Almond - How seriously does your muse take their promises? How inclined are they to make them?

He takes them Very seriously. Merit’s Honor is dependent on his word, literally in terms of Summer Court, which are the only terms Merit was raised to care for. This said, he does not make them very often, to the point where he’ll even say “I promise you nothing, but--” when talking w/folks abt plans or similar. 

Angrec - Describe a royalty au with your muse. What position would your muse be in? How would they feel about their station?

Oooh. This is really fun, but also funny because... our D&D campaign posts our sessions, right? Like, we’re not a Show like CritRole and have never claimed to be, but our sessions are Out There somewhere. and there is one person who solidly watches them as a fan. Their name is Nava @damnedtreasure and I mention all of that to say this: Nava has written fic abt our campaign, and in fact they are writing a fae regency AU in which Merit is the King of Summer, and Noah is a new wanderer into the Wilds. They way they’ve handled it and the relationship of the Wilds to the Material plane is different from how I’d have done it, but 1) that’s the Point of fanfic 2) I delight in that so much. 

THAT LONG WINDED ASIDE WITH PROMOTION DONE... To me, a Royalty AU does entail being, well, Royalty, but it depends on how deep we’re looking to go. Is it still the Summer Court he’s a part of, and it’s similar to Nava’s fic in which he is King? Or do we play the more likely-to-canon card that he is a Lord, not unlike his Lord Kilan himself, or a diplomat only within the Queen’s graces than outright a part of the royal family? Or do we entirely expand on the idea of a faerie kingdom more separate from the Summer Court, in which Merit is a (possibly illegitimate?) Prince to his mother, who is Queen? 

If he were an aide to the Queen, he would be proud most likely, as he might have still had to climb a hard social ladder to get there. If we stick to his being prince, well... I like that idea a lot bc it reflects some of how he felt and what his life was growing up in canon. As a Prince outright, Merit would feel blessed with good charm and grace, but stifled under his mother’s care. I can’t imagine him being ready to take the crown either though, not quite wizened enough to the world to be a good ruler. 

Aster - How quick is your muse to trust in a relationship? What conditions have to be satisfied in order for them to trust their partner? What is the quickest way to break that trust?

Depends greatly on his first few impressions of someone, but he still trusts fairly fast if you don’t give him reason not to. Also depends on the context you’re from: you’re a guildmate from the Horned Hail? You met Margrae, Merit trust Margrae, you’re at least mostly fine. You’re from the Faewilds also? He’s glad to meet you and see someone from the Court! You are on his “Don’t Trust” Radar! 

Don’t lie to him and do even small things for him, or say you’re thinking of him and you’ll get a least a lil bit of trust enough to build up into Full Trust. Getting his Full Trust also requires at least one (1) heart-to-heart, with at least vague references to your backstory and/or past traumas. 

And yeah, if you lie* to him? Or, God forbid, betray him??? Not only will that break his trust in you, you might wanna keep an eye out for any arrows or daggers coming your way, because he doesn’t take it lightly At All, and betrayal esp turns his Fae Mode on and he’s likely to hurt if not kill you in his spiteful rage next time he sees you. 

*he’s been learning through his travels to let go of smaller lies, i.e. Reverence making a joke that is definitely a lie, letting his friends lie is also mostly fine in his head since it’s their lie and likely for a better good than blatantly spouting the truth, which Merit’s not a fan of doing either. But if you lie straight to his face? mmmnnnn BAD.

Balsam - When your muse falls in love, how hard do they fall? Do they outwardly express their passion?

WOOF.  O O F. 

For Merit to fall in love, it’d have to be a slow thing he just never noticed until it smacks him in the face, if he ever notices it and not just. bury it under denial. Merit may not fall fast, but he’ll have to fall hard to fall at all, is the thing. 

As for expressing this passion... He will never say “I love you”, because that holds a power he is afraid of, but he’ll show it physically. And not just in the 👀 way, I mean in actions of protecting his love, tender touches (not necessarily PDA, but still)