text; follow up survey

[indispensable]

Type: Text
Sender ID: vulturvolans (Alhaitham)
To: Public
Subject: Follow Up Survey
Warnings: Subtle unsubtle bragging, and Gay

This is Alhaitham.

I have a survey for people to respond to. Those who have filled up my previous survey from last year may consider this as a follow up of sorts to it—those who have not are free to respond to this one all the same. Regardless, there are similarly no restrictions or stipulations to the nature of the responder; the only thing that I request is for honesty when filling this in.

1) Are you currently in any sort of romantic relationship? (Arrangements made purely for physical reasons do not count.)
2) Does an institution of marriage exist in the world that you come from? Does it play any sort of significant cultural role? Feel free to describe as much or as little as you want.
3) Do you consider the idea of marriage important? What is the primary endgoal in any romantic relationship that you pursue?
4) What do you envision as your ideal future with a partner?
5) What does the concept of 'home' mean to you?

You are free to leave your answers in this post or direct them to my inbox. I will follow up on whatever answers that I feel are necessary.

Thank you for your time.

Comments

[haveaflare]

Sanbreque is but one of many nations upon Valisthea. I am aware of nations who are rules differently. It may not be as shocking as you think.

[empyrean_mirror]

I think there's plenty about Sumeru that others native to Teyvat find plenty shocking as it is.

[haveaflare]

Such as?

[empyrean_mirror]

well, the Akasha has been shut down, but that tended to startle people. The concept of the academic family tends to be hard for people from other nations to fully understand, as does the fact the Akademiya's sages act as the governing body for all of Sumeru and not just the school itself.

Generally everything that goes on in the Amurta darshan is rather inexplicable and I'm FROM Sumeru.

[haveaflare]

This is my first experience with the term "Akasha". None thus far have attempted explanation of the academic family and so I cannot say whether or not it's confusing.

If your nation is so intrinsically centered around this institution of learning, though, the leaders of this school leading the nation as well is not so difficult a concept.

[empyrean_mirror]

We are the Nation of Wisdom, guided by our Dendro Archon...ah. The archons are our gods but they are usually much more...benevolent than deities seem to be in your world.

The Akasha was a network that connected all knowledge in Sumeru together and compiled the people's wisdom. You could look up anything stored in the Akasha within the span of an instant--initially it was only meant to keep a record of what we had learned but over time it kept expanding to even personal information of every single person connected to it. It's since been dismantled, but it was often difficult for foreigners to get used to using one.

An academic family forms around research. After a time, it became common for researchers to marry to pool their bodies of work, as social status in Sumeru is not based on your bank account, but the breadth of your research. Over generations, this accumulated body of research could come to be seen as wealth--the sum of your family's wisdom. It also means proposing joint research with someone can oftentimes be a euphemism.

[haveaflare]

I feel the need to defend her, but Greagor is benevolent.

[But moving on.]

Much like this contraption, then. I jest, though it does contain more knowledge than I would think possible of so small a machine.]

[He takes a moment to respond to the last, processing it.]

If this is too forward a question, please do not feel inclined to answer, but is this the case between yourself and Alhaitham?

[empyrean_mirror]

It was a little, but they were clipped to the ear and displayed images in front of your eyes--there was no need to have your hands taken up by it.

[Kaveh...hesitates for a long moment.]

...When we were younger, it might have...it certainly looked like it would go that way. But our thesis dissolved over apparently irreconcilable differences. When we met again...we had to connect as people, not as scholars.

[haveaflare]

I see.

[And he does, at least academically.]

Well, if I may be so bold, connecting as people is far more enduring.

[empyrean_mirror]

Depends on the scholars and on the people.

But we were young men, and too proud to really see each other. Time has a funny way of teaching you wisdom from your pain.

[haveaflare]

I will be the first to admit young men are often fools, having been one; whether it be blinded by pride and unable to see the other, or seeing them plain, save for the knowledge your feelings are theirs as well.

Indeed, and pain has a way of showing you wisdom.

[empyrean_mirror]

There is a saying that the deepest wisdom often begins as dire confusion. I suppose pain counts as a sort of confusion, too--wisdom is gained via action, not by sitting around in contemplation all day.

[haveaflare]

I agree. Wisdom is often lost through inaction, because wisdom comes from knowledge and experience, and while pain not truly be confusion, it is certainly an ordeal.

[empyrean_mirror]

Is confusion not often a source of pain? Truly, I think they are cousins.

So is regret, after all. Neither action nor inaction can be undone afterwards, and they don't balance out the other. But you sound like a man who already knows that lesson.

[Sorry, Dion, he's actually pretty sharp when he's not startled.]

[haveaflare]

I concede your point.

When I was young and too foolish to see that the object of my affection carried the same torch for me. We reconciled that oversight in a spectacularly stupid way. I took what would have been a mortal blow for him and he cared for me in my recovery. He confessed his feelings while I was abed.

[empyrean_mirror]

[Kaveh grimaces at his phone. Oh...oh dear. Oh no. Well at least he doesn't need to rely on his poker face. Sorry, Joshua...]

...If it's any consolation, I wasn't exactly honest about mine, here, until a Leviathan forced the issue under the threat of drowning Alhaitham.

[BLONDES IS THE SAME.]

But I take it that was the beginning of the story, not an ending?

[haveaflare]

And so fear makes honest men of us all.

[EVIDENTLY]

Indeed. I demanded we drop the pretense of friendship. That was ten years ago. Only...when I last saw him, I-

I sent him away, to repay a debt I could not myself, and joined Joshua and his brother on their mission to stop Ultima. I hear you are acquainted with the fiend.

[empyrean_mirror]

...Acquainted was a word for it.

So I'm to understand you sent away your partner while you went on what could very well have been a suicide mission?

[haveaflare]

['Lover' seems too trite a term for what Terence is to him, but he doesn't argue the point.]

...Bahamut's wings were needed to end Ultima's tyranny, and to reclaim our world from its grasp. I did not ask it of him lightly. He, Terence, is one of the finest knights Sanbreque has ever known. To ask him to abandon his post when our people were at war to save a healer girl...

And worse, I knew he would.

Needless to say, I have many regrets, Kaveh.

[empyrean_mirror]

Dion, I mean this with as much respect as I can.

But if he were to appear and slap you across the face I would hand him Mehrak to do it with.

[haveaflare]

That is far more respect than I deserve, and he'd hardly need the aid.

[empyrean_mirror]

It's about the principle of the thing, not whether he needs it.

Why do ALL of you--no, not a useful question. Look, I understand what Ultima was and that nothing could be spared in stopping that...creature. But you could have done him the respect of making his own choice where to stand in the face of it. Being granted the power of a god doesn't give any of you more dignity over others, and I know you already knew that.

[haveaflare]

I understand your position, and you make a valid point.

The medicine girl, Kihel is her name, she saved me, even knowing what I'd done. Akashic were everywhere, the city and the world was crumbling around her, and there was none other than Terence I would trust with her safety. I owed her that much, and more. I pray every day he was successful and they escaped before the city's utter destruction. They both deserve more than being the victims of circumstance.

[empyrean_mirror]

[There is a long pause before this response, because Kaveh had to scream into his husband's chest a bit until he calmed down.]

They deserved more than your guilt as a final farewell, too.

[haveaflare]

[His response takes longer, but for a very different reason.]

I know.

I should have told him what happened in the ruins of Twinside, of the girl who saved me to spite what I'd done to her homeland. He has the right to choose and I took that from him. There is no apology for it. Any attempt would be an insult to the man he is.

[He can't bring himself to speak of Terence in the past tense, even though a part of him is sure he sent him off to die on a fool's errand.]

And so, what would you have me do?