I’m torn between Ignam and Kitty. Ignam is day-to-day Dramatique and wants people to pay attention to him, always. However, when Genevieve’s dad insisted she and Kitty couldn’t marry, Kitty threw a glove at his feet and challenged him to a duel for Genevieve’s hand, so I think she wins this one.
In the process of editing Kreah, including limiting the PoV to Kayram and merging Sorah and Viyer’s characters, I had to delete this scene between Sorah and Ignam. There’s no place for it in the current draft, but I still love the passage and think it’s some Peak Ignam content, so here it is! (Or, a slightly line-edited version, because I first wrote this a year and three writing classes ago.)
Ignam was in Sorah’s alcove as usual, sprawled out on their shared bed while she finally got out of her festival clothes and into sleepwear. Fabric rustled as he shifted and mussed with the blankets.
Sorah shook her hair out and turned to him. He wasn’t smiling. “Are you still mad about dinner?”
Ignam waved a hand. “I guess I’m…” He chewed his lip, and Sorah sat next to him, playing her fingers through his hair. Trouble finding words said a lot for Ignam.
He sighed and twitched a smile at Sorah. “Can I get serious for a minute or two?”
“Of course.”
“All this business with Trika and Mayra, it’s got me scared.”
“We’ll beat them.”
“No, not…” He sighed. “It’s not them, exactly. What happened to them, and to Fayran. Fading.”
Sorah stopped with his hair and cupped his face, turning his head towards her. “The mortals love you, Ignam. And they still need fire. You aren’t going anywhere, I promise you.”
“I know.” Ignam batted Sorah’s hand away. “I won’t fade, I’m not worried about that, but I might...I don’t know. I might change.”
Sorah frowned and tucked her hands in her lap, waiting for him to continue.
“I mean, back before Trikhar, fire was this double-edged sword. Useful, but also dangerous. There were wildfires, and accidents, and people were scared of me. Now it’s all...under control.”
Sorah’s lips twitched. “You want the mortals to be afraid of you?”
“I want them to respect me.” He groaned and pushed both hands through his hair. “I don’t know. I just...the way they worship half the time feels like I’m some sort of hearth god. I don’t hate it, but I want to be powerful. I miss that.”
Sorah didn’t know how to respond. Before she could formulate something, a knock sounded on the edge of the alcove and Kayram peeked in the corner.
Ignam popped up behind Sorah, back to his default impish grin. “Hey.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Kayram murmured.
“No, come in.” Sorah patted the bed on her opposite side from Ignam. “Is something wrong?”
“Um.” Kayram scratched her head. “Ignam?”
“Mm-hmm?”
“Thanks for sticking up for me at dinner today.”
“Well, you were right.”
Kayram flashed a smile. “But can I talk with Sorah alone for a bit?” “For sure.” Ignam sprung up from the bed. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told
her, then dropped his voice and added to Sorah, “and I’ll see you tonight.”
“Gross,” Kayram protested.
Ignam laughed and strutted from the room in a whirl of reds and golds.
@vampirevaporwave asked me what costumes the Kreah characters would wear if Halloween existed and the tumblr app is So broken at this point I can’t even copy-paste the message but
Kayram and Eyr would both dress as sheep, but Eyr would be, like, a cute fluffy sheep with simple face paint, and Kayram would make a papier-mache properly-proportioned sheep mask and make concerningly accurate sheep noises all night
Sorah would be whatever sexy costume at the Halloween store was the most colorful and flashy, and she’d tailor the costume herself to fit her
Ignam would be a (also sexy) fireman, misunderstanding what a fireman does,
Viyer would just wear normal clothes + hairclip devil horns
Moreldis would dress as an angel to spite everyone who told her to be the grim reaper. (Ignam anonymously donated a sexy grim reaper costume, which she publicly burned on one of the fires he set.)
This Sunday: a little drabble of Sorah and Ignam gettin’ dressed for a holiday in Ignam’s honor.
——
The familiar weight of the wool settled on Sorah’s shoulders, held tight by the thick cloth belt around her waist. She wriggled her fingers under it—Ignam always tied too tight when he was excited—and gestured for Ignam to turn around so she could tie his.
“Are you excited to see mortals blow stuff up in my honor?” He was facing away from her, but Sorah could imagine the grin on his face clear as if she could see it.
She returned the grin to his back. “As I’ll ever be.” Her fingers moved through the familiar pattern of tucking and pulling and she yanked Ignam’s belt tight.
“Oof,” Ignam complained. He turned back to her, wriggling to loosen his belt. “That was revenge, huh?”
“Maybe.” Sorah tried without success to keep her face straight as she tied her hair up in a blue strip of cloth the mortals always loved seeing. (Well, except for one weaver who always complained she’d never be able to replicate the color. Divinity had its perks.)
Ignam tied a thread belt over his ensemble, a few heavy beads dangling from the loose ends. If Sorah knew him, he’s break it within an hour. She supressed a giggle at the thought as he spread his arms, beaming. “How do I look.”
“Gorgeous.” Sorah moved close to adjust his collar. Even through the layers of wool, she could feel his body heat.
“I think you mean hot,” he quipped, his grin changing from regal to goofy in a second.
“Smoldering,” Sorah agreed. “Radiant.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss him. “Let’s go. Can’t keep the mortals waiting.”
Ignam twirled to her side, sending his robes billowing up around him. “How’s that for an entrance?” He struck a pose, legs spread, one arm over his head.
“You’re Kreah Ignam,” Sorah teased, looping her arm through his and tugging him to the temple. “You don’t need theatrics to win the mortals over.”
He grinned that crooked grin. “Aw, but who doesn’t like theatrics?” He grabbed both her hands and pulled her into a spin. She giggled, let go, and stumbled over the hem of her robes.
“You messed up our clothes,” she complained through laughter.
“I thought we didn’t need theatrics?”
“Oh, make your big entrance, Kreah Ignam.” She put a hand on his back and nudged him towards his alcove. With a playful grin, he tumbled dramatically inside and vanished.
——
(If you missed it, here’s some background for the very end of that.)
I don’t know what the tone of Kreah is gonna be when it’s finished, but uh, definitely not that. Callout @ myself: gods of a barely-Neolithic city do not talk like modern YA characters, but I don’t have the patience to fix that right now
Finished with today’s writing and ready for some romance! Left off during a cute Sorah/Ignam scene so I am Ready
@vampirevaporwave thank you for the clueless aro writer solidarity 👍
5. How do they comfort each other when they’re sad?
Sorah’s very physically affectionate both in comforting and being comforted; she’s big on hugs and hand-holding. She doesn’t really like to talk about it when things are bothering her, but she is 100% down to just snuggle with Ignam until she feels better. Ignam likes to talk, but not to get advice, just to get things off his chest, and Sorah’s good at asking the right questions. He also enjoys a good comfort snuggle.
When Julian’s upset, he just. Cries. Like “hi Remy hold me” and then he just breaks down until he feels better. Sometimes they’ll talk about it afterward, sometimes he’ll just act like nothing happened and move on. Remy just says straight-up what’s bothering him and talks it out with Julian. Both are often accomponied by cuddles.
8. What are their most prominent memories of each other?
I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know what prominent memories Sorah and Ignam would have of each other. For the most part the Kreah don’t have super well-defined individual backstories, since the group backstory of what happened with the Ettan is really the defining moment for each of them. Other than that it’s kinda just “well they were gods for a few centuries”
Julian’s most prominent memory of Remy is meeting him at the masquerade, because A) someone actually noticed and took interest in him for more than the thirty seconds it takes to compliment his outfit, B) well he thought maybe he was straight but boy is he Not, and C) he interacted with a stranger at a party and enjoyed it?? All in all, quite the memorable night. Remy’s most promient memory of Julian is that one time Julian got mad and yelled at him, which is,, less of a happy memory. It was upsetting for both of them, but they worked it out the next day and it was more or less what took their relationship from “pretty boy I like hanging out with and kinda wanna kiss” to the beginnings of a serious relationship with baggage and real communication skills and self-improvement.
@forlornraven you didn’t mention a couple, so I’m gonna go with Sorah and Ignam since I just wrote about them!
15. Does their view of themselves differ from their partner’s view?
Ignam thinks he’s like this aloof badass who everyone thinks is awesome, Sorah thinks he’s a massive dork. (He’s kind of like a cat that way; he acts all dignified until you scratch his chin and then he just Melts.) Sorah sees herself close to the same way Ignam sees her, except she’s got more of an eye for her own insecurities and imperfections, so she’ll be like. Super concious about some little thing wrong with her getup and Ignam’s just like “you look perfect and I love you”
29. What are your favorite moments that happen between them?
My favorites are the ones where Ignam’s emotionally vulnerable. He’s not the kind of guy who usually is; he likes to keep things lighthearted both as a “I don’t want to confront my own negative emotions” thing and as a “I don’t want to bother these people” thing, but Sorah makes him feel like A) she doesn’t see him as a burden and B) he’ll be safe talking to her. Much as I love writing Ignam’s quippy rowdyboy self, it’s really nice to explore that softer side of him.
Which oc is the nasty dirty boy-est? Which is the Validest?
Ignam is a rowdy boy! Just a nasty, dirty boy! He is the deliverer of I think the only suggestion of sex in any of my projects (except ASR, which is the exception to like all of my patterns in writing) and also just Down To Fight, Always. His two moods are mischief and rage and I love him.
Validest is a tough call because I think a lot of my kids are extremely valid but I’m gonna say Kayram. She has done nothing wrong, ever, in her life, and is basically a teen/young adult trying to be a good person and do right by people and make sense of a world that’s falling apart and I know I did this all to her but I very much want to give her a hug
