[ it's another week before Aloy is due to return and in that time they speak every day, but never about any children outside of Alana. The nightly video Focus calls continue.
Age and experience have made Zero more vulnerable and far more patient, and maybe a bit more structured too (Aloy's doing)- they get into the ritual of calling right before bed, pillow talk across thousands of miles. It is a silent promise that Aloy will find Zero right where she left her when this trip is over.
And though she never realizes it, it helps Zero fall asleep much easier.
The almost predatory survival instinct and the paranoia that accompanied it were always there, no matter how domesticated she seemed. And it's amplified when Aloy is gone.
The house is silent, low lights visible through cracks in the curtains. The plan had been to stay awake until Aloy came home. Storms in the West had delayed her travel and it had taken most of the day to weather out Alana's tantrums. Once she'd realized she wouldn't be awake to see Aloy come home all hell had broken lose.
Usually the slightest creak would be enough to wake her, let alone the sound of the front door opening. But the exhaustion of her poor sleep and pregnancy had all but knocked her dead for the night, hours before Aloy had even passed through Meridian.
Zero startles back to life only when Aloy is close enough to touch. She springs up from the spot on the couched she'd been draped across, still half asleep when she pulls out the dagger hidden under her pillow.
She almost lunges, but stops just short. Zeros awake now. ]
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Age and experience have made Zero more vulnerable and far more patient, and maybe a bit more structured too (Aloy's doing)- they get into the ritual of calling right before bed, pillow talk across thousands of miles. It is a silent promise that Aloy will find Zero right where she left her when this trip is over.
And though she never realizes it, it helps Zero fall asleep much easier.
The almost predatory survival instinct and the paranoia that accompanied it were always there, no matter how domesticated she seemed. And it's amplified when Aloy is gone.
The house is silent, low lights visible through cracks in the curtains. The plan had been to stay awake until Aloy came home. Storms in the West had delayed her travel and it had taken most of the day to weather out Alana's tantrums. Once she'd realized she wouldn't be awake to see Aloy come home all hell had broken lose.
Usually the slightest creak would be enough to wake her, let alone the sound of the front door opening. But the exhaustion of her poor sleep and pregnancy had all but knocked her dead for the night, hours before Aloy had even passed through Meridian.
Zero startles back to life only when Aloy is close enough to touch. She springs up from the spot on the couched she'd been draped across, still half asleep when she pulls out the dagger hidden under her pillow.
She almost lunges, but stops just short. Zeros awake now. ]