#ryuhaitham

AND THEN THEY GREW UP 😭♥️😭♥️😭♥️

okay so this whole idea started because winter sent me fanart of alhaitham drawn as a fatui agent. then i thought about alhaitham going undercover in the fatui and how confusing it would be for alhaitham to see khaenryu if the two ladies existed in the same universe.

but his wife is at home in sumeru so he must play it cool. he would immediately notice her diamond pupils and how her eyes are more golden than sumeryu’s, so he knows it’s not sumeryu, yet strangely he would feel this protective instinct towards her whenever he sees her in passing. his opinion might change once he witnesses how explosive her temper is or when he sees her arms curling around pierro as they disappear into their wing of the palace. but i think he’d still want to talk to her without getting his head chopped off. winter went in the direction of him having a soft spot for khaenryu which almost gets him killed and imprisoned if he’s too familiar with her. he’d feel a familiar tug in his heart that only sumeryu evokes and it makes him question what is real. i don’t think it would escalate from here tbh. and i’d cut his dick off if he ever cheated on me anyway 🔪

and because i cannot like things in moderation, then i wondered, soooo what if sumeryu died? or what if sumeryu suddenly got blipped back to her world the same way she got blipped into teyvat? and that this uncover mission is completely independent to sumeryu and takes place a long time after her death. alhaitham’s emotions would be all over the place the second he sees khaenryu.

if sumeryu died, he would have to remind himself that HE buried her. his hand might reach for her out of instinct but it’s lowkey the same vibe as gojo seeing kenjaku, in that his eyes are telling him that’s his late wife but his soul knows otherwise. it’s also terribly heartbreaking to think about him finally moving on with his life and to do things without her, and then to find someone who looks so much like the love of his life but they are so cold and different.

HOWEVER, if we go with the latter, sumeryu would be considered missing and that pain of sudden disappearance and no closure would sting thaaaat much more for alhaitham. this scenario is by far the worst. i assume that it would take even longer for him to get over her, if ever. so when he sees khaenryu, he will probably think it’s sumeryu! and that she had run away from her life with him to be in the fatui and/or pierro’s wife. i think he’d question if he ever even knew sumeryu. because why would she do this? this khaenryu would taint his memory of her. maybe he’ll carry resentment for thinking she staged her disappearance but eventually he’ll realise that’s not the case. and then he might hate himself for even doubting her and placing that level of mistrust on sumeryu.

i don’t really have a continuation after this but in all scenarios i think he’d want to talk to khaenryu and see if he can figure out if there is a reason why she is a spitting image of sumeryu. and why they have the same name. for a long time now ive been trying to cook up some reasons as for why sumeryu even appears in teyvat and i did have a vague direction for that reason, which involves khaenryu, but im not too confident about khaenriah lore to talk about it publicly so i think i will shyly shelf it until we get more info :D

without the camera stuff

I just wanted to make a little moodboard for Sumeryu! Hopefully there is some sort of flow between the gifs and images haha ♡ It’s basically 2am here so I’m sorry if the caption is lacklustre or clunky. I think it’s short and sweet, though! Very much shows her acceptance and appreciation after everything ☹️