6, 11, and 28 for the ice age story characters of your choice!
For the OC ask game
6. how do they wear their hair? do they care a lot how their hair looks?
Pendíkhia wears her hair up in a hair comb. It's a simple, functional style a lot of women in her clan wear. It fits well under a fur hat and doesn't collect ice in the winter, and it keeps your hair off your neck in the summer. Sometimes she lets Shékhie or Tanúngia do braids in her hair that she then gathers up, but she rarely bothers to do those herself. It's a Bonding Activity.
Tanúngia used to self-consciously wear her hair in the most feminine style she could (braided updo, wood comb, shell beads) because the options for physical transition in the Ice Age are pretty limited, and feminine hairstyles is something she can do. Her wife Wohdzigígio does her hair really pretty. She's kind of relaxed as she's gotten older and more comfortable, but Wohdzigígio made her several elaborately carved wooden hair combs that she cycles through or sometimes uses together.
Updos are not stylish among Kurrat's Neanderthal group; they wear their hair down, in ponytails or braids. Kurrat wears his hair in the laziest nape-of-his-neck ponytail possible because it works and he has stopped caring.
28. how do they show that they care about someone? how do they express that they don't like someone?
Pendíkhia is cuddly with people she’s close with! There’s a lot of casual touch in the Shúson Clan mostly because they’re up close and personal in each other’s space by the nature of cramming ~30 people into 2 mammoth bone huts, but Pendíkhia definitely likes casually leaning or lying on her friends. Brushing each other’s hair (and picking lice out of each other’s hair) is another gesture of intimacy. Also if Pendíkhia likes you, she will complain to you about her #opinions. Friendly bitch session. If she doesn’t like you you are likely to be on the receiving end of her complaints lol. As shaman she tries sooo hard to be responsible and fair to everybody but she can and will be curt and rude if you wear down her patience. Also sometimes just ignore what you tell her to do if she doesn’t want to give you the satisfaction of listening to you.
Tanúngia: if she likes and trusts you she will talk about her animal observations of the day with enthusiasm!
Kurrat: I’ve thought significantly less about this for him, which is exposing a gap! Hmmm. Because he starts out being kind of bitter and angry at Everyone, and curt and kind of rude as a result. Pushing people away because he’s hurt and because he thinks they’re not hurt enough. Liking someone starts by looking like opening up a little about his past and his thoughts in the first place. But this is definitely something to think more about!
11. what do they have in common with you? how are they different? would you get along with them?
Saving this one for last because hmm... hmmmm.... oh no self-reflection haha.
Easy answer is Pendíkhia and Kurrat are both aroace, because I Can. I mean also because I like thinking about what queerness means in a time period when everyone writing about it assumes everyone was straight. And because I feel like every time you get a story about a Neanderthal and a Sapiens the inevitable end result is hybrid baby and the story is definitely in part me kind of thinking about what life and legacy mean especially when you don't have children, which while I wouldn't be averse to it, it seems likely I'm never going to. But also because I Can.
Baby Ambivalence is definitely something Pendíkhia and I share.
Something else Pendíkhia and I share is impulsively having a hard time keeping our thoughts to ourselves, especially when pissed about something, even if it would be better to not verbalize it. She can be petty. Her struggle between doing/saying what she wants and doing/saying the Responsible thing is something I've definitely felt!
Kurrat has a low social battery and does not enjoy being around groups of people for long periods and constantly feels like he is not socializing Enough or responding to others Enough, which I feel very well :') Sucks to be him though when you know 20 people total and live in one cave with them all for your whole life.
How we're different... I imagine Pendíkhia as much more on top of things than I am. Coordinated and locked in. Also she likes people touching her hair.
Kurrat is different from me because he learns a new language from scratch in the span of about 3 months lmao. I could never. But also I think he's a lot more cynical and uncharitable towards people than I am, at least in the beginning.
I think I would get along with Pendíkhia! I think she would be fun to hang out with, but she'd probably be taking charge of hangout plans. I think I would get irritated with Kurrat hah.
