Thursday DE

[needsmoreresearch]

I don't thiiink this has been asked recently!

How competitive is your character? What are they competitive about--and how does it manifest? Do they just get surprisingly cut-throat about Mario Kart, or are they walking around all day with a huge chip on their shoulder?

Comments

[genarti]

Enjolras is extremely not competitive, except with himself. It does once in a while kick in, mostly in sparring with somebody who's on the same level so that they're both legitimately going all-out, but even then he's a good loser. In general, "it's not about who wins, it's about how you play the game" is something he's internalized very thoroughly.

Thor, on the other hand, uh. --Okay, no, if it's something where he's clearly going to trounce the other person, or something where he doesn't know anything about it (e.g. Mario Kart the first run or three), he's chill about it. But if it's any kind of actual competition, yyyyeah Thor gets competitive. He likes to win! He'd rather a fun match than an easy win -- if it's an easy win, he shifts gears into teaching mode -- but if it's a fun match, you bet he'd prefer to win it.

This doesn't apply socially, though, under most circumstances. By which I mean that he doesn't have a chip on his shoulder, or try to 'win' every conversation. He doesn't have to. There's not much most people could do that would possibly touch his social standing or ego, which allows him to be pretty relaxed and good-natured.

Cosette likes to win, but doesn't have a lot of ego invested in it; she likes a friendly competition. She's the kind of person who will take glee in winning a board game, as long as the other person's having fun too, or be mildly laughingly exasperated about losing, but she won't get super-competitive about it.

Kazul is definitely cut-throat about Mario Kart. And equivalents. She doesn't need to win, per se, but she doesn't like to lose things.

River is definitely competitive, somewhat like Thor. She likes to win! She doesn't like to lose, and she doesn't like to do badly -- and she's not used to losing either. Most of the time, either she wins something handily, or she's clearly not even in the competition, or she's opted out of playing (or out of playing to win). So she doesn't have to make everything a contest, but if it is a contest and she's competing, she wants a win or a draw. She gets kind of cranky if that doesn't happen.

Trowa plays long and private games, with shifting goalpost outcomes. They're not so much about winning as success -- although winning can be part of it. He doesn't care if other people think he's losing the parts of it they see. But if people share his sense of humor and are in the loop about some of it -- I'm thinking mostly of Une here -- recreational conversational competition can be fun.

[arcane_mixologist]

Eliot can be extremely competitive, with himself and with others. He gets riled more in mental or social challenges than in physical, i.e. he's not one to get into competitions that rely on muscles.

Ahsoka is also competitive, but loves physical competition as well as mental. She tends to pout a bit when she loses but is honestly happy for the other person for winning, unless the other person is a Seperatist or Sith.

More later once I get a handle on my work day.

[just_cant_lose]

Gene - yes. Definitely. To everything. It manifests as lots of manly bravado, chest beating and trash talk. Sometimes guns and car chases. Generally ends in a scrap.

Javert, Valjean, Wayne, Banner - nope, not at all. Not with other people, at least. They can all leave ego aside, for the most part.

Pearly - yes. But he doesn't play games, he just kills people.

Aubrey - yes! In a man-of-honour, friendly camaraderie, sailors-having-fun kind of way. He doesn't take it too far, hates losing but pays up when a gamble goes wrong (which it usually does).

Jim - might like to be, but the problem is there are not many people who can compete. But when there are...yes, he is. He has to beat Sherlock, he can't do anything but go up against him. It becomes an obsession. His need to win manifests in playing games with peoples lives, blowing up buildings, ruining reputations in the national press, having people arrested and killed, leaving graffiti notes on the sides of buildings...you get the idea. He plays on a big stage. Oh, and he dies in order to win, so there's that.

Well. 'Dies'. We don't know. Thank you, canon. :\

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Lesgle isn't a very competitive guy--he's used to losing and takes it in stride--but he does enjoy games with an element of competition. Cards or dominoes? He'll fight you to the bitter end, or until someone gets distracted with a funny story.

Feuilly isn't especially competitive either, but it's not too hard to get him feeling like he has to prove himself when it comes to intelligence. (Okay i lied he's competitive if you're bahorel.)

Hal, uh. NO KING OF ENGLAND IF NOT KING OF FRANCE. WE'LL BEND THEM TO OUR AWE OR BREAK THEM ALL TO PIECES.

Djehuty's answer is somewhat like the second part of Thor's: he's rarely pushed into a competitive mood, because what's anyone possibly going to do to him? He can afford to be infinitely gracious and affable in Milliways, because there's hardly anyone who can touch his status. But back home in his pantheon, if you challenge him to a game of senet, you're going down. >:(


(I'll try to get to the rest of mine later but, uh, speaking of competition, there's some very important sports on right now that needs watching...)

[merryeccentricities]

(Bahorel is so proud to be an Inspiration. Also, neener neener.)

[harryhotspur]

....hahahahaha

[aberration]

Asami seems pretty cool and gracious and accommodating… up until the moment when she's actually competing with someone. Even then, her competitive edge really only comes out in certain situations (for example, especially car racing), but when it does she can snap to fierce and pretty ruthless, and then back to sweet and accommodating again, in the blink of an eye.

Will is really the opposite of competitive – he can't help but be constantly cooperative. He just can't easily maintain a mindset of me vs. them or us vs. them. (I imagine that some might argue that he gets better with this, but I'd still say it still only functions as us vs. them, as in it only works as something cooperative, or maybe more accurately codependent.) Even to the extent that his relationship with Hannibal takes on them acting in oppositional ways – I still wouldn't call them rivals, and I'd characterize it less as a competition and more as a conversation. (Which, conversations can be won and lost, but I'd say it's less a debate than a discussion – it's not driven by a potential definitive victory, but probably more just curiosity.) And since Will can't compete and almost never wins if he does, he tends to try to convince instead. Which can be read as survival mechanism, or Hannibal-like manipulative behavior. Or both, I mean.

In terms of any kind of mundane competition like sports or games… wow that seems like more social interaction than necessary, really.

Abigail, on the other hand, loves competition, but only secretly. She chalks up scores and tracks points in her mind all the time, but she doesn't tell anyone about it. It's a pretty normal way of how she interacts. She can't always tell when she's losing (a lot of the series her slow realization that she's losing a lot more than she thought she was), but… well, when not up against FBI agents and murder wizard psychiatrists she's generally pretty good. And I think this all sounds SUPER manipulative, but I'd also say to keep in mind that this is also survival mechanism. When living with someone who's coercing you into committing murders (of girls who look like you), keeping track of your standing is how you know how likely you are to go on living.

And again, when it comes to something like sports or games, Abigail could be kind of the same – secretly competitive, but determined to never show how much she actually cares.

[maid_of_tarth]

Brienne is competitive but also a good loser.

Combeferre tries to stay above such things but if he's playing a game he usually gets into it.

Fantine is competitive in a lighthearted way.

Jehan Prouvaire would rather dramatically lose, all things considered.

[rudderless]

Dixie is in show business, competitiveness is in her nature.

Juliet will cut and scratch her way to her goal with total impunity, too.

Eponine is a bit of a schemer but is driven more by her madness than anything.

Clementine doesn't give a damn unless it's something she really wants.

Pinkie's not competitive by nature until she feels like her position is being threatened.