Danielle character development Shower Thoughts under cut π
I now know why she's overly flirty and non-committal, but let me break down a bit of my thought process.
My first thought was, what is her fear? Like... the one thing that she just cannot shake.
Immediate thought after that: she's afraid of bears (literally because it makes sense considering her childhood AND I thought it would be funny to give her my silly fear of viddy game bears)
THEN I thought... okay WHY is she afraid?
Then I started thinking about her personality and the way that she is, and that's when it all blew up.
So [cracks knuckles] Here we go....
So when she's around 14 or 15, their neighbor (some old Nord guy who def fought in the Great War and probably a war before that) has someone new living with him. His grandson. He's from Cyrodiil because his parents passed away and his grandpa is his closest relation (and the only one who wants him...)
He's not quiet or bookish but he's very much a city boy, much to his grandpa's disappointment, and he constantly talks about 'toughening him up' and teaching him to hunt and such.
And, also, obviously, him and Danielle get this cute 'childhood sweetheart' thing going on, and it gets a little serious, like her family teasing their neighbor that they'll be in-laws soon kind of serious.
A year passes. Maybe more. Enough for them to get veeerrryyyy attached to each other.
Then, that next spring, the old Nord insists on taking him hunting. The boy doesn't want to go and tells Danielle this and she's like 'ohhh it'll be alright, if you get hurt I can kiss it better', that type of thing, just trying to encourage him, and then they part for the night.
Danie and her mom go out on their own trip, and her mom notices a trail and it looks a little.... strange. The dirt is stirred up, there's broken vegetation and snapped bush branches, and then they see some drops of old blood. They follow it to this downhill slope that goes into this shallow cave, and there they find what's left of the old man and his grandson.
Danie is shellshocked. Not sure how exactly she'll react, whether she'll be silent and still or scream and become hysterical or what. I'm inclined to say hysterical, because her mother might be like 'I know this is a lot for you, but we need to be smart right now so we don't end up the same way', forcing Danie to have to swallow all that down.
But she's staring at what's left of her boyfriend, so swallowing that down ends up just causing her to bottle it all up for years instead.
And of course the bear is still there. It's badly wounded but still agitated and attacks. Her mother kills it, but as they leave they see babies hidden away, and it makes everything feel that much more unfair.
So THAT'S WHY she's 1) terrified of bears, and 2) avoidant when relationships get too serious. She's so scared of it being taken away. Stamped out and ruined and torn apart :(
So when Rune comes on the scene, oh he's so smitten. She fell first but he DEFINITELY fell harder. Like... this man WOOS her. Little gifts. Flowers. Dates. The works. He becomes so serious about her to the point where he wants to quit the guild.
But as soon as that starts happening, she wants to pump the brakes. And it's not because she doesn't love him or want a life with him. That IS all she wants. But all she sees is her first boyfriend. The gore, the heartbreak, the pain.
So in her mind it's 'if I'm super flirty and keep everything at arm's length, no one will get hurt'.
But Rune says 'I want to BE in those arms'.
