#crabb

(11) PAST—Were there any events in their childhood that led to phobias or other fears?

HMMM this is a tricky one because i haven't thought that much about it before......ok there's definitely anya aka anastasia dragomira (if you've seen me talking about veronika/ronnie then anya is her older sister)

she's basically the crown princess of the kingdom she lives in and that's mainly because she has a powerful affinity for pyrokinesis (fire magic is hereditary and has a huge religious significance), while veronika has no abilities and their brother gustav has air magic from their father's side of the family.

anya has always been the centre of attention since she was a young child and that attention has always been tied to her station and power, so the older she got the more paranoid she became about Losing that attention. basically without her fire and prospective crown she felt everyone would leave her and no longer need her, and she'd do anything to avoid that happening

ronnie and gustav are closest to her until she meets the father of her son (i still can't decide on a name for him) but she feels very isolated in part due to her 'chosen one' mentality and the way she has to feel like she's better/smarter/stronger than everyone else as validation....her mother didn't really discourage it either since she was more concerned with preserving the integrity of the royal bloodline and the pyrokinesis that comes with it, so as long as anya was Physically normal she would consider her to be fine

so yeah i'd def say anya has a fear of being left behind and forgotten which is kind of interesting considering she treats a lot of other people dismissively (like ronnie and even her partner), but it stems a lot from her responsibilities as a kid and her craving for attention from other people (her relationship with her mother is pretty complicated, katerina means well but is not a good parent) honestly along that same vein i'd say veronika probably has some kind of anxiety about not following her duty and failing expectations but that's a wholeeeee other essay

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(11) PRESENT—What’s a typical night’s sleep like for them?

for this one i'm thinking about nik (nikolaj voronin) tbh.....he was raised the son of veronika and her husband ilya, later the king, but his father was actually another man (anton romanovski, her previous fiance. it's complicated)

i feel like he's a rather light sleeper as it is, and as a kid he had really bad social anxiety coupled with somehow being unable to get along with anyone else his age....he was bullied quite a bit which left him rather isolated as well. his best friend as a kid was his sister zhanna (younger by 4 years) who had a stormy temper despite her stature and essentially appointed herself nik's protector despite his protests

with that in mind i don't think he sleeps particularly well most nights. he has unsettling dreams and is rather restless, waking easily when it's cold or he's alone. when awake he carries himself with a bit of a slouch and he has dark circles under his eyes most of the time which contributes a lot to his permanently tired demeanor....something i feel that zhanna in particular snaps at people for mentioning especially if she feels it was said as an insult

there was a period of time when they were younger in which zhanna would sneak into his room at night and get into his bed with the excuse of feeling lonely just because she knew he didn't sleep well and it upset her to see him unwell and struggling to get through the day......they both knew she would probably get in trouble for it but nik always felt better and safer with her around. they're each other's closest confidants even in the present day of canon, and zhanna is still fiercely protective of him—some might even say overprotective...

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