story time for hadas and zufit! :D
27. What’s their family like? Who’s in it? What’s their relationship with them?
My little quarian family! Hadas has two primary partners - Radha’Lemaas vas Neema nar Geyav and Karis’Hinat vas Neema nar Yudir - and one daughter, Zufit’Nereh nar Neema. They’re all very close, as quarian families tend to be. Hadas and Zufit haven’t always gotten along the best, because they’re very different people, but things have mellowed out more recently.
I haven’t thought much about Hadas’s relationship with her own parents, but I imagine they also are/were pretty close. She’s very much a family person, even if sometimes also being a political person can eclipse that.
28. Are they literate? Did they go to school? How long? What level?
She is indeed highly literate, as quarians tend to be. I imagine quarians probably all have something like public education until the equivalent of community college? And then they go on Pilgrimage, and possibly those who are looking at specialized careers would have more schooling on their new ships. Hadas is a political science person, so that probably also included something like an internship with the ship’s council or the Conclave. So basically - education approximately equal to a bachelor’s or maybe master’s degree, I think.
29. What was childhood like?
The main thing I know is that she and Han’Gerrel are from the same birth ship, so he’s been a thorn in her side literally her whole life. He’s loud and obnoxious and kind of steals the spotlight, and she’s an extroverted politicking type who wanted to be noticed.
30. What was adolescence like?
She started realizing she’s polyamorous, and had a few short-term relationships and one or two primary partners. This is also when she decided that she wanted to be part of making big decisions, and started trying to cozy up to people who were on the Inbal’s council or knew people on the Conclave and the like.
31. What’s their current main conflict?
Oh, this super depends on what part of her story I’m thinking about. When Karis passes away, it’s dealing with her own grief as well as Radha’s and Zufit’s, and learning how to not lash out because Zufit’s grief seems to push all her buttons. If it’s right when Zufit’s gone on Pilgrimage and Tali has returned, it’s worrying about Zufit being okay out in the big wide galaxy and also about being an effective mentor to Tali. If it’s during Tali’s trial, it’s dealing with knowing her mentee is falsely accused and no one’s listening to her (and also dealing with agreeing with Admiral Han’Gerrel for the first time in her life).
Other times, it’s the general stress of being on the ship’s council, and of constantly butting heads with said Admiral.
32. What steps have they taken to overcome this conflict?
The grief was mostly time, and accepting that not everyone was going to process things the same way she did (and also realizing that “throw yourself into work” is kinda also what Zufit did, it’s just very different work from Hadas’s). Worry about Zufit and Tali was also time. But Tali’s trial was definitely using her politicking skills to try and persuade the crowd to side with Tali, helping Shepard where she could, and swallowing her disdain for everything Han’Gerrel has ever said.
33. How have they changed over time?
She’s kind of mellowed out a lot since having a family and really learning how to be good to them. She’s still a politician, but it doesn’t come home as often as it used to. Zufit being so different from her (on the surface) really pushed her to figure out how to put her own thoughts aside and really listen to what other people need.
27. What’s their family like? Who’s in it? What’s their relationship with them?
Three parents (Hadas, Radha, and Karis), no siblings. She’s always been closest to Karis because she was like his mini-me, always interested in tinkering and engineering just like him. As she gets older she gets closer to Radha and then to Hadas as well, tightly knit little family.
28. Are they literate? Did they go to school? How long? What level?
Also highly literate, as quarians tend to be. Enjoys numbers more than words. Also had the standard quarian before-Pilgrimage education, and when I think about her life after Pilgrimage it will probably also include some more schooling because engineering.
29. What was childhood like?
A very up-and-down sort of childhood. Her parents love her deeply and very much wanted what was best for her, and pushed for that always. But Zufit is pretty intense and sensitive, especially emotionally, and she didn’t always get along super well with other kids her age. She didn’t have many friends for a while, until they started finding better niches for her personality and skills and things got a little better.
She’s also got some sensory sensitivities, and trying to learn how to best accommodate those in crowded quarian spaces was sometimes difficult.
Her favorite thing to do as a kid was to take stuff around the apartment apart with Karis, which drove Hadas a little nuts. It tapered off as she got to do more exciting projects in school and wasn’t as bored.
30. What was adolescence like?
The beginning of her adolescence was pretty similar to her childhood, with the addition of a few more friends. But then Karis passed away when she was the equivalent of 16 human years old, which was a huge shift for her. She really struggled to stay engaged with her moms once her dad was gone, and went back to dismantling a lot of stuff in the apartment because it reminded her of her dad. She and Hadas got in a lot of fights, until Radha finally intervened and tried to explain that their methods of grief just looked different.
Once Hadas realized something needed to change, she and Radha both worked hard to make sure they were supporting Zufit the way she needed and such. Things have gotten a lot better for all of them, now.
31. What’s their current main conflict?
Also depends on what I’m writing about :P definitely her dad’s death was a big one. At the time of the current story I’m working on, she’s on Pilgrimage on Illium, and she’s trying to navigate being alone without her parents for the first time and also navigating such a different place.
32. What steps have they taken to overcome this conflict?
The grief was mostly time. Illium has been finding places that she feels more comfortable. I have thoughts about her taking part in an “exotic dance” show or something, because she loves to dance, so we’ll see where that goes.
33. How have they changed over time?
Zufit’s gotten better at managing her own emotions and sensitivities, and at understanding what she’s actually looking for out of life. She’s still not great at it, because she’s in the equivalent of her early twenties, but still. Lots of her has remained fairly the same - still introverted, still a tinkerer, still easily overwhelmed, etc.
