#askaeris

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Hi, 🤩✨ for the character of your choice!

Lord I took so long to get back to this one, I’m sorry!! And thank you so much for the ask. I couldn’t find the original post with all the emoji correspondences, ended up discovering the mess that is the tumblr archive, ... anyway we are here now.

Doing these for Kara Skogull! My norn revenant.

🤩 - what’s something they’re absolutely amazed by?

Literally everything. She grew up as a hermit deep in the snowy mountains, with only her and her family. She thought that the jungle was a myth, that airships weren’t real, heck she couldn’t even read. Her world split open when she met Thorvald, a friend (orperhaps, more than a friend?) who offered her a place to stay when she came to Hoelbrak every few months. He told her his stories of the world beyond the Shiverpeaks, even took her to Divinity’s Reach to prove that it wasn’t all fiction. Now that she is forced to leave her homeland, Kara gets to explore beyond the horizon. This comes with a healthy dose of heartbreak and homesickness, but travel is a very effective distraction.

✨ - tell a random fact about them!

Kara has a history with Owl, though she was blessed by Bear at first. She has lost the ability to wild shape since her connection to the mists was drastically altered. She also has six younger sisters and always brings back hair dye from Hoelbrak for them to have some colourful fun. 

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12, 20 for whatever character you'd like!

(Cw: fire, violence, death)

12. Grudges and Vendettas

Despite her hostile appearance, Ivy is the type of person who doesn’t hate easily. However, there are 2 people who have pushed her to vengeance & fear.

The Crimson Corsair, the man responsible for her extensive scars. Her and her team were meant to work with him, but he betrayed them once the dirty work was done. He lured them into a house’s basement and set the building ablaze. Ivy was at the furthest corner from the stairs and unable to take cover, so the fireball hit her full blast. She was knocked backwards and trapped under a burning table. Her friends and colleagues had escaped, but only realised she was trapped once they were outside. Her (now ex-) boss rescued her, but not before the leather and metal of her armour had melted into her skin. Due to their criminal nature, going to a hospital wasn’t an option, so she was bedridden for weeks at the Hunter’s Lodge and her ‘doctor’ was the freshly recruited elementalist. She survived, and the scars have healed over time, but she will always have sinewy, wrinkled skin where the metal burned so deep you could see bone. Ivy longs to have her revenge on him, but lost all trace of the Corsair.

The second person is her ex boss - the same man who saved her from death. They have a complicated relationship, which started with great respect and loyalty, but decayed into mutual disdain. When Ivy found out how he was treating her friend, his partner, she confronted him. She is gifted with a sharp tongue and stabbed at all the places she knew would hurt his ego, and for that he nearly choked her while holding her over a balcony. He released her, as she had been of great use to him in the past, but Ivy disappeared that night. She refused to work for a man who could not see his hubris. She knew is MO: wipe or distort the memory of all those who quit or left, so Ivy laid low for a long time, living in fear of waking up one morning without any recollection of her work. While she harbours a great rage towards him, the fear of seeing him again keeps her from seeking him out.

20. What if’s/alternate timelines.

Before she was a criminal, Ivy was a Seraph. What if she’d never left?...

After the incident that pushed her to quit, Ivy was offered rehabilitation for a while. She was posted to a different area, helping defend the garrison at Shaemoor. It was mostly a boring job, and she didn’t understand why the centaurs were so hostile, but work was work. Her team were warned of a potential raid, and sure enough, it came. Some wannabe heroes were in the garrison with them. They broke through the centaur line and chased the chief down the bridge when all hell broke loose. The ground was shaking, it felt like a tornado had suddenly crashed onto them, and right before their eyes huge claws split the earth beneath them and wreaked havoc. An ear-splitting crack rendered her temporarily deaf, and then the claw launched a boulder the size of a dolyak towards one of the civilians who had followed them into the fight. Ivy screamed at them to get out the way and threw herself into them, sending the civilian flying out of the way. A second later, the world went black, and the last sound she heard was the crunching of her bones.

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14 and 18 for any character of your choice

14. Ingrained/forces of habit.

Despite having spent the last year or two deep in the Maguuma jungle, Silillia hasn’t lost her obsession for cleanliness. Ironic that a sylvari should detest dirt, but we don’t all have the luxury of making sense. Her rifle is immaculate, her drones are clean (they’d be squeaky clean if Silillia didn’t oil them up constantly), any old leaf or dying petal is plucked from her body. Some might say her excursion to the jungle made her even more of a clean freak.

18. Things they’ll never admit

From the day she woke from the dream, to this day, Silillia has hated her body. Before Mordremoth called her kind, she was a beautiful shade of purple and blue - but hated the impracticality of a traditional humanoid body. What is the point of mimicking a race, particularly its traits post-puberty, when sylvari themselves have no use for them?  Why not... branch out?

She had the opportunity to change herself for the excursion. It took months, but the purple gave away to greens and oranges. Her ‘hair’, akin to the delicate leaves of a willow tree, fell away as Silillia grew a crimson flower in its place. She carved away at her arms, legs, hips, making herself smaller, leaner. The purpose? To blend in with the flora of the jungle and squeeze into small hiding places. But after all of this work, this transformation that left her unrecognizable to her friends, Silillia misses her old colours. Attempts to turn back to her previous self have ended with an odd, uneven colouring. Blue veins under yellow tones, purple patches disrupting the green. Her injured arm, never quite the right colour, became macerated from her attempts to grow and regenerate her old skin. So, she stopped. Slowly the blues and purples faded away once more. She would never admit to being heartbroken over her appearance, since surely that is one of the least important parts of existence. To be so vain, when there is so much more to her than her looks... We don’t all have the luxury of making sense.  

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Tagged by @miragecounseling​, thank you!!

Your muse’s name: Solvi Vakandi

A favourite picture/face claim of your muse

(Yep... Solvi is way taller than Knut and she loves it.)

Two headcanons you have for your muse:

The less armour you wear and the more scars you show, the more you present yourself as a battle-worn, strong opponent. While Solvi grew up in Lion’s Arch, she has adhered to this as much as possible since reconnecting with Norn culture. However, she never wears open-back clothing (or will wear something to cover her back). She has extensive scarring on her back, but not from a battle she won. Where there used to be vibrant green tattoos, for which she worked extremely hard to earn, there are now trails of mangled flesh. Red and pink lumps, knots and ropes of hard skin trace the tattoo pattern. (Read more about it here)

She is an avid diver, and her favourite is deep-sea diving: specifically free diving. No gear, no rebreather, just her and the icy cold water. Solvi has made friends with several Quaggan tribes this way, helping them with simple tasks (and other dangerous ones). There is only one place where she refuses to dive, and that is in one of the deep trenches in the Dimotiki Waters, Frostgorge Sound. Rumours of the area says that there is a Kodan that swims those waters, but the once strong and intelligent creature is now a corrupted tool to Jormag. Whenever asked about it, Solvi deflects the question - those with a keen eye could discern a subtle air of sadness in the Commander’s face. 

Seven people your muse loves/likes:

(if any of you want to RP and become IC friends let me know, I hate that all her besties are NPCs!)

Sahar, her snow leopard. Solvi rescued her from a circus in Divinity’s Reach.

Eir Stegalkin. She was like a mother to Solvi.

Marjory Delaqua. Something about being called ‘boss’ in a suave voice...

Rytlock Brimstone. Solvi finds his grumpiness and dry humour very entertaining.

Canach. Solvi’s streadily growing appreciation for the morally gray makes her see Canach as some kind of... role model. In any case, they’re good friends.

Tybalt Leftpaw... enough said.

Beigarth the Smith. He makes her knees go weak, but it would be highly inappropriate for the Commander to be seen with someone so high profile. 

Three things that your muse likes doing in their free time:

Pottery, scuplting, etc! Her and Eir used to spend a lot of time together making things. 

Competitive snowman building

Trying to see what creatures she can mount (that aren’t official mounts). So you could say she likes rodeo.

A phobia your muse has:

Apeirophobia. The fear of infinity/eternity. 

There is an old belief that Norn who become powerful enough obtain immortality. Solvi couldn’t think of anything worse than living forever, and the thought of never being able to rest scares her. She doesn’t want to die, and never used to believe that immortality was attainable, but after coming back from the dead when Balthazar was supposed to be her reckoning... Solvi thinks there may be some truth to the legend, and it horrifies her.

Tagging: @tricksterpale​ @rusavia​ @thatonebirbnerd​ @i-only-eat-salad​ @thiefseeker​ @tricos-here​ @angiebeast​ @diesvitae​ Sorry if you’ve already been tagged, also oh my gosh I suck at remembering who I follow I’m so sorry 

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😳🚶🤲😴 for a character of your choice

Thank you for the ask, you wonderful person! I’ll answer these for my character Trinity Shelley. She’s a human.

😳 - How do they act when they’re nervous?

Trin is always nervous, thanks to perpetual existential dread and anxiety. It’s why she keeps herself high all the time. But if she’s outside, in a fairly busy area (read: more than one person), she starts to stutter and sweat. Generally avoiding eye contact and puts her foot in her mouth far too often.

🚶 - What’s their posture like, and why? What does it say about them?

Varying degrees of slouch depending on her levels of stress. At the worst, she pulls her shoulders right up, head down. To get her calm is to literally bring her out of her shell. When she’s relaxed, her shoulders are loose, and she likes to stand on her left leg more than her right. Will often have her ankles crossed in some way. Picks at the skin on her fingers when she is nervous/excited.

🤲 - how do they feel about touch?

Trinity likes hugs, but definitely understands not wanting physical contact. She’s fairly reserved with this, but if someone wants to hold her hand or put their arm around her and she’s relaxed, it’s fine. Much more touchy with people she is romantically interested in or attracted to, it’s almost a little awkward it’s an unrequited crush.

😴 - what's the longest they've gone without sleep? Is skipping sleep a normal occurrence for them?

Trinity is the type of person who will sleep for days, and then not sleep for a week. Well, not literally a week - but she’s had some pretty intense all-nighters. It happens unintentionally. If she’s hyperfocused on a project she will easily stay up until it’s done. Some of the stuff she takes also keeps her from sleeping. If there’s nothing pulling her out of bed (inspiration, the need for adventure, projects, friends, her cat, etc.) she will lie in it for days and often forget to eat.

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V for Solvi & W for Kara?

Hi, thanks for the ask!!

V. Do they have a pet? What kind? If not, what kind of pet would they want?

Solvi does, technically, have a pet. She’s a ranger (soulbeast): her animal companion is a snow leopard called Sahar. Solvi’s name means sun, and Sahar means dawn. They met in Solvi’s younger years, when she was barely able to string a bow. Together they have learned to hunt and fight as a team. Solvi, who chose Wolf as her totem Spirit, showed Sahar the value of having a pack - or at least one person you can trust with your life. Sahar showed Solvi indepedence and resoursefulness, and taught her stealth. 

W. How would they describe themselves in five words or less?

1. Shy

...

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🍁🌻🌲 for an oc of your choice

🍁 Where does your OC go when they need to have some time to themself? Would they ever have their own “comfort corner” filled with all the things they like? Do they have a favourite spot outside that feels like its theirs and theirs alone?

Solvi: As commander, it’s generally hard to get away to relax. There’s always something world-ending going on, not to mention that it’s considered a bad idea to leave the commander without protection (for everyone’s safety). Unbeknownst to many, Solvi still has a small flat in Lion’s Arch. It’s the smallest thing, but it’s the place she knows she can go to hide away for a little while. She’s decorated it with shells from across Tyria, has sacrificed a large portion of floorspace for an impressive aquarium, and there are books on any flat surface available. It’s not the same as her old family home, but she has a framed picture/painting of her family on the wall.

In terms of places to go outdoors, Solvi loves the hot springs in the Wayfarer Foothills. She would also frequently visit Eir’s old homestead to sit in quiet contemplation for a while. Sometimes she ‘talks’ to Eir too, just in case she’s listening.

Ivy: The Busted Flagon. Having a shit day? Whiskey. Having a great day? Rum. There’s always familiar faces there, and she has no problem making friends with new faces. Solitude is often a killer for people like her, because it usually means she’s on the run. It’s harder to assassinate someone when they’re in a crowd, but you can drag a body anywhere on a quiet, lonely night. 

🌻 What little things do they notice about people or the world around them that make them happy? What tiny little treasures do they find in the normal every day that makes the world seem a little brighter for them?

Solvi: Solvi has a keen eye for detail in people’s clothing. She notices the lockets, family rings, keepsakes - any statement about one’s personality, really. If it’s a casual setting she will ask about these items, because she finds joy and pleasure in listening to people talk about those they cherish. It reminds her what she’s fighting for; she doesn’t have a lover to keep safe, or parents to look after, but many do. 

Ivy: Acts of kindness between people. Seeing justice served. Robbing the rich blind. A good bar fight. ... These are all of her favourite things. Ivy has a righteous soul and a morally grey mind, which allows for a lot of flexibility in what would brighten her day. Watching kids look at her in fear/curiosity when they see her scars is also quite entertaining, as she gets to tell the wildest stories. If you ever need a fearsome reputation made, talk to kids: they all gossip and exaggerate.

🌲 How deeply does your OC feel? Are they typically empathetic or do they have a hard time connecting with others in this way? What are they like when offering support and comfort to someone they care for?

Solvi: As part of her line of work, feelings are usually... discouraged. Unless they’re serving a purpose: feel outraged to take action; hope to keep fighting; regret to learn from mistakes. Add in a whole lot of existential dread and you end up with Solvi: someone who cares deeply about people in general, and is fiercely loyal to those close to her, but is incapable of truly deep relationships. With Jormag in her head now, it’s hard to not be suspicious of her allies. Romantic ineptitude holds her back from love, and losing her parents at a young age has made her fiercely independent to the point of denying kindness as help. Hard to break those habits.

Her way of offering comfort and support to someone is often by having a conversation with them. Talking about each other’s fears and doubts and realising they’re not alone is therapeutic for both of them. If she has the time, Solvi would offer to take them to a place of worship or somewhere in nature.

Ivy: She is quite approachable (once you make her laugh), and will fierce loyalty to her friends. As a mercenary, however, there’s always a part of her that’s on guard. Allies can turn to enemies at any second, and you can never truly know people’s intentions. She’s cautious, but only because of how connections in her past turned out. If you make friends with broken people, and try to help them, you may draw the fire and fury of their brute... There’s only one person Ivy knows that she would call a true friend, and even he’s a slippery, sly trickster.

That said, her empathetic and noble spirit is what drew her to joining the Seraph, then telling them to shove it and go rogue on her own. Some might call her a vigilante, she just sees it as doing the right thing no matter the legality.

Ivy has two solutions to any problem: drink until you forget (or cheer up), or exact revenge. From harmless pranks to severe bodily harm, nothing fazes her. If the situation is dire, Ivy knows a couple of safehouses where she can hide her friends.

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Arum-Lily, Camelia, Foxgloves and Primrose for Silillia

Arum-Lily: What’s the farthest you’d go for a stranger? 

The cold hard truth: not very. She saved one or two lives during her time in the Jungle, but never at the risk of her own. Besides, it’s somewhat fascinating what they do with their captives, and how they adapt them to their purpose... interviewing the survivors would be an excellent addition to her report.

Camelia: If you could visit anywhere, where would you want to go? 

Rata Novus. She was hoping the Vigil would post her there, and requested it numerous times, only to be turned down. Priority was given to Asuran members, of course — and her credentials at the Asuran colleges did not make her one.

Foxgloves: What’s something you’re bad at? 

Making friends and small talk. The best way to become friends is to overshare, and night blooms aren’t known for their openness. It’s a lonely existence, and while she values independence, the mordrem did open her eyes to something new: you can achieve more when you work together. She is also terrible at keeping pot plants without having technology monitor their health, ironically.

Primrose: Describe your ideal life. 

Living in a sterile city, in a sterile lab. Research data at her fingertips, all the tools she could dream of, and her own automised creations as her assistant. Scheduled meetups with some coworkers (and maybe a friend or two) to break the routine. A small hydroponics setup with plants from all over Tyria, but also to remind her of home. Bio-Phosphorescent lighting to keep the familiar mood of the Garden of Night. Perhaps Meabh would like those too.