athena is his sister's number one fan and fiercest defender. dealing with a childhood with an indifferent mother and a father who wanted nothing more than for lyra to be "normal" taught athena about how far their parents' love stretched.

the answer? not very far, all things considered.

thus, athena learned to be independent quicker than a person should, and yearned to grow up for the freedom it would give them both. on this journey for independence, athena got his dig down form after refusing to step down and away from the stove at the age of fourteen. he burned a finger.

his father's shirt was completely burned off.

after this, father and child became more distant, which athena loved, and once word came out that he was due to attend blackthorne university's northeast campus for college, he was bouncing off the walls at the chance to leave the house. by that point, his parents were already divorced, but going to a remote college in the middle of nowhere in upstate new york was the icing on the cake.

personality

athena is a very chilled out, go with the flow kind of person. or, at least, they try to be. after looking out for both lyra and themselves, they have a hard time turning off the worry wart switch, but they're getting there. joints certainly help with that part. they fancy themselves an activist, and are always fighting for those who can't fight for themselves -- that's why they picked political science as their major. they think there's nothing really special about them, which is inherently not true, but that's fine by them. they don't like to be the center of attention all that much, and don't like to do too much talking unless they're with people they know.

fun facts

• his full title is athena ratna rose, the mage of the hearth
• he loves good debates so much he joined his university's debate team
• his dig down form is based on the great horned owl

• a good debate
• horror novels -- specfically, eldridtch horrors and lovecraftian stuff really tickle their fancy, but any will do, as long as it creeps them out in some capacity
• getting piercings, their low pain tolerance be damned
• silver jewelry

• not knowing if their sister is okay and safe
• when people argue with them on something they know they're correct on
• driving -- they just let their sister do that