[ooc: Character Survey of Doom: Will.]
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy? Will's canonically described as being stocky at 12; At 15 I think he hasn't changed much. He's grown taller, of course, but being of good solid farming stock, I think Will's always going to be pretty solid himself. He exudes reliability and ordinariness.
2. How old is he? Fifteen, turning sixteen in December (alternatively 15 going on 30).
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
Most of the time, Will is a careless teenage boy. Posture is the last thing on his mind. The rest of the time, Will carries himself with a strange, grave dignity.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities? Will had hepatitis at 12, but other than that no major illnesses or injuries. He's on his form's B football team, and most of his hobbies are active, so he's all right, physically, but not built or anything.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid? Will plods along. Most people don't notice him, to be honest. When he's being an Old One, he is the epitome of grace and composure -- usually, at least.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror? Most people find Will comforting, just because he's so ordinary and he's there. They probably don't think about this any more than Will does. He's got a round face, an expression that is variously described as solemn or foolish, and when he is really smiling, it's pretty contagious.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred? Will has the healthy tan of a boy who spends a lot of time outdoors and doesn't have time for sunscreen.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style. Straight, brown, a bit long, falls in his eyes.
9. What color are his eyes? Pretty sure they're brown.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? Secret not human.
11. What are his chief tension centers? Uh. Probably the centre of his back?
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? A mixture of casual hand-me-downs, utilitarian before anything else (Will's family don't have money to spare). Will prefers earthy colours, and dresses according to his time. Has a preference for grey.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them? Will's usually pretty comfortable in his clothes, yes. The exception would be his choir regalia (the collar is tight and it tickles).
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences? The differences are that on the job means in school uniform, pretty much. Dark grey trousers, blazer, shirt, school tie, and vest.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? Whatever his mother buys him.
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? Baritone. Pleasant, but nothing special (though I have to admit I am biased, and think Will would sound special but chooses not to). When being an Old One, he sounds older and wiser and more resonate.
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate? Will generally talks easily and pleasantly unless upset/there is stuff going on.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics? I think the Buckinghamshire accent is pretty mild, sort of your general English accent (if such a thing is possible).
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency? Will speaks English natively, the language of the Old One's by right of birth, again fluently and with no trace of an accent, and all the other languages of his worlds and most worlds fluently except Welsh, in which his accent is terrible.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations? He only speaks Welsh with Bran, he uses the Old One's language to cast spells and conduct serious business in, and he uses other languages depending on the situation. He's most comfortable with English.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words? Will's thoughtful when it comes to the important things.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? Generally pretty eloquent, he becomes less so in situations where he feels lost or uncertain.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart? Will's got an instinctive understanding of the way magic works in his world and a more mature understanding of humanity then you'd expect from someone his age that comes from being subtly apart from the rest of the human race.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate? Will does best with time.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? Will is all four things to some degree. Magic is instinctive and intuitive, but Will knows he must make sensible, logical choices for the good of his world. He is thus both idealistic and practical.
4. What kind of education has the character had? He has attended primary school in his local village, and is now attending a very good grammar as a scholarship student. He has also read the Book of Gramyre, which contains the collective knowledge of the Old One's, gathered over the course of centuries, and there is very little in the magic of his world that he doesn't know.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about? Will likes history and science, particularly botany. Mostly, he's interested in people.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert? Will is somewhere inbetween. He's friendly and likes people, but he keeps his thoughts to himself.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven? Will's generally even-tempered and cheerful, if a bit solemn and serious. But he has been a bit more melacholy lately.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic? Generally, unless the new person is waving a giant red flag, Will is pretty relaxed and enthusiastic.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react? Act and or react.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight? Fight.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks? Will's got a pretty robust sense of humour, that is a by-product from being the youngest of 9 siblings, all of which tease each other often.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them? Actually, right now, Will is good!
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person? Accepting the fact that he isn't human and choosing to serve the Light on his 11th birthday, choosing the Light over his sister (first of many sacrifices Will has made), realising that he could never expect his family to understand any of this and wiping Stephen's memories of it all, being the only Old One to remain behind after the defeat of the Dark.
14. What does he fear? The return of the Dark and the destruction of his world, Bran doing something stupid, something bad happening to his family, the darkness in human hearts growing, the imbalance in the Wild Magic spilling over into the human world catastrophically. You know, usual teenage boy things.
15. What are his hopes or aspirations? Fulfill his task well.
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him? That he is having a lot of trouble resigning himself to the knowledge that one day he will outlive both Bran and his family.
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents. Affectionate and respectful.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? Eight older siblings. Will adores Stephen, idolises him though he has grown out of that a bit, is very fond of Gwen, teases Max about his hair and girlfriends, has a healthy respect for Robin, appreciates Paul and probably goes to Paul for advice rather than anyone else, teases Barb and Mary, bickers, fights, plays with and teases James to whom he is closest in terms of age and everything else.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand? There's Will's namesake, his American Uncle Bill and his wife Fran, and Will's Welsh cousins. He gets on well with them all.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them? There's Will's other family, the Old One's.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet? Will's best friend is Bran, who he met while searching for the Harp of Gold.
6. Does he have other close friends? Yes; Will's got a lot of friends at school and among the boys he went to primary school with. He also has the Drews. This Will also has a lot of Nexus friends, and friends he made in various games, Camp and overland.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people? Will has no problems getting along with people and making friends.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends? This would be a hard choice for Will to make as he doesn't really distinguish between them -- his important people are important. I think it's Bran, then family, Old Ones, then the rest of his friends -- Bran needs more looking after than the Stantons, and the Old One's though very dear to Will, can also look after themselves.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once? Single!
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? God, no.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest? Will found out he was an Old One before he had the chance to really get into girls (or boys, I suppose), and has since decided that all that stuff is better avoided. He has had platonic crushes on people, however, and it's hard to explain how that works, but please take my word for it that it does.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner? Will wound deny wanting a romantic partner at all, but really he wants someone he can rely on either to understand, or accept that there are part's of Will's life they can't share. Trust and mutual respect and regard is important, and Will would appreciate someone with similar values. Ideally someone who is looking to be around longterm (and Will does mean longterm).
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any? No, Will assumes that his siblings will provide enough future Stantons for the world as it is. He's probably right.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies? The entire forces of the Dark, pretty much most of the active Wild Magic wants Will out of the way, and his presence is problematic for quite a lot of the Old Magic as well.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale? Will is people orientated, not gender orientated, and pretty asexual as it is. That might change, but right now this question is kind of pointless.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him? At this point, Will believes sex is something that happens to other people.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits? Not really relevant?
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac or choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life? Will was raised Christian (Church of England, probably High-Church) and still outwardly adheres to Christianity more for his family's sake than his own beliefs -- he knows that in his world, at least, the Christian God, if he exists, doesn't exist in the form people think he does -- Will's very existence disproves it, after all. That said, Christian theology has probably shaped his thought, as has the Light/Dark battle he played a major part in. I suppose you could consider Will's magic spiritual, at least in his reactions to it -- at any rate, it forms the basis of his understanding of the world.
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? The Light and the concerns of the Light override everything else. After that, Will would like to do the decent thing -- he feels keenly for people and regretted some of the things he did for the Light because he knew it would hurt people's feeling -- but it was essential, so he did them. Now that battle is done, Will is committed to protecting his world and the people in it. I'm not sure what could compromise it unless someone were to work on Will's doubts or he gets himself into a state of uncertainty.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? Will is tolerant except of anything Dark, that might offer the Dark a pathway to work through men -- otherwise pretty easy going.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them? He's prejudiced against the Dark, and at this point, I'd say yeah, good reason. Because of his times he does tend to be surprised when he encounters girls in martial, authorial roles, but he's getting used to this.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt? The Stanton's are comfortable -- just. Will's aware that his family don't have money for extras, so his expectations aren't high, and he is happy with what he's got.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him? Will's family are either upper working class or lower middle class -- I don't know enough about the British class system to work it out. Either way, Will is probably going to graduate University and end up with a job that most people would probably consider moving up. That or he is going to be a hippy. He hasn't decided yet.
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? Currently Will is living in the bed next to Bran's, in the fifth form dorm of his boarding school. At weekends he goes home to a vicarage that is over-flowing with Stanton family members. The vicarage is crowded but comfortable, and his family keep rabbits and hens in an adjoining barn. In the Nexus, he has just created a tower.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on? Books.
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? Will is a student. He gets good marks and it passes the time, but he would rather be doing something else.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time? Will likes fishing, playing football, riding his bike, making brass rubbings, reading, listening to music, singing, travelling.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? Will eats what is put in front of him. He's a creature of habit and probably sticks to the food he's grown up with. His favourite food is liver and onions.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color? Yellow, Green, Brown, White, Grey.
2. Smell? Smells either of ink or soap? I don't know.
3. Time of day? Early afternoon.
4. Season? Summer.
5. Book? An old Botanical Text from the Middle Ages, full of errors and miscellaneous facts. Also Mrs Beeton's.
6. Music? Choral, Christmas carols.
7. Place? Buckinghamshire, Thames Valley.
8. Substance? Light.
9. Plant? Willow.
10. Animal? Dogs, a harrier.
END
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