For Orilde: 4, 18, 42, 57, and 62; for Sudryal: 9, 20, 30, 44, and 51; for Yelkha: 3, 14, 33, 43, and 46; for Fsssh: 27, 36, 45, 65, 67; and... for Desamee: 12, 17, 31, 47, and 64?
Sorry this took so long!
Orilde
4. If they could learn one spell that isn’t available to them at present, which spell would it be?
Orilde does have a lot of options, since she's pulling from both the sorcerer and the cleric spell lists.... But I think she'd most like one of the smites. Thunderous Smite, probably, it fits with the flavor I've been going for with her existing spells (a lot of thunder damage). She doesn't think a lot about what's not available to her, because... well, she doesn't think a lot!
18. Do they see themself as a leader or a follower?
Well, as a scion of Clan Silverbrand and a blessed daughter of Berronar, surely she'll be a great leader of people someday! She is oblivious to evidence otherwise.
42. What are three words they would use to describe themself?
"Blessed," for obvious reasons, "strong," because she's very proud of her strengths, and either "good" or "kind," which are both at least aspirations of hers.
57. What makes them angry?
Injustice, when she's able to identify it. Harm done to others, ditto. Having her clan or her divinity mocked--she's very forgiving if she can make excuses about people being ignorant, but she can tell when it's meant to be cruel. Anyone being mean to or threatening her friends, that's a big one.
62. Outside of otherworldly forces, what do they believe in?
She believes that most people are innately good, they just have to be guided (and she is very willing to take guidance on her own part, too). She believes that the religious and cultural authorities she's grown up with Know Best, even if it doesn't seem right to her. She believes that the people she cares about can't be that bad, or she wouldn't care about them.
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Sudryal
9. Do they care about their appearance? how much effort do they put into presentation?
Sudryal cares about his appearance insomuch as it matters. When he was hermiting alone in the woods, he paid it very little attention, aside from matters of comfort and practicality (hair pulled back and held out of his eyes, clothing warm, armor and boots protective) but now that he's out and about in the world he's aware that people are going to judge him on it. Since he doesn't mind being judged as a woodland hermit he hasn't changed his clothes out, exactly, but he makes more effort that they not look completely neglected, replacing shredded stuff instead of using it as a warmth layer and so on. 'Affiliated and comfortable with the forest' is fine, 'ragged crazy man' is not.
20. Which of the five senses do they rely the most on?
Hmmm. Probably hearing? He knows he doesn't have a nose as sharp as a wolf's, but I headcanon elves as pretty keen-eyed and keen-eared, and hearing would matter more than sight in a forest when it comes to figuring out what's what. Also, he's pretty prone to the 'pretend to be trancing/meditating, but actually be tracking the surroundings by sound' trick.
30. What do they seek out from others?
Nothing, according to him--or, grudgingly, if pressed, answers and assistance in figuring out what his god has sent him to do. More realistically, as much as he holds himself back, he seeks out companionship, because people need people, even if they are stubborn grumpy elves convinced that they don't. Like, by all logic and reason he shouldn't have kept traveling with Grai and Josephine beyond whatever point their paths might otherwise have split, but....
44. What do they need to learn?
Lots of things! But the thing about people needing people would be a good start. :P A lot of stuff is more 'admit' than 'learn,' but... he needs to learn that he's allowed to have nice things, and, rather more to the point, that 'deserving' shouldn't have nearly as much to do with fulfilling his needs as he thinks it does.
51. what is the most beautiful thing in the world, for them?
This is a little difficult, because Sudryal is simultaneously aware that many things are beautiful, in nature, and not someone at all who naturally sees the beauty in things. Nor is he inclined to give things the study they need for him to really see it. But I think, and yes this is a reflection on his own complexes, the most beautiful things to him are beginnings, both first and new: the first buds of spring daring the frost, a newborn fawn in its first tottering steps, the first light of dawn, young people (you know who) fumbling through the first flush of their feelings for each other.
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Yelkha
3. What is their goal right now?
Depending on what point in the timeline, and which AU--to start with, in the 'original' D&D setting, her goal is to catch up with the person who took Gurgiu! And then at least in modern AU she actually sets a goal to romance Bryn (in the others she goes 0-to-60 on "girls can love girls? --> HEY BRYN HEY BRYN" so that's. two weeks max out of her life). Other than that, she's not really a person with goals? "Avoid getting caught by the tribe," I guess. But she's happy to just drift around, especially if Bryn and Gurgiu are with her.
14. What is something they love about themself?
She is strong! And brave! And fierce-hearted! And very good with animals!
TBH, because she's a half-orc raised among orcs, she kind of sees the first three as a default, so she's probably proudest of the last one--her knowledge, her skill, and especially her animal midwifery. (Her epithet IS The Bull-Mother, after all.) It's a skillset that takes both innate talent and a lot of determined learning to achieve, and she is indeed proud of it.
33. What makes them cry?
Yelkha... doesn't cry very often. It was considered shameful, in her tribe, and I also kind of headcanon that it's biologically rarer for orcs (they seem built for survival in a lot of climates, and crying wastes water), so it has to be a very emotionally intense situation for them to tear up. She has a lot of practice resisting even that! But I think over time, as she lives in the lowlands with Bryn and comes to learn and love that no emotion is shameful and she can enjoy all of them... I think she cries sometimes when she's sad, like when a calf dies in her arms or something, but mostly she cries a little in relief, after intense experiences. Like when Bryn's life seems to be in danger and then they overcome it, she gets clingy and sniffly afterwards.
43. Why do they fight?
She's a (half-)orc? Honestly, she doesn't understand why so many lowlanders DON'T fight, it seems like a skill they should at least develop for self-defense.
In terms of motivation, she fights for herself, really--to protect herself, to assert her dominance over and/or punish bad people and enemies, to protect Gurgiu and Bryn and other people and creatures she cares about. Yelkha doesn't really have a higher, nobler motive, she's just a warrior built and raised and trained to fight, and so it's her go-to for resolving any situation.
46. What do they deprive themself of?
Before she leaves her tribe, emotions, because that's the cultural expectation. After she leaves the tribe... not much! She's already rejected the principles she was raised with, and she doesn't see much point in depriving herself of anything at all. If it was something Bryn said they had to refrain from, like kicking in the skull of some shithead Yelkha really wants to pound, she might stop herself? And, y'know, money (or barter) for goods and services, she gets that. But she doesn't really DEPRIVE herself of anything, because she wants to live fully and experience it all, sort of thing.
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Fsssh:
27. How do they mourn?
Quietly! So as not to disrupt anyone else's life or, more rarely, grief. He prefers to be alone in his sorrow, and he doesn't expect support from others anyway. In terms of physical actions and rituals... he's not used to graves, but in a situation where someone got one, he would bring little trinkets to it regularly. Things that the dead would like. And he likes to write down and think a lot about anything someone he's lost has said to him that really resonated.
36. What’s a secret they’ve kept?
Uh, there's, y'know, the big one that I can think of (aside from his side-job in any circumstance being spying for his master) is that he knows that, in sequence, a) his siblings died in the nest while his parents were too weak with illness to feed anyone, b) his parents shortly after also died in the nest, c) he, in his fever and starvation, ate a lot of meat, and d) he was alone and he doesn't remember corpses, at least not intact ones, when he finally recovered enough to leave the nest and seek out help.
But there's no point in talking about something that's just going to worsen people's impression of kenku, even if in GENERAL he will be open about eating (non-sentient) carrion. It was about as out of his control as things can get, he was a tiny baby not in his right mind, but he's still ashamed.
45. How do they hug people?
Not often! Unless they have indicated a desire for bird hugs, because Fsssh is very respectful of other people's personal space. When he does hug people he's a bit delicate about it, he hops up and carefully turns his beak to avoid stabbings and reaches out and very carefully puts his arm around them and squeezes gently.
Which gives the impression, perhaps, that he does not enjoy hugs? But that impression would be wrong. He is Careful about them, that's all.
65. What is holding them back?
Honestly, OOC? His complete devotion to his master, who doesn't care about Fsssh half as much as Fsssh cares about him, and who has taught him a lot of Incorrect Things (like how he should prioritize things, and the value of non-hobgoblin life) that Fsssh struggles a lot with. But since Azderog treats him as valuable, even if it's as a valuable tool, and Fsssh is aware that having an important hobgoblin treat him as valuable is the key to survival in his home city, it's hard to disentangle from faithfully following his lessons and ways of thinking.
(Also, Fsssh imprints super easily on anyone who throws him even a scrap of praise, so. Azderog got in early there compared to his later friends.)
67. What makes them laugh?
PUNS. Fsssh really loves puns. He has trouble making his own, but make one around him and he will be repeating it for YEARS. Wordplay in general delights him.
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Desamee
12. Have they ever been in love?
A good question! I haven't thought too much about her adventuring days, since she was originally designed to be joined as a level 1 character (in the campaign where I ended up joining Franzka instead), but I don't think she's been in love in her home town, since she had very little interaction there with people her own age except for Amancia, whom she loved, but wasn't in love with.
17. What do they dream about, when their dreams are their own?
She most often has seemingly mundane dreams, doing her usual chores and tasks in and around the house, that turn strange or dark--she's weaving, and suddenly the cloth starts to twist and turn under here hands and resist the pattern, or she's gathering mushrooms, and suddenly the shadows under the trees turn to gaping mouths, or she's washing clothing, and fish bones suddenly rise out of the water and start to swim in the air.
After she leaves for adventuring, she also has lots of dreams about seeing her mother and running to her, but having her slide away when she tries to hug her, or seeing her mother try to speak but not ever being able to make out the words.
31. They’re given a blank piece of paper–what do they do with it?
Write a few snippets of verse or lines of song. She's more a musical composer than a lyrical one, but she doesn't know how to write down her compositions, they run in her head, and usually there's a few lines attached to them even if they never make it into the song itself--so she'll write down the same rhyming couplet six times, different words underlined, because what she's actually thinking of is how the melody rises and falls inside her head.
Alternately, if she hasn't written her mother in the last couple days, she writes a letter to her mother.
47. When they meet someone, what is the first thing they notice?
The very first thing Dismay always looks for, when meeting a stranger, is how they react to her being a tiefling and whether or not they're going to make it a problem.
64. Do they value mercy or justice more?
That's... a difficult question to answer, because it depends on who each is delivered to. But in rough, justice to those above--people in power who abuse others MUST be held accountable, in her view--and mercy to those below--those struggling to survive deserve to be treated with grace. If she had to choose just one, though, as an absolute, then justice. Which in her mind ALSO encompasses mercy to those with (genuine, survival-based) mitigating circumstances.
