#except for aloy lmao

[greybackpack]

A Preview draft of a Scene:

People bustled around them, unknowing of what calamity might befall them but nevertheless acutely aware of the unrest that laid beneath the city, heralded by footfalls the Sundom’s elite and of the Nora tribe’s unprecedented arrival.

The Savior of Meridian, the people noticed, had headed the Nora’s approach and thus the obvious war party was allowed in by order of the Sun King. The current citizens of Meridian survived under the Mad Ling’s tyrannical rule. They knew war. They knew, despite the lack of a city wide announcement, that violence is about to beat at their walls again and that they’ll have to fight for another Sun Ling.

Meridian’s savior had spoken to the Sun King Avad, entering the palace with a red headed woman who looked exactly like her, had the Savior been twenty years older. The people gossiped, word of the mysterious woman interwoven in between the lines at the market, inflamed by passerby’s who wanted to know everything about their icon’s personal life.

Nightfall saw the two women heading outside, crossing the bridge to a well established tavern known for its outdoor terrace seatings. Try as they might, they could not eavesdrop as the Savior of Meridian had obtained the best seat in the house, isolated by plants of differing colors and species.

- break -

“So… Avad.”

Aloy groaned, ears burning but eyes quietly pained.

“He’s interested in you.” Elisabet smiles, eyes soft.

“I know… he’s a good man. A good king. It’s just-“

“You don’t want to be tied to that.”

Aloy nods.

“He’s… not my type. I don’t think anyone is, I don’t know. I’ve rejected him already, but…”

“He needs to get a hint?”

“Yeah.” Aloy grimaces. The tavern server serves their drinks, shooting an starry-eyed look at the younger redhead. Aloy deepens her grimace and takes a long drag of her mead, the warm, sweet drink doing wonders for her fraying patience.

[thegracefulknight]

˚ ೀ Introduction ೀ ˚

Welcome to my little world~ I'm writing this welcome message as an afterthought, as I've actually had this little blog for years, before leaving and now coming back again recently. And I realized I never made a proper intro post! (⁠｡⁠ﾉ⁠ω⁠＼⁠｡⁠)

This blog of mine is dedicated mostly to Elizabeth Midford—the light and human heart of the anime/manga series Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler). However, I do share posts from different anime from time to time—mainly, but not limited to Pandora Hearts and Vanitas no Carte (The Case Study of Vanitas). This blog is not spoiler-free, so please take note!

Aside from anime and manga, I reblog posts on aesthetics that I feel suits Lizzy or the Victorian Era best, as well as quotes or passages from various media that hit me close to the heart. My main ship is O!Cielizzy, but as a multishipper, I also enjoy other ships and may share about them too (except ships that involve a minor and an adult). For that, please note that I do not ship Sebaciel or Claude x Alois, and will avoid engaging with such content as much as possible.

I aim to keep this blog as bright and positive as the girl it's dedicated for, so please if you hate Elizabeth or any of her ships, please DNI. I prefer not seeing my posts about her littered with unnecessary hate. You are free to block me rather than engage in my posts negatively. Let's reserve the energy for focusing on the things we actually love instead, on our own safe spaces! (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)

*Blog currently running on queue cause work takes me awei all the time

Tags:

ೀ ˚ lizzy aesthetic - for moodboards, photos or other media that specifically fits Lizzy perfectly

ೀ ˚ sugar spice and everything nice - any content related to girlblogging, aesthetics, self-affirmation, and self love in general.

ೀ ˚ message in a bottle - quotes, passages and poetry that resonates with the heart. May or may not be related to O!Cielizzy.

ೀ ˚ of ribbons and swords ; dance of the graceful knight - for theories, commentaries, analyses and character essays on, or related to Lizzy.

ೀ ˚ a love written in the stardust — cielizzy - for O!Cielizzy-related posts (aka almost half of this blog, i prolly won't re-tag all the old ones lmao)

Bonus : Listen to my O!Cielizzy Playlist here!

ೀ ˚ mine - for my edits, manga colorings etc. Mostly old posts that I haven't properly tagged before lol. Some have watermarks from my old pages, @wifeofthequeenswatchdog (from FB) or @isabella-phantomhive (from DeviantArt). I might repost content from those pages too!

[nullbutler]

@hateweasel bad boy club karaoke night (discussed on a call with kurt n co)

other details we came up with

renault would sing take me home country roads but i did not want to draw that. we figured he probably heard the song in italy when he was young and has weird nostalgia to it

erik had an impromptu group therapy session in a dennys afterwards

gilbert brought his headphones but had a good time regardless

serge probably also sang a dear evan hanson song, but hes honestly doing a lot better, so he might have just joined in a joke song with kurt

kurt wore the never gonna give you up shirt UNDERNEATH his jacket so he could scare everyone with it

marion thinks no one knows mother mother except him

alois's singing the gay song from victorious LMAO

kurt is hyping his lame boyfriend

[blondeaxolotl]

FINALLY DOING THIS NOW

I have a few questions related to this amazing FNAF AU (WARNING: these will be kind of rapid fire cause I shouldn't have my phone out in class and don't want to come back over and over) ;

Is the lore similar (i.e. the animatronics are haunted by the doomed souls of the kids who were killed)?

Where is Sebastian tied into this is he's in it at all?

What's your favorite FNAF fan song? I'm torn between "Die in a Fire" and "Come Over For A Bite"

Are there OTHER animatronics, if so who?

Would the pizza be as gross as Chuck-A-Cheese???

How often would the animatronics need repares???

The lore is pretty similar to the fnaf au, whole animatronics haunted by the kids that were murderer n ect. Though there are some added things and changes like usual it's just me doing what I want lmao Sebastian is in the AU! and he makes a few appearances, right now it's confirmed that he appears in SL and Security Breach GUHH, "Five More Nights" has always been a favourite of mine.. but "Stuck Inside" has quickly jumped to my favourite, not to mention it's the song that inspired me to make this au There are plenty of animatronics, I could name a few besides the classic (Phantom Twins, Lizzy, Alois and Doll). I won't name them all cause that's alot but a few examples are, the kids from the orphanage, the servants (both phantomfam and trancy servants), Lau, Madame Red and Agni are also animatronics... Basically anyone who isn't a reaper is an animatronic (exception of UT who ends up being one later), the afton family, and also Soma and Ran-Mao aren't animatronics Knowing I see UT as a foody and hates bad food, I don't think the pizza would be that bad (though I don't doubt it goes bad after he gets stuck in the springsuit and Othello takes over alone) Before the whole children murders happened, I think Othello would have to repair them at least once a month, but after the murders, I'd say it became as often as every once a week to every 2 weeks

[bobidibaidadoodle]

I sound like i'm trying to seek validation for my feelings. Because I did and i'm not proud of it. I love Horizon and Aloy. And I want to try to empathize with seyka so badly because I want to enjoy the story going forward. And I'm sure I will. I just need to reach the acceptance stage :')

I remember playing Witcher, I hate Triss so bad just because I want Geralt to stay with Yennefer lmao. It felt like that, except before Seyka, Aloy was alone.

Yeah, we can see this change and development on her from a mile a way, but it's still come as a surprise to me. Not a bad one of course. Just one that needs an adjusment on my part.

[nugsanart09-works]

speedrunning my teapot

okay so as my roster's nova, they know damn well on how i go from "gone for literal years" to "bulldozing through every quest available within a day" — the latter being specifically when i spedrun through the liyue quest (that i've been neglecting for years now whoops) for the taste testing teapot event. yep, i have shit priorities and it shows lmao

little note that i believe the aurora bot allows the sunshines what the nova's current status is at the bare minimum unless asked for further information

if your system aurora is a menace, it would report what your current motivation is if its nova don't talk while playing — for extra ammo, it might even go full throttle by telling the sunshines even the most minute detail it can tell them i.e. if you're too busy staring at zhongli's ass and the like

moving on, so after twelve (12) hours of grinding i finally have my teapot at trust rank 4 and im just gonna bullet point it with a bit of chatbox-esque dialogue thingie:

everyone in my main party (lumine, barbara, xiangling and shinobu) are main victims of the entire ride. the secondary team – dubbed as stamina squad – suffered the second half of the day the moment i got the teapot (razor, rosaria, amber and jean)

《— •▪︎{★}▪︎• —》

first half: the archon quest

AURORA [bot]: 【 NOVA [insert username] IS DISTRACTED. PAIMON AND TRAVELER, PLEASE STANDBY AND PAY ATTENTION. 】 Team: *groan* Paimon: not again!

i will admit it now: i was not paying attention the whole time

except for the perfume part. i was relentlessly choosing the fruitiest options possible and having paimon (and likely the other party members) suffer my bs

timeus you lucky bastard– (if you played the recent windblume event then you know why i'm cursing this man rn)

xiangling be going "really? right in front of my stove/dad" the entire time i was with ying'er lol

sorry gurl but ying'er's everything is too hilarious to pass up

TARTAGLIA: nothing personal~ Shinobu, having just released her skill: wait, FUCK—! 【 SHINOBU (LV.20) HAS BEEN SLAIN 】 Shinobu, in the chat: every. damned. TIME. Lisa and Yanfei: *comforting her because they've been through the same thing*

shinobu dies a fuckton and @yeelimso had once stated that the resident inazuman def would not like me for the bs i put her through

take note that she's stuck at the level 20 the entire time that i've been using her

yeah she def hates me lol

no boss battle ends without shinobu at least dying once

barbara desperately keeping the team alive while she herself is on life support

the team suffering my shit coordination with my keys (setting off their bursts at wrong time or the wrong person gets their burst activated) as i lowkey panic whenever i see the ballista's hp going lower than 20%

barely got through that boss battle ngl

fucking fatui

still felt bad for childe tho but eh stinky red poo poo man + such is politics lol rip bozo

《— •▪︎{★}▪︎• —》

interlude: getting the teapot

aka round two of my team suffering my gay ass feat. yanfei

yanfei is so good in this quest like man her big brain holy shit 😳

sunshine yanfei dying inside as her nova gay panics over her earthshine self

there are literally three moods in this quest: (1) yanfei admiration, (2) head empty hours with paimon, and (3) appreciating madame ping's eyebags for some reason

god, im so sorry yanfei 🙇💦

《— •▪︎{★}▪︎• —》

second half: speedrunning the teapot

if you've seen some of my genshin reblogs the past few days then you know that this was a long time coming

deadass prioritized aloy > everybody else

which def would've made her uncomfy if she is self-aware whoops

oh well, at least she has her little outdoor retreat all the way over the corner of my teapot

left my mansion empty until trust rank 2, which caused me to go on a shopping spree

i felt bad when kaeya's lines hit me with "well decorated" and "homey" but there's only a dining set there

now my lobby is filled with bookshelves for days

along with other knicknacks

meanwhile... razor and jean: *material collecting noises in the distance intensifies*

noelle and rosaria are now with him too! because if i do get isekai'd in the "sagau" these people are my to-go to and i need their friendship rank high stat

i fed them so much food you have no idea—

paimon has a room of her own and that is the only other room that is furnished (for now)

she deserves that much after all the bullying i inflicted on her lmao

hmmm... seeing that i never use my sticky honey roast batches so i might as well feed paimon those later

the event is going to end soon so yee imma try to wrap this up to further speedrun

that's it for now. i haven't slept since yesterday and it's, haha, past noon here... yeah, imma continue the gaming later...

i hope you enjoyed!

again, if you want to use my version of sagau, please tag me. other than that, feel free to use it as your base!

[wykart]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @mr-jaybird

tagging uhh dude you took all my usual guys. anyway @hellynz @picnokinesis

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

52

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,074,876 :0

3. What fandoms do you write for?

It’s mostly been Doctor Who (30!) but recently I’ve been focused more on the Horizon video games. Back in 2019 I wrote quite a few for the Umbrella Academy. There’s a few in there for other video game series like Dishonored, Bioshock, the Last of Us, and then one for Adventure Time :)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

These are all old and I’m too scared to read them back rip (all the Umbrella Academy except for a crack in the mask).

Haunting Five

Useless

Fifty-one years (and one day) later

A Crack in the Mask

Fix Her

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

Mostly! I read all of them but don’t always get around to responding. Not that I get heaps I just forget or don’t know what to say haha.

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

There are so many contenders for this. I’d say I generally go for ambiguous/bittersweet, but that old Umbrella Academy fic 'Useless' was very angsty in general with an ending to match.

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

Sheer Poetry!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nah

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

Nah

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

I’m not a fan of crossovers in general but I once wrote a one shot about the Doctor and Yaz meeting Aloy from Horizon bc I had to lmao

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Don't think so

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

No

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

The Doctor and the Master. I haven’t written all that much for them but they’re always on my mind. You can swap one incarnation out for the other, mix and match them for endless flavours of toxicity. They’re perfect.

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

Oh so many. I really want to finish my Bioshock Infinite re-write at some point but it’s such a big project and since I’ve been furious at the flaws and potential of that game’s story for 10 years, I know I’m going to be perfectionistic.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Probably imagery and building a certain tone/atmosphere. Generally one that’s unsettling but also weird in a comical way. I’ve written things that are almost nothing but imagery fr.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Getting to the damn point. Also action, I tend to avoid it. I over explain to the extreme and am a huge control freak when it comes to shaping the reader’s interpretation, both with exposition and down to the micro-level with punctuation trying to establish a certain cadence. I’m getting better at this!!

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

I only know English :(

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Doctor Who

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Against the Lightning is definitely my most polished and ambitious fic and I’m really proud of myself for finishing it. But my personal/sentimental favourite is still Sheer Poetry, which holds all my Doctor Who feelings in a weird, misshapen package.

Cheers this was fun. I'll take any excuse to talk about my writing instead of actually doing it.

[idyllic-affections]

YOU. 🫵🫵🫵🫵

YOU WATCH VOLTRON TOO?!??!?!!?!? HOLY SHIT???????

YES YES i have been wanting to write for vld but i need to rewatch the series first AJSJKSHGDHF

some of my other minor interests that i sometimes randomly hyperfixate on include:

fnaf. clearly LMAO

bendy and the ink machine, undertale, etc. all of those games that everyone was into in 2015-2020 EXCEPT for cuphead? i never got into it. also little nightmares, i never got into it when it came out. i have the game and i have been meaning to play it but just haven't.

stardew valley, animal crossing, cozy grove, abzû, sky: children of the light, & spiritfarer. i also recently started playing death's door but it's difficult (skill issue i guess /lh). i also have cult of the lamb but haven't played it in a while. i play minecraft also. OH YEAH also house flipper.

danganronpa: killing harmony.

detroit: become human (this game fucking RUINED me. it took my heart and ran it over with an 18-wheeler. it DESTROYED me). i also have beyond: two souls and heavy rain but haven't finished playing either one.

the quarry (also ruined me, but to a lesser extent). i also have until dawn but haven't played it myself, though i HAVE seen other people play it so i vaguely remember the general plot.

diablo iii & diablo iv.

gravity falls (i got into this LAAATE but it's ok <3)

black butler (the manga, not the anime. although i DO think alois deserved better. that's my son bro)

toilet-bound hanako-kun (again, the manga)

[mr-jaybird]

3

18 (you have an idea for this apparently)

21 - missing scene from choosing life 0–0

34 (bc it’s funny)

okay first off i love how 3 is just fucking huge here for no reason

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

definitely definitely complicated mother-child relationships. strong emphasis on chosen family. the hero learning that they have to be a person in addition to a tool.

not for all of them because it does take fic of a certain mood, but i do also like to explore fucked up sci-fi concepts

oh and also for some reason i am recurringly obsessed with media involving clones!

If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it involve?

okay i think you are referring to my zenith lis oneshot we collaborated on. assuming that's the case--it would be another rewrite of hfw, this one where lis lives but she's a zenith, and to begin with she's obsessed with capturing aloy, pretty much to the exception of all else. aloy meanwhile is completely heartbroken and trying like hell to stay our of lis's grasp while also saving the world. at some point...they'd be coming together...but i'll save more detail for it i ever actually write the thing!

i'd like to, but it would be a big project i would not start on until after CL concludes, which is uh....a ways away. i'm not a grimdark person but it would definitely be darker in tone than the relatively light CL

If you wrote a “missing scene” in [insert fic], what would it be?

okay so like my first instinct for this for CL would be beta's escape from the zeniths at eluethia. i'm genuinely tempted, except since she doesn't at that point know lis exists it would basically play out like canon. might add it to my list anyway though

one that would probably be more interesting and different from canon...fuck, absolutely tilda investigating aloy's focus and realizing lis is alive. definitely putting that one on my list

possibly i might write one of those over xmas break, when i'm too overwhelmed by family to do CL proper but have some spare time. no promises!

34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?

LMAO liv you knooooooow how much it's Lis Projection Hours over here

but to the extent that i am comfortable disclosing publicly:

i grew up gifted and tested into college level education at the age of 8, although thank god my parents did not accelerate my education, my social development suffered enough without it thanks. by the time i went to college after high school my experiences were....generally that of a research colleague rather than student and i was academically published and teaching classes by fall of my sophomore year of undergrad. i have recently been promoted into a top level position roughly 20 years too young in both age and work experience, which is very cool but also very lonely and fucking terrifying. i am also in charge of people many years older and more experienced than me and trying to figure out how to deal with it. i work as university faculty in public health as a data science programmer/clinical researcher and also sometimes program AI professionally. HFW came out just as this was happening and my brain saw elisabet sobeck and went OH YES HER THE BLORBO HERE IS UNDERSTANDING

also literally anything with writing the sobecks as autistic is based off my own autism LOL

[meggannn]

burning shores thoughts

gameplay:

fuck bilgeguts lmao. i dont know why guerrilla's new criteria for making machines is "1. does it spam all its aoe attacks which are impossible to dodge? 2. is it huge? 3. will it flop on top of you? most of all, 4. is it annoying?" these elements were not fun in frozen wilds and they're not fun here either

i was reluctant to embrace the gliding feature when it finally came to fw, i feel it was something guerrilla kind of shoehorned in because fans just wanted it reeeealllly badly (esp as a crutch to make fans feel better after killing off varl), and i feel somewhat vindicated here because of how goddamn clunky i still find flying even with a decent mastery of the controls. those aerial vantage points in particular were a real pain sometimes (yeah, guerilla, while this woman talks about her moral struggles in the end times, the perfect background noise is a bunch of machines yapping at me and throwing missiles my way because you FORCED me to glide into their field of view...) it is true i enjoyed soaring over the landscape at some points, but the burning shores were MADE to be soared over; it's just straight impossible to walk or swim everywhere on the map here but i genuinely still would have happily ridden a strider the whole way, because at least there i feel like i am still interacting with the world. it makes me wonder how they're going to handle this in horizon 3, if aloy will still be able to fly, because that'll negate a lot of the exploration.

speaking of: since you can now traverse great distances in seconds, burning shores feels a lot emptier than frozen wilds. idk if that was intentional or it was rushed, but i was surprised there were only like three sidequests, and entire areas were completely untouched if you didn't care to hunt down all the collectibles. i felt like the map could've been half its size and i wouldn't have lost anything.

story:

on the whole, i feel the same way about burning shores as i do the main story: unnecessary drama over billionaire characters we shouldn't be focusing on anymore. i've said it before but guerrilla's human villains are quite frankly boring, with the exception of tilda who at least had a twist, if predictable. "power-mad white guy" only worked well once with ted faro in hzd because it was simple, effective, and didn't drag itself out, and then it got boring and marvel-esque in fw with the stupid immortality plot. imo we didn't need three other flavors of power-mad white guy to deal with in the zeniths.

mind control. okay. at this point i have to accept guerrilla just wants to go full scifi/cyberpunk, which is not inherently a bad thing, but it's also not the horizon i fell in love with. their environmental focus seems to have been put on the backburner so maybe i should keep my expectations low in horizon 3. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

it's not all bad. conceptually, there were some things i liked about it more than i liked about frozen wilds. it was clear from the offset why aloy was going to LA; that is justification i thought was weak in frozen wilds, because "dangerous machines are up in banuk territory, let's stick our nose into these tribal politics" always felt like a stupid excuse to find a way to introduce hephaestus and cyan. in burning shores, from the beginning, we know londra is dangerous and why we have to track him down. i also frankly just find the quen more interesting than the banuk but that's me. sadly though, we don't actually learn that much more about the quen because the plot is mostly about their current londra problem, not their actual culture? which is a shame. i did like the sidequest about helping people stand up to their supervisors and finding more focuses back home, though.

seyka and romance options:

in a vacuum, i like seyka well enough. i have been craving more asian characters in horizon. i don't mind the thought of aloy having a romance and i obviously support more wlw in media.

in context, it irks me a little that guerrilla's idea of "cool female character" basically amounts to the same type of person, just another aloy from another tribe: sassy, hot-headed, rule-breaking hunter/survivalist. this is just me, but i don't particularly want to see aloy get in a relationship with someone who's exactly the same as her. yes, they're similar and they both keep secrets, i see what you're saying guerrilla, but i don't actually think the way aloy interacts with other people would be good for her to experience in a partner from the other direction. "like attracts like" does happen irl, but it doesn't always make for compelling push-and-pull in a fictional relationship.

but do i want people to have the option? sure! i certainly don't want the option REMOVED now that it's there. i just grow increasingly frustrated with guerrilla's idea of which type of character is "worthy" of time and attention in this way, like we have to see a snarky young female machine hunter from every tribe until they find one that sticks. zo and alva were breaths of fresh air for this reason (not that they should've necessarily been romance options, but they're proof that guerrilla CAN write more personalities than "another flavor of aloy").

honesty hour, my real question is: did guerrilla give aloy a female romance because they wanted to shake off some of the bad blood after killing aloy's black best friend and having a predatory lesbian be hfw's main villain? maybe. i'm cynical so i do wonder.

this is gonna sound mean, but i feel like guerrilla's character writing isn't strong enough to justify romances at the moment; the cracks were there in fw but they really showed in this dlc. if all it took for aloy to have feelings for someone was to meet another rule-defying hunter woman around her age that she immediately gelled with, then talanah should be at the top of the list, who she has WAY more connection and camaraderie with, something aloy has learned IS important for her to feel secure in a relationship.

character treatment:

i'm quite frustrated guerrilla keeps introducing new shiny toys, playing with them for a while while they ignore other characters, and then any criticism of how they did a thing is now dismissed as bigotry or haterade. i'll level with you, with the way they've treated their dlc story and characters in the past, i am not optimistic seyka will have a significant role in horizon 3, so i don't even know if i should bother getting attached to her. maybe they'll prove me wrong! but where the hell were cyan, ikrie, and aratak in forbidden west? did they seriously only bring back gildun and give him a sad backstory and a focus out of pity? are they really giving HIM more depth in fw than avad, vanasha, etc? at least go back to chainscrape and give petra a focus!

[gryphonablaze]

my favorites dps in genshin are aloy, kuki, qiqi, sayu and jean <3

[cclightroast]

Hi!! ✨✨

I loved the Kotallo fic 😭. I had just gotten his quest where he asks Aloy for help with an arm and i went right to tumblr to find some fics of him . I think he can be very sweet its just hard for him to express it.

A one - shot idea i had was maybe he wants to spend a day out of the base and takes Reader for some machine watching, telling Reader stories of his past . I thought it was a cute idea!

Have a good one ^^

MACHINE WATCHING

When I tell you I ran to my laptop when I saw this! First of all, thank you so much! I'm so glad that you enjoyed my first Kotallo fic! That quest had really sealed the deal of my feelings for him lmao, and the lack of Kotallo content really pushed me out of my comfort zone to post these. I think I'll get the hang of his personality soon, so I apologize if he seems OOC!

~~~~~~~~~

Being cooped up in the base all day was no one's idea of a fun time, well, except maybe for Beta. But for you and Kotallo, base was usually the last place the two of you wanted to be. Not that it wasn’t cozy, it just wasn’t what you were used to.

Plus, you missed nature. Despite the blight taking over and machines attacking everyone who comes within seeing distance, it was beautiful seeing the machines roam and do what they were programmed to.

Kotallo knew this, and even though he tended to keep to himself, he decided that a day out of the base would be good for both of you, at least that is what he told himself. In reality, he just wanted to see you smile.

He had found you directly outside the base, standing over the cliff’s edge, watching the wildlife below. You didn’t seem to mind the morning chill or the snowflakes landing on your skin, and if you did, you never showed it.

The sound of the door opening caused you to look over your shoulder, your expression lifting slightly. “Kotallo,” you began, turning back around to gaze at the sunrise, taking notice of his footsteps getting closer. “Today’s a beautiful day so far. You can hear the machines and creatures so clearly.”

The Marshal hummed, stopping in his tracks once he had made it beside you. “Follow me.” Without another word he began descending the mountain side, and with a raised brow, you began to follow.

By now, you knew how he worked and understood that he was a man of few words, so his short demands never bothered you like they used to when you had first met him. He waited for you at the base of the mountain and only started walking again once you were by his side.

“What adventure are you taking me on today?”

You noticed his lips lilt slightly before returning to his usual brooding expression and thought you were going to get a silent treatment the entire way until he finally answered. “We’re going machine watching.”

“Oh? Are we finding some to hunt?” he never got enough training, so you figured he was going to scope out machines to fight. “No.”

Eyebrows furrowed, you stopped, prompting him to turn and face you. “No?” you questioned, “Just... watching?” he nodded, turning back around.

After standing still for a moment, you shook your head and jogged to catch up to the Tenakth warrior, following him in silence until you reached a meadow of wildflowers on top of a hill. He made it to the edge of the hill and crouched down before waving you over to him.

The meadow was absolutely beautiful and had yet to be touched by the blight, but what was even more stunning was the group of Lancehorns in the fields below, grazing away at the soil. You kneeled next to him and for the first little bit you both sat in silence, you admiring the machines, him admiring you.

“Thank you for bringing me here. It’s beautiful.” You turned to him and felt your cheeks heat up once you saw him already looking at you.

“I knew you would enjoy seeing the machines in a more... peaceful environment.” Chuckling, you nodded in agreement and soon the two of you fell into another comfortable silence. Though this one didn’t last nearly as long as before. Kotallo had startled you out of your trance, “When I was a child, after my parents had died, I spent a lot of time watching machines from a distance.”

The revelation shocked you. In all honesty, he always seemed like the type to train nonstop as a child. “Really?”

He nodded, his focus returning to the Lancehorns. “I always wondered what their purpose was and how they worked, so I would watch them and try to learn from them.”

Humming, you turned to face him completely. “Did you have a favorite machine to study?” He hardly ever spoke of himself and his past, so you were determined to keep him talking about it. Anything to hear him speak.

“Yes, you’re looking at them. There was always an abundance of them in the nearby forest, so they were the most convenient. And... they had a beautiful song.” he held his finger to his lips in a shushing motion, moving your attention from him to the Lancehorns that were now communicating back and forth. Their calls to each other sounding like a melodic chorus.

The sound brought a smile to your face and as you faced Kotallo you saw that he had a smile pulling at his lips too. You reached your hand out, gripping his in order to get his attention, before whispering. “It’s amazing.”

He squeezed your hand in return and the two of you listened as the Lancehorn’s sang their song and grazed until the group finally moved on and the sun began to set behind the mountains.

“We should return to base.” he stood up, reaching out to help pull you to your feet. “I had fun today, and I hope you’ll tell me more about your past whenever you feel comfortable.”

“I didn’t think you would be that interested in my past.” he spoke honestly, and you fought the urge to roll your eyes. “Of course I’m interested in your past. I’m interested in you. Every part of you.”

Kotallo’s eyes widened slightly at your bold statement but hid it behind a smile. “Perhaps I’ll indulge you... if you beat me in a game of strike.”

Smirking, you dust yourself off and begin to back away from the marshal. “Well, all right then, let’s get to it.”

“So eager to lose.” he chuckled, following behind you. “No, Kotallo. Eager to win. Even if it means I have to get tips from Erend just to be able to hear your stories.”

“Hm, we shall see.” You didn’t realize but at that moment, Kotallo decided to purposely throw the game of strike. Just to see the smile on your face.

[foibles-fables]

Watching a streamer play HFW and Talanah’s fighting dialogue is most of the typical stuff. “My aim’s as sure as the sun rises” and the like. BUT THEN SHE GOT HIT AND SAID “Help! This Hawk needs her Thrush!” I just about screamed at my computer 😭 (plus this same streamer already wasn’t thrilled to save Amadis but when they saw it was a Fireclaw chasing him, they were like “oh hell no, leave him to the Fireclaw” and I’m onboard for that. Let the machine play with Amadis, it’s just having fun)

NO LISTEN. Her battle banter is a bright spot of her appearance in HFW--in HZD, a lot of it (with the exception of choice lines during the Redmaw fight and her dialogue during the HADES Deathbringer battle) was generic "Carja outlander" banter, not even recorded by her VA.

But now!!! We get actual GOOD lines from her?? Definitely the one you mentioned (I :catscream:ed at my screen and SPRINTED out of cover to revive her, lmao), plus when she yeets ammo at you (preferably from three steps away, and with force). But my PERSONAL favorite--if you let her and Comicbook Carjaman help you clear out [ragurt voice] The Rot, when you're in her vicinity and happen to pick up one of the heavy weapons lying around, she's got a couple lines like "looks like you got some new equipment since I saw you last!" and "Now I want one!" Holy hell, Sunhawk, I am LOVE YOU.

Also like. LMAO. Dying at the idea of Petty Betty Aloy sitting back like [shrugs] while Amadis books it away from the Fireclaw. Let's see how ✨adept-with-your-traps✨ you are, my dude

[oodlyenough]

misc thoughts on horizon forbidden west a trillion years later

huge mixed bag of a game for me. some parts were very interesting, and sometimes i was having a ton of fun, and then other times it felt like an absolute chore to bother continuing. i played the first, i don't know, 3rd of the game on normal mode and was enjoying the level of challenge and then eventually hit a point where i was impatient, switched over to story to push through, and was never able to leave story because i'd start dying immediately

part of this is probably because the of the update gear mechanic which. god. i can't be assed. it is too much work honestly lmao, convoluted, etc. overall it felt like the game added a lot of stuff for the sake of Adding Stuff... and in the process it also nerfed a bunch of my fave weapons from HZD. tripwires and traps are useless now. why would i want something that is way more likely to hurt *me* in battle. why did aloy forget how to whistle. i could barely keep track of valor surge let alone remember stamina and whatever else lol

the story too kept having ups and downs.

-varl/zo was such nonsense LMAO i'm sorry wtf... if varl was going to die why not let him and aloy have their little UST thing up until that point? why introduce a brand new character and be like "after trailing aloy for six months he met zo for two minutes and is in love. Also zo is pregnant :)" come on

-erend don't touch me. get off me. ugh. ew

-the far zenith stuff was so strange... i was interested in the lore but every time one of them turned up it just seemed like a different game was happening, lol. like i know the Point of their design was to look so different from everyone else but it just felt odd to me. when they showed up the first time I was like ????? lmao. In general the Zeniths felt ... like... we spent all this time learning to take out their shields and then we fought 1 of them.

-at first i also thought it was stupid they were literally the same people, immortalized. but it DID give me the opportunity to have tilda, who was easily a high point in the game, so whatever i guess

-tilda! you're crazy. i love you. lmfao. I feel like they underutilized her. I can roll w the obsessive love stuff but wish we'd gotten a bit more... I also felt like the way they set up her betrayal was everyone telling me "She's gonna betray us", to the point that I was expecting her to not do so because that would be more surprising, lmao. Sylens got the actual interesting character turn in that regard

-it felt hard to take any satisfaction in the end of the game's "successes" when the last 20 minutes suddenly introduced Threequel Villain and spent time hyping them up as the next existential threat. if I was supposed to enjoy my victory I didn't really bc I was like "okay and now the next thing..." they wanted some sense of triumph and Community and I didn't really feel that. although I guess I did feel we veered back into climate allegory so... fine... I suppose

-the ending stuff being about Community but not involving any NPCs from HZD except erend was off to me. :/ miss u varl. why isn't talanah here. or petra. or... etc

[robinpixels]

im gonna send u 2 characters bc they're my gfs, choose which one u wanna do; Beta & Alva

oAOAAAOAOAAA I LOVE THEM BOTH I'LL DO THEM BOTH

[HFW spoilers ahead!!]

BETA

do I like them:

Took a while to be honest but yes!! I very much do!!

5 good qualities:

1. Ohhh she is SUCH an interesting foil and challenge for Aloy--an Elisabet clone who is so different to her in each and every way....except for the fiery temper when provoked. I love the 'take no shit' attitude is consistent through all of the Sobecks, honestly, it's a vibe I wish to aspire to.

2. I ALSO love that as timid and anxious as she is, she is as equally terrifying in her own way as her mom and her sister. Like, entirely honestly: she escapes an entire ship of megalomaniacal billionaires and rips the tracking chip off her own forehead driven by cold hard logic and pure adrenaline?? BETA??? HARDCORE??

3. I love love love how she warms up at the end and becomes more forthcoming with affection and determination once she's had some time to adjust to the GAIA squad and appreciate them on their own

4. This is going to be a voice acting geeking out moment but...I LOVE Ashly's performance with her. Making her sound entirely different to Aloy, and Elisabet, who sound similar to each other. Giving her a younger, smoother register than the other two. Really added to the ease of her characterization.

4. This is going to be a voice acting geeking out moment but...I LOVE Ashly's performance with her. Making her sound entirely different to Aloy, and Elisabet, who sound similar to each other. Giving her a younger, smoother register than the other two. Really added to the ease of her characterization.

5. I really admire her intelligence and confidence in her own abilities once she's in her element! It was like a baby stimulation video watching her work that HEPHAESTUS corruption lmao

3 bad qualities:

Ooh I have. THOUGHTS. Spoilery thoughts, though these may change when I actually play the base game in full completion. Please do let me know if I haven't grasped the full picture. Really, more of my gripes are with the meta story as I've seen it so far and not really with her character herself--Beta, herself, within the context of the Horizon universe is a perfectly functional character.

1. As much as I love her...I wish we had more? Like, I wanted to see more of a reason for her to trust Aloy, I was happy to see they got along fast toward the end and that the Rost conversation was the catalyst but I can also see that Beta was just holding out for somebody to actually trust and could see Aloy, the other Elisabet clone, was making an effort for her. I just wish we had more reason for her to call Aloy her shelter and her sister, or at least include Varl in that definition too because he worked so hard to comfort her.

2. GOING ON FROM THAT--Varl. Again I could be wrong because I didn't see all possible conversations and I am completely willing to have my opinon changed once I have--and please do share with me any quotes she has to say about him because I am READY to have my heart broken tonight by some wholesome friendship boys--but I feel like her taking centerstage shoved Varl to the side a bit. It came across that Aloy was her comfort at the end, when Varl had been doing the majority of the work easing her into the base and she clearly trusted him enough to let him close but no-one else really. I will say I am very glad that the spotlight on Varl didn't disappear on his death because I was legitimately worried Beta's rescue was going to take precedence over the mourning over him, but I was very happy to be wrong. TL;DR I would've loved to see her reciprocate his friendship more and get attached to him too. I wanna see some frens

3. To be completely honest her appearance threw me off so-kilter at first that it took me a while to get back to enjoying the game, because it was such a sudden jar with the Zeniths compared to the relatively closed environment of the first game. It got back on track, yeah, but that did take some recovery time? And I know it's a new game, new things, but...I don't know where I'm going with this, really. It just wasn't a good jar to me at first, though I warmed up to it.

favourite episode/etc:

I haven't finished HFW THOROUGHLY (saw the storyline, but skipped past quests and talks because i wanted something to be left over when I actually played it--I watched it on playthrough)

otp:

None at the moment!

brotp:

Definitely with Aloy, and Varl. Maybe Erend. They all feel like siblings to meeee

ot3:

Not at the moment!

notp:

Eh..I haven't really seen something I dislike? Although lmao, I suppose Aloy because that is her sister.

best quote:

The note she left behind for Aloy..to try and comfort her when she thought she'd be gone..calling her her shelter....just ram a spear through me now, man

head canon:

She'd find comfort in soft things she can fiddle with her fingers--like fabrics or blankets or plushies, if the GAIA squad ever gets around to the concept of stuffed animals aHA

Also--she's the impulse control between her and her sister. Despite being the younger one, goddammit Aloy.

ALVA

do I like them:

I DO I DO I DOOO ALVA MY BELOVED

5 good qualities:

1. HER VOICE HER VOICE HER VOICE was so lovely and one of my favourites to hear slkdjfdsfkl I love how unique it is, at least to me. Really stood out with how perky and cute she was but it fit her perfectly and aaaaaa ALVAAA my GIRL

2. I love how she holds herself? Like it really carries her character across and it's so endearing, how she rests her hands or moves them like she's so poised but can also barely contain all her energy under that elegance and AAghH she's as cute as a button

3. I feel like she was a great addition wrt Horizon's theme of knowledge being powerful, and dangerous, depending on how it is wielded. I feel her and other characters like Aloy and Sylens really play with this well--Sylens witholding and disclosing information based on what would suit him and Alva meanwhile being a direct result of a kind of society that does those kind of things en masse. Oooh, it's so interesting, and I love how much respect she's shown to have for what she learns and the pursuit of knowledge overall.

4. I really do love her reverence for knowledge, that she's just awestruck when she FINALLY has access to files later than 2040(? 2050?). I remember feeling really happy for her, despite her probably conflicting emotions.

5. I also love how diligent she is--motivates me to get my own ass moving with my academics aha.

3 bad qualities:

Tooo be entirely honest, I don't feel like I picked up on a lot of bad qualities of her? Like nothing she did really stuck out to me in that way--I guess I just am excited to see more of her and find out.

favourite episode/etc:

THEBES THEBES THEBES like holy shit I'm glad we had our emotional support Diviner there with us because I woudl've lost my goddamn mind in there.

otp:

ALVA AND HER GIRLFRIEND I wanna see Fedara...I want to see the rival to lover...

brotp:

Kotallo. I just...cinnamon roll and grumpyguts. Yes please.

ot3:

N/A!

notp:

N/A, really

best quote:

"I guess you Could say he gave his life to help us attain the secrets of Thebes." Goddamn, Alva.

head canon:

She jams along to death metal right along with Erend, because HELL fucking yeah.

[viiridiangreen]

🙃 same energy

...except 'less political Aloy' was satire while this is a completely unironic edit made by one of those pRoFeSsiOnAl pHoToGrApHeRs who specialise in low quality boudoir with 0 ulterior motives 🙃

& like I’m so confused!! Was he trying to make a human non-blue Mara or an Awoken Mara with ‘realistic’ features? Because the skin has more pink / peach in it than the original, but I don’t think it reached ‘actual white woman’ levels... and he didn’t actually touch the stylisation of the features, and there’s no added skin texture...  like what was the goal here???

Like I’m honestly trying to make sense of this without accusing the guy of thinking that ‘real woman = whiter woman in red lipstick’ lmao but he’s not making it easy 🙄