#honestly i Love to see people's interpretations of the mistral siblings (and the siblings in general)

[drainbangle]

18 for Temenos for the ot2 ask meme!

ot2 ask meme

18.) A headcanon for [character]?

It was hard picking a HC to talk about that I either haven't written about in fic or like, am keeping a secret for fic purposes, so I'll take this opportunity to talk about my interpretation of Temenos & Roi!

Roi, on the surface, was (for lack of a better or nicer term) the more "palatable" of the two Mistral brothers. He was four years older than Temenos, and in contrast to his sharper-tongued and doubtful younger brother, was more easily likable due to a more approachable and friendlier demeanor.

However, I'd also like to interpret Roi as failing in one key area compared to Temenos, specifically how I write him in Mourning Howl, and that is: not trusting others until it was too late.

In the months leading up to his kidnapping, Roi became increasingly closed off and distrustful; the young man that was previously so warm and easy to talk to isolated himself from those around him —including his younger brother— the more he investigated into the church.

He stopped talking about strange/funny things that he saw, people he met, and came home with dark bags under his eyes, unwilling to divulge to Temenos what he was investigating; not until he came home one night, Darkblood Bow in hand.

I also headcanon that Arcanette was absolutely a factor into this, as I believe that she just had like... multiple past aliases/lifetimes lived in the church as a means of information and control. As Mindt, isolating Roi through what was a manipulative and unhealthy friendship; not quite the same as what she did to Tanzy, but achieved the goal of cutting him off from his family.

Under this interpretation, the terrible secrets he found included not only the Darkblood Bow but also that Arcanette *gestures* used the church to achieve so much horrible shit.

In the statement earlier, I described this as a failure, but it'd be more accurate to describe what happened to Roi as him being a victim of circumstance. He and Jörg kept Temenos out of the loop in order to protect him as the youngest in the family, but factor in stress, loss of faith, along with Arcanette further isolating him from his family and you got one hell of a tragedy— unintentionally set up for failure due to the simple intention of keeping Temenos safe.

...So, back to Temenos, specifically in MH! By contrast, while Temenos still goes through a whole lot of tragedy (I mean, Crick doesn't even die in this timeline —or anything I write, really— but what happened in MH is still real bad) not to mention still has trust issues due to institutional trauma... he opened up to others. He trusted others. Despite everything.

And having those connections, not to mention their support, is what lets him finish what Roi began— and tragically, succeed where he had fallen.

IDK, I really enjoy the interpretation that Roi is very much a contrast to Temenos & Crick— but especially the former in their journeys with institutional failure: Roi begins faithful in the church, but his sudden disillusionment timed with a long period of self-isolation and distrust led to his kidnapping; where Temenos begins his story disillusioned with the church, but still finds faith in people while maintaining a good amount of doubt in institutions.