Chapter Text
Kaveh built Mehrak with the purpose of having a helping hand with the arduous work he had to do as an architect. A machine that would help him visualize his ideas in a tridimensional format to gain better insight into what the finished thing would look like.
But as time went on, he found an alternate purpose for Mehrak. He found the machine to be quite the nice companion.
He built in features for Mehrak to be able to respond to whatever queries he may have while planning and sketching projects.
One day he began having a monologue about the work he had left. He said a lot of things. Not really important things, but whatever.
Slumping onto his chair, he fell into the silence of his then home, not really searching for an answer from outside. He was just venting really. However, his eyes landed on his robot, that made beep like noises as if trying to respond to Kaveh.
It became the new normal, having conversations with his machine to feel some sense of release. It only responded to his voice, so he knew that no matter what he said to Mehrak, it would be safe with her.
There was no unfair judgment and no arguing back. It was only Kaveh and Mehrak. It sometimes felt it was just them.
However, things were very different when this had happened. Now Mehrak was Kaveh's last connection to sanity.
Yea, yea, kinda exaggerated, but to Kaveh it really felt like that.
He would always get home to Alhaitham's apartment to a night full of disputes and discussions.
It was exhausting.
Oftentimes he felt belittled. Other times he felt as if no effort he did was good enough. Not at work, not with his now roommate.
Arguments would always end something like:
Kaveh, "Oh go to hell Alhaitham."
Alhaitham, "Hm, if you're not there, I'll gladly do."
Kaveh, with clenched fists "ughhhh you—whatever!"
Doorslam.
And Mehrak would be by Kaveh's desk. Kaveh would sit down defeated and turn Mehrak on with his biometrics.
Mehrak could sense his mood from the temperature on Kaveh's hands, and the components of his sweat.
Depending on the mood (which was most of the time tense and negative) Mehrak would say hi to Kaveh. In her beeping noises, she would beep happily or make sad beeps.
"Don't worry Mehrak, I'm fine. Let's get to work."
Mehrak would play music to calm down her master. She would choose from those songs Kaveh had input into her hardware memory.
Silence fell in the room as did Kaveh's hot tears. They trickled down his cheeks, he'd wipe them before they could fall and ruin his project. The sobs invaded the room. Then he suddenly burst, his tears flowing like rivers as he couldn't hold the emotion much longer.
"Oh Mehrak I—" Kaveh didn't know what to say or do,so he simply crumbled on his desk, reaching for Mehrak, hugging her with his face and hands. His project was now wet and messy, but it didn't matter because all he wanted to do was cry. Cry until he had no more tears. Cry until he disappeared.
"Sigh, you shouldn't worry too much about it, Mehrak." he traced the pattern on the machine.
Only crickets responded. Mehrak's cpu made little noises. Kaveh then realized "how utterly sad. Talking to my machine instead of just doing something. I need some time to think."
He opted to use his window as his escape. The house was one floor anyway.
Once outside, head peeking, "Mehrak, security shut down."
"beep beep! Beep" Mehrak's cpu made final noises, quiet as the wind and then shut off.
"Goodnight Mehrak."
He closed the window with the help of one of his scarves,leaving it behind.
Kaveh disappeared into the night.
※
The morning was warm. It hit Alhaitham on the face at seven am. He'd fallen asleep promptly after his daily dispute with Kaveh.
Then the morning began as normal.
He got up and began getting dressed when he suddenly realized that the house was silent. He wasn't wearing his ear protection. He was alone.
Thank archons, he thought.
Maybe for once he could start the day without a searing headache.
But then the silence dragged on.
The birds chirped and Sumeru's people chatted. Wind-chimes twinkled and kids laughed.
The house was silent, there was no one to interrupt the peaceful silence.
Alhaitham resolved Kaveh would be back by the evening so he left the house early as if to speed up time. Oddly enough, he couldn't bear the silence. The silence he so much prayed for every day.
The day went as normal. Alhaitham signed papers and rejected proposals. He checked the Akademiya foundings and organized documents. Boring day for the Acting Grand Sage.
It wasn't until he was free to go that he remembered what had happened in the morning. The silence.
A part of him hoped that his life would remain like this. Maybe the archons had heard him and he would now live in peaceful silence. But the other side of him thought he'd asked to live in silence, not alone. He secretly hoped Kaveh would be waiting for him on the couch as he always did. He hoped he'd be sat down with one of those hydrating face masks on, his eyes closed and his expression calm.
He hoped he could get home to a normal evening. Even if that included bickering.
He perused his pocket for his keys. His fingers found instead a soft fabric chained to some keys. He pulled them out of his pocket. The little lion keychain greeted Alhaitham.
Kaveh didn't have keys. That meant that if he was anywhere, he'd have to be outside the house. But dread sank onto his stomach as he approached the house and there was no one there. All lights were off, which also meant Kaveh hadn't been home at all, since it was him who would turn on all the lights as soon as night-time came.
Now panic made its presence known to Alhaitham. He wasn't one to panic. In fact, his panic looked rather calm to any outsider. But he felt rather agitated.
He quickly opened the door.
The corridor was dark. The living room was the same as he had left it. The kitchen didn't have a single pot or pan on the stove. The bathroom didn't have steam. There were no signs of life.
Against his better judgment, he began calling out his name. First his voice was stable and deep as it normally was. Standing in the middle of the living room he called for him.
"Kaveh, no lights today?" no response.
"Kaveh?" not a single sound.
"Whatever you're playing at..." he said as he opened the door to his roommate's room. An empty bed greeted him. His eyes shifted, trying to see whether the desk was clean or not.
There was a half done blueprint. Pens, rulers and protractors scattered on top. The blueprint had spots that had once been wet, but when Alhaitham reached to touch he found the wet spots completely dry.
He made his way to the window, he wanted to breathe in some fresh air. He then noticed a green faded scarf hanging from the window.
Finally, a sign of life.
He picked it up and sure enough it smelled of Harra Fruit and Sumeru roses. But the smell was fading. The cologne Kaveh used hadn't been applied onto this fabric today.
Alhaitham sat down, almost defeated, the only thing is that Alhaitham was never defeated. He always made sure to win whatever game he's playing. Whatever Kaveh was playing at wouldn't surpass him.
He tied the scarf to his wrist.
Turning around, Alhaitham noticed the briefcase that Kaveh loved so much. He carried that thing around everywhere. Alhaitham also knew it was no ordinary briefcase. It was, aside from The Palace of Alcazarzaray, Kaveh's proudest work. A machine that could display anything Kaveh may need, with an upgradeable memory and a built-in projector. It also could also write down answers to queries made to it. Kaveh defended that machine as if it was his kid. He wouldn't let Alhaitham say a single bad thing to or about it. The machine, Alhaitham had noticed, responded to Kaveh's gestures. This is the reason Kaveh could still wield his claymore. After he got told by Tighnari to stop wielding such a heavy weapon due to his carpal tunnel getting worse, Kaveh made Mehrak be able to carry it for him.
At that time Alhaitham had said it was the stubborn answer to such a problem. Kaveh had said he preferred to be smart about it, unwilling to give up his greatsword.
Kaveh really is very smart, Alhaitham thought as he stared at the briefcase-shaped machine.
Running his hands through its rim, Alhaitham couldn't find how to turn it on.
It had some buttons, but none of them did anything.
After thinking for a while, Alhaitham remembered what Kaveh normally looked like with this machine. He rarely touched it. In fact, the machine floated behind him all the time. So he now opted for the touchless option.
What was the name of this thing? Mirjah?Mehnaz?
Kaveh would always go on "Her name is Mehrak! Do not disrespect her."
Remembering this (frequent) argument Alhaitham called,
"Mehrak."
In its beeping language Mehrak replied to Alhaitham: "Voice recognized. Owner: Alhaitham. Access denied" and shut down again.
Alhaitham had studied Mehrak's language for a while, enough for him to understand the machine. It amazed him how this machine could have its own language. Again secretly amazed by Kaveh’s intellect
Past his amazement, he was also annoyed. Of course Kaveh had taken his time to forbid access to Alhaitham.
He tried again. Same response. But perhaps there was some way to crack the machine open.
"Mehrak, Kaveh is in danger." he said plainly. But Mehrak responded the same.
Maybe it was just his voice, no matter what he said, Mehrak would carry the same distrust for Alhaitham as Kaveh did.
He would have to look for help.