20-30 for kassius AND sage!!!
20.In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?
Kass compares himself to others in terms of achievement, life experience, and how much of a decent human being they are to others. His self-comparison almost always skews self-critical, as he has a tendency to really believe in others but not extend that same compassion to himself. He tends to think “I should have done that. I’m going to start learning to do that, and I can’t mess up.”
Sage is very self-critical, but has reached the “fuck it, I’m a lost cause” point for himself. He just assumes everyone is better than he could ever be, so when he consciously self-compares, it’s usually to validate his actions. Like, thinking, “Oh, people on extreme couponing buy WAY more than I do, so I don’t have a spending problem.”
21. If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?
While Kass is on the “I believe I caused it,” side, he’s also on the “I’m going to fix it,” side. He’s a very proactive person and will try to find some way to reverse the affects of any situation whether or not he genuinely believes he’s responsible, because in his experience, no one he was close to would ever take responsibility. It was just easier for him to take the blame and fix it. This DOES result in him overstepping boundaries and trying to fix peoples’ problems for them.
Sage is on the “That’s a mess. Oh well, I earned it,” side of things, and tends to try and not deal with it. There are occasions where he’ll offset blame on others (usually as an excuse not to confront his trauma, it hurts to think about), but usually he’ll throw his hands up in defeat and say, “Welp. It’s what I get.”
22. What does your character like in other people?
Kass loves to see compassion and understanding at work. He grew up surrounded by people who were determined to misunderstand him, so to see someone genuinely listen and respond in kind really, really brightens his day. Also, he loves someone with a wicked sense of humor. And, despite being a tech geek, loves hanging around near artistic types.
Sage likes to see intelligent, passionate thinkers at work. He considers himself a little bit of a philosopher, and while he considers himself not booksmart, he loves talking to people who he believes are. Seeing people in love with ideas is just fascinating. And, he likes it when people surprise him. Digging into the hidden layers of someone’s mind is like bonding to him.
23. What does your character dislike in other people?
Kass dislikes people who are quick to blame others, who only superficially listen, and who believe they have more of a right to something than someone else does. Also for the love of god, PLEASE stop flat-tiring him. Jim from Psych 201, he’s looking at you.
Sage dislikes people who make others deal with their drama or make things about themselves at every given opportunity, who argue literally at EVERY chance, and who condescend. Big egos just really piss him off.
24. How quick is your character to trust someone else?
Relatively so. He operates on an “innocent until proven guilty” basis, and feels he has no reason to distrust a majority of people on-sight. That said, past experiences with toxic others, discrimination, and betrayal make him wary of seeking out others.
Everyone’s held at arm’s length, until they somehow manage to earn his trust. Then he’s loyal until the end and will defend you always. He’s quite social and has a myriad of acquaintances, but only rarely has true connections. He’s scared he’ll hurt perfectly good people.
25. How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?
Depends. As said earlier, he believes in “innocent until proven guilty”, though has a tendency to misread the actions of others and feel slighted. He spends a while talking himself in and out of how he understands the person’s action and if he should even do anything about it until he either brings it up or lets it go. Their reaction determines whether or not he still trusts them.
Also depends. He’s suspicious of everyone he’s not close to, and that’s... a lot of people. However, when he lets them in, he’ll believe they hung the moon and can do no wrong. That means he ends up putting up with a lot he shouldn’t have to. Often, even if at some point he KNOWS they’re hurting him, he’ll just justify it. Unless what they’ve done is super egregious and immoral. Then they’re in for the tongue-lashing of a lifetime.
26. How does your character behave around children?
Pretty good! He’s the oldest of his two siblings and spent a good amount of time watching them when his parents were busy or at work. He tends to take the “I will now tell you how the world works” approach. Teaching others and helping them understand something really, really drives him. So much so, for a while he considered pursuing education as a career.
Doesn’t quite understand kids, but he doesn’t underestimate them, either. He’s pretty much the same around them, minus the crass language and political rants. Calls most any kid “little dude” and if he has to babysit, focuses on having fun.
27. How does your character normally deal with confrontation?
If he finally convinces himself the problem is worth bringing up, he’ll try to pull someone aside and talk about it. If he’s confronted with his own behaviors, he’s quick to apologize, but also gets just a bit defensive. In his mind, he’s just letting the person know he didn’t hurt them on purpose or isn’t, like, evil. But, it just looks like he’s trying to excuse himself.
He’s got two gut reactions: 1. Avoid; Either he’ll redirect the conversation or just straight up ditch. 2. Argue; What, are you calling ME bad? What the fuck?
In both cases, he still believes he’s the issue anyways, but he lashes out.
If he really, REALLY trusts someone, though, he’ll try to pull himself together and talk. He’s not good at it though.
28. How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?
Oh, heavens no. He doesn’t think it’s really worth it most of the time. If the need be, he would fight in self-defense; He’s not spineless. But... nah. If words can’t reach them, fists aren’t gonna do any better.
Kind of quick. If he’s anxious, doesn’t trust the person, and has no way to escape, you bet he’ll throw his scrawny fists. In middle school, he was the kid that’d pummel dudes who so much as looked at his friends wrong. Don’t get me wrong, though, he’s not a saint or hero.
29. What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?
He dreamt of two things: Working with technology in the astronomy field, and being a musician. Real conflicting, right?
He’s lost sight of his goals due to his overbearing family and immense pressure to succeed (due to family, financial strain, reputation, you name it) and doesn’t know how to really address what he wants. He had a mental breakdown right after high-school and for a bit, REALLY lost sight of his goals and what he wanted. His family let him stay, but he was still expected to be the emotional caretaker of his mother and the only adult-like person in the house. Out of necessity pulled himself together and got himself a scholarship and made the very tough decision to cut contact w/ his family and is now working to understand what he wants.
When he was in his early teens, he decided he was going to be a famous tattoo artist... or a musician. He actually scored an apprenticeship right after high-school and then... His family decided they were under no legal obligation to house him and kicked him out. He couldn’t maintain any sort of rent payment, so he had to switch jobs.
30. What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?
Aside from the things we know to be morally disgusting, Kass HATES slugs, chewing with your mouth open, ranch dressing, places that smell like the inside of someone’s mouth, beer (literally its spoiled yeast juice at LEAST drink the mike’s dude), and wet socks.
Also aside from the things we know to be morally disgusting, Sage HATES that weird sour pre-rain smell, the smell of wet clothing, starchy foods that have gotten soggy, cucumbers, geoduck (though he still loves making people pronounce it), the smell of sandalwood
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