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Aloy dragged herself into the base late in the evening, exhausted after running errands all across the Shining Wastes to restock the supplies at the base. When she stepped through the second door she halted. There was music playing. But Beta was visiting Zo in Plainsong.
When the careless singing began, an enormous smile spread across her cheeks – he was back. Exhaustion all but forgotten, she dropped all the gear where she stood and practically ran towards the source of the singing, not having seen him in person for way too long. A blissful smile still clinging to her features, she rounded the corner to the washroom… “Erend!”
As he came into view, she stumbled and stopped dead in her tracks… Before her was… tattoos… muscles… butt… She has never seen so much skin displayed before her like that. And this was Erend. From shoulders to toes, with the only exception being his thumbs, always covered-Erend.
Somewhere in the back of her mind echoed a strangled noise that sounded eerily close to her name. Her eyes lifting at what must surely have been the source, she quickly glanced into the mirror and met his startled gaze. His shaving oil-stained face carried the expression of a man, who found himself face to face with a thunderjaw. And yet his cheeks were magnificently crimson, a surprising contrast for someone looking scared to death.
He was frozen in place, still holding a shaving knife near his chin in his right hand. In his gloveless right hand. With delightfully contrasting dark hair sprawling over his forearm. Powerful definition and yet softly covered into a beautifully rounded form of pure strength of his upper arm. Round shoulder showcased with geometric patterns the colour of a moonless night. Contrast of all the fuzzy hair drawing the eyes towards the centre, where two round mounds of muscle meet in a display of power. But it doesn’t end there. It’s spilling down, trekking lower, over the enjoyably soft belly, asking to be traced with exploring fingers. And yet it keeps pointing lower. Lower, where it gets a deeper and deeper complexion from the increasing amount. All to a point where it suddenly stops and bare skin can be seen again. Skin that starts with… a band of that moonless night colour… before the rest is hidden behind the unfortunate reflection of the sink.
A swallowing sound reverberates through the silence in the washroom, with the music seemingly stopping at some point, as she flicks her gaze up to meet his eyes again, meeting an open-mouthed look of disbelief.
“Did… Did you just… scan me?”
Everything comes back into focus again as she finds herself standing in the middle of the entrance to the washroom, with her hand on her focus, staring at a completely barred and still completely crimson-cheeked Erend.
“I…” as the realization hits… “I didn’t mean…” now she finally broke her gaze to look away, fumbling with her focus, like the knowledge of mastering every single function just crumbled away like the ruins of the old ones. When she found what she was looking for, she quickly tried to undo what she did moments ago seemingly completely on autopilot without her conscious control.
“I deleted it. I’m so, so sorry." Not daring to look his direction. "I don’t know what…”
“You know…” he boldly interrupted her with his deep booming voice… which did make her look again. He was now facing her. The previously unnoticed hand now doing what the sink was doing a poor job of before, covering what her eyes were exploring before being interrupted. And if her eyes didn’t deceive her, there was a sign of a growing grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as he continued…
“If you want to see me… like this…” as he slowly gestured from his head towards his bare feet with his shaving-knife clutching hand… “whenever you need me, you got me. Just say the word and I’m there.”
A wave of embarrassment washed over Aloy, as she must have flushed with an even deeper crimson than Erend did before, if that was at all possible. She turned on her heels and bolted straight out of the washroom and as she did, she heard Erend’s voice rolling behind her with one of his heart-warming chuckles.
She quickly walked towards her previously discarded belongings, picking them up and heading straight to her room, as she hears the music and the singing returning in the direction of the washroom, now even more jovial than before.
As the doors to her room closed behind her, she dropped the things on the floor again and plopped her back against the closed doors in disbelief of what occurred just moments ago. Taking a minute to get her bearings again. That blasted man even dared to use the same line he left for her in Hidden Ember before leaving for the Claim, which has undeniably been branded into her heart by the number of times she read it. Whenever you need me, you got me. Just say the word and I’m there.
Sighing defeatedly, she reached for her focus… “Gaia…”
“Yes, Aloy?”
“Can you please restore recently deleted files to my private server…”