#there's also something to be said about the fact that aurene is no longer afraid of death nowadays--her own death; at least

[kerra-and-company]

how has being raised by kerra influenced aurene’s personality? her approach to conflict?

bonus round: what’s one good thing aurene learned from kerra (intentionally or not!) AND what’s one bad thing? 😈

Ooh, this is a Good question, thank you so much :D

Assorted thoughts, in no particular order:

- Kerra's love for Aurene is entirely unconditional on whether or not Aurene ever ascended or fulfilled Glint's legacy. Literally the second Aurene hatched, that was her daughter, and she defended and loved Aurene in exactly that way. Kerra also believes destiny is a mutable, changeable thing. Glint had very specific prophecies that she believed in. Aurene got both of those perspectives growing up and holds both of them on close-to-equal footing.

- Kerra's incredibly used to interpreting what goes unsaid based on how someone's feeling (thanks to her empathy ability), so lacking spoken language with hatchling!Aurene is not as much of an issue for her. It's not a perfect communication method by a long shot, but Kerra's pretty damn adept at it, and Aurene struggles a lot less with being misunderstood (or just NOT understood).

- Aurene got a front-row seat to the rough dynamic between Kerra and Caithe during LWS3--not that they argued a ton in front of her or yelled at each other or anything like that, but there was a lot of discomfort/sadness/anger, and Aurene was tied into Kerra's feelings like Kerra was tied into hers. Aurene did actually get to witness the first time they really sat down and talked through a little bit of stuff, though. Accidental lesson in conflict resolution!

- Kerra visited Aurene every chance she got during LWS3 via the portal stone (LWS3 is by far the period in which Kerra does the most zooming around to different places). Aurene just overall gets to see her often, which is good. (Also, I'm trying to find a place to mention that Kerra always considers how Aurene's feeling about things, because that one line in LWS4 is maybe the most out-of-character commander line for Kerra in the game.)

- Kerra shares with Aurene the unique experience of being "destined" to fight and kill your grandfather, who's also an Elder Dragon. They share the intense focus and pressure during the respective times they're dealing with that issue (HoT and LWS4), too. The difference there (outside of the fact that Aurene is expected to Ascend and does and Kerra was not and did not) is that Kerra does lean on her support system during HoT as best she can while Aurene starts off trying to do as much as she can mostly solo. Kerra tracks her down and convinces her to rest and take care of herself a bit better, which is an interesting flipped-on-its-head scenario since someone had to do that to Kerra post-PS.

- Aurene's patience is something she gets from both Glint and Kerra, but so is her willingness to jump in and get personally and viciously involved in conflict. Her first impression of Kerra upon hatching (though she did know Kerra a bit before then as well) was that instant, fierce love--and someone willing to stand between her and any incoming foes with bared teeth and without a moment of hesitation. She's both diplomatic and willing to abandon that instantly if she thinks it's the right thing to do (see: the devourer at the All-Legion Rally, for instance).

For the bonus round--a random good thing: Aurene learned a decent amount about diplomacy techniques, which means Jormag throws her off less than they might have otherwise. As for bad things...there are probably more than this, but the one that's foremost in my brain at the moment: Aurene's willingness to jump in front of bullets (so to speak) was something unintentionally reinforced by the fact that Kerra does it on a fairly regular basis.

This Aurene is still very much Aurene. She's just colored a tiny bit by Kerra.

[kerra-and-company]

🌿For Cio!

🥀For Kerra!

and 💫For whoever you'd like to chat about!

(@uselessidiotsquad)

Sounds like a plan! :D Ty very much for the ask!! 🌿 What way does your OC show that they care without using words? What way do others show your OC that they’re cared about without using speech? Cio tends to turn to gifts to show wordless affection. Whether it's making something useful or something pretty, if you're someone important to her, you'll probably get a gift. She does also do things like give hugs or squeeze someone's hand, but anything that involves touch is something she does with an element of care to it for most of her life. She doesn't want to accidentally burn anyone via her hair. Post-Icebrood, she's a lot more tactile because she can afford to be less careful (in that specific sense) about it. As for showing Cio how much she's cared for, there's plenty of things people do/have done, but freely offering touch goes a long way in that direction. 🥀 How would your OC decorate a notebook or journal? What kind of things are written in there? Could you give an example of a nice entry? Kerra wouldn't decorate it very much at all. It'd be plain, maybe dyed-purple leather if she wanted it to be fancy in some way, but she'd rather any notebook/journal she kept be comparably inconspicuous. The one journal she does keep, canonically, consists basically of her writing letters to people she can't talk to (for a wide assortment of reasons). Most of said letters are usually bittersweet at best, but I'll give you one anyways. (I'll put the letter under the cut for spoilers, so it'll go after this last answer.) 💫 What is your favorite fact about this character and why? Random thing picker chose Nisha for this one! :) My favorite thing about xem is probably xyr growth regarding the way xe deals with xyr anxiety and xyr relationship with the idea of being strong. Xe started out feeling like xe had to be perfect and unbreakable and xe wasn't allowed to be afraid. Now, xe knows xe's strong, regardless of what position or power xe might hold. Being anxious still comes with the territory, so to speak, but xe knows how to deal with it and knows it's okay to struggle. Okay, letter under the cut as promised:

Hello, great-grandmother. I know you asked me not to try and save you. I'm not sorry that we tried. I always try. (It made my brother very angry several years back, actually.) I am sorry that we couldn't save you. There is a long list of things I'm sorry for, but I have a feeling you'd disagree on some of them. [Several things are written and scribbled out, illegible.] Regardless, I am sorry. I wish you could be here to help Aurene. I'll do the best I can to guide her. I may not be an Elder Dragon, but I am her mother and her champion, and I'll help her as long as I can. You made a difference. You said you were hiding in the factory, but you changed and saved so many mortal lives there. And it kept you safe for longer as well. At the very least, we--Aurene especially--got to meet you. The world without that choice would have lost so much. I hope you understood some of this before you left us. I think you did. And I hope some semblance of this message from one of your child's wayward grandchildren reaches your spirit, if it exists in the Mists somewhere. We'll protect the world you left us. I will.