#at least they didn't give aloy a love interest

[sunsetofdoom]

Hi! Just went through your Horizon tag and I'm curious if I may ask, what are your thoughts on HFW?

In a personal sense, my thoughts are mostly that it walked into my nice empty sandbox and purposefully put a foot in my sandcastle.

In a storytelling sense, I liked a lot of the ideas it came out with and spent a lot of it shouting at the screen about how it could have executed them better, but if you want to know an elaborate critique I'd prefer to expound on it in private messages rather than hang my ass out for all of Tumblr to see.

[andreeacircus-blog]

She had been tossing and turning for a good while before the first attempt to lift her heavy eyelids, which was a complete failure. After what felt like eons of drifting in and out of sleep, she woke with a gasp. Dazed, her eyes slowly moved towards the left side of the tent, where the sun rising behind the trees was weaving intricate patterns of branches and leaves on the fabric.

She felt so far away, yet slowly became aware of where she was. An emotion like nothing she'd felt before rose up through her abdomen and stopped in her throat then. She couldn't put a name to it, but instinctively knew that it had something to do with the pained expression that popped into her mind.

Aloy was not herself, and hasn't been herself for the past few days. It felt like reality suddenly shifted from a solid to a liquid state. She, who was usually so grounded, believed everything was drifting further apart and was harder to grasp with each passing moment since she met Seyka.

How was it even possible to go thorugh so many extreme emotions in the span of just a few days? At first, there was the bewilderment that stirred her worldview when she met the confident warrior who took the lead as soon as she deemed Aloy worthy enough in battle.

Then, the curiosity that made her ask way more personal questions than she was ever bothered to ask someone she just met. Aloy felt pretty embarrassed for showing so much interest, like she was interrogating the girl. She so desperately wanted to know more but then there was the constant fear of saying something wrong that would bring the end of their interaction. A simple misstep and their budding companionship could be over.

That's why she was beating herself up about what happened last night.

She knew that there was no stable ground for them to stand on. She knew that, yet still went and spilled what she'd been keeping from Seyka since they first met.

She didn't know which was was the stupider move, keeping the promise of impending doom hidden for so long or blurting it out at the worst possible time, when they had both been so tense from the difficult fight they just went through.

Seyka's disturbed yet dejected face when she found out that the world was ending, was exactly the type of expression Aloy wanted to avoid seeing on the faces of every person she had met thoughout her journey. But what really caused the guilt coarsing throught her veins was the hint of betrayal in Seyka's eyes.

Escaping these constraining thoughts, her eyes focused back on the slowly vibrating patterns on the tent. Her ears could now make out the familiar hum of nature mixed with the faint sound of heavy metal moving, all parts of the world she was so desperately trying to save.

Despite her general lack of sentimentality, she was very fond of the world that emerged from both insufferable greed and pure love. She wanted to give everyone a fighting chance, or rather, a chance for reconcilliation, both the people and the machines.

But Varl showed her she couldn't do it without her friends now. And this made her feel like she couldn't do it without Seyka either. The confusing part was that what she felt towards Seyka was nothing like what she felt towards her friends.

What this what she feared it was? And did Elizabeth ever feel it? She remembered Tate's words. Then she thought of Tilda. The answer was difficult to ascertain.

What she knew for certain was the strong need to make up with the endearing marine. Even if Seyka hated her now, hopefully she didn't, Aloy had to at least help the girl find her lost sister. She didn't want to be written out of Seyka's story yet. Or ever, maybe.

She suddenly felt the urge to hear her sister's voice, a recent source of comfort.

"Aloy?" she heard through her focus. "It's pretty early. What's wrong?" Of course she knew something was wrong. Beta was very good at reading her lately.

"Hey, Beta. Uh, did I wake you up?"

"No, I was actually doing some research. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just..." suddenly Aloy's eyes filled with tears and her vision became foggy. After a long pause to recollect herself, she managed to let out something she never thought she would, to a sister she never knew she had, not until recently.

"I think I just picked the worst possible time to fall in love for the first time."

[arlecchno]

lmao the blonde parts are supposed to be teal but i havent had a chance to redye them in foreverr … also yes ! my xiao jacket ! its not the only one out there though LOL

the wall youre seeing is actually my best friend roofs long lost sibling , wall /j

BEFORE 6 !? i could never i always go to bed at like 12am …. im so sleep deprived on school days lol

ME AND THAT FRIEND DID SO MANY SILLY THINGS IN OUR MATH/STEM CLASS LMAO we used to play genshin wish sim (im very young T_T) and say weird things to summon characters (i told the computer id help make kaeya dilucs brother again to get diluc , and BOTH OF THEM CAME HOME IN THE SAME PULL) tbh ive always complained ab stairs so ,,, i cant even take the stairs in my building anymore bc i live on the 9th floor itd take way too long 😭

we have a lot of the same top 5s , kaeya , diluc , and scara share #1 because … yes . my favorite gal is fischl i love her sm -

i have 11 5*s (not including aloy) , and im currently pulling for sir acting grand scribe himself ! im at around late 30 pity , if he does / doesnt come home i will make self ship art because i dont think he would like that >:)

GOOD TO KNOW ITS GOING WELL im actually making notes for a fic i wanna write on call w my previously mentioned friend roof LOL ive had the idea ever since the nilotpala cup event , i really wanted to make like an actual fic based off of it bc that girl from the yae publishing house was supposed to or wtv HAHAH but im procrastinating on a title so im just . UGH - yk ?

i did have a good day both the day you replied and today ! i am injured but its not bad (only hurts when i move certain ways) , i went on a field trip for school today and got to go in a ✨stream✨ and pick up a little crawfish >:D i hope youre doing good as well !! its so nice talking to you lmao youre so cool

i might start sending doodles every ask , so heres a sketch of my genshin oc !!

my “question” issss guess what region theyre from ! or who they live with LOL the hint is that there are already playables from their region , and there are technically two regions theyre from ?? you can guess just one though ill give you the answer next ask :P

- jellyfish

i think it's because i'm already used to waking up early... even tho i'm a very sleep deprived student that sleeps at 12-1 and wakes up at 5 😔 i'm fairly a light sleeper so no matter what time i sleep, whenever my alarm goes off i'm always up by the second 🥲

and LMAOO i've played a ton of those wish sims to prevent myself from rolling whenever i'm saving up for a character, it works wonders

i didn't really expect you to like fischl!!! i like using her in events where we have her as a trial character lol using oz in her burst and flying around is so silly but i always have fun with it!

seems like we're both on the run for alhaitham :D currently have 72 pity and he still has yet to arrive... i do not have a guarantee whatsoever so the next time i pull i'm gonna be praying for him to come home 😔 i've already explored most of the new area for him

and that fic idea sounds interesting! i briefly forgot about that event so when you mentioned it i'm suddenly reminded of how fun playing with the fungi was!! hope you'll find many inspiration for your supposed title, and who knows, next thing you know you're hitting the post button for your fic 🤭

hope you're healing well from your injury also!! have lots of rest and don't overexert yourself too much, resting is very important hehe

it's nice to know that you went on a field trip :O i haven't been to one in a while so hearing it from you reminded me how fun it always is to go on one and escape school (tbf i think we can agree at least half of the students that volunteer on field trips only do it to skip classes LMAO #guilty)

i think if i had to guess, it's a mix between mondstadt and sumeru, maybe? i'm either really wrong or really right since my basic skills of knowledge on each regions' outfits are very minimal 😵‍💫

a question for you; how was your week? tell me all about it!! hehe i honestly like hearing people talk about their day and week because it's undeniably so interesting to know what others have been up to and how different some people's lives can be from ours! hope i'm not rambling too much... i just really like listening to people talk and talk about their life

[purpleandstarlight]

One person said they wanted to hear abt it by liking my post and u know what? THATS ENOUGH FOR ME.

(Keep in mind some of these details are a Work in Progress and I may change them later on)

Okay so here, most of o!Ciel's trauma didn't happen. He IS the Queen's Watchdog because he wants to get revenge on his family's murder, and Sebastian (who's still a demon) works for him, but they don't have a contract. Ciel wasn't kidnapped, nor has he ever been tortured by a cult, so he wasn't desperate enough to make a deal with the devil. Instead, Sebastian works for him willingly because he wants entertainment, and while dadbastian is a thing nowdays, that wasn't his plan originally. He was just bored of doing nothing fun. Ciel's an interesting person to work for if you're a bored demon at least.

The twin thing never happened either. O!Ciel is actually named Ciel, and was an only child since birth.

The servants work for him also so Phantomfam is a thing, but they don't really appear since Ciel and Sebastian are off to Weston.

Alois actually goes by Jim and never uses the last name Trancy because he was never "taken in" by the Trancy, and the latter also rules out most of his canon trauma. However, he WAS a kid experiencing homelessness with Luka. They met because they were in the same abusive orphanotrophy, and he prematurely wolfed out in a time of stress and (kinda accidentally, kinda not) murdered the owners who were beating them up. After some time in the street, they were adopted by Annah and Grelle.

Ciel goes into Weston to investigate a series of murders. The Violet Wolves students keep being found dead, and that's obviously a cause of distress. Ciel initially tries to befriend Alois so he can have access to information about the Violet Wolves students (since Alois is one of the rare students who don't give a crap about the house rivalry rules) but quickly understands that trying to manipulate him will only make things harder (Alois can read other people well. He knows when they're trying to manipulate him, so when Ciel tries, Alois only closes off more and gets suspicious) and ends up being honest and enjoying his company more than he thought he would. The two team up to find the truth about the killer. Romance happens as well. I also have turned many of my ocs into background Characters + added the iconic Hippolyte Honorè De Laclos by @anawkwardlady and Tim by @hateweasel as well, because I love these two (both the characters and the creators) and the less ocs I have to make for background characters, the better!!!

I also have some details of the Cielois relationship down but I think I said enough for today!!! :)

Thank u for asking <3

...Wow it really took me a while to write all of this down.

I am BEGGING for someone to ask me about my Wednesday AU!Cielois where modern-day Ciel goes to Weston to uncover a serie of murders and ends up getting a huge ass crush for the blonde werewolf guy he's trying to get information from. It was based around me noticing similarities between Wenclair and Cielois while I was delirious bc of wanting to sleep but I ended up working quite a bit on it(...Although I haven't worked on it for a bit. I really have to plan more, especially the murder mistery... I don't know SHIT about murder mysteries. The hundreds of Detective Conan episodes I watched ever since I was a kid didn't prepare me for this smh.) and I wanna share a bit of info about it :(

[diviner-alva]

I don't know why or what's got to me to want to write this, but I'd like to say this bcs who knows, perhaps someone resonates with it.

I am demisexual, and that makes me project in Aloy a lot for various reasons (that even make me believe it could potentially be canonical). So her being busy with her mission and not having time to be with someone is nice bcs most videogames having a love interest appears to be a must. That being said, I understood her awkwardness with everyone that confessed to her (confessed, not flirted), not because she's an outcast, sure that influenced a lot, but for me at least, having people confess is a huge turn off, being too direct not even trying to get close first (it feels lazy for me at least, like you didn't even want to try being my friend what do you meannnn) even more so if they then act as victims or use their insecurities to force you to pity them and give in. From a simple kiss to other stuff, I see absolutely no point nor I have the necessity in sharing those moments with people I don't feel connected with, that always made me the weird teen that doesn't hook up with anyone and so other weird stares they've thrown at me.

But why am I saying this? I am extremely intrigued, on how Kotallo perfectly fits as someone Aloy could start paying attention to. Subtle actions speak louder, never once he forced himself into her, never voiced his feelings, never overwhelmed her in any way, you see he is the only one that's not doing theatrics to get her attention, and he's the one she looks at the most.

He knows putting her on a pedestal makes her uncomfortable, when she asked about getting aether this was their conversation:

A: Getting aether out of the grove made quite a spectacle

K: One that showed that Hekarro's vision for peace is the correct path. For it is now blessed by the ten themselves.

Did he mention her gloriousness at defeating Regalla? Her blessed second sight that restored their visions and reunited the tribe? No.

The closest to uncomfortable he ever made her is after she flew, yet he tried as best he could to make that about him instead, to show how she made him feel "I could say that I am... inspired" instead of saying she is a deity to be worshiped. But she still cringed a bit, but flying is a topic with greater importance to him as we know, that he imagines what it would be like since he was a child.

He knows she likes doing her things on her own and that she's more than capable than handling herself, he just reassures her that he's there for whatever and whenever she needs him. Once her response was incredibly soft spoken.

K: If I can help in some way, say the word.

A: I will... thank you.

He never overwhelms her with his feelings, never voices them and he even has the care with his contributions to their base, the only thing he puts in her bedroom is the clawstrider and a privacy curtain, the trophies are on the common room, and even said trophies represents them both, plus she didn't seemed at all bothered by them.

He called her commander twice, but after this conversation, it became just Aloy. Even during singularity he doesn't call her commander once.

A: You busy?

K: One must never be idle when at war, but there's always time to speak to one's commander.

A: Oh that's... not really how I see myself.

K: It is how we see you.

And finally, one of my favorites, when she reaches to him and touches his arm, his hand twitches, moving on it's own accord towards her, but he doesn't touch her even when she's touching him. Another moment that we have this is right after that, if you go talk to him you can mention about GEMINI and how they never talked about it, during this conversation Aloy sounds vulnerable, he answers "There was... nothing more to say" and if you pay attention to her body language, she is staring down, and Kotallo immediately take half a step towards her, hesitant, as if he had to resist closing the space between them to comfort her, but again he stops himself. When he then says he would ink Varl's memory on his skin, her voice os heavy with emotion, she was only vulnerable like this while talking about Varl when she was with Zo by his resting place. To me this speaks volumes and volumes... the amount of respect he has for her is immeasurable, he knows that she's reserved, that she's her own person, that she's free. And yet making her comfortable enough so they could tease and flirt with each other, him using her own curiosity against her while they went to test his arm was fucking smart, and we can see she enjoyed it, she smiles at least five times while she's there with him. After that mission a whole set of greetings is unlocked, he starts showing her his longing, saying she was away for too long, that he has been wondering when she'd be back, and she even felt comfortable enough to ask once if he missed her. He's ambiguous when he mentions her being a miracle or the one that makes miracles, and I've never seen her bothered, even playing along:

A: Now that training time is over, what's on your mind?

K: The Bulwark, the Kulrut, and that we need another miracle if we're to survive the Zenith base.

A: I'll try not to let you down.

K: I know you will not.

I think there's a profound understanding between them and that's what makes this ship so beautiful for me. (not to mention the infinite similarities they have, that I repeat over and over on this blog)

It's far from being my hc the possibility that Kotallo is keeping to himself bcs he's insecure about his arm, the what was lost quest proves otherwise, him opting to be himself and seeking her approval and/or encouragement and she answers with "I wouldn't have it any other way" (in that moment the control vibrates like crazy guys it's very meaningful, there's no other quest with this type of immersion). Plus he never joined her bcs he felt he owned her, bcs she helped him or his tribe, but because he believed, admired and respect her and that was reciprocated. She never once doubted him and he feels confident by her side. He climbed a mountain with one arm and she didn't even bothered to mention it to him when he asked her to go with him, she also never doubted if he would be able to build his arm, neither did she implied he would need help doing so.

I just think him being subtle is what grabs her attention, she has beeing admiring him since stone crest, and him her since who knows... barren light? stone crest? the tremortusk site? the bulwark? And that admiration is growing with every passing day. I just think she sees him, and he sees her, for what they truly are.

[goldmolamola]

Finally got my copy of the HFW Strategy Guide and man, the little blurb about how Fashav was used as an introduction into the West (the fact that he's a walking plot device was clear to me during my first playthrough lol) and how the diary entries were added later just makes me more convinced it was a mistake to kill him off because they made such an interesting side character (to me, anyway!)

If they just needed him to introduce Aloy to the West and stress the importance of having allies, then why make him Avad's cousin at all? Why say he was integral to Hekarro's plans of making peace/cultural exchange with Meridian? They created a very easy way for Hekarro and Avad to meet (a bridge, of course) and they didn't see that opportunity? Do we not need a unified force against Nemesis? If Fashav lived, I bet he and Kotallo could go warn Meridian easily without having to make it a story quest. I'm not a writer, idk.

I feel really bad for Avad though; because, whatever his relationship with Fashav was, it would have been cool to see them interact and catch up after years apart. Avad at least seemed like he was anticipating their reunion. Avad has lost a lot of family (and Ersa, who I believe he was with and truly loved) and now he's lost another member. It's just a shame for his character. I think it's all too easy in a huge game with a ton of characters to boil his character down to "I'm in love with Aloy" so I think having another surviving family member he is concerned about would help.

Sidenote: I really want to see Avad and Hekarro meet! I hope whatever game 3 is, they don't deprive us of that. They are so different in personality but their goals are the same. Give me an MGS4 hour long cutscene of them talking diplomacy, culture, and politics; I want it all!

Anyway if Nil can live so can Fashav :P. It's a fantastical sci-fi story, I'll suspend my disbelief! I've watched soaps before!

[robinpixels]

im gonna send u 2 characters bc they're my gfs, choose which one u wanna do; Beta & Alva

oAOAAAOAOAAA I LOVE THEM BOTH I'LL DO THEM BOTH

[HFW spoilers ahead!!]

BETA

do I like them:

Took a while to be honest but yes!! I very much do!!

5 good qualities:

1. Ohhh she is SUCH an interesting foil and challenge for Aloy--an Elisabet clone who is so different to her in each and every way....except for the fiery temper when provoked. I love the 'take no shit' attitude is consistent through all of the Sobecks, honestly, it's a vibe I wish to aspire to.

2. I ALSO love that as timid and anxious as she is, she is as equally terrifying in her own way as her mom and her sister. Like, entirely honestly: she escapes an entire ship of megalomaniacal billionaires and rips the tracking chip off her own forehead driven by cold hard logic and pure adrenaline?? BETA??? HARDCORE??

3. I love love love how she warms up at the end and becomes more forthcoming with affection and determination once she's had some time to adjust to the GAIA squad and appreciate them on their own

4. This is going to be a voice acting geeking out moment but...I LOVE Ashly's performance with her. Making her sound entirely different to Aloy, and Elisabet, who sound similar to each other. Giving her a younger, smoother register than the other two. Really added to the ease of her characterization.

4. This is going to be a voice acting geeking out moment but...I LOVE Ashly's performance with her. Making her sound entirely different to Aloy, and Elisabet, who sound similar to each other. Giving her a younger, smoother register than the other two. Really added to the ease of her characterization.

5. I really admire her intelligence and confidence in her own abilities once she's in her element! It was like a baby stimulation video watching her work that HEPHAESTUS corruption lmao

3 bad qualities:

Ooh I have. THOUGHTS. Spoilery thoughts, though these may change when I actually play the base game in full completion. Please do let me know if I haven't grasped the full picture. Really, more of my gripes are with the meta story as I've seen it so far and not really with her character herself--Beta, herself, within the context of the Horizon universe is a perfectly functional character.

1. As much as I love her...I wish we had more? Like, I wanted to see more of a reason for her to trust Aloy, I was happy to see they got along fast toward the end and that the Rost conversation was the catalyst but I can also see that Beta was just holding out for somebody to actually trust and could see Aloy, the other Elisabet clone, was making an effort for her. I just wish we had more reason for her to call Aloy her shelter and her sister, or at least include Varl in that definition too because he worked so hard to comfort her.

2. GOING ON FROM THAT--Varl. Again I could be wrong because I didn't see all possible conversations and I am completely willing to have my opinon changed once I have--and please do share with me any quotes she has to say about him because I am READY to have my heart broken tonight by some wholesome friendship boys--but I feel like her taking centerstage shoved Varl to the side a bit. It came across that Aloy was her comfort at the end, when Varl had been doing the majority of the work easing her into the base and she clearly trusted him enough to let him close but no-one else really. I will say I am very glad that the spotlight on Varl didn't disappear on his death because I was legitimately worried Beta's rescue was going to take precedence over the mourning over him, but I was very happy to be wrong. TL;DR I would've loved to see her reciprocate his friendship more and get attached to him too. I wanna see some frens

3. To be completely honest her appearance threw me off so-kilter at first that it took me a while to get back to enjoying the game, because it was such a sudden jar with the Zeniths compared to the relatively closed environment of the first game. It got back on track, yeah, but that did take some recovery time? And I know it's a new game, new things, but...I don't know where I'm going with this, really. It just wasn't a good jar to me at first, though I warmed up to it.

favourite episode/etc:

I haven't finished HFW THOROUGHLY (saw the storyline, but skipped past quests and talks because i wanted something to be left over when I actually played it--I watched it on playthrough)

otp:

None at the moment!

brotp:

Definitely with Aloy, and Varl. Maybe Erend. They all feel like siblings to meeee

ot3:

Not at the moment!

notp:

Eh..I haven't really seen something I dislike? Although lmao, I suppose Aloy because that is her sister.

best quote:

The note she left behind for Aloy..to try and comfort her when she thought she'd be gone..calling her her shelter....just ram a spear through me now, man

head canon:

She'd find comfort in soft things she can fiddle with her fingers--like fabrics or blankets or plushies, if the GAIA squad ever gets around to the concept of stuffed animals aHA

Also--she's the impulse control between her and her sister. Despite being the younger one, goddammit Aloy.

ALVA

do I like them:

I DO I DO I DOOO ALVA MY BELOVED

5 good qualities:

1. HER VOICE HER VOICE HER VOICE was so lovely and one of my favourites to hear slkdjfdsfkl I love how unique it is, at least to me. Really stood out with how perky and cute she was but it fit her perfectly and aaaaaa ALVAAA my GIRL

2. I love how she holds herself? Like it really carries her character across and it's so endearing, how she rests her hands or moves them like she's so poised but can also barely contain all her energy under that elegance and AAghH she's as cute as a button

3. I feel like she was a great addition wrt Horizon's theme of knowledge being powerful, and dangerous, depending on how it is wielded. I feel her and other characters like Aloy and Sylens really play with this well--Sylens witholding and disclosing information based on what would suit him and Alva meanwhile being a direct result of a kind of society that does those kind of things en masse. Oooh, it's so interesting, and I love how much respect she's shown to have for what she learns and the pursuit of knowledge overall.

4. I really do love her reverence for knowledge, that she's just awestruck when she FINALLY has access to files later than 2040(? 2050?). I remember feeling really happy for her, despite her probably conflicting emotions.

5. I also love how diligent she is--motivates me to get my own ass moving with my academics aha.

3 bad qualities:

Tooo be entirely honest, I don't feel like I picked up on a lot of bad qualities of her? Like nothing she did really stuck out to me in that way--I guess I just am excited to see more of her and find out.

favourite episode/etc:

THEBES THEBES THEBES like holy shit I'm glad we had our emotional support Diviner there with us because I woudl've lost my goddamn mind in there.

otp:

ALVA AND HER GIRLFRIEND I wanna see Fedara...I want to see the rival to lover...

brotp:

Kotallo. I just...cinnamon roll and grumpyguts. Yes please.

ot3:

N/A!

notp:

N/A, really

best quote:

"I guess you Could say he gave his life to help us attain the secrets of Thebes." Goddamn, Alva.

head canon:

She jams along to death metal right along with Erend, because HELL fucking yeah.

[lazywiteralex]

Day 17: 500 Words from main project

I love having a main project again, kinda wish I had a plot in mind 🙃

Anyways...

START

Mika checked the list Kane had written up for them. "Okay I think the only things we still need to do are 'Drop Miguel’s cloak in the nearest fire pit and purchase a new one' thank the Gods, and 'Get all blades sharpened by the blacksmith, don't forget to tip them' yeah no shit Kane,"

"Language, Miss Mikaela. You shouldn't say such things, especially towards Master Kane,"

She laughed and ruffled his hair, "Sorry kid, I'll work on it around you. But no telling Miggs that, he'd never shut up about it," she folded the list and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh and will you call me Mika already? Or at least drop the 'Miss'. It's so formal, weirds me out,"

"Well you are my senior, the monks at the priory always taught..."

"Alois?" Mika turned to look at him.

Alois's eyes were wide and downcast. He stepped closer to her and gripped her cloak firmly.

"Hey kid, what's wrong?" she asked, her eyes scanned over him looking for any sign of injury.

His breathing was uneven and he pressed closer to her. "By the blacksmith," his voice was a childish whisper, full of terror.

Mika looked up and her heart dropped into her stomach. Less than three yards from the blacksmith's forge sat a caged wagon. Inside huddled together were half a dozen demi-humans, all chained together. A slave was in town. Several of the slaves looked no older than Alois. Mika pulled Alois to her other side, placing herself between him and the wagon. She wrapped one arm protectively around him.

"Do not leave my side, keep your head down and don't speak. If I need information from you I'll ask yes or no questions and you'll tap me once for yes and twice for no. Do you understand?"

He tapped her arm once.

"Good. Give me Kane's sword, the less attention you attract the better. He didn't happen to put a marker on you did he?"

Two taps.

"Yeah I thought so. Alright we'll make this quick,"

She guided them inside the blacksmith's shop. He was a large man with a bald head and short graying beard.

"Good afternoon malady, how can I help you today?"

"I need my weapons sharpened, a broad sword, two short swords, and a dagger," she placed the weapons on the counter.

"An interesting errand for such a delicate young lady,"

"My companion is securing lodging and tending other errands, this is mine. Have them done by morning," her tone was flat, no hint of her usual charm. 

"I'm a busy man, you know. Having them done that soon will cost you extra, 13 silver pieces,"

She glanced at the display rack, "Throw in that steel dagger with the red gem and I'll give you 20,"

The man smiled, "A woman of taste, you've got yourself a deal,"

"Boy go fetch my purchase while I pay the man," she ordered, nudging Alois. He quickly scurried to the rack.

"An obedient servant you've got there, quiet too,"

Mika counted out the money and held it out towards him. When the blacksmith went to take it she lifted her hand away and leaned in. "That slave trader outside, is he a regular in the area?"

The blacksmith smirked, "Why looking for another one?" He eyed Alois who had returned to his place beside Mika. He slid the new dagger into the empty holster on her hip without a word.

"Answer the question or I take my business elsewhere,"

"Jeez, you're a real hard-ass aren't you? Yeah he has a trade line from here to Jindal up north,"

Mika dropped the money in the man's hand. "Thank you, my companion will be back for our blades. And don't try anything funny, he doesn't need a sharpened blade to take your head," she turned on her heel, her arm back around Alois's shoulders. 

[saviourkingslut]

To address your point about Byleth not having a personality, their personality is that of caring about their comrades/peers while also making reckless decisions. We see the latter in at least 3 situations; protecting Ladle from Kostas, going to Zanado during Sothis paralogue without informing their students, and going back to help Rhea during the battle of Garreg Mach. And I also like their character arc where they have difficulty showing emotion and caring due to isolation via Jeralt (cont)

but then after they become a professor in Garreg Mach they slowly start to express emotions; we see that during the aftermath of the Battle of the Eagle and Lion and during the aftermath of Remire Village. Even besides those two moments, we see them showing some emotion after bonding with students in some of the supports, whether it be glaring at Sylvain after he cheats on someone during his C support, or show a worried expression when Annette trips on a barrel during her C support (cont) They’re other examples as well but the point is that if they really didn’t have a character/personality, they wouldn’t react to those moments that way. Similarly some of the choices wouldn’t make sense if they had no personality/character like calling Dimitri’s worry for Edel puppy love or say to Alois that they don’t know Jeralt. (cont) Even some of the character moments wouldn’t make sense if Byleth had no personality like killing Randolph when Dimi was going to torture him or going after Kronya head on despite Rhea and Seteth’s pleas. Now here’s where I’ll give you a point: I think it was wrong to have Byleth not have any dialogue outside of battle quotes whether it’d be being defeated/dying, leveling up, skill upgrade, and class change. Plus it sucks that other characters don’t get as much spotlight, like during the rain scene and the Klieman interrogation in AM. But I blame the latter more on the writers accounting for permadeath than say Byleth’s presence in the story. (cont) TL;DR Byleth has a character/personality, it's just not as blatant as it should be and I think not giving them voiced lines outside of battle was a big mistake. Byleth is their own character and I don't think they should be written off from the Fodlanverse. Hopefully, it didn't come off as bellicose. If it did, I apologize. 😅

i hope i got all ur asks here anon! i can't say i agree with everything, but it's still interesting to see what about byleth appeals to you! n u weren't being aggressive at all lmao just passionate, shows that u care

[bookio]

We'll Be Home Soon (2018) by Jessica Bab Bonde & Peter Bergting

Illustrated comics of the experience that holocaust survivors Tobias Rawet, Livia Fränkel, Selma Bengtsson, Susanna Christensen, Emerich Roth and Elisabeth Masur went through year 1933 to 1945. I will never understand the insane cruelty the Nazis did to these innocent people for stupid reason like race difference, absolutely disgusting. Imo never forgive, never forget! But all these stories share the important message of love, in each of their stories they remember vividly how their parents did everything they could to save them. Love, the strongest hope there is. Beautiful book, giving it 4/5 stars

- - - - -

A Family Supper (1982) by Kazuo Ishiguro

A Japanese family sits down to dinner together for the first time in years, the son has moved to America and i think the daughter lives at a school dormitory. Their mother died after being too polite to decline a friend's dinner made out of badly prepared fugu fish (which is very poisonous if not done correctly).

The father updates his children that the company he worked for has closed down due to bankruptcy. The boss had taken suicide, after killing his own wife and children thinking there were no future left for them, only shame.

The children visiting their father for dinner are polite and stiff around him, probably due to strict childhood. When he is out of sight they relax more and talk regularly. It's a short interesting story, i wish it was longer.

After father telling the story about his boss who killed himself and we learned about the fugu fish incident, they are also eating hotpot with fish bits that the father seem not to know what sort of fish it is. I don't know, seem eerie. But the story end with them just relaxing after dinner. 5/5 stars

Donkey Prince (2016) by Caroline Hainer

Jim is a shy boy at school, but at the school's play he plays a donkey. Due to stage fright, he discover a hidden talent of his, being able to let out a loud long donkey shriek very similiar to an actual donkey. This makes him go from invisible to becoming known as "the donkey boy". Some parents find him hilarious, others like a weirdo. At school bullies try to either invite, abuse or approach at him as some sort of competitor. Other shy boys start to make contact with him, one even "paying" him a drawing of a truck to let him hear a low short sample of the famous donkey screech.

The book really captures younger school days, but every other chapter is him as an adult coming back to check out his school and reminisce how he felt popular despite the circumstances. But those adult pages are INSANELY boring, they are overly deep and poetic like "the cold wind swept through the blahblah feeling like a whisper of blahblah" for serval paragraphs, never getting anywhere.

I didn't finish the book when another one of those chapters showed up, basically rage quit. Someday i might come back to it, maybe. 3/5 stars

- - - - -

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Sunhawk (2020) by Anne Toole, Ann Maulina, Bryan Valenza and Jim Campbell

Beautiful and exciting, it's a nice idea to give Aloy's mentor some deeper story and adventures. In the game i didn't think much of her because you basically have to do everything yourself when it came to training. Aloy is already OP (at least if you do all side quests) so having a mentor feels a bit unnecessary. I loved that this comic had new robot monsters in it, i think they are to show up in the PS5 sequel. 3/5 stars

[inappropriatestork]

Alas, I have to work tomorrow, so no more HFW for a bit.

But:

Varl, I officially apologize for finding you annoying. You are the best and I love you. Both for bringing Erend and for reminding Aloy that allies are important, but especially friends.

Also I enjoy that Varl and Erend have become friends. I hope they get up to shenanigans while Aloy's away.

(In my headcanon at least, perhaps Varl knows about Erend's feelings for Aloy and sympathizes and is maybe trying to give them a little encouragement, particularly now he seems to have found someone himself...)

Zo at least seems a little more rattled than Varl at Focuses and cauldrons and Far Zenith and GAIA and everything. Varl has seemed a bit unrealistically chill about it all from the beginning. I look forward to Erend's reaction, lol.

And so it IS Far Zenith. Very interesting. Aloy couldn't understand why their Lis clone would help them, but it definitely seemed to me that she was not an equal and willing partner. She didn't seem like part of the shiny high tech group, more like a slave or prisoner or something.

Plainsong is maybe one of my favorite places in the game so far. It's so pretty! And such a neat location!

Well, I'm a few hours/about 10% into Horizon Forbidden West and so far my review is:

PLEASE JUST LET ME HUG EREND

[diviner-alva]

So something else I noticed is this:

*major endgame spoilers*

I found it very interesting that as soon as another NPC said that Aloy shouldn't try to save the world on her own Kotallo and Beta appear on screen right after. Yes I know that couldn't happen with Alva for example bcs we were with almost the full gang at the base, but all the others but them both just kinda happened. So this foreshadowing here can't go unnoticed. (Not to mention how crucial they were at the Zenith base, Aloy trusted him to blow the regulator so Beta could inject HEPHAESTUS into the printer matrix and unleash an army of machines to fight the specter drones).

Though I believe this inclines to how important they could be for Aloy, Beta is now her sister practically and Kotallo pledged his life for her, not that the others like Zo, Erend and Alva didn't, but maybe his connection with Aloy could deepen in the next game (not implying, much less affirming, that this is strictly to romantic connections. This is open to interpretation, I'm just displaying the canonical facts and analysing them with my perspective). However, the amount of similarities they both share plus how Aloy contributed for his new perception of himself and self-worth after being maimed. And with Beta how she mentions on a log that Aloy was her shelter and she would risk it all again to be by her side. We are used to seeing Aloy's influence on other people's lives, but specially with Beta and Kotallo seems more profound than the others. And I would love to see them having the same influence on Aloy for once, the endgame pointed us at that direction at least, with her quote "They've always knew what I just started to understand [...] And for the first time in my life. I feel like I'm not alone"

This post is mostly me just noticing this and how curious it is to introduce Kotallo and Beta this way and going "mmmh what does that mean whatcha got going on right there guerrilla?" (also how insufferable they were the first time they met like lmao Kotallo angry and salty practically growling, Beta pessimistic talking to Aloy like she's stupid and/or incompetent lol they were just hitting nerves there)

*side note: If you talk to Erend at Barren Light before the Embassy, when Aloy takes her leave he says "You sure about this? Saving the world you know, seems a lot for just one person" and Varl arrive a few long moments after. I chose not to include for 3 reasons: 1)The dialogue with him was only optional. 2) Erend was more offering his help than giving her a advice, he correct later "What I'm trying to say is, if you ever need me..." 3) Varl takes too long to appear, you talk to Lawan, then Nozar and Vuadis, this if you even decide to move forward, so it's just too much that can get lost (Yet, we know how Varl was literally the backbone for the gang and none of this wouldn't be accomplished without him)

[diviner-alva]

hmm now that I think about it, they kind of ruled out possible romantic interests for our girl throughout the game didn't they? I mean is it just me or did they leave few possibilities open as romantic interests for the next game, I don't know if I'm making myself clear but I see it that way. If they really give love options for the ng, it makes some sense that in this game they would rule some out so they wouldn't make such a mess or something.

Or maybe they did it so they could make a single choice AHDGASASD I HOPE THAT IS THAT LAST ONE AND THAT KOTALLO IS THAT CHOICE

OOOH BOY YOU PUT ME ON THE SPOT THERE.

This is something I've been thinking for a while but thought it would be inconvenient to post it bcs idk people have their own shipps and they do what they want, so I don't want to be a party crasher or something (at least not without a reason) SO IF ANYONE COME AT ME FOR IT, I WAS JUST ANSWERING AN ASK (and I looove asks).

I agree that in FW they ruled out most of the NPCs with romantic possibilities, plus we all know they didn't include new ones (thank the ten I was getting annoyed by everyone hitting on her in every settlement). People flirt with her sure but tenakth are blunt and flirty no big deal (meaning Drakka and Gatakk)

This is chronologically ordered

Avad: Well, I think they did him a little dirty, making him ask again if she would change her whole way of life to live with him in Meridian? Didn't he told her he understood the last time? Why making him ask again??? As someone who even thought Meridian was a nice place during ZD that just made me want to flee, also the statue, people either calling her a savage or kissing her feet, is just literally not a place Aloy would want to be, the game reinforced that. "But liz, he said about renouncing and accompanying her on her travels" okay, you really think he would keep up? And her straight up answer was *shakes head* "You make it sound easy". Why did they made him pleading and clingy I have no idea.

Petra: Honestly I don't see her exactly "ruled out" tbh, Aloy just gets at chainscrape and it's a little harsh with her saying she's just passing through, but she's like that with everyone (there is only one that is an exception). Tho I believe she thinks of Petra more like a friend in this game.

Erend: Again, I think they did him dirty the same way with Avad but slightly worse. I know a few people disliked him complaining that she left the party without saying goodbye, but honestly I think that was a nice touch, you know to have people confront Aloy sometimes, it gives them depth and shows how her actions influence others, people are hard bcs they are different. But I think the dirty they did was: having him force his way TOO MUCH, I mean it bothered the fuck out of me at least, him wanting to be there but most of the time he's like "Yeah back to reading I guess", "I'll go back to look at this exciting data", and the worse of the bunch, forcing to go with her rescue Beta and the first thing he says in the cutscene is "this distress call had to he up a really steep mountain huh" and Aloy literally *sighs* and rolls her eyes, like, bro... He complains so often in this game I've lost count, that makes me think "BRO WHY ARE YOU HERE THEN", him backseating when you fight together giving you remarks if you go stealthy or telling you how to kill a machine, bro back off. And that not being enough, they even make Aloy discredit him a little. His self deprecation makes her roll her eyes, say his name and sigh. When they are about to go to GEMINI she literally says "Let's hope Erend can operate one without shooting himself in the face" and in a serious tone, wasn't a joke. I really think he was one of the most poorly treated in this game, I even don't see them ended up together doing him any good she wouldn't be so happy either. She doesn't have much faith in him and that makes his self deprecation worse. I just don't see that working well for either of them and guerrilla really wanted to show that.

Varl: Well, we see from the beginning that whatever crush they had on each other was a fleeting thing, acting more as friendly companions, and if that wasn't enough they smack you with Zo in the face right after. I know that I got >:( when she showed up lmao I'm sorry Zo but I was upset, I liked Varl's relationship with Aloy in ZD the most. And after that, well... we all know the drill

Talanah: She literally just showed up in this game to run around after a man :| that was after a woman that could be long dead. Really now looking at it Talanah is the one that they did most dirty actually wtf was that for. Honestly this shipp never clicked for me, I never noticed it, but I'm also dumb I guess, so take that in mind. And idk when Aloy talked to Amadis she said "so you and Talanah" and she was smiling, people are different but if I were talking to the person my crush dates I would not be smiling at them so spontaneously. But I don't even think there's more to say about this, plus the fact that she very likely could've stayed at the base but she didn't, I think she is also a carja at heart and would want to stay in Meridian.

Nil: I had such a crush on him its insane I screamed when I knew he was in the game (which was a spoiler bcs I HATE these gauntlet races) but honestly I think he was a wrong choice since ZD, this was reinforced by Aloy herself in FW (that he's very unhinged and killed bandits because he enjoys killing and stuff Aloy doesn't even know how to feel about him) he flirted with her and her answer was a thumbs up? Well not much to say

And generally, I think all of them would tie Aloy down somehow, Aloy likes traveling, exploring, learning about the old ones, you could really see Avad doing those? Petra is the only one from the above that wouldn't tie her down but would she accompany Aloy or would this be a distance relationship? Would she study old world like her? Explore ruins, hunt some machines? Erend we know very well does not like exploring ruins and studying data, very likely to tie her down as well. Talanah could match Aloy pretty well on those, but like I said, I doubt she would permanently leave Meridian and the legacy of her family.

But I'll say that those thoughts above just came to mind after Kotallo showed up, because he is way too perfect literally a tailored suit for Aloy, he ticks all the items on the checklist and I think this is absurdly suspicious

[inappropriatestork]

Okay, last rambling post and final thoughts!

Overall, I'd say...7/10, maybe 8/10? I enjoyed it a lot, mostly. But HZD is like 47/10 for me, so this was just never going to live up to that entirely.

Well, I got my wish. Kind of.

It was more "putting an arm around" than hugging, but I squeed a bit anyway. And then went "...that's it?"

I mean going into this I wasn't really expecting any romance, as the first game so firmly stayed away from it despite a plethora of options. But then Varl and Zo happened, and Erend was there and IDK, there was a vibe that kept me thinking maybe?

I'm not heartbroken that that's all we got. I've got pleeeeeenty of headcanons. I just...want good things for my sweet boy Erend. At least they didn't kill him off. I was fully prepared to a) fight someone and b) decide this game did not exist and never acknowledge it again, if they did.

Anyway, and then I got a bit misty at the final voiceover bit and then sat through the entire credits because pretty.

The ending was interesting. The Nemesis thing seemed a bit out of nowhere, but intriguing. I did not think Sylens would turn out to be more trustworthy than Tilda, even though I wasn't completely convinced about her. Sylens even did one (1) unselfish thing in the end, bringing him up to...maybe 2? (I guess we could count saving Aloy from the Sun Ring, but pretty much all of his involvement with Aloy in HZD was pretty self serving, really. If she dies he can't get into any gene locked facilities, so it wasn't entirely heroism there. Seems he still got access to the Zeniths' copy of APOLLO, so even here it's not like he was making huge sacrifices.)

Zo killing Erik was very satisfying. And Tilda's turn, though not entirely unexpected, was interesting, with her Elisabet angle. Sylens' attempt to persuade Aloy that Elisabet would leave was an interesting bit too.

I'm intrigued to see where it goes next. If Sylens does have APOLLO now, that's interesting. How much of this stuff do they spread and explain to the tribes? How do you integrate that stuff into a primitive society without some major issues? Do you even try? Should be interesting.

On the whole I guess I'd say it's good. It simply was never going to live up to HZD for me, because HZD blew me away. IDK if it was because I went into it without knowing much at all, because it was my first PS4 game and the graphics and everything were so good, IDK but it grabbed from the start and kept me riveted.

This one's story was not at all what I was expecting really, although I mostly avoided trailers and spoilers of any kind. It was good though. It just feel like there was a lot more stuff between the exciting story bits. When I played HZD, I thought I'd love more content, almost anything to spend more time in this world. But having played this, HZD looks better by comparison. A fair amount of the side quests in this just felt like filler and a bit of a slog. HZD had some that weren't super meaningful or anything, but I feel like this had more.

That was a minor complaint though. My biggest complaint is honestly the melee pits. They don't work most of the time, they're just an exercise in frustration, they don't really achieve anything, and melee is about the least effective fighting style of all.. what, 11 weapons in the game? It feels dumb that they give you all these cool weapons and then push melee on you so hard.

I wouldn't mind fighting trials in general but limiting it to melee with such set moves and combos and all was just annoying. I finished Chainscrape and Scalding Spear pretty easily, finally managed The Bulwark today at level 50, tried Thornmarsh and gave up because it felt like punishment, not an enjoyable game.

Well, I say I wouldn't mind fighting trials in general. But I really don't enjoy the hunting grounds that much either. I don't mind them in general, not my favorite thing but fine. A bit fun when you can ace them and feel like you're good at them. But I never could do the heavy weapons trial at Raintrace. Level 50, maxed out skills, good weapons, tried again today for 45 minutes, gave up. It makes the stupid Shellwalker crate trial at the Spurflints hunting grounds in HZD look like a jolly walk in the park!

Aside from that, I didn't love Machine Strike, at least not enough to play 500 games of it like they seemed to want you to. It's...fine. I beat all the beginner and intermediate players and then took forever to find any carvers who'd sell me decent pieces (I found the last couple of hunting grounds quite late) so didn't really bother with the rest.

Anyway, mechanics and gameplay stuff aside, I'm happy enough with the story. It wasn't as absolutely riveting as HZD for me, but I didn't think it could be. But it was a satisfactory followup. It definitely set us up very clearly for a sequel or at least DLC.

It probably suffered unfairly because it came out while I was in the middle of a Dragon Age: Inquisition binge that I was greatly enjoying. I couldn't bear to put off jumping into this (and was worried about spoilers if I did) but I also didn't really want to stop playing DAI and after a week or two was getting increasingly resentful that this was taking so long.

Which says..something, maybe. I feel like I would never have gotten that feeling with HZD. I dropped everything and played it straight through in a week or two and then immediately played it again and was mad that I couldn't erase my memories and experience it for the first time again. Even on subsequent playthroughs, I get hooked enough that I'll start back over as soon as I finish because I don't want to leave it. Now that I've finished HFW, I'm kind of just glad I can go back to Dragon Age.

But that's not to say I didn't like it.

The world and characters are just as good as HZD, if not better. The scenery is better, which I didn't think possible. The graphics in general are amazing on PS5. The music is good. Maybe better than HZD. I really liked the diversity and the considerable queer rep. And I was happy with the story overall, even if it wasn't as powerful and gripping as HZD. My main issue was pacing, I guess? The story was good but spread a little thin between long periods of side stuff of varying quality.

As I said, 7/10 or maybe 8/10. I'll say 8/10 if I pretend the melee pits don't exist and there's about 50% less Machine Strike.

Right, well, I seem to be at a big moment in the game, so here's HFW Thoughts Post 3.0. (here's 2.0 and 1.0)

So...Tilda. And Varl 😭

I'm not sure I trust Tilda but don't seem to have much choice. The fact that she ever joined Far Zenith doesn't speak very highly of her. They seemed pretty obviously a corrupt cabal of selfish rich assholes from the start.

I'm glad Aloy seems to have come up with an alternative to her plan of using the entire Tenakth tribe as diversionary cannon fodder. I'm intrigued as to the details. "That's between me and my sister." 🥺

The conversation with Tilda was interesting. Especially about Elisabet. How she always seemed to know you better than you knew her, like she was always holding something back. Still kind of circling around that theme of solitary sacrifice vs letting people in?

But...Varl. I kind of knew it was coming the minute the Zeniths showed up. If Tilda wanted to help so damn much, she couldn't have done something 30 seconds sooner?

It's going to be heartbreaking having to tell Zo. Erend sounded so frantic on the focus when Aloy checked in.

It kind of feels weird that I still have a bunch of pending fetch and carry side quests and probably will have more. Like maybe we should focus on the goal here? But anyway.

Time to go back to base and see everyone, I guess.