#a bit too strong in his beliefs but perhaps still a sensible and intelligent person

[quantomeno]

Also mentioned in this article is his thing about the "36,000 public servants" he wants to get rid of (or at least some of), claiming these people were all hired under Labor and it's a waste of taxpayer money.

I was reading an opinion piece in the Age the other day that highlighted how unachievable this promise would be:

After you ignore Defence-related jobs (which he'd be loath to cut)...

"That leaves about 146,000 workers in other departments and agencies. Who would be cut? The target of 36,000 jobs would require the Coalition to sack one in every four workers from that remaining total. This is impossible without cutting some of the biggest departments and agencies. Getting rid of smaller ones – such as 4700 people at the Department of Climate Change – would barely make a dent in the target. "Dutton would have to target the 30,236 workers at Services Australia, the 21,350 at the Australian Tax Office and the 8069 at the National Disability Insurance Agency. The Liberals and Nationals may not mind if a welfare recipient waits for hours on a helpline, but they will hear about if farmers do not get assistance or business owners have more trouble with the ATO."

(my emphasis in bold)

The point being he simply can't cut that many roles without causing issues for significant proportions of the population and this 36,000 number is all bluster.

The opposition is bringing nothing of any substance to this election and it's pitiful to watch (it's pitiful to watch them most of the time, but the point still stands). Their only significant policy is their energy policy which is just a smokescreen so they can keep doing nothing.

Dutton likes to make a big deal about the Left and their culture wars and what have you, but it's always him turning these matters into divisive issues.

Welp, it’s started in Australia now. Given that he’s echoing Trumpian sentiments and Trump has just made that statement about diversity politics in response to a fatal plane crash, I really don’t think he’s going to get the response he’s after. What a fucking clown.

(For non-Australians, this is our Opposition leader and he’s getting rightfully dragged across the coals for this in the media)

[sortinghatchats]

Sorting Firefly

Note: in the way we like to play this sorting game, “primaries” are WHY you do things and “secondaries” are HOW. If you want to learn more about our system’s definitions, check out our other tumblr posts, our blog at sortinghatchats.wordpress.com, or our quiz at https://ejadelomax.itch.io/sortinghatchats. 

Malcolm Reynolds is our go-to example for the Burned Hufflepuff Primary. An Unburned Hufflepuff Primary values community, fairness, and empathy. A Burned Hufflepuff still has those inner values, but thinks it’s impractical, naive, unsafe, or foolish to prioritize them. They tend to think of themselves as bad people -- practical, sensible, maybe, but not very good. 

It can be tempting to consider Mal perhaps a burned Gryffindor instead, but look at him in the war, before he burns. His faith isn’t in the righteousness or the cause, but their people—”hear that? That’s our angels coming.” Mal has a big heart and he wants both to help and to believe in other people. (This is one of the reasons River is so vital to him—but we’ll talk about that later). 

Mal after the war is no different in what he wants — he’s just had to settle, injured, for a smaller world. “You’re on my crew,” he tells a bewildered Simon. (Simon’s Slytherin Primary is absolutely flabbergasted by Mal’s stubborn loyalties to him and River, which is based in their need and their being part of the family, where Simon’s loyalties are razor-edged and individualistic). 

Mal can’t love the whole world anymore, or even just the Browncoats, because he knows that would destroy him— it already almost did. But he can love his crew. He can make Serenity a home.

Mal’s Puff Primary shows up in other places, too, sneaking past the Slytherin Primary model he’s used to keep himself alive and sane after the breaking of his too-big heart, like when he gives the medicines back in Train Job, risking Niska’s wrath. 

Zoe, who first fell into step behind a Hufflepuff years ago, questions him about it in the movie—an unburned Mal, the one from the war, would never have left a man behind. This Mal shot the bystander begging for rescue (a mercy) to save his crew. That prioritizing (or, rather, the instantaneous decision of it) points to his Slytherin model—but it eats Mal up the way it would never eat up Simon, an actual Slytherin Primary (“remember, River, it’s okay to leave them to die”). 

Mal wishes, deeply, quietly, that he could save everyone. But war and loss burned his young, faithful Hufflepuff into a man who thinks one of the basic truths of the universe is that you can’t save everyone and that it will destroy you to try. So he’s sunk his stake into these eight Serenity-boarded souls and decided it’s enough.

This is one of the things that makes his relationship with River so interesting. The Burned Puff knows he should not be trusting and investing in this broken bird and her verse-wide bounty, her untrustworthy triggers and destructive lethality. But in letting them stay in the pilot, in pulling her back to the ship in Objects in Space, in joining her crusade in Serenity, he defies all these hard lessons he’s learned and he trusts her, he fights for her, he believes. By ignoring his “better judgement” and investing in this one unlikely young woman, he’s starting to heal his Hufflepuff and have faith in the good fight once again. The last moment of the Firefly-filmed universe is Mal Reynolds teaching River how to fly. 

(For a definition of teach, anyway.)

For secondary (the “how”) — Mal’s a Gryff. “If I shoot you,” he told Simon, “You’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.” Badger mocks him for it in the pilot— Mal wants the world to be honorable. He wants to be fighting the good fight, and he wants to do it in the good ways. 

Gryffindor secondaries are an interesting mix of stand-up integrity and mischievous (even deceitful) rule-breaking and chaos (think Fred and George). These potentially conflicting traits come from this— Gryffindor Secondaries are self-defined. 

Their integrity and their honesty is a deal with themselves, not others. They stand firm to their own rules, but find other peoples’ or organizations’ insignificant, or even downright offensive. The other secondaries all can and do break rules—a Slytherin Secondary might play the system, a Hufflepuff Secondary might invest in it, a Ravenclaw might find its loopholes—but a good rule of thumb for identifying a Gryffindor Secondary is this: is rule-breaking a tool? or is it a personality trait?

Simon, who destroyed his whole life to get to River, and was willing to let Kaylee (the epitome of the innocent bystander) bleed out in order to keep his sister safe, is a Slytherin Primary. He looks slightly Puff occassionally—this is because he’s tied part of his worth to the Puff-like doctrine of a surgeon: service and do no harm. You see it when he saves the patient on Ariel and then chews the attending physicisian out, offended to his core. These are beliefs he holds close to himself, that help define him—but at Simon’s core, no matter how Ravenclaw clever or kindly even bumblingly Hufflepuff he can seem, he puts his people first and he loses no sleep over that.

He’s got a Ravenclaw Secondary—asked to describe his usefulness, Simon would first and foremost claim his intelligence and his skills. He’s best when he’s in his “element,” drawing on skills, knowledge, and tolls he’s already learned and comfortable with. 

Simon’s got a Slytherin Secondary model on top of his Slytherclaw heart, which I suspect he learned from his dad. The Ravenclaw/Slytherin combo in the secondary/model space (in either order) often looks a little bit like a criminal mastermind (or someone who wants to be one, anyway). When Simon is uncomfortable, falling back on his model, his starts to look a bit like a plotting villain—in the pilot, on Ariel, and at the beginning of Serenity the movie.

Zoe is a Gyffindor Primary who really likes Hufflepuffs (see: Mal, Wash). Like Mal, she’s been burned by the war. Puff Primary Mal has become disillusioned by a cruel ‘verse that requires you to abandon some people to save others. He has lost faith in both the fairness of the universe and his own ability to make it more fair. But Zoe, a burned Gryff, has lost faith in her own ability to tell right from wrong. 

She’s not deeply burned—more a light char—but instead of trusting her own gut these days, she trusts Mal’s. Her internal moral compass feels like it’s gone awry or silent. She feels lost. This is a burned Gryffindor, and it’s not uncommon for a burned Gryffindor to try to find their morality somewhere outside themself. Zoe finds hers in Mal.

Part of it is that she knew him in the war when he was fearless, his Puff effortless, and because it’s easy for her to fall into the structured hierarchy of their roles-- sergeant or captain. She has given him not just practical but also moral authority. She questions him, but she trusts him in the end, almost always. And, though it’s framed within the “sir” and the war, the reason for it lies on the quality of Mal himself. Zoe would never give her allegiance to anyone who did not deserve it. But she feels she cannot trust her own internal compass, so instead she trusts Mal’s heart.

For secondary: Zoe does not charge, comfort, or connive. She’s straightforward because it’s useful, not because it’s a moral imperative. Ravenclaw Secondary I think—look at the comparison with Mal’s Gryff Secondary in the “tin of beans” flashback in The Message. Where Mal shouts and hollers and charges, a different school of thought, Zoe is organized, efficient, deliberate (and deadly).

The way Inara freaks out and skiddaddles when she realizes how important the Serenity crew (and esp. Mal) have become to her — that is a Slytherin Primary trying so hard to Petrify. She’s mourning Nandi and she’s mourning herself, and she just wants everything to stop hurting.

Inara looks a lot like a Puff Secondary, because she performs Hufflepuff so damn well, but she’s not. In her introductory scene, on the job, we get snatches of her “inner” thoughts while she smiles and pours tea— she’s sighing, shifting, rolling her eyes. There’s clearly a disconnect between how she feels about this man and what she’s doing.

A Slytherin/Hufflepuff Inara (which, on the very surface, would look very similar to most of her behavior) would have to convince herself to “mean” the affection for her clients, even if only for the allotted time slot. Eyerolling, internal or external, wouldn’t happen until she was back on the ship, curled up with Kaylee, telling stories, and that’s if the eye-rolling happened at all.

Inara talks like that, though—that she chooses people she ‘connects’ with, that kind of thing. She’s got a lot of respect and wishfulness when it comes to Hufflepuff, which I think is where she bonds best with Book— he performs Puff, too, and wishes that giving warmth was closer to his core.

Inara has a Slytherin Secondary model, which she uses to excel at the “performance” of her job. The flexibility and cultivated appearance of that secondary work for her well. However, her actual secondary is Ravenclaw, a learner, a studier, and a collector of skills. Slytherin’s adaptability is just one more skill her Ravenclaw has worked to learn. 

When Inara’s with the crew, she tends to live simply in her Ravenclaw secondary, giving off an impression of precision, clarity, and certainty. Her Ravenclaw and Mal’s Gryffindor secondary, both strident, solid houses, like to have sparring matches/bonding times while their Loyalist House primaries make doe-eyes at each other. Dweebs.

Jayne Cobb displays neither a Slytherin Primary’s strong loyalty drive, a Hufflepuff’s need-based service, or a Ravenclaw’s constructed, systematized morality. He appears to be a Gryffindor Primary whose felt morality is “whatever I want.”

If you read him really complexly, you could maybe imagine a Ravenclaw Primary there, who’s settled on that morality of self-serving ruthlessness. But moments like the one where he joins up with Serentiy—he shoots both his buddies on Mal’s suggestion—suggest against that. The betrayal doesn’t make Ravenclaw any more unlikely than Gryffindor, but the instantaneous decision to make a moral choice he’d never considered or run through his system before suggests that his is an intuitive “gut” morality—just a really unsavory one.

His selfishness looks temptingly like a Slytherin Primary, but he lacks any of the loyalty. He’ll betray anyone and it doesn’t seem to be because he’s Petrified—he still likes and bonds with people. He cares not just practically but emotionally about what they think of him (his plea to Mal not to tell the others about his betrayal in Ariel). But when push comes to shove, he doesn’t seem to be driven strongly by that affection, the way a Slytherin is tied to their personal loyalties. A Gryffindor, then, just an ugly one. Sorry, Gryffindors.

His secondary, though, we think is Slytherin. He looks a lot like a blunt Gryffindor Secondary, but it’s just his Slytherin Secondary neutral state, which he likes to live in and which shares the blunt or even abrasive honesty and delighted tactlessness of some Gryffindor Secondaries.

When Jayne needs to lie, deceive, connive, or betray, he does it easily and without a touch of dismay. He schemes and jockies for advantage. He’s a good example of the uglier stereotypes of a Slytherin Secondary. Sorry, Slytherins.

Kaylee Frye is a Gryffindor Primary like Jayne and Zoe, but where Jayne’s is self-serving and Zoe’s is quietly shattered, Kaylee’s shines bright through her Hufflepuff Secondary. She community-builds like nobody’s business and even her technical prowess is described in terms of intuitive empathy.

In the episode where they pick up Simon and River, she’s sitting outside Serenity asking people why she should let them onto her ship, why they want to be on her ship. And the only answer she accepts, Book’s, is a philosophy of wandering and traveling that sits close to her heart. It’s a Gryffindor recognizing someone who looks to share her view of the world. It’s a Gryffindor who’s bonding over shared ideas and ideals. And what does she do with this information? She brings Book aboard the ship. Welcome to the family, you share our philosophies, and I think we’ll get along great.

One of the (many) ways she does her part on Serenity is by community building with people who are good, who are worth getting to know, or who are interesting-- who aren’t just picking their ship because it’s a ship that they happened to see, but because they’re able to pick up on that something special that Kaylee values so much about Serenity.

Book is a burned Gryffindor with a Slytherin secondary and a Hufflepuff performance. He’s devoted himself to the truth of the Word, of the Bible, of his religion-- like, Zoe he doesn’t have faith in his own ability to tell right from wrong. Where Zoe places her faith in Mal, Book places his in  his religion. 

His secondary is a bit hard to sort, but from his laid-back, go with the flow skills and his comfort with lying or gilding the truth, he reads as a Slytherin Secondary to us. 

Wash is a hard sort, because you can read or not read so many different depths to him. Is he really as utterly transparent as he seems? He looks like a Hufflepuff Primary, but maybe he’s a Ravenclaw with a loud model—because if he’s a straight up Puff, then the boy wears his heart and thoughts on his sleeve all the time.

But Zoe has a pattern—she likes Puffs—so we’re gonna go with that. 

Wash really is that honest and straightforward, his emotions obvious on his face. I think someone with the sort of built layers that are easy but not necessary to read into Wash wouldn’t be the kind Zoe would fall in love with. She likes hearts that know what they’re doing, that are instinctual in their kindnesses. Wash is himself, all the time, and that self plays with dinosaurs, loves his wife, and headbutts with Mal over ethics with the thoughtless confidence of two Puffs who disagree.

Ravenclaw Secondary—he’s quirky, delights in sarcasm and wit even when what he’s trying to be is kind. His Puff center makes his secondary look a lot warmer than burned Gryffindor Zoe’s Ravenclaw secondary, but the fact that this couple shares a secondary makes sense.

We think River was originally a Ravenclaw/Ravenclaw with Slytherin Primary and Ravenclaw Secondary models — basically, as a kid she modeled Simon’s Slytherclaw. She’s not a Slytherin Primary herself, but she finds comfort in Slytherin loyalty and she often sees the world through that lens—an emphasis on interpersonal connection, a sense of “mine first,” and loyalties owed.

By the time she’s on Serenity, however, she’s been rubbed so raw she doubts her Slytherin model (“I didn’t think you’d come for me” “Dummy,” says Slytherclaw Simon, who never could have done anything else) and she has almost entirely dropped the show-off Claw performance of the little girl who had corrected her big brother’s spelling. As the show goes on, she grasps more and more of her Slytherin model: she gets to bring back one of her layers, regain her trust in Simon’s Slytherin, rebuild her model of a world in which one universal truth is that her brother will always come for her.

But River’s drives and connection to the world are understanding it. She wants to know what’s going on, both in the observant, academic sense of the Ravenclaw Secondary and the more abstract Ravenclaw primary—she’s looking for purpose, shoulds and shouldn’ts, for identity. 

A Slytherin Primary in her situation might have attached themselves to Simon like a baby sloth, but River doesn’t. He’s her solid ground, but not her reason.

A young Gryffindor might be reactive, responding with their gut, or perhaps cynical and shattered after their self had been so invaded. In rebuilding, a Gryffindor would be looking for something inside themselves, a sense of solidity, a sense of purpose — River is looking outside. 

A Hufflepuff Primary might have clearer eyes for the people of the ship— River views them with a detached fondness. There is genuine affection there (see: Objects in Space), but when it comes to River feeling steady in the world she’s almost more interested in the engines than the crew— not their mechanics, but the beat of them. 

She’s a Romantic sort of Ravenclaw Primary, sure, but she’s got a need for systems to build and inhabit. Her sense of reality has been shattered and the first thing that gives her some peace and stability is this — not safety, certainty, or community, but a sense of knowing what is going on.

River’s trying to figure out how this all works and the heart of this show (because River more than any of them lives in the meta-text) is Serenity.

River’s trying to find a base from which she can build. Her world, her models, and her ability to perceive and believe reality have been shattered. Mal pulls her back to the ship at the end of the last episode—it’s a homecoming, yes, but perhaps more than that he’s giving her a place to stand. 

That episode is easily Firefly’s most existential/meta and it’s fitting that we start it with River detached from reality—ocean wave audio, mistaking a gun for a fallen branch, pushed to untrusted outskirts—and that we end it with River landing firmly feet first on Serenity, beaming through her suit visor.

tl;dr:

Mal - Burned Hufflepuff / Gryffindor

Inara - Slytherin / Ravenclaw 

Jayne - Gryffindor / Slytherin

Kaylee - Gryffindor / Hufflepuff

Book - Burned Gryffindor / Slytherin 

Zoe - Burned Gryffindor / Ravenclaw

Wash - Hufflepuff / Ravenclaw

Simon - Slytherin / Ravenclaw 

River - Ravenclaw / Ravenclaw

[fenriael]

Too Much Information: Character Interview - Valien Gelus

Thank you for tagging me, @sheirukitriesfandom! I really enjoyed reading about your Rashkan. I was a bit delayed filling this out because of RL, but I had good fun doing this (I hope I filled it out right, it was my first time doing one of these things XD).

I chose Valien, one of my favourite ESO OCs. Valien is my Altmer ice battle mage, and his other half is Kathariel, a half Altmer, half Bosmer priestess of Auri-el with an affinity for fire magic. They are the pair currently featuring in my blog’s banner together in the snow :)

------------------------

A tall, relatively broad-shouldered Altmer gentleman of advancing years whose golden face carries scars from many battles. His long, sleek, silver-white hair is carefully tied back, but hangs loose at the shoulders. His robes are simple, but elegant, charcoal grey with pale blue accents. He wears a sword at his side and a faint icy chill permeates the air as he studies you piercingly with pale grey eyes.

 Name -> “Lord Valien, of the house of Gelus.”

“We are called the house of Gelus because it is said we are born with ice in our veins,” Lord Valien explains, lifting his hand in explanation as frost slowly creeps from the tips of slender golden fingers to the wrist. He smiles thinly. “There is, as with all good family stories, a modicum of truth to be found in those tales.”

Are you single? -> Valien leans back in his chair, raising an eyebrow.

“A curious question. I have in recent years found myself fortunate enough to spend my time with a most wonderful young woman by the name of Kathariel,” he explains with a slight smile, although it then fades a little.

“I am, of course, still married. It was an arranged affair, as is often the case for important marriages in Altmer society. While we found each other’s company agreeable at first, as the years passed, we became rather…well, different people, shall we say.” Valien smiles ruefully. “Despite how some of our people may speak, just because the star alignments or family pedigree predict an auspicious marriage, does not mean it will be so.”

“We are, however, still on cordial terms, although we find that maintaining a certain degree of distance has aided in producing a suitable working partnership for the purpose of maintaining strong family alliances.”

Are you happy? -> “In recent years, yes, very much so. It was not always the case, however.”

Are you angry? ->  “I am I an angry person? No, not as such. But in the past, some bitterness on my part resulted in the unfortunate habit of distancing myself from those I should have shown more affection for,” he explains quietly, appearing more than a little uncomfortable. “In addition, I am not known to suffer fools terribly well,” he then adds more convivially, and gives a rueful chuckle. “The soldiers formally under my command would likely attest to that! But I think most would have agreed not unfairly so, under the circumstances. I hope so, at any rate.”

Are your parents still married? -> “No, not anymore, but that is perhaps unsurprising given my age.”

 NINE FACTS

Birth Place? ->  “My family’s main estate, nestled in the foothills of Eton Nir.”

Hair Colour? ->  Silver-white.

Eye Colour? ->  Pale grey-blue, comparable to the pallor of the clouds before a snowstorm.

Birthday? -> “I was born early in the month of First Seed, under the sign of the Lord, and incidentally when the first of the snowdrops had begun to bloom that year. In terms of age, I can tell you to begin with that I am more than old enough to recall Master Vanus Galerion forming that troublesome mages guild of his,” Valien grumbles good-naturedly. “Will that suffice?”

Mood?-> “I think I most likely covered this above?”

Gender? ->  “Male.”

Summer or winter? -> Valien’s mouth twitches upwards in amusement. “I would have thought the answer to that question obvious. Winter, of course. Though,” he then adds, expression softening. “There is something also to be said for the summer also is there not? After all, my beloved would say there is room in our lives for all seasons equally, and I daresay she is correct.”

Morning or afternoon?-> “I prefer being up early. I do rather dislike any day that I am being unproductive in. Although, Kathariel is very fond of reminding me I should be more restful.”

 EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE

Are you in love? -> “I believe I have mentioned Kathariel already?” Valien replies with slight smile. “She was a priestess in a monastery of Auri-el that I was brought to after sustaining some quite severe injuries. Later, she was instrumental in aiding my binding ritual to finally put to rest the evil that had left me with the injuries in the first place. I would not have survived either ordeal without her. She chose to leave the monastery to join my household afterwards, and has been part of my life ever since.”

Do you believe in love at first sight? ->“I think love at first sight is a concept best left to the young and foolishly impulsive,” Valien replies, frowning slightly.  “Although,” he then adds after a pause, “I must say, from the day I met Kathariel she stood out in my mind; it has not forgotten her since. So perhaps I should not be quite so quick to dismiss such notions.”

Who ended your last relationship?-> “With my wife? We grew apart, or perhaps I should say the differences that were always between us grew more and more apparent as the years went by.”

Have you ever broken someone’s heart? -> “I highly doubt it.” He replies bluntly. “What is your next question?”

Are you afraid of commitments? -> Valien’s eyes narrow slightly, and then he sighs heavily. “I am…hesitant to dedicate myself to partnerships unless the person in question is truly of a like mind to my own. I spent too many years in the unfortunate company of politically-motivated sycophants whose only interest was in my family bloodline. It was a most wearying state of affairs.”

Have you hugged someone within the last week? -> Valien reaches down and scratches the head of a young griffin draped across his feet, snoring gently. “Why yes, of course,” he replies with a chuckle, indicating the feathered creature with amusement.

Have you ever had a secret admirer? ->  “Not that I am aware of.”

Have you ever broken your own heart? -> Valien shifts slightly in his chair. “Perhaps we should move onto the next question, yes?”

 SIX CHOICES

Love or lust? -> “Why not both?”

Lemonade or iced tea? -> “I’m very fond of teas, either hot or cold.”

Cats or Dogs? -> “As a general rule I find animals of any type far more agreeable than most mer I encounter.”

A few best friends or many regular friends? -> “I cannot say I know many whom I would consider to be close friends, in truth. But there is Kathariel, of course; there is also my youngest brother who, despite his unnatural and frankly unsettling love of opera music and his utterly mistaken belief that he is capable of singing, has time and time again provided most trustworthy and sensible council in my travels.”

“At one time I would have also considered my middle brother a friend also, but I fear that time has since past. He was formally a revelator-naganwe, a death seer, but in his grief he found himself reaching for magics he should not have reached for, and performing experiments that crossed too many lines. He chose to distance himself from the rest of the family to avoid ill-will to befall our household; Altmer society is not forgiving of Graxifalas – disgraceful - behaviour.”

Wild night out or romantic night in? -> “I prefer quiet evenings. I am not one for excessive drink or large gatherings.”

Day or night? -> “Day or night? That would depend,” he replies with a smirk, “on the nature of the activities in mind.”

 FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS

Been caught sneaking out? -> Valien scoffs at the question. “Not since I was a lot younger and a lot more foolish than I am now.”

Fallen down/up the stairs? -> “If there are no witnesses then it did not happen, correct?”

Wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ->  “Most certainly.”    

Wanted to disappear? -> “Oh yes, quite frequently,” Valien mutters sullenly.  “From court banquets, the many social gatherings my wife enjoys hosting in our halls, from any event whatsoever that claims to be held in celebration of my name day.” He sighs despairingly.  “Did I mention I was not terribly fond of social gatherings?”

 FOUR PREFERENCES

Smile or eyes? -> “It seems a pity to choose, when both can be so enrapturing.”

Shorter or Taller? -> “Well, I cannot say I have a personal preference. Kathariel is however noticeably shorter than myself, being that I am taller than average and she is of part Bosmeri heritage.”

Intelligence or Attraction? -> “Intelligence, certainly. I would not wish to be involved with someone who I could not have a lively debate with.”

Hook-up or Relationship? ->  “I cannot say I enjoy casual dalliances by any means. “

 FAMILY

Do you and your family get along? -> “I believe I have already explained my relationship to my wife.” Valien pauses slightly. “As for my son and daughter, I have always loved them greatly, though I fear they regarded me as rather a distant figure in their youth. I have tried to make amends for this more recently. I also have a young granddaughter, and she is the apple of my eye, so to speak.”

Would you say you have a “messed up life”? -> “Not particularly. At times complicated, however, but then that is true of many people’s lives.”

Have you ever run away from home? -> “There were many years I chose to spend away from my household in my role as a battle-reeve, and so in a manner of speaking, yes. There were times when I should have returned home, but I did not. I believed that the work I was doing would benefit them undoubtedly more than my presence at home would. Now my children are fully grown, and I regret that choice greatly. We have at least, had the opportunity to grow closer of late, and for that I am most grateful. ”

Have you ever gotten kicked out? -> “I have not.”

 FRIENDS

Do you secretly hate one of your friends -> “Certainly not?”

Do you consider all of your friends good friends ->  “Yes, of course.”

Who is your best friend -> “My beloved Kathariel.”

Who knows everything about you -> “Kathariel, undoubtedly,” he replies with a slight smile. “I never expected to find someone who I would share my life with in such a way, but it has been a blessing indeed.”

 I think I’m now supposed to tag more people now If I understand correctly? @mutantenfisch, @forevervobla @taergalive, @sadmagecentral I hope it’s ok if I tag you all (not sure about the etiquette for this kinda thing)?