#can't stop thinking about how cute Bogusia the Sero apprentice and Red the Varyn apprentice would be together

[reverienne]

Ok, I have an important question - would any of your OCs want to start a romance with Aeran? Like, before the drama. If yes/no - why? Me curious 👀

Ding ding dong, we have a winner! Congrats to @bluekaddis for sending the most difficult question so far!

I tried to keep it as spoiler-free as I can for the benefit of Loes and Sierra who may be lurking, but I still recommend not reading anything below the cut, if you haven't finished Ep 2 of Wayfarer.

Okay, to sort things out - a bonus question "Which Wayfarer master would my OCs get?"

Jedi Exile Siri: Amali Sero Emerald Aeducan: Brissa Varyn Kallista Tabris: Rindan Cenric (though I could see Amali Sero being tempted) Corina Brianta: Brissa Varyn Juliander Strzygomski: Rindan Cenric (though I could see Amali Sero being tempted) Bogumiła Niepołomska: Amali Sero (though I could see Rindan Cenric being tempted) Malve: Rindan Cenric

Based on that we can already exclude Emerald Aeducan and Corina Brianta from the dating pool. While I'm not judging any Varyn apprentices who fell for Aeran, to Emerald Aeran would have the same appeal as Gorim, which is to say, none at all, and Corina Brianta, much like her Wayfarer counterpant, would see Aeran strictly as a brother.

Kallista Tabris is excluded from the competition on the grounds of being a lesbian, obviously.

That leaves us Siri, Jul, Bogusia and Malve.

You know too well that I genuinely have no idea how to get along with Aeran. My only experience is with Corinne Varyn and goodness knows that Corinne cannot stay in Aeran's good graces for longer than 5 minutes. It's a constant hit-or-miss with him. Therefore, I genuinely don't know whether I - and by extension any of my characters - am capable of romancing Aeran.

HOWEVER, I can always speculate!

I feel that Siri could possibly be Aeran's closest friend out of all my characters - both as children and as adults. Their energies just seem to match. As children, they would be wild and carefree, as adults, they would be clearly Trying Their Best but also Burdened with Their Pasts. Whatever Aeran's deal, there's a chance that Siri's done something worse… so Siri Gets Him, they wouldn't pry, no matter their former closeness. I also could actually see Siri seeing the deeper reason for him lashing out in Ep2 and being the bigger person, and pushing for a reconcilation with him in Ep3 or maybe even earlier. Siri is generally very chill, it's not easy to push their buttons, and in Kotor 2 I'd say that they spend a lot of time listening to podcasts about psychology while tinkering, so if anyone could reconcile with Aeran without triggering a couple of red flags within me, it would be them. However, I just can't see Aeran and Siri as a romantic match. They strike me as ~platonic buddies~ only. It doesn't help that teenage's Siri crush was a cool guy a couple years their senior so generally quite a difference from a fellow classmate Aeran.

As for Juliander, we both know that he's a human magnet for familial connections and based on that, I'm pretty sure that Aeran is bound to become an instant brother figure to him. It doesn't help that Aeran's master is Varyn and Juliander's master is Cenric, and they're kind of together (on and off) so it's pretty much a family already (or at least they would be in Juliander's eyes - again, no judgement to any Cenric apprentices who fall for Aeran). I just can't see Juliander being attracted to Aeran romantically... which is a good thing because their relationship would be complicated enough already. I feel that Juliander would be quite hurt by Aeran's commitment to secrecy. While he's pretty much the most understanding and not-noisy person you can meet, he believes that relationships should be equal, with both sides showing vulnerability and being honest with each other, and it would hurt him how, despite all these moments where their relationship is almost the same as in the older days, there's this huge chasm between them and apparently Aeran isn't as... serious or committed to this relationship as Juliander is? At least that's roughly the way I understand him.

Bogumiła is just the funniest person to come with his question because she seems to match Aeran's type too well. She's fallen both for her childhood friend (Zori) and her adolescence friend (Red). In the very brief (scrapped) worldstate where Caine survived and she didn't spend Ch1 very mopey because of it, she's got a bit of crush on Trouble who, newsflash, was her first friend in the Shepherds. Her trend of falling for her first friends wherever is just too well established. She'll pine for you wordlessly, but since you're her friend, if you don't pick up on that AND you aren't receptive to that, she won't ~ruin your friendship~ (or embarrass herself for someone who'll obviously turn her down) by confessing. If she fell for you deep enough, her feelings will survive a decade apart and start flourishing wildly with every second you spend together from then on. She's 100% the type to confess her feelings to you during a shouting match after you get yourself seriously injured or otherwise push her buttons in a very specific way. If there's this one character of mine that statistically wouldn't have "Eww, platonic only" feelings towards Aeran, let's face it, it would be Bogumiła. It doesn't help that kid!Aeran just... seems like somebody that she could crush on. He's nice, he reminds me of Zori a little and Bogumiła responds well to braver, more adventurous types who'll push her out of her comfort zone. Obviously you can nitpick that Bogumiła's type skews towards kindness and nerdery, and not only Aeran is NOT much of a nerd, but also his dramatic backstory most likely goes back to his childhood, but I feel that the odds speak for themselves and she would fall for him anyway.

~Spoilers commence, please skip this bit if you haven't played Ep2~

Since she's a bit of a caretaking type, she would do her best to be understanding and considerate of Aeran's trauma, even though it was hurting her how he's been constantly pushing her away. However, if she got injured in late Ep1 and Aeran ended up confessing his feelings to her on the ship, only to keep ignoring the topic throughout the voyage... oof, it would sting. Again, Bogumiła would try to be understanding - he's got his baggage, he doesn't feel ready to start a relationship, he confessed to her only in the heat of the moment... but gosh, haven't they been having plenty... not-so-platonic moments together already? Why can't they just seal the deal and get properly together with her?! He's not ~choosing~ to fall in love with her, he's in love with her already, the choice is only to let himself act on his feelings! And then all the hot-and-cold moments throughout Ep2... they would definetely mess with her. I think that she would be able to connect the dots, see that Velantis has a bad impact on him, but still... she would feel bad for being seemingly left hanging after his confession (that's the moment where, ideally, they should be sharing a kiss by the sunset! enter a romantic relationship together!). She would try to push all the romantic drama away and be a supportive friend to him, though. Aeran's words during their fallout in Ep2 would hurt her badly. While he would be true in that she was depending on him a little too much (or at least Bogusia and I can both see his reasoning here), him calling her a pathetic Wayfarer who always needs to be rescued? That would be UNCALLED FOR. Saying that he regrets reuniting with her, that he regrets his confession? Well, personally I would call it unforgivable, though other people's mileage here may vary. While I don't think that Bogusia would be the type to end a relationship in the heat of the moment (starting-changing it, preferably with a makeout session, is fine, ending it... generally requires a calmer head, in her opinion), she WOULD storm off. She would hate being a nervous wreck at the gala - she's not the subtlest when it comes to masking her emotions and she doesn't need to be Varyn to know not to trust anyone there (which would only make the anger at Aeran leaving her like that stronger) - but she absolutely wouldn't return to their room quickly. Thankfully, she would find some solace with Melchior. While I don't think that she would sleep with him, he would give her a safe space to be mopey in and there are other questionable choices that you can make during an afterparty... like not sleeping well because you're tormented by the direction in which your life is going. She would spend early Ch3 giving Aeran a cold shoulder (an even colder one if, having heard that she attended Melchior's party, wanted to know whether she cheated on him... "Maybe I should have", she would tell him coldly, feeling a bit angry at herself for not having done just that, for not being the kind of person to do something like that), somewhat revelling in his asking for forgiveness OR very aloof if he ignores the matter and doesn't even go for a single sorry. If he doesn't try to apologize, their relationship is done for and it's non-negotiable. If he does apologize, then, whatever he says, Bogumiła can't forgive him just yet. If he wants to keep her in his life, despite believing her to be such a burden, he needs to work for it.

~No more major spoilers, feel free to resume reading~

As for Malve... neither I, nor Malve have the faintest idea. While they fell for Oisein who was also their friend, they don't know what specifically made them fall for them. They're very new to the concept of romantic or sexual feelings, they have never experienced them before. However, they're very curious about this newfound aspect of themselves. They want to know the answer and they would be willing to try! Thank you, Malve, your commitment to science is truly impressive. I guess I have a new Wayfarer MC now?