DE: Creatures of habit

[yakalskovich]

From saphyria:

Do your characters have any aspects, habits or behavioural quirks that you have in the back of your mind when you play them, that may or may not be obvious to others? For example, your character might work out regularly in the Milliways gym but isn't often EPed there, or they might go for a run or horseback ride at a specific time of day. For example: Sunshine goes for a run around the shore of the lake most mornings around dawn, and she never uses a person's full name when in conversation with someone else, and won't mention names at all if she can avoid it.

Comments

[bjornwilde]

Izana does not maintain eye contact. They will make eye contact at the beginning of any interaction but then avoid it as is polite in Japanese culture (or so my online research has shown). They also are likely to cover their mouth if they laugh heartily, and any facial expressions tend towards subtle or subdued. Again, this is more cultural than anything else.

[is_the_motion]

I totally never noticed the name thing and now I am intrigued as to why.

[bjornwilde]

Me too. I wonder if it has something to do with names having power and it's just curious to not use them?

[genarti]

My guess would be that it's the same reason a lot of the Amis are careful about name use -- a habit of making sure you don't carelessly bring someone to the wrong people's attention by bandying names around when the police/etc are listening in. There were a lot of Others and a lot of Other-cops at Sunshine's coffeehouse even before she started having illicit vampire-slaying shenanigans, IIRC.

But I could totally be wrong! Saph, you should let us curious spectators know at some point. :D

[bjornwilde]

Oh, good point. I hadn't thought of mundane reasons. ; p

btw in my OP, curious should've been courteous.

[sunbaked_baker]

Yes to both interpretations! It's about names having power, and just being cautious and courteous in case the wrong people overhear. It's a habit she's always sort of had (because there are generally cops around the coffeehouse, yeah), but it's grown into a firmer personal rule for her since canon, since she's learned that even human names can give others actual power over a person. So she just doesn't share other people's full names in conversation, figuring a person's name is theirs to share or not. It's their right to choose who to trust with their name - not hers.

She might share a shortened form of their name, though, or just their first name, if she has to.

[genarti]

Ooh, interesting! I like this a lot for her.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee has the same habit with names, or at least I try to remember to make him careful about them. It's usually "I have a friend" or "I know someone here" when he refers to other people. Eric seems to be a special case in that he talks about him in a superficial way and never calls him a friend.

Other habits include not sitting properly, sitting on things that aren't chairs (tables, the bar, the back of a couch, a lap, etc.), usually not being around during the day because of his sleeping habits, and not going outside unless for a very specific reason (like he's not going to be in the garden or by the lake because he's just not an outdoorsy person).

a few of Karkat's

[crabbycustomer]

He has very little internal monologue--if I am going to put something into the narration or as a thought, 9 times out of 10 it should probably just be coming out of his mouth.

He is literally always prepared for flight-or-fight--if he didn't carry his weapons invisibly it would be a lot more obvious to the people around him, but regardless, he is never really relaxed. He hunches.

He goes long stretches without sleeping at all, and when he does it's usually not very restful, either because he's having nightmares or he's just awake in another reality. So he is virtually always right on the edge of delirious from sleep dep. When he does sleep he's nocturnal, and he's not fond of bright lights any time, so you're unlikely to ever find him outside during the day.

[camwyn]

I've mentioned this before, but Shephard has a progression of profanity based on how angry he is: regular English cuss words that don't always make sense, really nonsensical use of English cuss words, additional cuss words in foreign languages, quiet and not speaking at all, speaking in extremely precise English free of all cussing, and very angrily but still precisely quoting the works of Mr. John MIlton. He also generally avoids bad words around women and human children, and will almost never use the word 'bitch' as anything but a reference to dogs. If he is going out of his way to speak clearly and enunciate everything he says, rather than dropping consonants/entire words, blending syllables, etc., it is because he is exceedingly angry and wants to be absolutely sure he is understood before the situation gets to head-breaky time.

Ellen is used to either extremely bland processed food, extremely salty and artificial processed food, or meat roasted over an open fire next to the corpse it was hacked from. Every so often she does try to order things from Milliways that an American of the 1940s would consider normal and good, because she made a promise to Bill Guarnere back when he was in the Bar that she would at least try to eat things that didn't leave him depressed about America's future. Also, she will occasionally respond to someone 'mildly'. This is an indicator that she thinks they are very, very wrong, or that they have made her angry; she just considers it bad manners to correct them or let this fact show under the circumstances.

She is also armed. She is always armed. She has a gutting knife and a ten millimeter pistol at the very least at all times, and usually she also has an energy weapon across her back and a Chinese-style straight sword belted on. She will leave the rifle home if she has to, and will reluctantly do as much with the sword if she really must, but she considers going without the pistol and the knife to be equivalent to walking around stark naked. It is safe to assume that unless her description indicates that she has nothing in the way of armament at the moment, she's carrying all four. It's a survival thing.

[onceaviking]

Eric swaggers and lounges even when standing.

[thebattycakes]

This is an interesting DE, and while I have meetings in a bit I thought I'd poke my own brain about it and see what falls out.

Hellboy talks with his mouth full. It's a gross habit, but when you're a talker like he is and consume as much as he does there isn't much time to finish one before starting the other.

He also doesn't do much eye-contact. He doesn't like to see that people are afraid of him, so he'll look at a person but doesn't maintain direct eye-contact unless he's pissed. Or he likes you. Or he likes you and you've pissed him off.

Charlie Kenton is a southpaw and has a bad left shoulder. It's an old boxing thing and some days it plays up more than others and when it does and he's eating, raising a bottle or doing most things that aren't writing he favors that side and goes righty.

Matt is very conscious and well practiced at the blind man thing. He may know exactly where everything is around him, but he'll still locate things with his hands and is committed to simple acts like tracing the handle on a mug before he lifts it, or following the arm of a chair before he takes a seat to make sure he's sitting on the right side of it.

Also with Matt, Charlie Cox has mentioned it in interviews and so it's there in the back of my mind that Matt will 'look' at a person when he is speaking with them to better engage, but his gaze will fall around their mouths where the sound is coming from.

Logan is constantly assessing threats and does so mostly in a quick glance that makes it hard to tell he's sizing you up. He's very aware of where the doors are and who's coming through them, but doesn't usually bother with the 'keeping your back to the wall' thing. He'll sit out in the open or park himself at the bar (unless he's feeling particularly surly and unsociable, but that's more of a 'don't talk to me' thing than wariness), because his thought process is if someone wants to attack him from behind they can sure try, but they'll deserve whatever comes to them after.

Bill Pardy has a gigantic sweet tooth but has never had a cavity. That's more a tidbit than a quirk, but the reason is because of his mom who drilled him in good manners and habits all through growing up, and so he brushes his teeth/flosses/rinses almost religiously, which means he rarely has bad breath.

[genarti]

Enjolras: Pretty much always has a book on hand, whether it's in his pocket or not. He's also pretty careful about whom he names to whom, although at Milliways things are a little looser than they'd be in Paris. (But only a little.) He calls guys by their last names nearly always, though sometimes he's guessing a bit at which name is the proper one for that. He is always photogenically lit, and generally oblivious to it. He spends a fair amount of time sparring with friends, even if I don't often OOM it out, and thus probably has some minor bruises under his clothes at any given time. He'll talk at great length about abstract ideas, but he'll deflect conversation away from names and details every time, unless he's very deliberately revealing something.

I try to mention this, but he does a lot of -- looking carefully away, or selectively Not Seeing, women who are dressed immodestly by his standards. (That's about 99% of the female population of the bar.) He'll totally talk to them; he'll just keep his eyes on their face and not below. He's not judging, it's just that he's not interested in hitting on them even in casual conversational flirtiness, and that'd count.

Cosette is always curating her emotional reactions for friendliness and acceptability on the fly, even when it doesn't seem like it; they're genuine, but sometimes she's shoving away a fair bit of other genuine reaction to access the one that shows. She sits very straight -- I mean, she's in a corset, which sort of ensures good posture, for one thing. She's usually wearing a bonnet and often gloves, even though I forget to mention those. Whenever she's at Milliways, she's probably gone to visit Fantine in her room at some point if they're not threading onscreen.

...And then work ate me, so I just managed to write these two. Uh. I'll try to come back and do the others!

[genarti]

Thor does not say please or thank you casually. He sits and walks like he owns the place, and like he expects to be the center of attention and is fine with that. (It's not that he's trying to be the center of attention, but he expects to be.) He's generally happy to comply with requests or do people a friendly favor, but he's very sensitive to any hint that the other person might consider themselves above him or in a position to command him. He's a lot more careful with his words than I suspect many people realize.

Kazul, huh, I dunno, actually! I'm sure she has them, but I can't think of anything I keep consistently in mind that's not apparent.

[ceitfianna]

I voted in my state primary today and summer hit with a whack of hot weather and I forgot an appointment too. I'm going to do the ones that come to mind and possibly others later.

Quentin never uses please or thank you, when they're used in his world, you're making a promise with them. He's nocturnal and so whenever he's in late at night, its morning for him. One thing I always have a hard time knowing how to mention but its true is that in disguise or out of it, he's absurdly handsome. In canon, the phrases used are like a boy band singer and his race of Fae are known for being beautiful in an unnatural way like how his hair is truly the color of metal.

Sameth never looks neat, even when he's dressed in prince garb, his hair is messy and his surcoat is rumpled.

That's all I have for now, the heat has sapped my brain.

[electro_kinetic]

For Noriko: she thinks of the vast majority of people with nicknames--not because of any belief in names having power or out of discretion for the lawkeepers or anything, she's just a smartass--and will on quite a few occasions use them in place of an address. She pretty regularly smokes (marijuana) but does take a little trouble to keep it away from the little kids. She also makes it a habit to look up when she's entering a room, as well as left and right.

For Ganymede: He will almost always revert to some sort of pose when he's standing unless whatever he's doing has his full attention. It's not always obvious, but he keeps his weight uneven on his feet, cocks one hip back, etc. He also always has a knife with him, unless he is absolutely naked. He may well lie about that part if/when asked. Last for him is (though this may not be a 'non obvious' one) he rarely if ever spends a night alone; he rather hates sleeping alone, as a matter of fact.

[just_cant_lose]

The one of mine this is most relevant for is Javert. I've mentioned it before, but his clothes are a Thing. In canon, having his leather stock buckled at the side of his neck rather than dead-straight at the back is a sign of the most extreme internal distress. He is so fastidious about his appearance, which is why his EPs/tags will mention signs of creases/dirt/tears, etc. Dirt is OK! It happens when you work outside! But a button missing on his shirt means he's about to have a breakdown, and if he turns up with a rip in an obvious place, he's probably about to try and kill himself again.

Oh, and Bruce Banner is another for the 'very little eye contact' club, but that usually does get mentioned in tags.

Jim, thus far at least, is never not an entirely different character. His real self is a matter of mystery, as he's only ever shown playing a part in canon as well. Even when it's just him and Sherlock, he's presenting himself as he wants to be seen. This is why there's descriptions of what he's wearing, facial expressions, etc in tags - i suspect that when he's alone he's a lot more obviously insane - and sometimes terrifyingly cold and withdrawn - but he can pull it all together to play a part.

ETA: Should also add for Jim - his eyes are crazy dark, and massively expressive. They're pretty beautiful, but can also be creepy as all hell: It was mentioned on a DVD commentary that it's 'like there's something behind them watching you'. Jim's well aware of them, and they're all part of the act so they don't give away stuff he doesn't want seen (very often), but they are a noticeable feature.

[andinfluencepeople]

Legolas is terrible at eye contact (compared to humans - for an elf of his people, he's remarkably talented at adapting top human sensitivities!) -- he keeps it far too long, or not at all, and his face tends to follow people slightly when they move. He's also very quick to be bored.

Chuck mostly avoids people, but yeah -- he's in the gym (or a sparring room) daily.

Quatre never tells anybody anything even distantly important, unless he absolutely must, and even then it's almost always veiled. (But he doesn't lie, and doesn't even consider any of this deception.)

Clint loves small talk, and will listen to just about anybody, even if they're boring. He likes people. (He also has a plan to kill everyone he's met, but that's not incongruous to him, and it's more of a logic puzzle than anything with a threat behind it.)

Melinda May is deeply shy in the civilian world, and deeply confident in her own. She DOESN'T have a plan to kill ANYone she meets, that would just be weird (pfft, Clint). If she needs to kill them, she'll figure it out then.

Darcy loves learning, but rarely manages to finish any topics she's studying on her own (she's at, like, 101 level in the Speech, but she got too embarrassed to try it out on Thor and stagnated). She's always, always listening.

Idk if I did this right.

[rudderless]

Clementine really ought to spend more time at the range and Eponine in the rafters.

I need to do that more.

Also Clem is generally awful with names, Dixie will observe someone for awhile before she approaches, and Juliet has likely mentally memorized every single bylaw Security has somehow.