Aloy X Reader - Tumblr Posts

Don´t worry, I protect you (Aloy x Fem!Reader)

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Fandom: Horizon Zero Dawn/ Forbidden West

Character: Aloy

Warnings: Angst but a happy ending

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It was dark.

 All I see are trees surounding me as I run. Nothing but endless forest and darkness.

 I hear my breathing is getting rapid as I go faster and faster. The leaves russling under my feet and the sound of metal claching together. My chest hurts from the hammering of my heart. It feels like it´s gonna tear out of my chest at any moment now.

 I smell nothing but musty grass and old trees, just natur but a bit more… threatful.

 It feels like I ran for hours. From what? I don´t know. Machines or humans, even both? Maybe. All I know is to run or I´m dead. Or am I? It´s getting harder and harder to breath. My legs hurt but I can´t stop. I´m cold. I´m tired. I´m lonely and scared but I keep running, I have to. I want to turn around and face whatever there is but I can´t. If I do so I will die. Right?

 But what´s that? A light in the distance. A fireplace? A person? A village? Doesn´t matter, it´s safety. I run towards it. I ran as fast as I could, smiling, happy to find safety. Or is it? The claching of metal gets louder. No! I have to make it, it´s so near but yet so far away. My breath went faster, I´m getting nervous again. I feel my sweat coming of my forhead. It´s cold like ice, a shiver went down my spine. I have to make it, please… I feel my eyes get teary. I feel them running down my cheeks, one by one. My eyes burning.

 Finally I´m getting closer to the light. As closer as I got, the more I can see. First it´s only a black dot in the distance but soon I saw a silhouette of a person. I smiled again. The closer I got the more was the person revealed. I was happy. Just the person I wanted to see. The person I admire the most. But when I got there, my happiness didn´t stay for long.

 Dissapointment, disgust and anger. Everything presentable in one look. I go stiff, my eyes go wide and my heart beated as it felt like it is in my throat. It´s getting hard to breath. “I knew I was right.“ I looked at her confused, scared of what she meant. “You shouldn´t have come.“. Now realisation hits me. “You are nothing but weight.“ I started to frown. “Nothing but weight as always. Weak and no use.“ My eyes water. “I would be way better of without you. I hated when you wanted to come with me.“

 “I hate you!“

“No! Please! You don´t mean that!“ I cried. She just turned her back and walked away. Not giving me a second glance. “NO, PLEASE! DON`T LEAVE ME!“ I screamed but she just dissapered into the darkness. “PLEASE, COME BACK!“ I streched my hand into her direction as I cried and sobbed. I feld to the ground on my knees, hand still streched “Please… don´t leave..“ I whisper. Suddenly something hit me in my left.

 I jolted up, my breathing was heavy and I was sweating like crazy. I took a frantic look around. At first I didn´t recognize anything but a few seconds later my vision cleared, I was at the base. I took a deep breath to calm me down when suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I snap my head to the direction in panic. “Hey! Easy, easy. It´s just me.“ She said in a calming maner. I looked into her beautiful emerald green eyes “Aloy…“ I said in relieve.

 She smiled at me. I took her into an embrace, burying my head into her neck for comfort. Aloy was surprised and went stiff for a moment but soon she relaxed and hugged me back, securing me in her arms. “It´s ok. I´m here now and nothing can hurt you. I promise.“ she said to comfort me, while starting to play with my hair, knowing it will calm me down. I turned my head to look at her face. A look full of gentleness and worry is shown on her face, nothing like in the dream.

 “Do you want to talk about what happened?“ she looked at me questioningly. “No, please. I just want to forget…“ I said which was barely a whisper but she understood. „Of course.“ She started to lay back, taking me with her in the process. Aloy adjusted the blanket over us and then put her arm around my waist and the other behind my head to push me nearer to her. I looked at her. She smiled at me and closed her eyes slowly. I looked at her for a few seconds longer, at her beautiful face covered with freckles. There can´t be anything more beautiful and kind on this world than her. I am lucky to have her in my life. With this thought I closed my eyes and nuzzle into her side.

 “Don´t worry, I protect you. I promise.“ I hear Aloy whisper before sleep hit me.

Face Paints | Aloy x Reader

╰┈➤ PLOT: With someone who wears intricate face paints such as Aloy, she needs someone to assist her, right?

╰┈➤ WARNINGS: Cursing, Not Proofread

⍣ ೋ Enjoy!⍣ ೋ

"Aloy," you breathed out. Your girlfriend had sat herself in front of a mirror with an absurd amount of paints and dyes scattered around her. She had a big white blob on her face and scribbled on her arms. What she was doing looked messy like an accident or like she used her body as a cloth between brushes.

With a shaky hand and her face even closer to the mirror, she huffed. "It's fine. I'm fine." The redhead used her other hand to stabilize the hand painting her face. Her jaw relaxed and her eyes grew wide in concentration.

You walked over, shaking your head as you saw how much of a mess she made on her skin. "You are anything but. Here." Sat in front of her, you pry the brush out of her hands and grab her paints.

"Hey, I was using that!"

"Yeah. Poorly." You cleaned the small brush with some water and wiped the remains on the cloth. Aloy huffed again, watching as you primed and prepared the brush for a more accurate painting session.

The girl was fine doing the paints herself. She was taught by Rost when she was younger and has done her own since then. She didn't need her partner to do it for her. Although, she did like the thought of being face-to-face with you. Or watching your face of concentration when you did the intricate designs on her arm.

Maybe you painting her wouldn't be all bad.

With the brush properly loaded with paint and water, you smiled up at her. You used the pad of your thumb to wipe away her previous attempts before resting the side of your pinky on her cheek. "It's gonna be cold so I'll need you to be still, okay?"

Aloy deadpanned, though a soft smile peeked through the corners of her mouth. "I know how to be still. This isn't my first face paint."

You shrugged, smiling wider due to her expression. "Oh, I know. I still need to preface you because what I'm going to do is so detailed and refined that it's going to take some time. So," you pressed the brush to the bridge of her nose. "Stay. Still."

Stay still, she did. For the most part, Aloy is pretty behaved. She only breaks the rules, what? Like, two to three times a day? And she only does it because she's trying to help people. Not for the hell of it. Aloy likes to call herself a rebel with a cause.

As you painted her face, Aloy stared into your eyes with her bright green eyes. Through the sparkle in your eye, Aloy could also see how concentrated you were. She didn't understand why you were adamant about doing her face paint. She's capable of doing it on her own and has done more complicated paint on her lonesome.

However, the more she stared and the more you painted, she started to realize this was less about the paint. You wanted to paint her face because you wanted to do an act of service for her.

You didn't care if she'd done her own before or didn't need your help, you wanted to help her. Take something off her shoulders and spend time with her. Plus, who in the hell passes up time to be face-to-face with your partner?

"How's it going?" Aloy's rasped voice spoke in a whisper. A slight smile crept onto your lips as you heard her voice. You were so immersed in the face paints that you forgot to speak and forgot you could speak. Aloy's voice was soft enough to pull you out of deep concentration but was quiet enough to not startle or mess you up.

"Good," you whispered back. You carefully used two fingers to tilt her head to the other side. With the left side of her cheek done, it was time to do the right. In white paint, you painted rectangular scales. The scales mimicked a futuristic dinosaur's as if the machines that ruled the planet wore some silicone skin to protect their wires and inner workings.

If they had skin, Aloy wouldn't be able to override them as easily. Oh well. Sucks for them.

"I'm almost done with this side," you whispered, your words slow as you concentrated on painting your girlfriend's face.

Aloy almost shook her head in protest but remembered that any movement would fuck your painting up. "No," she blurted in a whisper. She reminded herself to take a breath, an embarrassed smile on her lips. "I mean, take your time. I like being here with you."

You pulled away, your brows furrowed in puzzlement. With a head tilt, you removed the brush on her face. "But I thought you had to meet a village woman to help her find her adult son."

Aloy shrugged, her embarrassed smile growing into a smug one as she looked at your knowing face. "If I had enough time to get my face painted, I could spend a little more time staring into my partner's eyes while they paint me. Right?"

Aloy's smirk only grew when the subtle hint of being flustered peaked through your smile.

Twirling the skinny paintbrush in your fingers, you leaned back in your spot, your gaze piqued an interest in the things next to you. "I mean, I guess so," your sentence ended on a particularly high note.

Laughter filled the air. Aloy grabbed your wrists, pulling her closer to you. "Okay, so resume!" she continued to laugh. "Stop being all cute and finish what you started."

"Stop!" You playfully swatted her shoulder. She faked a wince and held the spot you hit.

"Ow!"

"Oh, please. You ate plants stronger than that hit." Aloy eye-rolled as you leaned back to resume her painting.

Aloy was right. Taking your time as you painted her face felt different than rushing to paint her face. You could seriously examine every textured bit of her skin, perfect your lines, and take shameless gawks at how beautiful she was; little freckles on her face, red cheeks from the sun, and baby hairs on the side of her face, right by her ear.

When you were done, you pecked Aloy on her lips. Much to her surprise.

"What...? What was that for?" she asked, her shy smile revealing her teeth. You shrugged. You swished the paintbrush in the cup of water before taking it out to dry off.

You grabbed a damp cloth to wipe your hands. "I don't know. A prize for sitting so well."

The girl scoffed, her arms crossed across her chest in playful defense. "I always sit well."

It was your turn to roll your eyes. You grabbed a shard of glass, its edges carefully protected with twine and decorated with leaves and pieces of gold that were found in rivers. "Aloy, you can barely last when people go on tangents. Here."

Aloy took the makeshift mirror from you, going to scoff again but when she caught a glimpse of her appearance, her jaw dropped. "Wow, I..." Aloy's voice trailed off as she brought a careful hand to her face.

"Careful," you warned as you stood. "It's still wet. It'll dry on your way."

Aloy matched your stance, her attention still on herself in the mirror. You did this in what, ten minutes? And her face has never been as skillfully painted before. Between the rectangular scales, there were dots and sometimes squiggles.

On the bridge of her nose was a thick white line and a circle of paint on the bulbous part of her nose. You also painted a "V" between her brows with two dots, inside and on either side.

"This is amazing." Aloy finally met your gaze, smiles both resting on each other's lips. "Thank you." She engulfed you in a hug, some of her armor and clothes poking at your own but you've gotten used to the feeling.

"You're welcome." You melted into her touch. Your eyes closed as your hands squeezed around her back and waist. "Just be careful when you're out there, okay?" Your whisper lingered on her earlobe as you pulled away to meet her eye.

Aloy gave you a smile. She shimmed her shoulders, playfulness oozing from her. "Oh, please. When am I ever not careful?" You laughed and shoved her shoulders although there was no malicious intent behind your actions.

"Go before I wipe that smirk off your face."

"Oh," Aloy grinned as she gathered her items from the nearby table. "You promise?"

You laughed louder. "Go!"

"Okay, okay. I'm going! Love you!"

With the quick motion of a kiss, Aloy left with her face freshly painted and her heart warm from the brief, yet intimate moment she had with her partner.

WC: 1,464