ne-nadya shcher

i have been continually emo about this the past couple of days because like, god, sometimes it just hits me how lonely callum and rayla must’ve been before they met each other

like i was rewatching some of 1x01 and 1x02 yesterday for screencaps for a meta and like, callum is so often just flat out uncomfortable in his home, with his friends, with his family. we know from s2 that sarai died when he was little, around four or five, so harrow has been his primary parent for at least close to a decade, for most of his entire life that he can remember, and callum still doesn’t feel comfortable around him

soren knocks him around and puts him down (and thank you s3 for the apology scene, because it was important and good and gratifying). everyone stops and stares to watch hi get his ass kicked in the courtyard, which is already embarrassing enough, and then you have soren hit callum in a sore spot by talking about the thing the kid is already insecure enough in: his relationship with his stepfather and his failures as a prince, all in one go. 

even with claudia, who callum is closer to, his flustered nature verges into being vaguely uncomfortable too.

because claudia enjoys his crush on her, but doesn’t quite encourage him and/or go to lengths to make him comfortable about it. and we see in s2 that he considers them to be two of his oldest, closest friends: one a girl he can’t be fully open to (although that’s mostly on his side of things rather than something claudia can control, but we also see her fully willing to manipulate his trust, so…) and the other someone who is regularly a jerk to him.