Friday DE:

[bjornwilde]

Oh shit, it's Friday isn't it? Well, I have no ideas so I'm pulling from the Suggestion Box. Today I'm using one from a comment of childofrebellion 's, which has a whole bunch of great ideas:

How physical in their everyday life is your character. Are they a hugger, do they like to lean on people?

Comments

[cottoncandypink]

Not even a little bit. Wilford values his personal space almost more than anything. If he's wasted enough, some of those walls might come down a little bit, but even then he still has very strict boundaries.

[just_cant_lose]

Jim has no problem getting up in people's personal space if he needs to/he knows it intimidates them/will piss them off/to be a troll/flirt. He won't really do it for no reason though, because other people are icky. He has no need of human touch from randoms, and would rather it didn't happen. So everyday life is pretty non-physical as far as general people are concerned.

If he's playing a part, he'll be as tactile as he needs to be to get what he wants from someone. And he literally cannot keep his hands off Sherlock. Apparently, being physical is nice if the other person is not awful! A revelation he is happy to have discovered. :)

[bjornwilde]

Ahsoka: Growing up with the Order, she had to learn physical contact and even later in life, she is still awkward in social situations that aren't missions. I think she craves physical contact and will always welcome it when it's offered, returning as the other person gives, but I don't know that she'll initiate.

Sabine: Keeps her hands to herself. She wear armor, both figuratively and literally. I think any contact someone offers will be accepted and let go as quickly as possible. She expresses herself with art, not physical contact. Still, there are times when she reaches out for a hug and she's good with a casual nearness.

Danny: He feels like he'd offer hugs and comforting rubs all the time. He might need to be told when such is not welcome. I'm trying to remember if canon backs this up but I'm blanking except for times when he's comforting Coleen. I know he's fine getting into personal space and likely isn't as used to maintaining the distance we keep in the West.

Selina: She keeps her distance unless she trusts you. Then she is fine with sitting closer or occasional hugs. She's very cat like with physical affection, the big issue if gaining her trust.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee is complicated and (like Selina above) is also cat-like in terms of casual contact. He has the appearance of being aloof unless the trust and comfort level is mutual (for instance, he has no problem with being all over any one of his boys and girls). Flirtatious and seductive contact comes easily, but touchy-feely gestures of affection, especially hugs, are rare. He might touch your hand, arm, shoulder, even face and hair, but not much more unless the aforementioned comfort levels are clear.

Pam: no. She is not going to hug anybody. Do not hug Pam, do not lean on Pam, do not even think of touching her. She decides who can touch her, and how, and where, and if she reciprocates, consider yourself fortunate if you're still alive afterwards. The only person who can hug her is Eric.

Floki is a Viking and has no concept of personal space. He will get up all in yours.

Cassidy is naturally gregarious and is prone to hearty back slapping and squeezy shoulder hugs. He's not always aware that such contact may be unwanted. Smaller gestures (see current thread with Sinric) confuse him.

[dwellsinthedetails]

Japan is not a touchy-feely culture to begin with, and on top of that Yusuke's fairly isolated childhood means he's really not used to it. (You know, give or take 'attempting subway travel in Tokyo.')

He could probably accept invasions of his personal space from the other Phantom Thieves, at this point.

[thebattycakes]

Barry is a hugger. He definitely respects personal space of others, but once somebody reaches a certain level importance to him, they're getting Barry hugs. Even the surly Oliver Queen couldn't escape one forever. Barry's also a high-fiver and a shoulder-bumper, and he'll lean or be leaned on very companionably.

I have been pondering a thing, though, that I'm interested in what others might have to say about it; opinions or how they've dealt with it with they're own characters. As said, Barry is a hugger, and he's coming to get to that level of caring about some people within Milliways where at times the appropriate greeting for him would be a hug, usually the hand grip, lean in and shoulder bump/pat bro-hug, y'know? It would be a very natural thing for him to do, but as the mun initiating such would feel like... godding? At least borderline. IDK, maybe I'm being paranoid. It's just, with a handshake it's easy enough to offer and the other person can engage or decline, but a bro-hug or hug-hug is a different sort of action that mostly assumes the other person is going to allow and return. Does that make sense? It probably doesn't, MOAR COFFFEE.

Anyways, just wanted to know if others had any thoughts. Laa.

Matt is a very tactile person by necessity. It's part of how he navigates the world, and how he keeps his cover. That said, while he's free and easy holding someone's arm, or shoulder, he keeps his space the rest of the time. It's very rare that he'll engage in physical contact whether it's casual or personal (unless of course it's violence or boot-knocking); he doesn't even generally initiate handshakes and willfully ignores the offer from others unless he has reasons to do it.

Part of it is a sensory thing, being touched isn't always the most comfortable thing for him, but a part of it is also that Matt lives in a box, in a safe, inside a fort with high walls and a moat. He just doesn't allow people to get close emotionally and that affects the physical.

Charlie: Charlie isn't touchy feely. He'll shake hands, maybe do the shoulder clap thing, otherwise he settles for a nod or other distance forms of communication.

Logan is gruff and surly and his everyday usually involves fighting, so that's mostly how he's physical. There are a select few, though, that he tolerates enough to allow contact from (he's a big teddy bear disguised as a grumpy old man, ask others who know him well enough and they'll tell you).

Hellboy is a bull in a china shop and in his everyday life he's used to throwing his weight around. With people he doesn't like he can by very physical even when he's not punching somebody; finger jabs, bumps and looming in personal spaces. With people he likes, though, he's more hands off because he's not looking to hurt them. He'll do claps on the back or friendly punches in the arm with some, but mostly he keeps a bit of a buffer.

[iprotectyou]

No, this makes total sense to me, and I feel you about godding. Baze is a hugger, too, and the way I'm planning to deal with it is to have him just open his arms in the offer of a hug, and then then the other mun can decide. I've been blessed with Ibani mun and Chirrut mun who basically let Baze hug their pups anytime, so he gets most of his physical contact needs fulfilled that way.

TL;DR: Barry can hug Baze anytime he likes!

[run_barry]

B'aww yay! Baze seems like he'd give great hugs, too! <333

I'm glad I made sense, and your reply is reasonable to me. He's not just going to go hugging strangers, but even with familiar friends of Barry's it is good if I the mun communicate with others to make sure neither I nor Barry are overstepping.

[ever_lovin]

(Bjorn here in old character mode)

For your Barry question, might a suggest writing in the tag that Barry moves to do the bro hug and leave it up to the other player if the pup accepts or moves back? Easy peasey! That way Barry does a thing that is very Barry (did you see that?) without god modding the other pup.

For example: Barry accepted the hand shake and leaned forward to turn it into a hug.

Next tag could be the other pup accepting or pulling back.

[run_barry]

(Aww, I miss Ben! <3)

That's a really great way to write it, thanks! I appreciate the input.

[ever_lovin]

I'm glad you like it!

(I discovered he and Johnny are going to try and bring the band back together come December. This might be causing a reaction in myself.)

[run_barry]

(\o/ Did you hear that high-pitched squee sound? It was Bat from the desert. :D!)

[ever_lovin]

=D

[iprotectyou]

Baze is totally a hugger. He's touching Chirrut constantly, and will lean and gladly be leaned on by others. When Baze embraces someone, it's with his full body; he'll lift people off their feet and swing them around. Physical contact is extremely important for his mental health.

But he's only just becoming aware that most people live in a bubble, and don't particularly want to be touched. He patted YT on the shoulder and she freaked out, which was startling to him, having been used to having free reign with Chirrut.

[never_promised]

For the ones that really pop into my head right now:

William Douglas is a very physical kind of person, though it mostly comes out in bumping and jostling and thumping and kicking and wrestling, because he still hasn't grown out of that phase. He's uneasy with people who don't answer in kind.

Loki values his personal space, thank you.

[childofrebellion]

I asked this because for Cassian its not an easy thing. When he's with Kay, there's comfortable pats and touches. Then how he's close with someone like Tivik which is about gaining trust and showing friendship, its hard to know what's really for him and what's not. As someone who works with informants, Cassian knows that to win people's trust being close is important and I think its something he treasures, but doesn't often get for the sake of himself. When it comes to what he wants from people, he's hesitant. What's striking about his relationship with Jyn is how from when they first meet, they both keep ending up in the other's personal space, its not until nearer the end that there's a clearer sense of want and purpose in it. The entire heartbreaking scenes from the hangar on Yavin to the beach is full of him almost reaching for Jyn then not daring to, she makes those little moves of taking his hand, drawing him into a hug because I think she's more comfortable taking. He tends to worry that he'll be rejected or its not real, its his persona. I'm working on a fic about this as I personally think Cassian needs more hugs.

Quentin is someone who will lean and get in someone's personal space if they're a friend, Raj, his best friend is a Cait Sidhe with few ideas of personal space. But that's only with some people, he has to warm up to being that way and if he's suspicious, he'll fall back on being formal and keeping his distance.

Charles is someone who loves small physical things, he grew up in a pretty cold household but in how he is with Raven and Erik, its easy to see he loves being leaned on and hugged. His telepathy lets him cheat and know how comfortable someone else is with being close.

Sameth isn't from an incredibly close in terms of hugs family, they're more hand clasps instead of hugs. I think he likes them but is cautious in offering them.

Ivan's very comfortable reaching out physically in lots of ways from little touches to hugs.

William's physically closer to his brother, but not as much his father. He tends to be very aware of what's the appropriate thing to do and trying to figure it out.

Will S. is very physically affectionate, he hugs, leans, does friendly tackles, all of that.

Demeter is another one who's always touching and hugging.

Tumnus loves hugs and touches but he's careful with them, he needs to get comfortable with someone.

I'm someone who loves that kind of physical affection, but know not everyone likes it so try and get the right balance. If you've spent time around me in person, I have a habit of leaning and reaching for hugs.

[death_gone_mad]

Amascut is hands-off-ish and well... there is only certain ways to pet a cat without getting bit. Plus, she doesn't ever want to be anyone's plaything ever again so she will get oddly defensive about somethings. Magic allows her to be hands-off about a lot of things. She will sometimes assume the role of a person who is a lot more touch oriented than she is herself, and she won't refuse a handshake, so she's not totally averse, but when she touches you, it usually is a sign that she wants something from you. It's not a good thing.

Fairy Fixit I think is actually inclined toward touching, handshakes, and hugs, but given her size relative to nearly everyone else in Milliways and her wings that can be weird. It's not like she can sneak up on people either, since her wings aren't quiet.