On the subject of Velia’s Brothers
Just some rambling related to Nembo’s perspective of the first meetings with Velia’s brothers, which I should have talked about long ago.
The entire subject of meeting Velia’s family - his brothers at least - is a very touchy and anxiety inducing subject for Nembo for obvious reasons: the teachings of the Religion say that homosexuality is a sin, a lot of people consider homosexuals to be deviants, and so much more. In Nembo’s mind, the most important thing is to avoid making Velia feel uncomfortable around his own family, but he also stresses horribly because he thinks their relationship won’t be accepted. There was a very slight chance that they’d be open minded, but he wasn’t sure about it.
When Velia talked to him about meeting his older brother Baxter first though, some of that anxiety dissipated. He was a hunter like him, and according to Vi’s words, he was also calmer and more prone to accepting - or at least tolerating - things he didn’t understand or approve of, compared to the other brother. So meeting with Baxter was definitely easier than meeting Romio.
The first meeting went quite neutral - slightly in bad terrains - in his eyes. Baxter asserted his position of power with passive aggressive comments and displays of brute strength (squeezing his hand as if he was strangling a snake, commenting on his own force and so on), but Nembo responded unbelievably well to it. Rather than showing to be intimidated - which he was, but not negatively - he asked Baxter about some of his best hunts in a way to almost praise him, but mostly because he was genuinely curious about his hunting job. To each passive aggressive - or straight out mean - comment that Baxter would say, Nembo would either remain silent or lower his gaze. He meant no disrespect to Baxter and he knew that him, being the big brother of the family, was only trying to protect his brother and making sure that he was a good Keno. So he didn’t reply or snap back to him in any way.
In their second meeting Nembo would be prepared for pretty much anything. He knew Baxter would ask about a lot of personal things, and he had no problems with answering as honestly as he could. He tried to assert as clearly as possible that loved Velia and only wanted the best for him, and if that Velia were ever tired of their relationship, he’d let go of him. But since Velia really loved him, he saw their relationship as a possibly well lasting one, and didn’t want to give up on it. He answered every single one of Baxter’s questions with as much honesty and clarity as he could. And in the end he thinks he did play his cards right. After that meeting, things went much more neutral between them and even took a lighter, more friendly tone. He could even afford to joke around with Baxter without hitting a sour note.
But most importantly, he also made it extremely clear that their relationship was strictly romantic. He had no interest in taking it one step further, especially because Velia had no interest in it either. And being Nembo’s number one goal to make his boyfriend happy, he was content with keeping it to cuddling and PDA. He didn’t want to do anything involving sex, and would have never suggested it to Velia either, because he knew it was a very awkward subject for him to touch.
With Romio it was a lot worse. He was prepared for utter rejection, but he had no idea it would be as bad as it was with his parents. Romio would keep spilling insult after insult, and Nembo would do nothing but listen. And that in itself could have been a good or bad thing; good in the sense that he would have avoided Romio possibly hurting himself if he talked back and got attacked, and bad because he would have appeared guilty and completely spineless in Romio’s eyes.
Still, Nembo realized that Romio - despite all the insults that had thrown at him - wasn’t a bad Kenomaera. Velia had talked well about him, his good deeds, the way he helps people and so on. He couldn’t possibly see him as a bad person only for misjudging / hating him. In Nembo’s perception, Romio was a sad character who had had his mind clouded by some religious bullshit. But more than that, he saw Velia’s brother as simply a brother who was trying his best to protect his most loved person in the only way he could - by trying to separate them and avoiding Velia falling in the way of sinners.
And also, Nembo had already felt the same kind of knives thrown at him in the past, when his family rejected him. Romio’s words hurt less, although they still did, but he was able to take them in and dull their sharp ends. If Velia were to leave the room, he’d still stay and take the rough end of it all. He knew acceptance on Romio’s part would be an utopia, but he’d be content with Romio insulting him as long as he wouldn’t shift the focus of his slurs on Velia. Then, and only then he’d react. By the end of their meeting, Nembo would simply leave the room and assert that it had been a pleasure to meet Romio, despite their different views on many matters. In the end, he loved Velia. If he had to accept rejection to stay with him, he’d be fine with it.
On a side and final note, I also want to add that Nembo would never deliberately hurt Romio. If Romio were to tackle him and try to hurt him in any fashion - punches, slaps, even knives - he’d let him take out his anger on him. He wouldn’t push back and he wouldn’t fight back either. He’s strong enough to take some hits and he knows that a knife cut given by a sickly / weak Keno wouldn’t be a serious injury either. Unless there were someone else (possibly Baxter) there to calm Romio down, he’d wait until he was exhausted and then he’d help him sit down and recover a regular breathing pace.
He doesn’t hate Romio, but he feels sorry for him. And in a way he also feels guilty for causing him so much grief. (And he also thought about letting Velia go to make Romio happier, but when he talked about this idea to Vanideita and Siraj, they both verbally kicked his ass)