In times of great need, the High Matriarchs may anoint a Seeker: a worthy Brave, sent forth to accomplish a great purpose. No matter where that purpose might take her.
Headcanon: Nil tolerates pain better than anyone Aloy knows, but he’s a total baby when he gets sick.
Once she’d caught a rabbit for their dinner, Aloy returned to the fire and was mildly gratified to find that Nil had drunk the ochrebloom-and-winterfresh tea as she’d commanded, but he looked more miserable than ever as she skinned the rabbit and set it on a spit to roast. “I can’t breathe through my nose,” he complained; indeed, his voice had a distinctly hyponasal sound.
Aloy bit the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing. She kneeled in front of him with her little pot of winterfresh ointment, then gently rubbed some of the ointment on his chest and dabbed a tiny bit under his nose. “This should help,” she told him softly. Then, in an equally soft voice, she asked, “Did you whine this much when you got sick as a soldier?”
Nil recoiled from her, looking deeply offended. “I am not whining,” he protested, and Aloy finally laughed. It was hard to take his offense seriously when he sounded so stuffy. “Then what would you call it?” she asked.
Nil folded his arms petulantly. “I’m stating facts,” he said. Aloy rolled her eyes, then crawled back towards the fire to turn the spitted rabbit. “Well, try stating your facts more quietly so I don’t have to hear them,” she replied.
Suddenly Nil grabbed her waist and dragged her back towards him, then nuzzled her face roughly, smearing the winterfresh ointment from his nose onto her cheek. Aloy squealed in disgust and struggled to free herself, but his strong arms were locked around her, keeping her captive in his lap. “Nil! You’re disgusting! Let me go!” she cried.
He snickered vindictively. “Never,” he purred against her ear. “You’re stuck with me and my whining. I hope you enjoy germs as much as I know you enjoy hunting bandits.”
“I really don’t enjoy either,” she insisted haughtily, but she stopped struggling against his embrace. Even when he was gross and infectious, Aloy couldn’t help but appreciate the heat of his arms wrapped around her.
But his words had given her an idea. If anything would perk Nil up and bring him out of his complaint-laden funk, it was hunting bandits.
list of favorite things as a fanfic author:
- When someone is really freaking mad at me for inducing an emotional response from them
- when readers give me a background of how/when they read my writing
- when readers give me a background of why they shouldn’t have been reading my writing (usually while at work)
- when readers quote my work back to me in comments
- the frickin’ real heroes here, the ones who comment on every chapter of an ongoing multi-chapter fic
To my readers: love you Niloy and Reyder fam 😍💕😘
“I did say not to break anything, didn’t I?”
I think it’s safe to say around 90% of writers would love for you to ask them about their writing, be it OCs or plot or whatever. As for the other 10%, I think it’s safe to say they probably would not mind you asking.
So go ahead and do either of those things.
Absolutely… ☺️ So if anyone has questions, please don’t be shy!
When you can’t decide if you prefer bae in black & white or colour so you post both. 😍
Rude. Don’t call me out like this.
Pshhhh. This isn’t true at all.
*quietly peeks back at AO3 and refreshes the page*
Headcannon: Early in their relationship, Aloy tries to flirt (badly). Nil doesn’t catch on.
Aloy: So, um… I got this new armour so I can blend in when I get to Meridian. What do you think?
Nil: What do I think of what?
Aloy: My new armour. Do you… er, do you like it?
Nil: It’s very Carjan. You’re very exposed. [feral smile] Are you hoping to invite more wounds from the bandits? You’re imposing a handicap on yourself for the challenge, aren’t you? I knew you enjoyed the sport.
Aloy: …Why do I bother.
Headcannon: Avad and Nil are brothers. They used to share a bathroom when they were teenagers. Avad did not enjoy this arrangement.
Avad: Nil! Why did you leave a pile of bloody clothes in the bathtub?
Nil: They’re soaking.
Avad: But there’s no water in the tub! It’s just a bunch of bloody clothes! It stinks in there!
Nil: Oh. I suppose I forgot to add water. My bad.
Avad: … I’m gonna kill you.
Nil: [perks up with interest] Ooh. Is that a challenge?
Avad: [sigh] Sweet blazing Sun…
“There was a foolish and yet delicious sense of knowing himself as an animal come from the forest, drawn by the fire. He was a thing of brush and liquid and eye, of fur, and muzzle and hoof. He was a thing of horn and blood that would smell like autumn if you bled it out on the ground.”
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
The Sharper Edge of Love: Romance, Sex, and Fanfic 