Narsus: Daryun, When You See Kharlan, Dont Kill Him.

Narsus: Daryun, when you see Kharlan, don’t kill him.

Daryun: Aye.

Narsus: -looking at Kharlan’s impaled body-

Narsus: I thought I told you not to kill him.

Daryun:

Daryun: Sorry?

Went to the electronics service center to pick up my device

They said, “Oh it's not ready yet please come back four days later~”

And I'm like “MA'AM I'M DYING HERE”

Just, whyyyyyy 😭😭😭😭

Anyways look what I found when I went to transfer my data to my phone (they were like “do we have permission to delete everything” and I'm like “NO???? I HAVE MY WIPS IN THERE????” and yeah)— a very old sketch/design of Areyan in the previous AU where the worldbuilding was wack and story was nonexistent. Man I'm getting nostalgic. (The different colours are bc I tend to get overwhelmed when there's visual clutter so I tend to do each part in a separate layer and then erase the stuff underneath to make it easier on my brain)

NOOO 😭😭😭

Four more days... How frustrating for you!

But thank you for sharing your WIP, I'm intrigued by his clothing! And I love his longer hair! It’s interesting to think about the version that came before, which I guess paved the way for the current story/character to develop?

I'm looking for someone who can write about Arslan Senki.

Monstrous, she is, tar-black strands like gnarly vines in the dark of the night— so dark it refuses to have any shine. It absorbs all light, even the lustre of the golden headpiece seems dulled and corrupted with grisly shadows. No one has ever seen her face for it is always behind a veil— all that escapes that piece of cloth is her voice... a cracked and gravelly one that scrapes the air like nails across a blackboard. It sounds broken, like something took her voice and mangled it before returning it to her, thin and pained. She never raises her voice, but it carries anyways, as if from a higher entity that permeates and seeps into their surroundings. If she is some sort of entity then she must be a malevolent one, of shadow and blood and death. Everyone thinks her face has to be hideous too, surely it must be, when the rest of her body too is certainly inhuman— blackened veins taking root in ashen flesh.

That one time the boys went to see Your name.

Isfan: Seriously, Zaravant, how old are you? I couldn’t hear the dialogue over your bawling.

Zaravant: It’s not my fault! It was just so moving!

Gieve: Your eyes are red, Isfan.

Isfan: T-that’s because…

Gieve: Jimsa didn’t cry, did you?

Zaravant: Do you ever cry?

Jimsa: Doesn’t everyone?

Isfan: When was the last time you cried?

Jimsa: …

Isfan: Zaravant cries all the time.

Gieve: When we watched Titanic the other day.

Isfan: When we won the championship.

Gieve: At Mr. Kishward’s wedding.

Isfan: When his turtle died.

Gieve: When your dog died.

Isfan: Hey, that was really sad.

Gieve: Yeah, but it was your dog.

Zaravant: Stop it you guys!

Jimsa: Sorry, I can’t remember.

Isfan: May I kill him?

I would died to see the screaming contest between Hilmes and Shapur

Sitting in the background and eating some popcorn cheering for Shapur

Also Shapur and Daryun dragging Narsus with them would be so funny.

Two Marzbans, determined to to fight and get rid of the enemy and. Narsus complaints all the way to Peshawar that he is not able to draw his masterpieces.

Some more random AU thoughts:

After Arslan first wakes back up and recovers, Isfan can't stop fretting over him. He'd give Arslan a checkup every few minutes, to the point Farangis was like, “Bro, you're hovering.” “I am not.” “You are.”

Since Shapur and Kazai's relationship has a little leeway to be less secretive (albeit they'd pass off as lovers not husbands), I wonder if Kazai would sometimes accompany Shapur to Ecbatana. Or if the marzbans would know of him, even if just in passing.

Ecbatana shenanigans: Kharlan and Shapur unexpectedly bonding? Over being fathers? Especially after the jealous Crown Prince debacle? Maybe?

Also Shapur's loyalty in Andragoras is... dwindling. Or rather, his faith in the entire system, but since Andragoras stands at the top of it... Y'know, living with a clan that has a cultural history and identity of being wronged and persecuted by the system and those in power, it's gotta radicalize you at least a little bit. I wonder if Kharlan would notice that.

A lord, his half-brother born from a slave and is his heir, and an orphan boy he picked up from who-knows-where, one would think that's a perfect recipe for disaster but then in terms of conflict our wolf family is just... *crickets*. It'd be fun to see the shock of certain characters, haha 🤣

Eihon telling a young Isfan to recite a long list of medicinal plants and their properties in his mind whenever he feels his anger rising and doesn't want to lose control.

Shapur getting angry at something while far from home but being in a situation that doesn't allow him to express it, so he tries to distract himself by thinking about home but some stupid song baby Gieve made up is now stuck in his head. He can't get it out of his mind anymore. Poor sod.

Shapur and Hilmes having a screaming match. I have no clue what they're arguing about and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.

Isfan having to be held back from straight up murdering someone. Probably Gurgin. I don't have the context for this either.

Going back to Ecbatana (excuse my scattered brain), I wonder if Kharlan would notice the reason why Arslan noped out of the palace. Surely he must, right? And Shapur looked so... tired, the morning Arslan went to work outside the palace instead. What would he think of it? Would he even consider approaching Shapur with... information about Hilmes? I guess not, not very likely, but the seeds might already be planted.

Slings as weapons. Apparently they were widely utilized historically, and work great so long as the target has no armor or is lightly armored. Leaning towards Kashi being a slinger. Wouldn't that be cool?

Wondering how I should make Alfarīd and Ranna meet. Also Merlaine and Arslan. Hmmmm...

An argument between an exhausted Shapur and a very determined Narsus. Probably about putting forth Arslan as the hidden heir.

Isfan leaving his wolves to watch Arslan when the boy was comatose, but also after he wakes up but shouldn't exert himself, when he's not available to be by Arslan's bedside.

Farangis probably had to sedate Isfan at least once to get him to leave a comatose Arslan's bedside.

I haven't thought much about Gieve, huh... I should think about him more.

Gieve and Ranna put together would probably be called something like “Demon Duo”. Pranksters extraordinaire. Unhinged. All the good stuff, according to Kazai.

The Sindhuran debacle is still probably gonna happen. Except there's no Arslan to lead a campaign to Sindhura. Shapur and Daryun going to Peshawar to aid their fellow marzbans, probably dragging Narsus along for strategy purposes too? Haven't checked the timeline so not sure Arslan would be in a good enough shape to leave Gorgan. Most likely not. But what if Narsus remains behind, to observe Arslan? Questions, questions, so many questions...

Speaking of questions, what the everloving fuck is gonna happen to the political sphere after Tahamenay fucking offs Andragoras?! There's gonna be Team Hilmes, which Bahman would become part of, and then there's Team Gorgan, which would ally with Team Hilmes— What would Kishward do?! Actually I haven't been keeping track of where Kubard is either HELP T_T Daryun and Narsus are probably with Team Gorgan. What's gonna happen next?! Hilmes is probably finally in a position to reveal his lineage and identity, though. That's a good thing.