#with the dialogue at the end of FW i was actually a little annoyed with all the erend stuff 💀 thought they might canonize something

[spacedlexi]

and what the more nuanced opinions about s*yloy?

censoring the ship name 💀 ive been trying to avoid all the post-burning shores drama that seems to be happening in the horizon fandom... ive seen some Nasty stuff getting thrown around and im not just talking about the usual gamer-homophobes (those im unfortunately used to by now)

i think overall theyre cute!! their relationship in this dlc is about how aloy is Truly evolving to accept people into her life on a Deep and Personal level. and i am NOT saying that she doesnt also care deeply for her current cast of friends (i think she might even have Feelings for some of them shes not letting herself be aware of (and im talking since ZD)). but its established in forbidden west that aloy has trouble connecting to people on that deep level, and she more often slips off into the night on her own than choosing to stick by them long term. she cares for them, she'll always help them, but something seems to keep scaring her off

the end of the dlc has aloy saying the idea of a home and tribe has always scared her since she grew up so disconnected from the nora. her development throughout FW (although i had issues with the writing and pacing of it) is about her putting down those walls and Truly letting people into her life. and seyka, being so similar to herself in so many ways yet having a positive relationship with her tribe, is kind of the perfect storm for this new aloy. her feelings are new and clumsy and she stumbles over herself. she doesnt always seem as cool and collected as she usually is and it sometimes seems to even throw her off. its cute!

i dont necessarily have any problem with Them. my problems more so were related to the execution of the writing and pacing of the dlc as a whole. and those problems stem back to the writing and pacing problems ive had since forbidden west... they just kinda got caught in the crossfire a bit (as did some of the FW companions when i first played through but have since warmed up to more). i went back and rewatched my friends stream of it and i found myself less frustrated than i was when we first went through it, but there were still a few moments here and there (between them and in the overarching plot in general) that just made me go 🤨 the execution was messy or weak or strange at times but again thats not just a dlc problem for me. i can at least appreciate the intention of what they were Trying to do with aloy and seyka. and as a plus they hit a number of tropes i really like

i think what bothered me more was the way guerrilla marketed her? its weird because they boasted about how "special and unique" she was when i feel she shares a lot of qualities that aloys other companions also have (down to c-cast characters like ikrie and nakoa). like.. i LIKE all of these characters for these similar qualities! it was just weirdly disrespectful to their own cast? i dont think that was their intention but it was... interesting

especially since i believe this experience with seyka is Massively important for aloy moving forward in regards to her relationships. aloy at the end of the dlc after her time with seyka is Completely Ready to accept what her idea of "home" is, and she realizes thats the connections shes made with the people around her. i really hope seyka gets to escape the dlc and join up with the cast in Horizon 3 (i was already disappointed when ikrie didnt make a reappearance). but since the dlc ended in flashpoints where you could accept or reject her, i Definitely believe this implementation will return in Horizon 3 with our cast of companions (not every aloy chose to kiss seyka so some aloys are returning to base single (but seemingly ready to mingle)). in the past when these flashpoints have come up (like with avad in both ZD and FW) aloy always seems resistant in some way even if you Do choose the heart option. but seyka is evidence that aloy really IS ready for that level of commitment post-BS. and since these are still choices tied to flashpoints, your aloy can do whatever she wants! the point is that regardless of any romance, shes ready to accept her friends as her Tribe

[horizonzerodawnaesthetic]

TBH, I wish Nil wasn't in HFW. My personal dislike for him aside, it sucks because we as players had the choice to decide his fate in HZD but then he pops up in HFW invalidating the choices made by some players. If Olin had appeared in HFW I'd be annoyed even though I personally spared him, I don't doubt others chose not to and I find it annoying that our choices in HZD didn't matter in HFW. The Witcher 3 allowed choices made in Witcher 2 to be imported over. What do you think?

I understand your reasoning, it can be pretty frustrating when games retcon a player's actions. It really would have been simple for a quick little questionnaire asking about your previous actions in the game. However, I think it would have been disappointing for the people who chose to spare Nil to not see him again. Even though keeping him ambiguous (as they did with Olin) could have made him a Schrodinger's Nil, I think there's a few reasons he's left alive.

1. His arc isn't over. Smarter people have said this better than me, but Nil has growth to be made. We've seen it between hzd and hfw, how he's found a way to get his kicks and his adrenaline pumping without actually killing anyone. it may be through semi-lethal robo-horse racing, but it's a step in the right direction for him, and although his role is lessened in fw compared to zd, I think it hints at more Nil to come. Though I will say, I think the reason he exists in fw (despite his possible death in zd) is really because Guerilla didn't think he'd be so goddamn loved. They may not have planned for a resurgence of Nil in the sequel, which is why his fate can be left up to the player in the first game. Then, once they saw how popular he was, they decided to include him in the sequel. I will at least give props for not just making him a throwaway, it seems hey really did put some care into his character in the Forbidden West.

2. Something said in one of the GAIA Casts has stuck with me since I heard it. They talked about how the current games are not our stories, they're Aloy's. That's what makes it different from an RPG, of course, but every choice in the game was one Aloy would make. An example they used is how you can't kill the guards or citizens, because Aloy wouldn't do that. Every choice offered to the player is one in a spectrum of choice Aloy would make, with some more likely than the others, but of course she can only actually choose one. So Now I suppose it comes down to this question, do you actually think Aloy would kill Nil? I'm sure that answer has a different response depending on who you ask, but personally, I don't think she would. Even if she does think Nil is a bit of a Problem, I think it may be hard for her to turn her bow on someone she fought beside, no matter the circumstance. Listening to the two dialogue options in Cause for Concern, she seems far more genuine when she decides not to kill him. She recognizes that he's not exactly.. well, but he is still a powerful ally, and she thinks he deserves a second chance (just as Avad did). If she accepts, she sounds far more resigned, with a "if this is the way it has to be" sort of outlook.

In the end, I think Nil's return in HFW makes logical sense, and even if does go against some player's actions, it still fits well into the narrative, and can even give insight into the Aloy of Zero Dawn.

[ficsandpieces]

Hiiii, Could you Answer number 33 for your writer meme ask?? I'd love to know which piece of yours was your fave to write as of right now

33: favorite one-shot you’ve written?

Just one? I can only pick one? ;_;

I had tons of fun writing all of them but these are my faves for each of the QN bois:

Reiji:

Accidentally falling asleep together: I wanted to give the feeling of water and relaxation and I think I got it? :3 I really like how this one flows for some reason. Also as mentioned in the previous ask I loved the picture that this one was based on. 

“Will you just hold still?” (N*FW, lime): Reiji’s a thirsty, thirsty boi for his s/o lol This one flowed pretty smoothly as well. 

“I’m not bothering you, am I?” : I love how soft and endearing this one turned out. ♥ Just Reiji and his s/o having a quiet moment over the phone together. 

Camus:

“LET ME EAT MY CAKE, CRETIN.”: Bahahaha, this is the one where I just kept on writing and writing and despaired of ever getting to the ending XD I told @utapriciation that never before have I written so much dramatic dialogue at one shot. My apology to all Camus stans still stands but boy, Camus, you’re seriously a hoot to write for. 

#RIPMaracas: This is it. My pièce de résistance, the pinnacle of everything I’ve ever done, the absolute jewel of my fandom existence. Nothing will ever top this, I can go away from the keyboard forever and retire now. This was technically a Reiji ask but it’s obvious who the real star of the show is lol. Again, much thanks and credit to the anon who came up with the hashtag for it because it’s Just. So. Perfect for it.   

Ai:

Finding the other wearing their clothes (papa!Ai edition): Writing Ai’s s/o and their three-year-old interacting gave me a serious case of the uwus. (*´꒳`*)   

“You’ve got something on your cheek.” (N*FW, lime): Come to think of it, I’m probably the thirsty one around here…

“Stop it, you’re embarrassing me.”: The image of Ai solemnly giving his panicking s/o a thumbs up while in disguise makes me lol so bad.

Ranmaru (BEST BOI BEST BOI GET READY):

Welcome to the ballroom, Ranmaru style: I’ve said it so many times that you guys are probably sick of me by now but writing this one gave me such a deep, deep sense of satisfaction that I’m still all (*´꒳`*) about it up to now. I love this one so, so much and I can’t explain why. Absolute favorite, No. 1 just like best boi’s song. ♥ 

“Your hands are so much larger than mine.”: Ngl I was full of major UWUs  while listing down everything that his s/o likes about him (The actual list is endless lol)

“It doesn’t look like you’ll need stitches…”: Ranmaru + a face full of cat = best combo X3 

“I’m sorry I yelled at you…”: He probably does this on a daily basis and his cats don’t give a shit lol lol lol

papa!Ran and hide-and-seek: papa!Ran makes me go uwu so badly that it’s not funny ;_; Also I love the image of Ran looking to the heavens for patience while his two kiddies sit on him and poke at his very well-defined stomach. Imagining his daughter diving under his top while he’s sleeping and defenseless gives me a bad case of the giggles as well.

papa!Ran being annoyed at Ren and Masato: I still hold this near and dear to my heart cos imagining papa!Ran squatting down and seriously giving his little girl directions makes me soft, SO SOFT I CANNOT. In fact all of papa!QN and papa!Ran is guaranteed big UWU power for me AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH 

[theclaravoyant]

what did you think about fitz' death not getting the weight/big moment it deserved? like i get it that coulson is "retiring" and everything but i felt so played when they revealed none of the honour/remembrance/plaque/feels were for fitz... like "we got a copy of him out there, lol, who cares about this one".... sorry to dump this negativity on you i just felt they played us so dirty...

I have kinda… mixed feelings about it tbh.

On the one hand, the scene with Mack was absolutely soul destroying. It was a little understated, which was nice esp as I felt a lot of the dialogue had really Grand Vibes this ep. I’m glad this scene didn’t. It was quiet and shaken and scared and there was a really powerful silence when Mack just sat with him. It was a really beautiful scene. I cried.

So, I’m kinda glad they didn’t drag it out? Aside from the very genuine, heartfelt emotional punch of that scene being quite poignant imo, and not really needing more (given that it’s a narrative, I would happily read 500 ‘jemma finds out’ ‘daisy finds out’ ‘let’s rip clara’s heart out some more’ fics), I felt like a lot of Coulson’s speech was very grand and sweeping and finale-esque, but it didn’t feel that genuine to me. It was similar to in the S4 finale when they sorta handwaved and were like “yeah we all did bad things in the Framework, it sucked” rather than acknowledging Fitz’s unique victimhood status in that case. So I’m sorta glad that didn’t end up being for him? Although I coulda done with the plaque in the cockpit of THE ZEPHYR. THE PLANE THAT HE BUILT. (i have a lot of zephyr feels okay). then again it probs would be hella weird for cryoFitz to come back and have a constant reminder of the fact that he’s like, dead.

We also imo didn’t need / did well without consecutive mourning scenes when they were going to reveal cryoFitz all along. Some people are already extremely pissed by the unnecessary death itself; showing and going through all that pain, from that perspective, for in the end ‘no reason’ is even more wasteful, unnecessary and cruel. Then again, it depends how you feel about the Fitz/CryoFitz thing. My feelings on that again are quite complex unfortunately but some thoughts on it include:

CryoFitz isn’t a clone of Fitz or something, he is actually Fitz. He’s not “not real Fitz” in any way shape or form, he’s literally Fitz, just further back in time (and not by much!). The main things he’s gonna miss out on are: a) a hell of a lot of bad/dark shit which at best, he could do without and at worst, was atrocious writing that never should have happened anyway and b) the FS marriage and proposal which in my opinion, weren’t really ideal anyway. I get why a lot of FS fans are pissed at this being erased, because they are often considered milestones in a relationship, and a lot of FS fans were understandably highly attached to them, but I just haven’t seen them this way in this particular case. Both the proposal and the wedding were stolen moments in the middle of a war-zone, which were sweet and served their purpose and all, but they didn’t move the actual contents/nature of the relationship forward (in my opinion), and I think it will be more meaningful to have the chance to do them again, to do them ‘right’, and to do them with the chance to follow through with the promises they made, like (even though I don’t love this, I’ll live) starting a family with each other. So I actually think that’s kinda a good thing in that regard.

What I’m more annoyed about than the lack of mourning and such per se are two things:

1) I’m annoyed that Fitz died in a freak accident - he’d already saved Mack and Polly when the roof fell in. The loop was already broken. I don’t really see why it was necessary. If they really wanted to kill (or ‘kill’) him, they could have done the exact same death scene with say, him pushing someone out of the way or something and directly having an impact on the future. This way it ended up being much more of a ‘because we could’ situation and that’s pissed a lot of people off, and the way the writers talked about it seems to be in line with that interpretation, with them basically saying “it was a way of giving you the full emotional impact of a death without actually giving you a death” which a) no it wasn’t because we had 1 mourning scene and then ‘it’s okay bc cryo Fitz’ which spoils that impact and b) FS separation #1135013613704 is not exactly inventive and I can see why lots of people are pissed at that.

2) I’m annoyed - and I freaking called this I called this so hard #disappointed-but-not-surprised - that this is a chance for them to erase and start over. They did redemption by death AND redemption by time travel both at once! There’s almost no way they’re going to give 5x14 any kind of resolution between Fitz and Daisy now, because that Fitz died and Fitz-now didn’t do it so it’s not fair to hold him to account. But that means Daisy has to forget her trauma. Plus, it’s been so long in the storyline since the Framework that I have a very strong feeling that isn’t going to get addressed either, even though cryoFitz is fresh outta 6 months of solitary outta the FW and not in a good place. To me this shows that they did all this to/with Fitz because they knew they could snap their fingers and get out of it later. That pisses me off. It also means that once again, they get to handwave others’ trauma based off things that Fitz and/or his face and/or brain was used for. That’s the more disrespectful element to me.

Plus, I guess to be brutally honest, the writers kinda killed “my Fitz” earlier this season. CryoFitz is closer to my Fitz than the Fitz that died. Not just because of his darker character development, I don’t want to just whinge about my Poor Baby Fitz going through things, but because of some decisions that I stand by were downright bad, insulting, ableist writing (*cough* 5x14 *cough*). One of the reasons I was so affected by Fitz’s death scene was because it was My Fitz that I saw dying. Shaken and scared, but trying to solve it, and trying to save the others, and trying to have hope. That is my Fitz and for a second it made me forget about all that’s happened with him this season because all I saw was My Fitz dying and needing his friend and it broke my heart in a way that was actually kinda cathartic. So I’m not really annoyed by how the death was handled, because I would actually be a huge fan of erasing most of S5 on Fitz’s behalf (and bc Iain and Henry forking killed it), but I am annoyed about how that will be used.