#lmao I've been playing Vivian for almost ten years

[secretquaggan]

The Commander

So I haven’t been able to do GW2 things for awhile (RIP to my desktop), but! I’m slowly getting back into the ability to do game things - and, to revive this blog, I thought it would be fun to do an ask meme (though I’m filling it out more as an introduction/bio!) Credit goes to @moonlit-grove! This “ask thing” is for Vivian Kimura-Mori, my Commander (see my character page for her bio, if you’re interested!)

1. A verse or so of lyrics that just gives me vibes for them and why:

'Cause I've been a devil, I've been a saint Somebody help me, I can't change I keep on (runnin' toward, runnin' toward the fire) I keep on (runnin' toward, runnin' toward the fire) Oh, I let my lover go, didn't wanna be a liar Ashes in the cold, now I'm running toward the fire

I love this lyric from Bishop Briggs’ The Fire for Vivian, because she’s very much defined by her sense of personal duty/obligation towards Tyria and the peoples who call it home; in part due to her early education as a noblewoman by her grandfather, who taught her that noble birth is a responsibility to everyone who relies on you, and in part to her own inherent martyr/savior complex. Although she’s a loving wife and mother, she cuts considerations to her husband and child out of her decision-making when it comes to her roles as both the Pact Commander, and the leader of Dragon Watch. I’m not saying she’d set herself on fire to keep Tyria warm; but if she’s immolating the most recent threat to do so and she’s standing a little too close, well. Shit happens.

2. A piece of music without lyrics that could be their background music:

So I don’t usually lean into instrumental music for my characters, and I found this a little tricky. I think Hidden Citizens’ cover of Moonlight Sonata would be a good action/overview/trailer song for Vivian as a character? But I would maybe suggest something more like Vitamin String Quartet’s cover of Bad Habits might be a good song for her as a person at-rest or in downtime.

3. Where they would most likely want to settle down:

As a member of a noble family, Vivian has access to both the family holdings in Divinity’s Reach, as well as the country estate just outside Claypool (where she spent most of her childhood.) She considers Claypool to be her “hometown,” but her own daughter currently resides in Beetletun under the guardianship of her godfather, Lord Faren. Vivian herself maintains rooms in various capital cities across Tyria, where she occasionally crosses paths with her husband. Mostly, she travels alone, or with her companion, Jaya.

4. What their dream home would be.

Kind of related to the question above, I don’t think Vivian really has a concept of settling down, or a “dream home”; the Pact is her life’s work, and although it has less urgency with the conclusion (?) of the cycle of elder dragons, she’s spent far too much of her life living in the present to do too much personal daydreaming about the future.

5. General opinion of Nobility

As a member of nobility herself, Vivian has some strong opinions. She believes that the function of a ruling class is to serve the common people who look to their rulers for leadership. She is a supporter of Queen Jennah, but something of an uncomfortable dinner guest; Vivian can be rather scathing about what her peers get up to with the education and free time their wealth affords them, and about how they manage their resources to assist the common man in times of need and crisis, as well as in times of peace.

6. Their relationship to Aurene:

Although she’s not the best mother, Vivian is quite maternal; she considers Taimi and Aurene to be her daughters, just as much as she does her own biological child. She worries about what will become of Aurene in the future, and works hard to ensure that the young dragon develops a healthy love and respect for all life in Tyria - as well as ensuring that individuals around the dragon develop an equal respect for her.

7. Thoughts on the Soundless:

Due to not being Sylvari herself, Vivian largely considers the Soundless to be a situation it is not her place to speak on with regards to their treatment and existence. However, she’s empathetic to their desire for freedom, having loved and married a Sylvari whose path takes him as far from such constraints as possible without breaking them entirely.

8. Do they believe in destiny or fate:

No. Vivian very much believes in a person’s ability to shape and forge their own future. Her choices and willingness to do the work have brought her to the place of being Pact Commander, Champion of Aurene, and leader of Dragon Watch; her fortune at birth afforded her education and opportunities that others lack. She considers that luck, more than some kind of irrevocable destiny or fate.

9a. How does Vivian greet Bohai (her husband) after a long time apart?:

Vivian is not what anyone would consider a particularly romantic individual; even around her husband of several years. Although she’s always privately quite relieved when their paths cross, or when he turns up from one of his bouts of wandering, she rarely expresses this externally. Usually there’s sharp questioning about where he’s been, what he’s been up to, and whether he’s managed to come back to her in one piece. Occasionally they fight. (They usually, but not always, manage to make up.) Despite the very deep love and affection the two have for one another, they’re not particularly demonstrative people and their lives and work take them in frequently opposite directions; so their reunions are fairly....unique.

9b. How do they greet their closest friends?:

It does very much depend on the friends; Jaya is usually greeted with a drink and a long talk about what they’ve been up to while apart. It’s a quiet warmth, and perhaps more intimate for it? Faren gets a bear-hug, a shoulder shake, and a very stern series of questions about what he’s been up to (in a very different tone,) and out-loud wondering why she chose him for her child’s guardian. Kasmeer, it’s a total sleep-over, complete with girlish giggling that Vivian would die before letting anyone else see! With other close friends, she’s friendly but a bit distant, as per usual.

10. Do they have any weird nicknames?:

Absolutely not. If she does, they’re not spoken where she can hear them. If her husband has any endearments they’re not spoken where anyone else can hear them. She does go by Commander, or Lady Kimura-Mori, in mixed company. She’s comfortably just Viv with her friends and companions. She is otherwise not a woman who invites weird or funny or joking nicknames.

11. A song that punches me with inexplicable vibes for them:

Okay, so it’s not inexplicable, necessarily. But Sam Tinnesz’s Far From Home always punches me with the softest Vivian feelings; particularly towards her husband, daughter, and best friends. It’s that like tiny kernel of yearning for perhaps the life she might have had if it weren’t for [gestures to everything], that flicker of doubt that she’d never express of maybe not being enough to handle the problems that come her way.

12. Thoughts on Largos:

Honestly, Vivian respects the shit out of it. She’s pretty honor-bound herself, and she can get behind the kind of grind Largos put into their work. If she gets to meet them without being a target, I think they probably vibe. If she gets in one’s crosshairs, I think it’s big ‘I hate to kill such a masterpiece’ energy.

13. Thoughts on the dragon cycle?:

I’m not sure Vivian spends a lot of time thinking about it? She’s not remotely academic as some of her companions (though she is quite well-read and educated!) I think there’s some relief about the cycle ending, some anxiety about what comes next, and maybe a sliver of fear that maybe she’s actually irreparably broken the world and the wheels are about to come off the cart and pitch them all into something horribly unknown. (It’s fine. It’s the PTSD, probably.)