#Kotallo cares so much about Hekkaro | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ceo-of-sloppy-men · 1 year

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My Horizon Forbidden West Headcanons

These are things I personally headcanon. You don't gotta agree with them, because some are pretty me-specific. But enjoy!

Hekkaro is attempting to adopt all the Tennakth he can. He is their dad. He is dad friend and he will make sure you prosper with long, happy lives.

Erend and Kotallo either have a bromance or a romance going on. It's one of those 100k enemies to friends to lovers things but they're getting there

Hekkaro adopted Aloy as well. She may not be Tennakth but that there is his psuedo-daughter

i ship so much at this point everyone is just kissing everyone (save for when it gets weird). I just want to see them all happy, and I don't care who they canonically end up with

Alva and Aloy are autistic but with different support needs and special interests

post-game GAIA gang helps raise Zo and Varl's kid. Everyone pitches in, from Uncle Kotallo teaching him strike, to Uncle Erend teaching him how to wield a hammer, to Aloy showing him how to use a bow, to Auntie Alva teaching him with the Apollo database. Everyone works hard to help Zo

Aloy hates being called Auntie

Aloy teaches Kotallo how to tame a Sunwing and the first thing he does is air-drop himself into the Grove (Aloy gave him a glider, he'll be fine)

Kotallo gestured a lot with his hands, which we can see evidence through his gesturing with his remaining hand. Unfortunately, everyone is used to single-handed Kotallo that Erend gets smacked in the face the day he goes out on a hunt with him and Kotallo is explaining the plan

Zo laughs. Kotallo is very apologetic. The next week there is a Keg of Erend's favourite ale in his "room"

Tild survives the final battle and they force her to stay on Earth (some how). She lives at the base and slowly her and Sylens form an unlikely friendship

The APOLLO database is shared with anyone who wants access to it.

The Oseram find out about Heavy Metal and Rock music and play it full volume (some even build instruments)

Alva listens to death metal and kpop

Sylens unironically listens to the all country music he can possibly find. From Johnny Cash to Dolly Parton

Tilda hates country music and is convinced Sylens only listens to it to annoy her

post-game GAIA gang meets up at the base every few weeks to see if they can beat Kotallo at strike, catch up with what everyone else is doing, and discuss their next step

if they can't meet up physically they have a conference call using their focuses

they do their best to make sure the leaders of different tribes have Focuses so everyone can communicate with each other. It helps inter-tribal relations, as they can safely meet to discuss treaties without worrying about assassination attempts.

#horizon forbidden west headcanons #horizon forbidden west spoilers #horizon forbidden west #hfw spoilers #hfw headcanons #kotallo #aloy #erend #sylens #hfw tilda #hfw zo #hekkaro

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huntress-therion · 2 years

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In Another Life: Chapter 1

Summary: (AU) Aloy grows up among the Sky Clan instead of the Nora and is raised alongside a boy whose life will be inextricably bound with hers.

Chapter 1: Lost & Found

Read it on AO3

Kotallo does not speak.

It worries the elders, especially those in his squad.

“A warrior’s grief,” they say, as though he's been afflicted by some kind of disease. Even if he could speak, he wouldn’t have been able to describe the raw pain of losing his parents. The depth of it; the agony. The fact that he would bear this open wound for the rest of his days. “Trade your tears for spears,” the elders tell him. “To fall in battle is a matter of great pride. Live to draw blood another day so that you may honor your parents’ sacrifice."

Kotallo understands, but he cannot see the wisdom in this. He cannot feel pride or joy or honor in their end, nor his own survival. He cannot feel much of anything at all. He follows his orders and training by rote, but there is no zeal or eagerness behind his actions. This is especially worrisome for his squad. That he would tarnish his parents’ name and legacy - and thus, the Sky Clan’s name and legacy - by becoming a soldier unworthy of the Ten.

But Kotallo does not care about the Ten. He does not care about their deeds. He does not even care that such thoughts are blasphemy of the highest order. Much blood was shed in the name of the Ten. Where were they when his father’s skull was cleaved in half by a Lowlander’s sword? Where were they when his mother’s spine was run through by the point of another’s spear?

It is as though some vital part of him has turned to stone or ice, unmovable and implacable, like the walls that surround his home. His fury is a cold one. Rather than burning away to ash, it numbs him from the inside out. At night, he wonders about other children like him. How many more would there be when all is said and done.

“Loss is inevitable,” the elders tell him. “This is truer for a Tenakth. You must learn how to walk alongside Death. Let it become your ally, instead of your enemy.”

Kotallo wants to say this is so. But he cannot lend his voice to a truth he does not believe, so he stays silent.

–

“Have you heard about Hekkaro?”

Who has not heard about Hekarro? The bloodthirsty Lowland commander who cut a swathe through armies of every ilk. As a youth, he set his sights on the Grove, hoping to build a throne upon the bones of the slain. Over the years, corpse after corpse fell in his wake and conquest upon conquest was etched upon his skin. Of all the warriors the Tenakth had ever birthed, it is Hekarro who inspires the most fear and the most reverence.

Then one night, a strange light filled the sky.

Kotallo had seen it himself from the upper ramparts of the Bulwark. Though there was no wind or rain, a cloud of darkness suddenly appeared on the horizon. Then a force struck the earth, right above the Grove. As though the Ten had loosed an arrow from the heavens. The tremors could be felt all the way to the coast. Afterward, Hekarro sent word to all the clans that he would not claim the Grove in the name of the Lowland. Instead, he called himself their Chief and bid them all to lay down their arms.

“It is time we banded together,” his messengers said. “And fight as one against the machines.”

Whispers of a new ritual - the Kulrut - travel from outpost to outpost. Those who survived the challenge would be named ‘Marshal’ and carry out Hekarro’s law. Kotallo does not know what to make of it. He cannot imagine forsaking one’s clan to serve the tribe as a whole. The thought of it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth and he vows never to answer Kulrut’s call should another one take place. The Bulwark would always be his home. Here, his parents were laid to rest and one day, when his life was done, he would lay beside them once more.

It is too much change in a short amount of time. But Hekarro, as Kotallo understands it, can be very persuasive when he needs to be.

“He was inspired by a Vision,” the scouts say. “The spirits of Ten themselves appeared before him and gave leave to bring about a new era for the Tenakth.”

Many are still skeptical. Their new commander, Tekkoteh, is one of his loudest detractors.

“Our new ‘Chief’ proclaims that he was blessed by a Vision from the Ten,” he says. “But no one besides him has ever seen it.”

Kotallo understands his commander’s doubts. Then again, what would Hekarro have to gain by telling such a lie? Whatever he saw had turned him away from his ambitions for power. Now all he sought was peace, which ran counter to many of their traditions and their history.

What would peace look like for the Tenakth? Kotallo is too young to imagine such a thing. Perhaps one day there would be no more children like him, ravaged and orphaned by the wages of war. One could only hope, Kotallo supposes. One could only wait and watch to see what happens next.

–

An entire season passes, and Kotallo still hasn’t uttered a word.

The other children berate him for this. “Do you know what they’ll do to you if you don’t start talking?” Kotallo doesn't imagine anything pleasant. Many soldiers are sent to their deaths for lesser ailments, his people believing it to be more of a mercy than an act of brutality.

Even so, Kotallo cannot bring himself to care.

Then one day, their chaplain, Gerrah, rushes into their stronghold.

“I found her at the border,” she says urgently. “Cradled in the arms of a dying Nora.”

“A Nora?” says one of the guards. “What would an outlander from the Savage East be doing all the way out here?”

The East? Kotallo has heard rumors of the many tribes beyond their territory. The Nora, he remembers, were said to never leave their lands, which they deemed sacred to their goddess. This particular Nora must have been desperate to make such a perilous journey this far West.

Gerrah shakes her head. “That is not important. Quick - she’ll need warmth and milk. Her lips are nearly white and she does not cry…”

In all the commotion, Kotallo sees that Gerrah is holding a baby, with a strange blue mark upon its forehead. A Nora marking, he would later learn.

–

They put the babe in the children’s barracks, next to Kotallo’s pallet since none of the other children wished to share his dour company. The babe is a girl and has the barest hint of red hair - an unusual color, one he's never seen before. Unlike most infants her age, she does not cry, nor does she whimper. Instead she is…uncanny and highly aware. Sometimes, he catches her looking at him as though she were asking a question. There is sorrow in her eyes, and a pain that mirrors his. ‘I know loss too,’ her expression seems to say. Though he knows that to be impossible.

His squad comes by to check on the babe throughout the night and it is decided that they would raise her as one of their own. Gerrah had gone back to retrieve the body of the Nora who held the child in his arms, but was puzzled to find that it was no longer there...curious. They tracked him all the way to Sheerside and back, but there was no trace of him to be found.

“She could be a curse,” says one of the other children. “Or an omen of things to come. Think about it. Hekkaro sees a Vision and then the next day a baby shows up out of nowhere?”

“She could also be a blessing,” chides one of the squad captains. “A child arriving as a herald of new things to come. A better destiny for our people.”

“What's the babe’s name?” asks another.

“Gerrah says when the Nora breathed his last breath, he called this babe ‘Aloy.’”

Aloy. Kotallo tests the sound of it with this tongue. It is an…odd name, to be sure. In a way, it reminds him of metal, of plate and steel and wire. Nothing like the drumbeat syllables that marked a Tenakth. Yet it seems fitting: a strange name for a strange girl. A mystery within a mystery.

–

For the next several days, the other children are spurred by a new mission: to make Aloy laugh.

They try all manner of jests and grotesque expressions, but Aloy remains sullen in her crib. The sight of it makes Kotallo smirk on occasion. She is the most unamused and unimpressed babe the clan has ever seen.

“It doesn’t seem very natural,” say the elders.

“Give her time,” encourages Gerrah. “She has been through much and she hasn’t even lived through her first battle season.”

Another several days pass and Kotallo returns from his drills. Tired and aching, he does not notice the extra plinth his squad had placed on the floor to finish their repairs. So Kotallo unwittingly trips over it, planting face-first into his pallet.

Then Aloy laughs.

It is a light, musical sound. Like a spring rain while the sun still shone.

Kotallo scowls at her. “It's not funny.”

They are the first few words he's uttered in a while, and his voice cracks a little from disuse.

Aloy disagrees, giggling again, clapping her chubby hands over the crib. Someone exchanged her Nora clothing for hides dyed in Sky Clan colors. Red-violet and light blue and white. The Nora marking has begun to fade from her forehead and in its place is Sky Clan paint.

Kotallo dusts himself off, thankful that Aloy is his only witness. She claps and points again, as though beseeching him to fall over again for her amusement. He shakes his head and looms over her in his best, most intimidating pose.

“You’re going to be a lot of trouble. I can tell.”

Aloy blows a bubble from her mouth in answer.

Thanks for reading <3

A/N: I'll be pretty flexible with the timeline here. Also as far as age difference goes, I'm placing Kotallo to be six years older than Aloy in this fic. So he's six when this fic starts.

Other Kotaloy fics:

Captivated

This Tenderness

In Another Life Chapter 2, 3

#kotaloy #aloy x kotallo #kotallo x aloy #hfw fanfic #horizon forbidden west

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