#espervier

5 Maria

6 Eliana

14 Helen

11 Espervier

7 Ulfilas

I...have so many of them, don't I? Huh. Well, I've put some reminders as to who everyone is for those of you who are interested but don't have them all memorized. Alexander: (Cor's secretary) What's something about your OC that people wouldn't expect just from looking at them? He once beat Cor in a fight. It wasn't a fair fight, and it wouldn't ever happen again. But Cor was trying to work when he was sick and Alexander challenged him and said if he could beat Cor, Cor had to go home. Cor agreed.

They went to the training ground, Cor pulled out Kotetsu (nearly overbalancing) and bowed. Alexander hit him in the head with a stapler as Cor was coming up from his bow. Alexander is adamant that someone's hand was guiding him (he says Bahamut, but honestly thinks it was the king's magic somehow) and he could never make such a throw again, and was honestly just trying to distract Cor before trying to tackle him, maybe deadleg him or just get him dizzy, but it hit Cor directly in the head and he stumbled and tripped over his own feet. Alexander landed on him and knocked the wind out of him, and Cor couldn't get back up.

Alexander won, Cor went home.

It's an inside joke around the office that Alexander is the Cor-slayer.

Maria: (Glaive, mage) How far is your OC willing to go to get what they want? Further than she's comfortable thinking about. If it's important enough to her (if the lives of the people she loves are at stake, if it means a cure for the Scourge) she's willing to condone torture, hold someone down for it. If it's a cure for the scourge at stake, she'd take the knife to VB in a heartbeat. She'd let civilians, even kids die for that. She wouldn't kill them herself, probably, but she'd let it happen. If Helen asked her about the topic, though, she'd say she wouldn't do any of it, though she'd admit to being tempted.

Eliana: (Glaive trainer, former royal guard) How easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass? She'd do her research, and she'd have to be pretty firmly convinced it would actually do what she wanted (save her King, save the bby Glaives, etc), but once she was she would do it. I don't think she'd ever be a traitor because of that, but she might be persuaded to be a double agent with enough proof from trusted people and a promised end date, though if it went on too long she'd probably be doing enough nasty things to her body to cope that she'd make herself too useless to keep doing the job.

Helen: (Glaive) How does your OC want to be seen by other characters? She wants to be part of the group, respected, maybe, an elder sister who can give advice and help protect them, but not an outsider. Someone who's allowed in on the group, and the group jokes even if she doesn't always feel like she deserves it (a lot of this is bc she's Insomnian).

But she also wants to be seen as a moral person, who does what is right, someone the kiddos can look up to without being let down. Who messes up sometimes, sure. She doesn't want to be up on a pedestal, after all. Then she couldn't be part of the group. But to be remembered as someone who chose what is right over what is easy? That would be part of her ideal legacy.

Espervier: (Crownsguard, older) What is your OC's weapon of choice? Have they ever actually used it? Huh. I don't think I've actually had her fighting. I'm gonna say she's a sniper and uses a thin saber for her close combat. Fast and close, but not as close as daggers. Gotta keep some distance. (of course she does have backup daggers as well. But that means things have gone really really wrong)

Ulfilas: (Niflheim officer in SaM) What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them? Ha ha. Ha ha. Oh, he's changed so much.

Originally he was just gonna be the guy who was blindly loyal to the Empire and the idea of Glauca as the ultimate powerhouse of the Empire. Of course the general wants us to rescue him and kill all the Lucians. Why wouldn't he? Actually we had to go back and change some of the lines in the first fic of the second arc, because who he became wouldn't have been so eager for cruelty to Nyx. His original traits were: "Jingoistic" and deeply ironic in what he thought Glauca wanted, a good foil for a changed Drautos that way.

And then he started asking questions. He started being the one Drautos talked to, was being able to talk around. He was uncomfortable with torture. He loved his country and what it had been able to accomplish and thought it was doing the right thing but he had lines. And, ooh, wouldn't it be interesting if we could make him start a sort of dissenting group in the ranks. Oooh, and wouldn't it be interesting if we had two groups both causing chaos when Nyx and Drautos are escaping - Galahdan Rebels and Niflheim Saboteurs? Of course it would!

For Espervier

🔥 — Something they’re passionate about

Eliana really loves puzzles - specifically solving them, the moment when things click into place. She often cycles through interests - mystery novels, model building, sleight of hand magic tricks, basic coding, jigsaw puzzles, woodworking, etc - but at their heart, they all have that “click” in common: the moment when everything works out, and then does it again and again and again. Not just because of luck, but because you found the right method and can now apply it at will. Then when she has a comfortable system, her interest wanes and she moves on to something else, though she does cycle back through every now and then.

🥀 — A memory that still hurts

When she was a young Crownsguard, she caught a little bit of flack because her name is fairly Tenebraenne, but her family has been in Insomnia for so long it was mainly in the form of disparaging comments. Still, with no other frame of reference, she thought the jokes about easy surrender and frippery, and the equally well-worn but quiet discrimination against her as a woman looking for field work, were annoying but about the worst it got in the Guard. Something everyone had to learn to get over as part of the job. So she didn’t notice how bad it was getting for three quiet young recruits a year behind her until they fully crashed out, each in spectacularly different ways within weeks of each other.

Could she have done something if she’d realized what was going on? Supported them or intervened or talked them into just getting out of the Guard or something? No one will know. But she tried to deliberately look out for the quiet ones, the driven ones, and the young ones after that.

Espervier(I know I'm spelling that wrong, but you know who I mean)

You spelled it right!

Espervier is another old timer, this time from the Crownsguard. She mainly deals with investigations but has been around since Cor was a teen and he trusts her.

I think she would take a trip down to the markets in the older neighborhoods of Insomnia in the morning - food markets, craft markets, clothes markets, whatever is going on that day. It's about the people watching and the colors and the variety, mainly, though she does pick things up occasionally, especially for her hobbies. Then she does the shopping at the stores that have good prices and selections and aren't just open really late.

In the afternoon she indulges the hobbies. I think she likes jigsaw or other physical, solo puzzles, and yarn crafts. Everyone needs good socks in the field, and other little straps and covers, and she likes to hide them as gifts for the kids. She doesn't let herself watch TV - her schedule is too erratic to follow particular shows, and she gets enough news as part of her work - but she puts on music instead. Maybe an audiobook