relationships.        ----        platonic  and  romantic,  +  discussion  on  her  type.

on topics of romance . . . cherry’s type is as much broad as it is narrow in that she does have a certain type, perhaps two types, and these don’t necessarily have to all align for her to find some semblance of interest, although, again, just to note cherry’s own personality and difficulties in forming bonds of friendship let alone even begin considering romance, she does not easily, and hardly ever will, consider someone romantically. for her to even think about that would mean for her mile - thick barriers to have to be broken, and she would have to, yet again, overcome the fear of getting close with someone and allowing them to become closer with her and expose that vulnerability and be open, and to allow herself to love and be loved. she has great trauma in forming any kind of relationship due to losing her family and has, more or less, sworn to never get close to anyone to prevent herself from experiencing any kind of heartache or pain from losing someone, no matter how, whether it is because of drifting apart, betrayal, or death.

of course, things changed upon meeting the scions. they were friendly ---- almost overly friendly in their quick acceptance of her, in their blind and devoted faith toward her. they were so kind and welcoming, treating her like family as she got to know them, and without realizing it, in time, she did begin to feel as if they were close friends, that they were akin to a family, although it was not a thought that actually crossed her mind in words. she felt it subconsciously, not that it was something she was actively acknowledging. to even refer to someone as a friend is something so deeply intimate to her ---- it is an acknowledgement of her deep feelings of love and care and respect for them, and to admit to that would be to admit that she had grown fond of them, that they were her vulnerability, that she would be deeply pained if she were to ever lose them, and that is not a risk she is willing or ready to actively have in general. she does, however, come to terms soon enough with her feelings toward the scions, likely prior to the garlean infiltration of the waking sands, but it is in the actual event that she realizes just how close she had become to the scions in such short amount of time, perhaps not all of them but its core group, when she finds just how much she worried over minfilia’s wellbeing, over the death of noraxia ---- cherry had grown quite fond of the sylphs, and she was incredibly saddened by noraxia’s death.

so, in short, cherry makes it an active point in avoiding becoming close with anyone and often appears cold because of her habit of keeping others at arms length. she speaks of her personal matters very rarely, and it is likely that none of the scions are aware of her past. it is not out of a lack of trust, because she trusts the scions more than anyone in the world. it’s nothing like not wanting to burden them either, because she doesn’t care about that. what she cares about is the feeling of people having such deep knowledge about her, as she is an incredibly private person, and for someone to possess such private knowledge of her, she would have had to let them into her heart ---- letting someone into her heart means she would hurt to lose them, that they would hurt to lose her, and she would not have anyone feel such heartache she had in loss.

cherry has what we call a resting bitch face, and quite a personality to match if you cross her. she is not the most friendly person on the planet toward strangers, especially if you rub her the wrong way or just have such an abhorrent personality, but she is not unkind, unless you are deserving. say, she catches you mistreating an innocent, she will step in on the innocent’s behalf and promptly threaten you and accost you, and definitely would precede to beat your ass. she does not often show it, but she is a worrier regarding those she cares about and considers to be friends and has unconventional ways in which she expresses her care, but that is a discussion for a different post, but i digress. her expression often does keep people at bay, but sometimes it does not ---- her expression isn’t mean, per se, just something that, perhaps, looks mildly agitated.

another generally neutral expression of indifference she may have comes across as a rather seductive / sultry look, with what appear to be perpetual bedroom eyes, but that is simply her face and she is, more often than not, not interested unless she is actively being extremely friendly and actively flirting with you. even then, that is not express interest in bedding you, either ---- she likes to flirt for fun, be it for someone’s reaction, or if she wants something from them ( an item, information ), or simply because she’s bored and has nothing better to do to pass the time. you will know if cherry is actually interested in doing anything beyond casual flirting.

when it comes to even just casual sex, cherry’s type is the same as it would be for any romantic interests ( though, that is a rare feat, as explained above and perhaps i will elaborate further ). if your personality isn’t attractive to her, or if it isn’t something she can even tolerate or if it isn’t a personality that could belong to someone who could be a friend, she’s not interested. not for sex, not for friendships, nothing. she is quite easily irritated, so how could she find any interest in someone who is an annoyance to her?

to finally discuss what her type actually is, to put it concisely: feral, chaotic, funny, dominant, kind ---- not necessarily all together, but those are top traits. i say feral and chaotic because cherry is generally feral and chaotic beneath her mask of seriousness and indifference, because while she does take her role as warrior of light and a scion seriously, and while she does often appear extremely serious during those situations and is excellent at remaining calm under situations of stress or high - stakes situations, beyond that, she is a little bit unhinged. she very much enjoys a good fight and stirring up trouble with friends in that she loves to tease them, pick on them, share drinks, etc.

to elaborate further, she enjoys someone with a sense of humor, someone who can tease her back in return and retaliate to her sarcasm and wit with equal sarcasm and wit to make her laugh, or get under her skin. honestly, someone who is attractively irritating is such peak aesthetics to her, when someone is attractive in personality to the degree where it’s a begrudging attraction of tension because she hates that they’re attractive when they’re so irritating, but in a manner that is something she somehow is enjoying. she enjoys someone who finds as much fun in things and can have fun with her as much as she does, such as going out on little outings in free times, like for drinks, enjoying small town events, pulling pranks on comrades to laugh at their reactions, etc. again, she’s someone who takes her role seriously, but outside of that, cherry is a very fun person and she finds someone who can have fun like that attractive as well. someone who is playful, but retains a serious side, is very attractive. she enjoys someone with a dominant enough personality who can counter her own, someone who is willingly tease her, who will not just take her teasing and who will not just accept her demands. she enjoys someone with kindness in their heart for their loved ones, or even strangers, because as much as she pretends she isn’t soft, as much as she doesn’t want to be caught committing acts of softness or to be regarded as a soft person, it warms her heart to see something like that from afar, which is why she adores the scions so much. they are all such good and kind people who’ve touched her heart, as well as those around her.

but again, for cherry to consider someone romantically is an incredibly difficult barrier to cross. if you thought it was difficult to befriend her, genuinely befriend her, trying to seek her out romantically is even harder. if she even feels like you are romantically interested in her, even if she deep down reciprocates it, she will pull away and ghost you and completely give you the cold shoulder until she feels as if maybe you’ve given up. this is in most cases. she panics and gets so scared, and it’s an awful defense mechanism to pull away like this, but it’s such an instant and instinctive reaction out of fear after having been closed off to everyone for so long. there is one character, who i wooooon’t say here, who she would be interested in who she doesn’t immediately run from because they would have just . . . slipped under her skin and into her heart so quickly and just . . . made her open her heart so easily, but i digress !!

if she doesn’t return the feelings at all, she definitely would just continue to be very curt and brusque, and she would feel bad for it eventually and try to retain an air of friendliness, but it’s just difficult knowing she’s seen in a light in which she could never return. in some cases she might be able to tease you for your one - sided affections, but in most cases she might just feel bad about it, if you were a good friend or something. but regardless, it’s cherry’s instinct to just run. if she does return the feelings, she would come to confront it with herself eventually before confronting you to have a proper conversation about it, and it would just be such a heart - opening and vulnerable conversation because she would spill so much about herself regarding why she reacted the way she did. it’s easier for her to run than to confront these and open herself to the chance of getting hurt somehow.

tldr ---- it is difficult to befriend cherry. it is even harder to try to date her. it’s why she doesn’t welcome or really allow soft touches, even platonically, and shies away from hugs, gentle touches to her hand or shoulders, her ears, etc. those who are somewhat playful in disposition will find it easier to creep into her heart ---- she won’t even realize that it happens until it’s too late, until she feels a flutter in her stomach, a longing to see them, a pang of ache when parting with them or worrying for their wellbeing.