Beautiful People: August 2017

For my first blog post, I’m going to start with a writing meme. (I know. Boring. But I’m tired, and this sounded fun.)

Beautiful People is a monthly-ish meme sent out by Cait @ Paperfury  and Sky @ Further Up and Further In. I highly recommend it! The questions are fun, and often tricky to answer if your character lives in a totally different reality than the ones we’re used to. (Like mine.)

For this month’s questions, I’m going to talk about Jase, the very confused sidekick in my steampunk-with-superpowers wip Darkspire.

I’m just going to jump right into this.

What are they addicted to/can’t live without?

Well, before a certain unfortunate time traveling incident, Jase was totally addicted to coffee and Cheetos. Needless to say, I am a cruel, cruel writer, and neither of those really exist in his world anymore.

(Coffee does, but only in certain parts of the world. Poor Cheetos are extinct.)

He does have a small heart-shaped locket, which used to be his mother’s. Before she was brutally murdered. He has told no one about it, mostly because his companion, Aubrey, (my MC), is a thief.

Wise choice, Jase.

Since it’s all he has of his past, he’d go mad without it.

Name 3 positive and 3 negative qualities about your character.

He’s so loyal it sometimes worrying, but he’s had a hard time trusting anybody ever since his girlfriend turned out to be a psychotic loon, and hanging out with thieves and other various sorts of the criminal element (like, say, pirates and murderers and other fun people), has not made it any easier.

He is remarkably patient and almost never loses his cool. (Which, given his fire powers, I find incredibly ironic. Gee, it’s almost like I did that on purpose.) However, that makes his inner Hulk that much more…well, Hulk-like.

Finally, he has an unwavering set of morals. I’m counting this as both a positive and negative trait, because he gets rather testy and uncooperative when his colleagues refuse to follow them. Or rather break them in half, stomp on them like a three year old, and toss the shattered pieces out the nearest garbage shute.

Are they holding onto something they should get rid of?

This is a tricky question, because besides his mother’s locket, Jase doesn’t have any material possessions. So I’m going to cheat a little.

Jase has a lot of memories which don’t match up to the world he’s currently in. This is thanks to that nasty life ruining time travel thing again. Nobody can tell if he’s crazy, or actually comes from another world.

That doesn’t help a guy who’s already on the edge of sanity, in case you were wondering.

The reason he needs to let go of those memories, whether they’re real or not, is because they’re clashing so badly with how life is now that he sticks out like a sore thumb. Since everybody wants him dead, that’s not a good thing.

If 10 is completely organized and 1 is completely messy, where do they fall on the scale?

2.

No doubt about it. He’s a slob. He’s lucky if he can find his shoes in the morning, and he usually sleeps with them on. Because he usually wakes up in fear for his life.

What most frustrates them about the world they live in?

HAH.

I’m going to turn this question into what frustrates him the most, since listing every single thing is literally impossible.

1) Aubrey. She’s bossy and likes to say “I told you so” every time she’s right, which is irritatingly often. Jase also thinks she might be giving serious thought into pushing him off the side of a floating pirate ship when no one is looking.

2) People keep trying to kill him.

3) People keep expecting him to know stuff. Why would he need to know how to rig a safety harness on an airship? So he doesn’t die. Smart guy, Jase is.

4) People keep trying to kill him.

5) The pirate captain who’s towing them around keeps trying to recruit him.

6) People keep trying to kill him.

How would they dress for a night out? How would they dress for a night in?

Jase doesn’t get many nights out at the moment, but back in his original time, (which is similar to ours), he’d settle for jeans, slightly beat up sneakers, and a button down shirt his aunt forced him into.

For a night in, he’d stick with sweatpants and an ancient Star Wars t-shirt his aunt is determined to throw out.

How many shoes do they own, and what kind?

One. He thinks they’re some of leather boots, but he’s not sure, and he’s too afraid to ask Aubrey.

Do they have any pets? What pet do they WISH they had?

He used to have an orange cat named Jinx. He wishes he still had Jinx, or maybe a trained sabre tooth tiger.

Is there something or someone that they resent? Why and what happened?

This is a spoiler, so I’ll keep it brief: he has major relationship issues.

And he’ll never forgive his dad for spoiling the “Luke, I am your father” moment in Star Wars.

What’s usually in their fridge or pantry?

He would love a fridge right now, but they don’t exist anymore. #LifeIsPainful. If he managed to find one, he’d stock it with diet coke, hard salami, swiss cheese, hard boiled eggs, dark chocolate, and teaberry ice cream.

Also clean water. He’s really sick of living off mead and rum.

Pirates. What can you do?

Chat with me! Did you link up to Beautiful People? Which of your poor characters is suffering the most right now? Have you eaten dinner yet? (I haven’t.) Do you like pirates? And what food would you miss the most if you time traveled?