swampfiend's Links
Ravi is absolutely terrified of Abel. He's not good at dealing with someone with such direct power over him, especially not when he gets the distinct feeling that he annoys her. This, of course, makes him want to do what he can to earn her respect and admiration... And leads to him accidentally making her even more annoyed.
Abel thinks Ravi is a little bit dumb; not that he's unintelligent, but that he doesn't seem to have any lived wisdom or a particular drive to acquire it. As a result he's very sensitive and very undisciplined, both traits Abel cannot stand.
She hopes the best for him, but their personalities just don't mix.
Herb is very careful about what he says around Abel due to the great power she holds over him and Ravi in the form of all their debt.
That is not to say that Herb particularly dislikes Abel; the two are very similar, and he admires her buccaneering background, a career not too far off from Herb's dream job as a contract adventurer. Herb's trying to will himself to ask for tips about getting into the field, however the simple fact that one malicious move from Abel could keep him and Ravi from eating keeps Herb pretty on-topic during their meetings.
Abel thinks of Herb similarly to the way one might think of a distantly related teenage in-law. No particular distaste, but she sees no reason to put any time or energy into their relationship.
If she were to actually consider how she feels about Herb, she appreciates his determination and his combat skills, and hopes for the best regarding his business, but gets an ominous chill down her spine when she compares he and Ravi's relationship to the early years shared between her and her ex-wife Lagra.
WK is currently mad at Gideon for blowing their cover in a delicate espionage mission, costing the two a serious tactical advantage. This fresh wound, combined with the fact that mind flayers do not make for very emotionally available parents, means WK doesn't feel a lot of warmth for his offspring. Yet he finds Gideon to be absolutely fascinating, and he is very motivated to cultivate Gideon's unique nature. A mind flayer entirely untouched by the Elder Brain's hivemind, reared in secret by a single parent. Gideon is special and there's nothing more endearing to the inquisitive mind than special.
WK thinks very highly of himself and expects his spawn to conform to the same standards that he holds to his own actions. He only hopes that over time Gideon will exhibit the same cunning and intellectual curiosity that WK prides himself upon.
Like many teenagers, Gideon is torn between his desire to impress his parent and to forge his own path. He doesn't know if he'll ever think or act the same way as the other members of his race, and he doesn't know if he wants that- or whether WK wants that. WK is a very difficult person to read, even for Gideon. This lack of clear communication increases Gideon's yearning for approval.
The two often come into conflict due to conflicting priorities. WK does not care about individual lives, while Gideon may be the only mind flayer ever to boast having developed a sense of empathy. WK is studious, desperate for explanations behind answers, cold hard facts to log into notes, while Gideon wants to know about emotion and feeling.
Herb loves and appreciates Ravi. Herb is much more of an introvert than his boyfriend, yet somehow he never gets tired of Ravi's sunny disposition and frequent chatter.
Never having been particularly inclined to be helpful or generous, Herb begrudgingly accepts Ravi's pressure to act more accordingly. He does worry that Ravi is too much of a dreamer and not much of a doer, especially with any kind of dirty work, the kind of work Herb grew up with on his family's farm but that Ravi the aristocrat never had to do for himself before now.
Herb is grateful that the two make a good pair, either one capable of picking up on the other's shortcomings. Ravi keeps Herb from going too tough and becoming emotionally jaded, Herb helps Ravi stay grounded and focused on the day-by-day instead of just the big picture.
Ravi thinks the world of Herb. He enjoys spending time with Herb and admires his outlook on life. Ravi doesn't always catch when Herb shows his love for him (he's a much more reserved individual) but overall they've built a strong connection, currently even stronger due to the passionate "honeymoon phase" that started when they became engaged 4 months ago.
Ravi, a very empathetic person who experiences all feelings strongly, can sometimes be a little emotionally attached to Herb, especially due to two factors: First, that their nomadic lifestyle bars Ravi from having lots of friends who he sees all the time so most of his days are just him and Herb, and secondly that Ravi went straight from living with his parents to being Herb's business partner, while Herb had been on his own for about a year before then, so Ravi is less emotionally independent than his boyfriend. (A trait which is exacerbated by his natural disposition.)
Ali hates Marcus. He hates the way Marcus squirmed into his brain, wedged himself right in the middle of his thoughts, and refuses to leave. He hates that Marcus Freaking Smith, of all the evil bastards in the world, is the one who has seen him at his most vulnerable, that it was Marcus who was the first to give him comfort and attention after years of abuse and neglect.
Every time he questions it, he comes to a different conclusion: Was Marcus faking it all? Was it just the calculated charm of an older guy trying to get hero-worship from a neglected fool with skewed standards? Or was the comfort, the romance, the sex, all a ploy to make a dedicated assistant? Was there ever something there or did Marcus just enjoy the attention?
He can't be 100% certain, but he knows Marcus enjoys the attention, because even now he makes clear attempts to remain in Ali's thoughts, stealing and sabotaging and interfering with everything Ali does for his company.
Ali may have been the only man Marcus ever felt genuine romantic love for. That's not saying much, however, when even the tiniest speck of warmth is more than nothing.
Marcus appreciated Ali's extravagant yet morally bankrupt ways, as well as his usefulness as a scientific collaborator, given that Ali had a background in medical science.
However this moral bankruptcy had one exception: Ali's personal experience with nonconsensual human experimentation quickly turned him against Marcus once he learned the scope of the KIE project. Marcus was primarily upset over the loss of an intelligent collaborator, but deep down a part of him also missed the affection.
He quickly turned this twinge of sorrow into a sore, angry vendetta. This was nursed in private during the many years where they were far apart from one another, but when Marcus returned from Khione to Hel to find Ali a wealthy, successful property baron, he turned to active sabotage of Delacroix's dealings.
When Archer thinks of Marcus, he thinks of disgust. During the time Marcus lived with him and his twin, Archer simply thought he was a cagey, friendly nerd who had a fun scientific hobby. Not long before his attempted murder, Marcus's veneer began to unravel, which immediately caught Archer's curiosity. This lead to the motivation behind Marcus's attempt to kill the twins, that they might find out he had been experimenting on them. While the two got close to learning the truth, they never did, so in Archer's eyes Marcus suddenly turned on them for no reason.
During their time as roommates, Marcus found Archer difficult to be around. With a friendly, loving personality, he rubbed the antisocial Marcus the wrong way. However, playing nice with Archer was all worth it in order two have two perfect test subjects, easily available and genetically similar for perfect comparing and contrasting of results.
In her early 20s, when she was strictly a hitman-for-hire, Lydia was frequently paid to kill or intimidate associates of Ali's business rivals. This gave the two a lot of time to get to know each other. Looking back, Lydia's not sure if it was his charming personality, or all the drugs he gave her, but they had a bond. There were some late nights shared between the two, where the cloud of intoxications cleared, and it genuinely seemed as though they liked each other.
Of course, they haven't seen each other in at least 5 years, and Lydia's got more pressing matters than thinking about some guy she used to know.
Ali has absolutely no idea if Lydia is dead or alive. He wonders sometimes, and wishes well for her; while he never felt it was his place to intervene, it was clear to him when they were "business associates" that Lydia was frequently skirting the edge of life itself.
Lydia was never the easiest hitman that Ali did business with. She got good results, sure, but lots of other people could have done so without all the chit-chat, mooching and flirting. Yet time and time again it was her that he hired. This system went without fail for some time, but in as much measure as their relationship had slowly grew, it quickly ended, unceremoniously going from presence to absence. Ali's immediate assumption was that she had finally overdosed, or perhaps that a rival associate had done her in. He only wishes he could find some sort of closure. ...But would he even recognize her now?
There's never been a time when Marcus didn't creep Lydia out.
But Lydia needed the money, and there's only so many employers in Hel where having been an accomplished hitman was a desired qualification. (Well, knowing the state of the cityplanet Hel, that's not entirely true.) Lydia never really cared what it was that Marcus was doing or why he was doing it. All she knew is that she could afford a decent apartment by stealing files, destroying paper trails, and occasionally destroying other people's files.
When Lydia found Marcus's confidential archives, she didn't even know what she was doing. When hacking is so second-nature, she didn't even realize she had laid eyes upon something only intended for him. But the reckoning was immediate. Lydia knew that if she wanted to stay alive, she needed to leave, and fast. Marcus was a force of nature and Lydia had just awakened a hurricane.
With the information she'd uncovered, Lydia had only one lead- Head to Khione.
Marcus saw Lydia as a pawn. A useful pawn with a tendency to not ask too many questions. He found her entertaining and appreciated her seemingly nonexistent moral compass.
As the time went on during her employment as his hired thug, this began to change. Lydia started questioning the necessity of certain murder-y tasks, and trying to glean details unnecessary for job execution. This all culminated in her breaking into Marcus's scientific logs, permanently putting Lydia on his shit list. It's a good thing Lydia's so skilled at fleeing, or else she'd already be dead.
When Clyde thinks of Marcus, they're filled with deep pangs of guilt.
Clyde was the one who introduced Marcus to Archer. He'd attended one of Clyde's late-night drag shows, and stayed late to complement them. It came up in conversation that Marcus was trying to find a more permanent living situation, and Clyde and Archer had indeed been looking for a way to ease the burden of their rent.
This proved to be a near-fatal error. Marcus was never a good roommate, but one day something snapped, and he became far worse. Messy, rude, and spending all day and night locked in his room. It was only a few days after they confronted him about it that he attempted to kill the both of them by trapping them in a collapsing cave. Clyde escaped unscathed but was unable to rescue Archer, who suffered permanent brain damage. After this, Marcus was nowhere to be found.
Ah, the one that got away! Test subject, that is.
Marcus was so close to a breakthrough with his monogenerational evolution research, having found the perfect targets, identical twins who he shared an apartment with! This excitement made Marcus's fake nice-guy veneer slip, and suddenly the twins became much more suspicious and felt a lot more unsafe. Fearing that they'd found out what he'd been doing to them, Marcus attempting to kill the twins in a cave ceiling collapse. He fled immediately afterwards, leaving traces to fake his own death, but he still wonders what could have been if those twins hadn't gotten wise...
Archer was infatuated with Lydia from the moment he set eyes on her. He thought her cagey personality was kind of cute, and was entirely convinced she was the prettiest woman in this galaxy. When she rebuffed his advances, he was willing to back off, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. Maybe if he just waits it out and gives her some space, she'll grow more attached to him and change her mind?
Once they actually start dating, Archer finds that Lydia doesn't really have a "soft side" in the traditional sense. He starts to worry that because she doesn't express her feelings very well, she doesn't like him very much. That is not at all the case, however; she's just emotionally stunted, and shows her love through actions instead of words.
When they first meet, Lydia doesn't think very much about Archer. Her life is stressful enough with gender struggles and being on the run from Space Criminals. She's never been one to enjoy committed relationships, instead hopping from boy toy to boy toy. Why should she start now? Besides, she thinks, this guy must be a chaser, there's no way he genuinely thinks she's beautiful. (Of course, Lydia is wrong on this front. Archer thinks she's pretty as pretty can be, and actually didn't realize she was trans until she came out to him.)
Once Lydia finally decides to give a non-one-night-stand relationship a try, she finds that Archer brings out the good in her. She likes his jokes and appreciates his positive outlook on life. The symptoms of his brain injury are hard to deal with at first but she finds herself willing to deal with them time and time again. As their relationship becomes even more committed, Lydia begins to worry. What will Archer say when he finds out she used to be a hitman?
Clyde was put off by Lydia from the start. They were uneasy around off-planeters, having met so few in their life, and were overprotective of Archer when he started talking about how pretty she was. It didn't help that one of the first things she ever said to them was "What's wrong with your brother?"
They were forced to cooperate for sheer survival, but continued to butt heads. Clyde & Lydia were very similar people, in all the worst ways- gloomy, introverted, distrustful of strangers and easy to make grudges.
Lydia doesn't think very highly, or very often, of Clyde.
Clyde often held a position of leadership among those around them, which made Lydia all the more wary of them. She's not a fan of authority, especially when she feels that there's no reason Clyde's any better than her.
Clyde and Archer had been inseparable ever since birth, so Archer's brain injury hit them pretty hard. What hit them even harder was that Clyde impulsively lied to Archer and to the authorities that there was absolutely nothing they could have done to prevent it, while in reality there was about a 50/50 chance they could have saved both themselves and their brother from the accident, but saved only themselves out of panicked cowardice. They've been keeping up the lie for 5 years now, which makes time with Archer especially exhausting, even though they love their brother with all of their stupid little heart.
Archer loves his twin deeply. He thinks they're a bit of a downer, but knows that they're a softie inside. When Archer had his brain injury, Clyde quickly became registered as a caretaker, which Archer took as a sign of loving familial devotion. This did put a strain on their relationship, adding a businesslike nature to it with Clyde's routine checkups on their brother, but ultimately it brought them closer as siblings as Clyde time and time again proved their devotion to taking care of their brother. Had Archer known that they did it out of guilt, however...