I like the interpretation of Nuru being a chaotic 16 year old who is not the “responsible” one because I feel that role often gets put on the female characters to be responsible and mother like but I think she should be allowed to be a chaotic teen girl who maybe doesn’t get along with Hugo at first but then it grows into a sibling relationship so they get along but also fight like siblings would, she and Yong would be siblings causing chaos together and would help Varian with mapping and figuring out where to go, sorry if this rambling doesn’t make sense I just wanted to get it out
Actually you’re making one-hundred percent sense, I can see it and I want it. Especially if, as royalty and also as someone on the quest for a verrry serious reason, she initially does try hard to be responsible and stuff… but it just falls apart! Because she’s finally in an environment free from that direct pressure to keep her head on all the time, she’s not having to put on a face for any traumatised citizens here. They’re all equals and she finally feels she can just get things wrong and cause problems without it being the end of the world. Alchemists are problem solvers, after all! Let her unleash her inner chaos demon, let her become comfortable with things not being perfect every time (and nit associate it with people dying), and then be totally feral. To me I envision a very proactive person who always wants to feel like something’s getting done. Think of how impulsive she’d be!
Also zeeero motherly instincts, you’re hitting the nail there, she’s a princess who’s used to handling politics and statistics. Domestic work, household chores? She had countless paid servants for that (the best wages you can get in a kingdom that’s physically and likely economically falling apart at the seams, I imagine).
Same goes for emotional labour, she’s in stress mode 24/7, she does NOT know how to give feelings talks or validate feelings or navigate relationships. She’s dealing with enough. Yong, on the other hand, had just as many younger siblings as he did older ones. He came from the most emotionally stable environment of all of them. Let Yong (the twelve year old) be the mom friend! Checking to see if they’ve had their snacks and haven’t overworked themselves all night, squirting them with water when they fight, validating their feelings when they’re crashing out, ect (it’s a whole thing I have about Yong, him going from feeling inferior to them to feeling valued enough to take in a more active paternal role in the lives of three people literally older than him- if the one thing we were told about him is that he’s Asian then I’m going to *milk* that standard culture trauma that everyone has). And Hugo and Varian have seen some of the darker corners of humanity that Nuru might not have. Let them be the responsible ones for a change! Let Nuru go striding off into danger and Hugo can be the one panicking about it instead!
Even more rambling because you’re smart and you gave us this, thank you- siblings with Hugo is *everythingggg*. Being petty at each other, trying to take credit for one another’s efforts, having maxxed out charisma together (though they practiced in ofc very different environments lol), being *equals* like that. Hugo gets to be silly annoying brother only if Nuru gets to be silly annoying sister. Giving them *both* active roles and making them true equals. Hugo saying she’s stooped to his level and Nuru saying she’s simply him but better (they’re just as bad as each other). Yong and Nuru as the chaos duo, I love that too, as I mentioned before even after overcoming her fear of failure she still wants Results, and because she can excuse her failure she can excuse Yong’s too! So they’re just trashing the place. I think, while Hugo and possibly Varian would try to nudge Yong into different types of science/alchemy out of fear, Nuru would want him to keep trying with pyrotechnics and probably help him out since she’s so good at calculating precision (something something start charts). And to me that is Golden because now the girl of the group gets the role of Cool Awesome Slightly Irresponsible Older Sibling Figure to the Kid Character (Hugo can be Weird Criminal Uncle 1, he’s still here, don’t worry guys) instead of Mom Friend. (Aaaand also because the literal royalty, who Yong has the most difficulty feeling comfortable around, is suddenly encouraging him and the madness he brings, and that would be sooo so fun for character progression; and also because it begins the pipeline of Nuru enjoying his company because he Listens and Is Productive to actually enjoying his company and being friends ect, and ofc because she believes nothing good can be permanent this would be a good point for an entire episode about valuing your brief time on this earth and letting yourself love something even though you know you won’t have it forever. I love her, your honour.)
