The only significant answer is Reverence - while Kerri may have nostalgic thoughts about a few other people (her uncles, the Vassildrens, Deidre), homesickness is not an affliction she has ever known. Traveling with Rev was the closest Kerri ever felt to Content and Comfortable. One of the rare few who Kerri didn’t instinctively worry about Judging her. Someone to sing with, someone to get into mischief with, someone to make up stories with. Someone who, when Kerri would talk, wouldn’t just smile and nod while secretly being Concerned, but actually build on Kerri’s bullshit until they’d constructed an elaborate fiction just for the hell of it. Someone to riff with.
33 - What makes them cry?
The one time in-campaign where she cried has been from feeling Overwhelmed (she very briefly lost her composure when Fletcher confirmed that the party was Real after they dragged her out of the Silence Tree), although she has also laughed hard enough to tear up.
Honestly, you’re a lot more likely to get Kerri to tear up from positive emotions than anything negative, though severe enough frustration will get her to cry in private or in her dreams when talking to her boss. well. almost frustrated enough, in that case
...I will note that, when she was younger, Kerri cried a lot when she was angry, but she managed to get a handle on that by the time she hit the road. (She also used to cry when panicking, but at some point in the last eight years managed to reduce the severity of that reaction, too)
52 - From whom do they seek validation?
The Audience
Which is maybe a little more complicated than it sounds, but ultimately if she’s putting herself out on a limb, the person she’s doing it for better appreciate it. And if they don’t, she’s far less likely to do so in the future, because what’s the point in making an effort that nobody cares about?
...You might be surprised how many things Kerri can wrap up in this mindset. You might be less surprised to know that Kerri focuses on Audience reaction to the exclusion of her own enjoyment.
68 - What was the best moment of their life?
When she was finally able to get her magic to function consistently, the first step in being more than some vagrant who can carry a tune.
Dealer’s Choice - 23 - How do they feel about nicknames, titles, or labels that have been given to them? How do they feel about their name?
The only long-term nickname Kerri’s had has been Kerr-bear, which was something her uncles called her back home. As a kid, she found this acceptable, because that was back when she thought more about the majestic ferociousness of animals and less about what happens when those animals want to do you bodily harm. (Seamus called her that once, and she was startled enough by it that she didn’t know how to react. She is increasingly of the opinion that they aren’t Familiar enough with one another for nicknames to be appropriate.)
Kerri has never had a title, though there’s plenty of less-than-proper labels that have been attached to her over the years. She openly refers to herself as a Dramatic Bitch, doesn’t mind letting people know she’s a Base-Born Bastard, and violently objects to anyone who has tried to call her an animal.
As far as her own name goes... she uses it off and on, but has no strong sentiment toward it. It’s a name for a human, and so many people put so much effort into reminding Kerri that being half human is arguably worse than not being human at all. Not that an orcish name would suit her any better, and the dwarven culture she was raised in doesn’t want her, so... fuck it, they’re all just sounds, who cares? Might as well go with something that can be a joke, just like the rest of her life - hence the wordplay aliases she tends to prefer.
(I like this question a lot, but I think it could be better phrased as “what is something about themself they’re proud of/pleased with?”)
Seamus is very proud of the work he’s done to accomplish skills he wanted to learn. He’s confident in his cooking skills, in dancing, his writing habits, and his combat skills. He likes the assurance that if he puts his mind to something and works at it, he can be satisfied with the results even if they come with a lot of failures along the way. He’s happy with how far he’s come in the last two years.
30. what do they seek out from others?
Friendship, mostly. It’s nice to have people to talk to and listen to, who tolerate your presence.
44. what do they need to learn?
How to ask for help without feeling like a burden.
That not everyone wants to be helped, or is ready to be helped. That the people he in his life aren’t as disappointed in him as he thinks they are. That sometimes the best thing you can do is to say nothing and just listen. That it’s okay to be hopeful about the future. That he’s not as alone as he thinks he is. That there are people who still want him in their lives.
64. do they value mercy or justice more?
Difficult. Seamus believes that mercy can be a form of justice, and that mercy is often seen as weakness when it should not be. If justice is about balance, where does that leave redemption? If justice metes that someone should die for their crimes, where does the opportunity for personal growth figure into the balance? This is a question he has struggled with often, and what stayed his hand two years ago when he had the opportunity to kill Draxan. Killing him would not have been mercy, but would it have been justice for the harm Draxan left in his wake? Seamus was uncomfortable with that decision falling on his shoulders, and how close he came to being the one to make it alone, so he left Draxan to the justice of circumstance - which dictated they run into one another again. Seamus elected to not take justice into his own hands and to return Draxan to the hands of the people he wronged to let them decide. The third time may pay for all but that is too big of a coincidence for Seamus to believe.
(Although if you you ever want to silence him for an hour, ask him this question.)
I really should've posted this forever ago but I kept forgetting. @rynnay drew this for me as a commission a while back!!!! This is Banner, my favoritest medifant character. I love him and I love rynnay and you should all love them both too.
Seamus is very good in the kitchen, with both cooking and baking, and takes the opportunity to do either whenever it presents itself. He delights in an opportunity to make food for, and with, other people. He also uses baking as a stress-reducing activity and those who hang around him long enough will eventually be recipients of the results of that stress baking. You can usually gauge how stressed he is based on the complexity of what he makes. The higher the stress level, the more difficult the recipe - he likes to have something that will require all of his attention when there are other things he’d rather not think about/deal with at the moment.
He is not big on snacking but prefers things that can be eaten while working and are self-contained or don’t create a lot of mess (like dried fruits, meat, or shelled nuts). Seamus is also something of a workaholic and has, many times, forgotten that humans need to stop what they are doing and Eat Food before continuing to do whatever’s occupying their attention. He will keep easy-to-access nutrient-dense snack-type foods on hand for those occasions, plus they’re also handy when on the road or in the field.
With regards to comfort foods, Seamus cares a lot more about the Act of preparing a meal with, and sitting down to enjoy it, with friends and family than any one specific thing. He grew up with an extended halfling family and spent most of his adult life within the Stormlight barracks - both places where meals alone were extremely rare. That being said, Seamus grew up by and spent the vast majority of his life by the ocean. He has a preference for fish in his food and enjoys a wide variety of combinations of things - especially one-dish meals. Those are things fun to prepare and things that can serve a crowd. Fish stew over rice; beans or lentils cooked in sauces with greens or vegetables; etc. A lot of seasonings. There’s never enough garlic. Or chilies. He’s not big on sweet sugary things, preferring instead more complex flavors, the tang/sourness of vinegar or fermentation, flavor combinations like sweet/spicy, etc. He likes a challenge and has had enough of people warning him that something might by too spicy for him to handle.
His favorite meals to make are ones you make with, or for people, and that is more of a Comfort than any particular dish. Cooking with your friends and family is wonderful. Only to be outclassed, possibly, by cooking with (or for) your romantic partner. Other than that, he enjoys preparing anything that gives him a chance to really flex his skills or that is otherwise challenging.
(apparently I write a lot so we’re gonna try tossing the other two under a cut)
🌺 - Nightmares
As a youngest child, Seamus had an abundance of people he could seek out for reassurance. His dad was preferred for a lot of reasons - clerics deal with a lot of Unseen things so even if “banishing ghosts” was performative rather than actual, it was helpful. (By the time his twin sisters were old enough to have the casting skills necessary to do this, he was old enough to be embarrassed to ask them.) His mom and his eldest sister were best for helping him logic-out what he should do in specific situations ( “you dreamed you were drowning? you know how to swim right? maybe you need more practice” or “those creatures don’t live around here, so they can’t get you”.) After the incident where he very nearly died, most of his nightmares were absorbed in falling (there was a period of time when he slept on the floor instead of in his bed - it took a while for his family to talk him out of that) and a lot of nightmares about being trapped/crushed in small spaces. Both of those (falling/small spaces) are recurring adult nightmares but given all the other things he’s been through they’re less terrifying than they used to be.
While Seamus has never been one to require a specific comfort item, people have always been his preferred source of comfort when recovering from any kind of fear or mental trauma. A benefit to sleeping in the same place as Kazi for so many years not only meant that the person who can always make him feel Safe was right there but also that they had experienced a lot of the same traumas together, making it easier for either to talk the other through whatever prompted the nightmares. During their time together in Erune, Seamus’s preferred methods to calm down would have been talking things through, controlled breathing, and just being close to the person he cares most about.
Since leaving Erune and being alone, things have gotten more difficult on that front. Not to mention that in the last several months his life has gotten more complicated: he’s been to the Feywild, he’s contracted and survived lycanthropy, he’s been eaten by a monster, he’s seen cult activity, he’s seen a friend die... in addition to Everything Else. He has been struggling to sleep well lately and usually resorts to trying to talk himself down in his head. He might use the logic-this-out skills he’s learned, or he might try to imagine what Kazi would say if he was there, or come up with a list of reasons why whatever is currently terrifying him is not an immediate threat. He’ll do breathing exercises, if that seems like it will work, or get up and do something (check his gear, read an old letter, etc.) if he thinks he needs a distraction. Or, if he’s truly alone (no one from the Party nearby to witness - like when everyone’s in separate rooms at an inn) he will cry.
💐 - Caring/Receiving Care
This might surprise you but Seamus doesn’t handle being forced to rest very well. He is, unfortunately, that coworker who will be at work and look like death warmed over and insist stoically that it’s “just allergies.” He hates being forced to take a break because a) he is a workaholic, b) it makes him feel antsy, and c) it makes him feel useless/bored. He will recognize that he maybe needs to take a break when he literally cannot keep going. If he can be on his feet and still function reasonably well, he will insist that he is fine and can keep going. He’s not a quitter! But he will force himself to Keep Going when obviously sore, hurt, or unwell as long as he can still get up and do things.
This is likely due to a number of reasons - the most prominent of which being his status as the youngest child. The adults in his life (which quickly included his older sisters) had a tendency to react with Concern any time he was sick or injured (because you always circle up to protect the smallest/youngest) and he realized that he both hated being overly cared for when the situation seemed minor and he hated seeing people displaying distress or worry about him. The solution to this problem, obviously, is to muscle through anything that’s bothering you or do your best to conceal it as best you can until it literally puts you on the ground.
(The only exception to this is when you’re out in the field on a job and it compromises the rest of the team - Seamus knows how triage works and will be truthful when the team’s safety is at risk because of his status.)
He is generally a terrible patient. If he is allowed to Go until he physically breaks down, he’ll spend a lot of recovery time sleeping (much to everyone’s general relief because they don’t have to keep track of him) but once he’s on the mend he’ll start to get bored and be impatient to get back to whatever he was doing before. If he has something to read or write or work on, or someone to talk to, he’s more likely to relent and take things easy. He hates it when people hover, but once he starts recovering its a good idea to keep an eye on him. Otherwise he’ll start to reason: if I can walk across the room, I can go for a walk, if I can go for a walk, I can go for a run. And then you’ll have to go find him and (possibly) drag him back. His insistence that he hates to see people distressed or worried about him is at complete odds with his actions because people genuinely worry when you hide from them the fact that you got stabbed while you were on patrol, or when you keel over during practice, or when you can’t get out of bed or off the ground. (Although, he would argue, at least at that point they’re concerned about something that’s worthy of concern. Nearly bleeding out because you got shot through the leg is a much bigger concern than a light stabbing. Obviously.)
Reversed - Seamus is pretty decent about caring for other people. Most of his life has been spent in a dangerous line of work and while he has no personal medical training, he’s been on the receiving end often enough to distinguish when things need attention (and who needs attention first) and basic first aid. His squad was very tight knit and no strangers to having to help one another through injury or illness when out in the field without access to the Stormlight infirmary, a medic, or a temple. Seamus and Kazi, respectively, have had a decent amount of experience caring for one another through times of crisis and Seamus carries that experience into helping others.
He knows that pushing people to do something doesn’t work well on himself and he applies that logic to others. Asking instead of telling, such as “I need water, want me to get you some too?” or just generally being Available across the hall or in the same room, reading or working on something, in case the other person should decide that they need something - even if it’s just someone to talk to. (Although if he thinks the situation is Serious, this will activate full Protect mode and he’ll do whatever is necessary to make sure the person in need of help gets it, even if it’s help he can’t provide himself.)
One of Kerri’s favorite things about being around people is discovering the tidbits that make a person blush or similarly flustered and render it difficult to maintain their composure. Cracks in the ol’ facade, if you will, letting you see the inner works just a bit.
As for Everyday Things... the smell of cooking usually does it. Or when she makes a loud noise and there’s an echo she didn’t think to expect, so of course a few moments will be lost to playing with acoustics. It’s the audio equivalent of making faces at yourself in random reflective surfaces
💐 - Bed Rest: Reception, Source of Care, and Bedside Manner:
Kerri hates bed rest, whether incurred from injury or illness, because it makes her feel Unproductive. If it’s something she feels she can still muddle through, she’ll absolutely still struggle to Do Something, up until it manages to make things worse.
In recent years, taking care of Kerri has been solely Kerri’s responsibility, so it’s probably for the best that she’s, in general, a fairly durable and healthy person. In Eclipse, the squad medic was Lily, but that gig ended A While Ago, and more recently, the only other long-term traveling arrangement she had was with Reverence, who is most definitely not a healer of any sort. (As far as I’m aware, anyway.) While Kerri appreciates Ryn as a resource and won’t turn down offered help, she won’t actively ask for any sort of care, instead relying on her own magic (and good ol’ half-orc endurance) to keep her on her feet.
Kerri doesn’t actually have experience with being Doted On, but she’s the sort of person who would outwardly object to the attention but would secretly enjoy it... provided it’s from the right person. If it’s from the wrong person, Kerri... may Suggest they give her some space.
And as far as providing care goes, I’m pretty sure everyone around her, both now and in recent years, wouldn’t even think to expect Kerri to offer that kind of service, even though she has a Passing Familiarity and always keeps healing in the repertoire. Would she be good at it? Depends on whether or not you like being teased while being tended to. They also say laughter’s the best medicine, but not everyone laughs at Terrible Jokes. All that aside, in spite of... well, everything else, Kerri is more than capable of gently handling someone else, even if the mundane medicine part isn’t as much in her skill set as it is in Ryn’s.
And, if it comes to it, Kerri’s more than capable of holding folks down and tying them to the bed. In exciting ways, if the situation merits.
