Awesome.
Grab a box of tissues because shit just got emotionally real? 
I can do tearjerker, and there’s room for that reaction within this story, but if I was going to call one of my ONC’s s tearjerker, that’s Maysie’s Galaxy.
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Random scribbles below…
Zorik Liev
A literal mountain of strength and endurance. A former Golani Brigade (shock troop) lieutenant, Karen’s bodyguard, first and longest-serving mercenary, and her closest friend.
Zorik’s draft character history (in relation to my current work):
After two decades of service and the death of Zorik’s wife (Ashley’s albino skin had little defence against the desert sun), Karen knew Zorik would soon fall to the strains of constant warfare, loss and leadership (Zorik was the unofficial commander of Karen’s mercenary army). Karen bought Zorik’s family farm and ordered Zorik to retire and rest there.
Karen and Zorik also allow her mercenaries to occasionally visit the farm for a few days to de-stress* and keep Zorik company. The mercenaries’ military-aged children tend to drop by with their Army friends, to hangout with the ancient warrior and to ensure the farm is always well protected (intense home security).
Karen will, in dire circumstances, still summon Zoirk for a mission but often everyone argues against this choice. Their old friend has earnt a rest, and no one wants to see Zorik break (again).
*I might include scenes in the current story were Hannah (Karen’s adopted daughter) demands Karen visit the farm for a while. No one is immune from stress or emotional fatigue. One major sticking point with this concept is that Hannah views Zorik as a second father, and she would not be pleased about Zorik leaving Karen’s estate.
Hannah Gavish
(All copied from another thread)
First, Hannah’s family status and history:
Elli (father, deceased), Julia (mother, deceased), Leon (step-brother, younger by four years), Karen (adoptive mother), Karen’s mercenaries (extended family), Zorik (Leon’s father, Karen’s closest friend). Julia was assassinated three days after Hannah was born, and Elli was killed in battle during the Kosovo conflict (1998, when Hannah was four). Hannah was formally adopted by Karen after Kosovo.
Hannah has an unyielding devotion to her family (mercenaries included), and she is hyper-protective of her brother. Hannah enlisted the IDF’s Military Intelligence with the belief that the more she knew of espionage and intel gathering the better she would become at hiding her family’s secrets. Hannah also berated her brother into joining a ‘safe’ non-combat Army unit. Leon chose the role of Army Mechanic and discovered a natural talent with machines.
In regards to her personal life, Hannah displays a distinct preference for girls especially naïve enthusiastic orchestra students (and any girl Leon brings home). Hannah views these conquests as chances to test / hone her knowledge of the human psyche and how to use it (training to become the ideal spy / pre-emptive home defence). And Hannah views pinching Leon’s girlfriends as a form of quality control…any girl she can seduce is unworthy of her brother…However, Hannah’s acute interest in the physical aspects of intimate relationships, her stubborn reluctance to discuss her family, and her lack of genuine emotions* often limit her relationships to a few weeks at most.
*The current Hannah is emotionally closed off and has great difficulty with trusting strangers. Some believe Hannah is terrified of experiencing the remorse and isolation she witnessed her housemates (extended family) suffer, every time their companions do not return from battle. Especially Krista’s reaction to the loss of her brother, and also Hannah’s own reaction to Elli’s death (ref. Kosovo).
Hannah never displays grief or remorse around others, even her family, and seems impervious to it. However, the loss of loved ones (or promising relationships) has devastating effects on her. On some pre-dawn mornings Karen finds a shivering Hannah with tear-streaked cheeks sleeping by the foot of the mercenaries’ Memorial Wall, clutching an empty wine bottle.
Dov Shaul
Dov will be forced to play this character type. A combat veteran from Australia’s Commandos, who has almost no experience with teaching or raising teenagers, is assigned to mentor and nurture a unique adolescent girl, Freyja.
For Dov, the physical challenges of training Freyja to fight like a commando (for self defence) is relatively easy, but the emotional and phycological challenges of being a good role model and ideal companion* for her is terrifying. Freyja’s unquestioning trust in and devotion to Dov, following his suggestions / directions without hesitation, doesn’t help.** At first Dov relies on luck and guesswork to guide his interactions and lessons with Freyja, but there’s the constant fear of that luck running out and Dov making a mistake that ruins the whole project (and possibly the rest of Freyja’s life).
To compound the issue, other characters caution Dov against showing any weakness or doubt Freyja’s company. Dov has to be the always dependable heavy cavalry*** / unbreakable bulwark**** that protects or rescues Freyja from the raging Southern Ocean style tempest of her life.
One character, Krista, attempts to ‘protect’ Dov from doubt or fear by keeping him too busy, exhausted, or distracted for Dov to question his predicament. Krista also keeps Dov and Freyja close together to aid this goal, and to protect their bond, and refuses to let Dov take any responsibility for major accidents. Nothing can endanger Freyja’s connection with / opinion of Dov,* lest Freyja be exposed to the same sense of isolation and remorse that traumatised Krista two years ago.
*Above all things you have to be someone the girls can look up to. In fact, that’s the absolute least you should do ~ Gunslinger Girl (season one).
*Stand up there, acknowledge your Fleet, and give them what they need: a hero ~ Battlestar Galactica
**I have orders to follow, thank God. That poor devil is riding the whirlwind ~ Laurence of Arabia.
**They reach for your heart as naturally as a flower reaches for the sun, and they trap you ~ Exodus (1960s film).
***You must go out, but you don’t have to come back ~ US Coast Guard: Search and Rescue.
***Knowing your request for air support will be answered with Skyhawks does wonders for one’s moral ~ IDF tank commander in the Golan Heights, 1973 Yom Kippur War.
****You are a rock. You absorb nothing, you say nothing, no one breaks you ~ House of Cards, US version.
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Yes, Mitchell from “In the Lost Protector is an Emerald Soul”. He’s a tragic hero type in that he’s willing to protect people and they always see his strong side. Even when he does get beaten up, they all know he’ll come back and be okay. They all know that despite all the horrible things, they can still go to him for help.
But Mitchell is suffering from all the ordeals he was put through to protect the others, and he does actually run away. He runs away to break down. No one sees this.
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My dhampir character Cabal has self appointed for that task… One of my most tortured characters. He chose to become a vampire hunter after the death of his mother and acts bad ass most of the time. He’s made a “profession” of locking his emotions away and bulldozed his feeling over with his job.
Unfortunately his suppression of emotions backfired multiple times in his long life… as it’s lead to descents into insanity.
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H i d a y a t 
Kid totally murdered a child of a marginalised religious sect for familial approval, felt heavy guilt over it and realised it did little to win over his elder brother, got pretty heavily targeted by people who knew the kid and, through far too much humiliation and physical assaults, still refused to express any emotion that he would consider ‘showing weakness’.
Eventually broke but
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