OOC: Huge questions meme
The Character Physically
1. What is the character's stature and build? Is he overweight? Thin? What is his height and weight?
Not counting his armor, he's probably somewhere a little over six and a half feet tall (just how much so depends on level of slouching), and brawny due to physical augmentations. I've no proper scale on weight per size, so I'll just say that he's usually a little bit overweight, with a tiny bit of a gut marring his otherwise super-soldier physique.
2. How old is he?
Mid to late thirties. Exact number pending whenever I bother to do the math.
3. Describe his posture. Is it good? Does he carry himself well? Is he crooked? Straight?
Usually pretty good, if only because of the amount of time he's armored up, which is designed with good posture in mind. He'll slouch a lot, armored or not, if he's in a chair meant for comfortable lounging, though.
4. Is he in good shape or out of condition? Is he muscularly weak or strong?
He's usually slightly out of shape, though much less so than he'd been in earlier wartime days. Either way, he's still superhumanly strong thanks to his augmentations.
5. How is his health? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
It used to be horrible, between the self-abuse he engaged in under protest of his being drafted and the incompletely treated damage from being run over by Sheila the Tank. Since his almost complete reconstruction, his health is excellent overall, and he actually gives a shit about keeping it that way.
6. Is he physically active or sedentary? A fast or slow mover?
He generally likes being sedentary, but sometimes needs to be active, either because of circumstances or just a whim to move. When he chooses to move, however, it's very fast, due to augmented reflexes.
7. Is he clumsy, awkward, graceful?
He's somewhat graceful; MJOLNIR usage training engenders and enforces a kinesthetic sense sufficient to keep the SPARTAN from injuring himself with careless movements, and some of his combat training expands on that. He was far from the greatest at it in Basic, but he apparently did well enough to pass, and some of the training took the form of chemically-encoded muscle memory injected into the brain, so he's sometimes better at it than he'd expect, particularly because the armor translates thought into motion on its own more than needing to be moved by the meat inside.
8. Does he move in straight or curved lines? Is he physically tight or fluid?
Straight lines, generally -- he's often not especially subtle, occasionally like a bull in a china shop -- but the previous answer about gracefulness more or less applies to fluidity of motion.
9. What are his chief efforts?
I'm not entirely sure I understand the question. If it means what he works to improve about himself, then probably general fitness (despite how he occasionally succumbs to questionable eating/drinking/etc. habits) and remedial work on combat training.
10. Is the character good looking, pretty, beautiful, average, plain, ugly, disfigured?
Not disfigured (well, not anymore, thanks to Eiko's excellent work), but still "hideously ugly," as Sarge once said and Grif readily agreed to. Just how ugly he is depends on how ugly you think Brian Thompson is. (I've heard tell there are people who still consider him quite attractive, although I'm not one of them.)
11. Is the character aware of himself physically? His looks?
He's well aware that he's by no means the definition of physical attractiveness, and he's okay with that. In terms of overall body awareness, also, yes, he's keenly aware of himself, thanks once again to SPARTAN enhancements. (See above re: gracefulness.)
12. Describe his complexion and skin. Dark, light, clear, marked?
White, and fairly pale due to the amount of time he spends wearing all-concealing body armor. I've considered saying that, being from Hawaii, he originally looked like what, these days, would be considered native Hawaiian (ie, Polynesian-descended, rather than Obviously Whitey), and that his current appearance is because of the augmentation procedures, but I'm not sure I could justify ignoring that advanced a degree of Doesn't Work That Way, so instead he looks Whitey and it's just his facial structure that got changed.
13. Describe his hair, coloring, styling. Is it taken care of?
Brown hair, not crew cut but still reasonably short, usually kept in a reasonably nice though simple single-part style by the occasional effort of going to a barber.
14. How is his usual dexterity? Does he have good hands: Can he do things? Is he a worker?
Exceptional dexterity, once again due to his SPARTAN augmentations and usually further improved by his armor. His hands are strong, and theoretically deft if he's doing something he knows how to do.
15. Is he physically tense or relaxed, nervous, controlled?
Usually, very relaxed, though he could be any of those others under the right circumstances.
16. What are his chief tension centers?
He occasionally might claim to get headaches from the insanity of the world around him, but other than that, probably mostly his shoulders and arms.
17. What part of his body would you notice first?
Um. Well, if I have to be specific rather than just noting that he's big and broad and mighty and that tends to be automatically a cause for notice, I suppose his oddly-shaped mouth/chin, which makes for at least most of his uglitude.
18. Describe his basic gravity factor. Is there a downward pull or buoyant?
He can be somewhat light on his feet -- the armor, particularly, helps with this -- but in general, he's a weighty kind of guy, between his size and the stuff that's been pumped into him to increase bone and muscle density and also his armor, which is very heavy but is well-designed to seem less so than it really is.
The Character's Clothes
1. How many clothes does this character have?
I've no idea of a number, but he's got a reasonably good-sized wardrobe. As much time as he spends in his armor, he does have times when circumstances call for something else, and he's thus built up some variety to cover those times.
2. What items are in their wardrobe?
Business suits, sweatsuits for working out, casualwear for when he's hanging out at his apartment in Philly, a few sets of extra extra large outfits for the times -- more frequent during his Tank Damage days -- when he wants/needs to wear his armor but also have clothes on over to make it something vaguely resembling less obvious. (Some time back, I established that he found a universe with a Mr. Freaky-Big clothing store chain that could handle clothes of sizes up to and including MJOLNIR-scale, while still making them look good, and that he's bought his clothes from them ever since. They're very happy with the volume of his business.)
3. What are their favorite articles of clothing?
Well, for one thing, the armor has an inherent comfort to it, partially because of its protection and partially because the reactive gel layer contours itself to the wearer's body and adjusts its temperature as necessary. Aside from that, as nice as casualwear can be for lounging around, what he likes more is a well-cut suit, in the times when he has to visit somewhere on business.
4. What colors are the clothes? Is there a wide range? Bright or dull? What are their favorite colors to wear?
His armor color selection was primarily a matter of what didn't suck out of the available options when he'd been out of Basic for long enough to have passed the rookie stage and was allowed to select a color that wasn't Standard Issue Red. Since then, he's come to somewhat own it, so his main colors these days do tend to be orange and black, which are bold if nothing else.
5. Are their clothes bright or dull?
Didn't I just answer this as part of the last question? Orange is pretty bright, and black is, well, black.
6. Were they bought or home-made, hand-me-downs, expensive?
Bought, and probably not cheaply. MJOLNIR armor is, in particular, phenomenally expensive, and he would tend to pay for quality when it comes to his business suits.
7. What is one of his favorite items to wear?
Again, a repeat question, so I'll just say that he likes his suits.
8. Do his clothes fit well?
He's got some that are loose, but those are intentional, mainly the clothes he has for wearing over armor. Other than that, though, yes, his clothes tend to fit very well, and his suits in particular are usually tailored.
9. Is he comfortable in what he wears? Does he "fight" his clothes?
Usually quite comfortable, yes. He's not really one to be all that happy with discomfort if he can help it.
10. Is he confident about the way he dresses, or uneasy?
Confident. He knows that while he's not particularly attractive, he is nonetheless physically imposing, at least among the normal people of his universe, and he enjoys the reaction that can get, at least a little.
11. Does he care for his clothes? Keep them up and neat? Is he worried about how they look?
He's not worried, per se, but he does keep reasonably good care of them, keeping them laundered and having the business suits pressed. The armor gets regular maintenance, as a holdover from habits acquired from when the armor was an inherent part of his minute-to-minute survival.
12. Does he have to dress a certain way because of his job or position? If so, do his usual clothes fit his real, basic character?
He wears his armor when abroad in the Nexus or dealing with combat/military matters, and he wears a suit when dealing with business matters in person. He doesn't really consider himself a Soldier[tm], in that he doesn't tend or prefer to use his skills for the military to which he is officially attached, but other than that, I suppose they fit.
13. Does he dress according to a self image of himself? Is that self image conscious or unconscious? At what age was this self image made?
To a certain degree, yes. He likes the impression that his figure in a suit can give, and he's comfortable with himself for his caution about keeping armored up in the Nexus. His self-image has shifted a number of times during his life. Whatever self-image he might've had growing up got pretty much obliterated by the ravages of his augmentations on his memory, so he had to form a new one around his draft protestation and associated poor self-care, and a new one when Sheila ran him over, and finally a much better one after Black Mesa and Eiko's reconstructive work.
14. What kind of underwear does he wear?
No comment.
The Character's Voice
1. Does he speak in a high or low pitch voice? When might he be higher than usual? When lower?
Um. I dunno. A little high, maybe? I can hear his voice readily enough, but am not very good at describing it. If someone wants to, they can have a listen and do a better job of it.
2. Is he a loud or soft talker?
Loud, mostly, unless occasion calls for him to make an effort to speak softly.
3. Is there a wide range in the voice in volume, pitch and/or quality, or is the voice pretty consistent and even?
Pitch tends to be fairly consistent. I'm not really sure what "quality" is supposed to mean. Volume might vary sometimes.
4. Is there good resonance to the voice? Is the voice throaty, chesty, heady, nasal?
See above about being able to hear but not describe the voice well.
5. Is there tension in the voice? Anxiety? Emotion?
Oh, usually. He can be fairly reactive, and that often shows in his voice, since he often has his face covered from view.
6. Is there an accent? Anting unusual in pronunciation? Emphasis? Phrasing?
He has, on occasion, pronounced "both" as "bolth" and "margin" as "margarine". It's questionable whether he actually thought those pronunciations were correct, or (more likely, and as I tend to interpret it) meant to fuck with the rest of his squad. Does a tendency to say "cockbite" and "sonofaBITCH" count for unusual phrasing?
7. Is it a trained voice, or just natural?
A mix between the two. He had to get some retraining after the brain portions of his augmentations fucked with his memory and such, but it's since become nature to him again.
8. Does the character "try" to speak well or just "how it comes out"?
How it comes out, unless he's making a special effort to watch what he says.
9. Is the speech clear or muddy? Does he mumble? Is he distinct?
He's usually fairly clear and distinct, if only because of both outspokenness and having had to learn to speak primarily through electronic mediation -- ie, radio and/or speakers in his helmet -- and thus having to speak clearly enough to not lose the words in amplification noise.
10. Is the voice comforting or irritating? Reassuring or disturbing?
Proooobably at least somewhat irritating, most of the time. He can do comfort and soothing, but not naturally.
11. Is he self-conscious when he speaks to others? How large a group could he speak to before he became self-conscious?
I'm not really sure, but given business things, he can probably do reasonably well, at least if he tries.
The Character's Mind
1. Is the character smart, dumb, naive?
He's not a genius by any stretch, but he's smart in a sharp-minded shifty cunning sort of way, more so, even, than he tends to think he is.
2. Does he think quickly? Slowly? Is he quick-witted? Dull?
Super-humanly quickly, thanks to the augmentations that speed up his reflexes and reaction time, which has an incidental improvement effect on his overall speed of thought.
3. What kind of education has he had?4. What subjects does the character have knowledge or expertise?
Business, particularly as it applies to large-scale shipping ventures. History, in catching up on what he missed during his 800 year time jump. Also, he's a talented sniper, which was about the only thing in Basic that he had any natural aptitude for.
5. Is the character impulsive or deliberate in reaching conclusions? Is he logical, rational, or emotional?
Depends on just how important he considers it. If it's something completely frivolous, he can come to a pretty snap emotional conclusion, for the sake of being a loon about it. If it seems at all important, though, he can be quite rational -- the voice of reason, as he sometimes feels weird about being out of the Shenaniclan -- though not necessarily Logical[tm].
6. Does he think out things before he speaks or can he "think on his feet" as he is speaking?
Between those two choices, he's more likely to think before he speaks, though he's also just as likely to speak without thinking at all, if he's just looking to get a rise out of someone.
7. Does he have contemplative times? What does he think about when alone?
Sometimes, though he tries to avoid them, 'cause they usually involve sulking about how he's come to where he is in life, the things he's lost, etc.
8. Is he an idealist? A pragmatist? A dreamer? An idea man? An Action man?
Not very much a dreamer, but at least some of each of the others. He's got some ideals, but is very pragmatic about them, and his ideas, when he has call to have ideas, are largely about actions to take.
9. Is his life motivated chiefly by abstract ideals or practical rewards?
In the day-to-day, practical rewards are what the business are about. When it comes to what he happens across in his time in the Nexus, primarily ideals of helping people out 'cause he can.
The Character's Emotions and Personality
1. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Extrovert, or at least as much of one as I can ever present at any given time.
2. Does he get along well with people? Does he have charm? Are people attracted to him? Does he like people?
He's not universally liked, but he does have a certain odd, rough charm that allows him to make friends without too much trouble, most of the time, which is good, 'cause he does like people.
3. Does he have many friends? Any close friends?
He's got a few, of varying degrees of closeness. His most recent close friendships have taken the form of an odd sort of pseudo-family, which he kind of likes.
4. Is he hot-blooded or cool-headed?
He can be either, depending on the circumstances. Often, he'll start with the former and buckle down into the latter if shit becomes serious.
5. Does he have a narrow or wide range of emotions? Do they show often?
Fairly wide, and fairly frequently apparent.
6. Does he indulge in emotional peaks, outbursts, or valleys? Often?
Yes, sometimes. Peaks are more common.
7. Would you say he is basically sensitive or callused?
Basically sensitive, but with some calluses developed over time, as he settles more into occasionally acting like the soldier he was trained to be.
8. Is he suspicious, cautious, trusting, or naive about new people or situations?
Cautiously trusting. He'll run with a situation at face value, knowing that the Nexus means a thing could well be just what it seems like, but he does keep an awareness that it could just as easily be otherwise, and will keep an eye out for signs that something's not right.
9. Is he an aggressive or reactive person? Is he a pusher or a puller?
If it's something he doesn't care much about, reactive. If it's something that's taken his attention, then he'll want to be aggressive about it and push to get it taken care of, but more often than he likes, finds himself having to take a reactive position anyway.
10. Does he take positive or negative action?
P...ositive, mainly, I think? I'm not entirely sure I understand the question.
11. In a danger or emergency situation would he go to it or run away from it?
Flip a coin. His laziness wars with his helpfulness which wars with his cowardice.
12. Is the character basically nervous or calm?
Calm. Usually, if he's not calm, he's not so much nervous as just outright panicked.
13. Does the character have a sense of humor? Does he appreciate jokes? Can he see humor in unfunny situations? Can he laugh at himself?
Yes, on pretty much all counts.
14. Can he tell a funny story or joke? Do others find him amusing?
Usually.
15. Is he a practical joker? What is his opinion or tricks or jokes played on other people?
Not usually a practical joker, no; too much effort. Assuming the joke is relatively well-meaning, he'll find it funny, though he'd be less well-inclined to "ha ha you broke your arm" kinds of jokes where the joke-player's just being an asshole.
16. Is his humor ever cruel?
Probably at least sometimes, but only when he feels that the target really deserves it.
17. Under what conditions could he be harmful or mean or cruel to another person?
Primarily, as a response to someone else being mean/cruel to him or others.
18. Is he a loving person? Is he full of love and giving or rather bound and tight in this area? Is he capable of relation to others in a loving way? Is he capable or relating to one specific person in a romantic way?
In a platonic fashion, somewhat, yes. He enjoys knowing people and being involved in people's lives, even when it requires some effort on his part. Romantically, however, not so much; partially, that's that one of the augmentation procedures has a potential libido-quashing side effect, but mostly that he just doesn't care much about it.
19. Is he loved by any other people? In what way?
He has friends, some chunk of which have formed their own pseudo-family which includes him and thus presumably means that they have at least that much love for him.
20. Is he romantically in love now? With whom? Is this a happy, rewarding or frustrating situation or him?
Not in the least, but he's quite okay with that.
The Character's Wealth, Power, and Influence
1. Does this person have much money? Does it provide position or respect from others for him?
He's amassed a modest personal fortune -- not profligately wealthy, but as he puts it, "enough to live on, plus enough to afford the occasional stupid thing." Given how expensive some of those stupid things sometimes are, though, that means that he's better off than he really tends to think himself.
2. Is he generous or selfish with his money and possessions?
Back home, not so much, but when it comes to helping out people he knows from the Nexus, he's pretty generous, yeah.
3. Is the character socially prominent? Is he prominent from wealth, position or office, family history, ability or accomplishment?
Not really. His business isn't nearly mighty enough for him to be a big name in the galaxy from it. Being the One Drafted Man of the 26th century civil war makes him a footnote in galactic history, but that doesn't really translate into any play in the great social circles.
4. Does the character rate high in the "pecking order" with his household? Town? Area? Nation? World?
Well, from a literal perspective, being all alone at his station makes any such concepts meaningless. Metaphorically, he's at the bottom of the order in the military, top of the order in his business, and somewhere in the middle within the shenaniclan with specific distinction for usually being the voice of reason for the amigos.
5. Does this person wield much clout? Over whom and by what means?
Within his company, absolute. Beyond that, as much as his money can manage, which can be a pretty good amount. In the Nexus, he's probably shown enough level-headedness when it's important to stand a shot of being listened to -- see also "voice of reason within the amigos".
6. Can he command others to do his bidding, by word or manipulation?
Again, within his company, yes, because of paychecks and stuff, but other than that, probably not, but he's much more the "ask someone to do something" sort than "command to do his bidding".
7. How does he get his wishes daily?
Electronic Funds Transfer.
8. To whom is he subservient? Is this submission willing or unavoidable?
Well, technically, the military still owns his ass, by no means of his own accord, and if they tried to pack him up and send him somewhere else, he'd have to either suck it up or finally bail for the Nexus permanently. Other than that, assuming reasonable circumstances, others in the shenaniclan can probably get him to do stuff if they ask, 'cause he's a helper like that.
The Character's Activities
1. How does the character spend his time?
Running the business, hanging out in the Nexus, planning and/or executing various Nexus-related activities (combat training for Senshi, looting zombiefied Earths of booze and cash, etc.).
2. What does his daily routine consist of?
He doesn't really have a schedule, or at least not one that can be mapped to a normal day, because the star system Blood Gulch is in is all fucked up about that.
3. What is his profession or work?
Businessman, hobbyist super-soldier, general layabout.
4. What things does he really like to do?
Sleep, eat, socialize.
5. What things does he hate to do?
Get shot at.
6. What are his leisure time activities? Pastimes? Recreation?
He hangs out in the Nexus, occasionally getting himself mixed up in adventures, despite how it might get him shot at.
7. Does he play games? What kind?
He's got an old arcade game simulator and a wide selection of ROMs for it burned into a read-only data chip that he keeps loaded into the AI slot of his armor, both for fun and to keep the slot occupied so O'Malley couldn't try taking him over.
8. Does he like to eat or drink? How important to him are food and drink?
Oh, yes, very much indeed, although he's not nearly so gluttonous as he used to be back during his war/Simmons'-donor-organs protest days.
9. How important is sex to him? What sexual activities does he partake in? Anything unusual?
Not in the least. He just doesn't think of it much in relation to himself.
10. Is his exactitude about sex healthy or disturbing to him? Is sex a rewarding, enriching part of this person's life or is it frightening, anxious, or frustrating? Is sex a positive or negative factor in his life?
He's aware that most people have some preoccupation with sex, and he's occasionally a bit curious about the fact that he doesn't really at all, but it doesn't really bother him in any significant way.
The Character's Favorite Things
1. Colors? Orange and black, given his armor.
2. Food? Ho-Hos, bacon-flavored marshmallows, meat.
3. Drinks? Beer, whiskey.
4. Smells? Tasty food, booze, and victory.
5. Time of day? None; his concept of day-to-day time is crap.
6. Season of the year? Christmas season, 'cause that's when most of the money comes in.
7. Books? I'd probably have to make up titles for books that don't exist.
8. Kinds of literature? Not sci-fi; per canon. Particularly after the time jump, he's acquired some interest in history. Some of that comes from wanting to know what he missed from not being there, and also a retrospective look at his home time. From there, he's branched out a bit into what's been learned about the Covenant and the Forerunners, which ties into how the Covenant War happened and what happened to bring its conclusion.
9. Authors? I'd have to make up a name.
10. Places to visit? The Nexus, particularly the parts with free booze. Also, the universe with the Mr. Freaky-Big outlet that he usually buys his clothes from.
11. Kinds of music? Creed (Look, I'm sorry, it's semi-canon from one of the PSAs. My options are otherwise limited without making up fake future bands.)
12. Musical Instruments? None in particular.
13. Composers? None in particular.
14. Metals; gold, iron, copper, pewter, etc.? Gold, 'cause money.
15. Building materials; stone, wood, clay, tile, etc.? Titanium A, which is a fictional alloy used for armor plating in the Halo-verse.
16. Fabrics; silk, wool, linen, etc.? None in particular.
17. Pieces of furniture? The bed, for sleeping.
18. Plants? None.
19. Flowers? None.
20. Trees? None.
21. Birds? None.
22. Animals? Big cats, like pumas (as he's inclined to think the jeep looks like) or tigers (orange and black, like his armor).
23. Miscellaneous? That's not even a thing!
24. Modern Fairytale? What?
Character's Religion
1. What are his specific religious beliefs? Does he belong to a specific sect or creed? Does he advocate that group's beliefs?
Apathy.
2. How important is religion to him?
Not at all. Religion in general took a critical hit among humanity when the Covenant came through with their crazy religion-fueled genocidal rampage, and hasn't recovered a whole lot in the centuries since then, so it's never really been terribly much of an issue, at least back home.
3. Is he pious, devout?
Nope.
4. In what religious activities does he engage? What percentage of his time is devoted to it?
None.
5. How does religion motivate his actions or affect them?
Not at all.
Character's Fears
1. What things frighten him?
Bats! Also, Tex, and getting hit in the face.
2. Is he motivated by fear?
Not usually. He occasionally refers to himself -- and thinks of himself -- as a "recovering coward", but his cowardice was mainly a subconscious defense in protest of his conscription into the military, and since he's largely being allowed to live life on his own terms these days, his "recovery" has largely been about setting that aside so he can enjoy doing things of his own volition that he would've balked at being forced into.
3. To what extent is he motivated; never, occasionally, usually, constantly?
Rarely. He'll still occasionally wig out in reaction to something really threatening, but he's better than he thinks about locking that back down and getting things done, when it's important.
4. What would this character think were the three most terrible things that could happen to him?
In order of horrible-ness:
1. Getting killed. (Yes, he considers this one of the less horrible options of most terrible things.)
2. Going back to his tank-damage Frankenstein-y state.
3. Finding out the civil war really is still going on and being forcibly transferred to a squad that actually took it seriously, without access to the Nexus for stress relief.
5. What would he think were the three most wonderful things that could happen to him?
1. People stop being vague and cryptic on him. (This has happened, a little, and every time it does, it's a little beam of sunshine for him.)
2. He gets released from the Army and gets to live his life entirely free. (Ha ha ha, not anytime soon, buddy.)
3. He finds out his sister's still alive. (This may be less wonderful in reality than he thinks.)
6. What is the one thing he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
Um. Hm. He's pretty open, mainly out of apathy for secretive bullshit, although I suppose he does kind of try to avoid letting anyone know about how his business is about scalping toys to desperate parents at extortionate rates, rather than a more traditional supply model. It's not illegal, but he'd probably get some stinkeye looks if people knew, and he'd rather avoid that.
Holy crap, long meme is long.
1. What is the character's stature and build? Is he overweight? Thin? What is his height and weight?
Not counting his armor, he's probably somewhere a little over six and a half feet tall (just how much so depends on level of slouching), and brawny due to physical augmentations. I've no proper scale on weight per size, so I'll just say that he's usually a little bit overweight, with a tiny bit of a gut marring his otherwise super-soldier physique.
2. How old is he?
Mid to late thirties. Exact number pending whenever I bother to do the math.
3. Describe his posture. Is it good? Does he carry himself well? Is he crooked? Straight?
Usually pretty good, if only because of the amount of time he's armored up, which is designed with good posture in mind. He'll slouch a lot, armored or not, if he's in a chair meant for comfortable lounging, though.
4. Is he in good shape or out of condition? Is he muscularly weak or strong?
He's usually slightly out of shape, though much less so than he'd been in earlier wartime days. Either way, he's still superhumanly strong thanks to his augmentations.
5. How is his health? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
It used to be horrible, between the self-abuse he engaged in under protest of his being drafted and the incompletely treated damage from being run over by Sheila the Tank. Since his almost complete reconstruction, his health is excellent overall, and he actually gives a shit about keeping it that way.
6. Is he physically active or sedentary? A fast or slow mover?
He generally likes being sedentary, but sometimes needs to be active, either because of circumstances or just a whim to move. When he chooses to move, however, it's very fast, due to augmented reflexes.
7. Is he clumsy, awkward, graceful?
He's somewhat graceful; MJOLNIR usage training engenders and enforces a kinesthetic sense sufficient to keep the SPARTAN from injuring himself with careless movements, and some of his combat training expands on that. He was far from the greatest at it in Basic, but he apparently did well enough to pass, and some of the training took the form of chemically-encoded muscle memory injected into the brain, so he's sometimes better at it than he'd expect, particularly because the armor translates thought into motion on its own more than needing to be moved by the meat inside.
8. Does he move in straight or curved lines? Is he physically tight or fluid?
Straight lines, generally -- he's often not especially subtle, occasionally like a bull in a china shop -- but the previous answer about gracefulness more or less applies to fluidity of motion.
9. What are his chief efforts?
I'm not entirely sure I understand the question. If it means what he works to improve about himself, then probably general fitness (despite how he occasionally succumbs to questionable eating/drinking/etc. habits) and remedial work on combat training.
10. Is the character good looking, pretty, beautiful, average, plain, ugly, disfigured?
Not disfigured (well, not anymore, thanks to Eiko's excellent work), but still "hideously ugly," as Sarge once said and Grif readily agreed to. Just how ugly he is depends on how ugly you think Brian Thompson is. (I've heard tell there are people who still consider him quite attractive, although I'm not one of them.)
11. Is the character aware of himself physically? His looks?
He's well aware that he's by no means the definition of physical attractiveness, and he's okay with that. In terms of overall body awareness, also, yes, he's keenly aware of himself, thanks once again to SPARTAN enhancements. (See above re: gracefulness.)
12. Describe his complexion and skin. Dark, light, clear, marked?
White, and fairly pale due to the amount of time he spends wearing all-concealing body armor. I've considered saying that, being from Hawaii, he originally looked like what, these days, would be considered native Hawaiian (ie, Polynesian-descended, rather than Obviously Whitey), and that his current appearance is because of the augmentation procedures, but I'm not sure I could justify ignoring that advanced a degree of Doesn't Work That Way, so instead he looks Whitey and it's just his facial structure that got changed.
13. Describe his hair, coloring, styling. Is it taken care of?
Brown hair, not crew cut but still reasonably short, usually kept in a reasonably nice though simple single-part style by the occasional effort of going to a barber.
14. How is his usual dexterity? Does he have good hands: Can he do things? Is he a worker?
Exceptional dexterity, once again due to his SPARTAN augmentations and usually further improved by his armor. His hands are strong, and theoretically deft if he's doing something he knows how to do.
15. Is he physically tense or relaxed, nervous, controlled?
Usually, very relaxed, though he could be any of those others under the right circumstances.
16. What are his chief tension centers?
He occasionally might claim to get headaches from the insanity of the world around him, but other than that, probably mostly his shoulders and arms.
17. What part of his body would you notice first?
Um. Well, if I have to be specific rather than just noting that he's big and broad and mighty and that tends to be automatically a cause for notice, I suppose his oddly-shaped mouth/chin, which makes for at least most of his uglitude.
18. Describe his basic gravity factor. Is there a downward pull or buoyant?
He can be somewhat light on his feet -- the armor, particularly, helps with this -- but in general, he's a weighty kind of guy, between his size and the stuff that's been pumped into him to increase bone and muscle density and also his armor, which is very heavy but is well-designed to seem less so than it really is.
The Character's Clothes
1. How many clothes does this character have?
I've no idea of a number, but he's got a reasonably good-sized wardrobe. As much time as he spends in his armor, he does have times when circumstances call for something else, and he's thus built up some variety to cover those times.
2. What items are in their wardrobe?
Business suits, sweatsuits for working out, casualwear for when he's hanging out at his apartment in Philly, a few sets of extra extra large outfits for the times -- more frequent during his Tank Damage days -- when he wants/needs to wear his armor but also have clothes on over to make it something vaguely resembling less obvious. (Some time back, I established that he found a universe with a Mr. Freaky-Big clothing store chain that could handle clothes of sizes up to and including MJOLNIR-scale, while still making them look good, and that he's bought his clothes from them ever since. They're very happy with the volume of his business.)
3. What are their favorite articles of clothing?
Well, for one thing, the armor has an inherent comfort to it, partially because of its protection and partially because the reactive gel layer contours itself to the wearer's body and adjusts its temperature as necessary. Aside from that, as nice as casualwear can be for lounging around, what he likes more is a well-cut suit, in the times when he has to visit somewhere on business.
4. What colors are the clothes? Is there a wide range? Bright or dull? What are their favorite colors to wear?
His armor color selection was primarily a matter of what didn't suck out of the available options when he'd been out of Basic for long enough to have passed the rookie stage and was allowed to select a color that wasn't Standard Issue Red. Since then, he's come to somewhat own it, so his main colors these days do tend to be orange and black, which are bold if nothing else.
5. Are their clothes bright or dull?
Didn't I just answer this as part of the last question? Orange is pretty bright, and black is, well, black.
6. Were they bought or home-made, hand-me-downs, expensive?
Bought, and probably not cheaply. MJOLNIR armor is, in particular, phenomenally expensive, and he would tend to pay for quality when it comes to his business suits.
7. What is one of his favorite items to wear?
Again, a repeat question, so I'll just say that he likes his suits.
8. Do his clothes fit well?
He's got some that are loose, but those are intentional, mainly the clothes he has for wearing over armor. Other than that, though, yes, his clothes tend to fit very well, and his suits in particular are usually tailored.
9. Is he comfortable in what he wears? Does he "fight" his clothes?
Usually quite comfortable, yes. He's not really one to be all that happy with discomfort if he can help it.
10. Is he confident about the way he dresses, or uneasy?
Confident. He knows that while he's not particularly attractive, he is nonetheless physically imposing, at least among the normal people of his universe, and he enjoys the reaction that can get, at least a little.
11. Does he care for his clothes? Keep them up and neat? Is he worried about how they look?
He's not worried, per se, but he does keep reasonably good care of them, keeping them laundered and having the business suits pressed. The armor gets regular maintenance, as a holdover from habits acquired from when the armor was an inherent part of his minute-to-minute survival.
12. Does he have to dress a certain way because of his job or position? If so, do his usual clothes fit his real, basic character?
He wears his armor when abroad in the Nexus or dealing with combat/military matters, and he wears a suit when dealing with business matters in person. He doesn't really consider himself a Soldier[tm], in that he doesn't tend or prefer to use his skills for the military to which he is officially attached, but other than that, I suppose they fit.
13. Does he dress according to a self image of himself? Is that self image conscious or unconscious? At what age was this self image made?
To a certain degree, yes. He likes the impression that his figure in a suit can give, and he's comfortable with himself for his caution about keeping armored up in the Nexus. His self-image has shifted a number of times during his life. Whatever self-image he might've had growing up got pretty much obliterated by the ravages of his augmentations on his memory, so he had to form a new one around his draft protestation and associated poor self-care, and a new one when Sheila ran him over, and finally a much better one after Black Mesa and Eiko's reconstructive work.
14. What kind of underwear does he wear?
No comment.
The Character's Voice
1. Does he speak in a high or low pitch voice? When might he be higher than usual? When lower?
Um. I dunno. A little high, maybe? I can hear his voice readily enough, but am not very good at describing it. If someone wants to, they can have a listen and do a better job of it.
2. Is he a loud or soft talker?
Loud, mostly, unless occasion calls for him to make an effort to speak softly.
3. Is there a wide range in the voice in volume, pitch and/or quality, or is the voice pretty consistent and even?
Pitch tends to be fairly consistent. I'm not really sure what "quality" is supposed to mean. Volume might vary sometimes.
4. Is there good resonance to the voice? Is the voice throaty, chesty, heady, nasal?
See above about being able to hear but not describe the voice well.
5. Is there tension in the voice? Anxiety? Emotion?
Oh, usually. He can be fairly reactive, and that often shows in his voice, since he often has his face covered from view.
6. Is there an accent? Anting unusual in pronunciation? Emphasis? Phrasing?
He has, on occasion, pronounced "both" as "bolth" and "margin" as "margarine". It's questionable whether he actually thought those pronunciations were correct, or (more likely, and as I tend to interpret it) meant to fuck with the rest of his squad. Does a tendency to say "cockbite" and "sonofaBITCH" count for unusual phrasing?
7. Is it a trained voice, or just natural?
A mix between the two. He had to get some retraining after the brain portions of his augmentations fucked with his memory and such, but it's since become nature to him again.
8. Does the character "try" to speak well or just "how it comes out"?
How it comes out, unless he's making a special effort to watch what he says.
9. Is the speech clear or muddy? Does he mumble? Is he distinct?
He's usually fairly clear and distinct, if only because of both outspokenness and having had to learn to speak primarily through electronic mediation -- ie, radio and/or speakers in his helmet -- and thus having to speak clearly enough to not lose the words in amplification noise.
10. Is the voice comforting or irritating? Reassuring or disturbing?
Proooobably at least somewhat irritating, most of the time. He can do comfort and soothing, but not naturally.
11. Is he self-conscious when he speaks to others? How large a group could he speak to before he became self-conscious?
I'm not really sure, but given business things, he can probably do reasonably well, at least if he tries.
The Character's Mind
1. Is the character smart, dumb, naive?
He's not a genius by any stretch, but he's smart in a sharp-minded shifty cunning sort of way, more so, even, than he tends to think he is.
2. Does he think quickly? Slowly? Is he quick-witted? Dull?
Super-humanly quickly, thanks to the augmentations that speed up his reflexes and reaction time, which has an incidental improvement effect on his overall speed of thought.
3. What kind of education has he had?4. What subjects does the character have knowledge or expertise?
Business, particularly as it applies to large-scale shipping ventures. History, in catching up on what he missed during his 800 year time jump. Also, he's a talented sniper, which was about the only thing in Basic that he had any natural aptitude for.
5. Is the character impulsive or deliberate in reaching conclusions? Is he logical, rational, or emotional?
Depends on just how important he considers it. If it's something completely frivolous, he can come to a pretty snap emotional conclusion, for the sake of being a loon about it. If it seems at all important, though, he can be quite rational -- the voice of reason, as he sometimes feels weird about being out of the Shenaniclan -- though not necessarily Logical[tm].
6. Does he think out things before he speaks or can he "think on his feet" as he is speaking?
Between those two choices, he's more likely to think before he speaks, though he's also just as likely to speak without thinking at all, if he's just looking to get a rise out of someone.
7. Does he have contemplative times? What does he think about when alone?
Sometimes, though he tries to avoid them, 'cause they usually involve sulking about how he's come to where he is in life, the things he's lost, etc.
8. Is he an idealist? A pragmatist? A dreamer? An idea man? An Action man?
Not very much a dreamer, but at least some of each of the others. He's got some ideals, but is very pragmatic about them, and his ideas, when he has call to have ideas, are largely about actions to take.
9. Is his life motivated chiefly by abstract ideals or practical rewards?
In the day-to-day, practical rewards are what the business are about. When it comes to what he happens across in his time in the Nexus, primarily ideals of helping people out 'cause he can.
The Character's Emotions and Personality
1. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Extrovert, or at least as much of one as I can ever present at any given time.
2. Does he get along well with people? Does he have charm? Are people attracted to him? Does he like people?
He's not universally liked, but he does have a certain odd, rough charm that allows him to make friends without too much trouble, most of the time, which is good, 'cause he does like people.
3. Does he have many friends? Any close friends?
He's got a few, of varying degrees of closeness. His most recent close friendships have taken the form of an odd sort of pseudo-family, which he kind of likes.
4. Is he hot-blooded or cool-headed?
He can be either, depending on the circumstances. Often, he'll start with the former and buckle down into the latter if shit becomes serious.
5. Does he have a narrow or wide range of emotions? Do they show often?
Fairly wide, and fairly frequently apparent.
6. Does he indulge in emotional peaks, outbursts, or valleys? Often?
Yes, sometimes. Peaks are more common.
7. Would you say he is basically sensitive or callused?
Basically sensitive, but with some calluses developed over time, as he settles more into occasionally acting like the soldier he was trained to be.
8. Is he suspicious, cautious, trusting, or naive about new people or situations?
Cautiously trusting. He'll run with a situation at face value, knowing that the Nexus means a thing could well be just what it seems like, but he does keep an awareness that it could just as easily be otherwise, and will keep an eye out for signs that something's not right.
9. Is he an aggressive or reactive person? Is he a pusher or a puller?
If it's something he doesn't care much about, reactive. If it's something that's taken his attention, then he'll want to be aggressive about it and push to get it taken care of, but more often than he likes, finds himself having to take a reactive position anyway.
10. Does he take positive or negative action?
P...ositive, mainly, I think? I'm not entirely sure I understand the question.
11. In a danger or emergency situation would he go to it or run away from it?
Flip a coin. His laziness wars with his helpfulness which wars with his cowardice.
12. Is the character basically nervous or calm?
Calm. Usually, if he's not calm, he's not so much nervous as just outright panicked.
13. Does the character have a sense of humor? Does he appreciate jokes? Can he see humor in unfunny situations? Can he laugh at himself?
Yes, on pretty much all counts.
14. Can he tell a funny story or joke? Do others find him amusing?
Usually.
15. Is he a practical joker? What is his opinion or tricks or jokes played on other people?
Not usually a practical joker, no; too much effort. Assuming the joke is relatively well-meaning, he'll find it funny, though he'd be less well-inclined to "ha ha you broke your arm" kinds of jokes where the joke-player's just being an asshole.
16. Is his humor ever cruel?
Probably at least sometimes, but only when he feels that the target really deserves it.
17. Under what conditions could he be harmful or mean or cruel to another person?
Primarily, as a response to someone else being mean/cruel to him or others.
18. Is he a loving person? Is he full of love and giving or rather bound and tight in this area? Is he capable of relation to others in a loving way? Is he capable or relating to one specific person in a romantic way?
In a platonic fashion, somewhat, yes. He enjoys knowing people and being involved in people's lives, even when it requires some effort on his part. Romantically, however, not so much; partially, that's that one of the augmentation procedures has a potential libido-quashing side effect, but mostly that he just doesn't care much about it.
19. Is he loved by any other people? In what way?
He has friends, some chunk of which have formed their own pseudo-family which includes him and thus presumably means that they have at least that much love for him.
20. Is he romantically in love now? With whom? Is this a happy, rewarding or frustrating situation or him?
Not in the least, but he's quite okay with that.
The Character's Wealth, Power, and Influence
1. Does this person have much money? Does it provide position or respect from others for him?
He's amassed a modest personal fortune -- not profligately wealthy, but as he puts it, "enough to live on, plus enough to afford the occasional stupid thing." Given how expensive some of those stupid things sometimes are, though, that means that he's better off than he really tends to think himself.
2. Is he generous or selfish with his money and possessions?
Back home, not so much, but when it comes to helping out people he knows from the Nexus, he's pretty generous, yeah.
3. Is the character socially prominent? Is he prominent from wealth, position or office, family history, ability or accomplishment?
Not really. His business isn't nearly mighty enough for him to be a big name in the galaxy from it. Being the One Drafted Man of the 26th century civil war makes him a footnote in galactic history, but that doesn't really translate into any play in the great social circles.
4. Does the character rate high in the "pecking order" with his household? Town? Area? Nation? World?
Well, from a literal perspective, being all alone at his station makes any such concepts meaningless. Metaphorically, he's at the bottom of the order in the military, top of the order in his business, and somewhere in the middle within the shenaniclan with specific distinction for usually being the voice of reason for the amigos.
5. Does this person wield much clout? Over whom and by what means?
Within his company, absolute. Beyond that, as much as his money can manage, which can be a pretty good amount. In the Nexus, he's probably shown enough level-headedness when it's important to stand a shot of being listened to -- see also "voice of reason within the amigos".
6. Can he command others to do his bidding, by word or manipulation?
Again, within his company, yes, because of paychecks and stuff, but other than that, probably not, but he's much more the "ask someone to do something" sort than "command to do his bidding".
7. How does he get his wishes daily?
Electronic Funds Transfer.
8. To whom is he subservient? Is this submission willing or unavoidable?
Well, technically, the military still owns his ass, by no means of his own accord, and if they tried to pack him up and send him somewhere else, he'd have to either suck it up or finally bail for the Nexus permanently. Other than that, assuming reasonable circumstances, others in the shenaniclan can probably get him to do stuff if they ask, 'cause he's a helper like that.
The Character's Activities
1. How does the character spend his time?
Running the business, hanging out in the Nexus, planning and/or executing various Nexus-related activities (combat training for Senshi, looting zombiefied Earths of booze and cash, etc.).
2. What does his daily routine consist of?
He doesn't really have a schedule, or at least not one that can be mapped to a normal day, because the star system Blood Gulch is in is all fucked up about that.
3. What is his profession or work?
Businessman, hobbyist super-soldier, general layabout.
4. What things does he really like to do?
Sleep, eat, socialize.
5. What things does he hate to do?
Get shot at.
6. What are his leisure time activities? Pastimes? Recreation?
He hangs out in the Nexus, occasionally getting himself mixed up in adventures, despite how it might get him shot at.
7. Does he play games? What kind?
He's got an old arcade game simulator and a wide selection of ROMs for it burned into a read-only data chip that he keeps loaded into the AI slot of his armor, both for fun and to keep the slot occupied so O'Malley couldn't try taking him over.
8. Does he like to eat or drink? How important to him are food and drink?
Oh, yes, very much indeed, although he's not nearly so gluttonous as he used to be back during his war/Simmons'-donor-organs protest days.
9. How important is sex to him? What sexual activities does he partake in? Anything unusual?
Not in the least. He just doesn't think of it much in relation to himself.
10. Is his exactitude about sex healthy or disturbing to him? Is sex a rewarding, enriching part of this person's life or is it frightening, anxious, or frustrating? Is sex a positive or negative factor in his life?
He's aware that most people have some preoccupation with sex, and he's occasionally a bit curious about the fact that he doesn't really at all, but it doesn't really bother him in any significant way.
The Character's Favorite Things
1. Colors? Orange and black, given his armor.
2. Food? Ho-Hos, bacon-flavored marshmallows, meat.
3. Drinks? Beer, whiskey.
4. Smells? Tasty food, booze, and victory.
5. Time of day? None; his concept of day-to-day time is crap.
6. Season of the year? Christmas season, 'cause that's when most of the money comes in.
7. Books? I'd probably have to make up titles for books that don't exist.
8. Kinds of literature? Not sci-fi; per canon. Particularly after the time jump, he's acquired some interest in history. Some of that comes from wanting to know what he missed from not being there, and also a retrospective look at his home time. From there, he's branched out a bit into what's been learned about the Covenant and the Forerunners, which ties into how the Covenant War happened and what happened to bring its conclusion.
9. Authors? I'd have to make up a name.
10. Places to visit? The Nexus, particularly the parts with free booze. Also, the universe with the Mr. Freaky-Big outlet that he usually buys his clothes from.
11. Kinds of music? Creed (Look, I'm sorry, it's semi-canon from one of the PSAs. My options are otherwise limited without making up fake future bands.)
12. Musical Instruments? None in particular.
13. Composers? None in particular.
14. Metals; gold, iron, copper, pewter, etc.? Gold, 'cause money.
15. Building materials; stone, wood, clay, tile, etc.? Titanium A, which is a fictional alloy used for armor plating in the Halo-verse.
16. Fabrics; silk, wool, linen, etc.? None in particular.
17. Pieces of furniture? The bed, for sleeping.
18. Plants? None.
19. Flowers? None.
20. Trees? None.
21. Birds? None.
22. Animals? Big cats, like pumas (as he's inclined to think the jeep looks like) or tigers (orange and black, like his armor).
23. Miscellaneous? That's not even a thing!
24. Modern Fairytale? What?
Character's Religion
1. What are his specific religious beliefs? Does he belong to a specific sect or creed? Does he advocate that group's beliefs?
Apathy.
2. How important is religion to him?
Not at all. Religion in general took a critical hit among humanity when the Covenant came through with their crazy religion-fueled genocidal rampage, and hasn't recovered a whole lot in the centuries since then, so it's never really been terribly much of an issue, at least back home.
3. Is he pious, devout?
Nope.
4. In what religious activities does he engage? What percentage of his time is devoted to it?
None.
5. How does religion motivate his actions or affect them?
Not at all.
Character's Fears
1. What things frighten him?
Bats! Also, Tex, and getting hit in the face.
2. Is he motivated by fear?
Not usually. He occasionally refers to himself -- and thinks of himself -- as a "recovering coward", but his cowardice was mainly a subconscious defense in protest of his conscription into the military, and since he's largely being allowed to live life on his own terms these days, his "recovery" has largely been about setting that aside so he can enjoy doing things of his own volition that he would've balked at being forced into.
3. To what extent is he motivated; never, occasionally, usually, constantly?
Rarely. He'll still occasionally wig out in reaction to something really threatening, but he's better than he thinks about locking that back down and getting things done, when it's important.
4. What would this character think were the three most terrible things that could happen to him?
In order of horrible-ness:
1. Getting killed. (Yes, he considers this one of the less horrible options of most terrible things.)
2. Going back to his tank-damage Frankenstein-y state.
3. Finding out the civil war really is still going on and being forcibly transferred to a squad that actually took it seriously, without access to the Nexus for stress relief.
5. What would he think were the three most wonderful things that could happen to him?
1. People stop being vague and cryptic on him. (This has happened, a little, and every time it does, it's a little beam of sunshine for him.)
2. He gets released from the Army and gets to live his life entirely free. (Ha ha ha, not anytime soon, buddy.)
3. He finds out his sister's still alive. (This may be less wonderful in reality than he thinks.)
6. What is the one thing he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
Um. Hm. He's pretty open, mainly out of apathy for secretive bullshit, although I suppose he does kind of try to avoid letting anyone know about how his business is about scalping toys to desperate parents at extortionate rates, rather than a more traditional supply model. It's not illegal, but he'd probably get some stinkeye looks if people knew, and he'd rather avoid that.
Holy crap, long meme is long.