3: Does your character like coffee better, or tea?
After a life spent in hospital wings, Stephen is not above drinking coffee. In fact, he half thrives on it, and has done so for a great deal of his adult career. That being said, he does also enjoy tea, and came to enjoy it ever more so once settling at Kamar Taj. Before that he would have tea as a ceremonial drink or when on holiday, but coffee is still his go-to when he needs some hot, liquid support. Tea, for him, is more for comfort and socializing.
11: How would your character court the person of their dreams?
In spite of being a robust flirt, Stephen doesnât really have a set design for courting. By and large, Stephen hasnât had reason or time to consider the decorum of a true romantic approach with a certain permanent end in mind. In fact, heâs shied away from long-term commitments specifically because he fears the loss should they not sustain or come through.Â
But when Stephen loves someone, and really wants to keep them in his life, he insures that they have a grounded friendship first. Sex can often be involved, but it can just as often be excluded during this stage. If at any point the relationship isnât workable but he cares about the person, he is openly flexible to negotiating friendship in those circumstances.Â
If the relationship survives, he rather doesnât know what to do other than continue being friends, and being himself. He may open up more - or close himself off in the beginning out of panic - and in time will rely on them, which for him is the biggest show of confidence. Beyond that, his tried and true acts of affection are insuring they have time together, doing whatever makes the other partner happy. Stephen was by nature of being a middle-aged, genius bachelor prior to his magical career, more than a bit of an egotist. So when he openly devotes his time to others and not to himself or his duties in particular, itâs a clear indication of how much he wants said person to be a part of his chaotic life.
17: When does your character think that violence is justified or deserved?
Stephen has a fraught relationship with violence, harm, and death in general. By and large he despises violence, but he acknowledges that whether or not itâs logical, it happens for good and bad reasons. And sometimes, for no reason at all.
Personally, he does his utmost not to commit unnecessary violence, but that doesnât preclude him from having to be violent in order to survive so many of the situations heâs put into. If he had his druthers, Stephen would remain a pacifist and well and truly âdo no harm,â but that desire is put completely at odds by the requirements of his position. He must kill things, both spontaneously and purposefully, in order to keep balance on a larger scale.
But needing to kill and accepting that necessity does not reflect his considering it justifiable. Needing to eradicate a pest species is still killing, just as sacrificing guilty sorcerers to their malevolent masters is still killing. For Stephen, the inability to save something casts just as long a shadow as the belief that any violence is just or deserved.