#Anyway this show’s given me a weird slew of knowledge

[sparkthespork]

Me (to my brother): And Plato’s beliefs were actually insane, his idea of a perfect society was fricked-

Dad: You were reading Plato???

Brother: Wait like the-

Dad: Can we just take a moment to appreciate that (sparkthespork) was reading Plato? Like that’s fancy!!!

Me who was only reading Plato because Misty keeps mentioning him and I wanted to see if I could piece together her belief system from his own:

Yea okay-

[sockodot]

Writer’s Month Day 3: Outside

So this is about Aloy and Varl from Horizon: Zero Dawn. Varl goes outside of his comfort zone about the Old Ones and Aloy goes out of it by trusting him. This is a snippet of probably a larger work but here you go.

Word Count: 1073

   Varl stares down at the focus in his hand. “It’s Old One’s tech.” Forbidden is what he doesn’t say. Aloy doesn’t think, wraps her fingers around his wrist.

   “It was meant for you.” At that, Varl looks up at her sharply, confused. “This school, this place of learning was meant for the children here-” she squeezes his wrist “-your ancestors. If things had gone to plan, then everything would be different. The whole world would have been different. We would constantly be using Old One’s tech.” She looks away, bitterness creeping up. “Instead, Apollo’s dead and HADES was almost unleashed upon the world.” She still gets angry when she thinks about what she discovered at GAIA Prime. Apollo’s fate, the Alphas’ fate. Fucking Ted. Varl speaks again and she looks back at him.

   “You said All-Mother- GAIA created you to stop HADES.” Aloy tilts her head, not knowing where this is going.

   “Yes.”

   “Then you wouldn’t have existed if things had gone to plan.”

    He’s not saying anything she hasn’t considered before. This thought is one of the many that creep on her at night. But she’s not sure they’re thinking the same way. “And I don’t think I want to live in a world without you in it.” Definitely not what she meant. It’s like her breath has been punched from her with his statement.

   It’s still weird to feel wanted. All her life, being shunned and cast aside. She’s not used to someone wanting her around, it’s always came with a condition. Help me find my sister, take care of these bandits, find this person, stay in Meridian to become my second and let’s get together. Okay, she did forgive Avad for that but now its less embarrassing and more ridiculous. And she was happy to help her friends because it’s the right thing to do. She can help these people so she should. Rost’s last lesson…

   And Varl- something’s just different. He doesn’t call her Anointed anymore, has less of that reverence when he’s with her. She can be a person with him. And he wants her around, not for her to do anything for him but simply because he wants.

   “Oh.” Is what she settles on. Varl smiles at her, sheepish.

   “Yeah well.” He ducks his head, rubs the back of his neck. He stares down at the focus once again and belatedly she realizes she’s still holding his wrist. Jerkily, she lets go, lets her hands hang at her sides. Now she’s all too aware of them. “How does this work exactly?” Aloy breathes a sigh of relief. Old One’s tech she knows, feelings not so much.

   “It lets you read and see Old One’s tech and writings. Explains how they work. Shows valuables around an area, how machines work, their weaknesses, and tracks. It works for any enemy really.” She tilts her head. “It’s very… knowledgeable.” She scratches the back of her head. “I’m not entirely sure of the inner workings of it.” They meet eyes once more and she chuckles a little. “Didn’t want to take mine apart in case I couldn’t put it back together again.” He smiles.

   “Smart, but now you have a whole slew of them.” Varl spreads an arm around them.

   “True. In fact,” she walks over to another stall, and another, and another, gathering up focuses. “You reminded me on why I came here in the first place.” She grabs two more. Some to tinker with.

   “Oh?” Varl questions.

   “I said I was planning on going west?” At his nod, she continues. “Well, I have some ideas.”

   “You want to give the focus’ out, right?” She nods, once again relieved that he’s picking this up.

   “I- I’m used to working alone, fighting alone. But with the battle of HADES, everything I’ve learned and been through, everyone I’ve met… It wouldn’t be bad to have a few backups and a way to contact people given that I’ll be so far.” She hesitates again, still that small bit unsure, still just that much untrusting. She said it, she’s not used to allies, to friends. “And people want to help me. I’m…. trying to accept that.” She looks at Varl again, not sure when she looked away. His smile lights up the room better than the screens around them. He takes a step forward, and another one.

   “That’s good Aloy.”

   “Yeah.” She looks away again. They’re right back to feelings and emotions. And her plan isn’t even finished yet, by the sun its barely even a draft but- it seems useful, strategical, and there’s a part of her that wants it.

   Ever since she was a little girl she wanted that connection, that community. It’s gotten smaller over the years, of course, but it’s still there. She wants people, even if she has no idea how to interact with them and sort of hates doing so. There’s a reason she keeps company with ghosts and secrets, after all.

   “Anyways,” she clears her throat. “I should be able to like, sync these so we can communicate over distances.”

   “You can do that?” With Varl’s excitement she’s able to push away her own complicated feelings.

   “Yeah. Think of like a net across the world, linking focuses.” She uses Sylen’s own example because it just makes the most sense right now. For Varl and for her. “You just need to activate your focus.” She stares down at his hand. She meets his eyes. “That is, if you want to.” Once again, he brandishes the focus, lying flat in his hand.

   “Okay.” Varl looks up and a jolt of excitement shoots through her. He tilts his head, squinting. “Okay. Where do I-” She tilts her own head for him and seconds later he’s pressing it to his ear. Finally, finally someone she can trust is wearing one, is learning with her. Joining her.

  She steps forward, lifts a finger to poke it. “To activate it, just press it.” She’s close enough to hear the little whoosh it gives. She watches as he startles, just a bit, eyes wide as he takes in the new visuals. He looks her up and down.

   “You’re purple!” Aloy laughs.

   “Yeah! Allies and good things are purple. Enemies and their weaknesses are orange.” Varl looks around the room, eyes scanning.

   “This is so…”

   “Different?”

   “Cool!” He looks back at her with that wide smile back on her face.

   It makes her heart pound.