ALHAITHAM
[name] has always been second place throughout her entire life. She had an older sibling who'd been successful all their life which left [name] with little to no spotlight. But it didn't matter. Though she got some praise it would always return to how they'd reminisce on how their sibling got a great score.
She was a very quiet girl through her years in the Akademiya as a young scholar learning her place in the world and taking extremely difficult courses that would prove where they belonged in the world for the rest of their life whether they liked it or not.
...
That didn't matter either. It came easy to [name], with studying of course. But those first waves of test results came in and she cared. She cared so much but she was in second place. Their sibling wasn't even in her grade and she got second place. That gray-haired boy. The way he looked as if he didn't care at all, as if he knew he'd get first.
It became an unhealthy obsession to surpass him but as time went on she learned that it was not that she wanted to be first place. It was that she wanted to be acknowledged by this person. Alhaitham. That was his name.
Plenty of years later she still remembered that name. After all, he was one of the figures who helped save Sumeru from the grasp of the Fatui and the corrupt scribes who agreed with the Doctor's ideals. She was there too but not on the side of the Fatui. She'd snuck into the Akademiya within the House of Daena. She had a plan but it proved to be too risky and had escaped to where they put prisoners, finding the Traveler and Paimon there.
She was the one that got them out, whether that contribution was made known to the others that the Traveler was working with, great. If not? Oh well. Not like she cared.
She was told that the Acting Grand Sage position was vacant but would soon be filled by none other than Alhaitham. A thick jealousy swarmed her mind for a brief second before disappearing. She also learned that her parents pulled some strings and she would be an assistant. It turned out that many had already failed Alhaitham's 'trial' process to determine if they would be able to keep up.
So now she is here. The elevator slowly came to a halt at the Acting Grand Sage's domain. It was an elegant sight to behold but she could not dwell on that for long.
"You're ten minutes early." She heard the nonchalant voice from the large desk before she saw him as the woman rose, stepping up a few stairs at a time.
"I see it as being ten minutes early as 'on time'. It's better to get ahead before others do." She inferred to cut that comment to a close. [name] heard a hum come from his throat. Whether it was positive or negative she could not figure out.
"I need all this done before the end of the day." He held out a piece of paper to the woman and she took it, looking it over expectantly.
"Don't you want to know my name first?"
"I'll learn your name if you're qualified for this position."
Right. It was too much to ask. Too much for him to remember second place.
KAVEH
Whenever it came close to the end of a school year, everyone could tell that the attitudes of all the students changed. Some became more hardworking, others became more lazy, while others just wanted to get the few assignments over with. As a student of Kshahrewar, [name] was partially eager to get her assignments done, not because she disliked her choice of study but because she enjoyed it.
And, thankfully, her professor knew how to end the year easily for their students. Currently, many students taking the Kshahrewar course were told to go out within Sumeru City and Port Ormos and to find a piece of architecture they liked most and create something entirely different based on that structure.
[name] was excited since this allowed her to go sightseeing around Sumeru, something she had only done often whenever she had a lot of time, but being a student didn't allow her much. So, currently, she and a few students she had traveled with were in Port Ormos. They had all separated after some time, but they had agreed to meet back up in an hour or so.
Although the group she had gone with stayed on the ground floor, [name] decided to climb the slope upstairs where the bridges and hidden buildings were. Most students would choose the building at the end of the harbor as their inspiration and [name] couldn't blame them, but [name] had found her inspiration the moment she stepped into Port Ormos.
There was a bridge, one that she had seen many times upon entering the port. Her gaze was always stuck on its design until she was pulled away, but this time, she didn't have to worry. There were a few people on the bridge she stood on to gaze at the one opposite of it, but she didn't mind.
"Can't use that...hmm, but I definitely think..." She muttered to herself, something she did often while in thought. [name] held a small notepad, sketching out a basic design of a pattern that originated from the one on the bridge.
"Looking at the design of the bridge?" A voice broke through her thoughts, causing her to stop writing and speaking altogether, "a bit of a mess, don't you think so?"
[name] blinked, turning her head to the left towards the blond man who commented on the bridge with his arms crossed. He didn't exactly look at her, but his eyes were narrowed and his brows were furrowed. [name] looked back at the bridge and the corners of her lips tugged down.
"Well, a mess, maybe," she murmured which, [name] didn't notice this, but the blond male grimaced with a smile, "but I think it's a...organized mess. If that makes sense."
[name] glanced down at her design, then back to the bridge, "it might look like a mess to some people, but the architect who made this knew what they were doing. This is the first thing you see at Port Ormos, it's nice and eye-catching."
[name] couldn't help but feel a bit miffed that someone would call the inspiration she chose for her project as a 'mess', but she couldn't change the opinions of others. The [h/c]-haired girl turned her attention back to the man to find him staring at her with a wide-eyed look, which she cocked her head at.
Her confusion was heightened when the man started to chuckle and shook his head, "no, no, sorry, you're right... You're a Kshahrewar student, right? I remember doing the exact same thing at the end of my year..."
[name] nodded slowly, closing her notepad slowly, "yep. I'm [name], decided to use that bridge as my inspiration, so I hope I don't hear you talk down on it again," she said this in a so in a matter of fact way, that he couldn't help but laugh again as if he knew something she didn't.
"Kaveh. Nice to meet you, [name]."
WANDERER
[name] sighed, her mind drifting off elsewhere as the three students in front of her tried to hold a one-sided conversation with her, only growing more and more irate as she continued to simply dismiss them.
"You know what? This is the problem with you. You never communicate with us and always do what you want," the blonde one on the left huffed, throwing her hand off in the air in an aggravated way. [name]'s [e/c] eyes, which were gazing off to the side, came to focus on her now with a blank look.
"Is that right?"
"And you always make us present the work while you just stand there in class!" The student in the center grumbled as he crossed his arms. That wasn't necessarily a lie, but [name] would always create the model and gather the information for the presentation so she didn't have to be the one to speak in front of the class.
"You aren't wrong."
"So?" The third girl, standing on the right, "what are you going to do about it?"
[name] yawned, "um, I don't know. What do you want me to do about it?"
She honestly didn't know what their problem was. [name] knew that they didn't like her very much, but she didn't expect them to go to this much length to go and confront her about something like this... It did give her a bit of a shock, but thank the Archons she could keep her composure so well.
Either it was her attitude or her response, but the three of them didn't seem so pleased after a few seconds to process. It almost seemed like the guy in the middle was about to do something he would regret later, but a sigh, similar to the one [name] let out at the beginning, stopped the man rather quickly.
"Starting a fight right outside the Akademiya..." The one who spoke stood to her right, the group's left, while the doors of the Akademiya stood on her left, their right. The three in front of [name] turned their attention to the purple-haired male, his arms crossed.
"We aren't fighting," the girl closest to him muttered distastefully, "just telling her what she's doing is wrong."
Another sigh from [name], "whatever makes you feel better."
Before they could speak on the topic anymore, [name] turned on her heel and swiftly made an exit to her right. She passed the purple-haired one on her way, the two exchanging a simple glance, nothing else. She had to make a note that his outfit did not seem like one from Sumeru and the somewhat confident smirk on his face was kind of unnerving.
"Hey, [name]!" She ignored the call of her name and continued on her way, but was unaware of the strange one's gaze following after her before she disappeared from sight.
CYNO
The thought of having a cryo or hydro vision at this moment made [name]'s heart ache.
How lucky vision holders are...
She was with a group of adventurers from Fontaine who were trying to get to Sumeru. Their guide had insisted on traveling through the desert to show how Sumeru can differ between sands and greenery but what he didn't think of were sandstorms. From what [name] could tell people were missing.
Luck would have it that [name] was one of those missing.
She did her best in just heading in one direction and luckily got through the sandstorm's edge and traveled along the outskirts. With no sense of direction, she just kept walking hoping and praying to Celestia for any source of life or maybe even just a bit of water.
She would have to run or hide when seeing some strange people or hilichurls parading by. She was good at that; running and hiding. But at one point this would not work.
The sun baring down her back was getting too hot to handle. She'd been graced with a few trees to sit under every now and then but she was walking through sand with nothing in sight for quite a while now. She had taken off her button-up shirt and draped it over her shoulders to make sure there wouldn't be any searing sunburns.
In the distance, there were suddenly blurry scenic shadows. A few palm trees with a shimmer that flicked sun up into her eyes causing her to squint even more.
"Wa-water!" She gasped. Her shoes kicked up sand, pulling much of her conserved strength to make a final stretch toward the oasis. If she could just replenish her strength she could make it to some sort of civilization and seek up there.
If only that were the case.
As she got closer and closer it became apparent that the palm trees disappeared. The water was nowhere to be found. A mirage. She'd basked in the sun too long and it had indeed taken its toll on her.
Her legs felt like led as if that run was like multiple marathons at once and she collapsed onto the soft, warm sand. She crawled to a slightly shaded spot from where rocks were unearthed and lay her head down. Her throat felt dry and overall she felt exhausted. As she turned her head from side to side to keep herself awake there was a brief movement.
Similar to the mirage it was a shadow, of a person. Something---someone she would definitely need at this moment; similar to the oasis she had needed and still wouldn't mind.
Stop toying with me Celestia...please just let me sleep...
No, it wasn't Celestia. She realized that when the figure stopped in front of her and knelt down. She couldn't get a good look with her eyes too heavy to focus.
"Please...help me..." She managed to whisper out before submitting herself to a dreamlike state.
TIGHNARI
[name] eyed the location she had made a note about a few days ago on her map, then looked up and around at the land around her. It was green, a bit dark, and somewhat dry, but still safe and devoid of monsters; at least, that's what she hoped. Monsters around Sumeru could roam about however they wished, so no place was necessarily safe unless it was on the high ground or guarded in shifts.
Although [name] was an adventurer, she had slowly begun to burn out of the adventuring prospect and had gotten tired of doing commissions for such a small fee every week. She sought something new, something that would bring back her spark, but wasn't as dangerous as adventuring. Since she was someone who was blessed with a vision, [name] felt that she had to do something rather than nothing.
Pyro, of all things. Sometimes [name] wondered if she would lose her vision if she lost her motivation if the Archons or Celestia themselves would take it away.
Shaking her head, [name] ripped herself away from those thoughts. It's not like she would mind anyway, it would mean that she would have a realistic excuse for leaving the life of an adventurer. Even so, what would life mean without a little adventure once and a while?
"Guess this is it," [name] murmured, a yawn escaping her lips as she approached the small area between the rocks and tall bushes. [name] had never camped in this area, and only walked through a few times, but she found it safe enough... But that was a while ago. What she didn't know was that the Withering had been spreading slowly to this area and sat just beyond the rocks she set up next to as a makeshift camp.
Exhaustion began to weigh on [name]'s shoulders as she sat down to finally rest her feet and get something to eat out of her backpack. The sky was also growing a bit dark, only the colors of orange and red dusting the sky with beautiful hues, not only was it late, but it was also a bit cold. And even in the midst of her exhaustion, she knew that the bitterness of the cold was unusual.
[name] became uneasy, her body feeling colder and colder. She immediately ignited a flame within her hands, attempting to remove the chill. It helped somewhat, but she couldn't stop shivering.
"Hey, you!" A voice broke through the haze in her mind and her head shot up just as a hand grasped onto her shoulder, pulling [name] to her feet, "what are you thinking?! The Withering is right there!"
The man's voice was the only thing she could focus on and her eyes gazed around, across the flourishing jungle and greenery only to pause on the greyness of the grass not too far away. She could see the thick particles in the air with the red bulbed flowers and plants spreading the infection further. [name] couldn't stop shivering.
A sigh came from the ranger, his hand now coming to her shoulder once more, but not with that hard squeeze like before, it was a gentle push away from the Withering, "focus on my voice, alright? Let's get away from this place-"
For a moment, that gentle push felt like a final teeter over the edge. The wind hit her face and her mind went numb. Before her body could collapse against the forest floor, the one who had first, saved her from what could have been her final rest, caught her limp figure with wide eyes. His calls and urges for her to keep awake fell on deaf ears and the world went black.