i need to hear your thoughts on anything about yan! alhaitham i don’t know why he has me in such a chokehold on me but he does 😭🙏
It’s the same for me as well. T-T the chokehold is extreme. I’ve heard his rerun may be coming soon and I fear for my restraint. Is one Alhaitham worth more than Scara constellations???? ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´ω`ﾟ)ﾟ｡
I may not have many coherent yan!Alhaitham thoughts to share, but there is one that’s been taking up residence in my head a lot recently. It’s a concept in which Alhaitham confines you to his house, but he can’t always stay at home to watch you and he isn’t so cruel that he’d lock you up and prevent you from getting proper exercise. He allows you the mobility, so long as you won’t leave the house. To ensure your obedience, he’s put a tracking cuff on your ankle. It’s essentially the Teyvat-equivalent of modern day house arrest. T-T he’ll know the minute you take one step out of the house or if you try to remove the cuff, and though you’ve never known Alhaitham to be violent you’re still unsure of the lengths he’d go to to keep you hidden like a secret.
Only you’re not a secret, at least not one that only Alhaitham keeps.
Kaveh never says much regarding your predicament when Alhaitham’s around (you think he’s given up trying to debate the oh-so-rational Alhaitham on why keeping you here is necessary), so instead he keeps quiet. It’s obvious he disagrees; you can tell when he looks at you with so much pity softening his eyes. When Alhaitham isn’t home, you try to convince Kaveh to help. You pull all the tricks you know: sad eyes, weeping, complaining, bemoaning your stifled future, pleading for freedom, persuading him to help you now otherwise he continues to keep this terrible, horrible, criminal secret regarding your whereabouts. Kaveh breaks by the second week, but truthfully he’s been on your side the minute you became an addition to the house.
He sits you down at the table and, very seriously, asks if you have a plan. You tell him you can’t leave or else the tracker will notify Alhaitham and it’ll just leave you under more surveillance—or worse: permanently shackled. You’re trying to avoid a punishment and Kaveh understands. You also don’t want Alhaitham to know you’ve found an ally in Kaveh, though both of you know it won’t take much for him to predict and suspect. You and Kaveh plan over tea every day Alhaitham’s busy, swapping ideas like one might trade cards. And when Kaveh can’t be home, you’re mulling over the situation, hoping to find some loophole Alhaitham has yet to close. You’re always second-guessing yourself. If you do find a loophole, what if he’s intentionally left it open? But then how far ahead could he possibly think? And does he really know how to predict your every move? Surely not, right?
Eventually you realize something. The tracker may have technology you’re not very well-versed in, but surely Kaveh knows something. And something is better than nothing. You sit down with him one day and blurt the question: “Is it possible to re-wire the device so it’ll stop sending regular location updates to Alhaitham?”
“So, in other words, you mean you want to break the signal?”
“More or less.”
Kaveh drums his fingers on the table, considering it. “It’s possible,” he says after a silent minute. “But he’ll notice.”
“I’ll be gone by then.”
“You really think you can outrun him?”
“I’d rather test what little odds I have than let this chance slip away.” You take Kaveh’s hands in yours and squeeze reassuringly. “I’ll pay you. I’ll find a way to give you enough so you can get your own place. Or we could leave together. We could be roommates instead!”
Kaveh’s chuckle comes out strained, more wheeze than actual laughter. “It sounds great in theory. In practice, it’s more complicated than simple wishful thinking.”
“Then help me with the device first.”
Kaveh slips a hand out from your hold, and at first he intends to run it through his hair. But instead he places it over yours. “We’ll need a plan…and a back-up plan. This isn’t something we can do overnight. One misstep and you’ll fail, (Name). You have to take every little detail into account. Alhaitham is meticulous. You need to be even more meticulous.”
“I know. I…” You exhale an exhausted breath. This situation is far from ideal. “I know. I can wait. I’ve been obedient and cooperative. He won’t suspect a thing.”
Kaveh’s smile is thin. Somehow he doesn’t believe that, and neither do you when, hours later at dinner, Alhaitham asks if you’ve busied yourself with a new puzzle lately. You think it’s a trick question, but then you’ve been pondering for too long because he adds, “You’ve filled the workbook, haven’t you?”
Right. The workbooks he brings you. They’re simple puzzles: crosswords and whatnot. It’s meant to keep your brain sharp, to give you something to do so you can’t complain that Alhaitham treats you like a prisoner because, in his words, “Are prisoners awarded the right to entertain themselves with brain games?” Right. Just the workbook puzzles. He wasn’t referring to anything else.
You think you’re in the clear when you give your response and dinner carries on as it usually does. But you still can’t shake the feeling that he’s seen through you…
As you’re clearing your place at the table, Alhaitham, who is never one for pointless conversations, says, “You spend a while in the kitchen during the day. Is there something particularly riveting in there?”
You look at him. The kitchen is where you meet with Kaveh to discuss strategies. Of course he’d recognize an unusual pattern. He’s always so observant. But then he wouldn’t know Kaveh keeps you company. He wouldn’t know. He doesn’t know.
He doesn’t know.
“Nothing special,” you say, shrugging, feigning nonchalance.
Alhaitham is quiet. The gears in his brain are turning, no doubt. Before he can come to a conclusion—the correct conclusion, you keep thinking—Kaveh comes to your rescue. He makes a show of tripping on his way to the sink, his plate crashing to the floor with a noisy clatter. It shatters and he curses, chiding himself for his clumsiness.
“That was my favorite plate, too!” he mourns with a groan, gathering the shards, exchanging a sharp glance with you from his place on the floor.
Alhaitham’s expression doesn’t change, but he says, “The plates look the same, Kaveh.”
“No, they don’t. Their differences are subtle, but I wouldn’t expect someone like you, who lacks an eye for aesthetics, to recognize it.”
And so their debate begins, and for the moment you’re spared. Thankfully. But Alhaitham never takes his eyes off of you, even when you’re in his peripheral, as if he intends to dissect you with a calculating stare. You have to be sneakier next time. No more kitchen discussions.
You’ll move rooms often. He can’t catch another pattern if you aren’t settling into one, right?
