What’s something they’re expected to enjoy based on their hobbies / profession that they actually dislike / hate?
weirdly specific headcanons ; accepting
OH PLENTY. there are a lot of things that are entirely expected of him as archmage that he either hates, or outright refuses to engage in. theres a lot he will do to fit into the unseelie court, but even valeriu has his boundaries. one of the things he refuses to engage in is flesh gardens -- grotesque sculpture-like displays created using depraved magic and the flesh of other creatures. its like bonsai, but if youre absolutely fucked up and have absolutely fucked up magic. granted, even among the dokkalfar, its considered a pretty extreme thing, and most 'flesh artists' only present their sculptures and 'art' to those who are already...in the scene. its a secretive sort of thing, but people still know the flesh gardens exist, and fear one day becoming apart of them.
another thing vali refuses to engage in is some of the things the most gluttonous aristocracy of dokkalfar eats. he likes the decadent things in life -- but he draws the line at foods that are outright cruel. hes no vegetarian, he understands that the act of killing is nessecary to consume meat, but he cannot excuse outright cruelty in the preparation of food. a notable example is edible dormouse drowned in honey. and thats not just a saying, the poor dormice are literally drowned to death in a pot of honey before they are cooked and served.
theres even a dokkalfar saying that goes along the lines of 'like a dormouse in honey' which is kind of akin to 'like a pig in shit' aka to describe someone who is very self-satisfied, but it also has a deeper, more sinister meaning -- someone who is so self satisifed they do not see their oncoming doom, likely at the hands of the same thing they take great pleasure in. contrary to the idiom, though, those poor dormice are not gaining any pleasure or self-satisfaction from being drowned in honey, and he refuses to eat it. granted, hes not the only noble that has reservations about such foods, but they are still popular enough to persist on the tables of dokkalfar nobles. he would have a similar opinion of fois gras, ortolan (basically a wild bird that is force fed until it doubles in size and then is drowned in a type of sweet cooking wine. yeah. its. yeah.), and basically any other 'delicacies' that require cruel and unusual cruelty in order to achieve the 'desired' results.
something vali once had to engage in, in order to complete his education within the lyceum, was preforming vivisections. you know, cutting open live people and animals to study their insides. hes not at all unfamiliar with it, he knows his way would the internal innards of most common creatures and humanoids from his years of studying anatomy and physiology within the lyceum. and he understands that a lot is learned from the medical theaters of the lyceum. but again, the cruelty of it all, he cant stand it. vali even takes measures to make sure *bugs* are humanely anesthetized or euthanized before he starts cutting them open, much less something much more complex. but...if he has to...he will. he just will hate every moment of it, if he can he will do what he can within his power to reduce the suffering of that of which he is cutting open, and then afterwards likely excuse himself to go throw up. its a thin tight rope to walk. needless to say, he doesnt teach apprentices in the medical theater of the lyceum much anymore.
you know theres A LOT of things about vali's society he doesnt agree with and either does everything within his power to avoid engaging in it, or engages in it EXTREMELY begrudgingly. he begrudgingly engages in the sharp edged drama and titillating gossip of the unseelie court, for if he does not stay on top of it, those sharp edges could be used against him just as easily. he begrudgingly has to appeal to the sensibilities and rationale of his peers, even if they are wrong, even if they severely look down on him because of his past, because if he doesnt, it will just be another way they discredit him. he begrudgingly engages in all the lying, and the scheming, and always appearing like hes truthful and never up to something, else the facade that kept him alive for so long will crumble. hes gotta play by their rules because despite his position as archmage, as a member of the tribunal, hes on very thin ice, and he needs to keep up appearances and be accepted into the fold just as much as he needs to appear like an untouchable object of fear and desire.
