Since the old thread has been dead for almost 2 months (and had reached over 100 pages before that), I get the feeling we might as well start over: What nickname(s) does/would your MC despise having the most? Alec: Demon. I am a Lawful Evil egalitarian, I take great pride in my friends' ability to count on me for whatever they tell me to do – no questions asked. I don't got a problem with Amy wanting to be a Chaotic demon or Charlie being a Neutral yugoloth, but I gotta be Lawful. I'm a devil whose best friends are a demon and a 'loth. That don't make me a demon or a 'loth myself. Charlie: Bird. I don't mind that my parents named me after some Jazz guy, but do they really have to remind me at every turn? Amy: Amazing Amy. I get that Alec's proud of me for all of the headlines that I've made as "the Richmond Ripper," and I get that I'm technically the one who made him watch Gone Girl, but couldn't he have come up with something else after the first 100 times? Maybe something based on how I started out as like an Aileen Wournos, but became like a combination of BTK and the Iceman? Maybe something about my nerdiness for military history? Or about how my brother and I used to play Civ III together – Jason as a culture builder, me as a warlord? Jason: Secretariat. Being able to apply my love of spreadsheets to keeping a business's financials in order is a good thing, and one that a Fortune 500 company will pay me a fortune for – just as soon as my sister and I are able to buy our way out of the drug trade and get into real schools. What nickname(s) does/would your MC despise having the most?
I assume you have to answer the question above? Do you have to do so in character? What nickname(s) does/would your MC despise having the most? "Anything insulting or vulgar. Vulgarity really is the lowest form of wit. Arsehat, Rumpleforeskin, The Fresh Prince of Bell End. Any of those." What does your MC most covet?
It doesn't have to be in-character, but that's what most people do Alec: "Lipstick" Tony's the big hotshot who makes the rules in Richmond, and Mr. Black and Mr. White are the enforcers that everybody in the underworld's afraid of. That should be us: Charlie calling the shots, me and Amy sending whatever messages she needs us to. Charlie: Tony's Ferrari F-50. Amy: Probably the bar Tony runs. I'd keep the name "The Purple Guppy," but I'd completely renovate the run-down interior design – or failure to design, as the case may be – add some nicer appetizers to the menu, and I'd like to keep Tony's dismembered body parts in vacuum-bags under the floorboards. Jason: I try not to worry about this, but sometimes when I see a guy with a silver spoon up his ass looking down on people who have to make compromises for a living, I'd like to trade places for a week and see how well he handles it. What's the stupidest decision your MC ever made?
Tim: Taking on some port guards. Since then it's been very, and I mean very, hard to show my face anywhere. What was the first thing your MC did that made someone proud?
Alec: I was pretty much hooked on Dungeons and Dragons from the moment my high school girlfriend introduced me to her gaming group, but I hated that a lot of species were portrayed as Always Evil just for not looking like humans and that racially-motivated killings were OK. It wasn't a problem for me with supernatural embodiments of Evil like the Demons, the Devils, and the Yugoloths, but mortal creatures like Orcs and Dragons are people, not monsters. In my games, killing a sentient person for their race is an Evil act – and not one that I'm down for – and when we finished the first campaign I came up with about stopping a Chaotic Evil Human Ranger from exterminating an Orc tribe, my friends told me it was the most emotionally powerful campaign they'd ever played in their lives. Charlie: Making my older brother understand his college-level chemistry homework when I was 13. Amy: Alec finding out that I was the "Richmond Ripper" who'd been making headlines for years. Jason always congratulated me on winning at Civilization III, and Charlie thought it was cool having the Ripper as her own personal enforcer and eventual best friend, but Alec almost went through the roof when he found out that I'd become a "celebrity" as he put it. Jason: When Amy and I were kids, we'd play a lot of Civilization III on our dad's computer. She was always a warmonger who loved playing China, but I will never forget the look on her face and the choking hug she gave me after the first time I won a Culture victory as Greece. She'd always been really picky in her games about which Great Wonders she tried to build and which ones she ignored, but I managed to collect more in my games than the AIs combined. What book would your MC be most likely to read more than once?
I was halfway through I. A.'s question when Simpson posted, so you get two for one for me. (I'm going with 'first thing they remember' cause first words/steps or something like that is boring.) Fredrick: "I remember once, when I was young, my sister got really sick. My parents were really busy taking care of her, so I went and did her chores without anyone asking me to. At first, it didn't seem like anyone even noticed but after her fever broke three days later my dad told me how proud he was of me for stepping up like that." Jason: "Oh! I remember the first time I did a flip without help from my dad. First thing he did was yell at me for jumping off the wagon cause I could have hurt myself, of course, but then he hugged me and told me that was the best flip he'd ever seen. Then yelled at me to never do that again, cause next time I might break my neck. Of course I did it again anyway, and that time I got the wind knocked out of me." Sharon: "It was just a week or so after I first met Jason. Took him that long to pull himself together enough to have an actual conversation. He asked me what sort of things I liked and I didn't know. He helped me figure out I like to look at the stars, and so we snuck out to go stargazing. He told me about constellations and started pointing some out. Took me a minute to figure out that he was making them up, course he denied it when I told him I knew what he was doing. So I pointed out some random stars and said there was the 'liar liar pants on fire' constellation. Jason cracked up, a little too hard, but once he'd calmed down he said how proud he was of me for making a joke. It's one of my best memories." (Yeah, this doesn't work so good with two-thirds of my characters illiterate. I'll just do something with this.) Fredrick: "Not much of a reader. I can, but it's not my thing. Most of the stories I hear are the sort of stuff the government puts out to keep the people happy. Makes me sick. There's one I like though, an old story my grandma would tell, about a trickster who tricked a wicked king into giving him the kingdom. Those kinds of stories have to be told in whispers now, but I remember it well." Jason: "I don't like to listen to stories very much. If it's one I haven't heard before, that's okay, but I'd much rather tell them. Then I can change it so no one knows what to expect!" Sharon: "I haven't heard many stories except the ones Jason tells, but I like those. The bad guys always get it in his stories." What is your MC's least favorite mode of travel and why?
That's nothing: I once took so long on each question I had to answer three of them Alec: Any mass transit system – plane, train, bus, whatever – where you're surrounded by other people, but where you're not supposed to talk to each other. What's the point of traveling with other people if you're supposed to ignore each other the whole time? Charlie: Mass transit. Too many people. Amy: Every time I go on an airplane, I have to work twice as hard to avoid going into a panic attack. I know it's unreasonable, but my anxiety doesn't, and knowing that it's unreasonable only makes it worse. I can't take extra medication before a flight, breaking the schedule is the first step in setting yourself up for failure, and if I tried killing someone on the plane to calm myself down, there's no way in Hell I could get away with it. Jason: SUVs. If you got fewer than 5 other people in the vehicle with you, there is no reason to be going through that much gasoline. What internet forums would your MC be most interested in?
Dragomir: I don't know of one specifically I'm afraid, but perhaps ones specialising in either history or forensic science for discussing be fields there, if to keep ahead of the game. Truth be told, I'm one of those people who prefer books and journals over the web. What one thing does your MC think the world could do without?
Tim: The world could even just go with one less of those morons who blindly follow. And blindly respect. Yeah, give a baseline of respect to every chap, but gods damn it, don't run into the guns with them. Respect should mostly be earned not just given because they have a better job than you. Oh and them guys who say they believe bullshit because his parents did. Overall, just have a world without idiots. Where would your MC go on holiday, and would they go with anyone?
Dragomir: Heh... I like your attitude there. Dragomir: Would go? I have a holiday home near both the Jura and Alp ranges in Southern France. Plenty of places to ski and the unique yellow wine of the area is quite pleasant. For somewhere new, either Venice or Pompeii, and I'd be quite happy taking my nephew along for either. What is the best and worst thing about your MC's job/school, depending on which applies.
Muahaha Alec: I love that I can work with my best friend from high school, I like that me and Amy have also become close friends with our boss, and I love that Charlie's got the autonomy from her sponsors to run her side of our cocaine business without interference. I wish she was the Don of the city and could tell anybody what to do, no matter how powerful. I want to be able to walk into a room with Amy, tell the people there that we have a message from Charlie Petersen, and to be able to enjoy the look of fear on everybody's faces. Charlie: Pay's good. Wish it was better. Amy: I like that my "boss" and I have become good friends and that I can disagree with her without her shutting me down as a power play, I like that I was able to invite my brother and my high school best friend to work with us, I like that Alec has become as good friends with Charlie as I am, and I love that Jason's found a way to work with us without having to be bothered by all the blood-and-guts that me, Alec, and Charlie don't tell him about. And seriously, being able to afford housing and therapy is a hell of a lot better than sleeping on the streets and waking up screaming. I just wish we didn't have other people breathing down Charlie's neck all the time: telling her what to do, telling her what not to do, telling her to cut them a share of the money she earns. Jason: I love being able to work on spreadsheets for hours by myself, and I love that my sister and her friends are able to run this without the violence that a lot of other drug rings inflict on the innocent people around them. I just wish Amy and I could make enough money to buy our way out before either of us get arrested. Or killed. What basic life skill is your MC embarrassingly bad at?
Dragomir: Getting up in the morning, one of my familiars has to wake me up to make sure that I'm in class on time. Hey, it's not my fault that I'm geared to waking up at night! What is your MC's favourite way to unwind?
Bartlett: "That couple at the bar is hot -I can smell the reds and golds of their colognes and perfumes-; I want them to share me like how some share a chocolate malt on a date. Let me see what type of fun I can get into." What haunts your character?
Alec: I would like to meet a leader of a local White Supremacist group and ask him if he likes seeing the inside of his skin as much as he likes seeing the outside. Wait, are we supposed to call them "White Nationalists" now so we don't hurt their feelings? Is that the new politically correct term they prefer to self-identify as? Charlie: Whoever else I can do business with. Amy: I wonder if I could tell Mom that I'm a serial killer without her telling Dad and Jason. She's never seen me as a person, she's always seen me as an extension of herself; if I told her that I'm the Richmond Ripper, would she rather blame herself for everything than accept that maybe, just maybe, she might not have absolute power over everything I say, think, or do? Jason: I'd like to thank Sid Meier for creating the Civilization franchise, tell him how amazing most of the games were and how much my sister and I loved playing III together, and ask him why the combat engine from IV sucked so bad and if V or VI are better. What was your MC's favorite birthday present?
What was your MC's favorite birthday present? "Presents? I don't know when it is, but the records will be on the computer." What item would your MC miss most, if lost?
Tim: My knife. Because then I wouldn't be able to do shit like peel potatoes and its all over then. Which person does your MC turn to first for comfort when upset or angry?
Corrin: The Rylot or my tutor. It would have been my family before I joined The House, though I've grown rather distant from them since then. What would your MC hang on the wall of their living room?
Alec: Huge-screen TV, that's all I really need. As long as I can catch up on Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Sopranos, I'm good. Charlie: The paint. Amy: One of the futurist works like The Streetlight, The Laugh, or Simultaneous Visions, maybe Dynamism of a Cyclist. I don't care that the painters were misogynistic asswipes, I love the starkness of their paintings, and I'm not about to let them tell me that I can't! Jason: Pictures of assorted flowers. When did your MC first decide that a lifelong dream was never going to happen?
Bartholomew Jackson: "Ugh. If you tell anyone about this I'll kill you. I used to be a traveling performer. My fellow performer in this terrible two man show was a fellow called Edward Prachett. I think he's still performing... Anyway, we went from town to town performing for the locals. I used to so believe in what we were doing, that we were destined for greatness. Anyway, I guess getting booed of stage and taking too many tomatoes to the face finally made me see the reality. We were terrible. We were always going to be terrible. So I gave up and walked away. It's a good thing I did too because it turns out I'm a much better thief." If your MC was granted three wishes what would their second wish be?
Centauri Rose: "probably to keep my emotional support animal alive until I pass on. I've grown really attached to him, and he means a lot to me. I don't think I could lose him suddenly, and I would want him to be immortal because then he'd get lonely and tossed around." What disease would your MC cure?
Tim: It depends on what you think as a 'disease'. And also whether I would be able to actually get that cure. I would try my very hardest to cure a number of things, but what can I do, I'm just a ship's cook? If I could make anyone better, even though I'm not even sure it's a disease he's got, it would be my friend, he's changed in ways that both of us hate. What is the worst dream your MC has ever had?
Well, after he touched "The Black Stone", all of his dreams are essentially a top down view of him, that slowly scrolls out to show how tiny and insignificant he is. And he deals with that every night. Your character is trapped on a desert island, but can bring one person with them. Who do they take?
Rei: Leo, of course. He's an idiot but he's a smart idiot. Skye: Probably Maddox. Let's face it, he's got the most knowledge on how to survive in random places. Jayden: Anyone but Maddox. Issa: Ditto Skye. Leo: Rei? I mean... we survived alone together for most of out lives... Maddox: Anyone but Jayden. Fuck Jayden. No one likes Jayden. ("Fuck you, Maddox!") What would your MC do if the person they care about most vanished?
Marckus: To lose my adopted daughter would be more than enough reason to eat a bullet. Graxis: If Dlynvacko were to simply disappear, it must be the will of the Goddess of Life. It will create an internal suffering to be without her, but all will be as it is. Corlixia: Marckus were to blink out of existence? How ever improbable and unlikely an event based on logic. I would likely relapse into my old life, for a pain with out reason should be just as unfairly shared with those who do not understand the anguish of having a reason to change stripped from them as well. Irrational things breed irrational consequences. Your MC is sentenced to death, what is their last request?
