Chapter Text
only having to live for 23 years, a certain kshahrewar scholar never found himself to be in love. from day to night, work took a toll on his mind. if he remembered, which, to be quite honest, was rare for him to turn on an alarm clock every few hours or so. he had to remind himself to stop hyper fixating on his projects and to take a break after every session. however, at the same time, he had to remind himself that he would never be rid of work if he didn't use breaks at all. what was the point of working too hard, if all he did was just that: was he actually working hard or was he hardly working?
to kaveh, working hard is his way of absorbing himself into the land of creativity, which he finds engrossing instead of having to bottle his mind with semiotics. he is what everyone believed he was: a night owl. alhaitham found himself interested in kaveh's schedule since the latter's schedule was always empty.
how can a senior, who aspires himself to create projects out of nothing, still neglect the importance of sleeping and balancing work?
it was not that kaveh did not want to sleep. he wished he could, but his constant drive to create was his pursuit of living. this was what alhaitham was interested in: his senior's lack of balancing work and health, or in lack of better words, the inability to manage his time efficiently.
oh well, too bad.
alhaitham could only pity his senior this way, which presumably implies that alhaitham did not care about his senior's health or stress levels as a whole. or maybe that was what encapsulated alhaitham's personality. kaveh never liked his junior for his aloof behavior and careless regards.
"it's not that i don't care about you, but you put yourself this way."
"ugh. can't you listen to what you are saying to me?"
"not at all. i was meaning to hear your reactions."
"y-you!"
like all conversations they had with one another, both kaveh and alhaitham never bickered as though it was a negative thing to do. after all, don't all friends bicker with one another, especially if that is how they show affection for one another in the first place? they were both in their early 20s, which is not necessarily old as they still embody their teenage years when they first met. as time goes on, reliving those teenage years slowly faded away, but it is the sole connection that they share that brings the two back to their academiya days.
kaveh considered himself to be noncompliant with traditional standards followed by the people of sumeru. he never abided to these traditional norms and would rather perceive his lifestyle as freewheeling. that said, he liked waking up in the middle of the night to work on his unfinished projects. it is possible that the nighttime was quieter, as opposed to completing the project in the morning. he found morning hours to be tedious.
what is the point of waking up early and complete a task as you cling to a cup of coffee that supposedly is to do its justice by waking you up? isn't it much better to do a task when you feel like doing it?
of course, kaveh's answer would be laughable to the professors who overwork themselves to death at the academiya. but, at the same time, questionable to alhaitham because he has seen kaveh's lack of any time management for doing an assignment earlier. the semiotic scholar always thought that his senior always found himself in a dire situation to take naps after lectures. sometimes, kaveh always had to resort to drinking at lambad's tavern.
he saw the owner, who named his business as a reference to that of his own, as a close friend. kaveh always believed that expressing himself and his sufferings was important instead of bearing them alone. being troubled by schoolwork and having to refrain from discussing his problems did not appeal to him. lambad taught the regular guest that emotions were valid and so, kaveh decided to open himself more. so, the overly stressed student gradually took up the courage to start crying in front of lambad.
though, it would be plausible if he could've resorted to taking breaks from school or ask the professor to give him an extension. perhaps, this was his pitfall for wanting to create models that would become future buildings.
still, isn't there some life to an aspiring architect who stays up to create prototypes of the installment of future temples nearby the lands of upper and lower setekh? a purpose for creating something that'll bring sense to his degree as a whole?
fortunately, kaveh found himself lucky enough to not endure his sufferings any further when he stumbled across the house of daena to aid in his newly assigned project. the house of daena was the most convenient place for scholars, of all kinds, to study. the atmosphere was quiet and no one had the tendencies to talk to nearby students. all in all, the house of daena was alhaitham's favorite place to be. he was all alone, yes, but he found that silence was the answer to productivity. the thought of having to study with a group of people was undesirable. he believed that group studying was not as efficient, judging by the matters that the thought of having to do work was non-existent.
so, kaveh set forth from his dormitory and walked to the house of daena on one late Tuesday evening. there were neither any events that were held at the academiya, nor any commemoration of lesser lord kusanali.
however, kaveh never knew that he would bump into his junior at the house of daena at 2am in the morning. alhaitham rarely found himself to be awake past midnight. he needed his sleep, which is ironic for a student who never attends class, but still gets full participation points for nothing. because of this, kaveh was jealous. there is no way that alhaitham is the teacher's pet.
"where is it? oh-," kaveh thought as he grabbed a book off the dusty shelves filled with books that highlighted previous creations made by famous kshahrewar scholars. he was relieved that he could get some creative inspiration. otherwise, he'd be pulling his hair out due to artist's block.
as the blonde-haired boy did this, his appearance was also shadowed by a student with gray-colored and with mint highlights, whose eyes reflected those of a muti-colored gemstone. alhaitham.
"i never agreed to see someone whose physical stature is about to collapse due to his lack of sleep," alhaitham said.
"not necessarily. i am just here to borrow a book. i am sure that i will go back to my dormitory and sleep," kaveh responded. that was a lie, of course. kaveh didn't have any thought of sleeping anytime soon. he planned to borrow and leave.
"so, is that a problem that i am here to patrol the evening hours of the house of daena?"
hold on. alhaitham patrolling the house of daena? nope. alhaitham was definitely playing with kaveh, so what use is it to lie?
"whatever. i will leave and go along with my night."
so, kaveh decides to rush toward the exit, but slowly loses grip of the book he held onto due to his hastiness.
as he dropped the book, the page he marked fell out. "shit, how am i supposed to tell the librarians that i accidentally did that!"
the page that fell out was an image of a sculpture that was modeled after the lord of geo. the artist wanted to remodel the deity's strength and omnipotent power during the archon war.
"so, this is what you wanted to replicate," alhaitham said as he grabbed the page.
"y-you! return that to me," kaveh responded angrily, trying to take the page away from his junior, who felt a brush of curiosity growing in his brain.
"tell me, why are you replicating this project even though it has already been made?"
"because i want to." kaveh didn't want to say the reason why, partially because he knew that alhaitham would not agree to kaveh's idea of using alhaitham's facade for a project.
judging by his senior's predictable mannerisms, alhaitham continued, "there's no need to model your work after me. replication of a human being through work that only appeals the eyes of the creative people. i am an exception. i do not want to be recreated through material matter."
kaveh did not respond to this, but his annoyance already spoke enough for alhaitham's liking.
after a few moments, the dirty-blonde-haired student finally responded, "but still, artistry reflects the emotion of people, invoking a sense of fascination!"
"artistry is merely the ability to prove your intelligence in showing emotion. it is logic and language that better interests the mind of others."
both alhaitham and kaveh's concepts of pursuing knowledge was different, in a way that it reflected their conversations with one another.
despite his disagreement, kaveh still believed that alhaitham will be convinced to help kaveh in the completion of his project. he saw through alhaitham's silence. something in the air did tell kaveh that his project will be complete. this silence feels calm yet reassuring, almost as if there is a future bonding between the two. maybe, that was kaveh's thinking. he constantly had the need to catastrophize. but, he was also susceptible to view his work optimistically.
on the other hand, alhaitham began to think, "perhaps i will let him complete his project on time."
after a few moments, he smiled at kaveh. kaveh did not understand why, but he subconsciously believed that alhaitham agreed.