#dommil

[captaingondor]

You've been visited by the random OC question fairy! :D ~☆

What are the dynamics like between your characters? Do they generally get along? How do their personalities and motivations bounce off one another? How do they come away feeling upon interacting with each other? 

Oh, what an excellent question for my OCs! Thank you fairy 🥰

Rinnyx and Seyetto are, of course, best friends. Rinnyx is basically the only person that Seyetto will relax around - be Seyetto, instead of the emperor. (I would say "be himself," but the emperor is also himself.) Rinnyx and Seyetto are also very different people from each other. But they know each other well. They're comfortable with each other. Honestly their conversations are always the easiest things for me to write (for anyone who ever considers sending me prompts). Seyetto releases some of the dry humor he doesn't always find appropriate in formal situations. Rinnyx talks to him like a person. But, of course, Seyetto is also the Emperor, and Rinnyx works a lot with the Emperor, and he doesn't really like the emperor quite as much. The emperor does some things he doesn't agree with. Rinnyx doesn't like thinking about that when he talks to Seyetto, but he wants to understand. And he thinks Seyetto - Seyetto-the-emperor - probably just doesn't understand some things, some people. But Rinnyx does. He can help, just, nudge things in a better direction.

And since I'm always talking about these two: bonus rounds!

Seyetto and Tavina, his younger sister: they do not, currently, get along. They got along fine as kids. But now they aren't kids. And Seyetto is the Emperor. Tavina wants him to just be her brother. Seyetto wants her to grow up and accept the responsibilities that come with their positions. These opposing desires lead to basically constant conflict. Tavina needles Seyetto, trying to get him to act like a person instead of a crown - even if she only gets negative reactions out of him. Seyetto tries to push her to be, well, everything she dislikes about him. Which makes both of them more and more frustrated with each other. Each just fundamentally doesn't understand what the other wants.

And last, Rinnyx and his oldest brother, Dommil. Dommil is almost a father figure to Rinnyx. Rinnyx doesn't remember their actual father, and Dommil is ten years older, and has always been someone to look up to, to get guidance from. And Dommil has always seen it as his role to look out for his brothers, but especially Rinnyx, the youngest. Now that they're both adults, it's a little different. Rinnyx does still look up to Dommil, but doesn't want to be treated as a kid. Dommil still wants to look out for him, but also wants Rinnyx to look out for himself. And maybe Rinnyx does give Dommil some reasons not to take him seriously, or to think that he doesn't take things seriously enough... like forgetting to write home when he takes a job from the emperor and moves back to Pelasia. There's also an added layer that Rinnyx isn't aware of: Dommil is pretty sure that his promotion to captain in the First Company of the imperial army is because he's The brother of Rinnyx, the emperor's friend. And he doesn't really like that.

[captaingondor]

@valiantarcher asked for something happy with small Rinnyx and Dommil. It was fun having a different perspective on Rinnyx in the Cypren bit, so I tried it again here with Dommil!

----

I’m a big enough man to admit that my littlest brother is smarter than I am.

Alright, I suppose I won’t be a man for another year yet - I’m seventeen - but with the last four years I’ve had, I’ll claim it ahead of schedule. Rinnyx is only seven, which probably ought to make it all the more embarrassing that he’s smarter than me, but I’m just… proud of him, I suppose. Not as though I had anything to do with it, but still.

We all speak Pelasian and Idan in our family, of course - you need that, if you want to be able to handle any travelers who come through. But there was a group of Westish merchants staying at our in, sitting together and speaking Westish at their table - and Rinnyx just goes up and starts talking to them. No one ever taught him Westish. They were all delighted with him. I thought he must be talking gibberish to them, but when I asked what kind of nonsense he’d been spouting, I was told he’d actually formed a few sentences. “Not all what you’d call proper speech, mind, but he knew what he was saying.” Just by listening to people talk, travelers who have come through our place over the years, he figured out enough to do that, all on his own. You see what I mean? In ten years more on the earth, maybe I’ve had the chance to come to know more things than he has - though I’m not confident even of that - but he’s smarter than I’ll ever be.

Now he gets proper teaching in language from the chapel school. Mama says the next time we have Westish customers he can order their drinks, though I’m not sure his teacher has been focusing on words for different types of alcohol. I try to help him study, but I’m not much use for that.

I look over the book they gave him for studying, to try to help test him on the words, and it all looks like nonsense to me. I read one off haltingly and he just stared at me in confusion. I try again.

“Oh,” Rinnyx says, and repeats a word that sounds a little bit like what I had been saying, and also sounds as though someone else is speaking out of my brother’s mouth. “That means city.”

“And…” I try very hard to test the next one out in my mind before I say it aloud, but he winces before I get past the first syllable. I want to toss the book in frustration, but instead I look up at the ceiling and take a deep breath.

“I don’t think I’m helping you any, Rinrin.”

“No, you are!” he insists. “Ask me another!”

I just shake my head. “I’m not cut out for this sort of thing like you are.”

“Well,” he says encouragingly, “You’ve learned Pelasian already. Hope Evemar says it’s one of the hardest languages to learn, and you’ve been speaking it nearly your whole life. He’s traveled to lots of different places, so he knows things like that.”

The study of Pelasian is avoided for more than one reason, of course, but it’ true that that’s one of them. To Rinnyx, though, I act as though this is totally new information. “So I did as a baby what plenty of grown men can’t pull off?” I say, raising an eyebrow.

He laughs, and nods excitedly. “That’s right! Do you ever think about how that works? I’m sure it was never so hard for me to learn Pelasian or even Idan as this is, but shouldn’t it be easier to learn things when I get older? I’m a lot smarter than a baby now.”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s hard for you.”

He groans. “But there’s so much I don’t know yet! Come on, come on, ask me another.”

I think for a moment first, about his earlier question. “Maybe you only think it’s harder now because you’re old enough to notice your mistakes,” I suggest. “You said some pretty silly things when you were learning how to talk.”

“Like what?” he says, leaning forward, already forgetting he’d asked me for another word, and I know he’ll drag me off into reminiscing if we don’t get back on track. “Like -” I glance down at the book, and don’t worry at all about pronouncing the next word right. Rinnyx laughs loudly, repeats it, and tells me what it means.

I suppose I could worry a bit less about making mistakes, too. I can’t be doing that badly by him.

[captaingondor]

For the OC asks, any that catch your interest: Seyetto and autumn; Rinnyx and noon; Aderin and friend; Tavina and summer; Dommill and mountain;

thank you! once again i will likely reblog with more but I've got a couple made

Seyetto

It is autumn when Seyetto is crowned again, this time as emperor. New beginnings are a thing of spring, maybe, but red always was his color. The fighting has been done, the blood has sunk into the earth, and it is time for a change. The colors of leaves are like a fire, his fire that burns away the old to create the new. Glory out of sorrow. Life out of death.

Dommil

Dommil was our rock. We needed one: solid, dependable immovable. I remember him working long hours in the inn when I was young, while Enno finished his schooling. I missed having him around when he joined the army, but the money meant we could spare me without trouble when I had the offer from Dor Arill. When I was a child he was there when I was sad, or scared, or only wanted attention. He reminded me to do my schoolwork. He gave me advice when I asked for it and when I thought he didn't need it. He taught me how to shave, like all the brothers between us. I never thought to ask who taught him.

I'm not sure who he was to the other three. They remembered having a father, so maybe he was only a brother. To me, he was everything.

[captaingondor]

Philautia for Corrianne, Ludus for Dommil, Philia for Tavina, Pragma for Aderin, Storge for Rinnyx, and Agape for Seyetto?

Thank you kindly!

♥️ Philautia - What does your character like the most about themselves? Yes, they have to choose at least one thing, or more! Is there any reasoning behind what they chose?

Corrianne likes being a carer. She's the oldest of her sisters, so she sees herself as the responsible one, the one who looks out for others and makes sure everything gets done. And she thinks she's pretty good at it if she does say so herself. Of course she was also the heir presumptive to the throne of Ruveld for over half her life, so that's even more responsibility, and the mindset of duty to her country has never gone away even after the birth of her half-brother. It's because of these traits that she doesn't want to challenge his heirship - fighting among the family would be bad for them personally and for the kingdom. But she also thinks that she would be really good at being queen.

🍿 Ludus - Who does your character turn to when they want to have a good time? What would they do with this person to have fun?

Dommil assuredly has army bros he has formed a close bond with and shared good times and bad - but he's an officer now, and it doesn't feel right to be completely casual with them, and he doesn't vibe with most of the other officers who are likely to have come from a much different background than him. So it's gonna be his actual bros he goes for. And number one on that list is Enno. Enno's the one closest to him in age, so they were always buddies growing up. And Enno is a fun guy. He's warm, enthusiastic, affectionate (if your preferred form of affection is hitting each other, which both his and Dommil's is.) Going out for a drink is always nice, but Dommil probably also enjoys attending whatever sort of athletic event you can observe in this society, which I haven't nailed down but in the capital city of the Empire there's gotta be something. Of course they're both busy people these days, so they're most likely to meet up at the family inn and hang with as many of their brothers as can make it.

🌻 Philia - Who is your character's most beloved friend? How did they meet? Why is this person so important to your character?

Tavina's closest friends are her companions Cassia Morcet and Isletta Ellwynd, and her cousin Monissa Tenley who will be joining the crew soon. She's the closest to Isletta, who's been her companion longest. They became friends while being tutored by Dor Arill, much as Rinnyx and Seyetto did (though Isletta is noble. Part of the point of the tutoring is to forge connections among noble kids, after all.) So when they were both thirteen Isletta got the "job" of "hang out with the princess." Cassia got the job two years later, when Seyetto was leaving for war and thought Tavina could use more company and also her family was happy for her to come to the capital for safety. Tavina was a little resentful of the circumstances, but getting through the fear and uncertainty of the war forged the three of them as close friends. Tavina felt pretty isolated after the death of her parents and her brother leaving, so she leaned on them a lot, and still does. Monissa, Tavina has communicated with mostly by letter as they grew up in different kingdoms - encouraged by her mother, but they did form a genuine friendship. But Tavina is sort of desperate for family, so she's clinging to that relationship and eager for Monissa to be closer.

🌲 Pragma - During the last scene you wrote/thought of with your character, who have they loved the longest? By the time they pass on, does that person change?

It feels like the answer is probably a family member, but they're all basically nonentities so... the Mother, the goddess worshipped by many in Alefor. (Some, especially among nobility, have adopted the Court of Irien, but this is the traditional religion.) Aderin's love of the Mother is also tied up in her love of the natural world and her love of her country and people. Aderin's faith is important to her, so it will probably remain throughout her life.

🏡 Storge - Who does your character consider family? Which of their family do they love the most? Why?

Rinnyx definitely holds to "family isn't defined by blood" but that's largely because he doesn't consider his father family (how could he? he doesn't know the guy.) The rest of his blood family he'd never let go of. Since he does consider basically everyone friends it's possible the top tier friends could tip over to family - like maybe Mirs and Vetta and Saire who he lived with in Davuri. They have that kind of relationship. Seyetto is of course the person who is most important to but "family" becomes a more complicated concept when dealing with royalty. So among his actual family? His favorite is Dommil. He looks up to him, admires him, depends on him. Dommil has always been there, always supported him, always looked out for him. Dommil is great.

🌏 Agape - What does your character love about the people around them? What common, positive trait does their friend group/family share?

Well that's a very good question.

Okay, look, it's not that Seyetto dislikes people, it's that he... generally doesn't form relationships with them. Oh, and also assumes they will all see him as his position rather than person and that all interactions with other people will he inherently transactional - that they all want something from him. Again, he doesn't dislike them for this, he thinks it's only natural, but it does sort of color how he views people.

If you asked him, he'd say that of course he loves his people - and he doesn't need to know them to love them. It's his duty. Why would he need a reason? So an uncharitable answer might be that he loves that his people are his. A charitable answer might be that he loves that they are people, because wanting to do what's best for his people is simply what's right.

He does gave things he loves about his culture. Pelasia emphasizes as values order, duty, balance. Some of this is due to militarization and stringently keeping magic users under control after having been taken over by mind controllers several centuries ago. Some is due to prevailing religious beliefs. Some might be just how many of them are. But wherever it came from Seyetto loves his country for it - he sees them as owing much of their success to their discipline and responsibility. Definitely something he also appreciated among the army during the war.

Of course he doesn't have a friend group, just one friend, Rinnyx, who... does not really fit the Pelasian stereotype. (For that matter neither does Tavina, the closest family member he has left, though they aren't on good terms.) Can't really say what trait is in common with one person, so I guess the cultural answer will do.

[captaingondor]

Character Solidifying: Aderyn-1, 2, 9, 21, 50 Dommil-6, 12, 19, 37 Heysu- 4, 17, 29, 35 Zeg- 3, 14, 34, 38, 49

 *cracks knuckles*

Aderin

1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have? -  Aderin comes from a large, loving family, which she’s quite close to. I admit I have very little previously established on her father, but that’s what this is for, no? He’s perhaps more ambitious, more driven, but she gets some determination from him. And she admires his focus on family and community. Is there anything she hates about him? Hate seems too strong. But of course all parents and children have disagreements. 

2. Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have? -  Aderin gets her work ethic from her mother, I think, and maybe some of her tough love. Maybe not in the same form - I’m envisioning her mother as a firm but warm household manager. I know she had quite a few kids to wrangle. (spoiler, one day Aderin will as well. so undoubtedly there’s a good bit of influence there as well.) I think her father’s more smarts and her mother’s more common sense, and Aderin got a nice blend of the two.

9. What about political beliefs? - Aderin is Not A Fan of the Emperor, and has mixed feelings on the empire her homeland has become a part of. On the one hand, it offers protections and privileges Alefor has never enjoyed before, and holds their historical enemies at bay. But she really wishes they had the capabilities to take care of their own affairs, and fears the Empire wishes to erode their culture in the name of hegemony.

21. What are your character’s manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom do they hate? -  Aderin can sometimes be a bit blunt but on the whole she does her best to be considerate of others. She likes local or national folk heroes, but her hero would be… those who stand up for what’s right even if they aren’t the ones being hurt. Someone who listens to others, and cares. Someone like… well, like someone. ;)  And she hates those who exploit others.

50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating? - Determined, I’d say. She’s got a good determined look. A get to work, take on the world if needed look. But she’s also got a playful side, so plenty of smiles too.

Dommil

6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child? - Yes. But, to elaborate. His mother is very affectionate. Very busy, and depended on him a lot as he’s the oldest, but never let him doubt she appreciates him, and loves on her boys well into adulthood. Maybe he felt some affection from his father as a young child. Maybe his father liked that he was big and strong, or that he was responsible, or that he was a good kid. Maybe he never appreciated him enough. I have, by conscious choice, never developed him as a character. But Dommil certainly felt rejection when his father left the family when he was thirteen.

12. How does their education and intelligence – or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations? - Dommil isn’t unintelligent. And he isn’t uneducated - he’s literate, he can do enough math to do business, he knows some of the history of his kingdom and its religious teachings. But he didn’t take his education any further than he needed to (he stopped going to the local chapel school after his father left.) Anyway, all this to say his manner of speech is certainly what would be considered ‘common.’ Not country bumpkin, he’s a city kid, but certainly no refinement to it. That said, he’s also a soldier - an officer - so he does know how to be… professional, I guess. 

19. What were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now? - His father leaving, of course, kind of shattered his world - he was used to having someone to depend on, and now his brothers depended on him. I think he might be a little disillusioned with the military. He joined to provide for his family and keep his kingdom safe, and now all of a sudden they’re conquering and maintaining an empire. (and he doesn’t believe for a moment his promotion to officer is on his own merits.) But he’ll keep doing his duty.

37. How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories? - He’s more of a straightforward guy. The past is in the past dwelling on it won’t help - what are we going to do now? That’s what you need to think about. That’s his mindset. 

Heysu

4. What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient? -  Heysu’s a farm girl, so they can’t be too lenient of course because they have a farm to run. There’s got to be a certain amount of discipline to get the work done. So strict, maybe, but reasonable.

17. Did they travel? Where? Why? When? - the very first time she has traveled any real distance is to enroll in Edefana and learn how to be a soldier. 

29. What is your character’s weaknesses? Hubris? Pride? Controlling? - Heysu is none of these things. Her biggest weakness is probably a severe lack of self-confidence, but she’s working on it. She doesn’t trust to her own strengths, so when people have an accurate read on them she fears they’re asking too much. She’ll undersell herself. 

35. Do they always rationalize errors? How do they accept disasters and failures? -  no, she’s pretty irrational about errors, more willing to take blame than she should be. But she doesn’t let those feelings just keep her down in despair. She has to keep trying, has to do something, no matter how bad the situation seems. She’s a lot braver than she realizes.

Zeg Amyu

3. Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings? - He has only half-siblings, and he despises all of them, largely because they despise him, which in turn is because their father (his stepfather) despises him. And his mother certainly prefers them, her trueborn, fullblooded, children she can be proud of. It’s not a great family situation. When his oldest half-brother got old enough for his bounty to wake, he spent a lot of time putting curses on him, even though it’s generally considered petty and mean-spirited to go after those so much younger than you, so that fueled the hate. Basically, he hates them because they had what he wanted. He wants different things now. Maybe.

14. Were they involved at school? Sports? Clubs? Debate? Were they unconnected? - in Edefana, the student body is too small for clubs. There are six of them. okay to be honest by the time he comes there are probably more but he’s still part of and trains, studies & works with the core 6. With Tomiv he’s part of the two with the Something, training for the Twelve, so that’s a group. When he was with his mother’s people, though, he was mostly a loner. Not entirely by choice.

34. Does your character feel self-righteous? Revengeful? Contemptuous? -  All of these things. Everyone else, they just don’t see, he’s better than all of them! He’s better than the clans, better than the People, better than the Twelve, blessed with double measure. They’ll see, they’ll have to respect him when they realize what they can do, how great he is! They’ll pay for the way he looked at him! They’ll step aside for him, all of them, those wide inferior masses will bow before his might. How dare they think they can equal him! Don’t they know what he is? Well, they will, oh, they will. 

38. Are they basically negative when facing new things? Suspicious? Hostile? Scared? Enthusiastic? - Not enthusiastic, exactly, but… undaunted. He’s always prepared to rise to new challenges.

He’s also quite perplexed, while he’s getting used to the culture of the People. What do you mean you can just change my name by public consensus at the drop of a hat? 

49. What about voice? Pitch? Strength? Tempo and rhythm of speech? Pronunciation? Accent? - He certainly has an accent, on account of the fact he was raised in a different people group than the one of the rest of the main characters of the story. But since all these people groups are not real-world I can’t put a name to his accent that means anything. His speech is somewhat refined, clear, but with a sharp edge to it.  Deliberate. 

[captaingondor]

Tavina: 1, 8, 21, 23, and 75 Dommil: 44, 63, 68, 71 and 93

thank you!!  <3 <3

Tavina

1. What do they smell like? Flowers, definitely. Probably roses because she’s a Traditional Romantic but she *is* a princess, I imagine she has a few nice scents in that collection. She basically never has occasion to smell anything other than clean and fresh

8. What’s the weirdest thing they’ve ever eaten? Hm, that might depend on who’s asking. From her perspective, probably some foreign thing at a state dinner, but the average person might find fancy royal dishes pretty far to the strange side. 

21. Favorite kind of weather?  She’d definitely prefer sunshine, but not in a ‘heat of summer, skies empty of clouds’ kind of way. More like a middle of spring, after there’s been rain and flowers are opening but long enough after that it’s dry out in the garden, clouds not getting too in the way of things but they’re up there making pretty shapes, all you need is a light jacket 

23. Do they collect anything? Well, there are some things she just has a lot of by virtue of being an extremely wealthy princess, of course - dresses, jewelry, suitors. But as far as actively seeking out on her own (not that she doesn’t like the dresses and jewelry) probably poetry books. 

Dommil

44. Why might someone love them? Because he is just such a Genuinely Good Dude! Ah. But as for some actual information: he’s really stood up for taking care of his family. He’s been carrying a huge role ever since his early teens when his father left, and he just took it on without complaining, so that his brothers could keep on being kids. He’s basically a father figure to the youngest and he fulfilled *that* way better than their actual father. He’s just a stand-up, supportive guy trying to do what’s right in this world and care for the people he loves. 

63. Do they have an accent? I mean, not from the perspective of his fellow native Pelasians, whom he mostly lives among for all his life. (He does leave Pelasia a few times, but with the Pelasian army, so he’s mostly still surrounded by Pelasians.) I haven’t assigned any real accents to any places here (for the most part, I did give one name a French pronunciation but that’s a different story) Maybe he has a British accent because all fantasy people are British, right? :P

68. Do they become squeamish at the sight of blood? Considering how much blood he sees... no. He’s sort of part of an Elite Death Squad in the army, renowned for causing the most casualties in the enemy armies... and taking the most themselves. And he is good at it. 

71. Do they enjoy helping people? *points to 44* Yes! Hes he does! Particularly his family, since That’s His Job, but also in general where he can. The reason he is a soldier is 1) to help provide for his family 2) to help protect his people 

93. What kinds of things anger them? Men who abandon their families (lookin at you, Papa Glade) and in general people who abandon their responsibilities. And anyone who hurts his kid brother.