Fanfic writer with a passion for exploring romantic relationships // Fandoms: Horizon Zero Dawn, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age // Fandom: Dragon Age, Horizon Zero Dawn, Mass Effect
Can’t remember if I’ve posted this pic before, but Aloy just looks like such a DORK and she’s so happy to see Nil and I feel her so bad 😂😍
Name: Oh. We’re using our made-up names? Then I am Pika.
Gender: Female
Star Sign: Gemini
Height: 5′3″
What image do you have as wallpaper? Rotating roster of Horizon Zero Dawn photos!
Have you ever had a crush on a teacher? Yep! English teacher in high school, at least one prof but I can’t remember a specific one right now. I LIKE NERDS OKAY
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Honestly? <SHRUG> Probably still working as a speech-pathologist? Still living in Toronto in all likelihood?
If you could be anywhere else right now, where? In Iceland at Jokulsarlon (the glacier lagoon). I didn’t have a proper camera when I went there in 2016 and now that I do, I would love to go back and take more photos. Here’s one with the fiancé’s iPhone… OH MAN NOW THAT I LOOK AT THESE PHOTOS AGAIN THE RESOLUTION IS SO BAD 😭
What was your coolest Halloween costume? I dressed as Ash Ketchum a few years ago when I first cut my hair short. That was the only costume I’ve done for myself. My mom was a pretty badass costume maker when I was a kid though.
What’s your favourite 90′s show? Sailor Moon! The North American dubbed version where Neptune and Uranus were “cousins” 😏
Last kiss? Goodnight kiss last night from the mister.
Have you ever been stood up? Uhhh, don’t think so.
Have you ever been to Las Vegas? Nope, and I’m not interested.
Favourite pair of shoes: I’m torn between my super comfy plain black Sanuk flip-flops (padded with yoga mat so they’re nice and squishy) and my Mass Effect comic-book heels featuring Garrus Vakarian.
Favourite book: I have to pick just one?? Fine, I guess it would be Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui. But if we’re talking series, I’m a HUGE Potterhead too, and also love His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.
Stupidest thing you’ve ever done: Didn’t stop long enough at a stop sign and TOTALLED a rental vehicle when I got T-boned. Fortunately (SERIOUSLY SO FORTUNATELY) nobody was injured.
I waited awhile to share this, but now I think it’s time to talk about it.
I recently discovered that one of my Horizon photos won a prize in a photo competition… but it was submitted by a stranger who stole it without giving credit. I found out about this because I submitted the same photo and was notified that it had already been entered under someone else’s name.
I’ve seen my photos reposted before on Instagram and Pinterest without credit, and I didn’t say anything; after all, I always figured that as long as people enjoy them, what’s the harm?
But this is different. This isn’t sharing for the sake of enjoying the fandom. Someone stole a piece of art that I spent a lot of time and care to produce, and they passed it off as their own for monetary gain/recognition/whatever the prize was.
I never wanted to mar my photos by watermarking them, but this incident has made me reconsider. Yes, our photomode captures might be pictures from a videogame, not from the real world. And no, the characters and the world don’t belong to me. But these photos – and everyone’s HZD photomode pictures – are still art, and the products of hard work and loving care, and they cannot just be stolen without credit, especially when the thieves are tangibly profiting from the theft. It’s like saying, “All that time you spent perfecting the pose, lighting, tone, filters, eye gaze, and general feel to the portrait means nothing to me as long as it profits me.”
I could and have spent a good 4 to 5 hours taking multiple shots from multiple angles. Positioning Aloy, repositioning Aloy, changing out her outfit, changing her expression, moving her to a different spot entirely… You get the idea… And still come out with only one shot I liked the best. Is it a waste of time? No, it’s not. Because it’s part of a fandom I love being a part of. It only becomes a waste when someone else takes it and uses it for their own selfish reasons.
This incident has caused to me to reconsider even sharing my pics here, but I know I would miss that too much. So, as much as it pains me, I will be placing a watermark on all my Photo Mode art from now on. I think I speak for all artists – in and outside of Horizon community – when I say, let’s be considerate of each other. See something you like? Love it till your fangirl heart explodes. Share it shamelessly until you’ve sickened everyone around you about it. And if you need help figuring out Photo Mode, send a message to me or another fellow artist. We would love to give you tips. But please… don’t steal.
It breaks my heart that there are people out there who shamelessly steal the work of other fellow fans. Please, everyone, be respectful!
As the rain washed away the dirt, sweat, and blood from her skin, the scent of another always remained. It drifted around her like smoke from a smoldering fire and just as elusive in the quiet calm. There was something about the last hunt that left her feeling incomplete, another mystery still unsolved. Those unspoken words lurked behind every footstep. Haunting her. Taunting her.
Then without warning, she was pushed to her knees, enveloped in his heat and overcome with shared passionate desire…
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Instead of properly recovering from the flu by lying in bed and getting adequate rest (hah… what a fantasy), I’m in OTP hell writing short scenes and spamming the blur tool.
Well… For the hunt!
Love y’all.
VARRIC IS A FANFIC WRITER OK
Inquisitor: hey Varric, Cass is waiting for you to finish that smutty literature
Varric: what, the romance serial? I haven’t finished that and I wasn’t planning to.
Cassandra: BUT
Varric: [scribbles a whole book in two minutes] I AM BUT A HUMBLE SERVANT TO MY LOYAL READERS
Because I certainly do, and I love every single one of them and their work.
I can hardly wait to finish the horizon zero dawn DLC so I can dive right into the works of @pikapeppa that I haven’t read yet. THE ANTICIPATION IS KILLING ME.
Eeeeeeee I’m so flattered and grateful to have found you @ladyofthelake91!! NILOY FOREVER 😍😍😍