#he just weaponized that to end a whole goddang WAR

[kingdomoftyto]

!!!!!!!!! QIBLI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🥺 I'M SUCH A SUCKER FOR ENDING CONFLICT WITH MAGICALLY-ENFORCED UNDERSTANDING , GOD WHAT A MENTAL IMAGE THIS WAS

[mimiorzea]

2, 7, 14, 21, 23, 24, 35, 40 for goth dragon dad (2/3)

(in reference to [this ask meme]!)

2) Who do they look to for guidance?

when Chiyo was still alive, it was very common for Khaizo to have sort of mental “conversations” with himself on what he thought Tama would do in a given situation. he wanted to maintain a sense of Tama's presence in Chiyo's life, so honoring what he thought Tama would have wanted with her was important to him; he also spent a lot of his time in those years feeling lost, especially in the beginning, so this idea that he might be able to "talk to her" and imagine her guidance on any number of things was something he leaned on a lot.

after Chiyo died, he felt (among countless other things) that he had failed Tama by failing to protect their daughter, which meant that he spent a lot of time instead feeling too ashamed to take comfort in or consult his memory of Tama for guidance the way he used to. thus, in the years since, that memory -- of what she might say, of her voice, etc. -- has slowly eroded and grown more distant.

on a less serious note, he also quite respects Percevains, his much older coworker, and even Walcher, an older local alchemist he knows. although his advancing age and reclusive nature means he interacts with increasingly less of his "elders," he still has a reflexive respect for them, perhaps ingrained by his upbringing. it's questionable whether Khaizo would ever go asking these individuals for life advice, but should they offer it to him, he will often at least seriously consider it out of respect for their greater experience.

(he also, in acknowledging Liloie's close relationship with her own daughter, eventually comes to consult her for guidance on navigating difficult circumstances with Yesugen.)

7) Any family scandals? Does your character know about them?

gosh. the answer here is "yes, probably," but i haven't thought of any specifically.

Khaizo got more exposure to his mother's side of the family, which also had some significant notoriety in his tribe, so any scandals he was aware of probably came from that side. his mother's decision to marry a man from the Ura tribe -- especially one who didn't stand out for his hunting proficiency, one of the Khatayin's most valued standards of excellence -- was shocking and likely talked about as a point of gossip, but wasn't necessarily a scandal. the fact that his uncle eventually took up the bow instead of continuing the family tradition of spear-hunting was a similar level of "scandal" in that it was also likely gossiped about but ultimately wasn't that big of a deal.

both of Khaizo’s male cousins were troublesome in one way or another. Munokhoi was something of a perpetual slacker in a family of intensely competitive hunters, and i can see him having gotten entangled in something silly, like somehow romancing the tribe khagan's daughter despite being very unlike their traditional idea of a model young man. Ganzorig was the opposite; hypercompetitive and always looking to prove himself by any means possible, he frequently accrued injuries or got on his tribemates' nerves by butting heads with them over just about everything, and when Khaizo was young he sometimes let himself get goaded into participating. for the most part Khaizo was well-behaved, so if he got in some sort of trouble, it was usually by association with one of these two.

the last thing i'll mention is that Khaizo's mother was initially quite unhappy about his choice of wife, thinking him uncharacteristically rash and short-sighted and childish for even considering leaving his home and family for a woman he "couldn't have known as well as he did half of his own tribemates" -- and a woman who Khasar was convinced could not be much more than a pretty thing to look at, at that. Khaizo, who otherwise deeply respected his mother, fought bitterly with her on this front; not from a place of disrespect, but a place of hurt, as he took her assumption that he would make such a decision so flippantly to be an attack on his own character, to say little of his very Measured and Seriously-Considered decision at the wizened age of 17.

up until the point he actually left the tribe, Khaizo threw himself whole-heartedly into garnering his mother's blessing. (it helped that Khasar herself chose to marry someone more unconventional outside of the tribe, who then left his own family to be with her; Chuluun, who was more sympathetic and swayed by the sincerity of Khaizo's devotion to the woman he wished to be with, had many private conversations with Khasar in which he helped to whittle her down by reminding her of this.) caught in the midst of entreaties by both her husband and her son, it still wasn't until Tama herself came to the Khatayin encampment and threw herself at Khasar's feet (to Khaizo's own appalled surprise), promising to do whatever it took to win her approval, that Khasar finally softened.

that was probably the biggest "scandal" applicable to Khaizo's family -- Khasar's only son deciding to leave the tribe to be with an ex-Doman Raen woman was a story to be told -- but it certainly wasn't spoken again after news came by the Khatayin that Khaizo was seized from the Malaguld for conscription, only for his wife and child both to vanish from the tribe shortly thereafter. Khasar never did look at her tribemates' children the same after that, becoming bitter and unapproachable on the subject in her hurt.

that ended up way longer than i meant for it to be. whoops.

14) What is something that never fails to make them excited?

boy i sure would like to know

probably younger kids, though he would be hard-pressed to admit it (and he makes an effort to hide it). he feels very strongly for them, intense "i want to protect it and see it grow up happy and healthy" vibes. this applies to young animals, too, most of the time, and sometimes even more grown ones. if they interact with him positively at all, it really melts his heart, and if you know what to look for you can tell (expression softening, crinkling in the corners of his eyes). he can be surprisingly energetic with them.

21) Do they prefer giving or receiving gifts?

giving. giving his loved ones things that they cherish or make them light up is rewarding to him, and one of the reasons he feels so fulfilled by having learned how to make things with his hands. providing practical gifts (a nice set of boots for keeping warm, a weapon for hunting food, etc.) is a way to make him feel as though his loved ones are safe and cared for, which is the ultimate reward, tbh. 

receiving things is nice, too, although part of Khaizo starts to feel uncomfortable any time he accrues too many things that could be seen as "memorabilia" of a person. he's seen several people that he dearly loves rendered into a token or two (or in Chiyo's case, a whole childhood of bits and bobbles that make up all he has left of her) of remembrance, and the thought of one day having to look at those gifts he received from someone and hurt over their loss in a similar way detracts from the moment sometimes.

23) What do they want most in life?

in truth, he just wants to live a fairly content, peaceful life surrounded by family that he helps protect and provide for -- he's very traditionally minded in that regard. he 100% would have lived a pretty standard and unremarkable life out in his tribe in Othard if he hadn't been picked up and forcibly conscripted into the Garlean Empire to fight in a war halfway across the world. like really, his entire life has just been him trying his Absolute Hardest to live a normal goddang life meanwhile the universe drags him off into some conflict or another; the only exception being that half a decade where he was so pissed that it (and particularly the Ishgardians) wouldn't stop ruining his life that he, like, murdered some people over it.

24) What do they think they’re good at, but aren’t?

being stoic and unattached and making completely objective / logical decisions not at all informed by a crippling fear of loss and failure.

don't tell him that, though.

(he’s actually always been kinda bad about this, as evidenced by his decision to leave his tribe to be with Tama. he tried to be reasonable and logical about it, as much as a love-struck 17 year old can be, but most anyone else could see that emotion played no small part. all of which is to say, he’s often very blind to how strongly his emotions influence his logic -- sometimes even, in the most egregious cases, as someone is actively rubbing his nose in it.)

35) What color would they paint their nails?

if you wouldn't paint your nails black are you even goth

also, it was brought up that he would let any little kids who wanted to paint his nails paint them whatever color they liked, which is completely true and valid.

40) Blanket fort or tree house?

tree house. those trees in the Dravanian Forelands look like they could make some pretty sick tree houses. great, now i want that to be a thing. (can that be a thing?)