Mother's Embrace, Earth, the Year 3037
Aug. 26th, 2017 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
not_of_the_noraShe'd lost track of Rost.
Aloy hadn't realized she'd lost sight of the old man until she heard the inquisitive beeping of a little one, without a soft, "Caution, Aloy" to accompany it. She'd been busy; the little ones had wandered further into their hunting territory than they usually did. Whatever thought drove them had given them meandering paths, touch and go, right up against the border, then further in...
She'd watched with the Focus. How couldn't she? If the little ones were making their way here, how much longer until they reached the hut? Maybe, she'd thought, if she knew what they were looking for...
And now Rost was gone.
Fine.
Aloy clenched her teeth, inching slowly through the tall grass, her Focus humming to keep a bead on the little one's location. Its light had switched from blue to yellow a few moments ago: actively searching. Fascinating, if it hadn't been looking for her.
But it wouldn't wander far from its path. Aloy was positive she could predict its next few steps. If she just moved along the corner here, across this gap in the grass...
The little one let out a loud, alarmed sequence of beeps. "Dammit!" she hissed, moving as fast she could go. If she just reached the grass, maybe it'd overlook her? She hadn't brought her combat spear, dammit.
Better get ready to f--
Her feet lost purchase of the ground so abruptly, her head went spinning before her body did. She tumbled down the incline, dust flying up into her eyes and hair - and then there wasn't soil beneath her at all, just an empty void.
Her impact on the water was both loud and painful. That was going to bruise later. But at least she'd stopped-- sort of. Tumbling through the water, she tried to get a grip on her own trajectory, forcing her eyes open to get a sign of light.
There.
She kicked off hard, swimming up through the-- lake? Pond? It seemed too dark to be anything on the outside-- until she hit the surface. Water went flying everywhere, noise echoed around her: a cave. "Well, this feels familiar," Aloy muttered, kicking off a fast, more controlled swim towards the edge of the pond.
The edge felt cold to the touch. The Metal World, she realized. Another ruin. "How many of these did the Old Ones leave behind?" she wondered, pulling herself up the ledge. It wasn't big, not like the one she'd found as a child. Just a few machines, dead but for their lights, a strange drawing of... a very small person wearing a pointed hat?
And an arch.
"Now what have I fallen into?" she wondered. (Rost would be worried, she realized. But when wasn't Rost worried?) She walked up to the arch, extending her hands to touch it. It was of exquisite, almost inhuman make, like everything the Old Ones had created. "But what do you do...?" she mused. "Ah. A button."
Most people didn't fall into strange caves and press strange buttons attached to strange portals leading to strange islands... but Aloy had never been most people.
[[ establishy! ]]
Aloy hadn't realized she'd lost sight of the old man until she heard the inquisitive beeping of a little one, without a soft, "Caution, Aloy" to accompany it. She'd been busy; the little ones had wandered further into their hunting territory than they usually did. Whatever thought drove them had given them meandering paths, touch and go, right up against the border, then further in...
She'd watched with the Focus. How couldn't she? If the little ones were making their way here, how much longer until they reached the hut? Maybe, she'd thought, if she knew what they were looking for...
And now Rost was gone.
Fine.
Aloy clenched her teeth, inching slowly through the tall grass, her Focus humming to keep a bead on the little one's location. Its light had switched from blue to yellow a few moments ago: actively searching. Fascinating, if it hadn't been looking for her.
But it wouldn't wander far from its path. Aloy was positive she could predict its next few steps. If she just moved along the corner here, across this gap in the grass...
The little one let out a loud, alarmed sequence of beeps. "Dammit!" she hissed, moving as fast she could go. If she just reached the grass, maybe it'd overlook her? She hadn't brought her combat spear, dammit.
Better get ready to f--
Her feet lost purchase of the ground so abruptly, her head went spinning before her body did. She tumbled down the incline, dust flying up into her eyes and hair - and then there wasn't soil beneath her at all, just an empty void.
Her impact on the water was both loud and painful. That was going to bruise later. But at least she'd stopped-- sort of. Tumbling through the water, she tried to get a grip on her own trajectory, forcing her eyes open to get a sign of light.
There.
She kicked off hard, swimming up through the-- lake? Pond? It seemed too dark to be anything on the outside-- until she hit the surface. Water went flying everywhere, noise echoed around her: a cave. "Well, this feels familiar," Aloy muttered, kicking off a fast, more controlled swim towards the edge of the pond.
The edge felt cold to the touch. The Metal World, she realized. Another ruin. "How many of these did the Old Ones leave behind?" she wondered, pulling herself up the ledge. It wasn't big, not like the one she'd found as a child. Just a few machines, dead but for their lights, a strange drawing of... a very small person wearing a pointed hat?
And an arch.
"Now what have I fallen into?" she wondered. (Rost would be worried, she realized. But when wasn't Rost worried?) She walked up to the arch, extending her hands to touch it. It was of exquisite, almost inhuman make, like everything the Old Ones had created. "But what do you do...?" she mused. "Ah. A button."
Most people didn't fall into strange caves and press strange buttons attached to strange portals leading to strange islands... but Aloy had never been most people.
[[ establishy! ]]
