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thormanick · 8 months ago

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All the Kavetham/Haikaveh ideas I don't have capacity to currently write, a very detailed list:

(Which I am humbly placing here before you. Be warned: this post is an incredibly long one!)

1. Fatui!Kaveh AU, where the night before the meeting happens between Kaveh and Alhaitham at the tavern, Kaveh gets a deal from Fatui representatives to work on a huge project in Snezhnaya. Kaveh is sceptical about it, but decides to accept the offer during the dialogue with Alhaitham (seeing himself as a burden, Kaveh decides that he will cause more trouble to Alhaitham than the Fatui, thus he decides to accept their offer even if it seems too good to be true). He tells Alhaitham about his decision to leave for Snezhnaya, and so the two relatively amicably/peacefully part their ways (not without Alhaitham testing Kaveh's reasoning a bit, but Kaveh's resolve remains strong).

And so, Kaveh leaves for Snezhnaya, where he gets to work on several huge projects for the next several years under Sandrone. Most of them are related to construction, engineering and reverse-engineering of Khaenri'ahn and Khaenri'ah-inspired technology, and he gets barely any time to work on his personal projects (he's overworked and exhausted and doesn't get much time and opportunity to be creative; however, the payments are good and he's on his way to getting out of debt, which is practically the sole reason driving him forward. The projects get progressively more complicated and, in a way, unhinged - engineering military equipment is alright, but working with the remains of Khaenri'ahn technology, dead gods and such proves to be... mentally taxing. Everything happens very gradually though, so Kaveh does not immediately notice the true scale of where the Fatui are ready to go to achieve certain goals). Kaveh doesn't really like the work environment of the Fatui, but he does his best (the Harbingers creep him out whenever he gets to see them on a rare official occasion (he might specifically dislike Pantalone because the Harbinger keeps picking at him for his debt, given a chance), but Sandrone's a decent boss who is somewhat encouraging and invested in his work and personal projects. She might be especially interested in Mehrak's existence and operation). Overall, everything goes quite smoothly for Kaveh, even if he doesn't feel quite at home in Snezhnaya and is aware of how dangerous the Fatui can be. He does not consider himself to be paranoid, but the other shoe has to drop at some point - and that happens when the new Acting Grand Sage of Sumeru gets to visit Snezhnaya on a diplomatic mission (aka: Kaveh reconnects with Alhaitham & Co for the first time in what feels like forever). The situation gets complicated when Kaveh realizes that Sandrone encourages the reestablishment of his connection with Alhaitham specifically - and she never encourages an action if she doesn't directly contribute from it.

Feelings, emotions and shenanigans ensue.

TLDR: Kaveh's doing his best despite being restricted in his ways of work, prevented from realizing most of his creative projects and slowly but surely building emotional walls around himself because Fatui and Snezhnaya; Sandrone being a kind of decent boss with sorta good work ethic but horrendous morals who is not exactly a good influence on Kaveh's idealistic tendencies and guilt complex; Fatui being contextually horrifying but kinda normal coworkers if you don't look at them too close; Alhaitham trying his best as a political figure (Nahida help him) while also trying to get Kaveh to return home with him (because he misses him); the main conflict revolving around Kaveh and his life choices with Sandrone and Alhaitham being kind of foils to each other (with Sandrone gradually destroying Kaveh's idealistic morals and playing on his guilt to get the most out of his potential as an innovator, and with Alhaitham actively trying to resolve Kaveh's guilt and show him that, despite their arguments, Kaveh's idealism still has place in the world and can co-exist with other philosophies). There might or might not be some macguffin-esque Deshret relic that both Akademia and Fatui hunt for that eventually brings the whole crew back to Sumeru. Kaveh might or might not get a chance to meet a fragment of Deshret's spirit within the mentioned relic. But there definitely will be a happy end for everyone here (Deshret will make sure of it).

2. Calamity!AU. The new Cataclysm comes, enveloping all Seven Nations, and so Sumeru does its best to survive. The cities are ruined, and the people gather together in random places to survive. Alhaitham gets to live within one of the settlements, established by the Akademiya. While trying to survive the first wave of the new Calamity, he is also looking for Kaveh; after an argument between the two the architect left for an expedition to the Desert, right before the new Calamity began. Unfortunately, the news comes that his group should have been around Tunigi Hollow - one of the spots in Sumeru where the first wave of the new Calamity hit the hardest. There is no concrete information on whether Kaveh's group survived or not. Alhaitham, not loosing hope, does his best to find any information on Kaveh's whereabouts, but due to Sumeru becoming extremely dangerous to traverse and disjointed as a result of the new Calamity, the search stretches out for almost a decade.

One day Alhaitham helps a caravan, traversing the forests to get to one of the settlements, to fight off the monsters. Unexpectedly, Kaveh turns out to be one of the members of the caravan. Their reunion is almost cut short by the caravan's need to keep going, but Alhaitham convinces Kaveh to join him instead. The two return to the new Sumeru city settlement, where Alhaitham lives and works under the watch of Akademiya and Lord Kusanali. It appears that during his years of travels around the destroyed Sumeru Kaveh learned new ways of architectural construction that would be more efficient against the monsters, born by the Calamity. He also seems to behave quite differently, hardened by the experiences of the past years. Alhaitham proposes for Kaveh to stay with him in the city, and Kaveh accepts. The feelings, new routines, dealings with the changed versions of each other and attempts to find new pace of life in the new world ensue.

TLDR: The world might be ending and impossible to live in, but even so each new day is brighter when the person one loves is by their side.

3. Another Cataclysm!AU, where Kaveh and Alhaitham get assigned separate missions in the grander scheme of things created to prevent the coming of a new Calamity. The plan succeeds and the world remains safe, but not without heavy losses: amongst many others, Kaveh does not survive while carrying out his mission.

Decades pass as Alhaitham goes through his grieving process. Eventually, one evening on the anniversary of the Calamity's prevention, Alhaitham wanders to a place he and Kaveh used to visit together. A Ley Line disruption occurs, and he gets to see a glimpse of Kaveh through it. They have a conversation; the Ley Line apparition (a memory of Kaveh) is convinced that Alhaitham is from the future, and so they talk a lot about the Calamity, whether it was prevented, and about each other's futures. Alhaitham can't bring himself to tell Kaveh that he does not survive the Calamity, but he does tell Kaveh that his architectural legacy lives on. Kaveh commends Alhaitham on his achievements (though not an acting grand sage for a very long time, Alhaitham kept playing an important role throughout Sumeru's history, helping to keep it safe).

Eventually, their time runs out. Ley Line disorder starts gradually disappearing. Alhaitham urges Kaveh to be careful and stay safe, knowing that the Calamity (on Kaveh's side) is yet to come. Kaveh laughs and tells him that on his side, Alhaitham just told him the same words after they finished the debriefing session, related to the Calamity. He says that he was feeling very nervous, but that seeing future-Alhaitham made him convinced that they are on the right path.

And so, the Ley Line disorder disappears. Alhaitham spends some more time at the spot before returning home. Despite painful memories having been brought up, his heart feels a bit lighter.

TLDR: closure comes unexpectedly, takes many forms and does not erase the pain in an instant, but, nevertheless, it heals.

4. AU! where Kaveh and Alhaitham are both magical birds that can transform into humans (and half-humans).

They live together in the depths of Sumeru forest - a domain of a long lost God of Wisdom. Kaveh's feathers are rumoured to bring blessings, while Alhaitham's feathers, on the contrary, are said to bring bad luck or even curses. Humans, living at the edge of magical forest, kinda worship them, but also prefer not to interact with them, primarily because Alhaitham is not happy when others trespass on his lands, and because searching for Kaveh is extremely hard (he's often off working on his projects deep within the forest), and the magical forest is very dangerous on its own. So, the humans build their cities outside of the Sumeru forest, and Alhaitham and Kaveh peacefully live together in the depths of it.

Despite Kaveh and Alhaitham living together for a long time, their opinions on humanity are diametrically opposed: Alhaitham barely tolerates humans, finding them to be reckless, meddling, cowardly and deceitful; Kaveh, on the contrary, finds humans to be creative, inspiring, free and beautiful in their own way. Throughout the years, Kaveh manages to build somewhat of an amicable relationship with the humans, living at the edge of the forest: he learns more about their traditions and arts, while the humans receive his guidance and blessings in various matters of living, craftsmanship and arts. Eventually, Kaveh's knowledge and magical powers catch the eye of Lord Sangemah Bay, who resides in and governs one of the bigger settlements at the forest's border. She makes a deal with Kaveh that, despite providing him with valuable (in his eyes) experience of working with humans on some of his grandest architectural projects, costs him a lot - meaning he has to give away lots of his blessed feathers, which makes his remaining magic much weaker (and generally undermines his health for a bit). Alhaitham is not a huge fan of such approach (in his eyes, Kaveh is wasting his powers and time for nothing, endangering himself), and so a conflict between him and Kaveh breaks. As a result, Kaveh flees their home, secluding himself while he's focusing on other projects he finds curious. Kaveh keeps working with humans, and though Alhaitham certainly keeps an eye on Kaveh's wellbeing, he does not make it easy for humans to reach him. So what if there are new random magical seals, obstacles, almost-traps and riddles appearing here and there when people try to get to Kaveh? It's a magical forest, things happen! (Kaveh knows that Alhaitham does this on purpose, and Alhaitham knows that Kaveh knows, and it leads to them indirectly, and then directly bickering and arguing. The magical forest quite possibly grows very tired of them. Their friends Tighnari and Cyno certainly do, but alas.)

The new equilibrium, found by Alhaitham and Kaveh, is challenged once more when Kaveh leaves to the Lord Sangemah Bay's city to direct yet another one of his grand projects. They do not see each other for a long while. Despite all the challenges, Kaveh's relationship with Dori gradually grows stronger - the two value their partnership - and Kaveh ends up making friends amongst humans. However, not everyone is happy about Lord Sangema Bay's growing friendship with the "deity of blessings" personified. As some people come to despise her for her wealth, influence and ever growing power, so do they come to despise the bird of paradise.

When the project is complete, the time for celebration comes. Kaveh gets to attend a feast by Dori's side as a guest of honour, and is invited to stay the night in her palace before returning to the forest. Kaveh agrees: he's been spending all his days and nights at the building site, and resting a night before returning home would be nice. As the night goes on, however, Kaveh begins to feel weary and unwell - the new type of wine he was served did him no good. He excuses himself early for the night and, as soon as he gets to his bed, he's out cold.

After an undetermined amount of time (in what appears to be the middle of the night), Kaveh wakes up because of immense pain in his back.

As he gradually comes to his senses, he has a horrible realization: one of his wings was cut off when he was asleep. Alerting the guards and Dori yields no results: the intruder escaped, presumably with Kaveh's wing, and there are no traces of them left. While Kaveh gets immediately attended to, he goes in shock and, eventually, loses consciousness.

When the messengers form the city arrive to the forest, Alhaitham receives them reluctantly at first, but as soon as he hears of what happened, he rushes to the city. He ends up taking Kaveh back to the forest, hoping that its healing magic will help restore his wing. However, nothing seems to work: neither spells, nor the powers of nature, not even Tighnari's medicine. Though the wound is slowly healing, Kaveh remains unconscious for days. To get more information on what happened, Alhaitham returns to the city to question Dori together with Cyno (who's also to continue the investigation within the city once Alhaitham returns home), while Tighnari stays with Kaveh.

Though the questioning concludes that Dori knows nothing and is willing to assist in the search of the perpetrator, Cyno concludes that she was not thorough enough in ensuring Kaveh's safety and overall security of the celebration in general, revealing that Dori recklessly cut corners here and there. Furious, Alhaitham leaves Dori his cursed feather, giving her an ultimatum: she has to find the perpetrator and give them to Alhaitham to deal the final punishment. Until then, her city is doomed to slowly crumble into decay and oblivion. Dori accepts the deal.

Alhaitham returns to the forest to look after Kaveh, while Cyno remains in the city to continue the search. When Alhaitham comes back, Kaveh is finally awake. However, he remains extremely closed-off, practically a shadow of himself. The recovery process is slow and challenging, but Alhaitham does his best to support Kaveh in all ways that matter. Kaveh struggles with healing: the loss of a wing affected not only his body, but also his mental state and magic. He cannot transform, he can barely use any of his magical skills, and he cannot fly anymore, which hurts him most of all. It takes a while for Kaveh to get on his feet (quite literally), even longer to finally leave his room. He also feels guilty for being in Alhaitham's care, because he remembers all of the Alhaitham warnings about the humans he didn't listen to, and so lots of internal conflict ensues.

Meanwhile Alhaitham does all he can to try and navigate the situation. He looks after Kaveh's healing process; brings back his blueprints and equipment from Kaveh's place so that he has enough to work with if he wishes; he also (to the best of his ability) remodels their home to make it more accessible to Kaveh. Given that their natural method of moving around their house was flying (whether in form of birds of half-humans), Alhaitham now implements more adjustments for walking or climbing. (When Kaveh feels good enough to leave his room, he's amazed by what Alhaitham managed to achieve. He also helps fix some of the constructions, given he's the one with the experience in architecture.) Alhaitham and Kaveh grow closer, slowly unpacking and mending their relationship, turning it into something new and beautiful.

At the same time, Alhaitham continues to watch the forest borders - to make sure that no intruders interrupt Kaveh's recovery and their peaceful life together. One day he notices an interesting sight: a small, but beautiful shrine appeared right by the forest. He decides to investigate; upon approaching the shrine, he meets Nilou (whom he saw in the palace when he visited Dori). She explains to him that, after he and Kaveh left the city, a group of people decided to organize a shrine, dedicated to Kaveh, to pray for his recovery. Nilou explains that in their eyes it's the least they can offer for all the help that their city received in the past and as amends for the pain they have caused. Alhaitham warns her not to get any closer to the forest, but the action of people leaves a lasting impression on him.

Meanwhile, Cyno's investigation progresses. Cyno writes to Alhaitham that together with Dori they managed to find and capture the perpetrator. Questioning reveals no useful information, but Cyno suspects that there might be more to the attack on Kaveh than they anticipated. To uphold his end of the deal Alhaitham goes to the city to deliver the punishment to the attacker and to undo the curse he put on Dori's city. Before he leaves, Kaveh, scared of what might happen to Alhaitham, sews into his cloak a blessed feather for protection (because Alhaitham wouldn't accept it outright). While Alhaitham is away, Kaveh begins working on a new project: a mechanical wing.

When Alhaitham gets to the city, he is led to the cell where the attacker is being held. Cyno and Dori are by his side for the final questioning. The man - a mere mortal (with strange red-ish eyes), one of Dori's citizens - keeps talking in circles, making less and less sense with each new word. Alhaitham lets Cyno and Dori go before rendering the punishment. When the curse (one of Alhaitham's darkest yet) is finally prepared, suddenly, the tables are turned. The perpetrator attacks Alhaitham, but his movements seem unnatural, almost like those of a puppet. Alhaitham realizes, that the man is being controlled by someone with prowess for strong, incredibly dark magic that seems similar to that of the Desert. The strange puppet manages to overpower Alhaitham in a fight, but cannot harm him (due to the protection from Kaveh's feather). The perpetrator manages to escape, taking with him Alhaitham's cursed feather (they seemed to be pleased to receive it. Alhaitham fears to think what they will use it for).

Dori and Cyno pick up the investigation, with Cyno going straight to the Desert. Dori begins reinforcing the city (her people discover that Alhaithams curse (now lifted) awakened Miasma deep under the ground. The Miasma begins to slowly spread, seemingly in the direction of the Sumeru Forest). Cyno sends back a message, confirming that strong and dark magic seems to be gathering within the Desert, possibly for the purpose of destroying the magical forest.

Alhaitham manages to get back to Kaveh and tell him of what happened in the city. In order to be able to protect the forest together with Alhaitham, Kaveh doubles down on his efforts to create a mechanical working wing. Everything works, besides the golden feathers - they need to be blessed in order to allow the mechanism to work as intended, but Kaveh does not have enough power for it. Alhaitham takes a risk and brings the feathers to the shrine, created by Nilou and other humans, so that they could bless them for Kaveh. (They are short of one feather eventually, and Alhaitham gives Kaveh one of his own, his first blessed feather, to complete the wing.)

TLDR: Kaveh works on restoring his wing and faith in himself and humanity; Alhaitham learns that humanity is not always evil. Dori and Cyno discover that the escaped perpetrator (caugh controlled by Dottore caugh) used Kaveh to get to Alhaitham to gain his cursed feather for completing some sort of ancient ritual to unseal the forbidden knowledge magic deep within the Desert in roder to unleash it on the magical forest, slumbering God of Wisdom and human cities. Kaveh learns to curse his feathers (while opposing Dottore in a final fight), and Alhaitham learns to bless his. Humans and Sumeru Forest continue to coexist peacefully. Alhaitham and Kaveh live together happily ever after.

5. Pacific Rim!AU, where Kaveh and Alhaitham used to be pilots of a Jaeger, but during one of their battles they suffered too much damage. In order to save Alhaitham and what remains of their Jaeger, Kaveh takes most of the damage by severing already unstable connection between Alhaitham and Jaeger's system. Both barely survive the encounter, but meanwhile Alhaitham manages to recover fast, the damage Kaveh has taken leaves him in a critical condition, eventually resulting in him being unable to ever pilot a Jaeger ever again (and putting many new restraints on his usual daily life).

As soon as Kaveh comes to his senses, the two have a huge fight about Kaveh's rash decision, and eventually break off their friendship. They don't see each other for a long, long time.

As the time goes on, Kaveh learns how to live with the changes that his body sustained with the help of his service dog Mehrak. Eventually he takes on a job at one of the Jaeger construction facilities (together with his friend Tighnari), studying Kaiju and creating new Jaeger modifications - though no Kaiju has been seen in the past several years, the world is still afraid of their return.

When the suspicion of the new Kaiju appearance arises, new pilot recruits and ex-pilots are summoned to the facility. There, Kaveh meets Alhaitham for the first time in years. After their fallout, Alahitham resigned from piloting Jaegers, yet now he had no choice but to return to train new recruits (and possibly resume his role of a Jaeger pilot). Now once again the two have to work together as a part of a team in face of approaching danger, trying to resolve their past conflicts and overcome their fears and insecurities along the way (when deep down they simply want to keep each other safe).

TLDR: Kaveh & service animal Mehrak is a neat concept I'd love to see more of, just as a concept in general. I think this one could be an interesting story idea centered mostly around Kaveh's day to day life. Additionally, Alhaitham who used to be only drift compatible with Kaveh but now suddenly discovers he's drift compatible with Cyno. I need more Cyno & Alhaitham camaraderie I think it would do them lots of good (at least in this specific AU setting lol).

6. Oxenfree!AU where Kaveh and Alhaitham are two ex-best friends turned reluctant coworkers (photo-journalist and journalist respectively) working on writing a piece about the disappearances of a group of teenagers that happened at the Edwards Island several years prior (timeline somewhere between the first and the second games). The radio shenanigans ensue, making the two face their past, possible futures and, most importantly, their present. (In Oxenfree tuning into certain radio sequences can temporarily mess up time-space shenanigans, just fyi).

TLDR: I just think that this setting could facilitate some character exploration that would be very fun.

7. Modern MermanKaveh!AU, post-fallout, where it's a little bit more about haunting Alhaitham (and the narrative), than being a merman. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, Kaveh drowns one day, trying to save someone from the water. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, he doesn't really die, being stuck in between (existence and death, normal life and the necessity to live in water). Kaveh manages, for quite a while even!

But of course Alhaitham has to come back and turn his world upside down once again.

TLDR: can you tell Alhaitham's quote about drowning stuck with me huh (and I made it literal lol). On a serious note... Idk, vibes??? I want to see the "stuck in the middle" Kaveh, whatever that entails. Some existential explorations. And the development of his relationship with Alhaitham, of course. // Kaveh is a merman unable to fully live the life he used to have, and Alhaitham doesn't know that he survived (for a while), alternatively "let me help to save you from metaphorical and literal drowning" Alhaitham and "I learned to live like this, this is what my norm now looks like" Kaveh.

8. Another Modern MermanKaveh!AU/DrownedGhostKaveh!AU, because I apparently have no self-control (I feel like I should also clarify that whenever I mention a mermaid, I think of them more as of ghosts of drowned people and less as mermaids-mermaids, the half-human half-marine creature ones). This idea was initially prepared for chili/zhongchi but it's been sooooooooooooooooooo long and I still haven't done anything substantial for it so I'm borrowing it from myself for myself and tweaking it for kavetham because I figured it could fit them. So here it goes,

Alhaitham is a scientist/marine biologist that moves from the city to a much smaller port town, getting himself a place in a local partially repurposed lighthouse. Kaveh is a merman, who has been dead for a long while and who's been living within local waters ever since he drowned. Alhaitham leads a very isolated life, going through a rather rough patch emotionally (maybe a badly ended past relationship and relocation from an established group of friends to a remote place brought up past negative emotions related to loss that were bottled up for a while. who knows, not me). Anyways, Alhaitham's not doing too well, but seaside walks help him unwind, even if for a short periods of time. During one of such walks, he finds an old pendant washed ashore. He picks up his find, hoping to do some research on it outside of his work time (because research is his fun-time).

He expects this to be a brief excursion into local history. He does not expect to become haunted by the ghost of a man to whom this pendant belonged to way back when.

Kaveh, in turn, is extremely excited to finally, finally be able to get out of the sea to the surface. He intends to stay ashore as long as possible and, well, if he just so gets to amuse himself by haunting a grumpy marine biologist that refuses to believe in merpeople, ghosts of drowned and other supernatural occurences - who's he to say no?

TLDR: this AU can go two ways (in my eyes): the happy ending way and probably more gothic-horror-story-esque ending. So, Alahitham is cursed to be haunted by Kaveh: for a while he's the only one who can see him, with Kaveh being something akin to a ghost. However, the longer Kaveh haunts Alhaitham, the more human he becomes (others can see him, he cannot phase through walls anymore, etc.). The curse in itself goes something like this: the cursed thing, after being picked up/taken in, cannot be thrown away and will always come back. The ghost, tied to the haunted thing, shall haunt whoever picks the cursed thing (the thing should be tied to the ghost, but may not necessarily belong to them) and drain their life energy. The ghost can become free and human again if the haunting goes long enough and they kill the human who picked the cursed object in the end during a very specific time that doesn't occur too often (proverbial blue moon, idk). If they don't kill the human and decide to let them go, then the ghost will seize to exist and the human will regain their strength. (An alternative option to the ghost dying for a less angsty au: the ghost voluntarily takes back the cursed object and returns to the place where they died, but then they will never be able to haunt anyone ever again. The effect of the curse on the haunted remain, but much weaker).

In this case, let's say Kaveh and Alhaitham stay by each other's side from half a year to a year, idk. They grow closer, eventually becoming friends and maybe more (the usual kavetham shenanigans Kaveh falls first but Alhaitham falls harder). Alhaitham's mental state gradually improves, yet overall he becomes weaker because of the curse (to the point that it becomes a serious concern), which Kaveh blames himself for. The appointed time approaches (both Kaveh and Alhaitham are in on the details of the curse), and Kaveh, seeing it as an opportunity to set Alhaitham free, manages to separate himself from Alhaitham. Kaveh is ready to return to the sea/merge with it (ah yes the classic Little Mermaid influence does anybody feel it lol). However, Alhaitham sees through his plan and arrives just in time to stop him. They have a confrontation. Eventually, they manage to lift the curse (as you can see I have not figured out exactly how this can happen but! it definitely can!) with Kaveh becoming human again and Alhaitham regaining his health. The two continue to live together happily ever after.

The other scenario is practically the same, but it's more ghothic? and abstract (and probably more suitable for the og pairing it was made for, but i'll throw it in anyways). I have not engaged with gothic literature much and thus don't have much experience in how it works/how to write it, but the idea is that Kaveh is more of a projection of Alhaitham's grief than a ghost fo a drowned person (in other words, he's definitely a ghost, but his presence is also much more symbolical). The story follows quite similar beats, except the setting of the curse is a bit different: it's more of a "kill first or be killed" thingy with a deadline. Kaveh earnestly tries to drown Alhaitham at first through various means, but the more time they spend together, the more Kaveh sees of Alhaitham's life and pain and feels sympathetic for him. Despite the curse, Kaveh tires to help Alhaitham in various ways; and it works! Alhaitham gradually begins to feel better; the two grow closer to each other (more in a platonic way).

So now the precedent is that though Alhaitham's overall doing better, the curse still preys on him, hindering his life in various ways that become more and more serious/dangerous (the curse's deadline approaches, and it tries to survive the best way it can through Kaveh's influence on Alhaitham). Eventually, Kaveh lets Alhaitham go, merging with the sea (once again, yes, it was partially inspired by the Little Mermaid). Alhaitham realizes what happened and tries to look for Kaveh, but it is in vain.

Eventually, life goes on.

Bonus Elden Ring AU (because guess who suddenly went on a lore video watching spree): Kaveh is a craftsman and one of the inhabitants of Castle Morne who managed to escape before it was overrun by Misbegotten. He's a follower of St. Trina and Miquella (he doesn't follow Miquella at first, but slowly he comes to suspect that the two are one and the same). After escaping from Castle Morne, he finds his way to Jarburg, where he is welcomed to stay and be the new Potentate.

Alhaitham is from a distant branch of Carian royal family and a scholar at the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Quite possibly explored an area of studies similar to Sellen's. Eventually he separates himself from both Academy and his family, becoming a wandering scholar.

The two meet somewhere nearby Jarburg when Kaveh gets ambushed by the same people who were trying to get to Alhaitham. The two fight them off. Kaveh, trying to help injured Alhaitham, leads him to Jarburg. The two continue living together there ever since (not without hiccups, but they're doing their best).

TLDR: this one is short and very simple because I just started diving into the Elden Ring's lore, but I just. Really wanted to make some AU for them. I also desperately wanted it to be peaceful and happy one despite it being a seeming impossibility for anything dark souls/elden ring related, but one can dream. If I were to make this one darker I'd probably expand on the duality of their two characters here, and how Alhaitham probably used to conjure spells on humans (with gaining knowledge being his sole life purpose for a long time) and has challenges with comprehending the world outside of a framework of pure logic, and how Kaveh gets an increasing tendency of escaping to the dream world/wherever Miquella is in order to alleviate his mental turmoil (maybe he witnessed too much during his escape from the Castle), and how the two have opposing perspectives on the idea of worshipping gods, and- like, there's a lot that can be done. But I also just really really really want them to simply be happy together in a jar village, leading a peaceful life.

That's it for now! Thank you for reading all of this, I can't commend your patience enough if you got to the end of this list!!!✨🎉✨

Maybe in the future I will unpack some of these aus. who knows.

#if you made it till the end you're officially a hero #sorry for so many words lol #genshin impact #afinna explores teyvat #genshin impact kaveh #genshin impact alhaitham #kavetham #haikaveh #alhaitham x kaveh #genshin impact writing #genshin impact writing ideas #magical birds au my beloved (can you tell lol)#maybe one day #one day i might write it #i was sure i'd never write the inquisitioner x witch kavetham AU but guess what #istg the first chapter should be ready sometime this year. probably. i hope. i dream of it...#pacific rim au is also something i just cradle gently in my hands. weird apocalyptic-esque setting but make it more a piece of life thing #in order to better unpack the relationships between people and various internal turmoils #and the fatui au!!! i want fatui to be weird menacing coworkers that end up being weirdly decent!!! sometimes!!!#idk i just think kaveh and sandrone could be a great work duo #and just the interactions with others could be sooooo much fun #anyways hope these ideas are. decent #also lowkey i need more dori-kaveh-alhaitham shenanigans #like alhaitham is canonically banned from seeing dori as far as i remember [well. blacklisted from the market or something similar]#granted it's probably bc he's with the Akademiya but like. Are We Sure [glances at Kaveh's debt]#anyways i just think there can be some exploration done here lol #also a hot take probably but. we need more 'Dori the Scary Businesswoman that Seems Inhumane But is Actually Wise'#like I want her to push others to their limits for mutual/personal gain BUT doing so knowing exactly when to stop and not cross the line #she is The Monkey's Paw for people who come to her. anyways i just find her interesting #yay that's it thanks for reading all of it have a great day byeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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pillowenvelopchair · 7 months ago

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That’s what she holds onto. A life—an eternal one—with someone else as Lord. Someone true of heart. Quick of mind. That’s the dream, right there. And all she has to do is clear the way. - Chapter 26

Another swrd art… what a surprise lol. go check it out guys! (i will never stop preaching about it)

hi @un-local how r u on this fine afternoon

#magdalene my favorite blorbo... i will fight the wolves for u #holding onto rogiers rapier... a small hope in these desolate lands where she is all alone with the golden grace #i hope that one day will i get to read the point where rogier lets himself hope too (that would definitely be the day!)#each others hope if u will #groovy brush my beloved 🫶#lighting.... my worst enemy #had a lot of fun with the background though!!#i was genuinely scratching my head over the stupid gradient map thing #ive been wanting to do something like this for a LOOONG while so yay!!!#tried to incorporate the mending rune of death and stars. and the carian phalanx (WHICH I AM REALIZING IS 4 BLADES NOT 3)#but yeah! not too much to go off of other than that.. hope u enjoy hare! or. un or local. not local. (scratches head)#thank you miami and mellow for the support!! i would have literally kept staring at the drawing for who knows how long #elden ring #tarnished #magdalene #swrd #still waters #envelop art

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amarimeta · 4 months ago

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Maybe a weird question but I can't stop thinking about it after Certified, what do you think Nora and Laurie's relationship was like in the three years between s2 and s3? I lean towards thinking they were mostly awkward and at the periphery of each other's lives, but there's also an immediate intimacy between them in Certified that's incredibly compelling (it makes me incredibly happy that they were in contact all those years)

okay i want to apologize for two things.

this is sooo incredibly late i’m sorry. i was resisting the urge to rewatch every single scene of both of them (which would have led to a full rewatch)

this is barely even talking about your actual question. this is just an excuse for me to yap about laurie and nora.

HERE’S THE THING. i think nora and laurie’s relationship can be categorized into three distinct phases / eras. I ALSO WANT TO SAY. THAT IF AT ANY POINT IT SOUNDS LIKE IM HATING ON EITHER LAURIE OR NORA. I’M NOT.

phase 1 (preshow - s1)

i don’t know about the rest of you but i imagine that laurie and nora hated each other before they knew each other. it wasn’t anything personal. who gives a fuck about kevin? to me its because of the differences in how publicized their losses and grieving processes were, if that makes any sense. nora’s loss is widely known, she’s nora cursed™ and she lost her entire family. but nora’s reaction to this loss, at least publicly, is largely tame. people in mapleton, generally speaking, think she’s normal. jill only becomes disillusioned because she watched nora deliberately knock over a mug and also saw the gun in her purse, but everyone else thinks nora is fine. they think she’s sad sure, but she doesn’t act out. the one moment i can think of where she acts out in mapleton is when she sprays the GR with her hose to get them to leave, which while rude… other people throw rocks at the GR. so i don’t think anyone is judging that too harshly. on the other hand. laurie’s loss is a secret she carries alone. as far as everyone else is concerned, laurie didn’t lose anyone in the departure. and yet laurie is the one who publicly abandons her family and joins a cult. i think nora had to despise laurie for this. in nora’s eyes, being a wife and mother were precious things stolen from her, and laurie chose to deliberately toss them aside, seemingly for no reason. from laurie’s perspective, nora is much more successful when it comes to dealing with her losses. idk if this is something others would agree with, but i personally think that laurie believes that had she experienced nora’s loss, she would have killed herself. NOT HATING.

ANYWAYS so that’s them before you even bring the kevin of it all into the equation. which brings us into phase 2 (s2 finale - time skip / pre australia s3) (you know. that part this question was actually asking about)

i think this is a difficult situation because its the first time both of them see the other as an actual person, and not a character they’ve made up in their heads. to nora, laurie is no longer “my boyfriend’s ex wife who abandoned her family”, she’s my boyfriend’s ex wife who lives next door to us and is married to our neighbor (who tried to kill my boyfriend that one time. but that’s neither here nor there). to laurie, while i think she still doesn’t know the extent of nora’s grief, i imagine she was able to see through the cracks a bit more. clearly this is not a woman perfectly content in her life having lost her entire family.

i think very little of it has to do with kevin himself. i’m more interested in the jill of it all. for all intents and purposes, nora is jill’s favorite. now there’s multiple reasons to this. number one, nora is not jill’s parent. nora’s relationship with jill from season 2 on is easy because nora treats jill like an adult and generally speaking does very little to "parent" her. number two, nora has not traumatized jill to the extent that both laurie and kevin have. again NOT HATING. we simply must acknowledge that jill’s parents bring a ton of baggage. so yea maybe she thinks hanging out and speaking to nora is the easiest option. i don��t think nora ever considered herself jill’s mom nor do i think she intended to replace laurie, and i don’t think jill thought either of those things. HOWEVER. from laurie’s perspective, i think it’s reasonable to assume she felt insecure about jill and nora’s relationship and dynamic. i think about that scene in 3.01 where jill says she doesn’t want to stay the night because if she stays with nora and kevin it will just hurt laurie’s feelings, but if she stays with laurie and john laurie will keep her up all night apologizing. jill and laurie’s relationship will never have the easiness that nora and jill have, and i don’t think thats unfair. the tommy of it all is less of a factor. tommy obviously never bonded with nora to the extent jill did, his relationship with laurie is (with a valid few exceptions) significantly less strained than jill’s. (there’s also the fact that tommy has to (evidently) keep speaking to nora about leaving christine and lily alone). if we DO want to talk about the kevin of it all i think 3.04 is an important piece of the conversation. kevin reaching out to laurie, laurie telling kevin to speak to nora about what he is experiencing, nora getting upset with kevin for it. “you won’t tell me but you’ll tell laurie?” (for the record. again NOT HATING. but kevin kinda ate her ass up like no sweetie he can’t tell you everything. you DID leave him handcuffed to the bed. yes you left a note with the key location but you did still LEAVE. we love you <33).

SO. do i think their relationship in the time skip was strained? yes. i agree that they very much existed in the peripheries of each other’s lives. to the extent that two women who share a family and a lawn can exist in each other’s periphery. i don’t imagine they were ever snide or rude to each other, but i think they both had egregious amounts of baggage associated with the other that they were still unable to let go.

SO WHAT THE HELL GOES ON IN CERTIFIED AND BEYOND??? phase 3 (australia 😁)

there’s multiple parts to this. obviously. lets go that scene in the car in 3.06. laurie choosing to help nora has less to do with nora and more to do with avoiding kevin and all the shit happening there (in my opinion). nora needs to stalk these two lesbian doctors who want to blast her with radiation into space? that falls under laurie’s skillset! AND laurie just found out matthew is dying of cancer again so we might as well throw nora a bone y'know? but anyways. obviously the more involved they get and the more dedicated nora is to crossing over, the more laurie realizes that nora’s facade was just that. nora is not the perfect widow grieving in a healthy and unobtrusive way. she is feeling the same pain laurie feels, and they’ve both been feeling it for the last seven years. nora feels untethered to the point that she would rather get blasted into space for the chance to see her family again than stay here. and then they’re in the car. and now we’re talking about a suicide machine. and then we get the following beautiful exchange:

nora: if i wanted to kill myself i’d go scuba diving :) it’s the perfect method :) especially when you’re scuba diving certified :) laurie: i’m scuba diving certified… nora: i know <33

(side note. do we think nora has every single person’s individualized perfect suicide method categorized in her brain. i love this idea. she is so kind <3)

and you know what i’m gonna sound crazy but i think in this moment laurie and nora make a suicide pact of sorts. they both realize that the other is carrying this pain. and they’re tired. so nora is going to enter the radiation blast suicide machine and laurie is going to go scuba diving and the world will be more elegant. that scene by the beach is crazy to me. when nora asks what laurie plans to tell the others and laurie takes the ciggies to become nora’s therapist and gain client patient confidentiality. that’s part of the suicide pact. when nora jokes “same time next week?” that’s the suicide pact.

and then laurie gets that phone call. and she realizes that she is not as untethered as she thought. the pain she feels and has felt is real, but it doesn’t discount everything else she has. (i also think her telling kevin about it was an important step. she’s been grieving silently for the last seven years, unable to properly heal). and then one day she gets a call from nora. who is back. the suicide pact was effectively voided, but i don’t think either of them mind. nora feels safe talking to laurie once she’s returned, because she knows laurie wont betray her trust. i think there’s a sense of safety they find in each other because of how much they recognize the other.

TLDR: i completely agree with you. there was definitely a lot of awkwardness in the time skip period. weird barbecues you have to spend with someone you don’t really like or know, but they’ve somehow become part of your family. and then in terms of certified and the book of nora, i think the intimacy seen between them is a culmination of their respective arcs and existences as foils to one another.

#the leftovers #nora durst #laurie garvey #OKAY 1. I'M SORRY FOR HOW LONG THIS IS. I REALIZE IT'S SO UNNECESSARILY LONG I'M SO SORRY #2. I'M SORRY FOR ALL THE ERRORS IN THIS. I'M SURE THERE'S PLENTY.#3. I'M SORRY FOR ALL THE THINGS I'M SURE IVE FORGOTTEN TO MENTION. I WILL RETURN TO THIS AND SCREAM. i just know it.#anyways thank you for sending this ask <33 i love these characters so much #i love this show so much #so thank you for giving me an excuse to yap.#number one thing you can do is come in my inbox saying 'i keep thinking about [insert thing I TOO AM ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT]'#wow <33 we are unwell about this show together <3 peace and love on planet earth #brinker not reading all this okay <3 yay <3 #answered #Anonymous

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kohane-nui-daily · 1 month ago

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day 4, week 1

kohane is ready for school tomorrow!

it's friday so the week is almost over, keep going!

👟 8,550 steps | 🥤 3 full cups, 1050ml [1050/2000ml] | 🍴 1 nearly/basically-done meal (lunch), 1 meal (dinner) [2/3], 2 snacks [2/5] | 🌙 roughly 23:14 - around 06:30(?)

[photo taken at 20:34 bst]

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deoidesign · 3 months ago

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I adore reading your rambling tags, don't stop posting things there 😩

Don't you worry. I think I might be incapable of stopping idk what happened I never used to tag ramble

#asks #anon #i do really love talking. clearly LOL #but ive also been working on listening the past few years #and thays pretty cool too #i had to learn how to think before i speak. like legitimately im not hearing the words I say #im thinking about my next sentence while i say the current one #its exhausting and i never remember what I've said HWJJJSDJEJ #but people tell me im direct and deliberate and clear so idk...#but listening is also really hard...#conversation in general is really hard #i stll love it of course #its just very tiring for me #which is PART of why I like to do this when i cant sleep cause of nightmares or whatever #tires me out haha and also is a great distraction #and is good practice! for me #so idk i just like it. and its nice to know its not annoying #i wouldn't post hardly any words at all without the safety of the tags #they're not rebloggable so thats a relief #you have to opt in to read them #the space is limited. etc etc #so. im glad it is wn option and im glad its a welcome one!#no intention to stop #thank you for the reassurance on it #delete later #maybe. I'm so tired i need to check later to see if i wnt to delete it #anxiety meds working yay i can sleep bye

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retellingthehobbit · 2 years ago

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I redrew the old title page of my Hobbit Comic adaptation! It's fun to see how my art style has evolved since the first chapters :3

#I might touch it up a little but it’s mostly done #retelling the hobbit #the hobbit #the hobbit comic #BUT YAY #next chapter soon!!#I actually have it finished already #but kinda want to build up a buffer before I post #(thank you to everyone who leaves nice encouraging comments on my stuff ;_;)#(i go back and read them all the time)#lotr #WIP #not chapters

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dimdiamond · 8 months ago

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Some sketches of Chang throughout childhood to adulthood (according to my headcanons anyway, more in the cut if you're interested)

Chang as a kid preferred to play alone and he loved to pick up rocks from the shore and take them home (his collection only gets bigger and bigger through the years). The Chang family was poor and both parents had to work so the one who stayed with the kid was the grandfather till he died from old age. Chang was still very young though when he lost him and from then on alone. His parents tried to spend more time with him but they still had to work or bring their kid with them as Chang being quiet and not demanding was seen as him being an easy and mature kid.

After losing his parents and going to an orphanage, Chang is still quiet and polite but becomes indifferent to many things and prefers to be alone, spending most of his time reading any book he can find, learning French and English by overhearing the foreigners, wandering around, and mostly at the river. Meeting Tintin changes everything as he makes his first friend and gets a new family but mostly makes him see things differently, finally looking at the world with interest and confidence.

Chang is a top student in high school but his rebellious phase doesn't let either the school or his family rest assured. He no longer obeys or stays quiet, he needs to be heard and most of all to be understood and accepted. His dream is to see the world and hopes to meet Tintin again as he many times still lingers to the past, despite the fact he has new friends and a new life (as well as Tintin). Thankfully, his rebellious phase quiets down in the final year and he manages to become more open and direct to his loved ones.

Chang after being rescued by Tintin and Haddock in Tibet, he returns to Shangai, needing to deal with his traumatic experience in his home and with his family. He's underweight, he feels cold all the time and his mind is stuck to the plane and the mountains. In addition, he tries to deal with the fact that Tintin has changed and that their friendship can never be as it was.

Almost a year after the Tibet incident, Chang manages to go to his uncles in London, where he stays for about 4-5 years, studying archaeology (Professor Tarragon comes and goes at the university and Chang has the luck to be in his class and friend). His friendship with Tintin remains strong and they keep in touch more regularly but Chang doesn't depend only on this friendship and makes new friends.

After university, Chang joins Tarragon's team, and from then on he travels around the world, from one archaeological site to the other, always eager to learn and see more. He frequently visits his family in Shangai and his uncles in London and, whenever he gets the chance, his friends, including first and foremost the Marlinespike family. Close to his thirties, his eyesight shows issues and he starts to wear glasses (he wasn't a fan of this at first but he soon got used to it).

#i managed to draw yay #art block be damned i need to draw my boy #tried some new brushes and such i like how it turned out #under the cut it's all blabbering so thank you if you read it #i have so many ideas but these headcanons sum them up i guess #i am just obsessed with chang as a character by himself and his own family and life #and just mentioning i personally can't imagine chang and tintin getting together but if you do you're cool #to anyone who has watched past lives chang and tintin are like the childhood friends to me #anyway i just wanted to get it out of my system hope you like these #chang #chang chong chen #the adventures of tintin #my art

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karliahs · 5 months ago

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#talking #every time i'm like yay i'm up to date on replying to comments #i remember that. no i am not #because there are. several hundred? from 2020ish #that i read all the time and treasure so much and also didn't respond to #because i got overwhelmed #this is a very privileged problem to have i am aware #so when i started posting for persona i decided to just respond to those comments and start fresh #but now that i'm posting bnha again...do i respond to only comments on the new fics? (weird)#respond only to new comments on any fic (less weird but i hate that big gap. feels rude to all the people i left out)#catch up and jumpscare people by thanking them almost half a fucking decade later (so weird)#respond to nothing and go live in the woods (tempting)#anyway i wrote 6.5k today and now my brain is soup

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kindred-spirit-93 · 4 months ago

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right so, summer term is in less than a week and in the words of another tumblr post, this is for the wiggles; i need to get this out of my system before i implode. enjoy :)

greetings yall. this is essentially a list of my current ocs that live their own lives in their respective universes in the back of my mind. ill start out with a list and expand elsewhere later to avoid overwhelmingness

i will update this with links to individual oc fact files and posts in the future inshallah

･ﾟ*.･ﾟ✧ .･ﾟ*･ﾟ

✧ le fandoms and their respective established characters as of writing:

harry potter: anisa (tbc)

percy jackson: Hilal

the apothecary diaries: Maymuna

demon slayer: Siham

my hero academia: yamama (tbc)

✧ fandoms ive dabbled in that dont have established characters (yet):

spy x family

bungo stray dogs

hunter x hunter

the anne shirley serires

detective conan

inuyasha

the addams family

more that ive temporarily forgotten lol

✧ fandoms that dont get ocs for various reasons :

hamilton and other musicals

real life people (i find it weird)

childhood favourites like movies, shows, etc. (like tmnt, coraline, disney princesses, spacetoon classics like romeos blue skies...)

please kindly note that the way my hyperfixations work in terms of fandoms is that when i come across said fandom, i obsessively read every wiki page in existence and watch compilations and scour the interwebs for memes and sometimes fics, and proceed to avoid (for reasons unbeknownst to me) actually consuming the media itself (original books or its adapted versions). i believe its because i dont have the capacity to be emotionally attached to new characters and suffer, but whos to say :P

also note that these characters are in many ways inspired from my own experiences and i occasionally draw from people and places im familiar with, so in instances where things 'wouldnt work' for whatever reason, (firstly im aware, hence their existence) remember that these are works of fiction, and that with the right writing (mostly) anything works. and creative liberties mwahahaha >:)

this is one of the reasons this blog exists; for me to dump the contents of my mind to make way for other (hopefully more useful) stuff, so if u stumble on here feel free to partake (as per the guidelines stated in the pinned post), otherwise move on. this before anything else is for me and my amusement, i wont be catering to anyones interests.

this post and its contents is sponsored and made possible by maladaptive daydreaming and my other less than healthy coping mechanisms :)

me @ this post

#oc galore #yay i did it #this is going to be fun #and also emotionally draining #whatcha gonna do #ngl it does feel a lil vulnerable to have my children in the wild #but i trust they will thrive in their new homes #with their found families #bc it is *the* best trope #shoutout to whoever wrote the spacetoon list of programs wikipedia page complete with airing dates thank u for ur service #i just found out the difference between oc and persona #welp #im still calling them ocs becasue they arent me #although i read personas arent self insert theyre just versions of the authors identities personified (abridged)#im using oc bc they are fully fleshed characters where i as the writer benefit from my background and experiences to make them come to life #yes literally all of them are middle eastern hijabis #but thats because i want the representation lol #thats where the similarities end #hopefully #because i havent written anything since 2014 #oc #looking forward to see how my writing grows :)#if u see typos no u didnt #my brain is melting

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quatregats · 4 months ago

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Honestly kind of lame of CS Forester not to go in for the weird Narnia ending. Think of how fun that could have been

#don't read these tags if you don't want spoilers i'm going to put spoilers in the tags #but i just finished admiral and i think it would have been fun if they had all died actually. sorry that sounds horrible but genuinely #it would have been better than the actual ending #which was fine it was just stupidboring heroics and i did not come here for that #someone needs to write a fic in which they all perish in the hurricane and hornblower actually tells barbara that he doesn't love her #and maybe maaaaybe she's also honest with him but either way he realizes that this is not what he wants and not how he wants to go out #or it's a tragedy and he doesn't realize that and dies an empty shell of a guy! either way it's more compelling #cs forester setting up so many dynamics that he refuses to deliver on and i'm so glad i'm finished so now i can just go back and fix it #or read the parts i like and nothing else. god. he's not even that bad at setting up interesting stuff that's the crazy part #but man do those books drive me up a wall when it comes to reader satisfaction i am NOT having it #anyways i'll now cease being grumpy and go off and read ursula leguin or something yay #perce rambles #percy yells at cecil scott #<- thank GOODNESS i am free of him (guy who read these books willingly in his free time)

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salvager-beyblade-fanfiction · 2 months ago

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Salvager Chapter 5 (2): Home

“Shinoda!” Salvager screamed, kicking the Starving Silver android off of his leg, even as it ripped its claws into his flesh, its coagulated metal coating squirming like a storm of maggots into his blood. Fire immediately shot up his calf and the veins inflamed. “AAURGH--! RELEASE IT! RELEASE!”

...

Venom dropped to his chest over the lip of the door bank, snapping out his arms and only just barely managing to catch Salvager’s wrist in time. With a savage, windless grunt, he dragged the older man upward, practically throwing him onto solid ground. He himself scrambled back the very instant after, throwing his back like a shield over Salvager’s body as the man’s fifty summoned player boards split open and, with the sound of a thunder clap, all his inventory came hurtling out in a river of sheer metal. It was a terrible, screaming explosion. Salvager’s cannons, rifles, blades, bombs, and grapnels; his tools, projects, and batteries; his food, utensils, and first aid supplies--they all fell at once.

The entire Tower must have quaked.

Venom ducked his head and screwed his eyes shut. Salvager began to scream. Vaguely, Venom registered that that shouldn’t be right. Had he gotten hurt? Only once he pried his eyes open did he see what’d gone wrong.

And the color promptly drained from his face.

Salvager’s pant leg had been shredded and, spattered alongside the pooling blood, was a wriggling stream of Starving Silver. He’d… he’d been infected? The man, veins bulging and hands shaking, was biting down his screams now, holding them behind his teeth, although the reduction of sound did nothing to make his expression anything less than a picture of pure agony. His eyes bunched, welling with tears of sheer pain, and deep claw-mark creases forked down the sides of his mouth and brows. Had he been hurt just now? Venom blinked, a sense of bitter amazement dripping against his skull, like a stream of water against a stone. Did this happen in the elevator shaft, just a second ago? He hadn't seen it. He didn’t know. When had--?

And… Did that mean…?

Salvager had only…?

Minutes.

Venom swallowed with some difficulty.

He had only minutes.

The Starving Silver would eat its way into his nervous system and then chew apart his spinal cord, burrowing into his bones, brain, and organs, replacing his tissue, killing him from the inside out. And then it would take control of his corpse.

The spit he’d choked down met a wash of bile and Venom quickly lifted a hand to his mouth, gagging on the stuff as it reached his tongue. He couldn’t be sick. Not now.

“That… that last android got you?” he managed. “H-how?”

Salvager made to laugh, but it came out more like a strangled sob. “I-i-it’s bad, isn't it?” he choked, voice fracturing.

Venom just stared.

“Th-thought s-so…”

“What do you want me to do?” he asked, hearing his own voice hitch as it passed through his chest, almost as if the sound was coming from somebody else. “I-I can cut out the wound. Or burn it. Or… or take the whole leg, maybe. I--”

“Just--!” Salvager barked suddenly, seething as the Silver wriggled farther up his body, bloating his veins and rupturing a foot-long length of skin. As his blood fountained from the wound, a high-pitched keening burst through his throat. His face contorted. His eyes screwed up like bottle caps. Hot, violent tears poured like rain from the corners. “Just calm--! Calm down, Venom!” he demanded. “You’re g-gonna make me panic!”

They were already past that point. Venom’s cybernetic knuckles locked into fists. “Do you want me to cut out the wound?” he shouted back.

“No!”

“Tell me what to do, then!”

“The leg!” Salvager screamed. “C-cut the whole leg off!” His hand fell to his knee, trembling like a bridge in an earthquake, and drew a lopsided line over the top of his patella. “Right--! Right here!”

Venom marked the place in his mind, biting into his lip, drawing his brows together. “You better be sure,” he sighed.

“I-I’m gonna--! Gonna get out of here a-a-alive!” the older man snarled, gasping for breath. It was a sincere, desperate effort to scrape out each word. “Whatever it--! Whatever it takes!” ...

Venom curled his awkward, knobbly metal knuckles over the hilt of his blade, feeling the energy it carried buzzing like a beehive up his arm. “Want me to knock you out real quick?” he muttered, measuring the trajectory of the cut in his mind, picking out the line where Salvager had indicated his leg be severed.

“Th-the pain… pain’ll d-do that j-just… just fine,” the older man groaned, digging the back of his head into the floor, eyes scrunched nearly to slits. “B-be fast, okay?”

“Yeah,” Venom managed, hefting his blade back, squinting through the hazy shadows its glow cast across the ground. They wrapped over Salvager’s exposed skin like tendrils of smoke, painting his writhing, inflamed veins with long streaks of gray. “Three…,” he swallowed. “Two… one!”

KRAK!

An energy burst collided with the side of his hand, turning his fingers to slag and flinging the blade from his grip. The orange glow spiraled. Salvager called for a gun. One fell into his fists as Venom tore his own from a playerboard. He spun in the direction of the shot. His trigger finger had melted. He couldn’t fire. Salvager, however, launched three succinct charges into their assailant’s torso. The lasers crackled like sparklers against his chest, fizzling out almost immediately. But the figure staggered and--

“What the heck, Valt?”

Venom lowered his gun, breath halting. Valt?

“Did your dexterity go up a rank or something?”

“R…?” Salvager choked, and Venom saw the blood drain from his stricken face. “R-Ran…?”

Their assailant stepped carefully forward, dropping his rifle so that its nose swung downward, clacking slightly against his side. He was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in a black police uniform of sorts--an armored jumpsuit and jacket, overlaid by a thick tactical vest, and a shooting mask that concealed the lower half of his face. A ballistic helmet was capped over his skull, which he reached to unclip, his heavy, rubber-soled boots bringing him to a stop just beside Venom. “I’m glad to see you kept practicing,” he managed, dragging the thing from his head and letting it fall back against his fingertips. He was younger than Venom had expected. Thick blonde hair was matted to his scalp and his eyes were clear, the skin around them smooth and unwrinkled. The only mark of age at all was a hypopigmented scar, which spanned the bridge of his nose, just barely peering out from beneath his mask. “But, dang it, man,” he huffed, voice thick, eyes falling on Salvager’s ravaged, blood-soaked leg. “I really wish you’d take better care of yourself.”

Rantaro Kiyama

Shinoda chimed in--a little belatedly, Venom thought.

[ROAR]

Rank: N/A

Strength: S

Speed: C → S [TEMPORARY]

Override code: SPRIGGAN

Owner: [STORM]

Endurance: S

Dexterity: C

Power: B

Inventory: A

TOWER CLIMB: COMPLETED

LEVELS ASCENDED: 193

AFFILIATION: Police

Unit: Tower Extraction

Salvager’s face crumpled like a sheet of paper and he let his disruptor pistol fall against his chest, raised arms collapsing. “Rantaro?” he gasped, a fresh assault of tears raining from his eyes. “Wh-what are you--?” His voice cut abruptly, choking as the Starving Silver rocketed through his calf, wrapping over his knee. The wriggling metal ruptured his skin and blood gushed from the split. He bit his lip, chest heaving in agony, a strangled cry wrestling out of his throat.

“Hey--!” Venom started forward, but then halted, knowing there wasn’t anything he could do. We’ll have to cut higher now, he thought, eyeing the gleaming, parasitic material growing out of Salvager’s patella. If we can cut at all. He let his gaze flicker to his newly liquefied dominant hand. No good. “Roar?” he turned.

The blonde man had hunched down beside him, the visible half of his face creased with worry. “Your ID’s Pomegranate, right?” he said, the words slightly muffled by his mask.

“Venom.”

“That’s right. Sorry.”

“Can you cut Salvager’s leg?”

He stiffened. “No way.”

Venom’s brow furrowed. “If we don’t get it off, the Silver’s going to kill him.”

“R-Rantaro,” Salvager seethed, fixing the blonde man with a fierce, commanding glare. “You sh-shot off Venom’s… Venom’s hand. I need you t-to do… do it instead.”

A flash of guilt crossed Roar’s eyes--his gaze dropped to the melted remains of Venom’s prosthetic--but, simultaneously, his jaw set into a hard line. “I would, but there’s another way.”

What? Venom bit his lip. Another way? You purged Starving Silver or you died--end of story. “I don’t--” he began.

“Valt,” Roar cut in, flicking a grave look at the cyborg. Hear me out. “Do you still have Shinoda’s Wings?”

Salvager’s strained expression tightened, his eyes cinching. “Uh--I-I don’t…”

“Open your inventory,” Roar ordered.

Venom cringed. They’d just emptied it into the shaft. “Roar--”

But Salvager did as he’d been told, summoning his blue player board at a perfect vertical angle, hovering at a good reading distance, roughly eighteen inches from Roar's nose.

INVENTORY

The screen read,

Capacity rank: SS

Capacity limit: None

Current items interred: 1

Lifetime items interred: 100, 802

Venom blinked. There was one left?

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