#sius

SIUS

1. Does your OC have any difficulty distinguishing between love and lust?

I actually think this is one of the lines both Sius and Lero are good at recognizing within their relationship. Sius has had a handful of trysts with others through the years (well. both of them have. but i digress), but his interest in other men is primarily physical. Tbh it probably wouldn't even cross his mind to open up emotionally to someone the same way he does to Lero; there's too much at stake. So there would be little basis for him to fall in love with someone else.

14. If they wish to impress someone for whom they have romantic (or at least sexual) feelings, does your OC attempt to present themselves as more confident, wealthy, popular or otherwise impressive, than they truly are?

His mindset is that he's literally king and if that's not impressive enough to a potential sexual partner then it wasn't meant to be.

The deeper down answer is that he has an extremely poor sense of self and is constantly calculating how someone responds to him and shifting his presence accordingly. But when your entire existence is a performance, this isn't really a remarkably noticeable thing. He's not even fully aware he's doing it.

As mentioned in this post, this manifests a little differently with Lero. He's more outwardly desperate to keep hold of him, and it's created probably the closest thing he'd ever develop to a fawn response.

STER

11. Has your OC ever been the object of someone's affections that they did not (or could not) reciprocate?

LET ME TALK ABOUT HACELIA

I think I've not talked about her a ton either here or with u but she's the lead scientist on the team that "Faer" (cough sterina cough) send to collaborate with Betia's scientists on solving their drought. She's a brilliant geologist, of mixed heritage with a nomadic culture that holds a connection to the mountain range that runs through the two countries.

She's got her own thing going on re: her heritage and her relationship with academia. However, part of her journey is that she gets to collaborate with Sterina on her coup. As you can imagine, planning a coup can be tense work that allows one to intimately learn their co-conspirator's mind.

Reciprocation would have been too big of a risk for Sterina. She couldn't have afforded it.

Lero

3. What does your OC look for in a romantic (or perhaps purely sexual) partner? Is this always healthy?

Lero is bi! Romantically he only really has eyes for Sius. The attraction here is very much rooted in their shared history, in who they were before the burden of rule overcame them both. In what they can escape back into behind closed doors. Lero admires Sius' humour, his intellect, his eye for beauty... and the way he's the sole person who can coax Sius into yielding control 🤭

Unforchies it is not healthy!! His sense of self is enmeshed with Sius, he compromises his morals around Sius, he is constantly playing damage control in court... etc.

Regarding casual partners... he'd prioritise discretion above all else. It's not Sius he's worried about--Sius doesn't see casual sex as a threat to their relationship. Rather, he has a much lower threshold for being speculated about, and prefers to keep any court rumours about himself to a minimum. Also important to him: the separation of physical and emotional intimacy.

He'd probably have a thing for damsel-in-distress types (of any gender).

6. Has your OC ever had their heart broken? Have they ever truly recovered?