Hi, Nikky! Happy sts to you, I'm here to keep you company while you work on your wip ^^
Speaking of, I'd love to hear more about Lila! :D What's her personality like? What kind of trader is she? Why did she decide to make a deal with a Soul Keeper? And anything else you'd like to ramble about her ^^
Hi, Ren! Thank you for the company, I appreciate it <3
Lila… tends to be more serious but in a different way than Xia — Xia’s more on the intimidating side of serious while Lila isn’t. It’s more that she’s focused. She does let loose, here and there, but she is driven by an old promise she made (in TDWAD time). She’s one of those character where I know her but putting it to words is a bit of struggle (not writing her but describing her).
Ok, so everything about the agency is a little wishy-washy but I might have figured it out a little bit more. The agency is named the ETA, or the Everlasting Trade Association (not new info and I’m iffy on the name now, but also not at the same time?). For clarification I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned, the Traders (more on the term below) probably pronounce the acronym as a word rather than the letters (ay-ta rather than e-t-a). Ignoring Xia’s, because that wasn’t asked about but I could tell you — Lila works in the Relics and Artifact department. I’m a little undecided, but I think she’s based in preservation but occasionally, as needed, is sent out with a recovery team (which brings up a question — does the preservation team also classify the things brought in? I think they do).
Diverging from the question for a bit (rambling about world/ETA stuff rather than Lila specifically, oops, but it still relates to her so I’m giving myself a pass): the term Trader. Technically, it’s not the most accurate term, especially for everyone not in recovery and even then it’s not great. It’s a slang term — some Evers look down on those who work in the ETA, see it as a sort of betrayal to the integrity of Everlasting kind as a whole. The term Trader comes as them trading their integrity for an easier life (or something similar, other Evers have different meanings but that’s a nicer one). As for the actual Traders, they had a bit of fun with it, made a sort of. system of trades that doubles as a type of communication (certain baked goods/drinks/whatever for certain requests, not as the prime way of communication but it is seen as being more polite, putting in that extra bit of effort and it’s a sort of tradition. It also probably started as a derivative from the agency name Traders from the trading bit, but they went the extra mile in retaliation from the more derogatory meaning others tried to put on it. (And, in attempt to feel better about ETA as the name — the purpose of it has changed over the years and the name is seen as being a bit outdated because of those changes).
Back to Lila. I can’t/won’t say too too much about the why because my brain wants to keep things under wraps, but. Lila doesn’t want to make a deal with just any Soul Keeper — it has to be Xia, because of her Blade. I mentioned in Xia’s intro that her Blade is different than most and the reason why is why it’s the one Lila needs. And as to why she needs it, it goes back to that old promise.
I… can’t really think of anything I want to ramble about with her, since I’m keeping her pretty under wraps. Thanks again for coming by, though.
Update on the progress, though: her collage is officially done and I’ve moved on to the writing bits. Going to see if I have a suitable quote, first, I think and just work my way down (her summary/description bit is going to be a pain, I feel, and it’s absolutely coincidence that I’m putting it off for last).