Softly rustling grass heralded the passing of a gentle breeze. Crickets chirped and scraped musically. In the valley below the mesa, a Watcher’s gentle ticking waxed and waned.

Aloy sighed and opened her eyes. She couldn’t sleep.

The sounds of the jungle were soothing, but her thoughts were so loud. It had always taken her a long time to fall asleep – much to Rost’s chagrin when she was small – but her mind had become even busier after she’d left the Sacred Lands.

The world was just so much bigger than Aloy had imagined. Every ancient bunker was packed with information, and every outlander she met was bursting with stories and strange, fascinating ideas. One of her pouches was filled with metal flowers, and the unfathomable poetry within these beautiful metalworks had kept her up for more than one night.

There was so much to discover in a world so wide. Why waste a moment staring at the inside of her own eyelids?

First photo by a wonderful non-Tumblr friend. Second photo by the fabulous and talented @horizonfan12. 

himluv:

How?

How is every NPC in this game so gorram likeable? Like, Erend? A lummox, but a damn devoted lummox with a great sense of humor. BFF material right there.

Varl? Perfect boy. Honorable, determined, good. Adorable as all heck. 10/10 would smooch.

Teb? Freakin’ so cute. He’s sweet and hard-working and stands up for what he thinks is right. I want to pinch his cheeks.

Nil? Creepy, but in a sort of enticing way. Deadly, but only to certain folk, and seems to have a soft spot for Aloy. Also, very aesthetically pleasing.

Sun-King Avad? Genuine, legit just trying to do the right thing. Funny and open. Will probably get assassinated because these are not the qualities of your typical politician.

Even Blameless Marad is a clever, well-spoken man that gives me all kinds of Shepard Book feelings. You know he’s dangerous, but you also know that as long as you’re on Avad’s side, Marad should be satisfied.

And Olin!!!! That jerk! But then you learn more about him, and if you let him, he redeems himself in a totally satisfying way!

And of course, Vala, Rost, Teersa. Even Odd Grata! All of them are interesting and likeable in their own way, and you absolutely want to know them all better.

What is this sorcery??? How is this game so good?

Aloy/Ikrie fic: Put Your Spear Beside Mine

(Read on AO3)

Our tale begins with a little Ikrie backstory…

9 years old…

Mailen pulled out her bow and aimed at the target, but Ikrie groaned. “This is so boring,” she complained. “How are we gonna get better if we don’t practice on moving targets? We need to go out with the real hunters.”

“We can’t, remember? Thanks to you.” Mailen’s voice was stern, but Ikrie could see the little smirk at the corner of her lips as she shot her target perfectly.

“Come on, that was an accident!” Ikrie protested. “And it showed that my traps work! And that hunter was only attacked by a Watcher! And he was fine. I could have taken it on myself.” She kicked a stray pebble resentfully. “They’re just punishing me to be mean.”

Mailen lowered her bow in exasperation. “A Watcher is three times bigger than you. Don’t be stupid.”

“Okay, fine, not me alone,” Ikrie conceded. “But you and me together…?” Ikrie waggled her eyebrows and elbowed her best friend.

Mailen finally smiled, but rolled her eyes. “We’re not strong enough yet. We need to keep training.”

“Yeah yeah,” Ikrie said dismissively. What she didn’t tell Mailen was that she often snuck out of their tent at night to go hunting on her own while Mailen was asleep. A few nights ago, she actually had taken down a Watcher all by herself with a combination of traps, freeze bombs and arrows. She’d been exhausted the next day and had needed to pretend she’d had nightmares to explain why she looked so tired, but how else was she going to truly learn to hunt unless it was with real targets and real danger?

Aloy stretched leisurely, then shivered as a cold breeze skimmed across her bare midriff. It was too cold to be wearing Carja armour, but Aloy stubbornly refused to change after some snarky Nora brave not-so-subtly insulted her choice of clothing. The Carja outfit might not be warm, but it was useful, and Aloy wouldn’t turn her nose up at a resource just because it was foreign and… different.

She rubbed her arms idly as she gazed off towards the east. Then a sudden groaning roar reached her ears, followed by faint but shrill sounds of yelling.

Aloy narrowed her eyes in the direction of the commotion, then tapped her Focus: a fire Bellowback was attacking a small group of Nora.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Aloy pulled her bow from her back and ran towards the Bellowback. But she couldn’t but feel smug about her fireproof armour.

It was time to show these Nora the value of something different.

Photo creds: First photo by the inimitable @horizonfan12. Second photo by our crazy-talented mutual non-Tumblr friend.