a quick and easy guide to any and all fics that I'm writing and headcanons I've shared about Horizon: Forbidden West
MULTI-CHAPTER
Heart of a Stormbird || AO3 || TUMBLR
Makarra has lived her life in a time of peace amongst the Tenakth. The daughter of the chief, she's never known a world where clans are constantly at war with clans. Just the on going power struggle with the Carja to the east. But when peace for all of the west finally seems like it might be within reach, a rebel force throws her world into chaos and threatens the way of life her people have built for themselves. And it seems their best hope is some strange flame haired huntress from further east than any Tenakth has ever dreamed of.
Flower Amongst Blades || LINK
When a sickness spreads throughout the Tenakth clan lands, Chief Hekarro turns to his alliance with the Utaru in search of assistance for his people. Surprisingly to everyone, the young healer Layla volunteers to leave Plainsong and live amongst the Tenakth in hopes of providing relief and remedies to the suffering warriors. And with that uprooting, her world changes forever and she finds herself planted in the middle of a strange new home.
okay so just wanted to make a post in case anyone wonders - I probably won’t be posting here much for a little while. I’m getting burnt out on HZD/HFW (too much nonstop for the past few weeks and it’s my own fault) but I’m going to kind of take a break. So if I’m not really around that’s why.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
I’ll make a better post about it later but the first part of Ink & Stem (my modern flower shop/tattoo parlor au) is up on AO3 if you want to check it out.
okay like i know that my oc side character is not what anyone is showing up for when i'm writing a kotallo/aloy story but one of the favorite parts of this au for me is writing kotallo and makarra having little chaotic sibling interactions and it just makes me happy.
just casually thinking about how Fashav would react when he finally finds out about Aloy's history with Helis. because i kind of assume they knew each other and he knew Helis was like unhinged and hearing what he did at the Proving and to Aloy and Rost like i'm imagining it being one of the few times Aloy seems him genuinely furious and full of rage and like he knows Helis is dead but what he wouldn't give to get his hands on the bastard.
*clears throat* what about...Aloy deciding that she wants to marry Fashav and Kotallo and straight up just telling them that she thinks it's time they married.
Okay so like here's my thing. I don't think Aloy is going to bring up marriage because that's not the Nora way that Rost would have taught her about. The Nora will have mates that are blessed by the matriarchs when they want to have children but otherwise it sounds like they can have relationships with whoever they want. Which is part of why I think Aloy would have any issue with polyamory, because she was raised by someone who'd been a part of a tribe that didn't necessarily only stick to monogamy.
I feel like out of the three of them, the one most likely to propose any kind of formal marriage (or as formal as it can be with a Nora outcast turned seeker, a grumbly Tenakth marshal, and a Carja noble/soldier who's spent the last five years in the Forbidden West) is going to be Fashav. The Carja seem like they have more traditional marriage customs and I could see him bringing it up to them at some point.
I also feel like whatever courting traditions they would have gone through already would have made them essentially the Tenkath equivalent to married and when Fashav is explaining wanting them to get married, Kotallo's just like "I thought we already were" and Fashav and Aloy are both just like "I'm sorry what??" And he explains all of the different courting rituals again by Tenakth custom, surprised that they seem surprised especially Fashav, like he looks at him and is like "you've lived with us for five years why are you acting like this is new and confusing to you??"
Prompts: Aloy telling Kotallo that she is pregnant
You are a person after my own heart. I love baby fics!
Again, spoilers for the main game, plus I have taken liberties and changed some things up to suit me because I can thank you.
Aloy smiled as she watched Kotallo from a distance, sitting on a rock that had been warmed by the midday sun as her lover stood with Erend speaking about something that had his remaining arm animated in whatever he was describing, a laugh coming from the Oseram man in front of him. She didn't hear what was said after that, but she watched as Erend patted Kotallo on the back on his way past, back down to the entrance to the Base no doubt. Erend greeted Aloy on the way past, and she told him to have a good hunt with Varl later on, the Oseram waving his thanks as he made his way back down the path.
"You sit on those rocks like those lizards in the desert do, getting the warmth from the sun"
Aloy looked over to Kotallo when she heard him speak to her, seeing the look of amusement on his face as she rolled her eyes at him and huffed, pushing her hair away from her face when a cool breeze blew her braids slightly.
"I see you've been learning about those animals from APOLLO" she teased him right back, hearing him huff slightly, a laugh coming from her as she hopped off the rock and straightened out the light clothing she was wearing "Come on, I've had GAIA run you a bath already to wash away the paint so we can start afresh"
The same day every two weeks Kotallo removed the paint that adorned his body and reapplied it, sometimes with help from Aloy. There had been an afternoon not long after they had started their relationship that Aloy had asked about the significance of the paint to his people, and he had explained that to paint someone that you were not related too by blood was seen as intimate and sacred. She had helped to paint him the next day, and then had their first time together. That had been almost a year ago, a few weeks after the defeat of the Zeniths, when everything was settling down.
Making their way into the Base, Aloy was glad that no-one was hanging around, and they made their way to one of the bathing rooms that had been unlocked for them some time ago. A large stone cutout in the floor had been filled with steaming water, and Aloy suddenly missed the intimacy of the bath houses in The Grove. She didn't help Kotallo to undress, let him do it himself as she walked over to the side of the bath to check that she had the correct soaps there for him. It was all done in comfortable silence, and when Aloy looked over at her lover again she saw that he was standing only in his small clothes, a smirk drifting onto her face as she looked at him.
"See something you like?"
That made Aloy laugh out loud properly, shaking her head and looking away as she felt her cheeks heat up. Even after over a year of being together, he could still get that reaction from him.
"I am banning you, Erend, and Varl from looking up what the Old Ones used to say to try and attract their mates when they were drunk"
"How do you know we did that?"
"Zo got it out of Varl, and she told me" Aloy laughed, seeing Kotallo roll his eyes at the ceiling as he reached down with his remaining hand and pushed his smallclothes to the floor, kicking them to the pile that he had already made of his discarded clothes. "At least you've not been trying some of the lines that Varl has tried with Zo"
Kotallo said nothing, just chuckled and made his way down the few steps into the water, a groan falling from him as the hot water submerged his muscles. Aloy looked away, pretended to be sorting out the soaps and cloths while he settled into the water. She suddenly felt nervous, not an emotion that she was used to feeling, but some doubt lingered in her mind as it had done for the past few days since she had found out for certain that she was carrying. It was odd to think about, she was carrying a child in her and yet she felt no different, perhaps a bit bloated at times, but she had none of the sickness or tiredness that she had thought came with pregnancy, until GAIA had informed her that such things didn't happen every time to every person who became pregnant. It had made Aloy realise just how much she didn't know, and she had confided in Zo about her condition.
"Aloy?"
Aloy jumped, turning to look at Kotallo who had a frown on his face. He had clearly called her name a few times.
"I was just thinking"
"Are you..okay?"
"I'm fine" Aloy assured him, quickly starting to undress her own clothes so she could get into the water and help him to wash off his paint.
It took some time, but a little while later they were both bathed and fresh, Aloy dressed in new clean clothing and in their bedroom, the paint spread out in pots around them waiting to be applied to Kotallo's skin. Aloy wondered if she should tell him before or after she painted him.
"Aloy, there is something on your mind" Kotallo murmured, breaking her out of her thoughts as he put his hand on her cheek, stroking it gently with his thumb. "What is it?"
Aloy cleared her throat, licking her lips and humming. Perhaps she should wait another few days. No. She had to do it now.
"Kotallo I'm...with child" Aloy told him, feeling like her heart was going to burst out of her chest with how fast it was beating, keeping her eyes on his bare face to try and see his reaction before he spoke "Kotallo?"
Kotallo let out a shaky breath, dropping to his knees in front of his lover and wrapping his arm around her back when her words finally got through to his brain, pressing his lips to her belly and then resting his head on the same spot. He couldn't believe it, the woman that he loved was having their child. Their child was resting just under where his forehead was. He looked up quickly when he heard a sniff, seeing tears on Aloy's cheeks.
"My heart, are you not happy?" he asked her, fearing the worst, rubbing her lower back and staying on his knees in front of her as Aloy reached down to stroke his hair, shaking her head.
"I am so happy, Kotallo" she whispered, feeling foolish for her tears, but unable to stop them, a wide smile on her face as she played with his braids "I was scared, but now I'm not"
Kotallo let out a shaky breath, pressing his lips to her belly again before rising to his feet and kissing Aloy gently too, tasting the salt from her tears on her lips and reaching up to stroke her cheek with his thumb. They were to have a child. He rested their foreheads together, unable to keep the smile from his face again as he thought about it. Their own child.
"I cannot explain just how much you have blessed me, my love" he whispers, keeping his voice low as though he would disturb the babe if he spoke too loud "I shall keep you both safe until the day I take my last breath"
"Which you are not allowed to do until you are old, and cranky" Aloy choked out a laugh, leaning into his touch and turning her head to kiss his palm, letting out a shaky breath as she tried to control her breathing "GAIA says that I am due during the winter months, and..she can show us a picture of the babe, just like the Old Ones used to do, if we want"
That was a lot for him to think about. Seeing their babe growing in her? Perhaps that was something that they were not meant to see.
"We have time to think about it" he murmured, kissing her forehead, then her nose, and then her lips "You are both my blessing, Aloy"
"And you are mine"
Kotallo rested their foreheads together, smiling when he realised that the timing was fortuitous. He could teach Aloy the paint designs to paint on him to show that he was an expectant father.
Perhaps she would also like a trip to The Grove for him to show them off.
"Come, Aloy. I must show you a new paint design, one that will show that I am going to become a father, and then afterwards it is my turn to dote on you"
What are your hcs about Kotallo and Fashav getting together? Perhaps when they add Aloy to the mix?
Ooh buddy. Well. I’ve talked about this with @drelizabetsobek because that’s who got me hooked on this ship in the first place but as far as Kotallo and Fashav getting together in the first place I imagine them having a mostly physical relationship for a few years leading up to the embassy in the game. Like they’re good friends who’ve fought side by side plenty of times against machines and rebels and I personally feel like they’ve both been marshals for about the same amount of time.
And like it starts with them being camped out after being sent by Hekarro on a job to visit the Sky Clans and Kotallo isn’t super pumped about having to deal with Tekotteh and Fashav can tell there’s something bothering him but he’s not big on talking this stuff out (at least not yet) and in an attempt to distract him and also give them both a little bit of stress relief 🌶sexy times🌶 happen. And it’s great and fun and does the trick and they carry on with the job that needs to get done and don’t think a ton about it. And then it keeps happening over and over and over again. And there’s feelings there but neither of them are quite ready to bring that up.
But once word reaches the Grove that Avad has overthrown his dad and wants to make peace, I think Hekarro would talk with Fashav about wanting him to be the person to help bridge the gap between the Tenakth and the Carja and he knows that means he has to go back east and possibly not be able to come back. Which definitely means he’s not going to profess any feelings to Kotallo because what’s the point if he might get stuck in Meridian and never have the chance to come back here. So they have one last night together in the Grove and kind of say their goodbyes as lovers.
And then the embassy happens and things go to hell in a hand basket except in my world Fashav lives because everything is better that way. And he goes back to help Hekarro but also to find Kotallo because he almost died and fuck not getting to be with this amazing man.
Aloy comes barreling in along the way and just charges into both of their hearts because she’s kind of stunning and I have headcanons about the Tenakth and polyamory and all that jazz. But basically our two dumb marshal boys finally discuss their feelings for each other. And then immediately get this ballsy redhead who bosses them around in the best possible way and they kind of look at each other like I think we need to make this couple a throuple.
And thus the shenanigans ensue for our three lovebirds.
If you are still interested in requests, I would love to see your take on a quiet moment where Aloy is tracing Kotallo and/or Fashav's tattoos while he tells her the story behind them
"Are these all just accomplishments from after you joined the Tenakth?"
Fashav had been dozing lightly in the bed they shared at the base, one arm wrapped around the huntress at his side and the other folded under the back of his head. They'd just come back from a trip to the Bulwark, going up to the Sky Clan territory at Hekarro's request. There'd been a bit of discourse lately, more push back against Tekotteh since Aloy and Kotallo blasted a hole in the wall and showed his flaws more clearly to the clan. Kotallo had gone as well and had stayed behind in Stone Crest to help with some repairs that needed to be made to the settlement after a nasty storm had come through. They'd offered to stay and help but he'd insisted it wasn't necessary and that he'd only be a day or two behind them. Fashav suspected he wanted some time with a few of the warriors left who'd fought alongside his parents, people who'd known since he was a small child.
"They are," he answered, eyes opening to look at the mark she was tracing her fingers over. She had a hand pressed to his chest, curiously looking at the mixture of ink and scarring that marked a battle with a tremortusk a few years back. "The Tenakth inkers were hesitant to give me any marks when I first arrived in the Grove and they certainly weren't about to take my word for it on anything I'd accomplished under the Sun King's command. It took me three months just to convince them to allow me a mark to commemorate the Kulrut I'd won my freedom in."
Aloy propped herself up as her eyes took in more of the ink marking the left side of his body. He simply laid there, waiting for any questions she might have and admiring way her expressions were more open here in the privacy of their room. Most of the time she would school her features into an unreadable mask, keeping her emotions to herself except for the times her anger would get the best of her. But he'd noticed her drop those guards here in this home they'd all made, opening herself up more to him and Kotallo and the others that had followed her in the pursuit of restoring GAIA.
Her hand stopped on the scarring on his stomach, the spot where the spear had almost killed him just outside Barren Light just six months ago. It had left a jagged mark that was still unmarked, not having taken the time to have the events of the embassy inked on his skin yet. His own hand reached up, fingers threading through the loose red curls that fell over her shoulder. She leaned into the touch as she said, "I'd like to come with you when you get this marked. Maybe...maybe get a mark of my own if you think the Tenakth would allow it."
He offered her a warm smile, stretching up to press a kiss to her cheek as he replied, "Oh I'm certain the inker in the Grove would be more than happy to give Hekarro's champion her first mark."
