welcome to
THE EMBRACE
The heart and most secure enclave of the Nora tribe is All-Mother Mountain and the surrounding valley, known as All-Mother's Embrace. It's located southwest of Devil's Thirst, which we know from a Vantage Point to be Colorado Springs. I don't know whether any official sources confirm it, but I am strongly of the opinion (and the Horizon Wiki agrees) that All-Mother Mountain is
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN S.P.
The mountain and park are named for the indigenous people group forcibly removed from Colorado's Front Range in the 1860s.
A hundred years later, as a part of Cold War defense efforts, NORAD constructed a hardened facility inside the mountain – specially designed to be resistant to earthquakes, EMP, and nuclear explosions – for use as its command and control center. More recently, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex has additionally become a United States Space Force installation.
Fans of Stargate SG-1 will recognize the iconic entrance to the facility in which the show set the secret location of Stargate Command.
The Cheyenne people's history stretches from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains, with a large and influential role amongst the tribes of North America. Today, they make up two nations: the Northern Cheyenne in Montana and the Southern Cheyenne in Oklahoma.
The Cheyenne language is in the Algonquian language group, but the name Cheyenne derives from a Dakota Sioux exonym (a name given to a people, place, or language from outside that culture).
Learn more about the Cheyenne people here:
The complex is not open to the general public, but you can visit Cheyenne Mountain State Park if you're feeling nostalgic for the beautiful landscape of the earliest sequences of Horizon Zero Dawn.
Bonus "Personal Touch" Tour Guide Anecdote
My favorite thing about this location is how quickly my mom (not a gamer, but a Stargate fan and a word nerd) put it together when I told her this post-post-apocalyptic people group made their home atop a bunker in a mountain and were called the NORA.
1968 Public Domain Photo
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Mushy May Day 16: Cooking A Special Recipe
Cumulus, Mountain, and Dew introduce Aeon to the joys of kahlua chocolate chip cookies.
Thank you to @forlorn-crows for putting Mushy May together, and thank you to @ghuleh-recs for making the divider! <3
"Hey, junie, look what we got while we were out shopping!"
Mountain and Aeon both look up from the round of Mario Kart they're playing, Aeon cursing under their breath as their Toad crashes into a wall, the 'wrong way' sign flashing over his head.
Dew's stuck his head into the living room from the kitchen, holding up a brown glass bottle with a red and yellow label, shaking it. The full bottle sloshes, and Mountain perks up. "Oh shit, you got kahlua. I know what that means."
"Fuck yeah, you do," Dew crows, eyes wide.
Aeon's brow furrows. "It's ten in the morning on a Thursday, are we starting to drink this early?"
Mountain reaches over, rubbing Aeon's shoulder. "No, petunia, it's not for drinking, at least, not right now. We're making cookies."
"Oh, fuck yeah, cookies," Aeon pauses their game, spamming the button with such urgency that Mountain cackles, standing from the couch. "Is Cue helping?"
"It's her recipe," Dew says, leading the two other ghouls to the kitchen. There are grocery bags on the kitchen counter, things the Abbey can't grow or make themselves. Semi sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch pudding mix, the thick glass bottle of rum and coffee liqueur that Dew sets down with a clink.
Cumulus looks up from where she's sorting things in the fridge, hair tied back. "Boys," she greets the three of them. "You helping make cookies?"
"Unless that means you have too many cooks in the kitchen,'' Mountain says, reaching to grab the big bag of all-purpose flour from the top shelf of the cupboard. "Though I don't think Aeon's ever had your cookies before."
"You're in for a treat then, bunny. If it's too many people," she says, "I'll just kick Dew out."
"Hey!" he protests, but there's laughter in his voice; he knows she's teasing.
Aeon glances over at her as she pulls out the carton of eggs. "Can you get the cup and spoon measures out of the drawer by the sink?" Cumulus asks, moving to preset the oven. Aeon nods, scrambling to comply and moving out of Dew's way as he grabs bowls and a rubber spatula.
Mountain fetches baking powder ("Not soda, right, hummingbird?" "Yep, soda makes them flatter than I want them." "Like Dewey's ass?" "I can hear you!") and salt. He takes the measures from Aeon and shows them how to level the measuring cups of flour, dumping them into a bowl with the pudding mix. Aeon adds the spoons of baking powder and salt.
Dew takes care of the wet ingredients, both types of sugar and softened butter and vanilla and a healthy pour of kahlua. Cumulus takes the bottle when he's done, slyly pouring half a shot for all four of them.
"Add a little bit at a time," Mountain directs Aeon, taking the wet bowl from Dew. "I'll stir."
Aeon nods, biting their tongue in concentration, trying not to spill the dry ingredients. Bit by bit, the dough starts to form, and Cumulus adds the chocolate chips, all four of them trying to be slick and snatch a few while the other three aren't looking. Inevitably they catch each other stealing chunks of dough, cackling at the absurdity of trying to be sneaky.
Once the dough's ready, Cumulus goes to one of the cabinet drawers, pulling out an ice cream scoop . "Mount, there's a baking sheet with parchment paper on the counter, could you grab that for me?"
"'Course," he hums, already turning to grab it for her. Cumulus scoops the dough onto the baking sheet, evenly arranging them in rows. Once the sheet's full, she slides it into the oven.
"Alright, ten minutes on the clock," she hums, turning to gather the shotglasses and passing them out. "Cheers."
They down their shots before rinsing out the glasses and cleaning up the dirty dishes. Mountain keeps an eye on the stove clock as the kitchen fills with the scent of baked goods. "How long do you think it'll take for Swiss to come throw himself on top of these?" Mountain asks.
"I don't think hiding them on top of the fridge will work this time," Cumulus hums. "I mean. It'll keep Aurora and Dew from getting them at least."
"Wait." Dew's brow furrows, a look of distress falling over his features. "Is that where they went last time? I thought they were all gone."
"Oh, Dewey," Cumulus coos, laughing. "Oh, Dew, I'm so sorry."
"Cue!" He shouts, playing up his upset.
Mountain ruffles his hair, and the fire ghoul sputters, frantically trying to fix his hair. "Don't worry, firefly, we get first dibs."
Dew smiles smugly, settling back against the counter until the stove clock says it's been ten minutes. He gets up, turning to Aeon, leveling them with a serious look. "Please don't ever do what I'm about to do, I'm a fire ghoul, I don't need a hotpad. You will burn yourself if you try."
He opens the oven, pulling the tray out with his bare hands and taking the spatula from Cumulus, moving the finished cookies from the tray to a plate. They're round little things, golden brown and the chocolate chips gooey.
Cumulus waves her hand casually, using her wind to cool the cookies til they're just on the right side of warm. "Aeon, you get first pick. Enjoy."
She grins as Aeon picks one, tentatively taking a bite. The others all watch, grinning as their eyes go wide, a nearly pornographic moan slipping from their lips. "Holy fuck, Cue," they say with their mouth still full.
"Yeah?" she laughs, taking her own cookie. Dew and Mountain are quick to snatch one for themselves.
"That's really fucking good," they say, taking another big bite of cookie.
"They are," Dew says, biting off nearly half of his cookie. His eyes flutter shut. "Fuck. Just as good as I remember."
Mountain makes a similar noise to Aeon as he chews. "Yep. Uh-huh. We need to find a spot to hide these so they last for longer than an afternoon."
There's thudding footsteps, and Swiss skids on socked feet into the doorframe. "I smell kahlua cookies," he pants, eyes wide and a little crazed, a grin splitting his face.
Cumulus shares a look with Mountain and Dew, and all four of them burst into laughter.
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Given the way BNHA genetics work, where the kids look the most similar to their mothers, Shinomori might have been Bruce's nephew
Y'know, I didn't think about that, but yeah- a lot of characters look like their moms (Midoriya, Bakugo, Uraraka, Jiro, Koda, etc)
I actually think they might've been cousins. Subscribing to the idea of [most kids take after their mothers], maybe they're cousins through their mothers?
Having OFA for 18 years and dying at 40 means Shinomori received it when he was 22. Shinomori being 22 years old seems close to how old Bruce actually could've been when he was alive himself.
Shinomori being Bruce's nephew is a cute idea though. I still think they'd be close in age, but Hikage can call Bruce "Uncle" to mess with him
Hikage: Uncle-
Bruce: Please don't make me feel old.
An adult that's a few years younger than you, calling you uncle. So like. Bruce could've been the babysitter / older cousin / uncle to weirdo Shinomori and he's just so used to babysitting that it automatically translates over to patiently dealing with Kudo and being protective over him (+ anyone in his care)
(Bruce gave OFA away before he went to go fight, so he really was protecting what was put in his care [Yoichi + Kudo] so they didn't disappear with him. Even if it was just a responsibility and basically their last organ that happened to manifest consciousnesses)
Bruce has Kudo. Shinomori has Banjo. Both are shorter, more risk-taking people that lead the way, but need someone level-headed by their side because they might charge in otherwise.
If they're related, that means Bruce probably also ages well too. And it means Bruce also might have a baby face like Shinomori-
(They look alike. They're also very so cute)
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