Viander Zanka AU be upon thee!
The divergence begins when Zanka is down the well, after Enjin and Riyo leave. Obviously, he has been starving for three days, so when he needs to find food ASAP. Our darling Lovely Assistaff is a jinki at this point (not that Zanka knows yet) and she is insisting to him that he feed himself. Sentient jinki for the win. Of course, Zanka is still in the mindset of 'I should die in this well' and what-not, so our lord and saviour Lovestick awakens with a different purpose. She's like a thurible or an incense holder, and emits the scent of food to satiate his hunger. You know those blue squiggles on Lovely's crescent? The incense comes out of those in this AU.
Zanka ends up staying in the well much MUCH longer than in canon, feeding on Lovely's Anima and fueling her in turn. When he eventually does crawl out, he has a new appreciation for how easily food is to come by in Kamatauri Ward. I majorly headcanon that the Nijikus fed Zanka poison without him knowing, so he ends up preferring feeding from Lovely than with real food. But Zanka doesn't go in search of the Cleaners. He goes off on his own to figure out what else Lovely can do. He learns how to use her to imbue foods with Anima for faster healing or improved mood, wasting the Ground looking for ingredients that Lovely works best with.
Timeskip to canon timeline: Zanka passes through Penta and finds Amo. He's still a fighter but they both share their weird scent thing (Zanka sniffs Aibō in canon don't come for me) so he takes her in to teach her better ways to use her Boots.
Of course, Zodyl's seeking the Watchman Series so he gets Jabber to go find Amo. He finds the tower empty and has to follow the trail.
Meanwhile, Rudo in the Cleaners doesn't have a permanent mentor, but Arkha caught wind of a rumour about a Lady of Penta, which sets them on a wild goosechase too.
Imagine Zanka's surprise upon meeting Enjin and Riyo again years later. Also imagine the shenanigans a pissed off Zanka and Amo could get up to.
I fuck with this so heavy what
Lovely emitting scents reminds me of those flavor pods where you put it on the nozzle of a water bottle and you drink plain water but your brain smells something else like coke or juice lol
I'm not too sure about food scents since that usually just triggers your hunger (or cravings. Me and my love for cinnamon...), though there are other scents that actually help calm your appetite like menthol.
I do think that Zanka has a thing going on in regards to smell. Her likes include food with flavor and I bet like 10 dollars that it doesn't just have to do with the taste but also the smell of it since both senses are super connected with each other. And she's also into incense, and as you mentioned sniffs Lovely...
Zanka's interest in smells being encouraged by Lovely is so good though. Im thinking that her desire to get stronger becomes entwined with how she felt weak with hunger inside The Well...so it contributes to her becoming a bit more Serious about food.
But her and Amo bonding over smells...this might be peak. I think it takes a lot of convincing for Amo to actually leave the tower, and Zanka feels bad just leaving her alone, so she ends up staying for a while. But she's also a stubborn mf and they tend to butt heads over it a lot...
I was writing a bunch of stuff after this and got carried away SORRY this is your au
How would the fight with the Cleaners go? Would Zanka end up siding with Amo or the Cleaners? Or just acting as mediator? I do feel whichever route that she ends up becoming MEGA UBER SUPER suspicious of Tamsy if the whole thing with Remlin's spell happens
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