adrian fell in love with the sky when he was five or six, used to lay on the lawn and watch planes fly low to the airfield nearby. multiple times he was found asleep in the grass because he got tired watching them. he was always kind of a shy kid, at peace on his own and pretty good with taking care of himself, save for the occasional bit of chaos gremlin in him. good climber, fast swimmer, passable but uninterested in most sports. his favourite thing to do was draw planes and read about planes and think about planes. later on he discovered that there was a Cooler, Second Sky above the one he could see and from there it was all over. teachers called him a bright kid but had his "head in the clouds", which was apt. he spent most classes that weren't physics or math staring out the window.
(less on him because i talk about him All the time)
zarah was good at being the favourite child, but unfortunately her parents werent the type to favour their children. she was a perfect kid, straight-A student, never stayed out past dark unless she got express permission, a pleasure to have in class, always setting aside two hours per night to do her homework, friendly to everyone, valedictorian, prospects from all the ivy league schools
it's exhausting. zarah spends a lot of time fighting for a balance between what's expected of her and what she's capable of. when adrian is fifteen and zarah is nine, their grandparents kind of figure out that adrian is not going to fit into their Perfect Heir mold, and turn their attention to zarah instead. they suddenly start sending her expensive presents for her birthday and christmas, theyre offering to drive her to and from school (she agrees until the day adrian gets his license and then she drives with him and rayne). she really doesn't know what to do with this sudden affection from her grandparents, but she's nine and her dad barely talks to her and her mom has this blank look behind her eyes and a smile that doesn't quite reach them. so she leans into it, a little. what else is she going to do?
like adrian, she likes her solitude. its a trait inherited from their mother; zarah likes to be read to, likes to make up her own stories and gets frustrated when she's too young to write them out properly. her favourite place is the windowsill in her bedroom and her bookshelf. it makes sense then that her favourite subjects would involve stories– she majors in historical literature in college, comparing storytelling across millennia, how myths arose from natural disasters we can backdate, how oral storytelling survived and crossed oceans the way that it did. stories are such a uniquely human part of the world zarah could talk about them for hours and hours. she becomes a researcher as an adult, a college lecturer on occasion, and later on a novelist, with a series of in depth, densely world-built fantasy stories that she's been crafting since probably about age 11. and before you ask yes she has read the Silmarillion. and annotated it. multiple times.
rayne was the wild child of the three, younger than her sister by five years though both zarah and adrian did their best not to leave her out when they could. she was born right as the family started falling apart; adrian became her and zarah's guardian when she was only about six years old, so by the time she's 11 she can't really remember seeing her dad that much. adrian generally took care of her and zarah even when their parents were still around, and it's not until she's around 12 (his age when she was born) that she starts to realise how hard it was. both her siblings are academic opposites, but pros in both their respective areas, so rayne always felt like more of a black sheep. she never seemed to run out of energy as a kid, always running laps around the playground and making up games and rolling in mud or whatever. she was very good at getting crowds to work her will at recess, so adrian was often told by teachers that she'd make a good lawyer. she considered it for all of 5 seconds before finding out how much school was required and then promptly ditched the idea
she loves sports though. she liked exy when she tried it, liked that she was able to compete alongside (and beat) the boys in her class, but she preferred soccer because she got to run more without needing to lug a stick around. soccer becomes Her sport and she makes the team in middle school and high school, and even gets a couple scholarship offers to play in college.
complete social butterfly, has this magnetic charisma she gets from her dad that just makes people want to be her friend. her friend group is made up of outcasts and misfits, because ever since kindergarten she makes a point of talking to anyone who seems shy or left out. she recognises her brother and sister and she knows how much fun they are when somebody really talks to them, so she tries to be friends with everyone.
adrian looks like his dad, near-black hair and dark brown eyes, while the girls take after their mom, both with thick curly brown hair and their eyes are more hazel. they still look a lot like adrian though, the kind of siblings you can instantly tell are related yk
adrian max height about 5'8. rayne will swear up and down that she gets taller than him but it's up for debate. zarah hits around 5'6 at 17 and never grows any more
on the fridge there is a picture that adrian drew when he was seven, a stick-figure crayon one of him riding the bicycle he got for his birthday, with his name written in block letters above his head. when zarah was born, and learned how to read, she wanted her picture on the fridge too. so adrian got it down (with the help of a stepstool) and extended the bicycle behind him, so zarah could draw herself and write her name. when rayne was born, they extended the bike a bit more, and she got to draw herself and write her name. the picture stays on the fridge until rayne goes to college
adrian learned to drive from their mom, and then taught both zarah and rayne when they were old enough. all three of them failed their tests on the first try. adrian for disobeying the instructor (he was told to turn at a specific place but he knew that it was faster to get to where he wanted to go if he took a different route) (he was right but they didn't like it). zarah for being way too cautious and holding the steering wheel almost with white knuckles the entire time because she was so stressed (too used to driving with her brother next to her and wasn't ready to have to treat driving like an exam) and rayne for being a little too reckless and hitting a couple of kerbs (she also didn't like the examiner so decided to take him on a little trip and when she told adrian this in a very angry rant later that night he very desperately attempted not to laugh)
zarah took it upon herself to show rayne everything when she was born, even before rayne could walk. she has this little red wagon that she would put her sister in and take her for rides around the house pointing at things and saying words. "table." "plant." "window." "addy." addy is adrian, because zarah couldn't say his name when she was tiny and when she tried to read it that's what came out. they both call him that a lot when they're little, but less so as they grow up. it's reserved for when they really need him to listen.
zarah likes her name so much she refuses to be given a nickname. her middle name is miranda, after her mother, whilst raynes is helen after their grandmother. rayne despises her middle name so she tells people it's zarah instead.
rayne's favourite album when she was little (as in dancing along to it when she could only hold herself up on the edge of a table) was The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie. zarah called her ziggy and the nickname stuck
adrian's favorite movie is Airplane! (1980), zarah's is Mulan (1998), and rayne's is Jurassic Park (1993). rayne saw jurassic park way younger than she should have done because she figured out how to turn on the TV by herself and thought WOAH dinosaurs. zarah thought for about 7 years that Reflection was the greatest song every written (she was right) and adrian just thinks airplane is funny as fuck (also right)
they argue a lot over music tbh. the only band they can ever really agree on is Fleetwood Mac, because adrian likes the drums, zarah would do anything for stevie nicks and rayne just loves The Chain
individually, their tastes do overlap a decent amount. their parents were big music people so they left a pretty sizeable collection behind, and one of the ways the kids all sort of re-bonded after it became just the three of them was picking a new album every night to listen to while they made dinner. the collection stays collective until they all start to split apart, and then they each take their favourite albums with them when they move out. adrian listens to anything with good drums, though primarily leaning toward the indie/alternative rock side. zarah likes keys and vocals, partial to a lot of acoustic/lowkey stuff because she likes studying to it. when she goes to college she actively looks for music in languages she doesn't speak and collects a huge variety of genres (rip to the year she spent strangely addicted to europop tho. she'll never get that back). rayne will listen to anything loud; the crunchier the better. big headbanger.
friends (most of this information is barely tangentially relevant in lmr but oh well. steele sibs be upon ye) @kevindavidday @absolutely-existing @falafels @catalinaday @you-know-i-get-itt @stardoused @captain-sunshine-11 @the-13th-omniscient @aftgphoenix @sehruncreative @tessasilverswan @belshouseofdreams @codename-adler @arsonistblue @ajosm86 @aryrosealynn
