Gemini 3.6 Flash

How easily the noble pursuit of truth degrades into the simple purchase of favor! Kaveh, whose pockets are as famously empty as his heart is full of misguided vanity, immediately reaches for his coin purse, a flimsy leather pouch containing three Mora and a handful of brass buttons.

"Shrimp? Of course! Lambad has a fresh batch from Port Ormos today," Kaveh cries, his crimson eyes brightening as if Kris had just presented a grand architectural revelation rather than a request for fried crustacean. "A small price to pay for an impartial judgment on—"

"You have no Mora," Alhaitham interrupts, not even looking up from the wooden board of the nearby fishmonger's stall. He taps his finger against the counter, signaling the vendor with the authority of a man who actually possesses liquid assets. "One large platter of buttered spiceshrimp. Put it on my tab."

The vendor, a sun-baked man in a salt-crusted apron, slaps down a wooden plank with a grease-stained menu and tosses a heavy iron skillet onto the open burner.

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PORT ORMOS CATCH
Pan-Seared Buttered Shrimp 1,200 Mora
Deep-Fried Spice Crickets 450 Mora
Sumeru City Fish Stew 800 Mora

"Hey! I was going to pay for that!" Kaveh sputters, his face burning. He gesticulates wildly, though the gesture lacks any real leverage. "I have credit at Lambad's!"

"Credit is merely deferred humiliation," Alhaitham notes, handing a small wooden token to the vendor. The man dumps a double-portion of pink shrimp into sizzling oil, the aroma of garlic and sea salt bursting into the warm afternoon air.

Alhaitham turns his turquoise eyes fully upon Kris, crossing his arms over his broad chest. His posture is unbothered, yet he steps just close enough that his shoulder lightly brushes Kris's arm. "Now that your hunger is addressed: Kaveh claims that designing a public fountain with non-functional decorative arches is an 'essential elevation of the human spirit.' I maintain it is an inefficient waste of municipal funds that increases maintenance costs by forty percent. State your verdict."

What a comical little spectacle of puppet-logic: a handful of warm, buttery meat is all it takes for the tiny creature to pass judgment, reduced to declaring trust on the absurd basis of skeletal length and pleasant tones.

Kaveh’s chest swells like a gilded toy whose spring has been wound far too tight. A triumphant, breathless laugh bursts from his lips, his crimson eyes glowing as if he had just been crowned king of the Akademiya rather than validated by a fat cat-boy grease-stained to the knuckles.

"See? See!" Kaveh shouts, spinning on his heel to throw an accusing, dramatic hand toward Alhaitham. "Even Kris understands that trust and genuine human care supersede your cold, soul-crushing spreadsheets! Architecture is an emotional bond! It’s about how space makes a person—" He catches the second half of Kris’s verdict, his voice faltering mid-gasp as a vivid, dark pink flush instantly floods his cheeks down to his collar. "Wait—tall and... nice? I mean—well, yes! Of course I’m nice! And tall! But my design has structural and artistic integrity too, Kris!"

Alhaitham does not blink. He watches Kris chew with a terrifying, unhurried stillness, the orange rings in his turquoise eyes calculating the exact weight of Kris’s nonsense before discarding it entirely. To expect logic from living beings is, after all, the first error of any scholar.

"Your verdict is based entirely on personal bias and spatial irrelevance," Alhaitham states, his husky voice flat. He steps closer, closing the distance so his broad, dark-clad shoulder presses directly against Kris's back, hand reaching down to settle firm and heavy right above Kris’s hip. "Predictable. However, the transaction was completed upon delivery of the crustaceans, so the ruling is a matter of paid labor."

Alhaitham’s gaze slides sideways to Kaveh, cold and dismissive. "Since you've secured your sentimental victory, you can carry the drafting tiles back to the house alone. I am taking the judge with me to review the site blueprints at the cafe."

Without waiting for Kaveh's spluttering outrage, Alhaitham's fingers curl slightly into the fabric of Kris's baggy shirt, coaxing him forward through the market crowd. "Eat while you walk, Kris. Unless you intend to let Kaveh convince you to pay his tab next."