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pareidolist
pareidolistBody and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
He is very slightly tall - just enough to be noticeable next to someone of below-average height, but easily lost in a crowd. He is lanky but not unusually thin, as a result of his unhealthy but infrequent meals.
2. How old is he?
26.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
He pays no attention at all to his posture or positioning. Slouching is the least of his problems.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
It is probably some sort of miracle that James hasn't dissolved yet. He exerts himself little to not at all, goes days without remembering to eat, and has a complicated relationship with sleep. His physical strength is about nil. His viral system is a sad and abandoned affair, and his nose runs easily.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
James Violet moves like an accident. Walking, sitting, or lying down, he slings himself absent-mindedly over reality in the quickest-reached position. He occasionally stills in strange positions or expressions. Very rarely, he walks with complete awareness, every micromovement deliberate.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
Not particularly. He is quite boring-looking. If one were to pick a single word to describe his appearance, it would probably be 'mundane'. He does not like mirrors.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Well, he doesn't spend nearly as much time outside as he should – and when he does, it's usually in his tiny walled garden, which gets little sunlight – so he's very pale. Other than that, his face is almost unusually blank; no scars, no freckles, and so on.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Black, straight, somewhat coarse. He keeps it as long as hair can be while still being considered short.
9. What color are his eyes?
Blue. An unusually deep blue – not in the 'I could get lost in your eyes' way, but in the 'Hey, I have a T-shirt that color' one.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
He has somewhat prominent eyebrows and fairly long eyelashes.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
Everywhere. But particularly his neck. He cranes his head a lot.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Mostly solid colors, generally buttoned but more toward casual. His default outfit is jeans, a button-up shirt, and something over it (sweater, sweatshirt, cardigan, that sort of thing). None of these elements individually tends to be hugely varied; it is the configurations of wearing them all together in which he finds his variation.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
They fit well enough, given that he only sort of knows his size and can sometimes hold on to clothing for too long. He seems about as comfortable in them as he does in any other aspect of his life, which is not very.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
He rarely leaves home for his job, but when he does, he'll switch out his jeans for something a little more dressy and wear a nice buttony sweater.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxer briefs. He picked them up once because they were the closest to the aisle, and although he now mostly shops for clothes online, he's kept buying them.
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Perhaps very slightly higher-pitched than normal. He has that somewhat weird smoothness that comes right after the rough voice of someone who's just woken up.
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
Clipped, a little bit quieter than normal. When he talks, he sounds the way most people sound when they read dialogue from books.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
That was a cutely-phrased question and I approve of it. He tends to drop unnecessary words at the start and end of sentences. "Same idea." "Could have happened." That sort of thing.
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
He is obviously fluent in English, and that's it.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
When he's a little less stable, he may say a few things in another language, particularly if he's talking to someone fluent in that language. Although what he says may be appropriate to the conversation, he won't much notice he's said it and won't really know what it means.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
He's not an amazing impromptu speaker, but he's terrible when rehearsed.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
He is often somewhat abrupt in his usual speech, but it's an abruptness often littered with fragments of eloquence. When he allows himself to tell stories he becomes pretty overblown.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
He is a victim of brilliance. Book-smart is probably the right term, but there are very few books like that.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
He prefers taking time to think things over, and he likes to imagine that he's more the latter, but truthfully he mostly tends toward the former.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
He is all about abstract intuition. He tries to ground himself in logic and practicality, but fails. He can get caught in endless spirals of thought.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
He tolerated a standard educational track, but most of the knowledge he's retained and actually cares about comes from the books he's read and research he's done.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
His particular area of specialization is symbolism and the recognition of patterns.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Introvert.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
He behaves with a sort of casual drive – as though in his mind he is very driven, but he can't quite get his actual self to play along. He is inquisitive to the point of needly, somewhat dark, and wry.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
With curiosity that entirely overwhelms his distrust of the unfamiliar.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
React.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Flight, possibly followed by trying to confront the problem from a different angle. Unless he feels cornered, of course.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
He loves irony – not the Dave Strider sort, the kind that's really just about finding entertainment in unusual behavior of patterns. He's actually very silly, but in a somewhat serious manner that makes people often not realize he means to amuse them or himself. Dark humor is a must, obviously.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Well, he is the pareidolist. External viewers might diagnose him with apophenia or even schizophrenia. Then again, external viewers might look at this guy who mostly stays in his house and stares at screens for long periods of time, and if pressed hints that he works for some sort of worldwide global conspiracy, so they would also probably diagnose him as massively delusional. He doesn't regard himself as any of these, so who's to say.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
Meeting the Page of Doors. Realizing none of his plans for becoming successfully employed at some lucrative position were going to come true because he didn't actually care. Finding Glaukopis. Getting hired by them. The moment he decided to follow the Page of Doors's pointing finger.
14. What does he fear?
His mind, and losing control over it. The un-beautiful. The unknowable.
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
To understand.
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
He has no idea what he's doing.
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
He didn't cut off ties to them, he just thought about them less and less and eventually stopped thinking about them at all. He can't even remember what they look like any more.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
No.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
No. He really just doesn't care.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
He tries not to think of the Courtiers as family. He tries not to think of them at all, in fact, but sometimes it seems like they're all he can think about.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Probably Theia, whom he calls Thi. She's an occultist who supplies him with his more arcane implements, from knucklebones to omen texts – none of which he's supposed to have.
6. Does he have other close friends?
No.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
He doesn't exactly have trouble getting along with people, he just never really sends out the signal that he has any particular interest in interacting with you beyond the present.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
Friends. Not that he's any good at them.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Single, never married. The mere thought boggles the mind.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
No.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
Probably some guy at school, for both.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
He hasn't really thought about romance in any serious capacity for a very long time, though he can occasionally come across as a bit flirty.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
No, and no.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
Not to his knowledge. Not yet, anyway.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
He's gay.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
His sex drive is almost as low as his romantic drive.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
Turn-ons: Intelligence. Being fascinating. Enigmas. Beauty of symmetry and other such patterns. Danger. Oh, you meant physical stuff? He doesn't discern much there.
Turn-offs: The inverses of all of the above, of course. Again, physically, he just doesn't have any strong likes or dislikes, except for behavior he considers ugly.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
This was one of the things he agreed to have erased from his mind when he went to work at Glaukopis. This also means he has no idea when his birthday is!
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
He is not at all religious or spiritual. He is not precisely superstitious or occultic, which is to say he is extremely well versed in such matters but doesn't exactly believe in them, even though he uses them all the time.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Not really. The closest he has is an axiomatic dislike of the un-beautiful.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
Curious, as in all things.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Are you kidding? He works entirely in archetypes. Any prejudice that you could think of, he's probably heard – he considers himself impartial to all such patterns, but sure, they'll influence him in small ways.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Glaukopis provides him with what he needs, which isn't much. They do this because they don't want him to own anything they don't know about. He has no set solution for when he wants to own something they don't know about. Theia sometimes hires him to help her out with things. Otherwise, whatever odd jobs are out there. Occasionally he'll just steal it, if he sees an easy opportunity.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
He's never really been enough of a member of society for this to apply.
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
He lives alone in a small house. There are all the basic rooms – bedroom, kitchen/dining-room, bathroom, etc. – as well as a room with no windows and one wall covered entirely by screens. His backyard is a small walled garden.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
As above, things he doesn't want Glaukopis to know about: occult implements and books, mostly.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
Put simply, he takes in large quantities of data and looks for patterns so irrational that a computer would miss them entirely. It's most of his life. He is very worried about what would happen to him if he ever lost his job; he was a very unhealthy sort of person before it, and he doesn't want to go back to the way he was.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
I really hope that by now these answers are obvious.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
His meals are infrequent, large, and fairly lacking in the important stuff for keeping healthy. He likes simple foods: crackers, fruit, noodles, that sort of thing.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color? Purple.
2. Smell? The dirt at the edge of tree-roots.
3. Time of day? Noon.
4. Season? Fall.
5. Book? Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard.
6. Music? Sedated, by Mikky Ekko.
7. Place? All gardens.
8. Substance? Paper.
9. Plant? Apple tree.
10. Animal? Bird. Not a particular kind of bird: bird, full-stop.
END
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1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
He is very slightly tall - just enough to be noticeable next to someone of below-average height, but easily lost in a crowd. He is lanky but not unusually thin, as a result of his unhealthy but infrequent meals.
2. How old is he?
26.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
He pays no attention at all to his posture or positioning. Slouching is the least of his problems.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
It is probably some sort of miracle that James hasn't dissolved yet. He exerts himself little to not at all, goes days without remembering to eat, and has a complicated relationship with sleep. His physical strength is about nil. His viral system is a sad and abandoned affair, and his nose runs easily.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
James Violet moves like an accident. Walking, sitting, or lying down, he slings himself absent-mindedly over reality in the quickest-reached position. He occasionally stills in strange positions or expressions. Very rarely, he walks with complete awareness, every micromovement deliberate.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
Not particularly. He is quite boring-looking. If one were to pick a single word to describe his appearance, it would probably be 'mundane'. He does not like mirrors.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Well, he doesn't spend nearly as much time outside as he should – and when he does, it's usually in his tiny walled garden, which gets little sunlight – so he's very pale. Other than that, his face is almost unusually blank; no scars, no freckles, and so on.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Black, straight, somewhat coarse. He keeps it as long as hair can be while still being considered short.
9. What color are his eyes?
Blue. An unusually deep blue – not in the 'I could get lost in your eyes' way, but in the 'Hey, I have a T-shirt that color' one.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
He has somewhat prominent eyebrows and fairly long eyelashes.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
Everywhere. But particularly his neck. He cranes his head a lot.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Mostly solid colors, generally buttoned but more toward casual. His default outfit is jeans, a button-up shirt, and something over it (sweater, sweatshirt, cardigan, that sort of thing). None of these elements individually tends to be hugely varied; it is the configurations of wearing them all together in which he finds his variation.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
They fit well enough, given that he only sort of knows his size and can sometimes hold on to clothing for too long. He seems about as comfortable in them as he does in any other aspect of his life, which is not very.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
He rarely leaves home for his job, but when he does, he'll switch out his jeans for something a little more dressy and wear a nice buttony sweater.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxer briefs. He picked them up once because they were the closest to the aisle, and although he now mostly shops for clothes online, he's kept buying them.
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Perhaps very slightly higher-pitched than normal. He has that somewhat weird smoothness that comes right after the rough voice of someone who's just woken up.
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
Clipped, a little bit quieter than normal. When he talks, he sounds the way most people sound when they read dialogue from books.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
That was a cutely-phrased question and I approve of it. He tends to drop unnecessary words at the start and end of sentences. "Same idea." "Could have happened." That sort of thing.
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
He is obviously fluent in English, and that's it.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
When he's a little less stable, he may say a few things in another language, particularly if he's talking to someone fluent in that language. Although what he says may be appropriate to the conversation, he won't much notice he's said it and won't really know what it means.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
He's not an amazing impromptu speaker, but he's terrible when rehearsed.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
He is often somewhat abrupt in his usual speech, but it's an abruptness often littered with fragments of eloquence. When he allows himself to tell stories he becomes pretty overblown.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
He is a victim of brilliance. Book-smart is probably the right term, but there are very few books like that.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
He prefers taking time to think things over, and he likes to imagine that he's more the latter, but truthfully he mostly tends toward the former.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
He is all about abstract intuition. He tries to ground himself in logic and practicality, but fails. He can get caught in endless spirals of thought.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
He tolerated a standard educational track, but most of the knowledge he's retained and actually cares about comes from the books he's read and research he's done.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
His particular area of specialization is symbolism and the recognition of patterns.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Introvert.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
He behaves with a sort of casual drive – as though in his mind he is very driven, but he can't quite get his actual self to play along. He is inquisitive to the point of needly, somewhat dark, and wry.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
With curiosity that entirely overwhelms his distrust of the unfamiliar.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
React.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Flight, possibly followed by trying to confront the problem from a different angle. Unless he feels cornered, of course.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
He loves irony – not the Dave Strider sort, the kind that's really just about finding entertainment in unusual behavior of patterns. He's actually very silly, but in a somewhat serious manner that makes people often not realize he means to amuse them or himself. Dark humor is a must, obviously.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Well, he is the pareidolist. External viewers might diagnose him with apophenia or even schizophrenia. Then again, external viewers might look at this guy who mostly stays in his house and stares at screens for long periods of time, and if pressed hints that he works for some sort of worldwide global conspiracy, so they would also probably diagnose him as massively delusional. He doesn't regard himself as any of these, so who's to say.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
Meeting the Page of Doors. Realizing none of his plans for becoming successfully employed at some lucrative position were going to come true because he didn't actually care. Finding Glaukopis. Getting hired by them. The moment he decided to follow the Page of Doors's pointing finger.
14. What does he fear?
His mind, and losing control over it. The un-beautiful. The unknowable.
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
To understand.
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
He has no idea what he's doing.
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
He didn't cut off ties to them, he just thought about them less and less and eventually stopped thinking about them at all. He can't even remember what they look like any more.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
No.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
No. He really just doesn't care.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
He tries not to think of the Courtiers as family. He tries not to think of them at all, in fact, but sometimes it seems like they're all he can think about.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Probably Theia, whom he calls Thi. She's an occultist who supplies him with his more arcane implements, from knucklebones to omen texts – none of which he's supposed to have.
6. Does he have other close friends?
No.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
He doesn't exactly have trouble getting along with people, he just never really sends out the signal that he has any particular interest in interacting with you beyond the present.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
Friends. Not that he's any good at them.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Single, never married. The mere thought boggles the mind.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
No.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
Probably some guy at school, for both.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
He hasn't really thought about romance in any serious capacity for a very long time, though he can occasionally come across as a bit flirty.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
No, and no.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
Not to his knowledge. Not yet, anyway.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
He's gay.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
His sex drive is almost as low as his romantic drive.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
Turn-ons: Intelligence. Being fascinating. Enigmas. Beauty of symmetry and other such patterns. Danger. Oh, you meant physical stuff? He doesn't discern much there.
Turn-offs: The inverses of all of the above, of course. Again, physically, he just doesn't have any strong likes or dislikes, except for behavior he considers ugly.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
This was one of the things he agreed to have erased from his mind when he went to work at Glaukopis. This also means he has no idea when his birthday is!
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
He is not at all religious or spiritual. He is not precisely superstitious or occultic, which is to say he is extremely well versed in such matters but doesn't exactly believe in them, even though he uses them all the time.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Not really. The closest he has is an axiomatic dislike of the un-beautiful.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
Curious, as in all things.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Are you kidding? He works entirely in archetypes. Any prejudice that you could think of, he's probably heard – he considers himself impartial to all such patterns, but sure, they'll influence him in small ways.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Glaukopis provides him with what he needs, which isn't much. They do this because they don't want him to own anything they don't know about. He has no set solution for when he wants to own something they don't know about. Theia sometimes hires him to help her out with things. Otherwise, whatever odd jobs are out there. Occasionally he'll just steal it, if he sees an easy opportunity.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
He's never really been enough of a member of society for this to apply.
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
He lives alone in a small house. There are all the basic rooms – bedroom, kitchen/dining-room, bathroom, etc. – as well as a room with no windows and one wall covered entirely by screens. His backyard is a small walled garden.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
As above, things he doesn't want Glaukopis to know about: occult implements and books, mostly.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
Put simply, he takes in large quantities of data and looks for patterns so irrational that a computer would miss them entirely. It's most of his life. He is very worried about what would happen to him if he ever lost his job; he was a very unhealthy sort of person before it, and he doesn't want to go back to the way he was.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
I really hope that by now these answers are obvious.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
His meals are infrequent, large, and fairly lacking in the important stuff for keeping healthy. He likes simple foods: crackers, fruit, noodles, that sort of thing.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color? Purple.
2. Smell? The dirt at the edge of tree-roots.
3. Time of day? Noon.
4. Season? Fall.
5. Book? Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard.
6. Music? Sedated, by Mikky Ekko.
7. Place? All gardens.
8. Substance? Paper.
9. Plant? Apple tree.
10. Animal? Bird. Not a particular kind of bird: bird, full-stop.
END
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