The Scribe Who Didn't Like Musicals
This idea has been sitting in my drafts for, idk how long now, so I just thought I'd share it.
Tighnari had been visited and called upon more times in this past week than any time he can remember. The people of Sumeru are experiencing a very weird...illness. It all started with a leyline as most weird things do. It happened to a party of Adventures' Guild members, some Akademiya students and professors, and some poor unfortunate people who got stupidly curious plus a sprinkle of those with bad timing. No one knew or, rather, no one admitted who activated the leyline but activated it was, and all those around it and all those in a 25 mile radius were splashed with what could only be described a blue non-sentient slime.
The slime itself held no elemental properties like they usually did, nor did it look like normal slime concentrate. But they did find out if it was touched with bared skin, it affected those who touched it as well. Luckily, Tighnari hadn't been affected, though they still didn't know what it would do. So far, the only recorded symptoms were high fevers and sniffles. Or at least that's what the called in doctors said.
But then...then things got weirder. It started being reported that those who were affected would spontaneously burst into song and dance, whether they wanted to or not. And many were reported to sound...angelic even if they had sang like a dying cat before the weird slime thing. Sometimes, their songs were accompanied by broadcasted illusions. Those seemed to be a rare addition to the affliction though.
At first, this wasn't something to panic about, but the things people sang about started to get....very personal and something they probably wouldn't have admitted to if they were in sound mind. When people saw others singing out secrets, many infected tried to hold in the singing, and that's when their symptoms got worse they got sicker and sicker the longer they held in their song. There was one reported death so far, but it was that death that pushed the rest of the unaffected of Sumero to call in help from other doctors, alchemists, hell, even some adepti.
Those who found the illness amusing in the beginning started to fear it. There was an incident where a high-ranking official in the Corps of Thirty started bringing people into his office and sang about how he wanted his wife to choke him while he....anyway it wasn't pretty and many came out a little more than traumatized if they happened not to get infected themselves. They still didn't know how it was spreading without the slime being present, but it was being worked on, as well as a cure.
That all would be fine if Kaveh hadn't been among those first infected. He was refusing and doing his best not to sing. It was affecting him hard, and he was so very sick that Tighnari was scared for his best friend, oh, and also for Alhaitham, who looked so worried for Kaveh that he might fall sick himself. But of course, Kaveh was oblivious to it.
Tighnari, Alhaitham, Cyno, Collei, and even Faranak, Kaveh's mother begged him to just sing. He still refused. He even stopped talking all together. Then something happened, Tighnari didn't know if it was Faranak's crying pleads or Tighnari's, but he suspects it was something else, someone else. He had seen Alhaitham visiting by himself, and it was after one of these visits that Kaveh started singing. And it was like once he started, he couldn't stop.
At first, it was little things, like about his frustration of the past, frustration with his mother for forgetting about him despite the fact he also sung about he he didn't blame he. He sang about how much he loved his friends, how much Alhaitham frustrated him.
They all did their best not to overreact, Alhaitham seemed like he was suffering the most from all this. Then Kaveh sang how he loved Alhaitham and was glad they were friends again or well friendlier. He sang about he wishes they were more but knows Alhaitham doesn't feel the same.
That day was a rough one....Kaveh completely shut down after that one and barricaded himself in his room and stopped talking. It took Alhaitham breaking in through Kaveh's window and him shouting at Kaveh that he loved him back. It took a while for Kaveh to believe him and more for him to sing again.
It was the final song he sang before a cure was found that hurt them all. His friends had always known about his self-esteem issues and his generosity that seemed to harm him as much as it could. From the lyrics, Tighnari called the song "Writing on the Wall" in his head and oh how it broke his heart, especially when his friend seemed to be one of those people who also displayed illusions to accompany his songs. The sight of all the red x's and the sight of his friend hammering at a doll of himself had him sobbing.
He was cured after that but had become withdrawn after, but they didn't let him isolate himself like he was prone to do. They took care of him until he was back at 100%. That's when they spoke of everything altogether. It wasn't easy, but they came out of it with stronger relationships, and now, instead of Alhaitham and Kaveh fighting all the time, they bantered or were sickingly sappy.
Even if they annoyed Tignari with how cute they were, he found he was far happier now knowing how his friends felt since it was a catalyst that helped all of them talk about their problems.
Even if Alhaitham became the biggest wife-guy in all Teyvat.
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I definitely want to flesh this out more when I'm not super busy, but if anyone wants to try their hand at it, they are welcome to! Just credit me for idea. I don't know why, but my brain was begging to use my love of The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals/Starkid with my love of Genshin characters.