Discovering Indiana. :)

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:53:05 GMT

1. What are your character's most prominent physical features?

She’s perhaps a little too plump for her short figure (only 5’2-3ish), and as she doesn’t take much physical exercise those cookies and sweets she likes to eat pile right onto her hips. Her hair is also quite a stand-out point; she wears it shoulder-length, and plaited into thin braids. The end of each of her braids is tied with thin, brightly coloured strips of fabric, and some of them have small beads attached.

Indy’s gained a few scarring features from her time aboard the Condescendant; most noticeably her broken nose, which was badly set so it is crooked to one side, with a slight bump in the bridge. Other than that, she has a brand-like scar on her hand, where one pirate pressed a heated ring into her skin.

2. What is the most important event in your character's past?

Being kidnapped. Her time aboard the ship was the worst moment of her life until that point, and she can’t imagine anything in the future being worse – so long as she stays safe and away from the pirates. The mental effects of her time on board stuck around for a long time, even with mindhealer help, and while she may for the most part act like everything’s hunky dory now, certain things can bring it all flooding back to the surface and cause a temporary regression. For the most part though, she’s learnt to quash all emotion related to that event.
Being Searched was also an important factor in her life – it helped her to get over what had happened on the ship, in a way. The relationships (whether good or bad) that were forged during that time helped to form her into what she is now. There was her first proper crush, on Qiluin, and then her friendship made and broken with Corana, when Indy discovered that Corana was in a relationship with Qiluin. While she hadn’t told anyone of her feelings, she still felt betrayed, and decided that after the hatching, when Corana got both a dragon /and/ the boy, they were no longer friends.

3. What are your character's favorite possessions?

As an apprentice, Indiana doesn’t actually own very much, though the one thing that she would love to have is a puppy. She doesn’t place too much value on material things, though she is attracted to sparkly jewellery, and if she could afford it she would have it. As it’s not quite appropriate to her rank (and not to mention way out of her budget), she doesn’t have any, and her mother won’t send her any, either.

4. What unforgivable thing did your character once say to a loved one?

Nothing. Until now, Indiana has not been in love, and she hardly sees her parents enough to be able to say anything unpleasant to them. However, with the way that her temper can flare up, she can say some pretty nasty things when she wants to, so it would be likely that she could say something hurtful that she didn’t necessarily mean while in a fight.

5. Identify three of your character's personal qualities, one of which is a contradiction.

Faithful. If you’ve got Indiana as a friend, she’ll stick there through thick and thin, until you do something to break the bond, that is.

Tomboyish. Indy isn’t one for all the frills and thrills of girlhood, though she doesn’t forget that she is, in fact, female. She’ll dress comfortably in trousers and a shirt, she’ll slouch, throw punches when needed (though she’s not a fan of physical violence) and she’ll hold her own with the boys, but there is a softer side to her which loves to be twirled around the dance floor in big, strong arms, and which yearns to be loved by a Pernese knight in shining armour. That knight will just have to see through her boyish shell and deep into the insecure, faltering Indiana beneath.

Creative. Indiana has an artistic streak that is shown mainly in the kitchen. She considers her baking to be art, “the art of tasting”, as she would call it, and she’s always keen to experiment with new flavour combinations, most of which end up tasting pretty darn good, if she says so herself. That doesn’t mean to say everyone else is quite so keen, though. ;) Her talents extend somewhat into drawing and sketching, though when it comes to music, she can’t sing or play anything.

6. Identify two of your character's "addictions."

Sweet things. The one reason Indiana’s so plump is because she loves to make darned good sweets, and loves to eat them equally so! She’s in a long-term love affair with food, which extends into the savoury as well as the sweet. Put it in front of her and she’ll quite happily taste it, if not scoff it all.

Crushes. Over the past few turns, Indy has been crushing on a new guy every week. She loves that feeling of ‘loving’ someone, even if it isn’t returned. Irwin was her first real crush, as he actually was her knight in shining armour, coming to her rescue aboard the Condescendant. It wasn’t a conventional crush to begin with, and it developed as a love for the Smith as more of a brother than anything else. As far as she’s concerned, he’s closer to her than her actual family are. After Irwin came Qiluin, a match made in hell if ever there was one. It was odd even to her to discover that she had feelings for him beyond hatred, and when she discovered that he had a thing going with Corana the jealousy she felt confirmed to her just how much she liked him. Though the fact that both he and Corana became weyrlings and can’t continue their relationship gave her some satisfaction; in fact, immediately after she was off the Sands, she hit the wineskin and declared the first male she could find – Seoras – as her new boyfriend, stating that their relationship would be better than the Weyrlings’ one because they could kiss and canoodle and do whatever the heck they wanted to each other. ;)

7. What is your character proud of? ashamed of?

She’s proud of her cooking. She’s good at it, and she knows it, too, though she won’t really brag – she’s too modest for that. But at the same time, she’s also quite a proud person, and as such isn’t so ashamed of anything that she’s done; she considers everything to be a valuable learning experience, whether the outcome is good or bad.

8. What does your character regret?

Not taking her aunt’s advice when she ventured out alone in Southern Boll. If she’d been in company, she believes that she may not have been kidnapped.

9. What kind of person makes your character uncomfortable?

Someone who isn’t confident. Outwardly, at least, Indiana is a very confident person, and she finds that people who can’t just stand up for themselves and accept who they are a bit irritating. She likes to give out advice (whether it’s good or not), and expects people to be as able to do things as she is, and it can frustrate her no end when she finds out that they can’t.

10. What's your character's idea of a good time?

Good food, good wine, good music and good company. Indiana loves a party, where she can really let down her hair and enjoy herself. She doesn’t drink very often, and when she does she’s an incredible lightweight, so that’s really quite low down the list; more importantly for her is that there be a sumptuous spread of delectable dishes and at least one good partner to twirl her around the dance floor.

11. What secret grudge does a good friend have against your character?

Indy tries not to get too close to people, and so she doesn’t have many ‘good friends’. She would count Irwin and Kezia in that list as being reliable confidants and people who she likes to think will be there to help her should she fall, and as far as she’s aware there’s nothing that they would hold against her. Corana may have reason to hold a grudge, though it wouldn’t exactly be a secret; Indiana’s let it be known how she feels about Ista’s newest weyrwoman and the girl’s would-be boyfriend.

12. What is your character afraid of? What makes your character happy?

Indiana’s absolutely terrified of snakes, tunnelsnakes and creepy crawlies. They’re her one weakness, and she doesn’t like it one bit. Anything that crawls or scuttles or slithers along the floor and she’ll have a mini freak-out session, most likely trying to jump into the arms of whoever’s closest to her at the time. She hates that she’s got this weakness, and will try to hide it for as long as possible, though it nearly always gets the better of her.

She’s also claustrophobic, and hates to be locked in any space for too long. The thought of having children scares her, too!

Lots of things make her happy. She’s the type of person to try and make good of whatever situation she’s in, and so she can find happiness in the simplest of things. There’s a definite soft spot for all things cute and furry (or feathered), and often being around them will bring a smile to her face. Then, of course, there’s her baking; there isn’t much on Pern that will make Indiana as happy as she is when she’s whipping up a new batch of cookies – or eating them, for that matter.

13. When things go wrong, what or whom does your character blame? Why?

It’s anyone and everyone’s fault when something goes wrong, very rarely Indiana’s. Or so she likes to think, anyway. There’ll be the rare occasion when she’ll admit to it being because of her, though for the most part, she doesn’t like to admit or acknowledge that there may be a weakness. And anyway, it’s much easier to blame someone else, isn’t it?

14. What lie has your character told? Why?

Generally she’s quite an upfront sort of person, but Indiana has been known to exaggerate the truth if it might benefit her. She doesn’t do it often, but she likes to think she’s quite good at it when she has to do it.

Another thing she might lie about on occasion is her feelings. Take Q’luin, for example; she fancied the pants off him and still has some feelings for him, but she covers it up by saying that she hates him.

15. How does your character wake up?

Surprisingly well! She’s definitely a morning person, and finds waking up an easy enough thing to do, especially since she trained her firelizards to wake her up a candlemark or two before most other residents. As a baker, she had to be up early, in order to start on the breakfast dishes, and as an assistant headwoman, she gets up early to start on that day’s duties. It’s a rare occasion for Indy to be grumpy on a morning.

16. How does your character show anger?

In a very angry way! She can hold it back only so far, but when it needs releasing, Indiana is like a volcano. Everything just erupts at the same time; from the current aggravation to one in the past sevenday that she bottled up, it’ll all just come out. She’ll shout, swear, kick and punch things around her – but luckily, it’s not long-lived.

17. What caused your character's last night of drunkenness?

The last time Indy was drunk was when she was left standing. Mainly she was annoyed at the fact that Q’luin and Corana impressed when she wasn’t on good terms with them, and that, coupled with her frustration at the same two people being a couple, caused her to hit the bottle… and sleep with Seoras.

18. What would your character like to get away with?

Eating as many sweet things as she can without gaining too much weight! She’s always been happy to be on the plump side, though past events (being kidnapped and the required exercise from Candidacy) have caused her to drop the weight at times. Still, she eats a lot, and doesn’t know how to compromise between less eating and more exercise, mainly because she doesn’t like the latter.

19. What does your character dislike about his/her job? What does the boss dislike about him/her?
Baking: As an apprentice baker, Indy was in heaven. She could be around food all day long, but she didn’t quite like the really long hours and some of the tedious tasks – like peeling tubers, or rolling pastry. Other than that, she was pretty happy, and didn’t get too many complaints.

Assistant Headwoman: This role is very challenging to Indiana, because she’s naturally quite a lazy person when it comes to actually have to get out there and do stuff. She’s willing to please and the different tasks keep her amused for the most part, but Kezia’s likely to have complaints that her standards are a little lax.

20. What is your character's secret desire?

To sleep with Q’luin. ;) She’d like to be a master baker one day, though that’s not all /that/ much of a secret. Impressing a dragon’s probably the one thing that she’d never admit she really, really wants, but being a candidate whetted her appetite, and she’s got hopes of being successful in the future.

21. Fill in the blank: "My character used to believe _____, but now he/she believes _____." What accounts for the change?

"My character used to believe that everyone was trustworthy, but now he/she believes she has to be wary of all unknown faces and places."

Why? Well, in a word: pirates.

22. Describe your character eating a meal.

Passionately. She’ll chew each mouthful slowly, savouring each flavour, really enjoying it whether it’s a meatroll or her newest pastry recipe. She’ll put together flavours which other people might not think to combine, and generally it’ll work, too. Oh, and she’ll likely eat more than anyone else on the table with her.