#lariel

off the top of your head: notes for characterization? what are the most essential traits of this character to you (personality traits, important connections/dynamics, voice)?

Raqim

As the favored son, Raqim was given both privilege and responsibility that he can never live up to. (I still haven’t dropped the big trauma reveal but it’s coming.)

Because he holds himself to the highest standards, he tends to need to show off his competence, and because he holds others to high standards, he can be judgmental. His atheism gives him a need to be in control. He can’t trust the gods, so he takes the burden on himself.

That atheism comes from a belief in reason and the self-sufficiency of mortality, but what he doesn’t fully realize is that it’s much more emotional. He’s obstinate because he had to reject his Qadiran roots to fit in when he arrived in Rahadoum as a child, and he has some unexamined guilt over being cruel to his Aba.

His character arc is learning to accept that irrational, emotional, spiritual side to himself and others.

As a child he was a goatherd. He cares for his flock. What he values most is community—mortals looking out for each other. The other side of that coin is that he hates feeling excluded, which is a big frustration in Mendev. On the one hand he sets himself apart as a proud Rahadoumi, but on the other he just wants to be one of the gang.

His high wisdom comes in the form of being perceptive and thinking things through. He passed the Occularium entrance exam with hard work, not natural smarts, and he would much rather spend time outdoors than studying.

As for his voice: he tries to express himself clearly and often formally; he can be brusque, especially when he’s embarrassed; dry sense of humor—you can’t always tell when he’s joking. He has that eyebrow lift when he thinks somebody’s talking nonsense. His gestures are practiced, deliberate and graceful.

Siavash

Siavash’s flavor of high charisma is his genuine warmth. He gets people to open up by listening and empathizing. He’ll tune into your wavelength to try to win you over. Luckily, he’s well-intentioned in his manipulativeness.

He’s curious, open-minded and impulsive. He’ll seize any opportunity put in his path by Desna’s luck, with faith that it’ll work out in the end. His big secret is that it’s completely on purpose – that hopeful faith is his guiding principle, without which he cannot exist.

Corollary to that, in order for the karma to work its magic, people have to be free. He abhors subjugation of all kinds. Especially the rules of fashion.

On the other hand, his faith is not rock solid. Beneath all the charm runs a deep insecurity that he’ll let people down. One part of that is not always believing in his own ability to come through, and the other is just his deep abhorrence of hurting people.

Still he trusts his heart. Bardic magic is occult magic. Deep inside is a mystical, emotional alchemy that his music comes from: joy, sorrow, wrath, compassion, love, courage.

As for his voice: informal most of the time, a lot of joking and teasing, but he can use diplomatic formality when it’s useful. He’s very “yes, and” in his approach to life as well as conversation. He’s also an active listener who asks a lot of questions, sometimes leading questions. Devastating smile and infectious laugh.

adjacently—do you think fandom does the above traits justice? why or why not?

(taking this to mean how they could be misinterpreted)

Raqim

Just because he’s lawful and plays the straight man doesn’t mean he’s cold-hearted or has no sense of fun. He’s judgmental but not impatient with people – he can see when they’re trying and he’ll support them.

Siavash

Don’t take him lightly just because he fully embraces the azata sillies. He is going to break the universe.

throw this character at any other character of your choice to bounce off each other as outsider pov to each other— regardless of timeline or logistics (crossovers allowed if you're interesting about it). why this combination? what insights would they have on each other?

These two would be friends with some reservations.

Raqim would so easily be drawn in by how welcoming Siavash is, but be deeply envious of his lightness of spirit. Siavash doesn’t seem to carry the weight of his burdens. In that sense he would remind Raqim of his little brother Amir, but Amir was more fragile. Siavash has a surprising strength, which I think Raqim is perceptive enough to sense. The way Siavash appears to throw that strength to the wind would worry him.

Siavash would really like Raqim but would be on a mission to get him to lighten up and stop taking himself so seriously. Siavash doesn’t like how judgmental Raqim can be, but he knows it all stems from those impossible standards he holds himself to. He’d be like, “Just let go, buddy, it’s ok. You don’t have to fix everything. Just let the dice roll.” But without faith, Raqim can’t do that.

how do you think you would react to this character in real life and vice versa? would you prefer to be a million miles out of range, be amicable classmates, or fall desperately in love? (bonus: arrange a hypothetical date between yourself and this character. getting silly with it is encouraged (fakedate them! escape a dinner date through a bathroom window!))

Raqim

This has made me realize I have committed the ultimate cringe of creating an OC I would be pathetically in love with irl. His arrogance would drive me crazy though. I need him to walk into a pole.

Siavash

I confess his character is partly based on an irl friend I adore but who I am glad moved far away. He’d be too much for me. I’d love him, but small doses only please.

ideal flavor of rotating for this character? crack them open and dissect them— do you want them tormented, pining, or being loved + comforted? do you have any specific scenarios you like to think about?

Raqim

I’ve tormented him enough in his backstory. Now I want him comforted. Lightly mocked and covered in smooches. That said—I become absolutely gleeful when he fails a check and gets taken down a notch.

Siavash

This man needs tormenting. He needs to face darkness, especially his own. I love pulling the rug out from under his confidence in those moments of doubt and insecurity, just to watch him bounce back.

I want him terrified of loneliness. I want him finding a kindred soul who understands him and accepts him as he is, who lets the lark fly but is always there for him. Someone who believes in him.

weave a web of dynamics through the cast for this character: which dynamics are you most interested in? both canonically and through extrapolation/speculation— which dynamics are the richest to you, and why?

Raqim

Ember is like Raqim’s personal Fury. At first he’s spooked by her because her burns remind him of his sin—the time he lost control and unleashed fire on an enclave of Sarenrites. Then as he listens to her he realizes she’s not just a traumatized child but strangely wise, which is even more spooky, because they’re in perfect agreement about both atheism and mercy, except that she pushes his principles to their extreme by extending forgiveness even to demons. It’s like she haunts him. He doesn’t like the way her crow gives him such knowing looks.

When he finds out Soot’s true nature, he’ll feel as betrayed as Ember does, but maybe it will help open his mind to a new way of looking at things.

Siavash

I’ve already done this so much for him & the companions in the past that instead I’m taking your twins as companions 💕

I love his friendship with Lariel, although it's tragic. He sees in her a kindred spirit. She’s curious and kind and fiercely values freedom. He doesn’t understand the source of her torment until much later. Due to that torment, Lariel is wary of him even though she adores him as a friend. She knows what uncontrolled power can do, even with good intentions. The bittersweetness to me is that in order for her brother to be free from his own torment, she has to hand him over into Siavash’s hands, and give up the closeness she had with her twin. Even though she was Zrise’s closest confidant since childhood, and becomes one of Siavash’s best friends, she forever remains somewhat estranged from both of them. It hurts my heart.

In the AU with Zrise as romanced companion, Siavash is almost as surprised as Zrise that he begins to return his affection. At first glance Zrise is kind of the anti-Siavash: standoffish, brooding, false, violent, a willing tool. But Calistria and Desna are both Elysian goddesses... Zrise has a wild spirit, and hidden deep, deep inside where he thinks no one can see it is what he considers a despicable weakness: he craves approval and affection. He can be incredibly gentle and generous. Once he opens up the transformation is hilarious. He can match Sia’s sappy, goofy sillies but there’s still this awkward edge to it that kills me.

Zrise and Siavash force each other through much-needed growth. Siavash has to come to terms with cruelty: not only that it can be inflicted by regular people, but that it does irreparable damage. He loves Zrise because he works hard to heal himself of the effects of the cruelty inflicted on him, but it’s still a part of him, and Siavash also loves the dark part. Siavash has to realize he can’t love the world and people without also embracing the dark side—including his own. It’s paradoxical but ultimately healthier for him.

Lariel is so right. Together they are a danger to the universe.

do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.)

Lariel’s skin prickles. It’s getting cold out here on the deck of the Bloodstone Rose and the salt spray has gradually soaked through her mourning dress, which will be even more uncomfortably stiff and edged with white when—or if—it dries. All the more reason to get rid of it, she decides, and the mental image of wadding it up and tossing it overboard gives her a small degree of satisfaction to distract from the stinging wind. Another itchy, constraining part of her old life to throw to the waves.

She’s reluctant to return to the cabin despite the chill, and despite that she’s all too aware she’s obstructing the sailors’ work and they don’t dare ask the weather witch to move aside. Inside it’s stuffy with beer and sweat and she feels even more of a nuisance in the narrow spaces, and besides, Zrise is more sullen than usual today. She wishes she had someone else to talk to. She wishes the sailors would dare speak to her, but they’re as aware of her social status as of her ability to bend the wind to her will and they just dip their heads and say “Miss” and hurry off whenever she opens her mouth. It only occurs to her this moment that Zrise may have done something to intimidate them, zealously protective as he’s been since they left the city.

She wanted to be happy out here on the open sea, but she feels just as trapped and useless and isolated as ever.

When a violent shiver runs through her frame she reluctantly turns to go inside, but catches sight of another passenger, the colorfully dressed bard, and is suddenly frozen in the grip of her loneliness.

Of course he won’t notice me, she thinks, a small, dark, shivering ghost in her ruined charcoal gown and mourning scarf.

But he does notice her. He grins and beckons. “Watch this.”

He tosses something into the wind and a gull stoops for it, and another gull sweeps in from below and steals it from the first’s beak, and the sky is full of their plaintive cries and frenzied flapping.

Then he hands her something and she reaches for it without thinking. It’s a slimy day-old shrimp.

“Go on,” he encourages her.

Lariel has no intention of tossing this shrimp feebly over the gunwale. She takes a step back, draws back her arm and whips it out as hard as she can. The shrimp arcs up into the gray sky. There is another angry, shrieking explosion of feathers. She and the bard laugh together and she forgets about the chill for a moment.

He nods toward the dark clouds on the horizon. “One of yours?”

“No,” she says. “A regular storm.”

“Oh no. Regular storms make me sick. You know what’s funny though? Yours don’t.”

“They don’t?”

“It’s weird. The ship pitches, but somehow knowing we’re in good hands and we’re headed somewhere makes me feel like it’s going to be all right.” He touches the pendant at his throat. “Kind of like Desna. Tymora, you call her here.”

“I wish I could tell you we were headed somewhere,” she murmurs, almost too quietly to be heard over the wind.

“You’re running from something.” As if it’s a joke he says this with mock gravity, although not without sympathy. “Let me try to guess. I’m an expert palm reader. May I?”

Lariel can only imagine Zrise’s reaction to this person prying into their affairs—but Zrise isn’t here, is he? She offers her small, cold hand.

“Hm,” he peers closely at her palm and pokes at the creases as if teasing out their secrets. “Aha. Here it is. Escaping an arranged marriage.”

Her eyes widen. She looks at her own hand. “Where do you see that?”

But when she glances up she realizes he’s laughing at her gently. “Your brother told me.”

“Oh.” She reddens but his teasing seems so friendly she can only laugh. “Wait—my brother told you that?”

“We talked,” he shrugs, as if it’s normal that Zrise would confide anything to anyone.

She frowns at him sidelong.

He misunderstands. “Don’t worry, this is not a bid to besmirch your honor. I’m not much for besmirching ladies.”

She remembers Zrise’s tirade about her naiveté with Venan and decides to stay on her guard, but it’s so nice to just talk to someone. “I suppose you’re running away from something too.”

“I like to think of it more as running towards something,” he says, looking hopefully out to the horizon.

“Towards what?”

“I’ll know when I get there.”

Lariel laughs with delight. “That sounds wonderful,” she says, but she’s unable to hide a hint of wistfulness in her voice.

“No reason you shouldn’t look at it that way too.”

He’s right, she realizes. Her mind has been so mired in that prison of a family manor and escaping from it that she still feels its drag on her every thought, the oppressive hands of the past pulling her under so she’s hardly had a moment with her head above water just to breathe. Unconsciously her hand goes to her throat.

Before she can answer, the cabin door slams open with a splintering crack and her brother Zrise stomps out, dragging something that turns out to be the scruff of the young redheaded sailor’s neck—the only sailor who dared speak to her once. He hauls the whimpering man like a dog toward the gunwale, and for a moment Lariel thinks he’s going to throw him to the gulls like a shrimp, but then Zrise notices her standing there with the bard and his face slackens from rage to an awkward, forced smile.

“Can’t take a joke, can you?” he snaps at the young sailor, dropping him to the deck like a rag. “I wasn’t really going to…”

Lariel expects Zrise to storm up and “escort” her back into the cabin but he’s gone an odd shade of his usual pale and seems… embarrassed? He’s wearing his stupid boots like he’s trying to impress someone. To her surprise he slinks back into the cabin without another word.

She and the bard rush to the aid of the sailor but as soon as he’s on his feet he’s away, and neither of them says a word about it as they go back to contemplating the horizon together.

When at last the chill starts getting under their skin they head into the cabin. The sailors are watching an approaching ship on intercept course and muttering about pirates.

“Looks like things are about to get even more interesting,” says Lariel, trying to feel optimistic.