Areyan (arslan) - Tumblr Posts

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.

Can’t wait to see the final results

I am so, so, so excited

Next up the character design sheet roster is Arslan/Areyan!! Please look forward to it!

Next up the character design sheet roster is Arslan/Areyan!! Please look forward to it!

I like this appetizer 👀

Can I please get more from this? I mean big brother Isfan and Gieve with little brother Areyan (Arslan) family time…..yes I like that. Thank you!!!

“Little bolbol,” Gieve whines, though his lips are quirked into a smile. He throws his arms around the little bird, pulling him into an embrace.

“Hm?”

“Isfan's being mean.”

“You are just too thin-skinned for the truth, fool,” Isfan interjects with a sneer.

“Like I said!” Gieve pouts like a yazata forbidden child, while the actual child in his arms is the picture of composure save for an amused shine in his eyes. “Mean.”

“What can I do for you, Gieve?” Areyan asks mildly. Yazata above, he's indulging the manchild.

“Tell him he's wrong, of course! Tell him I'm the handsomest man in the whole of Pars— no, make that the entire continent. More accurate.”

“The little dove will be doing no such thing, cease your deranged chattering!”

“There, there. You're the handsomest man in the world, Gieve. Positively the most gorgeous. Blindingly dazzling—”

“Ah, ah, ah. You mustn't recite it so flatly! What have I been teaching you, let's try it again, from the top, this time with feeling—”

“Anyone would be when they're forced to play along with your nonsense, Gieve. Release my brother at once.”

“He's my brother too!”

“Oooh, can I be your older brother?” Areyan looks up from the piece of cloth he's been diligently stitching into... something. Isfan doesn't quite know what he's doing with it.

The blink he gives his brothers is the picture of innocence.

Gieve makes a strangled noise, offended. “Must you gang up on me too? Mean, mean I say, the both of you! Being around Isfan had corrupted my beloved little brother—”

"Will you please shut up?”

“Make me, wolf. Oh but you can't, because—”

“Because he can't catch you?”

“Exactly!”

It was then Isfan's turn to make an offended noise. “Areyan...”

The boy only giggles in response.

Antidote for the beheaded Gieve in @innerchorus ' upcoming fic!

Pale light descends from a cloudy sky, almost warm against a monochrome world rousing back into colour.

And the air smells like the earth.

“Oh faraway on a mountain side...”

Mountains. North.

Areyan's home.

They're riding north through petal freckled fields and dew-laden grass.

It's been a while, Merlaine supposes. A few years stuck in the capital's court could drive anyone mad. He didn't know what Areyan saw in that bastard of a Shah, enough to stick by his side and help him rule, and honestly speaking he still doesn't know even now.

“...we'll go to our tent and spend the night.”

Areyan's letters to him were full of frustrations and homesickness, stupid nobles being stupid nobles, him running around untangling their messes, and complaints of the hot weather.

Areyan did not enjoy hot weather.

He took great joy in making fun of the fools, at least. Giving them stupid nicknames and viciously tearing apart the stupid-ass ideas these fools come up with.

Can you believe? one particular letter read, He was going on and on about garden sizes. Garden sizes! As if it has anything to do with the repair projects. It's not even produce gardens he was talking about, oh no. I swear, Merlaine. I swear my intelligence was deteriorating with each passing moment.

Like he said, idiot nobles with stupid-ass ideas.

He wonders why Areyan stayed at all, even if he has to admit the pigeon made good changes. Things were... getting better, ever since the country was restored.

Still.

It made him fucking miserable.

Fucking Shah took too long to let him go.

Just as Merlaine pulls a face at the thought of the bastard, Areyan's horse gallops onwards, full of force, hoofbeats accenting his joyful singing.

Yazata's sake, how does he have so much energy so early?

“The moon shines with its watchful eyes—”

Well, he looks happy, at least. Happier than Merlaine imagines him looking at court. His eyes glimmer with the brightening sky as he glances back at Merlaine, as if daring him to keep up.

“—and from a tree branch a white bird cries!”

And Merlaine has never been one to back down from a challenge.

Puffs of breath emerge in the still-cool air, their hooves sending dewdrops flying off the blades of grass.

His smile matches ones he wore back in the Zott clan village. A sharp smile, wide and free, so unlike the practiced diplomatic smile Merlaine's seen him wear before.

He likes this one better, so much better, it reflects the menace they both know he is in truth.

It doesn't take long for him to catch up and catch the carefree wrist that's not holding the reins. Then and only then they slow to an easy halt, laughter bubbling from Areyan's throat.

“Fakta*,” he grumbles. “Why'd you have to run off like that?”

“No reason in particular,” Areyan replies cheekily. Little shit. “Nothing's the matter at all.”

The pigeon grabs Merlaine's wrist right back, gripping it with a gentle sort of firmness.

Now what.

“Like hell nothing is.”

“It's true.”

“What is?” He quirks an eyebrow. “That you're airheaded enough to do it?”

Areyan gasps, all fake and dramatic. “How rude! Where lies your sense of whimsy?”

“Ick.” Ignoring the pigeon's offended noises he instead says, “Just come and spit it out. You have something to say, don't you?”

Areyan stills for a short moment, then his face morphs into a fond smile, a much softer one than the one he had mere moments ago.

“You know me so well.”

“Course I do. What do you take me for?”

“I don't know, a grouch?”

“Just hurry up and say it!”

Areyan's hand finds his, and he almost jolts on the saddle.

A steady hand, precise and rough.

The hand that wrote all those letters. The hand that heals. The hand that made all those tiny little trinkets.

Hands that have seen hard work.

“Merlaine,” he says, somehow light and serious at the same time. “Do you love me?”

His breath catches in his throat, and it's a miracle he doesn't blurt out “what” like a total dumbass.

Of all the things he was expecting Areyan to say, this was not one of them.

In hindsight, maybe he should've seen this coming.

He doesn't remember when that happened, to speak the truth— just that it did. They'd been friends for six years, almost seven, and...

That doesn't really matter.

What matters is that he does.

“Yes, I do,” he answers firmly, looking at the dove right in the eyes.

There's no need to cushion the impact, to hide.

Why would there be?

A blush blooms on Areyan's face, and oh ain't that a look— and his smile shifts again.

He doesn't know what kind of smile this is, but he does know that he likes it.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

“I love you, too.”

“Good.”

“Good?” He laughs. “Is that all you have to say?”

His own cheeks begin to heat up. Damn it. “Yeah. That's all.”

Areyan leans closer, until their foreheads almost touch, a mischievous glint in those midnight eyes. “Is that really all?”

And.

Well.

If they kissed, then...

That's just the natural outcome, ain't it?

*oh god I forgot to type this in at first but it's an older Persian word? Apparently it means a particular type of dove, the Eurasian collared dove? And since Arslan's (Areyan here) nicknames include “little bird” and “little dove” it's a play on those nicknames. Merlaine also just calls him “pigeon”.

The children echoing Kashi in their design, even if just faintly

More progress!

Areyan is finally finished! This was a Journey™ for me. This is depicting a design (the second one, to be precise) from the design sheet I made for him! I went very in-depth about all the symbolism there, so if you wanna go check that out, it's under the #the character design sheet saga tag. I did add a few things but with the bag it's just that I saw a pretty design and I wanted to copy that.

His crutches, however, are made of white beech wood! So what I had in my notes about beech was that it symbolizes protecting and nurturing, old writings and knowledge, rediscovering old wisdom, wishes, understanding, sustenance, and letting go of fixed ideas. And I thought that was interesting because in the Wolfpack AU he (Areyan is Arslan in case you're new to my blog) and Hilmes actually end up on the same side and he's a positive influence on Hilmes kinda like an advisor and guiding light and it's Hilmes who needs to let go of fixed ideas and the one who rediscovered the forgotten histories of Kaykhusraw's time and the clan, especially Areyan, is the key that provides that change in him. Their existence, his entire existence, is like a middle finger to the very rigid and fixed societal notions that shackled Pars for so long.

I kinda wanna attempt a simple background for this piece at a later date but for now my shoulders are stiff, my spine is screaming, I need to go lie down for the rest of the day 🥲

Oh did I see something interesting coming along the way? 👀

I think I fucked up the scaling— wait no I think the scale is right but I might've chosen the wrong pose for Areyan...

Progress on the WIP! Finally! We haven't had reliable electricity for more than an hour these days (and even that hour isn't consecutive it's just a couple minutes scattered throughout the day because I guess the ministry of energy is just. pranking people or something I don't know) and it's been hell. I'll probably flip the canvas so that their scars are facing us, the screen, later even though it'll probably make things harder for me, I'm dreading shading Hilmes' scars, but I think it'd be appropriate to showcase their mirroring and Hilmes' growth of feeling comfortable going maskless even we beyond the screen aren't being shielded from it? I hope that made sense.

I haven't decided what year the coronation would take place, but I decided to draw Areyan in the hairstyle he would come to wear as an adult, if you've read my Areyan/Merlaine ficlet this would be the hairstyle he's wearing there too, I based it off of Azel Halgal from Otoyomegatari:

I've been planning this for a while and I'm so happy to finally be able to draw Areyan with this hairstyle!

Wonderful work as always. I love the position the hair and how the clothes are floating

@innerchorus As promised I worked on the coronation WIP! :D