June Q&A — Part Two

• Which ROs are most receptive to physical affection?

I'll interpret this as an honest, genuine physical show of love and affection, and not lust or desire. Because that would change the rating a lot — so, for this, I'm considering gestures like holding hands, a chaste kiss on the cheek or the forehead, a brush of gentle fingertips on the back of their shoulders, a tucking of a hair strand behind the ear. Leaning into them or have them lean into you when you're seated beside one another, holding their elbow for silent support, matching your pace with theirs, maybe nudging their feet under a table.

All those small gestures that can feel heavier and more meaningful than a night of passion. All the ROs will, at some point, be okay with (and even seek) this kind of intimacy, but it certainly comes more naturally to some than others.

I think Hadrian and Ysabella are tied for first place. Both are incredibly open with their affection, and both seek it—both need it— in their partners. Hadrian earnestly and devoutly, like a treasure he found after years of deprivation, and he cannot get enough of it. He'll do it often, and he'll do it without even thinking about it. He just wants to be close to you, to touch you, to feel your skin against his, to know that you're there and you're alright and Lord in Heaven, but he's lucky. He's lucky when you smile at him, he's lucky when you kiss him, and Hadrian melts every time you hold his hand back, or massage his hair, or walk beside him. He's lucky when you accept his hug, or the pressing of foreheads, or whatever else he might feel like doing.

Ysabella seeks you because she cannot fandom being away when you're right there. In life, you must take advantage of the good when you can, and you are one bright side of it. Ysabella likes to loop her arm around yours and hang from you as she saunters into rooms or streets or wherever else you might take her. She likes to kiss you: your lips, your cheek, your fingers. Not out of desire, but because sometimes her heart fills with longing, and she has to release the energy somewhere. She'll squeeze you into her chest as if she could take you inside her ribcage and keep you there. Bella, unlike Hadrian, doesn't see touch as sacred, but she does see it as good. It feels good. Why deprive oneself of it?

Next up is The Pirate King. Much like Neia, is very used to sleeping with people. He's not so used to the relationship side of it, but he's not averse to it. Quite the contrary, he finds it... charming. When you hold his hand or brush his knuckles or take his elbow between your hands, the Pirate feels a kind of... warmth in his chest, and he'll grin and tuck you in close. You're spirits-born adorable.

He would be lower on the list if, quite soon after you've made your relationship official, he wouldn't take up the habit of showing you off. He loves to do it. Claim you as his own, quite publicly, striding with his arm firm around your waist when he walks on the deck of his ship. Let his men see who he's landed. When he sits down, he'll pull you to his lap, having you hanging on one of his thighs. He likes to keep his hand on the back of your neck, your lower back, your wrist... The Pirate soon learns to be affectionate because he likes the effect it has on you. And when you're alone, he'll learn new ways to make you smile. Small kisses, small caresses. He likes the feeling of your hands on him.

He's going soft. The Pirate would think it a problem if he could find it in himself to give a shit.

For next, I think... oddly enough, probably Rafael. The bastard is a hard case because to get him to this point, it'll take not only a while but lots of effort. He's closed off, he's jaded, he's cynical, and he reacts to touch in the same way Alessa does – first, he’s wary, and his instinct is to shy away from it. He'll often jerk when you touch him without him seeing, or you'll feel his muscles clench as if he was expecting a hit and not a caress.

But, after the initial time, Rafael will open up, in more ways than one, and one of those ways is touch. He really likes touch. He craves it. He wants it. He'll scoff at those lovestruck couples walking down the street while holding hands, but if you reach for his hand... the bastard will flush and get tongue-tied, but he'll hold your hand in a death grip. And sometimes when you're sleeping, he’ll get the stupid, ridiculous urge to kiss your temple like a god-damn mother hen. But he'll get the urge, and one day, he'll do it. You'll be aware, but you feign to be sleeping every time. And every time he lays back down, you'll smile a silly, secret smile.

Lance would be after Rafael, and not by much. Honestly, Lance doesn't know he enjoys this kind of affection. He doesn't let himself feel it – he's not close to anyone to have experienced it. Lance simply... is blind to it, and one cannot miss what one does not know. But once he knows, Lance accepts it. He welcomes it. He almost feels a strange sorrow about it — that it took him this long, that he's lived in the dark for so long.

Lance is melancholic by nature, and when he's with you, there's part of him that sees things as if he's outside looking in. But then, you'll bring him back to the present, to the here and now, and you'll do so with the most innocent, most gentle of gestures.

Your fingers wrapped around his thumb, your hands stroking his hair, your feet tangled with his beneath the sheets – for no other reason but the need to be close. Lance will be brought back to the now, and it means more than he can say. I think reciprocating naturally would take him a bit of time. Simply because it's so novel. That's why Lance is lower on the list — he needs time.

Our dear Alessa is next. Alessa... Alessa is a tough case. She likes touch. I think I've said often enough that one of her favorite things to do is kiss you. But we're talking about physical affection, and affection, of any kind, comes hard to Alessa. You can see it in-game, whenever you touch her when she's not expecting it, she almost recoils. It's not you, it really is her. She's alert, constantly high-strung, constantly... watching. And 'tis so exhausting, this watch over every aspect of her life.

Alessa is not used to letting go, to relaxing. She will attempt to, for you, she wants to. But, again, it does not come easy or naturally, it is not a part of her nature. She sees herself as cold and jaded and wary. She will want to hold your hand and sit close to you, and maybe press her lips to your jaw, she'll want to... but she'll stop herself from reaching for you. So many times, she'll stop herself.

If you do it, she'll accept you gladly, especially if you are alone. In public, Alessa is more guarded. But, perhaps, with time, if you continue to press... even icebergs melt, after all.

Neia is next. Neia, the Inquisitor, does not do affection. She simply doesn't. Her more personal affairs are matters of the flesh, and in pleasure, they remain. She won't pepper your face with kisses and gently guide you by the hand. Her life has been steel and blood, and it's so hard to be mellow. It's hard because no one has done it for her — as a child, or a teenager, or an adult. Honestly, strictness is too embedded in her. A romanced Romanus... will be something new to her. And she'll find herself wanting to do things that she never felt a compulsion to do before. She finds herself accepting things she has never accepted before.

So, you'll have to be the one to close that gap, to walk that bridge, and I won't lie, you'll probably be met with resistance. She'll cock her head when you reach for her hand and may grumble when you tug her closer, but Neia will do as you ask. She'll chuckle when you brush your lips over her cheek as if you're silly, but when you lean to do it again, Neia won't evade the touch. When you hug her closely, she may not have the most comfortable of embraces, but she'll... endure it.

And if you ever stop, the Dawnseeker will frown and ask you harshly what the hell is the matter. Like a mountain swept by fierce winds, she'll crack. Eventually.

Last but not least, is Alain. What to say of the nobleman? Alain is almost... averse to affection. He doesn't engage with it; he doesn't allow his partners to show it — nor does he want to experience it. It makes matters... awkward, really. And Alain does not like to feel awkward. It's good to have a clear distinction, a clear line, of what an affair is about, and soft, gentle gestures only blur the lines.

If he's completely honest, the whole thing always struck him as insincere. Whenever he sees others engaging in it, Alain can't help but cringe. It feels performative, fake, and shallow.

Alain is probably the most comfortable with touch, with getting physical, but the least receptive when it comes to physical affection. It'll take him by surprise when you do it. He'll feel an intricate, instinctual want to move away. His walls are high in that regard, and the one who manages to climb it... well, won't that be a novel thing? Won't it be a revelation when he suddenly likes the weight of your hand in his? Won't it dawn on him, like the rising of the great sun, how meaningful a simple press of the lips against his skin can be?

It will, but not now. Now, Alain grins and laughs and thinks it all a waste of time.

• Will Beka return in Book 2 if we sided with Captain Cynthia in Book 1?

She will not. Beka will disappear in the maze that's Tarragona, and if she happens to catch a glimpse of you, she'll stay far away. I may have a little event where you think you see her out of the corner of your eye, but I'll have to see if the scene fits when I get there.

But even if you do, she won't approach you. The only way to have Beka be in the game is to have jumped to her protection in Book 1 — for her to remain in the game requires other conditions, however.

• How long until I hear Alessa call Romanus "Darling One" in the demo?!

😄 It will take a little bit. She'll call you that for the first time after... a certain point in the romance. Alessa will start to think about it sometime before, but, in Alessa's fashion, she'll bite her tongue and swallow the words. The endearment will come when she's at her most open — therefore her most vulnerable but, maybe, her most happy too.

I've checked my notes, and it'll be in the first big arc of the book, in chapter 10, to be more specific. So, still, a way to go, but... you've been further away! With every sentence I write, we get closer.

• For all the ROs: What is the happiest childhood memory you can still recall?

I'd say Hadrian doesn't have a singular, unique memory but a conjunction of them. Memories in the form of smells and colors and sounds mingled together to paint those sort of expressionists paintings where you can vaguely make out a shape and a composition. That's what Hadrian’s childhood best memories are made of: feelings and sensations he experienced at the moment, frozen in time like a ray of sunlight drifting through a cathedral.

He remembers the games he used to play with the other boys at the monastery. He remembers, so faint, so distant, so incredibly buried in the sea of memory, a voice and a touch to his cheek, and Hadrian has never said this out loud, but he believes it was his grandmother. His blood grandmother. He can't be sure, though. He just vaguely remembers a wrinkled face and a kind smile and eyes so very sad.

Apart from that, Hadrian has blimps of happiness, but he's hard-pressed to find just the one, singular memory. He was happy when he could.

-

Alessa has one. She carries it safely in the depths of her heart. When she was a small child, with chubby legs and short, golden hair (she was blond when she was small, her hair grew darker with age), and big round eyes the color of the perfect sky. When she was but a toddler, her mother liked to take her to the cliffs above a beach that stretched from horizon to horizon. White, pure sand, gentle, rolling waves, specks of hard, washed-green vegetation.

She'd sit on the sand, her mother's legs dangling from some rock, and then her mother would play marbles with her. The sun would glint off the glass surface of the little balls, and Alessa recalls she wasn't very good, but she'd laugh loudly into the air every time the balls would go rolling. Hands on the side of her waist, guiding her as she wobbled closer. Hands on her back as she bent down to inspect the marbles. Hands on her hair and cheeks when Alessa tripped and fell face first on the sand.

The sun would be shining, the sea whispering, the wind ruffling. And Alessa shall never forget that simple, fleeting, forever-gone happiness.

-

Alain has a few. They mostly involve Ysabella. If he had to pick one... well, of course, it must be that time he convinced his sister that the big, green, and yellow frog that lived on the pond of their castle's grounds was a cursed prince. It had taken him the better part of a week, but finally, with ruby cheeks and determined eyes, and a young heart full of pity, his sister caught the frog...

And kissed it!

Alain thought he'd die of laughter then. He'd hear minstrel stories of people dying from too much joy, and a small part of him feared that his heart would go out. But the bigger part thought that it had been worth it. The face Ysabella made when the frog simply croak and then jumped out of her hands is a gift he'll carry with him until his deathbed. Until Heaven and beyond. Oh, he laughed. He truly, sincerely, laughed.

To go back to those simple days. To see Bella as a naïve, gullible little girl again. Why are happy memories so often tainted by the gloomy, dark glasses of melancholy?

-

Ysabella has many happy memories. It's hard to pick one. There was the time she attended her first ball and the time she learned to dance for the first time, and oh! When she tasted a sweet muffin with strawberry frosting. She has never looked at baked goods the same way again. There were also the picnics they used to have in vast, green fields peppered with tall flowers and bushy bushes and lone trees with canopies like large mushrooms.

There was a creek nearby where she and Alain would discard their shoes and play in the chilly water. She'd splash him and giggle at his cries. She'd play catch with her cousins, and they’d all been so young then, so innocent still, that rank, and wealth did not matter — she once even played with the daughter of a maid. She had been quick and had long, golden hair, and Ysabella thought she was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen.

There's so much to treasure. She's lucky, she's aware. She's lucky she's known happiness. But if Bella had to choose just one memory... it’s the first time she rode a horse. The first time she galloped, free, wild, unbound in the moors with Tassel’s hair in her hands and his hooves hitting the ground and God, Ysabella experienced true joy— Tassel was her first horse. His death was the first real sorrow of Bella's life.

But grief aside, that's her happiest memory.

-

The Pirate King's happiest childhood memory... there was an afternoon when he was working on his grandfather's farm. To call it a farm is generous, his old man had a small piece of land where he grew peach trees. The Pirate had finished working and set his tools aside to sit eating a peach on top of an upturned cart. The peach was slightly green, he remembers, and almost sour, but the boy ate it all because his stomach was empty, and he had little else to do but wait for his grandfather.

He sat there as the sun curved down and touched the calm, green-blue seas that surround his island. The sky was painted in hues of gold and red, and then, purple and maroon, until finally, it reached the greys. There was a warm breeze in the air, a breeze that spoke of the upcoming summer, and... And the Pirate, as a boy, took a deep breath and thought, for the first time in his short life, how lucky he was to be alive.

He eyed the sea, and something sparked within him. A curiosity, a drive, a call that would be harder and harder to resist as the years passed by. But, for now, it was gentle and new and full of wonder.

That's his happiest memory.

-

Neia felt the happiest when she was first given a sword. That's it. That's all she'd gruff out to you. The truth, however, is a little more complicated. When child Neia, taller already than all the other girls, was taken from the convent to the cold halls of the Inquisition, she felt happy, yes — but most of all, relieved.

She had finally found her calling. Her purpose. She wasn't meant to be a nun or a nurse. She wasn't meant to spend her days in quietude and prayer, locked in one place for the rest of her life. She wasn't mean to... she was meant for nothing else but this. That's what she thought when she first stepped foot on the training grounds. That's what she thought when she was made to run and jump and spar with boys twice her age. That's what she thought when she got up on her first horse, and was given pants and long boots and later, a breastplate.

But when Neia first touched a sword, a real sword, the thought didn't come to her because there was no room for words. She felt simply then. She felt proper, she felt right, she felt elated, and she felt as if God Himself was brushing the crowd of her hair. As she lifted the steel, eyes watering and throat closing, Neia would never be as happy as she was then.

Because she found it: her place on this earth.

-

Lance's happiest memory... is hard to answer because I don't want to spoil Lance's character, especially so close to you finding out in-game. In this next Alpha update, you'll learn a piece of vital information about Lance that would let me answer this more openly, but until then:

I'll say that his happiest memory was the afternoons he'd spend walking and exploring the gardens behind where he lived. Sometimes alone, other times he had company. Those gentle, fleeting hours drifted away too soon, but he'd treasured each and every second.

-

Rafael was most happy when he was a child. His early years weren't easy – his family was poor, and I mean, poor. His father worked from dawn to dusk, his mother did her best to look after the children while also working as a nursing maid for whatever house would employ her. His older siblings all worked too – in both legal and illegal business. He was often hungry and dirty and had bruises and scrapes all over his body.

But Rafael Borja was happy. I'd say his happiest memory, now as an adult man looking back, would be the family dinners. When his father could be home earlier and his mother had enough food to feed them all, they'd sit around the old, rackety table, spoon in hand and bowl in front, and... eat together. Talking and laughing and swapping stories. He'd throw food at his sister, and she'd kick him beneath the table. The candles would flicker, their flames getting weaker and weaker the longer they stayed together – and together they stayed, long after the food was gone and night had fallen, and pale stars twinkled through the dusty windows.

He didn't treasure it then, but now, Rafael's chest tightens every time he thinks of those dinners. What he wouldn't do to have one again. Just the one. God in Heaven, let him have one more.

• Will there be an opportunity in Book 2 for me to present my RO to Luna for her approval?

I wouldn't use the word 'present', but Luna will interact with some of the ROs, yes 😄. Whether she approves of them or not, remains, of course, to be determined.

• Have you thought about doing anything like, I don't know, a (small) chapter from Billy's perspective?

I do like the different POV perspectives. I did it in Book One with the interludes, prologue, and epilogue but with characters who know Romanus, I only did it once — with Hadrian and Alessa at the inn.

I definitely want to do more of them — for pretty much all the ROs, at various points in the story. So, like you, I agree that it helps contextualize the main character when looked through the eyes of someone else. It also is just very fun in general to get a glimpse of the true thoughts and feelings of the characters. Even if you don't lie, it's rare that'll you say everything you're thinking. Feelings are hard to put into words, so scenes from their internal POV can translate them better than some conversations.

As for Billy specifically... probably not 😄. I joked on Tumblr about writing a whole chapter in his POV and I've written some silly snippets from Billy's perspective, but for the game itself... he's a horse. As much as I humanize him, he's still an animal, and I don't think I can quite get into the head of how an animal thinks. They don't use language. I feel like a text from their point of view would be wrong — you'd need a device that would let you feel and think and see the world as they do, and only then could you start to understand. A dog or a wolf sees through smells, a cat sounds, and a bird by the freedom of their wings. I can't write that. Not unless I'm writing a fantasy story very different from The Rose — not "low fantasy" but more fairy tale or children's fiction.

So, to keep the Rose in the style that it's on, I can't write in Billy's POV.

• So far, we've seen references regarding the origins in the present time, but will any origin-based knowledge/skills be showcased too?

Would it be wrong of me to admit I've saved your ask in my personal notes?

"Things like haggling, eye for quality/merchandise, traveling experience for merchant origin. Produce/Livestock knowledge, horticulture, and lettering for farmer origin, and obviously hunting/trapping, meat skinning, foraging, and weapon appraisal for hunter origin."

Because I want to use all these examples you spoke of! And more. I can't tell you right now when and where they'll be used — I'll keep the origins in mind as I write the story and when opportunities like these present themselves, I'll try to incorporate the origins into the prose. This will be something good to ask testers to keep an eye out for, and for myself too, when I'm editing.

I really want to use Romanus as much as I can. Their past is now, with the origins revealed, a big part of their characters, and I'll need to be alert to opportunities like these. When you leave Tarragona, you'll travel the road for a while, and the hunter's origin will obviously come into play. In Chapter 4, you'll have the chance to buy some items, and the merchant origin will, of course, come in handy. The farmer's origin will be touched in texts and illumination (I was thinking Romanus may have a good hand for sketches or something), but I love, LOVE the idea of a Romanus that knows gardening and livestock and how to care for and calm a chicken 😋 I adore it. I promise I'll try to weave in your past as much as I can.

If, in the alpha, you read a passage and think: "uh, something about x origin would go well here." Please let me know! I may not always be able to incorporate all feedback and suggestions (some things just don't fit in), but I'll always consider them.

• What would a serious argument with the ROs be like?

Ohh, we have arrived at some drama. This is a bit hard for me to say because, as you pointed out, I haven't written any serious arguments yet for most of the ROs.

I have for Hadrian. If you kill Garrett, you’re privy to a side of Hadrian that you wouldn’t see otherwise. And if you're romancing him, Hadrian draws a very clear line. It can be a relationship-ending argument, depending on your choices, because well... the stakes are quite high. That action goes against the very core of his being. Even with a Romanus who reconciles, it'll be brought up again.

As for Alessa, I haven't written a serious discussion, not while romancing her. You can argue with her — quite seriously — outside of her romance, but as partners, I haven't written it yet. I think it'll be one of those things that I'll only know for sure until I write.

Dialogue and character interactions oftentimes just fly out of me when I'm writing the scene properly. Mist and Lance, for example, are both turning out to be a bit different than I envisioned. So, how do the ROs argue with you? How do they handle conflict with the one they really don't want to have conflict with?

The truth is, you'll get to experience this yourself. All the romances will probably have a moment where you disagree — them with you or you with them. Unless, of course, you make a Romanus who has completely identical moral values, beliefs, reasoning, compassion (or lack thereof), ruthlessness, and even a sense of humor as your RO. Then, perhaps, you may avoid an argument, but then again, doesn't that take out all the fun? 😄

So, for this question, I won't go into details as to the subject of the possible argument. But I can give you a general overview of how they can act.

Hadrian has said again and again: he's not good with words. They don't come easily to him, not when he wants to express something good, or something less good. So, Hadrian usually needs time. When faced with conflict, his first reaction is to withdraw. To turn his back on you and walk away, because his head is spinning and wordless thoughts bather like the wind in the space between his ears, and Hadrian feels far too much and far too deeply, and it hurts, and he needs time.

In the game, he needed time to talk to you and Alessa about his disappointment that you’ve hidden that Rafael was trailing you from him. He needs time to talk about Garrett.

You won't go far if you push him. Hadrian shuts down. He'll ask you for space and approach you himself when his mind is made — when he can formulate his thoughts and words aren't as difficult. Then, he'll be calmer and able to explain his side. He'll also always be ready to hear yours — in fact, he's ready to do this to a fault. If you've done something "wrong" Hadrian will cling to the belief that you didn't mean it, or you have a good reason, or maybe, he's the one who's seeing it all wrong. He's very flexible when it comes to this, but he's not so flexible in his beliefs. Especially on his moral standing.

So, he'll believe you mean well, until it's irrefutable that you don't. And then... then it may become a big problem (eg, Garrett).

For more simple things? Again, he needs time, so you won't solve everything at once — which can be quite hard for a Romanus who’s like me and would rather just deal with everything as soon as possible! But, alas, that's the man you choose, and the comprise here is that you need to give him his time and space.

-

Alessa. Oh, dear Alessa. Alessa has a big problem: she lashes out first. If she even sniffs a drift of a possibility that you're about to strike, that you may hurt her, that you may say something that'll crash open her cold skin and sink its teeth into her chest, Alessa's first instinct is to attack first.

She's done so all her life — to hurt before she can be hurt. It has been beneficial on many occasions, but it also has ensured she's close to no one.

When you argue, Alessa will bare her teeth. She may say something too sharp, too low, too serious, honestly, for the situation at hand. You may be stunned, and rightfully hurt, and when she sees your expression... It's hard to describe the regret that'll burn her veins. With time, I believe she'll be able to get better at this. Get better with arguments and discussions in general, but as she is now, in the game, this is one of Alessa's biggest flaws.

I know how hard it can be to deal with her — she's not very tolerant of different points of view. But she tries with a Romanus she cares about, especially one she's romancing. She really does try. And when tempers have calmed, she often regrets her actions. She'll come quietly to you and seek your touch, and she won't say how much it hurts if you reject it, but she'll flinch as if you struck her.

And Alessa will apologize. If not for the conflict itself, then for how she handled it. So, fighting with Alessa requires you to have thick skin and not take everything to heart. In her case, I think it'd be better for you to be the one to ask for space and distance, and the time to calm down. Because if you're both as she is... well, there will be some serious problems 😋.

-

What to say of an angry Alain? Alain will not tell you he's mad, but you'll feel it the moment you settle your eyes on him. He grins and offers you a glass of wine, but there's something in his smile, something in his voice, and the way he moves that immediately puts you on alert.

Ysabella will say that he broods, and broods he does. Alain is tricky because he won't confront you. If there's a problem, the nobleman won't voice it. You'll catch the edge in his words and the slight roughness of his touch — his kiss will be cold, his skin absent even when pressed against you. If you don't confront him yourself, it'll build and build... until, inevitably, the issue pours out like an infected wound.

But never loud, never in an exploding manner. Alain will sweep back his hair in frustration and the most you'll get is a hoarse huff. From then on, he's relatively easy to work things out with. It's very rare for anything to be taken seriously by him, and that's another problem in itself: if you have a grievance, Alain's first instinct is to minimize it. Which can be extremely infuriating. You'll have to keep calm and explain to him why it matters to you. Alain will get it... eventually.

Bad at saying sorry, good at showing it.

-

Ysabella Theer is the type of person who very rarely allows herself to be angry. To be mad. Honestly, she can't remember the last time it happened. Probably when she was a child, but even then, she had an unusual grip on her emotions. So, Ysabella doesn't have arguments — not because she avoids them, but simply because they're not built into her personality.

She'll have discussions. She'll have debates. She will not lose her temper.

Bella's bad side is that, if feeling pressed, she'll revert to how she has always lived: by giving orders. So, while she won't yell or stump, or passionately argue, if you do it... she gets overwhelmed. No one has talked to her like this. At that moment, she may raise her walls high and face you squarely and...

Order you to stop.

Oh. How you answer to that, it's up to you, but I can see some Romanus not taking it well. I certainly wouldn't 😄. Like Alain, Ysabella has been sheltered from a lot of things that most people are forced to face and adapt and learn from a young age. Interpersonal relationships, as equals, as partners, are something new to both twins. They won't be perfect the first few months of your fresh relationship.

You need to bear with them.

-

The Pirate King. To his subjects, seeing their captain angry is bad news — they'll jump out of his way, avoid his gaze, and make themselves as small as humanly possible. To his enemies, seem him angry is often a death sentence. But he'll be smiling then, with bloodlust in his eyes.

To his friends, seeing him angry is rare. To his lover... almost unprecedented. If he feels the conversation is turning sour and the mood is slipping out of his control, The Pirate does one thing: he grabs you by the shoulders, gently pushes you aside, and strides out of the room. If he can, he'll take in a deep breath of ocean air, grab his pipe, and puff on it until his blood stops singing.

It won't take long, but he'll calm down, and then, The Pirate will seek you, ready to put the matter to rest. How it goes from there depends on you, but he'll do his best to settle everything and lay it out on the table. When he's tense, he speaks in shorter, curt sentences, wary of saying anything he might regret later.

Doesn't like to say sorry. Doesn't require you to say it either. He just doesn't want to see it happen again — from his side and yours. I think the real problem with The Pirate might arise if the issue is a reoccurring one.

-

When angry, Neia is scary. She gets extremely quiet. Almost unnaturally so. Her eyes will fix on yours, her face like a century-old rock, and her muscles will seem as if they turned to marble because she will not move. You even question if she breathes.

She won't answer you. You talk, you frown, you challenge her, you may even grab her shoulder and shake it. Neia will keep her mouth in a thin line.

When you almost give up, she'll crack her lips open. "Shut up," she'll growl and then grab you and smash her lips over yours.

No one argued with the head of the Inquisition. Neia hasn't had a proper debate outside of combat in years. She either slaughtered those who insulted her, or she pulled rank on them. Having you, of all people, argue with her...

She doesn't know what in hell's scorched lands she’s supposed to do. She does know that it gets her blood pumping and, honestly, if you've heard of angry make-up sex, this would be it. 😄 Unsurprisingly, she's not the best communicator. You'll have to approach her later, calm and try to get through to her.

Good luck, though.

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Lance Silverthread. Much like Alain, there won't be a big head-to-head confrontation. The bard smiles and hides how he feels, and I think that will be the real crux of the issue: Lance hides how he feels. He can be hard to read and hard to get a beat of, and I can see it raising some issues between you.

It's difficult for him to be open and he'll shut you out without meaning to — it's been a part of his nature for so long; it's like asking Alessa to go dancing and frolicking in the rain. In an argument, Lance will be mostly quiet, appearing to be listening, but you can tell his mind is far away.

He won't avoid you physically, but he'll avoid you mentally. It’ll take some effort to break down those mental walls.

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Rafael has no problem confronting you. He prefers it. To keep something in his chest is like suffocating. He needs to get it out, or he'll explode. He'll try not to raise his voice, but it's so easy to be swept by his emotions, especially when the bastard cares.

That's the biggest problem, I think: Rafael would feel hurt. He would hate it — hate it — to not be on the same page as you. Deep in a relationship, Rafael just wants to get it sorted. To fix it, as soon as possible. And because of that anxiousness, his methods may not be the best: he can be too pressing when you need space or too intense when you need to wind down. He refuses to go to bed angry, so he'd rather just have a big blown out and then make peace.

Early stages, however... you'll see it in the game a lot 😄. I think one of Rafael's love languages is arguing. You'll argue a lot. If he doesn't care, the bastard doesn't bother. When he cares, though... he'll go all the way. If you're a hothead like him, there's bound to be some explosions.