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The External Impressions Meme
Hello all! End of Semester stress has been showing in the dip in comm activity in recent weeks, so here is a short and snappy meme to go with Mith’s intro post and kick-start some holiday everywriting!
What first impressions do they give off? Do other people find them likeable? Do they think that other people find them likeable? Do they care?
( Read more... )
What first impressions do they give off? Do other people find them likeable? Do they think that other people find them likeable? Do they care?
( Read more... )
Enver surprises people. To civilians, especially in Vrateri, he's disarmingly grounded and personable. Meanwhile diplomats and the assorted international elite have had to revise a lot of their assumptions about him and his father's backwater origins after catching on how intelligent he truly is. (Which shouldn't be a surprise, frankly; said father is a political philosopher, but there you go.) He's engaging, well-spoken and seems to have a good grasp already on how the whole system works, so in popular estimation he's liable to grow into a capable leader. Reactions to this range from "oh hey this guy's pretty legit, fair play" to "shit shit shit he's competent what do we do."
Cares very much if people like him, understandably. And it's a calculated effort, yes, though not insincere on his part. Enver knows he has a lot riding on his shoulders. That doesn't mean he can't genuinely want to be the things he's learned to project in order to make it happen.
What makes them think they’ve lost face? Have they ever lost face?
He worries abut forgetting names, getting his facts mixed up, losing his temper with the odd condescending jackass--little social slips with the potential to snowball like that. It's only rarely happened, and he's quick to give an earnest apology when it does so his damage control is good. As collected as any 19-year-old political bargaining chip can reasonably hope to be. Occasionally he'll let something really pointed and cynical slip, but people chalk this up to ~cultural humor~. They're not wrong.
This is pre-story, mind. Losing his shadow and, with it, gradually, his grip on humanity, makes him less prone to self-censorship. Significantly so! It's fun times.
How do they handle grief and sorrow? Do they cry in front of others?
Private mourner, when he gets the chance. Tragedy on his mother's side of the family involves much ceremony and handshaking and sometimes her whispering in his ear that it's okay he doesn't have to be that sad, Great Aunt Countess So-And-So was really a wretched monster. One learns to compartmentalize.
What do they find embarrassing to do/hear about? How much do [are they likely to]they reveal of this? What is embarrassing for them to see other people do?
Embarrassed by cultural and linguistic fuck-ups of all stripes, oh god. This plays neatly into his own fears, but nothing is quite as bad as watching someone else blithely dig themselves deeper with their own ignorance. Hanne does this frequently. Enver wishes she wouldn't.
What do they think is their biggest weakness, and do other people agree?
Enver feels a lot of ambivalence about which of his homelands he's supposed to most identify with, and he considers this his greatest obstacle. Other people's biggest reservation about him is that he's simply not aggressive, and they're not sure yet if he's purely a man of words or if he can take action when it's called for.
What do they think is their biggest strength, and do other people agree?
He would say he's honest, which is half a lie. Other people say he's selfless, which is the other half.
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...if he doesn't make it out of the story alive, I am going to be so sad, he'd be the best ruler, wouldn't he. (Oh god on a scale of 1-10 how embarrassing is Hanne in public)
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Oh god, uh, 6-7? Hanne is...embarrassingly white, even in a country that was basically the 'lolwhitepeople' of the imperial domain. She doesn't have the best handle on all the historical grievances between various groups, doesn't understand why it's a bad idea to refer to one language as a dialect of another when they're so similar, look, look at the syntax; and coming from a Democracy (well, mostly democratic [kinda]), her political sensibilities leave room for a lot of misunderstandings. And she doesn't mean anything by it, of course, but sometimes Enver's hand kind of miiiigrates up his face and he has to look over both their shoulders to make sure a fistfight isn't about to break out in the vicinity. Perspective is a valuable tool.
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And then there's the whole losing his humanity and not self-censoring thing and you can probably imagine my reaction to that.
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