Beautiful People: Valentine’s Edition

What is this, another post in which I talk about the characters from Snow? Yep, that’s right. My apologies for two link-up posts in a row, but I left them too late in the month and so you get both of them this week. But now, it’s time for another Beautiful People post. Beautiful People is a writerly link-up hosted by Cait@Paper Fury and Sky@Further Up and Further In, and this month, it’s all relationship themed in honour of Valentine’s Day. If you saw yesterday’s post then you would have met the two main characters of Snow, the volatile duo of Nicola and Eric in my three excerpts. If you haven’t checked out that post yet, I highly suggest you do. And now, on to the questions!

How did they first meet?

Nicola and Eric first met in less than ideal circumstances. Eric was on the run from his step-father and had been brought to the base of a team of teenaged agents with mutant abilities for his own protection, and also in the hope that he could provide them with some helpful information. Nicola happens to be one of these teenaged agents. Neither of the were too happy for him to be there.

What were their first impressions of each other?

Not good. In Nicola’s own words “Either he was feeling intensely awkward, or he was just a stuck up little so-and-so. Either way he was extremely rude.” And Eric’s first impression of Nicola is “The girl with blue hair, the sarcastic one…” Yeah, they didn’t hit it off very well.

How long have they been a couple?

Well, technically in this book they’re not yet a couple. It takes them about a book and a half to start figuring things out. They’re complicated little cookies.

How committed/loyal are they to each other? Would they break up over a secret or a disagreement? Could stress drive them apart? Would they die for each other?

Once they actually become a couple, they’re incredibly committed to each other. Nicola is willing to sneak into the middle of the enemy’s base to find help for Eric, and Eric will put himself in harm’s way, or even die for Nicola if he had to. Both of them have trust issues, and they have a rocky start to their relationship, but once they get things straightened out, they’re willing to do anything for the other. And as far as breaking up over a secret, they're both pretty tolerant of secrets as they each have their own fair share of them. Dark pasts are dark, peoples.

List 5 “food quirks” they know about each other. (Ex: how they take their coffee, if they’re allergic to something, etc….and feel free to mention other non-food quirks!)

Oh goodness, I don’t think I know five food related quirks about them, let alone if they know them. However, here are five random quirks they know about each other.

1. Nicola is queen of cookies and hot chocolate. But only if they’re both homemade
2. Eric accidentally lowers the room temperature when stressed or upset
3. Nicola prefers to do all her thinking underwater
4. Eric hates instant coffee
5. Nicola had to keep her hands busy when she’s stressed or nervous

Does anyone disapprove of their relationship?

Well, Eric’s step-dad would, but as he’s more present as an enemy threat rather than an actual influence in his life his opinion has no bearing on the matter. Apart from that, people are actually pretty supportive, or at least tolerant of it.

What would be an ideal date?

For Nicola, an ideal date would be a trip to a quiet beach with no one around so she can go in the water without anyone seeing her tail appearing. And then hot chips while sitting on the sand as the sun goes down. Before her mutant ability appeared in her early teens, most of her life revolved around the beach, so it holds a very special place in her heart.

For Eric, an ideal date would be something really ordinary, like going to get coffee, or to see a movie. This is partly because his life is so abnormal usually that going to do something simple like that would allow him to be an ordinary person again, doing the usual things teenagers do, rather than trying to save the world.

What are their personality dynamics? Similar? Contrasting? Do they fight a lot or mesh perfectly?

In many ways, they’re very similar. Neither of them trusts easily, both have very strong opinions, and neither of them settle into new places with new people very easily. Most of the time they get on pretty well, but because they’re both rather headstrong this does lead to them butting heads on several occasions, quite heatedly in some cases.

What have been their best and worst moments together as a couple?

So far, I’m not actually sure what their best moment is as a couple. Mostly because it takes them forever to become a couple, and then when they do, it’s under bad circumstances. Their worst moment though, I know that. It comes three books in to the series (yes, I have written the first three books without having finished editing the first one yet.) Without sharing too many spoilers, Eric has big health issues which are a carry-over from something that happens in Snow, and he is likely to die from it if they can’t find a solution to fix it. And that solution is nigh on unreachable. So that’s the darkest time for both of them so far.

Where do they see themselves and their relationship in the next few years?

Currently they have trouble looking ahead that far due to current dangerous events. However, given time to sit down and think about it, they would hope that in the next few years neither of them gets killed in a mission, and that they stick together. Seeing as they live in the same place and neither of them has any plans of leaving any time soon, it would get very awkward very quickly if they broke up. But, because they have such trouble getting emotionally close to people, they tend to hold on tightly when they do.

And that's it folks, a little bit more about Eric and Nicola. Have you enjoyed getting to know them a bit better this week? Are you linking up with Beautiful People this month? Drop me a link to your post in the comments!