as I've implied in the past on my sideblog, Lucent is some flavor of aroace - he loves people a lot, but not romantically, and though he's comfortable with sex, he neither experiences sexual attraction nor has an active libido.

I'm not totally sure what Savoulain's deal is, but his and Lucent's relationship definitely falls outside of the realm of a "typical" one. they rarely kiss or have sex. they sleep in different beds, in different rooms, in part because of each other's late-night research habits. they're more likely to spend their "us time" reading in the same room than cuddling. but they love each other a great deal and call each other partner, and the second person to wake up each morning wakes up to breakfast already made and a lively conversation about what they were each reading last night.

their connection is very much an intellectual one. not at the expense of intimacy and emotional connection - rather, it's fundamental to these things. their relationship might seem cold and detached to the outside eye, but it is anything but. it is sincere, passionate, and mutually supportive, and they are both very content with this arrangement.

I keep being like "I should make Savoulain* in FFXIV proper... except like, what's even the point? I'd need to commit so many victimless crimes to get him to look right and also we are terrible at keeping up with multiple characters, I will never actually play him"

and then, just now, the apple of enlightenment clonked off of my head - no, doofus, you're not making him so you can play him. You're making him for posing purposes.

I think as much as Lucent likes fighting, he doesn't fly into a rage and begin beating people up over just anything. it's a specific combination of things:

• someone has hurt another person in a clear and unambiguous way
• for selfish, stupid reasons
• and shows absolutely no remorse over doing so

RDM!Lucent once beat up a bunch of pirates in Limsa for stealing from a Qiqirn traveler, and has had plenty more opportunities to let out his rage, as per the life of an adventurer. SGE!Lucent has been much more insulated, but has probably still beaten up some fellow students for bullying others, enough to have gotten a Reputation. I'm playing with the idea that the reason SGE!Lucent rolls better on intimidation checks than RDM!Lucent is because people were eventually like "hey, families are complaining about him beating up their sons/daughters/progeny, we need to keep him from doing that or else he'll get exiled," and someone was like "sure! I can teach him how to resolve conflicts without physical violence. :)"

(what people thought this meant: "how to politely explain to bullies why bullying is bad"
what it actually was: "how to be Really Scary and win fights without actually touching anyone")

between this, the doctor who went "idk, have you tried giving him enrichment instead of locking him up," and myriad other people who were genuine friends and role models in Lucent's academic life, I'm playing with the idea that Sharlayan as a country kind of sucks, and there's plenty of individual people who suck, but there's also a lot of passionate, caring people who are creating positive change on a personal level. you know, kind of like the school system IRL