Ordinary

Aloy needed a distraction and machine hunting seemed to do the thing. The base felt crowded with everyone up and about; Aloy needed some fresh air to clear her head before she'd actually implode from feeling overwhelmed due to everything. Rina had allowed Aloy to take her pet fox, Kitsune, on the hunt with her. "Just in case anything happened," Rina had told her with a small smile; it wasn't a secret to Aloy that Rina had been using her focus to learn about service animals and how to train them. Aloy scoffed at the idea, deciding that Rina could train the fox to do better things than offer emotional support of all things. Kitsune was a great hunting buddy, albeit, the fox was a bit dramatic in Aloy's opinion. She watched Kitsune leap upwards with her claws unsheathed to simply kill a mouse. She scoffed, "don't you think you're being a bit dramatic?" Kitsune picked up her kill and walked back to Aloy. The fox responded with a playful raspy bark. Aloy picked up the small canine, giving her some belly rubs, "You think this is funny, don't you?"

As infuriating as Kitsune can be, Aloy enjoyed having the fox around. Rina knew how to take care of her and she trained her well despite the fact that she had insisted on training the animal for emotional support. Aloy made a fire, not quite ready to return to the base. She knew her friends would worry, but she was still overwhelmed. She felt like she was being crushed by all sides from all the pressure and she just had to add her blossoming feelings for Erend onto her crushing pile of anxieties. She knew he reciprocated them, but with the fate of the entire world on her shoulders, she couldn't bring herself to find the time for such a relationship. Even if she did take the time to have a relationship like that with her closest friend, she knows she'd only be stalling her mission.

Aloy knew if she let it, her mind could spiral down in dangerously dark places, but at the moment, control was hard to come by. She took one look at the fox napping on her lap like it was a house cat and she suddenly started spiraling. She felt like time had slowed, her breathing quickened, her heart felt like it was pounding in her chest, and her vision blurred. She considered going back to the base, but her body wouldn't move. Guilt began eating up at her, it started with small things, but then the memory of the circumstances of why Rina had bought a custom-made pendant in the form of a fox whose tail covered a part of an arrowhead from an Oseram blacksmith became more visible. "It's to commemorate my younger brother..." The strawberry blonde haired girl chuckled sadly, "we used to sneak around in places we weren't supposed to go. My tribe used to refer to us as a mother fox and her kit." Rina smiled solemnly, "I was supposed to take him hunting after the proving." The boy died too young. His life had barely started and it was ended by a flaming arrow to the chest. And yet despite how broken Rina was, how vengeful she was, she never directed her grief towards Aloy. She always showed Aloy kindness when she would've understood if Rina hated her. The boy died because she wanted to follow the herd, to join the Nora, to fit in... And in the end, she decided that she didn't want to follow the herd. So many people died because of her and those who hadn't, she left them behind. "What kind of person does that?" Erend's hurt voice from their encounter in the Daunt echoed in her mind. She should've let him in, granted him an entrance inside those walls instead of having him scale them. He is the only one amongst her friends capable of making her smile.

Kitsune's ears perked up at the change in Aloy's demeanor. The fox whined softly as she placed her head on Aloy's stomach. The gesture brought Aloy back to her senses as she gave the little canine a pat on the head. They were far from the base and Aloy was exhausted, she was still feeling the effects of her panic. Maybe making camp out in the wilds wouldn't be a bad idea if she didn't have to put in the work to make a tent and set up a bedroll in her current state. She was using what remained of her energy to stay awake, but despite that, her attention span was wavering. The awareness of her surroundings would return to her each time she heard a noise which could range from the rushing water nearby to the chirping of the birds. This time the noises were in close proximity to her; Kitsune was barking a rather raspy bark. Gaia had once explained that foxes have different sounds to communicate with each other and the pitch of the barkings can determine if the fox is communicating with a fox from their community or with an outsider. Kitsune's barks were pitchy and playful, indicating that she was barking at someone she knew. Shit! How long had she been gone if her friends had gone to look for her?

"Aloy?" she couldn't have mistaken Erend's voice, but his voice lacked the usual enthusiasm, he sounded concerned. She lacked the energy to respond, and while she had returned to her senses from that panic attack, she was still feeling that sensation of dread washing over her. She looked up at Erend with a tired expression as a sigh of relief escaped him. He bent down to her level and helped her stand up, "Can you walk on your own?" She simply looked at him with a weak smile. She was glad to have him there to help her, "Not in this state," she wanted to tell him, but the words couldn't come out so she simply shook her head. Erend understood the message and he picked her up bridal style. They made their way back to the base with Kitsune padding indignantly behind them. Aloy didn't believe she deserves someone as kind hearted as Erend, but she was glad to have him in her life nonetheless. With whatever strength she had left, she set aside her fears and built up the courage to let her lips meet his. The gesture surprised Erend, but it was welcomed as he kissed her back, melting into her touch. It felt like time had frozen altogether, the only thing that mattered to Erend was this moment, Aloy was in his arms and had kissed him. It didn't last long as the wave of exhaustion surging through her had forced her to break their kiss. The moment felt like a dream, but it didn't matter to them, they liked the scene they were in.

They had forgotten that Kitsune was with them, the fox let out a pitchy squeal that sounded similar to laughter. "Damn it, Kitsune," Aloy whispered, earning a chuckle from Erend. Aloy smiled softly. After all, why should she follow the herd? She has people who care about her for who she is and that's all that matters. If there's one thing Aloy is, it's that she's anything, but ordinary.