i don't know how to format tumblr shit, so bear with me.
basic info
yo! name's Maji, they/them, minor. nonbinary, aroace, chronically ill/disabled with god knows what.
this is a sideblog of @aroacenezha for my OCs, drabbles, headcanons, etc.
the blorbos and thoughts
content may include: Genshin Impact, Lego Monkie Kid, Legend of Luoxiaohei/Lanxi Zhen
fav chars: LMK Nezha, LMK Red Son, Dainsleif, Aether, Collei, Baizhu
OCs: Thayer (Genshin), Gryna, Rihe (LMK)
regarding reqs and ideas
I might take writing reqs if they interest me- if not, I will just share and/or respond to them with thoughts/ideas I have. I write mostly platonic stuff!!! I make exceptions for some certain pairings I like, but that is unreliable personal preference and 90% of the time just jokes or tropes that only work in a romantic/sexual context, so don't expect me to take to it.
warnings/whatever the fuck
(tbd) may or may not reblog suggestive/NSFW stuff- will be tagged and can be blocked accordingly.
not pro-ship or anti-ship, more "apply logical reasoning and personal perceptions of characters to character relationships and denote whether it's just representation of a questionable dynamic vs actually encouraging that, aka what is truly harmful vs what just makes you uncomfortable".
even though 0213 obviously ends up with either 0204/Atlas or 5012 because it's a dating sim, i hope they still remain the trio of all trios
by the end of the game it's still just 0213 posting a selfie of them and atlas near 5012's desk captioned "us and the guy we piss the fuck off" "(who wouldn't admit he'd be kinda upset if we got terminated)"
i obviously understand why this won't happen for consistency reasons of player-characters and all (let alone if we even a proper Grim cameo), but a Sunshine and 0213 (who is lovers if not friends with 5012) interaction would be SO funny
sunshine sympathetically is just like "ah. you got stuck with the/our asshole". sunshine and 0213 proceed to have a talk about extremely arrogant and annoying 'best' reapers while said reapers have frenemy 'no i don't care for you' debate in the next room.
sunshine wraps up the conversation by telling 0213 the best ways to piss off (and help) 5012. 0204 comes in with popcorn. somehow the two have already achieved 50% of the list. sunshine wishes both them and 5012 godspeed.
of faint smiles and slit pupils, leather-clad boots and bloodstained hands, guns and masks, curiosity and regret, of a fatherless father and the future he swears to protect.
of faint smiles and slit pupils, leather-clad boots and bloodstained hands, guns and masks, curiosity and regret, of a fatherless father and the future he swears to protect.
some people seem to be convinced that the whole thing between thara and iäna was a deliberate bait-and-switch on addison's part, but you know what i personally think happened?
i think she accidentally wrote herself into a corner, and it was the only way she could think of to get out of it
given the way that the plot was developing irt the clenverada, there was obviously no way that thara would have been able to stay in amalo at the end of ToD, and given how passionate iäna is about his job as a composer at the vermilion opera, as well as the fact he can't just leave his single mother on her own when he's her only child and she doesn't have a husband, there's no way iäna could realistically have left amalo to go with thara at the end of the book.
i feel like addison probably HAD been planning on setting iäna and thara up together romantically, but with iäna unable to follow thara to cetho (and beyond), their relationship would have had to end tragically one way or another.
so in order to give thara his happily ever after, she had to find a way to give him a love interest that would be able to follow him out of amalo, while also not damaging his friendship with iäna. ergo, neither of them are romantically interested in the other, but they do love each other deeply and are committed to their friendship.
it would explain why hanu was introduced so late in the series, and why he doesn't really seem to fit in with the rest of the cast. he doesn't really have any personal connections with other characters, he doesn't really have any personality traits that set him apart as a unique person, we barely saw anything of his dynamic with thara.
but thara and iäna's friendship has always been the emotional core of the CoA trilogy, and it's very obvious that even addison herself is more emotionally invested in their dynamic than she is in thara and hanu's, given the trilogy ends off with thara's letter to iäna, with thara reiterating his love for iäna, and with the promise that they will continue to be in contact in the future
goblin emperor / cemeteries of amalo dashboard simulator: the shameless cashgrab sequel
(original)
🪦 intheulistheilean
is othala celehar dead (for real this time)
Yes
No
I'm bald / nuance / see results
Voting ended onMar 11
#look. chanavar is looking VERY sweaty this time around #that's all I'm saying #I think being on the steppes would be safer atp
429 notes
⛪ prelacyupdates
Don't let other posters fearmonger about the safety of the Prelacy or the Witnessing profession! The vast majority of our clerics, prelates, and novices live long lives, usually up to the average life expectancy as laid out by the census and the Imperial Health Service. There is no excessive risk, unless you are a Witness for the Dead given specialist training to quiet ghouls. Should you choose to follow a calling, you will be just as safe as you would be in any other profession. Othala Celehar is an outlier and should not be counted.
3259 notes
⛏️ clenveradaminecraftserver follow
We love our Dragonhold Mines!
🐲 ithalpherix follow
⛏️ clenveradaminecraftserver follow
what was that
236 notes
🪦intheulistheilean reblogged ⛪ prelacyupdates
⛪ prelacyupdates
We are getting word that Othala Celehar is indeed alive! However, due to several incidents, including a reported fall down a mineshaft and an attempted assassination with a garrote, do please direct all Witnessing requests to Othalo Tomasaran for the time being. Thank you for your understanding at this time.
🪦 intheulistheilean
tags roundup:
#is this man even real???? / #most prelate ever / #see. this is why we believe in ulis #bc if ulis was not merciful... this man would be so dead #dead as fuck / #ohh I was wondering where olgarezh went / #a GARROTE?? if I turn over the coins will they have belthema ix on them?? #were they going to try a flint-headed spear and a big rock if that didn't work? / #all the mad shit that librettists make happen to prelates in operas? #yea it ALL happens to him / #divine punishment for being born a celehada man methinks / #wharg / #did the emperor curse him by accident or..... / #I think this happened in one of my barizheise novels once / #...so do we think I'm still getting grandpapa's funeral rites on time... / #this is going to ruin the tour (< the vermilion opera) / #prev honest to anmura I'm shocked mer pel-thenhior hasn't had a brainstorm yet / #ugh this is why I left amalo there's always some shit like this happening
321 notes
🚢 lionsoforpezhkhahar
these fucking illiterate romanners girlies will never read a real book in their lives. all these court dach'osmins are desperate to be taken seriously but then all they read is A Bunch of People Going to Each Other's Houses by Goëlar and claim it's peak literature... and then they expect their papas to let them go to university??? lol. lmao even. it's actually crazy how desperate people are to let anti-intellectualism take over. give us a barizheise novel any day. and no it's not progressive just because thou thinkst Goëlar MIGHT be a woman. we can't believe anyone is even entertaining the idea that the novels have even the slightest bit of literary merit. laughable.
324 notes
🤲🏻 honourofcstheio
ethuveraz guy waking up from a three year coma: wow we are so lucky to be alive. at least our clenveradeise wife and our daughter we married into the tethimada will have been well-provided for by their kinsmen. we can't wait to go back to our job under lord chavar at the chancellery, managing the funding for arbelan zhasanai and archduke maia's relegations. long live varenechibel iv.
#I don't like living in interesting times :(
13,457 notes
😺 drazhadanewsandupdates
I can't w waiting for this fucking wedding I don't care if it's about 'invitations' and 'logistics' and 'auspices' if I was going to marry dach'osmin ceredin I would NOT be dragging my feet about it. skill issue serenity
#vent #ooc post
23,451 notes
🐚 pelanrabeachessss follow
this website is so ethuveraz centric it's insane. barizhan is about to experience a major internal succession war but all any of thee can post about is thy little meow meow emperor... give me a fucking break the great avar is about to DIE and his mentally unstable daughter is probably going to get murdered by the avarsin in the succession war. look it up
⛰️ urvekhposting follow
not OP just calling thever 'his mentally unstable daughter'... at least do her the dignity of using her name :/ this account has been so problematic lately. should we break the mutual
🐚 pelanrabeachessss follow
YEAH OK BUT I THINK THEVER SEVRASECHED'S POSSIBLE IMMINENT MURDER IN THE SUCCESSION CRISIS MIGHT BE MORE PROBLEMATIC, TUMBLR USER URVEKHPOSTING.
🌽 orshansmazei
everyone above is dumb as rocks but idk I don't think edrehasivar is gonna let his aunt get assassinated
🗿custom-nesechos follow
thy milquetoast lil emperor can barely stop himself getting assassinated let alone anyone else
🌽 orshansmazei
talking about ANYONE dying is really fkn brave coming from a vikhelneisei. hope thy papa turns into a ghoul and eats thee
🗿custom-nesechos follow
someone's mad their name isn't known to the gods
🌽 orshansmazei
yea they'll learn that shit really quickly when thy crispy fucking body starts sitting up and punching their prelates
🪦intheulistheilean
who's thever sevraseched
🎭 civulanorevival
anyone in this thread smoke weed
21,973 notes
🪻lazinessoftanvero
our cavalier girlfriend who still has a sunblade and says things like 'prove her worthlessness upon her carcasse': ugh they're still debating whether or not honour duels should be legalised. isn't it so despicable how mid-varedeise conservative social policy bled into sporting and cultural pursuits
us, emperor of the ethuveraz: we think we hauve the sessiva
#i hope this isn't treason lmao
456 notes
✉️ couriersdaily
every day we get pneumatics
34,239 notes
⚔️ valmatasreturn
average varesevena subplot: we have a stupid cognomen and we are giving more meaningless promotions to our mates!!! #welovecorruption #corruptionmaxxing
average varenechibel subplot: We Are Relegating A Baby Due To His Bad Vibes
average edrehasivar subplot:
#he always looks so fucking sad........... #I'd be BEAMING at every appearance if I was married to dach'osmin ceredin #just saying... #justsaying
thought about a researcher assistant oc for screwllum with moth inspirations so
"March 17th, 2028 AE:
I never would have imagined I'd be able to sit in among 4 geniuses for the development meetings of the Simulated Universe project. The only downside is that they seem to have delegated me to the role of Lord Screwllum's pet moth. This is mostly proven by the fact Madam Herta keeps forcing large, wing-like jackets with large amounts of fluff around the collar onto me. I can't really tell her no..."
March 21st, 2028 AE:
"...One of the Herta puppets handed me an antennae headband when I approached the meeting area. Can I quit from under my boss's coworker when she is also my ex-boss?"
Halloween event concept: Atlantis: The Lost Empire
So, in my endless ruminations on what sort of Halloween adventure I'd like to see, I decided that Atlantis would make for a great combo of themes and visuals☝️
(thank you so much @hanafubukki for giving me yapping time and suggestions!)
We've got three distinct possibilities in terms of location:
Atlantis exists in Twisted Wonderland and is hidden. The boys could get there by way of a travel accident or even an actual expedition
It exists and is known (a la the direct-to-video sequel where it gets lifted out of the water). The boys take a normal trip there, GloMas-style.
"Lost in the book"-type event
I think all three work well enough
In Atlantis, it has been a reasonably long time since Kida's queenship
In keeping with TWST tradition, Rourke and Helga were benevolent figures along with the rest of the crew
Atlantis here has developed the futuristic part of itself, has a unique type of technomancy or otherwise a scholarly focus
We of course need a playable-in-the-future antagonist
Enter a suspiciously-militaristic looking guy who turns out to be Rourke's descendant. We'll call him Rourke Jr. for the purposes of this post
Rourke Jr. doesn't understand why his great-something-grandfather wouldn't bring back some secrets and a lot of treasure, as opposed to a bit of treasure (as seen in the movie with the rest of the crew). Maybe adventuring has financially devastated the family, maybe there was a fight over the little life-prolonging crystal
Whatever the tragic backstory, he's here now and the NRC group has to uncover his plot to exploit Atlantis' resources and/or technologies
Which brings us to our cast!
I would be here all day if I was picking my dream line-up, so I'm going with the other half of the cast as opposed to NMBC
Those being: Cater, Ace, Deuce, Jack, Ruggie, Floyd, Kalim, Rook, Ortho, Lilia and Silver
Of these, those currently without a Halloween SSR are: Deuce, Jack, Ruggie, Floyd and Lilia
Now of course the SSR characters are supposed to somewhat compliment the themes of the event! Learning a lesson or teaching the antagonist a lesson, you could say
Based on that, I'm picking:
Lilia for "fight colonization and resource extraction"
Jack for "stand up to your leaders"
And Ruggie for "if you must choose, choose to help your community" (Rourke Jr. would probably mistake him for a potential ally and realize the mistake way too late)
"Knowledge is power, in good and evil hands both" would be a great focus, but that would be better for somebody like Idia or Vil
The runner-up is Deuce for "you can always choose to try to do better"
Ortho makes sense as the fourth largest role. He's so excited for all the technology! Gets Atlanteans excited in return! Probably gets kidnapped by Rourke Jr. for that reason.
Pop Music Club gets into Shenanigans
There's a scene with the strange seafood-specific cutlery seen in the movie. The only people who are good with it are Cater (went through Riddle's etiquette training from hell) and Rook (Rook)
It would be in true Floyd fashion if he went for a swim and got into the Crystal Chamber on accident
Jack and Kalim get mistaken for locals
We're legally not allowed to reference the main story but I need Silver and Lilia to get emotional about the themes of immortality and decline
Atlantean outfits for everyone! Probably without the dorm color-coding, since a blue-violet-warm pink palette seems to be the distinguishing feature
Finally, the song would definitely be an original one since we only have the, ngl, generic pop song from the credits
Maybe something moodier than usual, inspired by the Crystal Chamber soundtrack (you know the one)
There was an entire conlang developed for Atlantis! We need to use it!
And that's all of my thoughts - please add more if you have any!
aka a hound who, upon realizing they are now in a space where it's cool to be affectionate with people, quickly becomes very casually touchy with the cast. except morien, bc they're more touch averse. hence:
morien: why exactly have you decided to store this plushie in my working area?
hound: well one, it was a gift from mordred. two, it reminds me not to get in your space. (squeeze)
(morien positive emotional damage #1)
(bonus: mc later gets into sewing and makes plushies for any kids who visit morien to play with, but admittedly they're mostly for morien. morien positive emotional damage #2)
Morien, every time MC squeezes the plushies: ... fuck. That's cute.
Honestly, I see Morien softening up around your MC after that, slowly allowing MC into their space, tolerating their presence even when they are grumpy and in pain.
Even, after a bit of time, coming to sit by your hound's side, handing them a treat.
Couldddd i request over blot boys reaction having their lover bored enough to put stickers on their face (its sticker that save for the face btw i dont want to be killed by vil) 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 please please please with cherry on top pleaseeee
【❝Stickers❞】
【Synopsis: In which the Overblot boys become their partner’s very own personal arts and craft project】
【Featuring: The Overblot Boys (Riddle Rosehearts, Leona Kingscholar, Azul Ashengrotto, Jamil Viper, Vil Schoenheit, Idia Shroud, and Malleus Draconia)】
【Tags: gn reader, established relationship, fluff, crack, yeah that’s pretty much it lol, please let me know if I forgot any tags】
【Word count: Riddle (131) Leona (138) Azul (190) Jamil (174) Vil (184) Idia (133) Malleus (174) Total (1.1k)】
【a/n: hii hii and ty for the request! I kept theses all pretty short there’s so many characters lol! I usually only allow three characters pre request, but I thought this was cute and decided to write for all the boys anyway! Tysm for all the love and I hope you enjoy! <3333】
‧₊˚ ┊ At least, that's what he wants you to think, but his red face definitely says otherwise
‧₊˚ ┊ You're lucky there's somehow not a rule against wearing stickers on one's face, otherwise Riddle wouldn't be so forgiving (lies — he'd let you get away with murder tbh)
"Aww, don't pout, Riddle. It looks cute on you, don't you think?"
"Cuteness is subjective, my rose. If anything, I think I look rather ridiculous."
"Do you want me to take them off, then?"
"N-no! If adorning my face with these stickers makes you happy, then you have my permission to do so. I only ask that we keep this to ourselves. I don't think I have the patience to withstand the looks and comments I'd get if I went out looking like this."
‧₊˚ ┊ Mr. Nonchalant Dread-Head over here does not give a fuck lol
‧₊˚ ┊ As long as you're not disturbing his sleep, then you're free to use him as your little arts and crafts project — just don't mess with his hair, ears, and tail unless you what him to bare his fangs at you
‧₊˚ ┊ Leona will remove all your hard work if he has to leave the comfort of his room, so don't get too attached to it lol
"What's stopping you from just going to Spelldrive practice like that?"
"My dignity and self-respect."
"Wow, okay, rude."
"Whatever. I'll make it up to you when I get back, alright?"
"Fine, but I expect you to buy me more stickers."
"I'll buy you a whole sticker factory if that's what you want."
"Really?"
"No. Now, help me take these damn stickers off."
‧₊˚ ┊ Azul doesn't exactly see the appeal of decorating his face with stickers, but he likes hearing you praise him and call him cute, so he lets it slide
‧₊˚ ┊ Me may or may not buy you a bunch of stickers with the sole purpose of baiting you into using them all over his face (this mf ain't slick smh)
‧₊˚ ┊ Azul just wants you to tell him he's pretty, and this is the only way he can get what he wants without sacrificing his pride lol (men will do anything but be vulnerable lol)
"Have I ever told you that you have beautiful eyes? This sticker right here complements them really well. You're so pretty, Azul. Seriously, it's so unfair."
"You flatter me, my pearl. Keep it up and you'll make me blush."
"You're already blushing. That's cute too, ya know? Dammit, everything about you just makes me wanna squeeze you."
"You're starting to sound like Floyd, darling."
"Yeah, well, maybe he's been onto something this whole time, and I'm only just now realizing it."
"For my sake and yours, please stop hanging out with him — he's a bad influence on you."
‧₊˚ ┊ Jamil doesn't have the time or energy to deal with your bullshit (he still loves you tho)
‧₊˚ ┊ He's either gonna let you have your fun, or shut that shit down before you even have the chance to think about putting a sticker on him
‧₊˚ ┊ Lucky for you, Jamil is weak for you and will, occasionally, give in if you beg enough for his liking (freak)
"I thought I made it clear that you're not to distract me while I'm trying to cook."
"Fine, I'll go — just let me put this sticker on you first."
"Uhhh, no."
"What, why?"
"I don't need a reason. If I don't want a sticker on my face, you should respect that and leave me alone."
"But, Jamillll."
"Hush, your tricks won't sway me. Now, leave before I kick you out."
"Please! I'll do anything."
…
"Beg."
"Of course you'd say that. Fine, pretty please, Jamil, won't you let me put this sticker on you."
"Hmm, your begging can use some work, but I'm a man of my word. Go ahead."
‧₊˚ ┊ You run the risk of sustaining grievous bodily harm every time you so much as touch Vil's face without washing your hands first, so a sticker might land you six feet under (jk tho — he's never hurt you, but he will get very upset with you, which is privacy worse bc he's very petty lol)
‧₊˚ ┊ He will always tense up the moment you put a sticker on him — eyes wide and expression blame as he turns to look at you like you just said the most out of pocket thing he's ever heard
‧₊˚ ┊ You're very lucky that Vil doesn't make a mashed sweet potato out of you lol
"Before you get mad at me, I want you to know that those stickers are safe for your skin."
"Good, I'd hoped you weren't foolish enough to think you'd get away with putting something full of toxic adhesive chemicals on my face."
"Aw, c'mon! I'd never do anything to make my Queen mad. Well, not intentionally, at least."
"Yes, I would surely hope not, sweet potato. Now, remove this sticker from my face."
"Yes, my Queen."
‧₊˚ ┊ Idia is never gonna say no to you — it's a miracle he managed to pull you in the first place, so he's gonna do whatever he can to keep you happy lol (he's very desperate)
‧₊˚ ┊ He doesn't leave his room like, ever, so he doesn't care abut you putting stickers all over him
‧₊˚ ┊ Idia loves cute things — especially cats — so his one request is that you adorn him with as many cat stickers as you can
"Ooh, look at this one, Ids. It's so cute — kinda looks like you too."
"Chat, is this rizz?"
"… you just had to go and ruin it."
"I'M SO SORRY, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME. I PROMISE I'LL NEVER BE CRINGE AGAIN!!!"
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Idia."
"My bad. I'll choose a better dialogue option next time."
‧₊˚ ┊ Oh, Malleus is so down to be your living, breathing sticker book
‧₊˚ ┊ He find the sticky adornments to be rather… intriguing — he never saw such things until he came to NRC, so they're somewhat of a novelty to him (Briar Valley is pretty much stuck in medieval times, so no stickers for poor Mal-Mal)
‧₊˚ ┊ Malleus will wear your stickers with pride and refuses to take them off no matter the occasion which is quite the sight lol
"Don't you think you should take the stickers off before you go to class, Mal?"
"Nonsense! I would never destroy my dearest Child of Man's hard work. I shall let these stickers fall off on their own."
"I mean, I appreciate the sentiment, but you don't have to keep them on just for me."
"I just so happen to think I look quite fetching with these stickers. Lilia says they help temper my naturally intimidating aura, so I shall wear them until fate deems it fit to see them fall off."
It all happened so fast, there was nothing Idia could do; he had killed them.
Now there was nothing left to do but rebuild what he had broken.
Now, 5 years into the future without their old memories, the overblot boys go about their day working for Styx as androids. Yet, Idia can't hide the truth from them for much longer. Soon, all will be revealed.
Riddle Rosehearts
Riddle was the first android to be built.
While he doesn’t like Idia very much he will still complete any job that is given to him.
He mostly handles paperwork, manages staff and he takes care of some dirty work when it’s asked of him.
His main focus is and always will be his job and he won’t let anyone convince him that there is more to his existence.
Styx is all he’s ever known.
Still, he dreams of eating sweets and having the ability to eat.
That would never happen though so he pushes the thoughts deep down.
Leona Kingscholar
Leona was the second android to be built.
His main job is to leave the facility and help take down dangerous monsters that are causing styx trouble and making sure they don’t escape when being transported.
He’s not needed most of the time though so he can often be found in the storage room “napping”.
Azul Ashengrotto
Azul was the third android to be made
Azul’s main job is to also handles paperwork like riddle. Though he also helps “tidy” things up after someone overblots. Once he’s done it’s like no one overbloted at all.
He can often be seen with Idia who azul finds a bit strange.
Something strange about him is he has a fascination with eels he even has a fish tank with them in his room.
Jamil Viper
Jamil was the forth android to be built.
Jamil’s main job is the leave the facility and collect samples and similar things for styx. He is also the most versatile of the androids so he is often overworked.
He hates it but stays silent.
He has two forms one with his mask on his eyes and one where his mask flips down covering his mouth allowing him to put people in a daze.
He wonders if his life would be better if he was human. The cynical part of him thinks the world would be just as cruel to him if he was human.
Vil Schoenheit
Vil was the last of the Styx androids to be built.
He works in the land experimenting with blot and other things under that umbrella.
He is often seen with Ortho who often helps him out from time to time.
Vil always makes sure his body is perfect and owns many different gears, an accident that happened in the lab badly damaged him and after he was fixed the accident caused these tendencies to flare up more.
Idia Shroud
5 years later Idia is getting ready to take over styx fully.
He’s given up on being free he doesn’t deserve, not after what happened.
Grief consumes Idia to the point he’s fooled himself into believing the androids were always styx androids and they never used to be human.
It’s the only way he can cope.
Surprise I wrote a fanfic! :D
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I’m keeping most of my styx incident au stuff to the fanfic but I may post more about it on here I don’t know I do want I feel like.
This was my first au so I hold it pretty close to my heart so I just wanted to do one big styx au post (and show off the fic…)
okay. twst newcomer here and mostly just fucking around but i had an oc idea and i'm cackling bc it basically goes like this:
oc: hey idia
oc: someone who doesn't do magic shouldn't generate blot right
idia: uh
idia: scientifically, yeah, should be impossible
idia: but if we know anything, it's that blot does all sorts of weird stuff
oc: okay cool then i guess i shouldn't have to worry about this
oc: (sends photo of them coughing up blot with a thumbs up)
idia: DUDE?!?!???????????
(also they are a medusa-inspired oc i think so. any name suggestions would be appreciated bc i have been drowning in greek myth references. despite their power they have trauma about stone and doing magic, hence the refusal to do magic even at a magic school)
I know you mentioned Kavetham in your essay and how ppl mistake them as toxic. I think the issue is that their banter at the start does not sound friendly at all. Kaveh sounded so incensed every time he’s with Alhaitham I wonder how’s his blood pressure. I know Kaveh gives back as good as he got, but most of Kaveh’s jabs doesn’t come close to hitting Alhaitham, whereas Alhaitham’s snipes seems always to hit Kaveh right at the jugular. It’s only until the Parade of Providence event and Cyno story quest 2 did I see any possibility with them.
I'm really sorry to say this, but unfortunately I think this is a case of misreading.
Although Kaveh was definitely more incensed in their early scenes and way more likely to fly off the handle, I think the game went out of its way right from the beginning to make it clear that that's Kaveh's personality.
Kaveh's a sensitive and temperamental person who gets worked up easily, and it's not just at Alhaitham but with virtually everyone, from his own clients to the Traveler. One of the first things he does when meeting the Traveler in Alhaitham's story quest is be such a poor host to them that Paimon of all people starts giving him shit.
Rest under the Read More:
According to Alhaitham's voice line about him, which was available long before Kaveh became playable:
Kaveh gets worked up about everything and is constantly making a fuss. Putting his blood pressure at risk is just what Kaveh does on the daily, whether Alhaitham is involved or not.
Right from the start, we were supposed to understand that Kaveh is a dramatic person. It goes hand-in-hand with his status as an idealist, as someone who pursues his beliefs ardently and believes in beauty and the human spirit, rather than in cold, pragmatic rationality. Just as he's passionate and uncompromising on his ideals, he's passionate when it comes to disagreements too.
From his very first appearance, the point of Kaveh's over-the-top responses to Alhaitham is to establish Kaveh's character as Alhaitham's opposite. Alhaitham is quiet, so of course Kaveh is loud. Alhaitham is discreet, so Kaveh must be conspicuous (charging into the room, arguing publicly). Alhaitham is cool-headed and seemingly unemotional, so Kaveh's first scene will show him as easily worked up, with a quick temper. The whole point of their first scene together was to emphasize these extreme differences in their personalities, so that the "Kaveh is Alhaitham's mirror" plot point would be as obvious to players as it was supposed to be.
Furthermore, we were also given an indication right away that Kaveh and Alhaitham do not fight all the time. In Alhaitham's story quest, the first thing Kaveh does when hearing Alhaitham get home is react happily and ask him to come help with the task he was working on. If they fought all the time and had genuine hatred for each other, would Kaveh have reacted this way to Alhaitham's homecoming at all?
Then, during the follow-up scene to this, Kaveh insists that Alhaitham has to bring him shopping and buy him drinks at the end of the day. If you have a toxic hate-hate relationship where the other person legitimately makes you miserable, would you really be asking to spend a whole day together shopping and going out for drinks, a popular friend activity?
The face of a man who just goaded his "toxic" situationship into taking him on an all-expenses-paid date.
Even the OG message board and NPC interactions for Alhaitham and Kaveh tell us that their relationship isn't one-sided and that Kaveh benefits plenty from being close to Alhaitham. First, we learn that Alhaitham pays Kaveh's tabs regularly, enabling Kaveh to have a lifestyle literally labelled in-game as "like a noble," and then we learn that Alhaitham apologizes to Kaveh by gifting him wine, presumably to make up for times where his comments actually do go too far:
I'll go into the scene where Kaveh is introduced more in a second, but in the meantime, I also strongly push back on the idea that Alhaitham's insults to Kaveh are more hurtful than Kaveh's are to Alhaitham's.
In Alhaitham's story quest, Kaveh flat out asks the Traveler and Paimon if they are paid actors because he doesn't believe that Alhaitham can make other friends. That's pretty damn rude by itself, but coupled with what we learned when Kaveh's character stories were released, what Kaveh said to drive the final spike into their original friendship...
Kaveh was Alhaitham's only friend, and the insult he used to get back at Alhaitham was "I regret ever befriending you." Do you know how devastating it would be to hear that from the only friend you've ever made? Frankly, Kaveh is pretty lucky that Alhaitham is a rational person who can grasp that Kaveh was just lashing out, because while Alhaitham's insult to Kaveh during this argument was born out of concern for Kaveh's well-being ("Your altruism is actually self-harm"), Kaveh's was just a straight-up retaliation meant to cause pain after Alhaitham came too close to the truth.
I think this is far from Kaveh never managing to land an insult, especially since Alhaitham--as far as we are shown--went on to never form another friendship throughout his entire youth.
Anyway, regarding their first scene together, which I'm assuming is the basis for people believing they're toxic... I actually think this scene represents the only time we've ever seen Alhaitham genuinely upset. This scene was meant to highlight the differences between the two characters very deliberately--while also establishing that Alhaitham's behavior around Kaveh is enormously different from his behavior around everyone else.
Alhaitham spends the entire Archon Quest completely unbothered. Even when attacked by Cyno, he gives little more than annoyed noises and cold remarks. He keeps so much distance from the others in the group that all the way to the end, the Traveler isn't 100% convinced they can trust Alhaitham. Although he puts on a very convincing act for Azar, that's the most emotion we players see out of him for the entire Sumeru plot line. He is not presented as an immature person nor depicted as someone who would usually stoop to petty arguments.
Then, suddenly... this.
The moment Kaveh appears on the scene, Alhaitham's maturity just goes straight out the window. Suddenly he's full of snappy comebacks and aggressively getting in someone's face--because he can't be objective and aloof around Kaveh. He can't distance himself from the situation where his roommate is involved.
This scene is actually the one example we have of Alhaitham being upset enough for the mask to come off. We have never seen him this worked up ever again in the entire game.
He deliberately provokes this fight because he was worried for Kaveh--worried enough for the most famously unshakeable man in Sumeru to actually get angry.
First, Alhaitham intentionally stalls, riling Kaveh up by refusing to answer his question about what happened in Sumeru, instead going on a tangent about physical books. Kaveh redirects (with an insult claiming that Alhaitham frequently abuses his position of authority, for good measure), which prompts Alhaitham to remark, oddly:
This is actually the first sign that something is wrong. Alhaitham doesn't usually make incorrect logical leaps, so if he's claiming that Kaveh, who just came back that day, should already know the inside story, what he's actually saying is that he expected Kaveh to be much more in-the-know about the situation than Kaveh actually was. Alhaitham is saying here that Kaveh should have known what was going on in Sumeru, and that idea--Kaveh should have known, should have been there--is the turning point of this entire argument.
Alhaitham continues the conversation by complimenting Kaveh. His tone is sarcastic, causing Kaveh to doubt the meaning, but we players know already from Alhaitham's character stories that Alhaitham actually means this compliment honestly--he sees Kaveh as an intelligent and gifted artist who is his equal in every way. This is a genuine statement cloaked in a sarcastic tone to intentionally escalate the situation.
Then Alhaitham uses Kaveh's exaggerated response as a spring-board to actually snap at Kaveh, specifically stating that Kaveh is unkind to him. This is the only time that we've ever seen Alhaitham express direct and serious displeasure with the way Kaveh treats him.
In many of their early scenes, Kaveh would levy an insult at Alhaitham and Alhaitham would return a snappy one-liner ("If humans aren't humans without their humanity, you'll probably evolve into some other species in another decade" -> "What about you, will you devolve into a fungus?"), or Alhaitham will nitpick at Kaveh's bad habits and Kaveh will clap back with a one-liner of his own ("I hope you are aware of your lack of conversational skills" -> "Oh, so the pot's calling the kettle black, is he?"), but the bickering almost never starts with Alhaitham, and in no other scene does their arguing ever rise above the level of sarcastic and petty complaints.
This is the only time we ever see Alhaitham upset enough to confront Kaveh aggressively, to the extent that he actually stands up to get in Kaveh's space, and then makes a statement that he never, ever makes again:
After this point, Alhaitham will continue to tease and annoy Kaveh by bringing up the rent money, but he will never again suggest seriously that Kaveh should leave. If it wasn't clear yet, it should have been clear from this line: Alhaitham is flat out furious in this scene.
And why? What's got his feathers so ruffled that he completely abandons his aloof demeanor and engages in a public argument?
He didn't know where Kaveh was. The world was basically ending in Sumeru, and Alhaitham couldn't find Kaveh.
In fact, Alhaitham probably even had reason to be worried directly for Kaveh's safety (although he later tries to blow it off): Kaveh was sent out into the desert specifically by the Kshahrewar Sage, who was colluding with Azar, possibly to get Kaveh out of the way. As the Scribe who would be the one approving the paperwork for all the scheming that was going on, Alhaitham would have known that Kaveh had been sent out to desert--a favorite tool for the Akademiya to "disappear" other people in the past.
Actually, if you want to say that any element of Alhaitham and Kaveh's relationship is toxic, you would have better luck with the claim that Alhaitham is kind of a stalker. It's not stalking if the other person wants you there. Being all up in Kaveh's business is basically Alhaitham's actual full-time job. Kaveh's in Port Ormos? Well, what do you know, so is Alhaitham! Kaveh is out on a trip in the desert? Dang, what a coincidence that Alhaitham just so happened to want to explore that exact ruin at that exact moment, out of the entire thousand square mile desert...
Whatever reasoning you want to ascribe to this, Alhaitham goes where Kaveh goes. He dips out mid-conversation the moment Kaveh returns home. He serves as an announcer on an event strictly because it relates to Kaveh. He constantly intervenes when Kaveh is in trouble, appearing conveniently the moment Kaveh needs him for anything.
Remember that, at this point in the story, he literally had no one else. At the start of the Archon Quest, Alhaitham had no family. He had no friends. He only, only had Kaveh. So when the entire city started going mad, a plague that was relatively rare suddenly began raging out of control and killing people, the sages started plotting some kind of insane uprising, Forbidden Knowledge was released on the black market, the arts in Sumeru came under serious attack, important people like Tighnari were targeted, Cyno was sent to oppress him, and public figures in Sumeru started actively disappearing...
For Alhaitham to not know where his one person was?
For Alhaitham to have gone from Sumeru City to Port Ormos to the literal wastes of the desert and still not find Kaveh?
Alhaitham actively glosses over a summary of what happened in Sumeru's Archon Quest because it doesn't matter to him in comparison to what he wants to know, the matter of Kaveh's safety.
He has no issue talking to anyone else about what happened with the Sages, and he's plenty talkative about the events and the Akademiya's status the moment the Traveler comes up right after Kaveh. It's only with Kaveh that he downplays and refuses to share the information about what actually occurred, because he was worried and upset that Kaveh disappeared. Kaveh could have been involved and wasn't. He wasn't there when Sumeru needed him--he wasn't there when Alhaitham needed him.
In a situation where disappeared people were turning up dead in the desert, Kaveh wasn't anywhere to be found at all.
Alhaitham provoked this entire fight and the only point he focuses on, harping on it repeatedly, is: Where were you?
This scene hammers home two messages incredibly well:
Kaveh is the polar opposite of Alhaitham.
Alhaitham cannot emotionally distance himself from Kaveh the same way he's able to be disengaged from everyone else.
This is definitely not the most pleasant of scenes, and starting out with the characters in a bad mood with each other was a very specific choice (one fueled mostly by the need to create plausible deniability so that they could get "my god they were roommates" past the censors, if you ask me), but just because two people have a fight does not make them "toxic."
Both Kaveh and Alhaitham had valid reasons to be worked up in this scene, and considering this is the only scene in which we ever see Alhaitham act so aggressively and with such seemingly genuine anger, it should have been obvious that this was out-of-character for him, highlighting the fact that his relationship with Kaveh is not the same as his dispassionate, cool-tempered reaction to everyone else in the story so far.
Alhaitham got mad and his temper came out, but it turns out that Alhaitham's temper (which Kaveh loves to point out) is connected canonically to his frustrating failures to protect Kaveh--sometimes from Kaveh's own self. Their first fight happened because Alhaitham was too honest and popped off about Kaveh not taking care of himself, and the first fight we get to see from them on-screen is Alhaitham once again genuinely frustrated by Kaveh potentially being in a dangerous situation.
(The humor of this moment is that just like Alhaitham is reluctant to tell Kaveh the truth about what he did in Sumeru, Kaveh conveniently side-steps the reason that he was nowhere to found: He was trapped in a magical bottle fairyland at the time, so Alhaitham couldn't have found him even if he had searched high and low.)
Kaveh, predictably, meets Alhaitham's temper with a full blast of his own over-the-top reactions, including suggesting that he's going to start a rumor that Alhaitham staged a political coup on purpose--something which Kaveh, who knows Alhaitham perfectly well and knows Alhaitham is just flat out too unambitious to ever do, obviously doesn't honestly think. Neither Kaveh's insults nor Alhaitham's hold any particular weight in this conversation, and out of the two of them, Alhaitham actually has far more complimentary things to say about Kaveh than Kaveh ever has to say about him, still to this day.
Personally, I think that seeing Kaveh as the "victim" of Alhaitham's barbs in their early scenes is a misread on Kaveh's character. A massive point of Kaveh's character is that he's literally the architect of his own suffering. He blamed himself for his father's death and his mother's decline, which crippled his ability to form healthy relationships with others in his childhood. His self-sacrificial behavior and--explicitly, in the canon text--his own inability to confront reality led to the collapse of his original friendship with Alhaitham.
He bankrupted himself for the Palace of Alcazarzaray, martyring himself on the altar of his own ideals. He gets into fights with his clients because he isn't good at drawing boundaries, isolates himself from his friends because he feels like a burden (even though they all clearly love him) and then laments feeling lonely, and constantly bickers with Alhaitham even in moments when Alhaitham really hasn't done anything to start a fight, like when Alhaitham brought the Traveler and Paimon home and Kaveh spent half of his first conversation with the Traveler bad-mouthing Alhaitham, who wasn't even in the room to provoke his ire.
While Alhaitham is absolutely not a saint and is a nitpicking champion, the bulk of their bickering comes from Kaveh's tendency to anger easily, his helplessness and lack of control over his financial situation, and from his internalized assumption that Alhaitham is incapable of altruism.
Even realizing that Alhaitham's words in the past came from a place of honest reflection on Kaveh's well-being, at the beginning of their scenes in-game, Kaveh still can't bring himself to let bygones be bygones, still can't accept a freely offered hand, and ultimately ends up taking out a lot of frustration about his personal situation on Alhaitham, the symbolic lightning rod for all of Kaveh's woes. Kaveh isn't comfortable with himself, so he's interpreting every thing Alhaitham says and does in the least charitable way possible--and Alhaitham is, in part, letting him do that (actively encouraging it even), because that's what Kaveh needs. If Kaveh is incensed and railing at Alhaitham for this or that petty disagreement, then he isn't withdrawing into depression and off making rash decisions that will ruin his own life again.
The alternative to Alhaitham taking "snipes" at Kaveh is this:
So I think we can all agree which one is less toxic, lol.
Kaveh also believes that Alhaitham is his mirror--but in a negative way, with Alhaitham being the strawman Kaveh repeatedly builds up to fight against in his quest to justify his idealism, even when that idealism brings him pain. If Kaveh's ideals are just and righteous and good, then Alhaitham--who represents the dead opposite of Kaveh's idealism--must automatically be bad. Alhaitham's selfish, he's egotistical, he'd "let people drown" (said without the self-awareness to note that Alhaitham never let Kaveh drown)... At least when we first started seeing them in game, Kaveh has created an image of Alhaitham that has little to do with the actual reality of their situation.
Kaveh could have had peace from Day 1 in Alhaitham's house if he could keep his own temper in check and stop rising to Alhaitham's bait--but that's not who Kaveh is. He isn't actually a peaceful person by nature. He's kind and generous to a fault; he believes in doing right by others and in putting his heart and soul into every project he brings into the world, but he's also just kind of quarrelsome. Even if he doesn't actually like to argue, he can't help himself because he is passionate about the things he feels and believes. He's impulsive, doing what he feels is right in the moment far more than reasoning rationally about his circumstances (another point of opposition with Alhaitham), and, despite having cripplingly low self-esteem, he's also a proud person, trying overly hard to protect his reputation, so that even just being in Alhaitham's house puts him constantly on edge, fearing that people will find out about his bankruptcy.
Kaveh's tense situation with Alhaitham in their early scenes is, in large part, Kaveh's fault, stemming more from his internal issues and wounded principles than from what is actually going on between himself and Alhaitham in that moment. He's carrying so much emotional baggage into their home that nothing Alhaitham is doing could ever be considered more toxic than the weight Kaveh came into the relationship already bearing--and clearly, as we've seen their character development continue, Alhaitham's methods are working.
Kaveh is much better off now than he used to be.
This isn't to say that Alhaitham is the victim instead, just casually bearing the brunt of Kaveh's personal issues--Alhaitham has issues of his own that he's also working through! Alhaitham is a flawed character whose lack of social skills caused him to experience extreme isolation throughout his youth and into adulthood. Alhaitham claims he prefers this isolation, and yet abandons it instantly the moment he actually manages to form friendships during Sumeru's Archon Quest, now going out of his way to attend social gatherings and even feeling attached enough to Paimon to enroll her in school.
Alhaitham did cause Kaveh pain in the past by being too honest. He had to undergo character development to get to the point where he could understand that "being correct isn't the same as being right." He did have to learn to apologize and to rein in his temper, to "save the bickering for later," because he simply wasn't good at--and still clearly struggles with--communicating his actual feelings about a given situation. We're told this is such a ubiquitous flaw of his that basically everyone who has actually met him thinks Alhaitham is a heartless person, despite Alhaitham generally being laid-back, surprisingly nonjudgmental, and respectful of people even when they come from wildly different backgrounds, like his attempts to get Dehya to join the Akademiya.
To this day, it's obvious that Alhaitham still hasn't managed to make his actual care for Kaveh clear to Kaveh--and he seems mostly content to just wait for Kaveh to figure it out, rather than putting himself out there and (hilarious for the character who knows twenty languages) just using his words. Alhaitham is a little allergic to being forthright, and his relationship with Kaveh moves a glacial pace in part because of that.
So no, their banter didn't sound friendly at first because it wasn't friendly at first. It wasn't supposed to be! They're two flawed people whose personal hang-ups are very difficult for them to overcome, making it extremely hard for them to connect and communicate. They both hurt each other badly in the past, and they're still not over that pain because they've never managed to confront and properly address it. Both them are carrying some intense emotional baggage into their house and struggling to make life together work despite those weights they're carrying. They don't really know how to even be friends because the way they were close before was exactly what fell apart on them in the first place.
But making mistakes in the past, even if those mistakes caused pain, doesn't make a relationship toxic--it just makes it human.
(Okay, just a real world side note here that you can entirely skip if you don't want to hear me rambling... Maybe this is coming from the fact that I'm old, your local fandom mom for real for real, but I sometimes find myself genuinely concerned that younger people seem to really struggle with the concept of conflict. There seems to be this sentiment that relationships should be entirely free of fights, that you shouldn't have to reason with and critically examine your stances on conflicting moral perspectives, that you shouldn't be confronted with criticism--I think this extreme avoidance of conflict is at the heart of a lot of issues we're facing in fandom today, such as fans' inability to handle characters who do bad things or the war over whether shipping reflects people's morality. We operate on black-and-white instead of seeking dialogue and accepting nuance.
Embracing conflict as a core part of life involves recognizing the person facing you on the other side of the conflict, accepting that others' perspectives may differ from your own, making peace with the idea that people may say things you don't want to hear...
Somewhat hilariously, I think that the inclination to view Alhaitham and Kaveh's early relationship as toxic perfectly aligns with the core issue that Alhaitham and Kaveh themselves had--neither one of them could tolerate the discomfort brought on by an opposing ideology, the same way many people nowadays struggle to accept situations that are not perfect from the start, where mistakes are made and truths are sometimes spoken too harshly.
