azzy i just need to know: who is your most problematicTM character? why? is it the cute necromancer girly? 🥺
you wish it were the cute necromancer girly. alas, i don't think she even hits top 10 problematic characters. aside from the occasional and casual defilement of corpses and loose relationship with ethics, Sarie is very chill. she is, at the end of the day, also a healer, and she takes the in-world equivalent of the hyppocratic oath very seriously
i have many a character who is easily more problematic than Sarie. Lukiat is a political authority (think president-adjacent) who bribes and blackmails the authorities below him into making the decisions he wants (plus he has biased relationships with half his administration). Kea daylights as a prostitute to gather information and access to places so he can moonlight as a spy and assasin. Ideli reaches higher levels of ideological naivity every time i think about her despite being one of my more violent characters. Aleji will give you illusion-induced psychosis if you cross their fiancé. Neikzi is infamously destructive, both physically and psychologically. Reyenn is, among his other issues, sleeping with his boss to steal information. i can go on for a while
but like, my truly most problematic, "will get me canceled on twitter for ever thinking of them" (goals) character is Drarnomok, aka Reyenn's said boss. maybe not in and of himself, but definitely for my decision to explore him as both abuser and abused
long ramble under the cut
tw for physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as murder and obsessive behaviors
so, Drarnomok. and then two other names around him would be his twin sister Kaziat and their father Irkanav. they are deri'kerijis and from an Izerkean noble family. specifically his family has held the title of Sina'baj (equivalent of a marquess) of Intalaziet — a historically significant place for Izerko that is considered an honor to govern — for close to a millenium. this isn't particularly because they're good at ruling but more because they're good at taking care of political opponents. how? necromancy, of course
it is tradition in Drarnomok's family to have only two children (heir and spare) and to perform two rituals on them at birth: one that ties their souls to a specific object buried underneath the governing house thus making them unable to properly die and stick around as ghosts, and one that makes them able to see and hear the ghosts of past family members
with twins, this is a problem. because in mortal people, twins have the awful habit to tie their magic to each other, so you can't just quietly take care of the spare, because you will fuck up the heir, but also they are very sensitive to magical side effects. do you reckon their family would have cared?
the answer is lmao no. their father is, to put it in modern therapy-speak terms, a narcisistic man who killed his wife for daring to give him twins and put forth this problem and who spends most of his time pushing all of the generational trauma on the children he's not really raising and more so trying to mold into the perfect heirs who will surpass him (but also they're not allowed to be better than him). he also tends to get physically violent when they disobey or disappoint in any way. Drarnomok and Kaziat are close purely because they're used to take care of each other's wounds despite the rivalry their father is putting on them
Irkanav, the father, is also the reason Rijanikta (aka Reyenn pre-transition & one of the identities he uses (Reyenn's identity issues are worthy of an essay on their own)) meets the twins when she's seven and the twins are fifteen. he basically "hires" her to sabotage political rivals and then to keep the twins company, and here things start to go... really wrong
the twins and Rijanikta form a really strong kinship from having to deal with Irkanav and his issues together, but the twins also become extremely emotionally dependant on Rijanikta and rely on her company to tune out the voices of the ancestors
and here things twist. the twins become extremely jealous and protective of Rijanikta, have a not-quite-playful rivalry on who Rijanikta likes most and become more and more obsessive. Kaziat bribes Rijanikta with access to the family library and studying ancient magic together, while Drarnomok bribes her by taking her out of the city to meet with Niev and helping her take care of the orphanage the people she considers family have started
this keeps escalating for over a decade, while Irkanav keeps spiraling because he still has two heirs who are more interested in arguing over a girl than listening to him. the second he takes his anger about it out on Rijianikta in sight of the twins, the two actually put their differences aside and commit patricide, cover it up, and decide to try governing together with Rijanikta as a shared PA. for Rijanikta's sake, because literally everything they do is at least partly driven by that
of course this doesn't last and during an argument that escalates very heavily and very rapidly Drarnomok kills Kaziat. which completely destabilizes him but also her ghost, which he can hear and see
and from here on out, "dependant on Rijanikta" is an understatement. because in his mind, this need to be with her simply must be love, and because Rijanikta is the one person who never abbandoned him then she must love him back. and he doesn't ask before starting to act like they've always been together, and he doesn't stop, and doesn't even consider the idea that she might not want this, because in his mind Rijanikta is too perfect to leave him
i genuinely don't think i can do justice to the level of obsession he holds for her. he worships the ground she walks on, he never denies her a request and he completely refuses to listen to thirty generations of ancestors telling him she's a spy and she's betraying him. he couldn't care less if when he gets drunk and violent he breaks family heirlooms or the steward's nose or scares the staff, but the second he accidentally gives Rijanikta a fright or — gods forbid — hurts her he starts self-flagellating to the point of actually terrifying her
he's scared shitless by the idea of losing her, to the point that the only thing holding him back from performing that good ol' soulbinding ritual i've mentioned before is the fear of hurting her magic, because he can tell that she's very sensitive to magic even if he doesn't know why. and yet he never even thinks of stopping her from going out, just covers her head to toe in layer over layer of protective magic
she is his savior and his downfall, and Drarnomok cannot cope with the idea of existing without her. and despite this, and despite being one of the antagonists, i never make him an outright villain. i don't even make a particularly cruel person. he is, in my mind, just a man broken beyond belief who doesn't know how to do anything but hurt others even in his love. he gets no redemption, but his ending is open to putting in the work to heal in the future, away from Rijanikta. and i don't think many people approve of that kind of decision
(hello !! another sts bc i'm bored !!) what are your characters most obvious red flags?
oo, this is a very interesting question, i never thought about that. lemme figure out a list of actual serious answers
for Revolve we have:
Aira ✵ lies about anything, even about little things. i'm talking "impulsively lies about eating the last biscuit" levels, bordering on gaslighting the other person
Ele ✵ needs constant validation/approval from someone else. usually it's Aira who gets the "hey should i buy this or that?" texts, and won't date Beriel until Aira gives her approval. Aira is not aware of this
Aleji ✵ is a workaholic, too busy for almost anything, everything and anyone. they're never "just chilling"
Beriel ✵ struggles with making decisions on her own, and because she's so indecisive it's really easy to get her to change her mind
Dani ✵ takes every negative opinion as a personal attack. even a "you look tired" gets twisted and interpreted as "look at this loser who took so much time studying that he didn't get sleep"
Syphe ✵ never said sorry and meant it. most of the time you get fake apologies, at best you get apology gifts
Meiviza ✵ really strong anger issues, and otherwise pretty unemotional
Ideli ✵ out of touch with how regular people live, her vision of the world is extremely idealized
Lukiat ✵ very obvious favoritism when there really shouldn't be
Niev ✵ still looking for Reyenn (it's sweet, yeah, but also major Yikes)
Reyenn ✵ the worst case of "i can fix him" mentality ever
and then as a bonus, have some In Destiny We Trust (Not):
Zeno ⛧ apathetic about most topics, will always look at others for guidance
Ike ⛧ majorly protective and possesive
thanks so much for the question! it was a really good character-building exercise lmao
Home: What makes your character think of or feel like they are home?
hii! thank you so much
for Aira and Ele, home is the scent of nature and firewood and the cawing of crows. it reminds them of the farmhouse, which was home already back when Aira's mother owned it, but now that Leo has it it's a thousand times more home than either their houses
Beriel is reminded of home in loud markets and big crowds. to her, home is definitely not a place
Dani is caught between two answers: chocolate cookies, the rustle of paper and stained sinks, or fireplaces, dark stone and the smell of sweat. either with his father or with Aleji and Luz
Aleji and Luz are entirely each other's home, so anything that reminds them of the other is a go. for Luz, it's mostly coffee and inkstains and old leatherbound books, and for Aleji it's dandelions and gold jewelry and pretty knives
to the entire Unseen (Syphe, Dajsper, Tumaril, Ideli, Irami and Meiviza), home is the base. metal and stone and the heavy scent of grease from Tumaril's workshop, and it's clothes draped on every surface and bowls of shared food and rock music playing quietly in the background while someone argues
to Lukiat, home is still barn roofs and lukewarm soup and the kindness of strangers (and children's laughter and soap bubbles and a quiet steady presence at his side)
to Niev, home is casual touches and magic skittering over his skin and the warmth of pride in his chest
Reyenn doesn't quite have a concept of home yet. but when he looks for comfort, he thinks of the cold
This seems like a great idea for a small group or even just one character, whoever you feel needs it the most!
heya Star, thanks so much for the ask!
an uninterrupted movie night coming right up for Reyenn, Niev and Lukiat (feat. Edra) (it's family bonding time >:3 )
Reyenn stands in the doorway, blankets piled in his arms. "Do you... need a hand?"
"I can do it," Niev says, leaning heavily on his crutch and half behind the television.
Reyenn presses his lips together, trying to hold back a smile. "I can see that."
"Don't mock me, I've never worked with technology this advanced."
"It's a television, not a holoscreen," Reyenn says, coming further into the room.
Niev half-turns around, whith a soft glare that doesn't really reach his ice gray eyes. Instead, mirth dances behind them like light on fresh snow. "You do it then if you're such an expert," he says. As he steps back tough, he grimaces. "Fuck."
Reyenn lays the blankets on the small couch and walks over. "Maybe next time you should try not getting stabbed by a Void Creature and giving yourself hypothermia as a reflex."
"It worked, didn't it?"
Reyenn's ears flicking at the sound of steps coming closer, only relaxing when warm mana skitters over his skin. At his side, Niev is already turning around.
"What worked?" comes Lukiat's low voice from the doorway. "It better not have been the hypothermia thing, that took three of us to save your life."
"It was the hypothermia thing," Reyenn confirms, bracing for the ball of condensed sunshine that hurls itself at him in a storm of giggles. "Hello Edra. Your Light," he adds, bowing his head to Lukiat.
Lukiat shakes his head lightly, one hand on the back of the couch and another on his shoulder, the one that Edra isn't hanging onto. "I told you already, you can just call me Lukiat," he says.
"What are you doing here?" Niev asks as he takes Edra off of him.
"I brought him here," Edra says, chin proudly held up. "Miss Wildstar said she's making you relax before you drive someone mad, and Lukiat also needs it because he was arguing with councillors all day and driving Ilibe and Ay mad. So, I brought him."
"Did you now?"
"He did," Lukiat confirms, a small smile on his lips as he lets the kid latch onto his hand and pull him toward the small couch. "Showed up the second I got out of meetings and dragged me here."
Edra nearly bounces on the old fluffy thing. "What are we doing then?"
"We are..." Niev trails off, and Reyenn can feel the other's gaze on his back as he fiddles with the remote.
"Watching a movie," he finishes. the sentence. "On Aira's suggestion, but not the movie Aira suggested. I don't trust it"
"You shouldn't. She's a menace," Lukiat agrees, voice light. "And a movie is...?"
"A recorded play, basically," Reyenn answers. He turns around and smiles gently at Lukiat, even if the man can't see it. "Don't worry. I'm fairly sure it has audio descriptions."
Lukiat sighs and melts into the couch. "I can work with that."
"Are you staying too?" Edra asks, in that innocent tone that already says that if he turns around he'll be attacked by the biggest puppy eyes.
He resists the urge to rub at burning eyes and starts looking for the title Ele had written down on paper. "I don't know. I have a lot of stuff still to do."
"You should probably take a break too though," Niev says, the frown evident in his voice without even looking.
"Yeah, you should. You have eyebags darker than åppa's, Re."
"Edra that's not nice," Niev immediately scolds, but Reyenn just sighs.
"He's not wrong."
Niev's protests about bad habits are drowned out by Lukiat. "Sit with us then," he says, his voice accompanied by soft pats on the couch. "Whatever you need to do will still be there in the morning."
Reyenn looks back at them. Exactly as he expected, Edra is looking at him with big lilac eyes. Reyenn's shoulders slump. "Okay," he whispers.
Edra immediately cheers and drags him to the couch, pushing him into the empty space next to Niev, then jumps in the spot between Niev and Lukiat. Reyenn barely holds back a laugh at how tightly he's squinting at the screen. "What's a Hallmark?"
"I'm not sure," he admits. "But Ele said it'd be more enjoyable than whatever Aira suggested."
"Can't wait then," Niev says, half laughing. Reyenn lets him wrap the blanket around the two of them and hits play.
hello !! give your favourite character(s) a cute lil stuffed animal and a sweet treat. what do you give them and why?
i am very late answering this but it is so adorable. thanks so much for the ask <3
Aira gets a star-shaped plushie about as big as a throw pillow. it has a little face stitched in and a stereotypical wizard hat and wand. as for a treat, Dani's chocolate biscuits. they are incredibly fudgy and chocolatey and they're by far her favorite, though she'd rather die than admit to that (ask me about sweets in EttDS and you will have my eternal love)
Syphe gets a handstitched teddy bear from Dajsper and Tumaril. it is the ugliest thing ever, uneven, with a bit too little stuffing. He says he hates it, but he won't go to sleep if he isn't sure that thing is under is pillow. and for a sweet treat, a very sugary pumpkin cake. specifically, the one Tumaril's mum bakes. he is rude to everyone except Tumaril's mum, and the pumpkin cake is a big part of it
Meiviza gets a jellyfish plushie that can be turned inside out. one side is pale green with a smiling face and the other is pale yellow an angry face. she keeps it almost exclusively on the angry face. and with that, mango ice cream. mango is not a common fruit in Reiki, and she fell in love with it the one time she tried it in Ideli's company. plus, it makes for some good breakdown icecream. she deserves it
Aleji gets a really pretty glowmoss plushie that is covered in sparkles and glows in the dark. they adore it and keep it on a shelf where it can somewhat light up the room at night. they get honey muffins with a vanilla glaze. and i'm talking about the fancy vanilla. they don't have much of a love for sweets, but when they do they go for the fancy stuff
Luz gets an actual blåhaj from ikea. the big one. Aleji gets it for her as a joke but she actually loves it and thinks sharks are awesome (she's right). and for a treat, and this is very specific, rice and rose water cake. i have had it once (1) and it's amazing, and i feel like she'd love the simple and subtly floral taste
and finally Reyenn also gets a handmade stuffie but of a magic tome, because his sister has a sense of humor. this will spiral into Reyenn having a collection of varying book-shaped plushies made and gifted by friends. for a sweet he gets a berliner completely stuffed with akkomaviberry jam. one hell of a heavy duty sweet, and though Reyenn doesn't remember it, he loved akkomaviberry back when his family was still around. it was his favorite fruit (fun fact: akkomaviberry is a native Izerkean berry. it grows nowhere else)
yooo tell me something about the Lukiat / Reyenn / Niev trouple pls 👀 whats the vibe, how did it happen, idk, tell me EVERYTHING
ah yes, them. my best boys. the idiot polycule, if you will. i've talked about them a little bit here, but i am always so up for adding more
so, the three of them are the slowest burn i've ever burned. i am not entirely sure of when it becomes a triangular mutual pining (probably somewhere in book 4), but it takes them until at least the end of book 5 to get together. and when you consider that Lukiat and Reyenn, who have known each other the least long, met at the end of book 2 / start of book 3 then that is a long ass time. even more so knowing that Niev and Reyenn had been in love with each other for a few years already when they got separated seven years before book 1
so, how did this happen?
well, like i said, Reyenn and Niev fell for each other ages before the start of the story, back when Niev was still a prisoner of the Five Rings and Reyenn travelled with Drarnomok. Niev was the one to fall first, completely mesmerized by Reyenn's smarts and his insistence to help anytime he could. Reyenn, who is much slower at falling in love, had a thing for Niev's resilience and determination to protect the people around him. two attitudes that eventually lead to the events in How To Let Go (i have been told you might need tissues if you wanna read that one)
that scene is the last they see of each other for a long time, and is followed a week later by a piece i've been writing on and off for the whole summer: At First Light will detail the idefexi stint onto the compound that the Five Rings use as a base, and it's when Lukiat enters the field
we are in fact in the five year period in which Lukiat, under the fake name of Zhan, is on the run with Kea, pretending to be a simple healer's apprentice. this of course means that Lukiat is there, as a healer, when the Five Rings get busted. which means he meets Niev in possibly the worst circumstances Niev has ever been in
the aftermath of that bust has major complications, because it exposes threads of government corruption, which eventually spiral into Lukiat actually returning to his identity of prince of Xor and semi-forcibly instating himself the (unofficial yet) Xire of the alliance by slowly exposing and picking off corrupt officials, all under the advice and with the help of a bunch of people among which Niev
of course then once Lukiat is officially Xire and has to pick his poersonal guards he chooses Niev
mind you, at this point between them there is nothing more than some very solid admiration, but Lukiat falls incredibly fast. how come? well it's all because of Edra
now, i've mentioned Edra a couple of times before. he was the youngest prisoner in the Five Rings, he took the burnt of the experimentation, and he and Niev were very attached to each other. unfortunately after the stint Niev wasn't being allowed to adopt Edra. so Lukiat took him on as a ward. mind you, this is different from adoption, because it puts Lukiat down not as a parent but as a temporary guardian
either way this means the two of them are coparenting Edra, because Niev doesn't manage to legally adopt Edra for forever
it takes Lukiat exactly three times of witnessing Niev (only two years out of the Five Rings and yet with major feats recognized and a killcount in the upper double-digits) being very soft and concerned about Edra to fall in love. does he notice? lmao not in the slightest. and he won't for years, because he's emotionally blind
in the meantime tho, Niev falls in love with Lukiat. because while he knew (distantly, intellectually) that Lukiat was competent, seeing Lukiat verbally tear apart politicians, laws, plans and public figures from up-close is a whole other story. and the fact that Lukiat also gets attached to Edra and takes him seriously really doesn't help
unlike Lukiat tho, Niev is perfectly aware that he's falling in love. he is also distinctly aware that Lukiat, though he might not know, reciprocates. and he does nothing about it, because he is an idiot
i'm joking, he's not actually an idiot. he actually has some very valid reasons, starting from "it wouldn't be fair to Lukiat to try a relationship while still looking for Reyenn", passing by "i want a domestic life, not to be the secret lover of someone in a political marriage" and landing eventually on "can you imagine the scandal??"
and he is so very right about that last point, because Niev is a part of the Yileglori, aka the innermost group of private guards/advisors/confidants/agents of the Xire. Lukiat is, from a technical standpoint, both his employer and his charge. it already was a scandal when people caught wind of the fact that Edra, technically Lukiat's ward, already saw Niev as his parent when he was taken on as a ward. the gossip magazines were celebrating for weeks, and Niev is way aware of this
and then once we get into series timeline (because all this is before) it gets worse! because now it's extremely important that Lukiat appears as a beacon of integrity and rationale and composure. a relationship between them becomes the single worst thing that could happen. it would not only destroy their careers, but it would irreparably crack Esluxia's international standing during wartime. do you know how bad things can get when your leader is taken for an international joke during wartime? it gets bad. so, Niev represses
and then book 2 happens
seven years after the events of How To Let Go, halfway into a mission to secure a line of communication with potential allies off-Realm on Lukiat's order with no one but two international representatives at his side, Niev meets Reyenn again
only this Reyenn is one who is extremely traumatized by seven years in one of the worst and most toxic abusive relationships you can imagine. yes, they reconnect, but there is no way they're starting where they left off. a romantic relationship is the last thing on either of their minds. hell, surviving is barely on Reyenn's mind at this point
but again, the situation is what it is; wartime. or at the very least preparation for wartime, and Niev has many things and missions he specifically needs to get to. and he can't bring Reyenn along on those. so he very specifically introduces Reyenn and Lukiat, then takes Lukiat aside before leaving and entrusts Reyenn's safety to Lukiat. this flags it as "Reyenn is as importanto to me as Edra is" to Lukiat and he, still oblivious to his own feelings for Niev, takes this entrusting very seriously. even if he is stunned and a little bit terrified by the amount of mana clinging to Reyenn
so Lukiat mostly makes sure Reyenn and Edra are together (honestly not a difficult task) and with a guard (a more difficult task) and stays on high alert. and this starts to get the ball rolling, because Reyenn too is extremely sweet and soft on Edra, and that means Lukiat relaxes a little more. which in turn makes Reyenn relax more
which then, in the span of, like, a week, leads to Lukiat going "okay, i want to be honest with you. i know you know i'm blind, but i also can percieve mana so i can tell you have a lot of it clinging to you and two glamours. you don't have to tell me, but that has got to be bad for your health, are you okay?? how are you not passing out from sheer exhaustion?? is there someone we need to keep you away from??"
Reyenn, who has only been asked once since he ran away (by Niev) if he was okay, breaks down on Lukiat, admits that he's deri'keriji, admits that he has a Livi parent, panics and preemptively tells Lukiat that it's okay if he wants to kick him out and he understands
this of course only kicks Lukiat's already insanely strong protective instincts into quiet overdrive. he listens way more closely, adjusts things on the down-low and pays so much attention. which means he notices that Reyenn understands administration and politics and legal jargon (thank you six years doing the governor's job in his place)
and there. that's where it starts to spiral. because if there's something that Lukiat (unconciously) finds hotter than a ruthless bastard of a man turning sweet and parental around kids that's someone who can match him in the governative field. and my gods does Reyenn match him. rarely, because he's not that confident yet, but every time Lukiat is like "debate with me. debate with me, dude, i want your opinion. pretty pretty please debate with me"
so as you can tell, Lukiat is smitten and completely unaware of it. Reyenn on the other hand is very confused and is wondering if he's done something to offend Lukiat or the other just hates him
and then Lukiat gets his wish. sort of. i mentioned the scene where Reyenn and Lukiat confront each other about being in love with Niev in the other post, and that is a big turning point. not only because it means Lukiat finally notices he's in love with both Niev and Reyenn, but also because Reyenn comes to the realization that Lukiat is an idiot
and that. that makes Reyenn a lot less anxious about confronting Lukiat with anything, from less-than-ideal plans to him ignoring his feelings and all the way into an iconic screaming match about savior complexes and self-sacrificing tendencies (aptly commented by Kea as "what sort of weird-ass foreplay is this?" and by Edra as "awww they're bonding :D !")
all of this slowly ramps Reyenn's confidence up as he goes from terrified to speak up to perfectly aware that even if he gets angry and yells (which he tries not to do anyway) Lukiat will listen. which in turn makes Reyenn go from thankful to "hm that's– that's a funky feeling there" to "ahaha no. there is no way i'm falling for him" to "him?? it can't be him, he's an idiot!" to "it could be worse. it could be a lot worse" to "oh my gods did it have to be him?" and finally to acceptance, immediately followed by no less than four batshit insane plans of political ploys so Reyenn can be with both Lukiat and Niev
it's one chaotic mess of a relationship that is made wayyyy messier by being in the international public eye, and the process of getting together is a shitstorm that i 8ntend to make as chaotic as possible. once they're together tho? with the political powerhouse that is Lukiat & Reyenn backed by Niev's "why not solve this with violence?" attitude? the three of them are a threat
Occupation ✵ Personal Assistant | Alcove Administration | Undercover Rebel
Notable Features ✵ [White Curled Horns above Ears, Velifean Marks] [White Curved Horns from Forehead, Rune Tattoos] None
Work Specific
Species ✵ Deri-Shirevi (Livi Ancestry)
Elemental Resonance ✵ Crystal
Citzenship ✵ Izerko, Reiki
Base Location ✵ Adenireziet
Alias ✵ Vidre {Helper}
Allegiance ✵ N/A
Personality
Reyenn seems to exist in a permanently tired state, no matter which mask he dons or which role he fills. He's known as being helpful and resourceful among all his identities, able to fix or plan for most problems that are brought to him. However, this helpfulness goes to the point of self-sacrifice, and it is not unusual for the people closest to him to call him a stubborn reckless idiot
Likes ✵ runology, languages, ancient magic, history, whittling, the quiet, the dark
Dislikes ✵ his job, powerhungry people, bureaucracy, fake politeness, blood
Speaking Style ✵ prefers to listen, but very attention-grabbing when he speaks. politely inquisitive but can break out a commanding voice during crisis moments. doesn't swear as Rijanikta, very much swears as Vidre, but never around kids. uses nicknames a lot, as well as petnames on occasion, usually as a persuasion tactic
Clothing Style ✵ varies greatly between the three identities he assumes. as Rijanikta, wears lighter outfits both in fabric and color, often airy too. as Vidre, covers up as much skin as possible and goes for darker neutral tones and sturdy fabrics. in his little personal time, softer and larger outer layers, while the inner layers are formfitting. doesn't wear jewelry unless he has too, the only exception being the necklace that holds his glamour
[backstory and taglist under the cut]
[TW: Murder (mentioned), Domestic Abuse (including SA), Extremely Toxic Relationship]
Backstory
Reyenn remembers very little of his earlier years, and they are all hazy memories of his parents and older sister before something happened and he had to run. he was maybe five or six when he arrived in Adenireziet, nothing more than a scrappy street girl, and got trapped there. and as any scrappy street kid, he got in trouble. instead of punishing him however, the then-governor decided to pay him (a miserable pay) to take care of dirty jobs and some minor sneaking and spying
Reyenn entered himself into the graces of the governor's family under the identity of Rijanikta, position from which he could see the disregard for the city that the governing family had. he began to gather information to help the city, establishing the identity of Vidre while playing along as Rijanikta, until eventually he was trusted alone in their library or with either of the governor's children. however, when alone with Reyenn the governor's son — Drarnomok — often just brought him along out of the city to go watch arena fights. Reyenn made friends with the arena fighters, among which there was Nievleiv, and often offered to heal and help them. as he did so, he began to notice Drarnomok starting to turn violent and paranoid. upon sharing with Nievleiv his plan to stick close to Drarnomok's side to figure out what was happening, the two had a huge argument that devolved into a fight. soon after, the arena was caught and shut down
Reyenn stuck to his plan and inserted himself into Drarnomok's close circle, still as Rijanikta, and Drarnomok fell for it hook, line and sinker. as he became more and more paranoid, his certainty in Rijanikta's support turned into obsesession. when Rijanikta stood by him after he killed his father, that obsession turned physical. Rijanikta got fully trapped, living with Drarnomok and his violent outbursts, leering and coercing. it became rapidly necessary for Reyenn to hide and separate as much as possible the identity of Vidre, who was becoming more and more well known in the city and attracting Drarnomok's ire. even stuck juggling two extra identities, he makes use of both to find a way to bring down the current government while working within the system
