Daily Entertainment.

[muji]

A great question from Gen:

What, if anything, is your character constantly monitoring, calculating, thinking about, etc with a corner of their brain?

I don't mean 'everything,' though heaven knows I have some characters who try to manage that. I mean that one little idiosyncratic thing they're always on some level aware of, whether or not they ever talk about it. For example, Piotr is always has a little corner of his brain keeping track of the structural integrity of things around him, from pencils to barstools to floorboards. (He's a big strong man, who turns into a bigger stronger man who weighs 500-odd pounds. Breaking things accidentally is a definite concern.)

How about yours? What phase of the moon it is, where they can get more coffee, when sunrise is coming, who's looking at them, how long till they have to take a medication, something else?

Comments

[sdelmonte]

I think Knox follows the news, looking for the sort of stories he would cover. I don't quite see things through his eyes, but there are times when I think how much he would love to be reporting on such and such a thing.

[doc_rusty]

Brock is ALWAYS looking for costumed creeps. He's been spending close to about 25 years trying to kill as many of them as he can, but for some reason, their recruitment hasn't gone down any.

In the bar (and maybe back in London, who knows), Tim is worried about running into someone he knows from a comic or TV show. He never knows how to handle himself when he meets someone he recognises, and prefers to just avoid them all together.

Gus looks for potential marks -- people he can scam or swindle. So, if Gus is being overly-friendly with you, watch out. You're probably on his hit-list, as it were.

Nicholas watches everything, and he does it consciously. He doesn't really know how to switch off, but we're working on that. Sort of.

[venusadept_2]

Felix always knows where, in relation to him, the nearest thing that can be elementally described as earth is. He has also learned to estimate what kind of earth it is - not names, but how good it is at holding together, supporting weight, weathering weather, and so on. He's not perfect at that, but he's very good.

Kain always has a mental picture of his father, either critiquing whatever he does or just silently being better.

[a1enzo]

Just at the moment? Boobs. Not on purpose, he assures you.

[oxfordtweed]

HAHA WIN.

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

YT's always evaluating places and things for whether they'd be good for skateboarding in/on or not.

Unfortunately for Milliways, while there are many things she likes about the place, it's not good thrashing territory.

[innerbrat]

I'm never going to get used to DE being a breakfast rather than a lunchtime thing.

Anyway, I have far too many characters who are trained fighters, I think.

Dinah and Floyd are always watching the people around them. Dinah watches the way they carry themselves and the way they move; she can recognise someone who is trained and experienced in using their body and can gain an insight into things like innate strength (someone who is scared of breaking a pencil holds it differently from your average Joe). This is practically second nature to her, or will be in a few years.

Floyd on the other hand is more aware of the angle between him and everyone else, and any obvious weakspots. He is constantly figuring out how he would shoot and kill everyone in the room, should the need take him (although right now, the need is less than it has been).

Renee has to think more consciously about it than Dinah, but she keeps a general level of mindfulness about her surroundings as part of her Practice. She is also secretly perving over all hot women in her vacinity.

William is always always always thinking about Elizabeth. Always. Now he's found his dad, Elizabeth (and his approaching child) is his only priority.

Mel knows all the exit points.

[mm-spinelstar.livejournal.com]

TL and I discussed a variation of this question in the mall once, lol.

Rosalie, like I imagine most of the Cullens do, is constantly keeping tabs on her own thirst. She has to walk a fine line between paying attention and trying to ignore the smell of blood in a room. If she forgets it for too long, it might hit her without warning and make her really hungry suddenly.

And I hate to copy, but she's always a little concerned about breaking things, too. It would be all too easy. Data (and Lore I guess) has that problem as well. He once noted after kissing a girl that he had to pay attention to the amount of pressure he could safely apply to her lips.

As far as Data's other concerns go, he's constantly thinking about a thousand things at once. What exactly that consists of can vary depending on what's going on lately. Something he's always considering, though, is the qualifications of "good" and "bad." Not strictly in a moral context, but he is programmed to do what he considers "good" and avoid what he considers "bad." (Gathering information is "good"; killing people is "bad," for examples.) This is how he differs from Lore, who was programmed to search for some sort of purpose and meaning to his life. So Lore is always trying to find something to do that he considers "useful" or "important." Unfortunately, he didn't consider ethics to be either of those things.

Eiji's mind tends to bounce from one thing to the other, but he's pretty constantly tracking movement. His eyes are very sharp, so any little flicker of something in his peripheral vision tends to catch his attention. Other than that, tennis is probably always somewhere in the back of his mind. He practically lives at practice after school.

[04_after]

<3

[04_after]

John Connor is always monitoring how people walk. He's one of those "try to monitor ALL THE THINGS" sorts, but how people walk is his stand-out monitoring tendency. For clarification: Because Terminators walk in a very distinct way!

I'm trying to remember what else I came up with when Gen asked me this >.

[04_after]

Oh I just remembered.

Quatre is always monitoring his sleep reserves (he is also a MONITOR ALL THE THINGS but oh my gosh who isn't these days). He keeps himself right on the edge of survivable sleep-dep, getting about 4 hours/night every week night, 5-6/hours a night ever weekend...despite probably needing about 7/night. So one of his background monitorings is "can I do this now, would taking a fifteen minute nap help, can I afford to nap, would it be better to push through and make it up later" etc. And he always has a pretty good grasp of how long before he becomes useless on his current tank of sleep. As it were.

he's been doing this for about seven years. D:

[monthly-gift.livejournal.com]

The menstrual cycle of every female Earth creature on any given Earth that she is a part of...and the most inconvenient time (for the human ones) to kick start it.

[longlonghair]

Whether a new Fable will walk through the door of Milliways, and what it might mean to her.

[steamgenius]

KK and Karl are always mindful about their roles in helping to bring about the catastrophic event that basically ended the world as they knew it.

[mallory-grace.livejournal.com]

At the risk of being too sugary sweet, Mallory is always thinking of Ryu, these days.

[lady_bols]

Alex is always thinking about her daughter Molly, about where she is, what she's doing, how she's going to get back to her. She's also always aware of where Gene is, his mood, his proximity, but she tells herself that's because he's her boss (so not the case).

[the_gene_genie]

*snicker*

Gene is constantly aware of where the nearest pub is. To the degree that he carries three hipflasks on him at all times because, and I quote, 'you never know how far you're gonna be from a boozer!'

God, I love him.

ETA: That's 70s!Gene. 80s!Gene is a bit more relaxed about it (he doesn't have a wife to get back to in the evening so just spends every evening on the juice) and certainly in later canon can probably mirror Alex's answer above - he does tend to spend a lot of time wondering where she is, what she's doing and...lets make no bones about it...what she's wearing.

This is not because he's her boss. It's because he wants to shag her rotten.

[lady_bols]

~sighs~ Such a hopeless romantic, you are.

[mountain-born.livejournal.com]

Just now, Castiel has one lobe of his angel brain devoted to the State of Dean, how Meg is doing, and whether or not Michael requires his presence.

Parker is constantly aware of and evaluating people -- what they're doing, what they might be feeling, and their relationships (if any) with the people around them. This tendency was not helped by majoring in psychology.

Luna's brain is like a hi-def version of an MC Escher screensaver. It's kind of a terrifying place. She's constantly calculating things like the most likely flight patterns of nargles through the Hogwarts castle, the estimated number of foals likely to be born into the thestral herd, if there might be any sort of encoded message in the Daily Prophet classifieds, how likely an explosion in Potions is based on the day's lesson, and whether dessert will involve treacle on any given night. Her brain is off somewhere half the time.

[genarti]

That is a beautiful description of Luna. *laughing*

[spooky-lemur.livejournal.com]

Like Piotr, Ben Grimm is always thinking about the structural integrity of everything around him. The feel of the floor, how a chair is built, the likely strength of the fabric he's about to sit on, everything. It goes farther though. Ben also thinks about the environment he is in. If he is in a delicate ecosystem he will hold back his strength so as not to cause it too much damage. He's also acutely aware of peoples reaction to him. I think this last comes from spending so many years thinking of himself as a monster.

Thalia is always thinking about what the Chinese would call face (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_%28sociological_concept%29). At some point she'll grow enough not to worry about this too much but for now, it defines her.

Jessica Drew always thinks about motivations and guessing what people are thinking or what their motivations are. Comes from her early spy training and later P.I. career I think. She also looks for exits, hidey holes and the like.

Jenks is OCD about his blood sugar. At his size and metabolism it can be deadly if he crashes. Oh, and like Enzo, boobs but also booty.

[bodldops.livejournal.com]

Ace is always, on some level, assessing how well her surroundings will either blow up or incinerate. She's got the bug bad, and after so long of being a pryo, she just can't switch off. She also tries to keep the phases of the moon in mind, but she does still get caught up short (full moon is when? Well... um. Really?)

Bones, as poor Olga found out, is always a doctor, and even when he isn't thinking about it is mentally assessing any and all data he's getting on other people for medical problems. *pets the poor doctor*

Glorfindel is mostly about defenses. He didn't used to be... a couple ages ago. Then Gondolin got hazed to the ground thanks to some awesome tactical mis-management and learning defense became a very important art. There's also a little voice in his head that, upon seeing most threats, goes 'yeah, I could take that'. He's a little crazy, yes.

Hatter is looking for Alice. Everyone gets a brief once-over of 'are you an Alice... no'. He'd know him anywhere, you know.

Laranth... right now in her canon she's just always making sure she's got a good read on the Force, when she's in the bar. Later, she'll be more like Glor - where's defensible, if push comes to shove.

[minkhollow]

Claudia always, always, always checks the front door when she comes to Milliways. After what happened to her brother, she's... twitchy about the idea of getting stuck in an interdimensional space, and having a door that goes to Milliways and nowhere else makes it easy to double-check that she's not stuck.

Moist used to be very hyper-aware of what things suffer moisture damage easily; he still knows that, but it's less immediate than it used to be. Conflict Diamond constantly keeps an ear on the jewelry market.

Assassins, per Villains By Necessity, always know what time it is. There's a pack of other stuff that kicks in when they're on an assignment, but Sam and Cata always know what time it is no matter what. (Cata even managed to hang onto that one while she was whitewashed, as there's nothing inherently terrible about knowing what time it is.)

[mogget_cat]

Yrael is always aware of the shifting emotions of the people around him, and the interaction of chaos and order, usually (but not always) in the form of the Free Magic he is part of and the Charter he is bound to.

Sunshine is always aware of how much time is left in each stage of baking whatever it is she's baking. How much time until the dough has risen enough, how much time until the baking is done. Also, she is always aware of the knife in her pocket. Moreso now than before.

Zelgadiss is freaking hyper-aware of people looking at him. Even when they're not. >_> And he's always thinking about his quest for a cure.

[blackswanevent.livejournal.com]

Hoffman... is probably always unconciously judging people. He doesn't mean to, but he's gotten into this habit of "are you a good guy or a bad guy" and while Milliways (so far) has helped him get over this silly case of Stockholm Syndrome/pretending to be a sort of torturing Batman it's not something anyone really grows out of.

Cobb is one of those "Watching people" folks. Except he's watching the way they're looking around and their body language for...things that he can use to his advantage. He can't turn it off-that-"almost always winning an argument, manipulative, etc. etc." side to him.

Ed is watching out for vampires. o.o. and health problems. But mostly health problems. After he's turned he'll be another creature constantly monitoring his own thirst and state of being.

Also watching out for the sun. o.o. Since it makes him explode.

[humourandheart]

Generally: Hermione. Harry. His family. Food. Harry, again. Hermione, a lot. Worries some more about his family. More thoughts about food. You-Know-Who. Thinks he never wants to camp again. Food. Hermione. Harry. Family.

[evercleverest]

And Hermione's thoughts are actually quite similar to Ron's!

Only replace her own name with Ron's, subtract the 'food' bit and add Hogwarts instead, and - yep.

There may be thoughts in there about 'the future the future the future' too.

[notnathaniel.livejournal.com]

John is always watching/monitoring/calculating for:
1) backstabbers who might want to get rid of him;
2) opportunities to further his power and position;
3) any number of demons (spirits like djinn, etc.) who may be spying on him

He may sometimes act relaxed, but he'd been trained since he was six years old to be cautious about these things.

He lives by the words: safe, secret, secure

[chronodisplaced.livejournal.com]

Alba is always thinking about the following: music, music, whether or not she should take the medicines that will keep her from time-travelling, music, music, her father, her mother, her survival tactics and plan for when she spontaneously time-travels, how to better control her

(ability)

disorder.

[miss-yt.livejournal.com]

Okay, I posted for YT already, but I realized that my other pups have interesting things on their minds as well.

Ein (2woolongdatadog) is always concerned about Ed (shoeless_ed) and how to keep her happy and out of trouble. It doesn't help that these goals are sometimes mutually exclusive.

Abe no Seimei (yinyangwizard) is always aware of the ki of people around him, as well as other energies created and influenced by their physical, mental, and emotional state (among other factors). For him, sensing these things is an instinct so deeply ingrained that he couldn't ignore them if he tried.

Zhaan (azure_mercy), with her long years of training as a priest and a physician, tends to be keenly aware of people's emotional states, as well as any signs of injury or illness.

The first thing Commander Shepard (paragonsoldier) notices when meeting someone new - aside from their species - is any indication of their combat training and/or experience. The second thing is whether they're armed, and if so, with what. And she's always monitoring her environment for something that might make good cover, just in case.

Tali'Zorah (stargypsy), whenever she sees a machine of some kind, spends at least some of her brainpower wondering how it works, what parts are in it, and if she can build one herself.

[genarti]

Piotr I mentioned! And yeah. To some extent he's keeping track of it from the general standpoint of a strong man, but mostly it's what he might break if he went metal. He becomes abruptly a lot heavier, a lot stronger, and with a less sensitive sense of touch (due to no longer technically having nerves and stuff), so he has to be very consciously aware of how much force he's exerting. There was definitely a learning curve for his mutation there.

River is always, always paying attention to the tiny cues that help her keep track of what's real and what isn't. It's pretty exhausting, honestly, but at least it's somewhat easier and a lot more habitual than it used to be.

Trowa is hard for me to pin down, because he really does spend a lot of attention on trying to monitor everything. I think there are a couple of major constants, though, for back-of-the-mind awareness. One is who's around. They don't even have to be paying attention to him or aware of him, but he's always keeping tabs on any humanish shape around. The other is lines of attack and cover; Trowa is always on some level prepared for a fight. If he's talking to you, there's a part of his mind constantly monitoring how he'd strike and how you might. In any situation, there's always a part of his mind keeping track of objects around, available cover, sightlines, allies -- and where and how a mobile suit might maneuver, because that was his first and primary context for war.

Uh, yeah. Trowa's upbringing did not involve a lot of safe spaces. (Read: any.)

Lan used to be constantly aware of Moiraine's location. (And what she was feeling and doing, but the Warder bond sort of deposited that in his brain anyway.) Now, it's Nynaeve's location, but also Moiraine if she's around. Twenty years of habit don't really go away.

LUNCHTIME. More later maybe!

[plays_chess]

no place. is ever. safe.

*laughing* remind me why we haven't had them talk more?

(I KNOW I KNOW IT'S BECAUSE I GIVE IN TO SPARKLES TOO EASILY sorry :/ )