i dont remember who i told this honestly but the nerd grasmere tribe babies reminded me about some parts of ely's character hardcore
about how he's not particularly good at anything and doesn't want to be. at skill level, he is very ordinary, good at things but never exceptional at them. (unless you count being very attentive to the weather a talent but it's not very) even now in the present he uses a sword and shield, a lionguard staple but something he's most comfortable with
before he deserted the lionguard, he was the opposite. he was a glory chaser and wanted to earn his place as sheriff as quickly as possible, in the brightest way possible, but he burned out fast. and that hastiness was what got him into trouble, what probably killed most of his unit were the mistakes he made in his final decisions in second-in-command at that outpost
he's taken that into sharp extremes, after running away from civilization and plopping down in grasmere. that fame and heroes aren't for him and he's learned more from patience, from standing watching the outskirts of grasmere by himself for hours; that what he wanted and what he wanted people to see him as were two different things. he doesn't like cities, he likes the stars. he likes not needing to small-talk. he likes smoking and incense and watching peoples lives go on that he knows sometimes what they like, too
and he became caisaels 'self-appointed' sheriff of the town, which is ironic enough but he is probably the most of a body presence in the town, always looking out for things and people even though he barely says anything to them and doesn't seem interested but he's actually terribly invested and doesn't want to be inclusive
he wants to blend in, watch people like caisael, rio, and coreosa have purposes and meaning and making an impact. but elyurias has made such a disconnect from wanting anything for himself and is so Chill with it that the only action he'll take is making sure they don't repeat what he did and don't fight for things just because they can. that the motivation there is a good one
and maybe in the jungle he'll figure out what he wants for himself, and what he wants to do, because even now his largest concerns are for others well-being.
storm dad 2015