Artur
Relationships
History
Joining Fabia and Artur was a little tough for Faruq after the first couple of years. They welcomed him and formed a close band, but they had spent 150 years together already and were the first to discover each other which automatically made Faruq a bit of a third wheel. They actually grew closer, especially Artur and Faruq as younger immortals started appearing. Though Faruq greatly welcomed the addition of Geneviève, she was much younger and from two and a half centuries later in history. The relatively quick appearance of Matas also further cemented that Faruq was now one of the older, more experienced figures as he, Fabia and Artur took on the roles of mentors. It also highlighted how much time Faruq had already spent with Artur, the immense of wealth of shared experience which suddenly gained greater value. Because Faruq and Artur are focused on different things (Artur more on combat and the everyday practical, Faruq more on the intellectual side) they compliment each other well and don't feel any rivalry. Both have a devious sense of humor, and enjoy ribbing and cheating each other during games.
History
Fabia and Artur are not what might be called be the start of it all - Fabia is too obviously the start of it all, the oldest - but they are the original team. They have a natural chemistry which is a large part of what helped them survive Artur's early years. Fabia was around 150 years old when Artur died for the first time. It took them several years to find each other as Fabia had no idea what the dreams signified at first, and their travelling wasn't synchronised yet. The third time they spotted each other in different times and places, Fabia followed him to a quiet spot and they each demanded the other to explain what was going on. From that moment on they were a team. Not that everything went smoothly. Artur wasn't particularly inclined to listen to anyone, especially a woman, but whereas he had a knack for getting himself into trouble, Fabia had a gift for getting them out of it again. Both with brazen, combative personalities they tend to spark off each other rather than clash and by now have a stunning level of coordination together. Despite their closeness and a tendency to engage in a lot of physical touch, including hugs, braiding hair and laying exhaustedly in human piles, they have very little romantic interest in each other. Every 200 years or so they try it out and conclude that nope, still not into it. They still tend to be the parental figures of the group, although they have a very different idea of parenting than Katherine. Fabia has definite seniority over Artur, being the real leader of the group both because she's the oldest and because she's less reckless. This is also something that has just remained from their original duo. Fabia had so much experience by the time Artur joined her, she was his mentor even as he introduced her to a new era of history and inspired her to try new things. They have a fierce, obvious love for each other, delighting in similar things and pushing each other to new heights even after so many years. They are the energetic burning heart of the group, Artur feeding Fabia's bright flame as leader.
History
Matas practically hero-worships Artur in his admiration for him. Since Matas thinks himself too cool for this and has a natural instinct to rebel against those older than him, this doesn't always get expressed in a positive manner. Artur sees rather too much of his younger self in Matas and is reluctant to encourage those traits in him. Since Artur himself learned much of how to curb his recklessness, short temper and impatience from Fabia and she actually has a soft spot for Matas, Artur tries to nudge him in her direction. As Matas is both impressed and somewhat intimidated by Fabia he doesn't mind spending time with her, but he's also completely oblivious about Artur's efforts in this direction since Matas is occasionally so fixated on trying to get extra attention from Artur. Despite this, Artur does like Matas a great deal and Matas' antics, especially with Geneviève, make him laugh. To him, Matas' relatively young age and eternal 19-year-old body make him just a boy. So while Artur is careful to try to curb rather than encourage Matas' impulses, he sympathises with Matas' eager and passionate personality.
History
Geneviève is Artur's protege rather than Fabia's. Rather somber, although with a sharp wit, when she joined the immortals, learning from Artur has taught her to find her own joy and a self-assuredness in her own body. Where Faruq has mostly been a mentor in intellectual matters, Artur has been a tutor of physicality. Geneviève's natural capability for deception caused Artur to teach her much about acting with your body, both are totally brazen liars whereas Faruq is more subtle and Fabia more inclined to avoidance and letting people spin their own tales. Geneviève in turn has done much to increase the craftiness of Artur's acting - what stories people will and won't believe, how to use humor and flattery and insults to make yourself likeable, how to be overly pleasant and cause people to avoid you without becoming suspicious. Geneviève, Artur, and Faruq have spent a lot of time together, turning their respective angers into deeper kindness; Artur's quick, intense fury; Geneviève's long- simmering, deep resentment; Faruq's slow-building, burning anger. The older two mostly guiding Geneviève along but she also gave them reasons to go deeper and further with this as they saw some types of cruelty becoming more systemic and inescapable. Artur has a very deep affection for Geneviève. Even after 90 years, she still feels like "his new kid". This shifts a little with the addition of Katherine and especially Helena, as Geneviève also quickly grows into more of a mentor role herself, but rather than lessening it this deepens and matures relationship.
History
To Katherine, Artur is really "the fun one" of the group. His cheerful nature and focus on the physical and practical makes him easy to be around for her. He isn't challenging her so openly on broadening her horizons but places few demands on her, his jokes make her laugh, and his straightforwardness makes him less intimidating to her than the others. Artur is more cunning and gentler than Katherine realises though, his high energy personality masking those other traits he's developed. Artur's happy to help Katherine adjust and learn, especially with the horses. But he also supports Fabia's decision to pair Katherine with Faruq for combat training and more intellectual subjects, agreeing that he is the better fit in those areas. Instead, his efforts are more directed towards getting Katherine to become part of the group and coax her out of her shell. Katherine's adoration of Fabia is obvious to him, he's seen the same thing in Faruq and, to a lesser extent, Geneviève. Artur thinks it's utterly adorable and hopes that coaxing her out more will let her start connecting to Fabia as both Katherine and Fabia want to; he really wishes them all the joy of such a relationship.
History
Artur being blond, male, and approaching her while speaking German did not make a good first impression on Helena, as her frame of reference for that category of person was "Nazi invader". So once Fabia had persuaded Helena to come with her to their residence, Helena half hid behind her as Artur was introduced. Artur had simply smiled his warm, broad, crinkly-eyed smile at her and left it at that. Perhaps it was because he looked like a threat but, upon consideration, didn't act like one that Helena became immensely curious about Artur. She watched him closely whenever he was around and would abandon Matas to sneak after him, determined to discover whether Artur was the same when he didn't know she was watching him or secretly nefarious after all. She watched him looking after their mountain ponies; tell scandalously brazen lies to their neighbours; train with Fabia, Geneviève, and Faruq; mend items and tools and the fences of the residence; knock down a man who threatened a beggar; and give the beggar their food (Matas grumbled about this until Artur joked that Matas that could come get his revenge once he found a way to starve to death). And so, quietly, Helena stopped keeping her distance from Artur. He was always full of smiles for her, ready to help when she was too small or too weak. She liked the feeling of his hands when he first took one of hers in his, when he lifted her onto a high branch she couldn't reach, when he spun her through the air until she shrieked with laughter. She stopped watching him in secret whenever she abandoned Matas and approached him instead. Artur would turn and smile and beckon her over, and she would follow him for the rest of the day or until he had some task she couldn't accompany. From the moment Artur had seen Helena standing in the street, scared and confused, more than just an alarming dream to him, he had felt such fury erupt in his chest at the world. He was no stranger to the dead children who were war collateral in every century, but the fact that it was still happening and now, apparently, in such numbers that even an immortal showed up as a child (putting her at risk of yet more trauma) infuriated him beyond measure. But Artur was no longer young and had spent his life finding his own way to deal his revenge to such cruelty. So he welcomed Helena with open arms and when she started to seek his company, gave her all the attention she wished. To his delight, she was bright and cheerful and funny. She quickly captured his heart and seemed to enjoy his company equally well. Artur encourages Helena to spend time with the others as well, to try things out for herself. They're all still very much figuring out how to introduce a child to the concept of immortality and the skills they've built. But so far, Artur figures the main idea is to get her through the first few years in a reasonable mental state and let her figure out she's safe with all of them.
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