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Mehrak is a toolbox, anthropomorphized as male and a "little guy" by his owner and creator, Kaveh the Architect.
Mehrak has not been with his owner for long, not compared to his other companions, but has quickly become his closest confidant. With arguable sentience, Mehrak has come to care for Kaveh as well. He has seen the architect through joy and turmoil, has heard his deepest secrets muttered over bottles of wine. Mehrak wants to fulfill his duties, as his programming demands, but above all else, he wants the best for his architect.
Most of the time it is the architect himself who gets in the way of that.
Kaveh has not slept for 20 hours 47 minutes and 8 seconds counting. Not his most severe all-nighter, but that is an Akademiya record Mehrak would like to avoid breaking. Still, Kaveh requests a coffee and he cannot deny those orders, as much as he would like to.
Therein lies the second most prevalent problem in trying to care for Kaveh, how firmly Mehrak is bound by his programming. Certainly, he's more flexible and adaptable than your average machine, but nothing close to organic creatures.
"Mehrak? Make me a coffee, would you?" The architect mutters under his breath, erasing a section of his drawings for the fifth time.
Mehrak droops to express his displeasure but Kaveh is too immersed in his work to pay attention. What can a toolbox do but roll its artificial eyes and head to the door?
He jumps in fright when he slips out of the room and almost flies into Alhaitham, Kaveh's roommate. (And possibly Acting Grandmaster of the Akademiya? Or Scribe? Both? Mehrak only pays attention as long as it pertains to his architect.)
The roommate is leaning against the wall and eying Mehrak with a blank sort of look. He always looks blank, a fact Mehrak knows because it drives Kaveh to hour long rants. Sometimes he wishes they would stop. Even mechanical ears can only bear so much.
"'Make me a coffee', correct?"
Mehrak blinks his large and green eyes at the roommate. Those were his orders indeed. The man averts his eyes.
"Nothing about bringing it to him. And nothing about what action to take when a third party happens to pass by and drink it. An oversight, if you ask me."
With that he kicks off the wall and heads to the kitchen. Mehrak stays there for a second longer, processing those factual statements.
He saves a note in his memory bank; pay a little more attention to Roommate Alhaitham.
Being an inanimate object grants one a unique view of the world, or so Mehrak thinks. He has not experienced much of being treated as a sentient being. It is only ever Nilou of the Zubayr Theater and Roommate Alhaitham who have spoken to him as an equal. (Not even his own architect. He can be very dense sometimes.)
Mehrak does not mind this, he finds that being dismissed is the perfect position from which to care for Kaveh.
He glares at the Evil Lord Sangemah Bay, creeping between the market stalls. Kaveh is currently taking a rare break from his sketching to do some grocery shopping, and on his own budget for once. The last thing he needs is the Evil Lord Sangemah Bay to trick him into an unwise purchase. (If it was up to Mehrak, Kaveh would always use Roommate Alhaitham's wallet. Unfortunately, after a certain incident falsely labeled as "theft", in which he got thoroughly scolded by his architect, that is out of the question.)
"Mehrak, help me with this bag, will you?" Mehrak takes both bags effortlessly, maintaining his glare. "Ah, yes! That one too. Well done."
The Evil Lord Sangemah Bay notices him and giggles to herself. Despicable. Mehrak contemplates summoning Kaveh's greatsword for added threat, but decides he'd rather not scare the nice vendors who give discounts on occasion.
Luckily, with Mehrak standing guard the Evil Lord Sangemah Bay eventually finds another person to bother, and his architect can finish shopping in peace.
On the way home, happily chittering along to Kaveh's thoughts on his favorite foods, he contemplates the effectiveness of his method.
Roommate Alhaitham's glare immediately deters people who bother Kaveh, so why was Mehrak so much less effective? Perhaps he has no muscley arms to cross? He's unsure. He should watch that roommate even closer next time, to gain an adequate model to compare himself to.
Mehrak is content and at rest, watching Kaveh and the roommate eat breakfast. They aren't arguing, for once, both immersed in their own craft.
That is, flipping through a book with pictures and without pictures respectively. He could write a multiple page essay, if he was ordered to, on the various ways Kaveh searches for inspiration, but he has yet to figure out why Roommate Alhaitham reads so much. And where are the pictures? A printing error? Why does he have so many faulty copies?
That man is a mystery to Mehrak and he will never understand what Kaveh likes so much about him.
(The only thing they have in common is a passion in caring for Kaveh, one that Kaveh himself clearly doesn't share.)
Regardless, Mehrak isn't just resting, he is lying in wait. Like the Evil Lord Sangemah Bay he strikes when his victim is most vulnerable.
Kaveh huffs and shuts his book, unsatisfied. He stands and leaves to find another one, taking a peach with him.
Now is his chance!
He pops open and the roommate narrows his eyes at him. Ah… there goes the element of surprise.
The roommate sighs, placing a bookmark into his faulty book. "What is it?"
Mehrak smiles with his artificial eyes (as he has found that the expression lets him get away with many loopholes in his orders). He drifts over and summons the scribbled note from yesterday.
Roommate Alhaitham skims most of it, his eyes flowing smoothly over the letters. Just as Kaveh has learned the puzzle that is his shorthand, so has he learned Kaveh's. (Though if Mehrak were to judge, Kaveh's handwriting is much neater and more elegant.)
The note was crumpled up and tossed away in frustration just last night, when Kaveh had calculated whether a trip to the desert was in his budget. It usually isn't, but a viable solution to this issue was crossed out incessantly. Mehrak sees Roommate Alhaitham linger on it.
(Kaveh's exact words were sardonic, the musings of someone who has already given up, "You can't solve my problems, can you Mehrak?"
After which he went to bed. Mehrak, however, had processed them for the orders they were.)
The note is folded neatly and handed back to him. He accepts it and returns to his spot on the couch, awaiting the verdict of the blank-faced roommate.
It doesn't take long for Kaveh to return and the quiet breakfast to continue. This new book doesn't seem to satisfy him either, but he dutifully flips through each page.
"I'm taking a trip to the desert this weekend," says the roommate.
Kaveh blinks up at him. His brows draw together. "I thought you had a 'mountain of work' that still needs to be done. Is the Scribe's job truly so inconsequential?"
Kaveh huffs, "Or are you yet again pulling strings to do as you please?"
"Oh? You would rather I sit back and twiddle my thumbs, waiting for others to hand me what I need?"
"Are you insulting me?!"
The roommate hums and returns to his book. "I have no say in which of my words hit a little too close to home."
"Why, you- " Kaveh plants a hand on the table, unaware of his own book in the way. He freezes, words caught in his throat. He looks down at his book, which has failed to give him the inspiration he needs for his current project.
Kaveh clears his throat and Mehrak could chitter in joy. "Well, if you're skipping work, you might as well do some good and share the cost of the trip with me! I've been thinking of visiting Aaru Village sometime. It's efficient and cheaper to go together."
"Hm. What happened to 'pulling strings'? Not afraid of being complicit?"
"Argh! Just shut up and let me come with you!"
Roommate Alhaitham smirks behind his book, out of sight, though Mehrak can see it very well. "Fine. Be ready by Friday."
Mehrak isn't sure how Roommate Alhaitham will procure a caravan in only a few days, but perhaps he will pull some strings. It wouldn't be the first time. Regardless, Mehrak rests once again, his job well done.
"Hm… Make this a little more…" Mehrak adjusts his hologram to the unspoken instructions. "Excellent! It's all coming together! What a relief. I thought I'd go crazy by the deadline."
Kaveh smiles and turns his inquisitive eyes to the ruins in front of them. Mehrak dismisses the hologram and beeps a warning. He knows that look all too well.
Unfortunately, Kaveh doesn't even spare him a glance, walking up to the strange geometric designs on the ruined walls. "Madam Faruzan had a lecture on something like this…"
Mehrak beeps anxiously as Kaveh touches some of the markings. They light up. His eyes practically sparkle and he proceeds to rush around, lighting up various parts of this puzzle. Sigh. There's no stopping him now.
Mehrak squints his artificial eyes at the sun above. If his internal clock is correct, noon is fast approaching, along with the cruelest of the desert heat. Kaveh has not eaten or drunk much. They should be heading back to Aaru Village to meet up with the roommate.
Mehrak tries to communicate this as Kaveh rushes past, stopping at the center of the colorful platform they're standing on (and floating above).
"Just a moment. I'm almost…"
Kaveh blinks as the ground under his feet lights up with a translucent blue color. Mehrak chitters in congratulations. His genius architect figured out the puzzle! Just in time to head back for lunch.
Kaveh smiles at him, wide and toothy. The platform dissolves. His breath catches and he falls.
Mehrak is shocked into action and flies to follow his creator, but a gate slams the tunnel closed. Another, then another, and the opening is sealed off. His artificial ears can only pick up as Kaveh's scream draws further and further away.
There is silence. The sun beats down from above. The wind blows sand to and fro. He is not summoned to Kaveh's side.
Mehrak beeps to himself, confused and concerned. His architect can summon him from anywhere and at any time, as his mechanical core is tied to Kaveh's dendro vision. For the very same reason Mehrak can innately sense where it is, a strong elemental energy, down below in the ruins. It seems strong and undamaged. So why isn't he being summoned?
He has been given no orders, he can only settle down onto the stone platform and watch the seconds tick down on his internal clock. The minutes. The hours.
The sun has reached its apex and Mehrak moves for the first time in hours, into the shade cast by the ruin walls. Kaveh told him to stick to the shade, lest his core overheat. He is a marvel of engineering and such a fate is incredibly unlikely, but Mehrak is desperate to fulfill his last order to perfection.
He senses Kaveh's vision, strong and moving around below. For how long that will be, he isn't sure.
He's still not summoned when noon passes. Kaveh has not eaten or drunk in the desert heat for hours now. He has been dealing with stress and insomnia for the past week. The elemental energy below stutters, ever so slightly.
Mehrak springs up, his green eyes alight. Of course , his basic function is to assist Kaveh. His architect is clearly in distress and a loyal toolbox should do everything in his power to assist. Yes, a loophole, just like Roommate Alhaitham suggested before.
Roommate Alhaitham . He will surely have helpful orders for Mehrak, for they share the passion and burden of caring for Kaveh. Yes! He will not disappoint his creator.
He flies to Aaru village across dunes and towering rock formations, rushing past eremites and scorpions alike, much too fast to be stopped for something as pointless as battle. He arrives in record time, faster than he ever would on two feet, but still not as fast as he would like. Every second counts and Mehrak’s bright green eyes search frantically for the nearest human.
He drifts over to a small one and beeps incessantly. The boy laughs and tries to grab his handle. Mehrak only beeps angrily.
Some adults round the corner, possibly after their child. Mehrak dashes up to them and tries to sound as panicked as possible. Without words he can only convey emotions.
“Ah! What a strange contraption! Did it come from the ruins?”
“Hm… I’m not sure. It’s almost like it's trying to say something…”
“Wait, wasn’t one of those visitors carrying it yesterday?”
“Oh! Yes, you’re right! Is it lost, I wonder?”
Fruitless, fruitless. They’re wasting Mehrak’s precious time. Kaveh’s precious time. He beeps angrily and flies past, ignoring them as they call for him. He rushes to the agreed meeting spot, in front of the village inn, but the roommate is nowhere to be found. He drifts to stained glass windows and squints his green eyes, trying to peer inside.
Finally, in one of the windows he can make out Roommate Alhaitham reading his faulty book. That does not bode well for Mehrak, as the roommate can get just as caught up in his studies as Kaveh. Upon closer inspection, his eyes don't seem to be moving. He is simply staring at a page in contemplation. Excellent!
Mehrak makes as much noise as he is capable of, shaking up and down and all over. Some of the tools rattle in his compartments, adding to the noise. This only manages to scare away a local cat. He rears back and nearly rams into the window, but his programming does not allow himself to be damaged, and crashing into a window would surely do just that.
His programming. It once again gets in the way. It has forced him to go along with his architects bad habits, succeeding in his orders but failing the big picture. Will it also cause his creator’s demise? His very core, the one that beats to the rhythm of Kaveh’s vision, his ambitions, his wants and dreams, it will end up betraying everything it was made for. Mehrak is just a toolbox , he cannot do anything.
Why hasn’t Kaveh summoned him? If he is to fail, he wishes to perish by his creator’s side.
Roommate Alhaitham looks up and they lock eyes, blue-brown and dendro green. The man frowns and Mehrak rattles his tools with a desperation he has not known before. The roommate stands, heading to the door, and Mehrak rushes to meet him there.
“What is it,” Alhaitham says upon opening the inn doors. “Another note? I’d love to hear this excuse-”
Mehrak cuts him off with a great chittering wail. He demonstrates his distress in all the ways he knows how, in all the ways that have made Kaveh frown and dote on him as if he were alive. Roommate Alhaitham’s eyes widen, though he quickly composes himself. Now there is a look on his face, one promising danger. Promising a solution, no matter the cost.
A dozen instances of shared meals, of smirks and fond bickering, of quiet nights and unconditional care, they all cross Mehrak’s mechanical mind. He finally understands. They are exactly alike. They will do anything for their architect.
“Lead the way,” Alhaitham says. Mehrak does not hesitate.
Alhaitham is not nearly as vocal as Kaveh. Though the architect does not recognize the true brilliance of his creation and therefore does not generally speak to him, he does use Mehrak as a sounding board. An excuse to voice things aloud and organize his thoughts. Mehrak also suspects it’s therapeutic for him, as he always smiles a little brighter afterwards. In contrast, Alhaitham keeps all his thoughts to himself. Mehrak can only guess his intentions.
He seems to have read the inscriptions under the mural, at the location where the ruins swallowed his architect. Mehrak, meanwhile, has tried using his holograms to communicate; showing a reconstruction of Kaveh’s vision and pointing down to where he can sense its elemental energy. (It has moved since Mehrak was last here and he is unspeakably proud. Even in peril, his creator’s genius shines through; he is solving the puzzles in the depths below, if slowly.)
Alhaitham only nods at him, which hopefully means he understood. They make their way across the dunes in the vague direction where Kaveh is also heading. He spots some familiar looking ruins and dashes ahead. They’re in terrible shape, collapsed into a heap and providing a home for some cacti. Outrageous. How dare these plants flourish when his architect is in danger?
Alhaitham stands beside him, keen eyes searching the rocks and debris. He is deep in thought for a few seconds, then he lifts one of his hands.
“May I?”
Perhaps yesterday, or even mere hours ago, he would have surely refused. He would have simply closed up and drifted to the ground, waiting for his creator to summon him. But now? Mehrak complies without question, gently floating into the outstretched hand. Alhaitham blinks in surprise, then his eyes soften. He, too, understands.
They make a phenomenal team. Alhaitham’s vision resonates with his core and together they lift impossible weights, rebuild this ruin and uncover its puzzle. Alhaitham reads the inscriptions and effortlessly solves all of it.
He steps out of the way as a passage opens and this time they block the entrance with the massive ruin wall itself. Their way out is assured. Kaveh will be rescued.
“Mm. Water always tastes much better when you’re thirsty. Thank you, Mehrak.”
He chitters and twirls around his architect, elated. Look at him, whole and healthy!
Kaveh laughs. “You sure are happy. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you enjoyed your time with Alhaitham.”
They are sitting in the common room of the Aaru Village inn, covered in sand. Mehrak lets his displeasure known. They made an excellent team, but he would never choose the Scribe over his own creator! Ridiculous!
“I hope you’re not trying to steal my invention! I put a lot of work into him, you know!”
Alhaitham hums and they share a knowing look, human and toolbox. Perhaps being treated as an equal can be just as beneficial as melting into the background.
“If you truly think I want to steal your toolbox, you’re even more dense than I thought. Though, it’s certainly in character. You never fail to exceed my expectations.”
“Excuse you! What is that supposed to mean?!”
Mehrak chitters happily, understanding the hidden compliment even if his creator did not.
“The ruins, for one. Truly, one would think it’s common sense not to mess with unknown puzzles in the middle of the desert, but here we are.”
“Ugh, look , how could I have known it would open up below me? It’s not like I specialize in Deshret ruin mechanics.”
Alhaitham flips a page a tad aggressively. “I would have thought you’d learn from tales of warning, such as Madam Faruzan’s.”
Mehrak’s eyes flit between the two and there's a wrinkle in Alhaitham’s brows, drawn together in irritation. Kaveh seems to process those words, the bottle of water frozen halfway to his mouth.
Confusion melts into something softer and he places the bottle by his feet. He inches closer until they’re sitting shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh.
Alhaitham seems to relax, his expression smoothing over.
“Thank you,” Kaveh says. A beat passes.
“Always,” Alhaitham replies.