Ariyen: Q for Questions and then as many of the blues as you want.
Q for Questions
1. do they ask for help?
Not really. When she was younger, she did, but after no one understanding her ‘the desert ate my brain and I have a bunch of new and inexplicable senses and knowledge’ problems, let alone being helpful, she stopped. She learned that in most situations, people aren’t helpful.
She likes having allies, and is willing to look for them, though. But generally she tries to align herself with their goals, be helpful to them, instead of the other way round. She expects she has more to give them (not necessarily much, but more) than they have to give her.
2. do they ask questions in class?
Pre-brain eating, yep. She was a curious kid who found asking questions a good way to learn.
Post brain eating… her questions were at right angles to what most people knew or thought to ask questions about, and was quickly discouraged.
3. do they answer questions that make them a little uncomfortable?
Ariyen is an incredible open person. (She can’t pretend to not be deeply strange, so she doesn’t even try.) And she realises to most people she is a curiosity, and that of course people will ask personal questions. And also that’s what other people consider personal, and what she considers personal, are often very different. So she answers them, because it’s easier than saying ‘yes, I am quite strange, but I won’t tell you why’ or ‘actually, my favourite flower is an incredible personal question.’ (Plus, she lives in hope that if she explains enough, she’ll find someone who at least kind of gets it.)
4. do they ask weird questions?
She has very little idea what a weird question is anymore. Yes.
5. are they curious?
She’s quite curious, but it’s quite focused, like everything else about her. She’s curious about what the heck is going on re: the desert eating her brain, and also about the desert generally. However, the brain eating also gave her a lot of information about the desert, and she’s spent a fair bit of time wandering it anyway, so there’s not a lot of known unknowns left about the desert for her to be curious about.
Blue
Sky - What is your favorite time of the day?
“I like the early mornings. They’re quiet, and well. I don’t do loud.
And at the risk of being in a rut, it’s cooler then. I may love the desert, but I have – physical – needs that don’t always play nicely with it.”
Arctic - Do you prefer warm or cool weather?
“Even taking into account what I just said, I don’t really have a preference for temperature as such. I’m more used to heat, but I imagine I can handle cold. It’s moisture that gets to me. I like dry air.”
Baby (blue) - Would you consider having children? If so, how many?
Periwinkle - Would you consider yourself to be a good parent? what do you think a good parent should be?
“I don’t think I should have children. At least, not as I am now. I’m too distracted. Too distractable. Children need parents who can pay attention. And understand.”
Teal - What makes you feel most at peace?
“Sand between my toes. Dry air. The interlocking grains of sand, the lithfication, the networks of – my language has no word for it, the material that is sand* – the feeling of dormant seeds, the storage of water. The waiting for the rains to come.
The feeling of the rains leaving.”
*((silicon-oxygen tetrahedra.))
Turquoise - Are you good at communicating your feelings?
“Well, by evidence I am pretty bad at it. Though maybe my feelings are unusual.
–But if I can only communicate usual feelings, I still feel that makes me bad at it.”
Lapis - What is your opinion on religion and the afterlife?
“I don’t have much to say about the afterlife. Or gods. It’s not my focus. My realm of understanding.
…there’s something in the desert. Of the desert. But I don’t think it’s a person. Not the way a god, or a spirit is. But there’s something.
Peacock - Are you a more flashy person, or do you like to blend in?
Zerri: She’s a such a peacock. She wants to be the centre of attention. How else will she get people to follow her lead, accept her morality, learn about THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP! And even ignoring her motivations for being the centre of attention, she’s drawing eyes to her. She’s a... dramatic person? In the sense that the way she expresses herself is very hammy/scenery chewing. (It’s also got to do with her backstory. She had to stand out to get any attention. And then, she had to stand out to join a Kabal and get her meal ticket.)
Makili: She doesn’t want to be invisible, but she doesn’t try to stand out. Partially because she is a vigilante, and you don’t want to be recongisable as a vigilante. And also because she doesn’t care if she’s noticed. She wants things to be fixed, she doesn’t want credit.
Ariyen: She doesn’t intend to be flashy/noticeable-- but she’s an uncommon species, plus, street preachers aren’t exactly subtle. Especially when they are ranting about the desert? And how good it is? But she’s equally likely to slip past people’s attention when she isn’t on one of her rants.
