#hiraeth.task007

"Even in the harshest conditions, a flower can bloom through the cracks, and similarly, [it] can thrive in the most broken places, turning impossibilities into beauty."

Avery’s nature perfectly: gentle but resilient. She didn’t choose medicine for prestige, she chose it because she knows what it feels like when no one can fix the hurt in time. A peony blooms soft, but its petals are layered just like her strength. Beneath the calm leadership is grief she turned into purpose, and every life she helps is her quiet promise that loss won’t be meaningless

FIRST KISS

While most of Marlana's life is hidden to the people of Hiraeth, there's one thing she hasn't ever managed to hide: her love of a challenge. That's really what's shaped anyone Marlana's ever had feelings for or been involved with over the years. She remembers being fifteen years old and trespassing on school grounds with her best friend just to prove she could pick the lock of the professor's office. The janitor had showed up earlier than she'd expected, and she'd shoved the two of them at lightning speed into the closet. Pressed together in close quarters, in danger of being caught at any moment, Marlana found there was ... something rather attractive about her friend that she hadn't considered before. There wasn't a single thought in her brain as she closed what little distance was left between them for a kiss. It was a hell of a first kiss, until later he'd chastised her for almost getting them both suspended, called her too much of a daredevil. Her interest vanished after that.

Little has changed in Marlana's type over the years. She enjoys people who surprise her, who like a good argument, who won't get insecure over her jabs. She likes the thrill of being chased, of chasing someone who said she doesn't have a chance, of a kiss mid-fight, of getting lost in someone else under the neon lights of a dance floor. With her stubborn nature, penchant for slamming doors, and fear of anything more intimate than casual sex, most might say she's a little too much to handle.

FIRST LOVE (OR LACK THEREOF)

Many people might say they don't believe in love when what they really mean is they've been burned by it, or that they're not sure it's in the cards for them personally, or they don't think they deserve it, or perhaps hope someone will prove them wrong. Jaren Sinclair, however, genuinely doesn't believe it exists. What is that 'love' everyone else is experiencing? Well, they're obviously just naive dumbasses and/or having a good time until someone gets bored!

What led Jaren to believe that? Well, his own family is an excellent start. His parents were essentially an arranged marriage, and it's a barely veiled secret that his mother can barely stand to even look at his father outside of public events. They didn't care about each other and, truthfully, neither of them cared about Jaren either. He was a spare in case anything happened to Kol and little else. Even at a young age, most of Jaren's happy milestones were outside his home: learning to ride bikes with the Vale heiress, sneaking into another world with his best friend Matty, asking the adopted Knight heir for advice on girls...

To some people's surprise, Jaren has managed to date at least somewhat regularly. He'd liked one girlfriend in early high school quite a lot, but catching her with one of his best friends (not Matty or Dorian!) really solidified the first of his two current outlooks on life:

He's really, really good at being second choice. This applies to his parents, the only girl he ever seriously dated -- hell, even the girl he's lowkey betrothed to probably would prefer either of his siblings instead. The key is that if you're confident and funny enough, other people generally forget that shit. And if you get bored before the other person, then you're always winning, right?

Jaren never, ever dates a girl long term anymore and doesn't really bother with monogamy. What's the point of it, anyway? His father's been swearing for nearly Jaren's entire life that he's going to marry his family into one of the Queens'. The probability of him eventually marrying Lilith Vale as some sort of arrangement seems ... inevitable in his brain, and often that breeds resentment if he considers how little say he has in any of his future. Will they be just like his parents, barely noticing the other exists in the same room? ... Except, other times he finds that hard to believe, because Jaren isn't sure he can think of a time when he hasn't noticed Lilith in a room. To be clear, it's not love to have ended or cancelled more than one date to hang out with a girl. That's neighborly. It's never been love; it's just that sometimes, when he isn't being resentful, Jaren isn't exactly against the idea of his inevitable future. That's neighborly.

FIRST LOVE (death cw)

Angelie's first love story may not be what most would answer with. She's had many romantic relationships over the years, and several people she's told she loved, but even the first romantic love didn't particularly shape her.

The way Angelie loves is shaped by the loved she has lost. To her recollection, Angelie's parents were high school sweethearts who loved each other so much that they decided to start a family young. She'd never once been alone, even before her first breath, being born with a twin sister. They loved her so much, and then she'd been treading water alone. When she all but washed up in Hiraeth, a terrified young girl, it felt like she'd been taken in thanks to love at first sight. Doctor Dewitt didn't hesitate before helping her, and eventually taking her home. Her adopted brothers seemed willing to care for her immediately. Angelie could spend a thousand lifetimes trying to pay her family back for their kindness, and it would still never be enough.

Camellia fits someone who doesn’t fall apart in public. Vivian keeps her pride intact, masks vulnerability behind confidence, and chooses carefully who gets to see the real softness beneath. Affection from her isn’t loud — it’s deliberate. If she lets someone close, it means they mattered enough to pass every wall she built.

Foxglove connects to a person who loves deeply but protects themselves carefully. They don’t open up easily, but once trust is earned, their loyalty is fierce. It reflects a heart that wants to help others while quietly guarding its own wounds.

First love: Dante