#and hawu'li getting so annoyed he'd actually get bahamut out and kick his ass lol

[neriyon]

What was their initial impression of the four claimants? How did this change over the course of the story?

( 22 Dawntrail Inspired WoL/OC Questions )

Wuk Lamat: Oh Hawu'li loved Wuk Lamat right from first meeting her in Old Sharlayan. They are very similar in personality, and immediately bonded over food. She might've been a bit naiive, but so is Hawu'li, so he'd probably not even notice. She clearly loves her people and wants to help them - that's all you could ever ask from a leader, right? It was only when Gulool Ja Ja voiced his worries to him privately that he even thought to stop and think about everything for a while. Luckily she did a lot of growing on her own, eventually convincing everyone she really could handle this responsibility.

Koana: Funnily enough, Koana's aloof and a bit snobbish personality originally reminded Hawu'li a bit about his older brother, Hawu'to (researcher in Old Sharlayan). He loved his second brother to bits, but also often felt like he was a bit too stupid to understand what Hawu'to was talking about. Or to see his grand visions for future. Same with Koana - boy was clearly smart and had so many innovations, but felt a bit... mechanical? Bit too detached from the reality of someone who lives very "heart first brain second".

Later on, when Koana got to show consern for his sister and even went a bit feral to protect her there was this small "oh." in Hawu'li haha. He started paying more attention to the other catboy, took notice of the occasional awkwardness and kind heart beneath it, and started looking forward to meeting him again. I've not yet decided where they end up going forward, but they definitely kissed when Koana shows up in your inn room and are now, at the end of current msq, at some sort of "we'll explore this and see where it goes" situation.

Zarool Ja: Zarool Ja came off as very stoic and withdrawn, but not necessarily a threat? Sure, even Hawu'li raised his eyebrows a bit at this man's mentions of war and conquest, but in his "everyone means well" personality he just assumed Zarool Ja had some secret plan under it. Or that he was just a bit misguided, and would get the little jolt back to more peaceful track during the contest. How wrong he ended up being... Hawu'li honestly still feels pretty bad that he didn't take Krile's words serious enough. That he inadvertly caused the attack on Tuliyollal by ignoring the warning signs. It also reminded him of the whole thing with Zenos, making him a bit moody for a while (dw, he got over it after moping around a bit and talking about it with both G'raha and Krile), but in the end he once again had to accept that he wasn't responsible for actions of others and that Zarool Ja's hatred was as unyielding as Hawu'li's conviction to protect the peace.

Bakool Ja Ja: Hmm, Bakool Ja Ja was more of a bully right from the start, so Hawu'li actually felt like the man would deserve to get bonked with a staff a few times to teach him a lesson. Or like, a really long lecture. He did think that Bakool Ja Ja was young and possibly afraid of... something, causing him to act like that, but the actual reveal still came as a complete surprise. He felt sympathy, of course (as he always does), but still had this strong annoyance over his actions putting so many lives at risk just to get ahead in a competition. There definitely were some angry hissing and a long lecture after everything haha, but he hasn't given up hope that Bakool Ja Ja would change really after all this, like he seemed to be doing after the invasion.