#i: atticus

[richardhayes-blog1]

1, 4, 6, 12, 50

1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have?

Richard’s father was an old money card-carrying memberof an Ivy League secret society, credentials that set him up for life.Privileged and legacy-minded, he insisted on no less for his sons. Richard wasthe family disappointment for going to Brown, which didn’t have a businessschool, but his father pulled the right strings to get him a Wall Street jobanyway. Richard is equal parts grateful to his father who ensures that he canlive in pampered luxury, and resentful because he knows he can’t ever deviate fromThe Plan. To go off the pre-set route would mean striking out on his own, whichterrifies him.

4. What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient?

The Hayes family believed very strongly in “boyswill be boys.” While the parents tried to inculcate a sense of right, wrong andbasic human decency in their four sons, cars were crashed, sexual relations werenot handled with maturity, drugs were smoked in inadvisable locations, andentitled attitudes to life and other people hand-waved because “they’ll grow upsoon enough.” 

Richard got a free pass to live well, breakhearts, and do as he pleased. So long as he sat up straight, got perfectgrades, pushed forward his family’s agenda in society functions, and didn’t gethimself arrested.

6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child?

See above.

12. How does their education and intelligence – or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations?

You can take the boy out of Greenwich, but youcan’t take the WASP out of the boy. Richard has a cut-glass accent, avocabulary that he employs mostly when he reads, and an unconscious butever-present air of a prince disguising himself as a pauper. Hyper-aware of hiseducation, he downplays it with a sheepishness that suits his purposes verywell. 

50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating?

Richard reallysmiles in situations of escalating tension as a coping mechanism, but hecomes across as approachable, amiable and affable anyway. Strangers andacquaintances get suckered by how easy-going he seems, but soon discover therisk of being more attached to Richard than he is to them.

→ Character development meme

[leonsolis]

6, 10, 12, 20

6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child?

Leon was deeply loved as a child, by both his mother and his stepfather. They might not have been walking adverts for “affluent middle class” and he might not have been spoiled, but he knew always that his parents were his rock. That he could count on the community they built for him.

10. Is your character street-smart, book-smart, intellectual, intelligent or slow-witted?

Street-smart, book-smart and intelligent. At the end of the day, he’s a engineering graduate from Stanford who was a mission specialist at NASA and is now a lawmaker. He can read people as well as he reads paper; it’s just things that impulse gratification and a short temper that get in his way.

12. How does their education and intelligence – or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations?

Leon is not at all the type to say what he means. He doesn’t think in a straight line either. The aggravating thing about talking to him is that he uses straightforward language and the word “ain’t”. So you think you’re going to be talking to a yokel, but you smack into a truly conniving bastard instead. His vocabulary isn’t as big as his ego, and he’s sandpapered away his once-impeccable syntax and speech pattern to be more accessible.

20. What were the most deeply impressive political or social, national or international, events that they experienced?

Cliché as it is, it’s the moment he landed home after his first mission in space. It wasn’t just the enormity of what he’d done (an Iranian American man in space) or that it was the culmination of his life’s ambition. It wasn’t even the relief that he’d survived (which is never a given for astronauts). It was that this moment would define who he was—it would be the benchmark; nothing less would satisfy him. It was the moment he became a national hero.

→ Character development meme

[richardhayes-blog1]

#

Name: B&N Store Guy

Picture: N/A

Ringtone: Default

Last text:

(18:08) You uncork the wine, I’ll bring the shrimp tempura. Put on some music. None of that Tegan & Sara.

(18:09) Shit, wrong number [Message not sent]

(18:17) Uh see you at seven.

→ Cell phone meme

[leonsolis]

☎

Morning; this is Leon. I’d say this is the first time I’ve called a number off an anonymous mysterious-looking card, but we both know that’s a lie. Just wanted to thank you personally for the favour you did last Friday for someone who’s extremely close to me. My people must have processed your bonus by now.

Anyway, thought I’d assure you that the ‘Incident’ with the dumbwaiter had nothing to do with you. Don’t know if you set it up on purpose or not, but oh man, you have my undying gratitude. I guess I shouldn’t thank you for messing up the smile of someone who’s very close to me, but it was a long time coming.

Thanks for the favour, though. From both me and my friend. Really.

→ Voicemail meme

[zanesteinfield-blog]

                           My roommates kicked me out. Apparently, I’m not allowed to go home until I kiss you. ...Yeah, I hate them, too.