"one day, i realized i loved you.
or could love you.
would love you.
might love you.
it was like seeing the future"

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ｎａｍｅ
aera lotus destis

ａｇｅ
nineteen

ｇｅｎｄｅｒ
female

ｒｏｌｅ
princess of zen

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ｆａｃｅーｃｌａｉｍ
hwa.mins2 on instagram

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ｐｅｒｓｏｎａｌｉｔｙ
quiescent. isolophiliac. halcyon

in aera's country, it would be common for a princess like her to grow up like a doll; living and breathing only for the pleasure of the men in her life. that was what was expected of her and all women of high nobility. they are fawned over and praised for their beauty and grace, but they are never truly living. if they are lucky, they will be educated and thus tortured with the knowledge of other people's sufferings, without actually being able to do anything to help them. luckily for aera, this had not been the case and it is thanks to the influence of her mother and the other ladies of the palace. they did not want their princess to grow up caged in her role. instead, they allowed her to choose her own path by raising her completely separate from the influence of the king. the princess that stands here today is the result of that peculiar upbringing.

while she does appear submissive and weak, it is only to hide the fact that she is smart. far smarter than her father and brothers would want her to be. she is the amalgamation of countless women who had their futures, their lives robbed from them because of the sexism of their country. she has their passion, their fear. their drive, their desires; she has all the tricks of the court and the life lessons learned from grandmothers who have long passed, and she keeps them all safe and protected under that demure smile. while she may not be your regular kind of charismatic, there is a certain motherly wiseness to aera that only someone with her upbringing could have. and she would not change it for the world.

aera is multifaceted in that regard, but she is still quite naive. there are things people can only learn through experience. this naivety and complete inexperience of the outside world manifests through her curiosity or her hunger for knowledge. the only thing she knows about her people and the life outside her palace walls are things she's heard after all. she wants more than that. not just stories and rumors, but interactions with living and breathing people. she loves her mentors and would never trade them for anything in the world, but aera wants to learn everything she can about people and culture and art. not just because it's her passion. not just because it had been deprived from her by her country's inadequate education, but because she believes that's the true duty of a princess. to learn about other country's culture so that she could use her knowledge to help her own people. aera believes that's the real reason princesses are only allowed to learn about culture and diplomacy, but it merely got lost along the way.

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ｂａｃｋｓｔｏｒｙ
aera hails from a small kingdom further east of saemas known as zen. she is the youngest royal; and their only princess, adored by the palace and the people. in her culture, children are gifted with a middle name representing a flower or plant, and she earned lotus; purity. since then, aera's only grown into the expectations placed upon her. though she did not excel in studies or martial arts like her brothers, she grew up graceful and with many womanly talents. aera was raised by her mother and her ladies in waiting, which caused her to be quite withdrawn from her brothers and father.

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ｆａｍｉｌｙ
≫ Raphia Holly; mother
≫ Lincoln Heliotrope; father
≫ Harrison Zinnia; eldest brother
≫ Arthur Peony; older brother

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ｏｃｃｕｐａｔｉｏｎ
princess

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ｌｉｋｅｓ
≫ flowers; they are a large part of her culture.
≫ sunsets; also known as the first star in her country.
≫ her mother and the aunts (the ladies in waiting); they were the ones that raised her and she wants to make them proud by winning the selection.
≫her country; the mishmash of stories about the common folk has made her adore her country despite all its flaws and imperfections.
≫ flowing dresses
≫ music, particularly those of her country

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ｄｉｓｌｉｋｅｓ
≫ her father; she believes that he is too cold and strict and that's why the people are unhappy.
≫ toxic masculinity; her country runs rampant with it.
≫ sexism; also quite common in her country sometimes. she knows she's lucky as she was born a princess, but that only means she should use her standing to help others.
≫ being away from her country
≫ the expectations placed on her; she fears that she will not succeed and bring shame to her family by not winning.

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ｗｅａｋｎｅｓｓｅｓ
≫ studies; due to the sexism of her country, aera is only well versed in basic history and arithmetics. she can read and write in various languages but spent most of her childhood learning more about feminine talents and culture (music and dance) rather than anything important. thus, while she may want to play a bigger role in the politics of her country, she simply does not know enough to form a valuable opinion on things.
≫ physicality; although aera had basic training in martial arts to protect herself, they refused to let her further her training because it would ruin her lithe figure. therefore the current aera is as fragile as a flower, just like how her family wanted her to be.
≫ introversion; aera was quite sheltered growing up. while she does know all the right things to say and can pass as charismatic, she just does not have as much experience talking to people as the other selected.

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ｔａｌｅｎｔｓ
≫ (flower) weaving; she considers this one of her greatest talents.
≫ playing plucked string instruments; such as guzhengs or harps.
≫ basic martial arts
≫ dance; of many different countries.

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ｒｅａｓｏｎ
≫ her family is losing power and support from the people. they simply do not believe in the rule of royalty anymore, but her country cannot survive through a civil war. instead, they hope that if aera marries into saemas, they could hold onto power or at least be able to defeat the rebels if they choose to revolt. but aera knows better. she needs to win the selection, because if she doesn't and the people revolt, the first to be executed will be all her beloved mentors. how could she worry about love when she has all of this resting on her shoulders?

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ｃｏｕｎｔｒｙ
zen appears to be a peaceful agricultural kingdom with a flourishing trade. it's based on many asian countries/empires. it's well known as a survivalist country, meaning almost every person can defend themselves in battle or survive in the wild. despite this, people are known to be adaptable and open-minded.

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"my point is;
i don't love you
not yet.
i love that one day
i could love you, and that it would be endless."

bungalow-