indigently | 𝒪𝓅𝑒𝓃 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉 🏛️

( continued. )

[ Well, it's certainly not the response Kaveh expected. Careful as the words are, the sentiment is indeed implied, and the thing is, outward emotion of any kind is an odd look on Alhaitham. It has him raising his brows, and where he should just be content with any niceties he gets, he can't help but shoot back a somewhat snarky reply: ]

If I didn't know you any better, I'd say you're going soft on me.

( continued. )

[ Well, there's no time like the present moment to continue their discussion, and the means of communication do not honestly matter to the architect. As such, Kaveh makes his way into the study with all of his usual aplomb, picking up the book in question and leafing through it for the condoms he himself placed in there earlier, for reasons that he still hasn't entirely explained— and that, honestly, he's not entirely sure he fully knows himself. He should probably feel embarrassed over the whole thing, but with the worst of the uncomfortable conversational turn having passed them by at this point, any worries of the sort are long gone, and his mood has changed for the better once more.

Perhaps in the long run however, the outcome of the situation is to end up somewhat more unpleasant for Alhaitham, who now has to listen to Kaveh's lyrical voice as he goes about lecturing the scribe on his choice of words. ]

Regardless of your opinion on the terminology, Alhaitham, surely you can see that the textbook language for an act so intimate is dry at best and dispassionate at worst. It's none of my business, I know, but it's a total turn-off.

[ it's a good day. kaveh arrives in the morning, and tighnari has delegated all of his duties to allow himself the time needed to attend his company. they spend the morning swimming in the pools below gandharva ville before a light lunch, and some time spent discussing work, seminars, and all manner of inane topics while tighnari prepares a refill of his signature hand cream for kaveh. evening arrives, and they enjoy dinner with collei and cyno, stuffing themselves on fragrant biryani and roasted mushrooms, cyno's signature tahchin, and delicious umm ali for dessert.

and all the while, from dawn to dusk, tighnari silently catalogues how many glasses of wine kaveh enjoys, how often he reaches for the bottle, how many bottles they empty between the three of them.

after another round of genius invokation tcg sees collei nodding in her seat, tighnari gently declares the evening complete, and clears up the table. collei smiles blearily, before she's heading off to her own hut, and cyno lingers long enough to help with the dishes before he's off to sumeru city again, breathing a soft kiss to the corner of tighnari's lips.

and then there were two. i'm not tired. walk with me? tighnari asks, and together he and kaveh set out to the lower slopes of gandha hill, to watch the swath of stars fling itself across the heavens. tighnari points out vulpes zerda in the sky, they chat a little more, and then, fall silent. it's a comfortable silence, at least for a little while, before tighnari ventures, quietly. ]

Kaveh.. you know you can trust me, don't you?

[ when all is said and done, there are pieces outstanding. the recording of kaveh's will enacted upon sachin's inheritance. the processing of those who had meant to kidnap a dead man. the conclusion of a decades-long investigation into the lethality of a competition that should have only ever been about the progression of research. all that can come later, alhaitham knows. in the neat annals of alhaitham's life, the time allocated for matters of state and institution are carefully penned in between the regular working hours of nine to five. it is, in fact, all the time that alhaitham is willing to allocate to such matters. the after hours are his own.

tonight, four hours after the dramatic conclusion to the interdarshan competition, and a single hour after kaveh's dinner out, alhaitham meets kaveh in the front room of his house. he says, without need for explanation, ]

Sit.

[ in his hand, the first aid kit unfurls into its major components: gauze, tweezers, antiseptic, plasters of a variety of shapes and sizes, safety pins curled in balanced on the tension of spring and clasp. practised hands bring a basin of cool water. the towel is orange. it had been a part of a set debated for at the counter of a very bemused stallkeeper on treasure's street, the collateral damage, as it were, between alhaitham's general disinterest in colour and kaveh's need for all of them. it is handwoven and inexpensive; it had been chosen by alhaitham for the task because it is a towel, and because it is not one of the nicer ones in the household that kaveh would protest to using it for such a purpose. it is one less argument on the heels of a day that stretches, long, long, like lengthening shadows, as alhaitham sits behind kaveh on the divan and gestures for him to remove his shirt.

the wounds catalogued by a brisk flicker of alhaitham's eyes come hardly as a surprise. a day's laying in hot desert sand, the bruises and scrapes that come from being collateral damage between the general mahamatra and what is essentially a flying gremlin, the tussle and tumble from being sped across a racetrack propelled by nothing but mehrak's propensity to explode and a singular, stubborn ideal. all of it culminates in a story told through harsh, red lines across the pale of kaveh's skin, mottled purpling bruises the size of small dinner plates, and a bristling sunburn that pains to be perceived. alhaitham documents each with clinical detachment. he wets the towel. he wrings it until it is merely damp. he begins to clean.

it is, after all, not the first time has done so. it, too, will not be the last. ]

Lean forward. [ these are the words that break the silence. ] Do not slouch. Gravel has gotten in.

( from here, prompt 2 )

First of all: I'm already in bed. My hair is up and there's moisturizer on my face. If they are indeed making out on the couch still, that makes this a "you" problem, not an "us" problem.

[ For a moment, he considers leaving it at that— but that's practically inviting snark in reply, and son he continues: ]

The way I see it, you have a couple of options, and mostly involving destroying the mood so completely they have no choice but to give up. Personally, I recommend sitting next to them and reading in your best monotone voice from the dullest chapter of the dullest textbook you own.

[ continued. ]

Madam Faruzan!! You can't just ask someone that!!!

[ continued. ]

Ah, now whose turn is it to offer too much praise, Lord Kamisato? Besides, having the chance to work on this project is an honor. Regardless of how difficult your schedule made it, please be assured that I would make the time. But there are many who would not go to such lengths for my comfort, [ —in fact, if anything, often the opposite is true— ] so I'm grateful nonetheless.

At any rate, I will see you this evening.

[ And so at 11PM exactly, Kaveh is allowed into the Kamisato Estate for a meeting with her lord. Despite the late hour, the discussion goes smoothly, with each side presenting all needs and requirements to receptive ears. The Kamisato lord is respectful of him in a way that takes the architect by surprise; usually in such negotiations he is continually hounded by clients who, despite not being artists themselves, seem to believe they know exactly what will work and what won't in a design. But when Ayato speaks, it is to query, to answer questions, to educate in the ways of Inazuman architecture. This, despite being a man who is surely used to ordering others around—

The meeting flies by; before long it's past midnight and Kaveh is sitting back with a contented sigh. It went better than he could ever have imagined, and despite the late hour, he doesn't feel tired in the slightest. ]

I'm sure you hear this often enough, [ he says with a smile, ] but you're not at all what I expected.

( continued! )

I mean... I guess. Maybe a little.

But there's been a lot of bad too.

( continued. )

I never ASKED you to hype me up??

[ How the moods will change. From cheerful to self-doubting to aggravated. Likely, Alhaitham is the last person he should have contacted about this, but, well... ]

Ugh forget it, I shouldn't have told you. It's not like you'd get it anyway.

Hello, Kaveh, I hope you are doing well.

Are you free right now?

for @prescribes

for @parries

no subject

the wound is the place where light enters you; / post-interdarshan competition

for @sapio