[This is not…new to her, technically. Well. Being dragged out of the water with little recollection of how she got there is—actually, maybe that’s not new, either. Being talked about like she’s been chosen is also not new, though she sort of wishes it was. It’s all getting a little exhausting.

What is new is this place, with architecture like she’s never seen and no Old World tech to be found and all of her equipment gone (fully gone, not just helpfully set aside by those watching her in her unconscious state), and people who speak to her of a god she’s never heard of (not that she would believe in it, even if she had). The whole situation is bewildering, both immediately following the ritual and in her first forays out into the settlement, though the villagers don't exactly give her a chance to get her bearings.]

No, I don’t need—

[Aloy’s had just about enough of being revered, though she seems to understand enough about her precarious situation not to overtly offend her hosts, deflating a little when she realizes she’s taking her anger out on someone who doesn’t really know any better. It leaves her burdened with an armful of gifts that she has no idea what to do with, beyond trying to offload them on the first person she sees (that’s you).]

Do you want any of this? [Cheese and a basket of other various offerings she’d been too bewildered to decline but is too practical to keep (well, maybe she’s debating the cheese). She shrugs her armful at you, as if to say it’s yours, if you’re inclined to take it.] I’m trying to travel light.

[A joke, maybe. An awkward one, though maybe she’s a little serious about getting out of here.]

[It doesn’t take long for her to become frustrated. Given free rein to explore the Primary Settlement, she finds herself touching her temple more often than not, only to realize that nothing is there and become angry at the situation all over again. She needs to vent, somehow, and if her intention really is to head out into the wilderness to try and find a solution to this problem, she needs to arm herself.

They won’t let her arm herself in a meaningful way—in fact, the villagers are a little suspicious about it, trying to needle her into farm work, instead. Even asking for a bow and arrow goes nowhere, and you might spot her having a slightly animated conversation with one of the shopkeepers. Why is she worried about running off out of town when there’s work to be done? Besides, there are monsters out there.]

Nothing? Don’t you have hunters? I can handle myself.

[Fine. It’s fine. She’s made do before, and later it’s easy to find her on the outskirts of town, having ‘borrowed’ a sickle, the blade of which she has removed from the handle and is currently working on affixing it with leather straps to a longer piece of wood that may or may not be a ‘reclaimed’ walking stick.]

That’s not—the angle isn’t right.

[She is fully talking to herself while this happens. The entire time.]

[Okay, so she doesn’t have bow, or a sling, or anything that might let her put some distance between herself and a hostile entity, but the good news is, there are no machines here. Surely killing something that’s flesh and blood will prove to be easier than a horrible amalgamation of metal fine-tuned by a hostile AI to murder anything that so much as looks at it the wrong way. All things considered, this should be a breeze.

She has her improvised spear, and is doing a little test run of her ‘leave the settlement’ plan (and, maybe, helping a villager track down an escaped goat while she plots her route out into the wilderness, because despite everything, Aloy cannot resist a side quest). Ordinarily, she might be a little more brazen in her approach to this kind of situation, but there’s still too much about this world and the creatures that inhabit it that she doesn’t know. A stealth tack is probably best.

Aloy has tracked the goat past several farms, out past the perimeter of the larger settlement, and has currently settled into some tall grass, eyes scanning the surroundings for either the livestock in question, or something that might want to eat it. Or her. Maybe you’re out here, too?

When she notices you, her immediate response is to offer a look that very clearly says what are you doing, and a gesture that indicates you'd better get close, and stay low.]

Stay down.

[hello I am mostly unsettled on canon point but it will probably be some nebulous Forbidden West endgame time, so spoilers for that entire game. Feel free to DM me for any wildcarding/custom starters!]