Pestilentem PC: Anjo Nala

[justscribing]

mememememe

Comments

Wk2 Friday

[justscribing]

[Amaya is dead. The world is never fair, certainly not in the end of things, but it's truly discomfiting that in this place she had everything taken from her. It reminds him of what she told him before--and how he rebuked it.

Well. He's never believed he couldn't be wrong.

Rather than wallow, he decides to put that energy into something productive. That's what leads into where he is now: sitting at the bar in the arcade writing a summarized version of his notes with Nala mixing him drink after drink.

It... well, it was productive, but Alhaitham got focused and just kept drinking what Nala put out for him. Normally he'd be more moderate, but even he is only human and even his judgement slips.

That's how he ends up well past tipsy, handwriting veering on a diagonal as he squints at it as if it's caused him some offense. And then he pushes it away.] Nobody needs this tomorrow.

[So he can put it off!!]

[fetteredwings]

[Nala looks at the paper and squints herself]

I think it is fine. I have seen worse handwriting.

[She wonders if she should give him water to sober him up. Oh. Well. It is not as if she doesn't understand this pain, and Amaya looked...young? And humans did care for their young. She thinks more distractions are important. Sliding another drink over]

[justscribing]

[Alhaitham huffs as he takes the next drink.] Lowering your standards? I remember you wanted it readable.

[He takes a slow, long drink.] Besides, if I finish it now I just have to redo it when we learn more. I don't want to do it twice. Kaveh would do that, but I'm efficient.

[He's also drunk.]

[fetteredwings]

...the Colonel used to feel the same way about his writing too.

[ she is feeling sympathetic ok]

Kaveh?

[prompting gently ]

[justscribing]

[The Colonel is a smart man, only doing as much work is necessary. Unfortunately she says Kaveh's name so Alhaitham quickly stops caring about the Colonel.]

My roommate. He's so fussy. [Alhaitham gestures with his drink.] He would make thirty copies, and update them every week, even though it's easier to just amend the one... because he never does anything moderately.

[fetteredwings]

[Goodbye to Nala lore, but hello to Kaveh lore]

I see. He must love writing more than you then.

[justscribing]

[Next time... when he's not drunk and pining.]

No, he's like this about everything. If it's not perfect he can't stop thinking of what he can do to improve it. [Alhaitham sighs, but it's very slurred and also not near as put-out as it should be.] Especially his work. Even if his client is satisfied he's always editing it over and over right up to the deadline.

[fetteredwings]

[Sipping her drink as she contemplates this very seriously]

You sound like you care very much about him.

[justscribing]

I do. I love him. [He downs the rest of the drink.] But I don't want him here, I just want to go home.

Week 4 common sense gone

[fetteredwings]

[What does Nala do when she has access to a tool store? She gets her hands on a tool set. Alhaitham will find her crouched by the screaming Jukebox cursing up a storm. At first, it starts off with rebukes in their common tongue, before it increasingly becomes more exasperated and ends up in dutch, what she vaguely remembers as her birth tongue]

You stupid piece of shitty metal! I am trying to help! Help! Stop screaming at me!

[justscribing]

[The jukebox is screaming.

Alhaitham doesn't need to ask if Lobelia was involved to know Lobelia was involved. He's probably the only person in this place that can fuck up the jukebox that badly. But it has made the cafeteria a lot less pleasant and his headphones only do so much which the battery has long died and left him without the full noise canceling.

He kind of wishes his hearing was gone right now instead of his sendet of balance. He uses the furniture for stability as he enters and is drawn by--not the sound of the jukebox, but something else indescribable near it.

He looks over. Nala is shrieking. Nala also has tools, he didn't realize she was handy.]

I assume what you just said wasn't gibberish. [But he also... didn't understand it?]

[fetteredwings]

[She's about to bring the hammer down onto the jukebox (Nala no) when she realises Alhaitham is there.

Oh.

Huh. When did he get there?]

...yes? I am from the Netherlands. [The fake fact sheet wasn't entirely wrong!!] We spoke Dutch there, as with a number of languages. I'm telling this thing it's a miserable shitty piece of work. [Cursing in Portuguese this time, which feels about right]

[justscribing]

[Well that was closer to Natlanese but not enough he could really make it out. Fascinating.]

I see. It doesn't match any language I've ever heard in Teyvat, so I couldn't make out what you were saying.

[And now it's got his attention. New language! Enrichment for Alhaitham!] You're trying to fix this?

[fetteredwings]

Oh, our languages would be a little different between the worlds, wouldn't it?

[She nods and gives the jukebox a little vicious kick ]

I didn't think it would still be screaming.

[justscribing]

Some of them are still mutually intelligible though. [How many French speakers do they have.]

Has its power source been removed?

[fetteredwings]

Oh yes. [ mischievous] Like how you always speak to Lobelia in this specific tongue

[ and switching back, abruptly]

Yes. Even disconnected it screams. I was thinking of putting it out of its misery.

[justscribing]

[Oh? Then allow Alhaitham to smoothly switch to Frenchtainian with zero shame whatsoever.] I didn't realize you spoke it as well.

I assume this was Lobelia's doing, so if he can't fix it destroying it is probably the best option. Maybe there's a replacement in that junk store.

[He sure didn't switch back, hope Nala is fluent enough.]

WK5 Friday

[justscribing]

[They wake, they're released, it's eerily without any bloodshed or chaos but Alhaitham doesn't feel any more secure in that.

Unfortunately hunger still exists, and Alhaitham has to come out eventually. He slinks into the cafeteria, straight to the kitchen. That's where Nala will find him, an apple halfway in his mouth as he stares at nothing.]

Re: WK5 Friday

[fetteredwings]

[ It should be a good day. She had gotten to embrace people she had resigned herself to never see again. Yet, there's this faint itch of trepidation she can't quite avoid. She's at the cafeteria table poking at her leftovers when she sees Alhaitham slink into the kitchen and troubled, she goes to follow]

Alhaitham?

[justscribing]

[Alhaitham finally finishes biting through, chewing as he looks up at Nala.

At least he swallows before speaking.] I'm sure we would have heard by now if somebody died last night. Why do you think nobody has?

[fetteredwings]

[ It's a very good question. Nala had been wondering the same thing]

I think I'm more concerned about why we had all these deaths and trials to begin with. The automatic curfews... everything... it's like someone wished for it to happen.

[ thinking ]

Lobelia was always the one to announce these things--did something happen to him?

[justscribing]

If something more did, I don't know about it. He ran and I haven't looked for him.

[Alhaitham believes it's just more of the same, the degradation of his mind and self... but without being able to confirm, who can say?]

[fetteredwings]

['Something more', huh? ]

...what happened?

[justscribing]

[Alhaitham takes another bite of the apple, turning it in his fingers.]

A fight. I'm infected now, so neither of us can be reasonable around each other right now.

[And Lobelia was already being distant from the group before then. Now that he's actively avoiding Alhaitham, and Alhaitham isn't looking for him...]

[fetteredwings]

[ ...ah...]

When was this?