Scones: I feel like nayuta's almost like the wicked stepmother from snow white like she would shank someone prettier than her and be like "WOW WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, I'M THE PRETTIEST PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!
Nayuta's vanity is all performative tbh, it's only when she gets caught up in the thrill of being an absolute monarch that she is legitimately vain. At all other points in her life, she kind of avoids any sort of spotlight. After all, that's the point of shapeshifting
There's safety in obscurity. The less attention gets drawn to you, the easier it is to survive. She never even wanted to be a queen! It was never her goal! She just got completely distracted from what she really wanted and being an evil dictator was just so much fun that her act was actualized.
Scones: does anna think of shapeshifting the same way?
Scones: or is she flashier than her terrible grandma
She's MUCH flashier, in part because she was born into a position where hiding was impossible. She uses shapeshifting as a form of manipulation, rather than just camouflage.
She's never been in a situation where she had to hide and steal and kill from the shadows. She's always been in the spotlight, in the center of attention, and that's where she likes to be. And when that attention turns to something else, she uses shapeshifting to keep it on her as long as possible.
That's why she looks like a young child, even when she's a late teen. She noticed children get more positive attention and they get fussed over and pampered and she said, "If I grow up, I lose that, and it goes to some other brat instead. So I'll simply have to stay young and adorable forever."
It works really well. Even on her parents, who are completely aware of what she's doing, but it's still extremely difficult to treat someone who looks like an 8-year-old as an 18-year-old
Most nirrans learn early on not to impersonate people of power or influential figures, because having that many eyes on a disguise is asking for you to be found out. Nirrans were widely known and feared during the peak of their race, and that fear drove people to hunt them down and kill them wherever they could be found. It's always safer to be a face in the crowd than an actor in a scene. If no one's looking at you, you'll never need to act. And that's the way Nayuta lived for most of her life.
the thing about annas hair is that it USED to be naturally pink, then it became naturally black when she learned how to shapeshift, and THEN she used her shapeshifting power to go pink again because she loves her mom
sometimes she gives herself green eyes too (even though she never had green eyes before) because. more mom-worship. but she's not a very EXPERIENCED shapeshifter so sometimes she just forgets to maintain the image and its only when she gets in front of a mirror and gets a good look at herself that shes like "oh yeah thats a thing i was trying to do"
like she wants him to be happy and everything but shes also just kind of like "its a little bit true that you arent good at a lot of things so yknow maybe leave the trying to other people bro"
even if she has like this positive attitude around him, her words and actions show how little faith she has in his actual capabilities
Scones: does anna find herself protecting alex at all or
all the time
theyre actually pretty close because anna's the only one who stands up for him when aria keeps putting him down
and she genuinely likes him and thinks hes funny and sweet but shes so FRUSTRATED by his universal ineptitude that in spite of her affection for her big brother, she just doesnt respect him a lot or have a high opinion of him
she also thinks shes better than everyone around her so that attitude partially is responsible for her holding him in rather low regard
Anna is just childish and doesn't have an easy time empathizing with people
If she sees someone is burdened by their past, she doesn't understand why they can't just ignore whatever's bothering them. Internal conflict and personal flaws don't make sense to her. "Why can't you just be whatever you need to be?" As a shapeshifter, malleability is everything to her. It comes naturally to her. But understanding other people is what she truly lacks.
The exception to this is Dion, interestingly enough. He's one of the three people she gives a shit about, and he's the only person whose internal struggles she can recognize and somewhat respect, more or less
Maybe respect is the wrong word, but she doesn't try to force him to change or get snippy with him in the same way as she does with aria or Alex. She just accepts their relationship for what it is.
The thing that Anna latches onto with strangers is whether or not they're any fun. She's always presenting this energy and excitement and she just wants to enjoy every moment of life, and Anna really wants to be around people who can match that enthusiasm. If they can't be bothered to show a little liveliness or can't really get to her tempo, she loses interest with people very quickly. Why waste time on someone who isn't going to satisfy her?
In the same vein as before, though, with the empathy problems, Anna also prefers talking to people who are straightforward and present themselves in an easily readable way. Most people sort themselves and restrain themselves until they can figure out what parts to present - Aoife, I feel, wouldn't have that same restraint. She feels and expresses her feelings all in a strong way, and in a way that makes it easy for Anna to understand and try to relate to. If that makes much sense, lol
McMuffin: how do the harmonia sisters interact?
McMuffin: are they harmonias?
McMuffin: or are they dissidias?
They're Harmonia. Dion is the only Dissidia in the family.
Because Harmonia is the name of the royal house and all
Even though he could have, Dion didn't take their name because of Personal Reasons
Anyways, Anna and Aria are actually kind of nasty to one another. They're always super catty and rude and they never say anything nice about each other, and whenever they're around the other it's always a game of subtle insults and jabs
Anna doesn't respect Aria, namely because of the way she treats Alex. But Anna doesn't respect most people because she defaults to assuming she's better than everyone. As soon as Anna passed the first insult, Aria kept the fire going by being passive aggressive - and sometimes straight-up aggressive - and so the cycle continued, to the end of their days
McMuffin: does anna treat alex poorly too?
Yes and no
She defends Alex from Aria's fury, but she doesn't really treat him WELL either
Because she kind of looks down upon him for being too weak to defend himself
She loves her little brother and wants him to be happy, but she sees him as a disappointment for not being terribly tough or bright
Alex Harmonia did nothing wrong
McMuffin: what does he do though? like his role in the greater story and his own personal arc?
Wow thats a really hard question, I'm not really sure how to answer this for any character xD he just does His Best
He's motivated and in turn motivates a lot of plot events around him ?????
I don't know how to answer this without recapping the entire story lmao and that's a lot of writing
McMuffin: I gotcha. it just sseems like he's doomed to the background behind the massive shadows of the rest of his family
McMuffin: and we all know he's more than that
McMuffin: because alex is a saintttt
his struggle to overcome his own issues with inadequacy are a big part of his motivation and growth
in the story he plays a central role, even if he himself doesnt see the impact of his actions
his realization of his own worth is the main goal of his personal narrative
you dont have to aspire for greatness or importance to be great or important. thats another big message in his story and actions, as his reasons for doing things are never really personally motivated - again, his lack of value in himself does not lend itself to ambition - but just by trying to be who he is, to the best of his ability, he does a lot of pretty incredible stuff
like
example
objectively speaking, his almost dying was aria's fault. frustrated by her father's reluctance to include her in war strategy or trust her with any task of importance, aria gathers her siblings and cousins and convinces them all to join her in a very dangerous, very poorly thought-out mission. it's by the grace of god that they succeeded and survived - but on their way back, high on the energy and excitement that came with their victory, nayuta stopped them in their tracks. actually, thats putting it mildly. nayuta made their hype train literally crash and burn
she attacked and they were caught unprepared. in the confusion of her ambush, none of them could defend themselves. nayuta recognized aria as the first born. so, she decided she would be the first dead, too. as nayuta advanced upon them, it was alex who stepped forward in defense of his sister, grabbing the demoness by the arm and holding her back, refusing to let her go even if death took him. she tested that theory to its limits, and brutally skewered her grandson.
the fallout from this was enormous. aria watched it all happen, and snapped out of the daze of the attack in time to grab her injured brother and get the fuck outta there. nayuta would have given chase, had it not been for the noble sacrifice of Skye and Gale Borealis, who both died ensuring aria's escape. aria returned to her parents and told them what happened, and as alex lie bleeding and dying on the palace floor, sonia made the fateful decision to hide away with him and keep him alive - the decision that, as you may recall, ended in her eventual death
saving aria's life was one of the first truly heroic things alex had ever done. and he never got the chance to feel proud of himself for it.
another note about that suicide mission
because why not
during the mission is the first time in the entire story that you meet laura
the mission takes them to the atarian desert - somewhere nayuta has had her eye on for ages, and somewhere everyone is sure holds the key to her defeat, but dion its too dangerous and too risky to explore at the time. aria disagrees, and pulls together the borealis twins, the duet twins, and alex (anna decides to stay behind) to go find out what the heck is going on down there
the whole story, you hear about nayuta searching for something - but what that "something" is never gets elaborated upon, and nayuta says herself that she doesnt know a whole lot about it. only that itll give her the power of a god. pretty ominous! and she got pretty close too. but even after ascending to the throne, dion and sonia never really look into it because they dont even know where to start. they know nothing about this "something"
alex is the one who finds the "something" - though he doesnt quite know what hes stumbled upon, until he hears a voice in his head, asking who he is and telling him she's scared and alone. feelings he's easily able to sympathize with, and he offers the mysterious spirit kindness and friendship in these dark and frightening times. even after he leaves, and after sonia dies, and after nayuta is gone, and after all is at peace, the spirit doesnt leave his side. its not until leo lucarhest enters the world to free his master from the seals that bind her that the spirit is finally able to re-emerge into the world with a physical form, and ever since, laura lucarhest never forgot the warmth and hope that alex showed her
