Why does Neilan find Callum so annoying is it just the interupted show or is there something more lurking in the depths?
It's certainly a way it started but there is more to it! While I for some reason struggle writing them even as I develop their world I have written one little piece of that so here's a snippet from it that I think explains it well. The piece itself was a test to go try the magic system and how I could describe it and all, a performance of Neilan’s at court with Callum simply sitting in the audience and watching.
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Humbly bowing, their eyes looked back to Callum, still sitting in his seat and clapping like the rest. His face however was unchanged. The expression was impossible to read, no smile, not even a tug of lips. No annoyance at Neilan’s clear aptitude at magic nor the kind of reverence that they were so used to.
Surely however, he was impressed, Neilan thought to themself. He must be blown away at all the details coming together and refusing to show it.
They wouldn’t admit the lack of reaction was grating their nerves. They’ll simply do better next time and Callum would have to be impressed. They had to rub under his nose that they were better. That was all. Callum didn’t belong on court and Neilan would make it clear to him.
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So a big part is simply Callum's way of being, just how he is. There's resentment toward him being lower class but still now being part of the Royal Court and Neilan hates it.
A lot of what Callum is opposes Neilan. He's, especially at the start, unnerving, feared and appears shaggy and Neilan is naturally just turning their nose up at him.
Callum was also a soldier and the dirty work they do, killing the monsters at the border is scorned. Neilan, as the type of mage they are, almost naturally despises all battle mages like Callum. They are brutes who don't know the finesse that comes with magic (the inverse is also true, that Battle mages think of entertainment mages like Neilan as having less power when using magic) and this mutual dislike is in part something deeper, stemming from Propaganda from the Royal Bloodline.
But these two are also just my little dolls to put into situations. With all affection they're nuisances in my brain with too much lore. But I also just like worldbuilding and making lore.
