#saria silence

[yuki-kazami]

While you all are here because I'm being spicy and mad about gay animals, I guess I should also post this bc I forgor:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45889033

More spicy gay animals (Saria/Silence one-take prompt fic)

((Is this how you link fics on tumblr?? I don't use this shit I just like the art help am I supposed to post the whole text or something))

(((I guess you do post the text I don't know what's happening help im just smol)))

Closure:

Silence took a deep breath, steadying herself.

She could do this.

She needed to do this.

No more ambiguity, no more questions, no more secondhand info from Parvis of all people, that amoral old goat.

The fire with which she had defended her convictions towards Saria had long since burned low. It had been years since the incident at Rhine Labs. She’d married Joyce, Ifrit had grown into a capable young woman. Still, old wounds left scars, and she couldn’t just move on without closure.

Gathering up her resolve, she slid the door open to the observation deck. Harsh sunlight caused her to squint, but as her vision cleared, there she was. Saria stood alone, her back to the doorway, staring out into the vast expanses of rock. Her stance was firm. To most, it would be captivating, inspiring. It looked as if she was prepared to carry the world on her shoulders. And yet, Silence couldn’t stop herself from seeing it as lonely.

She shook her head, stepping forward.

“Saria.”

“Silence.”

Saria turned around as the door closed with a quiet whoosh. For some time, the pair simply stood there, eyes locked. Each passing moment brought more uncertainty into Silence’s gut. Even if the Saria of now was different to the one back then, even if she had grown and learned since her time as director, could she really handle being told that Parvis had been right? That Ifrit had been little more than an experiment Saria had a fondness for?

Or worse still, what if she had been-

She couldn’t bring herself to finish that thought, digging her nails into her palms to bring her focus back to reality.

“Silence, are you alright? We can speak another time if you need-“

“NO! No, I’m sorry, I just…” She grit her teeth, knowing that even with Joyce’s prodding, she wouldn’t be able to muster this courage up again. The cold shine of Parvis’s glasses in that darkened observation room haunted her mind, the moment her reality had cracked, that her heart had been torn to pieces.

“I need to know. I need you to be honest with me, Saria. Why did you leave Rhine Labs?”

It wasn’t what she wanted to ask. It wasn’t what she wanted to know. But she… she just couldn’t bring herself to say more, to risk what little trust she had left in the person she used to rely on shattering.

Saria’s face hardened as her eyes grew distant. “I grew disgusted with Control. Human experimentation is far from the ideals that we established Rhine Labs under. She lost sight of why what we were doing mattered.”

“Oh, is that so!?” A sudden, violent explosion that caught even Saria off-guard. “Really now, Saria? That’s what you have to say? You had a supposed ideological conflict? What about Ifrit? If you care so much about human experimentation, why did you leave her to suffer in their hands?” New fuel brought roaring flames back into her heart.

Saria’s voice remained comparatively calm, if a bit strained. “Silence. I trusted you with her. The paths I’ve walked were not those safe for a child.”

“Oh, her safety! That’s right, you had to make sure that your specimen wasn’t damaged! Silly me, I forgot that you needed Project Diabolus to complete successfully! After all, it must have been a costly cover-up making sure that the old experiment site didn’t hit Columbian news! Parvis showed me that you even made sure to sign off on the flamethrower they developed for the experiment! Very diligent, Director.” Silence was heaving at this point, half a decade of emotion echoing in the still air around the landship. Tears threatened at the corner of her eyes as she aired her grievances.

Saria’s voice rose in kind, confused and frustrated at the sudden vitriol. “Olivia, what kind of person do you think I am!? What the hell did Parvis tell you that made you believe him over me!? That very day, I went to Control and demanded that we go public with the news of Haydn Labs, only to be entirely shut down as being out of line!”

“DON’T YOU CALL ME THAT! Was that the same meeting where you agreed that the experiment should proceed as long as Ifrit’s life wasn’t in danger, and where you agreed to kill her if she had another episode!? And don’t play dumb with me, I saw you just about to until I showed up that night!” Tears flowed freely down Silence’s cheeks, her fists flailing in the air as she stormed up towards Saria, puffing up her feathers to be as intimidating a foe as her small stature could be.

Surprising even to Silence, it was Saria who ran out of gas first. She took a step back, face in her hands, shaking slightly. “Olivia.” Somehow, said with such a grave tone, Silence couldn’t bring herself to chastise Saria again for using her name. “Every night. Every night, for years, I’ve seen that blank gaze, the demon we forced inside that poor girl. I tried everything I could. Words, gestures, violence when I was forced to. All I wanted was for her to wake up, to see us again.”

Silence stepped back, her limbs suddenly leaden against her side. “Saria…” Things were beginning to click together, her worst fears come to life.

“The fire shields failed. The entire block of the landship was about to go up in flames. Potentially thousands of innocent people. And still, for one of the only times in my life, I had a moment of hesitation before I leapt into battle. Every time I hit her, I felt a part of myself die. She didn’t know what she was doing. She was an innocent kid forced to live out the whims of scientists playing God.”

The last of Silence’s coals burned out, leaving nothing but ash in the face of the truth. She wobbled, barely remaining standing as Saria continued on.

“How could I stop, Olivia? I couldn’t win. I had to keep fighting, even though it hurt. And at the end, when she woke up just before… just before I could make my final mistake? She gave me the candy she had saved the other portion of. Lying on the ground, bruised and battered nearly beyond recognition from my own Arts, she grinned because she was so happy I came to visit her. There is a part of me that still wonders why I didn’t kill both Parvis and Control that very night.”

Silence fell to her knees in front of Saria, shaking from the depth of her revelation. “Why… Why didn’t you… say anything…? All these years…”

Saria knelt down next to her, a concerned look on her face. “Because I knew you were right. If I had stepped in sooner, if I had fought Control harder, if I had taken over on the “treatment” to monitor it, none of this would have happened. Her blood has always been on my hands, and I nearly took her life. I don’t deserve her, or you, Olivia.”

A crisp smack echoed out across the plateau, new fire in Silence’s eyes.

“Shut up, you rock brained idiot.”

Silence grabbed the back of Saria’s horns and pulled her into an aggressive kiss.

[dlartistanon]

Interpersonal Rhine Lab relationships aren't escaping the unethical allegations

[arkiwii]

Hell yeah LESBIANS!!

[eudaemon-m]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[kimmytsu]

squish that owl something wholesome to start the year 🥹

[largeonions]

a star to guide us

[99bowl]

lone trail

[kurozu501]

do you ever just remember how one of the most effective things parvis said to get silence to lose faith in saria was essentially "do you really think she would ever choose YOU over everything?" and silence with her low self esteem really didn't believe saria would.

Then in the end saria really did choose them over everything, left her defense director job and her whole life up to that point behind for the sake of silence and ifrit. and silence still doesnt even know. do you ever think about that and lose your mind a little bit.

[galacticsuperstitions]

the minds of a lab at three different points (LONG rambling under the cut)

I am constantly in awe of the analyses people put out about Arknights on this website. I feel like my own interpretations are somewhat lacking as a result, but I was confident enough to post this, at least. I've had this idea for a long time now, I think since Lone Trail released, but I've only been able to make the time for it now.

Rhine Lab has so many fucked up elements and people involved in it that it's actually impressive. They were really gunning for "most unethical scientific consortium" reward. Really, though, it's just the result of Kristen gunning for her parents' wishes. All of the directors want something and all of those somethings are different.

Things I want to mention or just feel proud of (allowing myself this because of how long this took):

-I was originally planning on crossing out Saria's surname to reflect that we still don't know what it is in canon, but I don't know why whoever has this poster would do that, so I just kept it in. Hermon refers to Mount Hermon, which Saria's name apparently derives from. Technically, her name here is the same thing twice. Oh well.

-I don't know who this poster belongs to. It's just in some Rhine Lab tech's personal desk, I guess? Doesn't explain the doodles, though. Maybe they were bored and feeling spiteful about the potential job insecurity of your boss being comatose in space.

-I realized only while making this post that I made Saria's, Muelsyse's, and Jara's doodles reference Kristen, yet Kristen's only references herself and her parents. Completely unintentional, but appropriate nonetheless.

-I am so happy with how the poster came out. It makes up for how hard I had to fight Canva for it to come out like that. Here it is in full if you want to look at it closely for whatever reason. (writing an actual description for this thing was fun!)

-Andenate doesn't actually have a face under the sticky note. That's why he's still Mike Wazowski'd in the poster png. I didn't feel like drawing one since it wouldn't be shown in the finished pieces anyway. His jacket is just the same as Magallan's.

-Ifrit's picture board was a literal last-minute addition. It's why the images are sketches rather than being in the lineless style of the poster. It feels fitting, though, so I'm keeping it that way. Seeing Ifrit all grown up and doing so well in Lone Trail was wonderful. There's something in her being happy and healthy and also surrounded by not just her loved ones and friends from Rhine Lab, but also people outside of it. She's cultivated her life to be as fulfilling as she wants it to be, and while there is still room to grow, she has plenty of support and insight from others for it to do so. I may be misrepresenting her a bit (the sleepiness doesn't help), but man. I love Ifrit. She's so cool.

[cerastes]

Saria feels like she would keymash in alphabetical order after Ifrit explains it to her and she does it to bond with her over text messages, like Ifrit shares something funny that happened that day and Saria hits her with “abcdefghijk” and Ifrit’s like “what the hell dude” and Saria’s just like “I found it humorous”.

A couple of days later, Ifrit’s also doing it and it weirds Silence the hell out.

[girlishfrenzy]

the Dearly Adopted ADHD Daughter of all time

[redrivertherabbit]

[dlartistanon]

My last drawing for the year; let's continue with more AK Gays in the future!

[arkiwii]

BIRTHDAY DAUGHTER!!!

[eudaemon-m]

[kimmytsu]

It's melting hot so it's best to wear less clothes imo