Doc needs a small part to finish his job, but B-12, who was supposed to make it, got distracted. The cat can't accompany him to the workshop, so he found an alternative.
Context of this headcanon:
This is post-game. The Zurks managed to escape the city. They attack nearby villages at night. Doc called B-12, Elliot, and Lena to help him develop new defluxors to protect against this plague.
Although Doc is the leader, this is more of a group of friends than a place with boss and employee ranks.
Jokes and silly things like this are common; they're happy while they're working at what they love.
The topic of the workshop is very broad; I could make two or three posts talking about it if anyone is interested!
Here, Doc and his team are working on a large lighthouse with a powerful defluxor inside. This machine'll protect the town from zurk attacks.
I didn't include details about this directly in the comic because I thought it would be pointless text.
The important thing here is that it's clear how much B-12 loves the Little Outsider ❤️
I struggled a lot for a month, there were many things I had to redo. But here it is. I managed to finish it, and I'm so happy about that
Welcome to part 1 of Infodumping about my Stray AU!!!! The topic of this line of posts is....
Kiran and Seamus
(You're reading Part 1 now)
Part 2 here
Part 3 here
These two have quite a story to tell and I will do my best to explain it to the best of my abilities while also keeping the posts at a reasonable length. And yes. I HAVE considered putting it all in one post, but I know myself. Start yappin once and never hear the end of it
So without further ado, here's Part 1 of Kiran and Seamus' story :]
Part 1: Beginning and end
Introduction to the situation
Seamus and Doc didn't live together when Kiran met Doc. Seamus moved out at some point and lived on his own somewhere further from the current safe zone. A Zurk attack put this part of the Slums off limits and forced Seamus (among with the very few survivors) to move closer to the elevator again. Doc readily welcomed Seamus to his home again, thankfully saving him the hassle of having to find a new place to live in.
This is also why Seamus never found Doc's secret lab before the cat - it was built during Seamus' absence LOL
Before Seamus moved back in, Doc formed a partnership with Kiran who had proved themselves a competent researcher and a fellow science enthusiast. Even though their fields didn't match, they still enjoyed working together, sharing equipment, and also learning about each other's interests along the way. They'd become very close working together.
Some might even say they were closer than Doc and his own son.
Relationships
Seamus and Doc have very little in common. Seamus takes more interest in fiction over non-fiction and entertains himself by reading and writing short stories and poems. He's very artistic - Doc is not. He's an inventor and has no time to waste on reading something that won't help him with his research. Bit of a workaholic, too. So he was overjoyed when he met Kiran and finally had someone who would go on endless rants about science with him.
Unfortunately, the two made Seamus feel left out in the process (see picture 1. This is becoming a science textbook omg/j) Seamus could contribute to their conversations as much as a floor lamp in the corner of the appartment could. And he felt like one too. So in order to feel less unimportant, he started going out every time Kiran visited. His search for a place where he'd be more noticed was short; not like there are many options left in the Slums at this point... And besides, the Dufer Bar was an obvious first choice. So, Seamus kept coming to the bar every time, becoming (somewhat) friends with Jacob (the bartender) who will remember this soon-to-be regular quite quickly.
In the meantime, the science duo caught on to what Seamus was doing (Kiran realising first that he'd leave every time they arrived). They both realised they'd been unintentionally leaving him out of their conversations and decided to fix it. "We'll sit down with him and apologize when he comes back" was Doc's plan... But Kiran's subconsciousness was having none of it.
Disappointed in their lack of awareness to Seamus' feelings, and worried that he must hate them because of this, Kiran could no longer focus on their work. They'd realised as well that there was very little interaction between the two of them - which is absurd given how often they visits this place! Not even 5 minutes following this realisation, Kiran was out of the appartment hurriedly making their way to the bar.
Finally more art hufffff.. go look at it while I regain my breath/silly
At the bar, Kiran asked to have a chat with Seamus, to which he hesitantly agreed. This is where Kiran apologized for being so infatuated with their and Doc's work that they managed to leave him completely ignored. They made sure to show that they realised how badly it hurt to be left in the dust like that, and that they wanted to do better moving forward. Feeling seen after their apology, Seamus decided to give them another chance and the two decided to start over.
And so they spent a day at the bar with mostly Kiran speaking - but not about science and their discoveries. They talked about Seamus' interest. The stories he reads and what he loves about fiction. Why he writes his own stories too. He even recommended some books to Kiran who will eventually actually read them and be able to properly discuss them with Seamus.
FRIENDSHIP!!
Things changed drastically following this interaction: Doc's house became less of a workshop and more of a place to hang out at (with some work being done here and there). I imagine Kiran and Seamus are mentally around the same age (hopefully I can talk about robot consciousness and my headcanons soon too...) so they became close pretty quickly, going out together and, eventually, causing chaos wherever they go/lh
Kiran encouraged Seamus to come out of his shell. He got to meet other bots of the Slums through Kiran (while he knew about all the (remaining) residents, he never really spoke to any of them). Soon there would be a group of "younger" bots parading around the Slums, joking around and having fun. Mito, Vapora, Roshee, Swanito... Along with Kiran and Seamus, of course. The group brought some life back to the Slums. They couldn't fix any of the major problems, but their sheer energy and the way they could find joy even in such a dire situation helped the rest of the Slums feel a little more hopeful. Like everything will be okay; and if not, at least they still lived a happy life despite the circumstances.
Outside of group hangouts, Kiran and Seamus grew even closer: Kiran continuing to read the books suggested to them - and even some of Seamus' works once he was comfortable sharing them - and Seamus even learning a little about zoology and botany! They'd do almost everything together (working with Doc, training with Clementine, hanging out at the bar, even reading in silence...). They were inseparable and the Slums knew that.
... You're probably expecting shit to go Very downhill from here.
And you're so in the right to do that. Let's go-
Doc's departure
As the Outsiders formed and Doc joined as well (Kiran didn't, but was helping with the Zurk research), things became a little tense in the family. Seamus was nervous about this change... His father in the Outsiders? Does he plan on leaving the Slums? Does he not know the Outside isn't real?... The answers are yes, yes and he doesn't believe in that theory. So, no.
And so Doc took his Defluxor and ventured into the Dead city to test it out - never returned. When his tracker broke down, it was interpreted as his death.
Things changed around the Slums after this. The place went quiet. Everyone grieved the loss, and Seamus was absolutely devastated. But those weren't all of the significant changes...
The cold shoulder
Inexplicably, Seamus became especially distant from Kiran. Actively avoiding them, refusing to speak with them, and giving them harsh looks in case he was forced to acknowledge them. Nobody understood why. Not even Kiran. They desperately tried to find out if anybody knew anything- anything that might have made Seamus so resentful towards them... But nobody did. Only way to get the answers was to force a conversation about it with the very person who avoided it the most.
Seamus did not take it well.
It happened in the center of the safe zone, for all to see and hear. Kiran demanded they're told why Seamus avoids them, and he delivered.
It's their fault. They knew all of Doc's plans and never opposed them, including the one that lead to his death. They didn't save Doc. They let him march right into his death. Doc died because of Kiran.
Try as they might to reason with him, Seamus did not want to hear a word from them. He said his part and stormed off, leaving everyone in complete shock and bafflement. And Kiran had it worst - so terrified of this sudden switch and accusations that they started to believe Seamus was right...
My first Guardian hehehe :] I had so much fun drawing this one also Kiran is comically small compared to him/lh
A lot of the witnesses decided to step up and reassure them that Seamus is full of shit and just wanted to blame someone for the awful things he feels right now. A horrible way to cope, really. But everyone knows Kiran, and everyone knew Doc. They all knew Kiran had absolutely nothing to do with Doc's death. Deep down, Seamus knew this too.
Logically, also, Kiran knew this as well.
... but a mind under the influence of such heavy feelings is anything but logical.
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And that's a wrap!! This was a LONG one haha but rest assured, I believe this one will be the longest of the (hopefully/lh) three posts in this series. I figured it was time I started posting more lore about my Stray AU because BOY do I have a lot to say. So here's a big chunk of it that may not stay relevant later in tje story but... may still show itself in some parts here and there.
You'll see. Especially with the next two posts, because they will explain a huge part of Kiran's character. You will see :)
OKAY enough with the yappin for now!! If you are here. reading this. uh. thank you SO much but also are you okay?? /silly either way thank you for reading!! have a cookie🍪
