NERDS

NERDS…

You go through the Sumeru Archon quests thinking Alhaitham is a huge nerd because he brings a book to read in his spare time everywhere he goes...

...then you finish the Sumeru Archon quests and that one NPC outside the library tells you that physical books haven't even been in regular use in Sumeru because everyone has been using their Akasha Terminal instead.

This man is bringing books to read when books aren't even really a thing in Sumeru to begin with.

Nerd. (Affectionately, of course.)

Someone take tumblr away from me

Let’s be real, the only reason the league doesn’t know Captain Marvel is a kid is bc his villains don’t want anyone to know that they get the shit kicked out them by someone who hasn’t even gone through puberty yet. They keep that shit on lock down, any ‘outsider’ villain who tries to look for it gets the whole monster society on their doorstep, Batman steps foot in Fawcett once and almost gets mauled by every criminal in the city at once. When word got out the “world’s greatest detective” was on the look out for Marvels secret identity they all mutually decided that they had to find him and chase him out the city before he found billy. This leads to Marvel himself having to show up and put a stop to it

Unfortunately for Marvel this means the JL is very curious to know why his villains are so unusually protective of him, Billy genuinely has no clue and assumes he’s grown on them in some weird way but he just gives them a shrug, saying maybe they’re just territorial

I think we should just write Jason as being straight up liminal. I don't think he should be alive or dead, Somedays when the veil is thin I think he should look like a corpse, somedays he should look fine. One moment he's freezing to the touch another he's warm. Heart monitor? He's flatlining for 5 minutes and suddenly he sits up.

Not moving for long periods of time? I think he should just flatline and be dead for a little before he just a alive again. Make him creepy and unsettling to be around at the witching hour, eyes glowing and have an ethereal glow to his entire body. Pale or dark skinned doesn't matter why the fuck he glowin'.

Make him see powerful Spirits, sense lesser ones, give him access to magic from the all-caste that drain his soul like the All-Blades do that makes him appear more like the walking corpse he is. Let him bend the shadows around him but not by his doing. I want him creepy and weird but I also think he should be mildly unaware of it all and or uncaring.

"Alhaitham doesn't care about the people around him"

(Not that Kaveh, who makes this claim, is the most impartial source of information about Alhaitham...)

I'd say it's a stretch to claim that he unilaterally doesn't care about anyone else.

That said, I don't believe it's inaccurate to say Alhaitham is selfish, either.

Alhaitham possesses an intriguing brand of selfishness that's calculated, realistic, and almost paradoxically self-aware. He knows his capabilities and limitations, and doesn't overextend or commit himself to something he knows is outside those capabilities. It's not as much of a stretch to say he possesses "an extraordinary sense of individualism" (again, Kaveh's words). He's certainly very strategic and logical, and, by some social conventions, can come off as callous or even cold.

He must pay attention to or care about others to some degree, or else he wouldn't bother correcting their errors when he encounters them. At the same time, forging genuine, trusting relationships (rather than purely transactional ones) with others when the opportunity arises is undeniably beneficial to him in many cases, regardless of the motivation behind doing so--hence the courtesies he extends to the Traveler in Port Ormos and afterwards, and his collaboration with the other major characters in the Sumeru Archon Quest storyline. He can't afford to not care about or pay attention to other people at all, because he can't ensure his own safety and comfort purely through his own accomplishments--not all the time, anyway.

While it's clear that his own well-being is a high priority for him, I don't believe he's so foolish as to presume that it's his only priority.