her fingers find what they are looking for. She can’t make her own people listen, but maybe those sisters will. The fire is dead, but a few embers still glow in the encroaching darkness. This will be enough.”

Aloy and Beta find themselves in a rather peculiar situation – they somehow have switched bodies. While the sisters, aided by GAIA, search for a way to reverse the switch, they also try to hide their “condition” from their friends.

[little-box-of-wonders]

Blooms of War, Laurels of Peace: A Horizon fanfic

Summary: It was an ebb and flow, a push and pull, a dance unique to them. Carja and Utaru, sun and earth. Two tribes historically opposed, two elements that should not coexist in harmony.

But in each other they found balance, purpose…and something more.

For the Horizon Creation Celebration 2023 event from @horizon-events.

Screenshots by Stef (RadiateLove on AO3). These are so lovely; thank you for letting me share them with my fic!

COMPLETED 12/15/2023

Chapters: 5/5

Chapter 1: Tension

Chapter 2: Truce

Chapter 3: Trust

Chapter 4: Thrill

Epilogue: Tribute

One thing I love about Horizon as a series is the possibilities it provides to expand upon the existing lore and explore different dynamics between characters. It's interesting to find similarities and contrasts and how those play off each other, which is why Zo and Avad appealed to me as a pairing.

This fic idea came from a discussion in the Kotaloy Elysium Discord server sometime last year about how Zo and Avad could be a potential match. They both stepped up as reluctant leaders for their respective tribes: her during the Red Raids to help push the Carja back at Barren Light, and him to liberate Meridian from Sun-King Jiran's reign of terror. Both lost the person they loved most before their time, making them kindred spirits in that regard. And, my sense is that they would come to understand each other despite their different upbringings and experiences.

The challenge for me was to create a believable romance between two characters that haven't met canonically. There isn't much action here compared to my first longfic or other subsequent fics I've written, but I hope the dialogue and the descriptions are engaging and help depict the developing relationship between Zo and Avad, as well as the friendships she has with Erend and Kotallo.

I'm happy to have participated with other talented writers and artists in the Horizon Creation Celebration 2023 event. It's been amazing getting to focus on these two characters and expand on their canonical background while bringing my own interpretation. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing this fic.

Please consider sharing the other #HCC2023 works on Tumblr and other social media and looking up the collection once it's up on AO3. 🤩

[little-box-of-wonders]

LOOK AT WHAT MY DARLING MURM MADE! I love how intense he is in this art and all the emotions he's feeling. All hail Sun-King Avad!😍❤️

Avad - Battle for the Sundom

My entry for the Horizon Creation Celebration event organised by Horizon-Events (@horizon-events). Thank you for organising it! I was worried that I wouldn't make the deadline. But I had this vivid picture in my mind of Avad screaming in battle that kept me going and finishing way before the deadline.

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Kobb, this is such a cool piece! Love the atmosphere and the light effects. They make for a great battle couple!❤️❤️❤️

Helping kick off the Horizon Creation Celebration (via @horizon-events) with this piece I've been excited to finally share!

I love these two, individually and as a pair. My sweet reliable boy. His clever, iron-willed lady. It's a good thing nothing bad happened to either of them!!!