September Answer Post

Welcome to September's answer post, which is Asher central!

SPOILERS BELOW, you have been warned!

How would asher react to everyone being surprised that they haven't  realized the mc has a crush on them and insisting that its obvious?

Asher would be REALLY awkward about it and would probably try to avoid talking about it as much as possible! Someone like Dominique who is both a teaser and good at observing relationship dynamics would likely tease them about it and Asher would blush and shuffle their feet a lot, and excuse themselves. If the MC was there at the time, it would be even worse! They would just stammer and skedaddle away. I think even if an MC was really obvious about it (being physically affectionate or overtly flirty or romantic towards them) they would assume that it was purely friendly unless the MC very clearly said "HEY ASHER, I'M INTO YOU." They don't think they're in the MC's league and wouldn't want to presume anything!

Does Asher feel resentful of having their career chosen for them? What would they want to do if they weren't a bodyguard?

This is a complicated question for Asher, and I think they wouldn't quite know the answer themselves because they're so immersed in the culture they've been brought up in. Some of it depends on their Diffident/Bold score - depending on the MC's actions towards and around them, and how the MC encourages them, they may have less or more of a sense of independence or drive to do something else. For example, in the first choice you make, the "as long as we're in one piece" and "go faster!" options increase their Bold level. That stat sometimes changes their behaviour in a flavourful way, but later on it'll affect how they handle plot situations.

All of which is to say, Asher feels proud of their career and doesn't (at least for the first half of Royal Affairs or so) see an alternative. They genuinely like the MC and their family, and are so driven by their upbringing that opening up other choices is quite challenging for them. They like travelling and meeting people in other places, but at the same time I could see them finding it being really fulfilling to be a homemaker (and stay-at-home-parent if they had kids). It would also depend a lot on whether they have a romantic relationship with the MC or Hyacinthe - their drives and opinions would influence Asher a lot as they don't tend to put themselves first.

I guess the first question that occurs to me is if we'll be encountering  Teranese or Jezhani characters later in Royal Affairs, if that's  something you've got planned or not at this time.

Teran is going to play a fairly background role in Royal Affairs, as the Zaledo and Westerlin political relationship is more in the forefront. I have distant ideas that aren't quite plans for things to happen in Teran later down the line. As for Jezhan, if the Creme de la Creme MC doesn't marry Rosario, Rosario gets married to Prince/Princess/Heir Darian of Jezhan, and I have written a section where you can meet and hang out with them a bit during Royal Affairs. There may be a few others sprinkled through later on. Jezhan is also the setting of The New Thing so you'll get to spend more time there and meet more Jezhani characters in that story!

Thank you for the questions, everyone, and I'll be posting a new Q&A post and form on October 1. In the meantime, I'll have September's last Newsflash post coming up on Friday 24th. See you then!