#except as a curious extra box of tools to torture him with

[not-poignant]

Do you know how Raphael discovered his love of theater and singing and art and all that? Cania doesn’t seem like the most hospitable place for it, and I don’t see Mephistopheles being thrilled about a theater kid cambion son.

Why does Raphael love art and music and theater so much? Has Meph ever caused any problems for him because of it?

Sorry my brain just wants to put those two under a microscope and poke them because their dynamic is so interesting

Hi anon,

Cania is definitely not the place for it, but Mephistophele's is a pretty melodramatic guy, for all that he doesn't like to seem to be, he has a few pretty different natures, and he's got a huge flare for drama himself.

As for Raphael, he just had no real interest in pursuing magic or science in the same way his father did. He has skills in both, and his interest in the arts is a nice front for that.

I actually think he developed an interest in the arts inadvertently while employing them for black market endeavours. For example, human trafficking is often tied up in the arts, as is money laundering, moving black market items (i.e. trading with paintings and diamonds), to say nothing of the fact that a lot of desperate souls both end up in the arts and drawn to the arts. Just like Astarion knows if you hang around outside a bar you'll find an easy meal, Raphael feels the same way about a theatre and a brothel, and in Faerun, both of those things are frequently combined.

I have an idea that he was basically sent out to procure funds and make himself useful, and figure out how to harvest souls for himself, and learned the actually debauchery, fine meals, fine wines, live entertainment, music, poetry and more were all very diverting and made more of his life at a time when most of his brothers got slaughtered, and he had only distant ambitions.

We know he loves writing, too, and journalling. If he has inherited any of his father's strong emotions (which he has), getting them out onto a page is probably good for him.

As for Mephistopheles, I honestly think for the most part he doesn't think about it and he actually forgets he even has sons most of the time. He notoriously bounces from project to project leaving most of them unfinished, and hyperfixates on different things at any time. He's left behind some of the most world-changing magics and cities among Cania and just never given them another thought. So while it amuses him to torment Raphael about it, I actually don't think it's something that truly upsets him whenever Raphael's not in sight, lol.

Like, I imagine Mephistopheles is so 'nothingy' about Raphael that it's like, 'oh the most interesting thing about you is the money you've given me I guess and the noises you make sometimes' - but otherwise it's not even apathy, because you can't be apathetic about something you don't even notice is there. And Raphael prefers it that way.

(A problem honestly is when Mephistopheles does notice what his son is up to, and at some point he realised Raphael had amassed actually a rather significant amount of power and sent Harleep to keep an eye on him (this is canon) and distract him with like... sexual diversion. Raphael's preference is that his father forgets he exists and frankly once the Crown of Karsus was destroyed, all he remembers now is that Raphael had a goal to steal it, and Mephistopheles had a goal to steal it from him, so now that's ruined and he's mad about it sometimes).

(But in a distractible kind of way).