Will Briley
Has wavy brown hair and brown eyes. Above average height. Gangly. Pale skin and prominent ears. A member of Robert Sanabria's junior SIVIC team. His power is enhanced agility. Quiet and observant.
As her significant other, and end game dude, I want to do a bit more with him. He needs to be less of a cutout and more someone who has an actual arc going on for him.
He would have something leading into the confrontation with his father, which should be a big deal. And then the aftermath of that would be something else entirely.
They are end game though. It just makes sense for him to react to her insanity with “aww, sweetie.” He’s the “eff ‘im up babe, I got yo flower.” He has the skills to keep up with her, and he wants to. He thinks what she does is cool, and will keep doing that.
I like the idea of them taking a break during the AC arc at some point. Not like that. Just that they’re young and everyone is telling them to cool it down. And then they come back together because they kept kind of reaching for each other through it all.
Dealing with his mom in the aftermath of all that happens, learning a new equilibrium. He’s still a hero but refuses to work for SIVIC after what went down which is a problem since his mom’s in charge. So what does he do while Ruby is busy with AC stuff?
Also AU Arthur Markos is a jerk and it’s terrible. Bad influences ruin people, y’all. (But then who was responsible for him turning out okay in this one? Probably mainly BW, but also there’s probably a mentor or two in there who got him started right.)
When do I want him to leave the team and join Ruby? And when do I want people to realize that there’s a romantic attachment there that is definitely influencing him even if it’s definitely also not the sole reason for his leaving?
He’s been an actual agent since his mom dropped him off to “keep him safe” in the only way she knew how. So age 6. Make him the same age as Ruby, line up with all that stuff going down. His dad goes on the run around the same time as the fallout from Epogeos. Which makes him a senior agent because he’s been an agent for 10 years. Ty would have been next as an orphan recruit, Robert fits in somewhere around 6 years ago, and Cody is the latest starter since he still has a family who would object, so probably about 4 years ago.
LIFE GOAL: at least initially, to be a good agent, enough to do his mom proud, but also to very specifically not turn into his dad. Which is not all that specific at all, so he’s rather cynical and aimless. BW helps but most of his purposes get handed to him by others and it’s Ruby with her intense sense of purpose who challenges him to find something.
SO what is that purpose? I don’t know yet. He will get one, it won’t be wrapped up in Ruby, but it will eventually be complimentary.
Timeline musing: When does their relationship start? They first encounter each other at age 12, on opposite sides of the field, directly in combat. Both children. No interest, no interactions. By 15, they’re dating secretly.
What does this mean? It means they decided not to tell their friends. They very specifically don’t want their friends to know because it would complicate things immensely. And because they’re both lying that it’s a superficial attraction, a casual way to let off steam, and it’s not going to last longterm.
How long have they been dating at that point? Not long. They’re 15 and they’re both close enough to other people that someone will notice if it’s too much. So maybe 2-3 months.
What do they know about each other? Ruby has pretty much always known his name and face since SIVIC isn’t so concerned about that stuff. Name, yes, but she would have figured it out fairly easily. But when does Will find out about her? He would have to know her face if they’re periodically making out on rooftops. I think she told him her name, and then it comes as a shock that he’s not entirely able to play off to see her at the school in Book 1. And once Robert gets an inkling, he would probably have to help connect the dots or risk suspicion. Like “oh, yeah, she looked familiar.” (Yeah, because you’ve been kissing her for 2 months, dude.)
Why are they dating? Because something tipped a growing respect for each other as more of a neutral than other people might guess, past a crush, into a romantic relationship. Because it’s exciting and dangerous and that’s appealing in itself. Because they’re both moderate to severe rebels and they would like having something that other people would disapprove of. Even as they don’t actually tell anyone because right now they’re still thinking the other one doesn’t agree on as many things as they actually do.
What drew them together? Something happens. Will gets to lead a mission since he’s actually got seniority over a lot of people, and something goes wrong (mostly not his fault), Ruby happened to be there at the same time, they end up working together for a week or so. Long enough to respect each other and find some common ground, and for Will to discover her name and face. At the end of it, one of them takes a chance and goes for the kiss, the other one heartily reciprocates, and without any kind of discussion they just kind of start a secret relationship.
Does he intervene with the Incident? Yes, he does try. Downplay in this draft, just hinting that there was someone trying to warn her. He hasn’t told her about his father yet, because he doesn’t know the whole story, but her plan to expose SIVIC is something he actually agrees with. “Won’t stand in your way” kind of thing.
He makes his break with SIVIC before what is currently Book 4 with the Markos showdown. Not entirely his choice of moment, but something that ideologically he was already shifting to, at the end of Book 3. We can have all the fun with emotional fallout in 4. He breaks in this specific moment for Ruby, to help her, but it’s something he would have done sooner or later on his own.
Take a couple books in there for them to get really close, because she’s sticking with him in the aftermath of something horrible. I want them to be together at least until her dad is back, probably until her mom. So 17, so they’ll have been together about 2 years.
And then they break up. Because they’re both still figuring out their purposes (or in Ruby’s case re-figuring) and it’s been so intense and drastic that for some subplot reason they’re both concerned about being too wrapped up in the other person. Also commitment at this moment is freaking them both out because this is like both of their first real relationships and at least one person has made “that” argument. Oh you’re too young to know what you want. And be careful of that but don’t let other people in that much.
After leaving SIVIC, he was absolutely staying at one of her labs, and now it would be awkward even if they’re still friends, so he goes on his own and eventually ends up on the Suthmeers’ couch because they’re good people. I can use Evelyn to yell at both of them about how stupid this is. Bonus points if everyone else is relieved because…I don’t know why. I want to have it a healthy relationship but it would be fun if other people didn’t see it that way or misinterpreted.
They get back together before the end, though. Not necessarily because big dramatic moment “oh we need each other completion blah blah blah” but “oh, this makes sense, doesn’t it.” Looking at my current outline, somewhere around the end of Act 2, start of Act 3. He’s been orbiting Epoch, now she’s facing down Epoch, and they’re aligned and right this makes sense. He’s had enough time on his own to have novellas if I wanted to, and has his own stuff going on but he’s making it work.
Relationships
History
They're secretly dating. His team doesn't know, nor do her minions.
Comments