#aloy/avad

[mangoslam]

Aloy and Avad: together in Meridian

[pikapeppa]

I just read the new chapter of coming in from a western wind and ahhhh just seeing it update made my day but also the chapter (as always) was fab! 🙌🏼❤️

Aw yay, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! The updates are slow, I know, but never fear, the fic will be finished in time! 😊

For anyone who wants to check it out: Coming In On A Western Wind is here on AO3! Aloy/Avad, 133k words to date, rated E for smut. 🥰

-- love from your friendly neighbourhood Pika! xoxo

[meggannn]

avad excited to finally ditch the crown to join aloy and leave the sundom, arriving at her mysterious base for his first adventure just to be greeted by a glowing machine that immediately knows his name and entire history, his missing vanguard captain and missing sunhawk, a tenakth marshal from the clan that nearly jeopardized his embassy, the first utaru brave enough to fight the carja in the red raids, and a bizarre person from an advanced imperialist nation across the world all sitting in a lounge archiving apollo and blasting jackson five while aloy is in the corner playing space invaders with one hand and coding hephaestus with the other next to her apparent fucking twin and the asshole who founded the eclipse threat that kept his brother prisoner and nearly ended the world

[jukeboxindie]

horizon doodle dump, new and old

[horizonedits]

Well, I would like to unite the tribes in harmony, but you saw how many courtiers I have to deal with first. Maybe next week.

[mistress-light]

Horizon Forbidden West PC • Sun-King Avad

[horizon-forbidden-memes]

Inspired by @importantdestinydefendor's comments and agreement about a certain Horizon hugging gif healing us

[leladrexels]

rising

[han-ban-bam]

Part 2 or our multi part angst journey 🎉 the aftermath. part 1 is here so you can see how we ended up like this

music;

the world and all its lessons (part 2) - HZD

[spaceguylewis]

Horizon: Zero Dawn (73/ꝏ) | REMASTERED On the Eclipse

[bakedcrossaintt]

one of my fav ship tropes with Aloy is her taking [insert love interest] on a ride with her sunwing and they have to cling to her super tightly in order to not fall off lol

[mangoslam]

[pikapeppa]

Okay, so I’m re-reading Becoming Whole because I’m desperate for anything you can give us, and I’m noticing that Kotallo kisses Aloy from their very first night together.

I’m wondering… does kissing have the same cultural significance that you’ve fleshed out in Here Come the Dreams (and even Desert Blooms)? Like, were you implying that Kotallo was already super into Aloy or is the idea of kissing being reserved for serious relationships just something you’ve developed more since you wrote Becoming Whole?

(P.S. no pressure but I can see Desert Blooms has been put on the back burner… do you see yourself getting back around to it eventually or are you pre done with it for the time being?)

This is a great question! I always kind of wondered if anyone would ask about Kotallo's thought process with kissing in Becoming Whole 😂

It was always in my head/in my headcanons for the Tenakth that kissing is usually reserved for serious partners and that kissing without paint is especially significant bordering on sacred. The reason it didn't get explicitly stated in Becoming Whole (compared to Desert Blooms and Here Come The Dreams) is actually because Kotallo and Aloy ended up falling for each other harder and faster in Becoming Whole than I had originally planned LOL.

(rest of reply is beneath the cut!)

My outline for BW originally had Aloy and Kotallo being friends-with-benefits for some time, since I HC casual sexual relationships as being common for the Tenakth, and that it would be some time before they admitted their feelings for each other and kissed. But as I was writing the fic, their interactions organically ended up fostering emotional closeness much faster than I had anticipated, and I went with the flow rather than trying to force them into the original plan for the fic.

By the time they spend that first night together in Chapter 12, it's pretty obvious that they're nuts for each other and that it's more than sexual chemistry, and it would have been weird and unnatural for Kotallo to NOT kiss her in that moment, even though he was wearing his war paint. Note, though, that when Kotallo actually bloods her in Chapter 19 -- a moment that is a very big deal for them emotionally -- he makes a point of bathing so he's not wearing his war paint: he is bare for her in that very significant moment.

The importance of kissing barefaced is also implied a couple of times throughout the fic -- for instance, in Chap 22, Drakka and Kotallo are talking about Aloy, and the conversation goes like this:

Drakka raised his eyebrows, and Kotallo pushed on regardless. “We are as good as partnered.” His eyes went huge. “What? No. Really?” Kotallo nodded, and Drakka narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, ‘as good as partnered’? Have you slept together?” Kotallo nodded again, and Drakka tsked. “Well, that doesn’t mean anything. Have you kissed her?” “Yes.” “Without your war paint?” “Yes.” “Blood of the Ten,” Drakka complained. “Aw, that must be why she turned me down last night.”

It's not until Drakka hears that Kotallo and Aloy have kissed without war paint on that he really believes she's off-limits and that she and Kotallo are serious about each other.

There's another exchange in Chap 43 where Aloy and Kotallo are talking about the significance of being barefaced in front of someone:

“You never told me that it was a big deal for the Tenakth to take off their facepaint.” “I did,” he said. “I told you that we are only seen without our war paint by those who are close to us.” “Yeah, but…” She trailed off with a pensive frown, then spoke again in a softer tone. “No, you’re right. You did tell me that. I guess I didn’t connect that it was a… that it could mean something, um, romantic, be seen without your war paint.” He nodded. “Removing your war paint with a sexual partner is often seen as a sign that you wish to commit to that person. Not always,” he amended, “but it is what I would assume if a bedmate removed their war paint in front of me.” “Oh. Wow,” she said. “But…” She trailed off again, her eyes intent on his face, and he gazed fondly at her as the thoughts flitted behind her holographic eyes. She wet her lips before speaking. “But you… early on, before we… I saw you without your war paint long before we slept together.” He knew exactly what she was talking about: the first time she had seen him without his war paint, after he had finished bathing in the waterfall. That was the day she had permitted him to touch her for the first time — the day when he had made her climax for the first time in her life. His heart pulsed: a hot, nearly painful pulse of affection. “Yes, you did,” he said quietly. She was quiet for a moment longer, her gaze still intense on his face, and he waited until she spoke again. “Was that on purpose? Were you… did it mean to you what it — what you just told me it means? That you were, um, that you wanted to commit?” He let out a slow breath. “It wasn’t my plan to be barefaced in front of you so early in our… acquaintance, so to speak,” he admitted. “But when the moment arose — when you came out of the base and saw me after bathing, I… will admit that I made the choice not to rush to reapply my paint.” “You chose to let me see you without the paint?” He nodded. “I could have asked you to return inside the base so I could reapply it. I know you would have agreed. But I chose not to.” He huffed and rubbed his chin. “It’s… funny, now, to think back to that moment. I don’t even recall thinking about it then as much as I am now. But…” He put himself back into his own mindset at that crucial moment: the way his heart pounded when Aloy walked toward him, the mixture of nerves and of almost-vertiginous excitement he’d felt as she approached him, her cheeks pink and her expression nervous. There had been so many thoughts in his mind at that moment — thoughts about Aloy being unblooded, Aloy coming closer to him, Aloy’s greenshine eyes darting over his unpainted face and his mostly-naked body with obvious interest and not even a hint of disgust. And yet, despite the frenzied whirl of thoughts tumbling through his mind, the thought of reapplying his war paint had not been one of them. “What?” she said softly. He shrugged. “I did not need to think about it. It was so clear that I didn’t need to think about it, even at that time. Allowing you to see me barefaced was an easy choice to make.” Her eyebrows rose. “You felt that comfortable being barefaced in front of me that soon?” He nodded. “You had already seen me at my worst, and you hadn’t cast me aside. You had already decided that I had value still, despite my missing arm and my… bitterness. Being barefaced in front of you?” He shook his head. “That was nothing compared to what you had already seen. What you had already seen and accepted, I should say.”

Kissing specifically doesn't come up here, but it in my head, the implication was always that being barefaced in front of a sexual partner is a big deal, and that kissing barefaced would be tied into this in an inherent way.

I had always meant to find a moment in Becoming Whole to elaborate on my personal lore re: kissing for the Tenakth, but the chance never came up -- which sounds weird considering that the fic is 700k words LOL. But to me, if felt like the chance to bring it up had passed me by since they were already kissing and fucking barefaced, so it would be weird to just bring it up out of retroactively. When I finished BW, I wrote this little oneshot so that I could actually get my thought about barefaced kissing down in one place since I never had the opportunity to do it in BW LOL.

As for Desert Blooms: I'll be getting back to it ASAP! It was only on hold because I was writing Here Come The Dreams. I honestly didn't think Here Come The Dreams was going to end up being that long (THIS IS A CHRONIC PROBLEM FOR ME) but now that it's finished, I'll be getting back to Drakka (and to Avad!). POOR DRAKKA THOUGH, he keeps getting put on hold while I write other things, which is weird because TO BE TOTALLY HONEST he's my favourite boy in the Forbidden West... 🤫😂

For anyone who is curious to check out these fics, links are below!

Becoming Whole: Aloy/Kotallo, 728k+ words, finished!

Here Come The Dreams of You and Me: Aloy/Kotallo, 157k+ words, finished as of today!

Even The Hardiest Desert Blooms Need To Get Wet Sometimes: Aloy/Drakka, 300k+ words so far, unfinished but soon to get back in business!

Coming In Like A Western Wind: Aloy/Avad, 66k+ words so far, unfinished but soon to get back in business too!

-- love from your friendly neighbourhood Pika xoxo

[meggannn]

some old horizon memes i made and never posted

[thingsasbarcodes]

Horizon Zero Dawn - All Cutscenes

[horizonedits]

But I never said the tribe wouldn't need you. The strength to stand alone, Aloy, is the strength to make a stand. To serve a purpose greater than yourself. That is the lesson you must learn, and remember it.