#tkb: damn that's nuts. sorta like the nuts i also carved into his sarcophagus

[evilkitten3]

this is made even more difficult to deal with bc any evidence from poorer egyptians almost always agrees with tkb but he has no way of verifying this bc zorc and the ghosty bois never actually taught him how to read

meanwhile atem instantly renders himself entirely untrustworthy once it comes out that he has no idea what a good chunk of the stuff he's looking at says either bc he's from about a thousand years pre-demotic and just didn't want to admit it

it gets even more awkward when they realize tkb has significantly better knowledge of tombs and palaces and whatnot bc no matter how good atem's tutors were, nothing quite matches up to breaking in and taking a look for yourself

atem's knowledge of the political world is objectively superior and he's able to answer a lot of questions about trade and alliances and whatnot, but tkb's got a monopoly on the practical stuff. plus since there's a lot less knowledge about poorer egyptians, i feel like he'd have more to contribute overall.

atem: *trying to share a Cool Fact about pharoahs*

egyptologist: *trying to politely tell him everyone knows that already bc the scribes wrote everything down*

tkb: *surrounded by egyptologists like gina from b99 bc they're all absolutely fascinated to know about This One Jackass Who Sold Chickpeas And Lost Half His Customers When I Filled His Baskets With Beetles As Vengeance For Kicking Me When I Was Trying To Steal His Shittyass Chickpeas Bc I Was Fucking Eight And Starving*

post-canon-everyone-lives where they realize that Atem and Thief King contain vast stores of priceless historical knowledge and try to record it but it doesn't work because they cannot agree on anything. Ask them for a map of the kingdom but they're in heated disagreement about the location of this or that village. Try to make a dictionary but TKB's colloquial slang has a bunch of grammar that's completely unacceptable in Atem's nobility talk (that TKB will not stop making fun of) and they won't stop arguing about pronunciation. Someone asked them for the proper original gameplay for Senet but the rulesets they're used to are so irreconcilable that no one could get a word in between the insufferable gamer discourse.