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Aloy feels like she's ran a mile and all she's done so far is rest her hand on Seyka’s shoulder and told her what a great person she is.
The way her heart hammers away in her chest like a rampaging Thunderjaw is extraordinary. Extraordinarily ridiculous.
It's just a genuine heartfelt compliment so why is she sweating, why is her face hotter than the pools of lava along the Burning Shores, why is it that when Seyka finally looks her in the eyes she feels a sudden jolt of lightning shoot through her?
It starts as a unwelcomed chill that causes her eyes to dart away and for her to pull her hand back. Suddenly she gets up to move from her seat on the fallen palm tree and stalks away with her back turned.
She just needs a moment. Sometimes when she fights machines she needs to flee for a moment. The red grass matches her hair and she can catch her breath as the machines hunt for her, and once she's ready she'll lunge back at them. It's just that she feels like that rant she went on just now, to console Seyka, it felt like she was on the verge of saying something, something intense and vulnerable.
Come to think of it since the moment she met Seyka, she felt as though she'd been struck by lighting and then set on fire. The confidence Seyka held, the strength, the devotion, the determination to accomplish her goal, and her selflessness to top it all off. It sparked something and it hasn't stopped.
Every quick-witted joke, every show of playful cockiness, every bit of stone cold determination kept igniting something deep within Aloy. A jolt of lightning, then a fire, and then it felt almost like her brain was short-circuiting, trying it's best to circumvent the rising heat and adrenaline through sweating and rosy cheeks and the occasional loss of apparent motor function.
Everything she feels around Seyka: the rosy cheeks, thumping heart, shortness of breath, clumsiness, stammering of speech, and lack of eye contact are all symptoms related to surviving a near death situation with a dangerous machine, and perhaps the occasional rebel and or bandit.
But Seyka isn't a deadly machine and she isn't a criminal or a rebel. She's a Quen Marine, a skilled fighter, a beautiful self-assured woman with a confidence and bravery to outshine the sun.
Seyka is beautiful.
Aloy feels her heart in her throat as she turns to face the other woman. Her hands feel clammy but she extends her arm out anyway.
She makes a promise to help Seyka, and she can feel her cheeks warm for what feels like the tenth time today as she watches the woman's face brighten and take her hand.
Feeling unusually uncoordinated Aloy pulls Seyka up, but she ends up somehow bumping their chests and shoulders together. Seyka giggles and Aloy chuckles nervously, hoping deeply that she can keep her nerves together, but another jolt of lighting causes her to separate earlier than she wanted and she's left feeling awkward and jittery. If Seyka notices, and how could she not? She's a smart woman and-
Another jolt.
This feeling is very... different. It's new and despite the trouble it seems to have been giving her, she likes it.
Aloy had never really thought it be possible for herself. Always so busy saving the world and dealing with the stress that comes with it. But right now she feels that it's possible that this new feeling could lead somewhere that will make it all worth it.