#Ikkotah/Chekkatah

[ayaitch]

Fic authors self rec!

When you get this, share your favorite five fics that you've written, then tag at least five other writers. spread the self-love ❤

I wasn't tagged, but saw this around other Horizon fans, and wanted to try to do it as well. I typically struggle to think kindly toward my writing, but I do have a few that are definitely better than others. Enjoy! :D

A Light in the Dark - Star Wars Rebels, Kallus/Zeb, T - My first Kalluzeb fic. I actually think this one turned out quite nice. I feel that I did a pretty good job with the set up, execution, and tone of the story. Though it's technically pre-relationship, I tried to cram in as much subtle fluster and blossoming sexual tension as I could.

To Lives of Peace - Horizon, Ikkotah/Chekkatah, G - A canon-compliant fic for my favorite Horizon pairing. They're canon too, though we never get to see them together in-universe. I liked how this one turned out too. Short and soft (in my opinion), with a bittersweet ending, because we all know what happens.

The Unconquered Sun - Horizon, Fashav/Kotallo, M - I rate this as M because it's not happy or fluffy, but pretty tough. I've gotten mixed reviews for this story. Some have claimed it very good, others that it's depressing. The reason it's on my list is because it proved to myself that I can actually write a long fic. I'm not doomed to write only >10k word one shots. It's not my best work; it could really use an editor's touch to carve it down to under 100k words and tighten up the story, but I was so proud of myself for getting it all written and it turned out basically how I'd envisioned it. And I wrote it all under the cover of darkness so my now ex-partner didn't know about it.

Tenakth Territory, Not Carja - Horizon, Ikkotah/Chekkatah, T - This one was just really fun for me to write, and it turned out pretty OK, in my opinion. I love the idea that Fashav was a big ol' flirt with Ikkotah and Chekkatah boils over with jealousy. It's a dynamic that amuses me to no end. I should post the follow-up scene that I left in the comments section...

A Tender Touch - Star Wars Rebels, Kallus/Zeb, T - Self-indulgent pre-relationship fluff. I wanted Kallus to give Zeb a foot rub and they both feel bashful about how much they both liked it.

[robo-dino-puppy]

discussion with marshal chekkatah

[claudiaeparvier]

“…now killer machines prowl the area. Clawstriders, for certain. I’ve heard rumors of something worse. In years past I would have asked Marshal Chekkatah to help me clear out the threat. But he was killed at Barren Light.“

[bluntblade]

Tag Game: Ten First Lines

Thanks to @foibles-fables for the tag. Let's, err, let's have a go at this.

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

After each line, I’ll note the fandom/ship in parentheses with a link to the fic, in case you’re interested in checking the rest out! Starting from the most recent:

Above Scarif, Thane felt a different kind of weightless than usual, as his squadron followed the reverberations of the Death Star's onslaught. (Star Wars: Lost Stars, Thane Kyrell/Ciena Ree)

Major Blyer Towast of the First Order surveyed the world below him and cursed his fortune, just as he did every morning. (Star Wars: Sequel Trilogy, Rey/Kaydel Ko Connix and FinnRose, but it's mostly action and friendship. Can I say Finn vs Phasma?)

It started with a perfectly innocent and sensible suggestion by Lula, after the Nihil attacked the Republic Fair. (Star Wars: High Republic Adventures, Lula Talisola/Zeen Mrala)

"Ahem." (Horizon, Talanah Khane Padish/Nakoa)

Rey couldn't remember a time when it hadn't been there, in her dreams. (Star Wars: Sequel Trilogy, there is no ship there is only the Force)

The rain was heavy among the Sentinels. (Horizon, Chekkatah/Ikkotah & Kotallo/killing the enemies of Hekaro)

“I know you’re not going to like hearing this,” Varl said. (Horizon series, nonship character study)

He still got looks. (Star Wars: The High Republic, not shippy but Sskeer & Keeve Trennis' bond means the world to me)

“More dangerous than the bounty, you say?” (Star Wars: The High Republic, Ty Yorrick/hunting monsters/getting paid)

One night, traveling up the Cut to seek an audience with CYAN, Aloy and Ikrie found themselves around a campfire with a small Banuk hunting party, swapping tales.  (Horizon series, Aloy/Ikrie)

Tagging: If you're keen, you :D Anyone who wants to do this and share out, feel free to hit me up as your tagger. I’ll keep an eye out.

[foibles-fables]

praying that Horizon 3 gives us gay Kotallo trutherism & has him and Ikkotah ending up getting together in the between time of Forbidden West and the next game

think about it, Kotallo heading back to his old Sky Clan after the awkwardness & betrayal of his former commander, but then he runs into Ikkotah and remembers Marshal Chekkatah talking a lot about Ikkotah so he decides to check up on him and they unexpectedly hit it off and grow and heal two old Sky Clan soldiers' wounds together, and then a month or so later Chief Hekkaro sees them together at the Grove holding hands and the Chief starts wondering why all his Marshals turn out gay 🤔

LISTEEENNNNN nonny I am shaking your hand in admiration and solidarity--I am a gay ace Kotallo truther through and through. All of my eggs are in the pre-canon Kotallo/Fashav basket. Brothers in arms? yeah in each other's arms

ougghhh the thought of him forming a connection with Ikkotah.....healing from their very similar losses, waahhh I will CRY

you KNOW Hekarro would be the proudest most supportive ally dad in the world

[tare-otome]

Portraits 5/?

We meet Ikkotah from Cliffwatch who initiates the errand quest A Hunt to Remember to avenge the death of his friend and Marshal Chekkatah, who was killed at the Embassy.

After completing all other melee pits, we venture up into the mountains and finally encounter Azurekka the Enduring for the self-titled errand quest. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed to find that this tough old bird was the Enduring 💪 It was an honor to spar with her 🙏

[everybodylovesaloy]

RARE PAIR ROUND-UP MASTER LIST

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone that participated in the round-up!! We had some really amazing contributions, I recommend literally every single one of them. PLEASE give some love to these authors if you enjoyed their works, it's tough to get eyes on rare pair fics so toss some kudos and comments their way!

Fic:

Radiance by @mehoymalloy (Regalla/Nasadi)

Always by @pikapeppa (Fashav/Vanasha)

Steady by @garbage-dono (Atekka/Hekarro)

Sacred Lands by @bluntblade (Talanah/Nakoa)

One day we'll meet again by @melikochan (Tom Paech/Charles Ronson, Tilda van der Meer/Elisabet Sobeck, Alva/Federa, Chekkatah/Ikkotah)

Heavy in Your Arms by littleboxofwonders (Fashav/Ritakka)

bury these old knives by @foibles-fables (Atekka/Ritakka)

A Meeting of Ice and Sea by @dinokieranmadness (Ikrie/Seyka)

a wanderer, now by @souls-that-have-senses (Hekarro/Rost)

Art:

Leave Your Titles by the Door by @sorbetowl (Avad/Ersa)

Accompanying Art for Heavy in your Arms by @murmart (Fashav/Ritakka)

Thank you SO MUCH again to all the talented participants! You all did amazing!!

[trisshawkeye]

So now we have both halves of the Sky Clan power couple that never was...

[goldmolamola]

adventures in ng+ - stuff other characters say about hekarro - part 10

[ayaitch]

Maybe someday I'll write them a V-Day story. In a Tenakth way. I feel that Valentine's can translate to the Tenakth. Right?

2024 goal is to get good enough at art to draw them, even if it sucks. ❤️‍🔥

[ayaitch]

Writing Patterns Tag Game

RULES: List the first line of your last 10 posted fics and see if there's a pattern!

I didn't get tagged, but I saw it and thought I would try it out. Only two fandoms, three pairings: Ikkotah/Chekkatah (Horizon Forbidden West), Fashav/Kotallo (Horizon Forbidden West), and Kallus/Zeb (Star Wars Rebels).

--

1- Where We Left Off - Horizon

Ikkotah paced his room.

2- The Twelve Dates of Life Day - Star Wars Rebels

“Uncle Alex.”

3- A Holiday Tumble - Horizon

“Chekkatah,” Ikkotah started, blinking in astonishment at the disaster before him.

4- No Length is Too Far - Star Wars Rebels

“Don’t move, rebel,” the Imperial lieutenant barked.

5- Tenakth Territory, Not Carja - Horizon

Chekkatah glowered from where he stood at the cook’s fire.

6- Kiss and Make It Better

“Ikkotah.”

7- A Tenakth Kind of Kiss - Horizon

“Fashav!”

8- A Tender Touch - Star Wars Rebels

A day on and the pain hadn’t started to ease yet.

9- Among Wildflowers - Horizon

“That Carja is out in the meadow again.”

10- A Light in the Dark - Star Wars Rebels

Zeb was lost.

PATTERNS: Short and declarative or dialogue.

[ayaitch]

So, I was thinking that I never use this space to talk about my fanfics. Other fanfic writers go on about their stories and they look like they're having so much fun. I wanted to try it out, even though I mostly cater to an unpopular rarepair, so can't expect a lot of engagement with my stuff. But I'll talk about my WIPs anyway.

Walk Unafraid - My oldest and saddest WIP that haunts me daily. An Ikkotah/Chekkatah origin story. I was raised on too many Disney movies though where as soon as they confess their love and kiss, that's the end of the story. So as soon as they confessed their feelings and kissed, my brain decided that was the end. But it is not supposed to be the end! I have loose ends that need to be tied up and a resolution to reach.

Unnamed WIP for Ikkotah and Chekkatah origin story - Yes, another of my favorite pairing. But this time, they start off as rivals! I had a thought that maybe Chekkatah was kind of in a Kotallo position at one point. Brought in by Tekotteh and mentored like a son (though they are basically the same age, I'm still thinking about how this works), and Chekkatah being very full of himself because of it. Ikkotah, from podunk, backwater Cliffwatch, is unimpressed, and always assuming the worst about Chekkatah's behavior. As I write it, it's very Pride & Prejudice-y.... For better or worse.

Lothrats in the Walls (Working Title) - This is predominantly a Kalluzeb get-together fic, but in an eldritch horror setting. I don't know if I can pull off horror, as much as I love reading it. Zeb, Kallus, Kanan, and Ezra go exploring in some ancient pre-Jedi Order Jedi ruins on a deserted planet/moon/something. I'm not very well-read on the old ways of Star Wars lore, so a lot of this is just fun ideas from my head that I'm dabbling in.

These are the only serious WIPs I have at the moment. I have three non-serious ones: Ikkotah and Aratak romance pre-Nemesis; a part 2 of an earlier Kalluzeb fic (Fulcrum Kallus and Zeb interacting on small adventures); and a mini Ikkotah and Chekkatah adventure after Chekkatah has become a Marshal. I have technically one more WIP, but is very unseriously being worked on, which is very outside my usual fandoms.

I love all these ideas, but I'm just stuck in a rut, feeling like my imagination has failed me. Anyway, this was kind of fun, getting my thoughts out in the open.

[ayaitch]

I really want The Bad Batch-level of adventures for the original Horizon Forbidden West Marshals. I keep thinking about the many, many adventures the Marshals could have, and just sorely wish Guerilla would do a comic series or something about them.

I think they'd all be so cool running around Yosemite, the Redwoods, and Las Vegas (and everywhere else in that enormous game map) to solve issues, get through inter- and intra-clan drama, and fending off rebel cells here and there. We'd get more Fashav out of it, Hekarro, kid Kotallo to Marshal Kotallo, Dekka trying to wrangle them all, fleshed out other Marshals who have either just a singular line or no lines at all.

Maybe this type of thing is a fanfic already and I just don't filter for it because of other associated tags for those stories, but it'd still be nice to see in an official capacity.

[ayaitch]

OK. Please, hear me out. What do you get when you take one heartbroken, middle-aged man and put him with another heartbroken, middle-aged man? Hint: Only good things.

I'm sorry, I'm not bored or tired of writing Ikkotah and Chekkatah (far from it, I have four WIPs outstanding more for them how do I stop??), but I do also want to write Ikkotah as he is in HFW. He deserves it. The man is a sad widower and needs to not be sad anymore. He also needs to be included in Aloy's troupe of people to fight Nemesis. I can dream.

Though he was still grieving Ourea, Aratak came to fight at the Battle of the Alight in HZD, so it's my belief dream that he'd also come for the fight against Nemesis. So Aloy would introduce them (maybe she's dabbling in matchmaking...) and they would both be impressed by the other's battle prowess and strength, and can connect over the loss of a dear loved one by tragic, heartbreaking circumstances.

Now. My soft shipper's heart requires Ikkotah to have a second chance at love, and Aratak needs someone nice and caring, but who could also kick his ass if needed. I think they'd be a good match! Both are super tough, good fighters, very handsome, and from mountain environments. But the cultural differences! They would have to learn each others' ways, hear each others' stories/songs, and then absolutely fall head-over-heels in love.

I'm sorry, I could not hold this in any longer. It needed to come out of my head. It's been eating me alive for days now. My poor Ikkotah has gotten an even rarer pair than Chekkatah. But it can't be helped. I've been snagged. They look nice next to each other too. Right? Am I crazy? I might be crazy. And with this, I have another story to add to my queue. Anyone up for a pre-end-of-the-world-battle meet-cute?

[robo-dino-puppy]

ikkotah

[ayaitch]

I've got delusional brain syndrome or perhaps its close cousin, fanfic is everywhere brain. As I was getting my quest from these two lovelies, I was considering Dukkah's face paint, and then wondered if I could shoehorn her story into Ikkotah's life because I will find any excuse there is to write about Ikkotah. Bear with me, but here we go.

I imagine Dukkah was a young soldier in Cliffwatch, toddling after Ikkotah and learning from him (I am one of those people who feels that Ikkotah just collects lost and alone children to raise), and she's well on her way to being a great Cliffwatch soldier.

But then! She meets Kalla at the Grove (during a Kulrut event (Kotallo's)? Some other event?) and absolutely falls in love. She's all bummed out and sad when she gets back to Cliffwatch, and Ikkotah detects Heartbreak™  and finds out that she wants to move to the Memorial Grove where Kalla is already on her way to being the Keeper of the Arena (or whatever position that is), but she doesn't want to leave Ikkotah who has already lost Chekkatah to the Memorial Grove, and she doesn't want to abandon him and leave Cliffwatch with, once again, only Ikkotah as the only soldier with any experience.

Cue Ikkotah telling her to follow her head and heart, but getting all sad that he keeps losing people he loves to their higher calling (so to speak), but then later both Chekkatah and Dukkah come back to Cliffwatch for a visit and it's all adorableness and sweet reunion from there. And Ikkotah can meet Kalla and everything is wonderful.

So.... Clearly delusional brain syndrome.