Shatanik
(repost)
When he was young, he was the “problem child” of the family. Always getting scolded. A lot of times, he wishes he wasn’t a royal because of the rules and restrictions that come with it.
He is tactless, and doesn’t have much of a brain to mouth filter. He also has a hot temper, and is really moody. He gets into fights very often, and he fights dirty.
Sahadev and Bheem are his favourite uncles. Drishtaketu is his favourite brother, and he is Shrutakarma’s favourite brother. Their relationship is one of the sweetest things I have written in recent memory, with Shrutakarma being extremely loyal and Shatanik being equally protective about him.
He is bawling when Nakul comes to say goodbye to him before leaving for exile. They fought just before the dyut sabha and Shatanik hates that it was their last interaction. Nakul wipes his tears and tells him to behave. Nakul is honestly worried about Dhrishtadyumna raising his kid but he’s pleasantly surprised when it turns out that he is, in fact, good with a house full of rowdy teenagers-young adults.
He is personally trained by Dhrishtadyumna, and is Drishtaketu’s second-favourite brother. Once, they both built a commando obstacle/rope course thingy that took them MONTHS to build and it takes three hours to complete. Even Shikhandi, who is an endurance KING, is cursing them by the end of it.
Speaking of, he is not into the finer/richer things Sutasoma makes, but all he wants after a long hard day of training/battle is some piping hot spicy khichdi and a massage from him. He loves sutasoma a LOT and a big part of what made him from the “problem child” to “responsible person” was sutasoma getting sick.
His relationship with Prativindhya is a bit more complicated, but he is the first person to call him out on his bullshit. Prativindhya respects him, and Shatanik, somewhere respects him a lot too. He is a big part of Vindhya finally picking up the spear again. They just want each other to be safe. Prativindhya, in turn, is the one of the three people who can get Shatanik to take rest(him, Shrutakarma, and Nakul). During the pre-war and the actual war era, he is PHYSICALLY pulling shatanik away from the table and chair and dropping him onto the bed.
After they reunite, however, Shatanik and Nakul’s relationship improves by leagues. Their relationship is more “bros” than “father-son” and Nakul almost cannot believe how much Shatanik has changed. Their reunion is basically them just looking at each other for a long time. It’s not teary. While Bheem immediately hugs Sutasom, lifts him up, and then looks at him and asks him about his health, and they’re both pretty much crying, Nakul just looks at his son, trying to remember everything, not just about him but also about himself. He is taller than Nakul, now.
During the one year, they spend a lot of time together. They talk about every subject under the sun, including war tactics, philosophy, science, and even random gossip. They feel really comfortable with each other and can tell each other almost anything. Shatanik is actually the person to whom Nakul opened up about the Yaksha Prashna incident. Nakul is the only person whom he can talk about how scared and shitty he felt when Prativindhya was going through his emo phase after the dyut sabha.
But after a few weeks of no personal questions, Nakul unknowingly touches a sensitive topic and that’s when all the waterworks come out.
Nakul sometimes wonders, “am I becoming irrelevant?" and then immediately feels "but if my son is excellent enough to drive me into obscurity maybe that's okay". He is very proud of the man his boy has grown into. And he does a pretty good job at showing it.
Shrutakarma is his charioteer in the war after Kshatradev dies. He loves Shrutakarma’s horses like they are his own.
Shatanik is one of Dhrishtadyumna’s bodyguards in the war. Dhrishtadyumna trusts him and Shrutasen both as medics and as spies, and he also trusts Shatanik’s strength.
There is a flip side to this, though. During the war, he gets adrenaline rushes but coming down from said rushes is HELL for him. He is a very disciplined person, and tries to maintain some semblance of a routine even during the war. He collapses into bed super late every night. Prativindhya always tucks him in and then only goes to sleep.
If he had lived after the war, he would probably end up with high BP and a host of problems because he had pushed through on survival mode through the war
I wrote a fic about his death, please go read it on ao3, that shit CANNOT be condensed into a single bullet item headcanon on this list
