character questionnaire? I think yes!

One of my favorite bogs, Inkspot by Anastasia Cross, just posted a really lovely questionnaire for one of her characters. Reading it (and you can read it here), I was of course filled with a desperate need to fill it out myself. I really love character questionnaires.

She filled hers out with her character Lukas Vetti, so my stupid brain refuses to let me fill it out with anyone other than my own Lukas, aka Luke “Lucky” Ostergaard. (I swear, I tried so hard to fill it out with someone of a different name. I really did. I filled it part of the way out for a woman named Ty, part of the way for a lad named Mordecai, and par of the way for Mordecai's sister Nina, but each time I ended up getting bored and coming back to my Luke. Sigh.) This is one of the main characters of my comic. (Which will begin posting in one week!) (AHHH) (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)

1. What actor would play Lucky?

Brilliant. Question one is a question I would never be able to answer. I have never come across a human that looked like my precious child, but if I ever do I will let you know. Until then, his movie will be animated.

Since I don't have an actor, here's a random thing I drew of him and his best friend. he's the dude in the sweater with the newspaper and the hat.

Talking to Luke...

2. So, Lucky. Tell us a little about yourself.

Lucky: Oh, okay. Um. Well. I'm... I'm seventeen, and I live in Rosebury, Washington. Before I lived here I lived in Colorado, but I was born in South Carolina and kind of picked up my mother's accent... I'm sorry, I know it's annoying. Ugh. Um. Some people call me Lucky, but I really prefer to be called Luke. Actually, I hate being called Lucky. It's such a stupid nickname. What else do you want to know?

3. Do you have any family?

Lucky: I live with my father since my parents got divorced. I have a half sister, she's a few years older than me. Er. I have both sets of grandparents left, but one pair lives in the Carolinas and the other lives in Sweden, so I don't really see either pair. I don't really see my half sister, either, which is just fine with me because she is an inhuman jerk.

4. Who is your best friend and why?

Lucky: Colette Baker, because she's my only friend. But also for other reasons! I'm sure if I had other friends she'd still be my best friend. Like... oh gosh... um... she's just really great. She's sort of annoying. But great.

Inside the Character

Physical Characteristics

1. What color is his hair?

Light blond, which honestly annoys him a lot. His eyebrows and eyelashes are so light that they're practically invisible. It's a very yellow shade of blond, too-- kind of buttery colored.

2. What color are his eyes?

Very bright, pale blue, like baby blue. This kid is like as stereotypically Swedish in coloring as possible.

3. What color is his skin?

Pale pale pale, poor child. Probably from staying indoors as much as possible coupled with living in Washington, where it is always drizzling and the sun never ever shines. He tends to have a really pink nose and fingers, and flushes easily. You can definitely tell when he's embarrassed or angry because he turns bright red. When it is sunny out, he usually gets burned.

4. How tall/heavy is he?

He's on the short side of average, standing at about 5'8” when he's not slouching, which is admittedly pretty rare. He has a stocky bone structure with a very wide jaw and shoulders and powerful hands and wrists, but he's very thin, almost to the point of being skeletal. His best friend says he looks like a bull terrier, which annoys him.

5. Does he have any piercing, tattoos, etc.?

Nothing comes to mind.

6. What is the most attractive thing about him?

Probably his voice, which is funny in a sad sort of way because he's super self conscious about it and he absolutely loathes it. Obviously people have different opinions on what makes a voice attractive, but his is very deep and even but has a slight gravely tone that makes it interesting to listen to. He also has very symmetrical and typically balanced features.

7. What is the ugliest thing about him?

To be totally honest, this kid is a complete mess and you can tell from his appearance. He looks desperately ill all the time, sniffles constantly, and he typically wears expressions ranging from cynical uncaring of the world around him to scowling snideness to blatant hatred of the human race. He has awful posture. He generally looks pretty unkempt.

8. What does this lad usually wear?

He's actually a pretty fabulous dresser, if you don't mind hipsters. He always wears an interesting hat and a very nice sweater over his shirt and tie. He only owns two pairs of pants-- both of which are khaki uniform trousers for his private school. He has quite a few different pairs of shoes, which range from quirky to ordinary to downright attractive, although he usually wears either his red converse or his canvas shoes painted with Doctor Who, both of which are pretty girly looking and were given to him by his best friend.

BONUS: Why does he like this outfit?

Probably genetics. He got his love of hats from his father and his love of sweaters and shoes from his mother.

Emotional Characteristics

9. When he smiles, what does it look like?

Usually sort of shy and maybe a bit apologetic. He doesn't smile that much, as it typically isn't a very natural expression for his facial construction. One thing; he does have really beautiful teeth.

10. What is his laugh like?

He laughs a surprising amount considering his general personality-- he naturally he has a kind of booming belly-laugh kind of laugh to go along with his very deep voice, but that makes him so self conscious that he tries to control it and really can't. Instead of laughing he usually end up just sort of wheezing hysterically and coughing and smothering himself while rocking back and forth. It's really quite funny.

11. What does he talk like?

Deadpan. He's totally deadpan. Even his Colette, who's been friends with him for several years now, has a hard time telling when he's being serious and when he's not being serious. He's rarely being serious because he is intensely sarcastic, but you can't really tell because he is just that deadpan. He quotes movies, TV shows, musicals, and books (especially musicals and books) a lot. He can be very rude and a bit mean, usually when he's stressed out or uncomfortable, which is unfortunately quite often. Curses habitually, but has trained himself to curse in Shakespearean terms and is trying to curb the habit altogether. He can speak Swedish fluently but rarely does. He also speaks some Finnish.

12. How does he act when he's angry?

He... actually he doesn't really get angry. When he's angry with something, it mostly just melts down into fear and he panics and lashes out and usually ends up fleeing at high speed.

13. Does he cry?

He doesn't really cry, no. In situations normal people would cry in, he usually either passes out or throws up instead. When he does cry, it's usually after he's just thrown up or passed out, and then you know that something is desperately wrong with him and he needs serious help immediately. (Only exception to this rule: he cries every time he watches any of the Lord of the Rings movies.)

14. How easy is it for other people to read his emotions?

You'd think it'd be fairly easy, considering his sole emotion is “ashamed and scared”, but in fact most people just assume he's an emotionless jerk.

Beliefs

15. Is he religious?

He was raised atheist by extremely atheistic parents, and would describe himself as an agnostic, mostly because he's too scared to face the fact that he does, in fact, believe extremely strongly in the existence of God. He lives his life like a devout Roman Catholic convert but he can't bring himself to actually convert.

16. How does he view people of other faith?

Faith is something is cares about very deeply. He never talks about it but he always thinks about it, and while he would never say it (partially because it is incredibly hypocritical since he's a self proclaimed agnostic) he thinks atheists are idiots and he has extremely high regards for theists.

17. What are his core values?

Devotion, obedience, and honesty, in that order. He'd probably describe these three things as love.

18. How willing is he to fight for those values?

He's afraid he'd not be willing to fight at all, but in actuality he'd actually be willing to be slowly tortured for dozens of years until finally dying a painful and humiliating death all by himself.

Character Likes and Dislikes

19. What is his favorite food?

Tuna. I mean this kid really, really loves tuna. He could probably eat tuna turnovers every day of the week, if he didn't have a ridiculously weak stomach that would probably end up revolting against the massive amounts of tuna and make him sick. (TMI?) Someone else asked me this question once, here's the answer I gave them: 

He's actually just a big fan of boring food in general. He doesn't try new things.

20. What is his favorite color?

Blue or grey. They're nice boring calming colors and he likes boring and calming. He wears a lot more blue, because it looks nice with his coloring, and when asked he always answers blue because it's a less questionable choice than grey, but he probably actually likes grey better.

21. What are his sleeping preferences?

On his desk, during Algebra. No, just kidding. He always sleeps there, but that's because he has sleeping issues and can only sleep in weird places that get him into trouble. His sleeping preferences? He really likes the top bunk of his bed, but usually either can't muster the energy to get up there and instead falls asleep on the carpet, or he makes it up there and then can't stop thinking about what a slimeball he is.

Character Introspection

21. What is his biggest goal in life?

Biggest goal he never hopes to accomplish: BECOME A DECENT PERSON WITH AN INCOME WHO HAS THE ENERGY TO WORK IN CHARITY AND HAS ENOUGH SOCIAL SKILLS TO NOT MAKE OTHER PEOPLE FEEL LIKE HE HATES THEM

22. What does he believe is his greatest virtue?

Virtue? Him? Ha! Skipping this question because he obviously doesn't believe he has any virtues at all.

23. What does he believe is his greatest vice?

Probably his cowardice. He considers himself a very great coward and beats himself up over it a lot.

24. What motivates your character most?

His belief that even if he can't be a better person, he should be, and that there are values that must be upheld at all costs, and that there is a true and right path and if you can be brave enough to find that then you will be okay.

25. Is your character objective-oriented?

Extremely.

26. Would Luke rather be a good person or a great person?

First of all, he certainly reads that as “morally good” and “socially great”. He would much rather be morally good. Being a “great” person would terrify him to no end.

27. Would he rather be hated for who he is or loved for pretending to be someone else?

He fears it is the second, in fact he is quite certain that it is. It's one thing that he loathes about himself, his desperate destruction of his own being in order to be “loved” by another being. In fact, he would rather be hated. He just doesn't realize that yet.

28. Is Luke an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert?

The most introverted introvert who ever walked the planet, probably.

29. Is he creatively expressive?

He is, although most people would be surprised to discover that fact. His best friend knows he draws and writes, but she has never seen any of his creations, save a few random birthday and valentine's cards. As a matter of fact, he creates stuff constantly as a way to sort through his thoughts and begin to control his emotions. He writes several pages in his journal every day, and has done so for years (this kid has a ton of journals). He draws tons of stuff. He writes short stories. He keeps all his artsy stuff stuffed in portfolios under the mattress on the bottom bunk of his bed, where nobody ever sees it and he tries to pretend it exists. It's mostly stuff about horrifying and grotesque monsters.

30. What is Luke's disorder?

Depression. Also possibly some serious social anxiety disorders. I'm not sure what this question was asking, but technically those are disorders that he has.

31. Is he materialistic?

Not at all.

32. What is his learning style?

He likes to be able to see one thing a lot of different ways. Let's say he was trying to... I don't know, memorize the presidents. He'd first write out a list of their names. Then he'd print out pictures of them all and doodle traditional facial hair on them depending on what nationality surname they had. Then he'd take their names again and find out the etymology of each first name. Then he'd write the list out again. By the end of this project, he probably has them pretty well in his memory. When learning a new skill, he usually just has to be shown how and why that skill works the way it does, and then left alone so he can practice it by himself until he gets it right.

33. I am a ______. How would Luke complete that sentence?

I am a hypocritical and foolish loser with no place in the world.

38. Life is an act of ________. How would he complete that sentence?

Life is an act of mercy.

So there you have him, my sweet miserable little jerk, with as little story spoiling as humanly possible. I love character questionnaires SO MUCH.

(credit for this idea of character profiles goes to Bree Holloway, author of the blog Tea & Bree, which I am only just getting around to reading but quite enjoy thus far.)