tame the beast

as a prelude i'm going to tell how these characters are introduced to us. Ariana is an easy-going, lively girl with an optimistic view of the world and a very friendly disposition. Alain's on the opposite end — they're generally done with…living, in general, and they have a strong personality that deliberately pushes people away more than anything. except that when you dig deeper…

i think the mc's nightmare realm represents what i'm trying to say really well actually. Ariana and Alain are respectively the first and the last one to die (except for when they're the avatar picked) for everyone else's scenes. It always goes like this: soul-sucking monster shows up, and Ariana initially has a fairly predictable reaction — she's scared of this unknown entity, freezing in place. then, the minute Axel enters the picture trying to save her, the mentality changes: she immediately tries to get him to disengage with the danger, rather than worrying about her own person. the very last thing she does before getting nihilego-d is tell the group to run off without her. Ariana instinctively falls into the role of the proctetor when other people are involved.

Alain's scene starts out more or less the same in the sense that their initial response is what's to be expected from their character — they're looking nihilego in the eye after having seen the group get picked off one by one, knowing they're next, and knowing that there's nothing they can do about it. Regardless, their attitude is to go down fearlessly; which lasts exactly up to when they get grabbed. Alain folds instantly (understandably so!), and that attempted bravery just goes flying out of the window. They're scared, maybe the most out of all the characters so far, and that's when the armor crumbles.

in a weird twist up of what you've seen from these characters originally, Ariana goes down quietly, and Alain does so screaming. i think they end up playing each other off very well — soft exterior with a tough interior and vice-versa. i also feel obligated to say that, in the battle vs the interceptor, Ariana is set out to send her starter first while Alain is set to send theirs out last. not exclusive to them but i'm sure there's something to said there.

anyhow, with characters so clearly on the opposing ends of each other in almost every sense— they still have common characteristics. They're emotional people! both are prone to not-so-small outbursts of emotion; Alain's anger, and Ariana's happiness. they also seem to deeply care for the people closest to them, and they both want to help with what they can. be it Ariana helping out Crescent or Alain keeping bullies away from Axel.