Character Building Prompts! [UPDATED WEEKLY]

[Deleted]

Hello, SxS. I want to play a game. Each week (give or take, but it'll be fairly regular regardless of interest), I'll have a new prompt for you all to mull over in regards to your characters, and you'll be able to jot down and post your thoughts on the prompt. They'll be anything from small drabble ideas, to asking about the little details about your character that you can use to enrich your characterization. I love thinking of these, and I want to share what I think of with you all.

I'll even open the floor to other people if I don't have much of an idea--have guest prompts, if you will. I'll have an index on this post of all the prompts so you can go back and find them.

Rules for this thread:

-Try to keep your characters together for this topic. It's not necessary but it helps cut down on clutter.
-If you have a WIP, you can talk about the character here.
-That's it! That's all the special rules! Otherwise, do whatever you feel is alright and within the site rules.


The Index!

• Week One: In Memoriam
  
• Week Two: Lingua Franca
  
• ==>Week Three (??): High Tension<==
  

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This week's prompt:

How does your character remember things BEST? Do they need to hear something, say it out loud, write it down? Do they have their own system for remembering things?

And just how good is their memory? Photographic, or plain terrible, or somewhere in between? Maybe it depends on what they're trying to remember!

I actually really like this one

[Hirato Murano]

I thought someone else was definitely going to respond to this before me, but I guess I was wrong.

Hirato

Hirato remembers things best by writing them down and over the years has created a vast system of important information, even including an archive for information that has not been relevant to him for an extended period of time. He houses this in the mansion he inherited, feeling that his private chambers in the 9th division should not be cluttered by it and that they are not secure enough to contain the information he has obtained. Due to the sheer volume of the information, it takes two rooms: one for the archive and one for the current information.

His memory is very good, actively remembering the names of all of the Captains and Lieutenants, in addition to their combat abilities. When he reached the rank of 3rd seat, he committed that to memory by using the pictures of the individual with their information as a sort of flash card. Although he can recall all of it, his mind usually works by thinking of their face before putting their name on it.

[Saburo Kuchiki]

I was going to but i felt kinda nervous if i had to do it first >//< meep!

Hikaru

Hikaru posesses a photo graphic memory, but even she cannot remeber everything especially things of lesser importance. In france, her mansion has a proper hidden library that contains vast amount of knowledge from both her ancestors and her own notes. This has been Updated into a secure data storage, that can only be acessed from the inside.

Like many ginto incatations she can memorize them just by spelling them in her head at least once. She can ativeley remeber the names and abilities of her opponent`s by just seeing/hearing them once. She likes to memorize these as well in case her memory would ever fail her. And for the next generations as well.

[Nanao Ise]

Grimmy, this is the best idea. <3 I'm going to do it for my new arrancar because she is hella fun.

Jinzu

Jinzu seems fairly absent-minded, frequently making promises she has no intention of keeping and thus appearing very forgetful when she can't even remember giving her word. However, she is very capable of recalling the minute details of the lies she spins so she does not get caught in her own web. Her long term memory is better as she can certainly hold a grudge on those who have scorned her for centuries, but she isn't one for recalling fine details so may exact revenge on the wrong person.

Though not really possible in Hueco Mundo, Jinzu would rather write important things on her hand, as she has on occasion wandered off during missions because she couldn't quite recall what Grimmjow had asked her to do.

[Kaoru Murano]

I got some time at last!!! XD I'll do them all, including Shi-chan, at once.

Kaoru

Kaoru tends to remember things as she goes pretty easily. How she does this is that she writes it down, but also goes over it again in her mind so that it cements down into it. She does keep a journal with her, but it is usually just a day to day happening of each week. Her memory itself is actually very good in that she is able to recall facts and other types of things with ease. This makes it easier on Kaoru to finish her duties and finish missions in time. Once she has something committed to memory, she does not lose it. Her head has a seemingly endless capacity for information and memory, though, she has a system in her head as well for organizing it. She uses a building with many rooms and doors to organize her information in. All she has to do is imagine her vast two-story house and walk through it to find what she needs. While some parts of the house are easily cataloged and sorted, there is a part of the house that is more run down and wild as it hold the more dangerous and violent of facts and memories Kaoru holds on to.

Kyouya

Kyouya has a very well-trained memory from an early age. However, he tends to remember them from just hearing them the first time. He says them once and it is cemented into his memory. Even though his memory is excellent, he does take into account what is important and what is not. He does not hold on to facts and memories that do not have importance to them. Even though he may play like an idiot, he is actually very intelligent and often writes things down, even if they are not important to him personally, in his daily log and keeps his logs in his company's library in his own personal section of it. What I meant was that in his head he keeps what he thinks is important, and just forgets the rest, but not without writing it down and storing it with the other information.

When he is acting as Captain, sometimes to just throw everyone off, he acts a bit goofy and pretends to not remember anything. He doe this often to Kaoru, and it usually doesn't end well for Kyouya as she tends to dropkick him or throw him across the room in her frustration. He'll pretend to forget to do his paperwork and Captain duties as well if he really doesn't feel like doing anything that day.

Ren

As a nurse, Ren needs to have a good memory, but it really is quiet terrible when she tries to remember names and faces. She can remember facts and figures with ease, as well as memories that happened years ago, but names and faces screw her up. When she remembers something, she writes it down, but also comits it to her head as well for double storage and protection. She usually associates what she is trying to remember with a memory or feeling. And example of this would be when she first laid eyes on Hitoshi Ishida. She felt admiration for the man some affection, and a large amount of respect. This made his name and face become fixed in her mind as well as those she loves such as her parents, mentor, and a couple close friends. Other than that, she really needs to meet someone twice or even three times to really remember them.

Takashi

Shi-chan remembers things with ease, but has a hard time committing them to long-term memory. So, to remedy this problem of his, he tends to write things down in his journal. Over his years he has many books that he has written in, and stores them all over the place. The books contain memories, facts, opinions, information about the seireitei and Hueco Mundo, as well as information on many of the shinigami living and dead within the seireitei. So...really...his memory is rather terrible to say the least...

Often times he can be found to not remember someone even after just meeting them two days ago. It's getting to be a problem... >_>

[Deleted]

Ah, I'm glad everyone's liking the idea, your responses have all been very interesting! (I've heard about that "memory palace" idea before, Kaoru! Heard it's pretty effective, too.) I'll list mine now that a few more people have chipped in.

Grimmjow

His memory's good ...when he wants it to be. He won't bother to remember your name or face unless you've really managed to make him angry or grab his attention and even then he'll most likely have some kind of appellation for you instead of your real name. Places, dates, etc. aren't something he cares to keep memorized. What he is good at is recalling someone's abilities or skills and matching them with faces, which is a pretty crucial skill and is usually how he remembers people--especially his subordinates. Jinzu is the "Liar chick", Esperanza is the "Dancin' bitch", Majora is "that crazy chick with the whips".

Ichiro

His memory is exceptional where facts and figures and the like are concerned, if he's interested in knowing them. His recall of written text is far better than other methods, and he retains books and the random junk he gleans from google searches with more accuracy. Possibly surprisingly, he forgets the association of names to faces easily, which he combats by photographing new acquaintances with his phone and titling the photo with their full name. Once he has that association, the other facts about the person quickly follow. He rarely retains the connection of name to face for long, and so he has extensive archives of photos.

He is also very good with dates, not necessarily because he is exceptionally good at recalling them but because he is straight up obsessive about writing them down. He dates his journals with time to the second.

Malik

Memory-wise, Malik is good with names and trivia. He recalls best the things he hears and says, so don't be surprised if he repeats things back to you (something I don't usually show in RP because it just fills out space without doing much). He's really pretty scatterbrained where scheduling is concerned, so he's not the most punctual person at times. He does set alarms and get Dima (or whoever will be up at the time he needs to go do whatever he's doing) to wake-up call him. He's not a ditz, he just tends to get invested with things that really dwarf business meetings.

Donna

Donna is a grade-A scatterbrain. She'll forget to turn her phone off until it rings in class, then turn it off...and promptly forget to turn it back on later. Homework? Studying? Uh...She thought it was due the next day. Where's the gig being held at again? She'll forget she's composing a text message should she get distracted in the middle of it. How does she function? Sticky notes! They're stuck all over her notebooks, gig bags, and the walls of her room. She jots speedy notes to herself about important things on them. Sometimes she forgets anyway but she's really trying if you see her write it down.

But! Directions and formulas are pretty easy for her to remember because she's come up with a little hack: she remembers music very well, so she composes little tunes using the information she needs to recall. This doesn't work with very small or stupidly large strings of info. She can remember music (and things she sets to music) after hearing them only one or two times.

Octavia

Octavia's not very scatterbrained. She remembers a lot of things by writing them letter by letter on the palm of her hand, which works pretty well for the things she needs to remember and overall her short term memory is good. Her long-term memory is not so great, she forgets when people have been mean to her and after being separated from someone for a long time might need to be re-introduced to kickstart her memory of them.

[Deleted]

This Week's Prompt!

Japanese writers have an easy (kind of) time of making character dialog distinct. They can use a kind of shorthand we can't--honorifics! Since in Bleach Japanese is the lingua franca, this week is all about how your characters speak it (insofar as the things that make their speech distinct go). What kind of honorifics do they use? Do they speak in a dialect? What kind of vocabulary do they have, and do they use it? How do they refer to themselves?

TvTropes on honorifics
TvTropes on Pronouns

[Kaoru Murano]

I like this one, it's going to really make me think about my characters a lot. :3

Kaoru

Kaoru has two distinctive patterns of speech given different circumstances and situations. The first would be when Kaoru has her emotional mask on. This makes it so that it suppresses everything about her whether it be emotionally and/or physically. This being said, when Kaoru has her mask on she speaks very polite and calm, as well as very serious. She is reserved in her speaking and often calls someone by their last name even though they might have said otherwise. She uses titles and honorifics when addressing others when holding herself back like she does. She is very respectful even if someone isn't that way towards her, so while her mask is on, it is rare for her to become angry so quickly.

The other situation would be when Kaoru finally does let down her mask. Things get alittle....wild, when brought to such feelings. In reality, she is wild and out-of-hand when her mask is down, but sometimes you'll catch a side of Kaoru that isn't such and is much more happier and less dangerous. In this, when she is her normal wild and rough self, she talks less and less polite and more familiar, even if she doesn't really know the person themselves. She drops the use of honorifics and talks in a more aggressive manner than her other side to herself. When she is in a better mood while without her mask, she picks up more familiar honorifics, but still speaks in a less polite manner. Such an example would be in front of regular company and her mask was on, as it is while in public, she'll reffer to her brother as either Captain Morinozukua or Kyouya-oniichan. However, if she were without her mask or in private, she'd just refer to him as just Kyouya or brother. When faced with someone, such as a stranger or a Captain, she would call them by use of last name plus an honorific or by title, but when without her mask she would just use their name without honorific and be slightly rude when speaking.

Kyouya

Kyouya speaks politely and uses honorifics when addressing those around him. However, once he gets to know someone, he'll address them with more familiar honorifics. The more he knows someone, the less and less formal he is when addressing them. Kyouya, when addressing his little sister, often just refers to her just by her name and no honorifics. He'll refer to his subordinates with familiar honorifics and his fellow Captains as such as well. However, there is a fine line when it comes to the Head Captain for Kyouya, he'll only address her with the use of her title and -sama honoific.

Ren

Ren is polite in her speech up to a point. With her patients and fellow coworkers, she uses polite honorifics and speech. She speaks calm and sure and with respect, because that is what her job demands of her. As a nurse, she has to keep a cool head in her job, and that is reflected in her voice. She keeps calm in any situation and often lets that take over her speech whether it really needs it or not. When with friends and family, she uses more familiar honorifics and familiar speech. When 'work' Ren, she speaks briskly and slower so that she is heard and understood; when she is just regular 'Ren', she speaks less formally and tends to be more relaxed with her speech in that she'll use 'ya know' instead of 'you know' and other such types.

Takashi

Takashi speaks formally, but it sounds as if he doesn't really care about anything at all. He is rather cold in his speech and often drops the use of honorifics altogether if he so feels inclined. His speech sounds brisk...often he'll sound irritated for no reason. If he does not like someone, which is often, he'll use no honorifics at all and simply address them by their first name.

[Deleted]

Taking a post for me to use now instead of later.

Ichiro

Ichiro's speech is extremely formal, peppered with literary allusions and occasionally clever wordplay. In Japanese he uses keigo to extremes which gives the impression that he is overly polite but that isn't the case if you listen to what he actually says. He's very up front considering his overly-literary speech patterns. He refers to just about everyone on last name basis with no honorifics. He calls Hitoshi "Chichi-ue", a very respectful form of "father" and if he was to ever refer to someone on first name terms you can be sure that he considers them a friend. He sometimes refers to himself with the outdated "Maro", but more often uses "watashi".

Ame

Ame is pretty formal, referring to most of her subordinates with "-kun" or sometimes "-san" (-kun is used by leaders to refer to their subordinates regardless of gender, iirc). She refers to herself with "Jibun"*. She speaks to her subordinates in polite terms unless she is very close to them. She hardly ever calls people by first names unless they ask to, and if she does use first names she'd either very close to that person of things are very serious.

When she's very angry she slips into something of a Tohoku accent, but not in extreme terms. She gets lazier with her pronunciation. She was raised in the outer Rukon and it's a holdover from her mother, who speaks in pretty rough Tohoku-ben (Tohoku is considered the real "boonies" dialect when you watch anime but it's hardly used, with most writers preferring the Kansai dialects or just having everyone speak standard).

JT

JT is a really weird case because I think he's probably unnaturally realistic for a character because of his reactive nature. He's not a native Japanese speaker, but can pass as one. He's very good at it, and knows how to switch between Tohoku and standard diction, even "slipping" into Tohoku when stressed. He usually refers to himself with "boku" and everyone else with "-san" but when times call for it he'll use "ore" and he often switches honorifics depending on who he's talking to. He limits his vocabulary and speaks rather plainly and simply.

Most of my other characters aren't native speakers and they talk like it--they use very textbook Japanese. Some of them pick up patterns from the native speakers they come across or from media. A quick rundown of everyone's pronouns, most used honorifics, etc:

Donna- Boku/atashi (formal), -san/-chan
Dante- Jibun, -san/-sama
Malik- Watashi/Boku (informal), -san/-sama/-kun
Octavia- Atashi
[notes for myself ok]
Majora- Watakushi-sama**/Yo, no honorifics
Haru- Ore-sama/atashi, -han/-chi/-kun***
Karii- Boku/watashi (formal), -sama/-chan/-kun

*I looked at the tvtropes entry on "jibun" and made myself sad...
**Watakushi-sama is extremely arrogant and princess-y, almost more so than Ore-sama.
***Haru uses Kansai dialect.

[Hirato Murano]

I'm only going to do this for one of my characters, forgive me.

Enigma

Enigma refers to himself with "watashi", a standard term to use for oneself. However, when speaking to anyone, including Captains and others in positions of authority, he simply uses their name and "-kun" or "-chan", depending on their gender. The only exception to this is the Captain Commander, whom he refers to with their name and the honorific "-san." He speaks standard Japanese and uses mostly casual, low-level vocabulary, despite having a considerable range of vocabulary. This includes exaggerating some words in the sentence, usually the last word, making him sound somewhat childish at times. Even when he becomes serious, this speech quirk remains with him and sometimes becomes more pronounced.

[Deleted]

"Updated Weekly". Right.

This week's prompt!
Everyone gets stressed and feels tense sometimes. How do your characters deal with stress, and how does it manifest itself? Does getting stressed out give them headaches? To they grind their teeth or clench their jaw? Where would you say they "feel" tension, and what nervous habits do they have?

[Kurosawa Ryou]

Ryou

Ryou usually deals with stress through talking to his Zanpakuto. This will always manifest itself with bursting into random conversations with him because of the fact that he always talks out loud with In'ei and never keeps the conversation in his head... and when he does... you know it is bad thing, because it means he is really stressed. He would probably try and find time to go to his inner world if he can during those times.

Sometimes the stressed talking might be simple mumbling, but the main thing is that those who are near him will usually get ignored unless they are one of the women he calls Mistress. He also has a habit of given of his more ominous spiritual energy during these times... and the more stressed he gets the more unpleasant it gets.

I am not sure if stressed counts for angry, because I didn't put that here because I wasn't sure, but if I need to I will

[Kaoru Murano]

Kaoru-

When she gets stressed, it's all a matter of time before it starts to manifest itself into her everyday activities even if she tries to suppress it like she does her emotions. Kaoru will get quiet and very moody as well as lash out at anyone that comes near her to try and talk to her. Many have learned to stay away from her when she's like this and the only one who seems to be brave enough to face her when she is stressed is her brother, Kyouya. Whenever she is stressed, she will find a quite place to go and clear her thoughts. Most of the time she runs to her brother's office in the 13th division since that is the more peaceful of the places within the seireitei. Signs to know she is stresses is her sudden mood changes, she'll start to rub at her head because of her headache, her body will get tired and sluggish as the stress weighs her down. It will be at these times (most of the time) that she'll get tired and end up sleeping in random places. Nervous habits include: touching her hair bells, rubbing her hands together, and running her hands through her hair.

Ren-

The Quincy woman rarely lets her stress out in the open, preferring to bottle it up until she's had amble time and reason to release it. Ren's stress also forms a headache as well as slightly shaky hands, which is partial reason why she doesn't allow herself to let it show itself since she needs her hands to be steady with her activities. When Ren is tense, she feels it mainly in her shoulders, and always starts rubbing them whenever she gets overwhelmed with her stress. When Ren finally gives in to her stress, she is a force not to be reckoned with. It usually takes someone to hold her back in order for her not to start dropping people one by one. However, once she spends all her stress that was in her body, she is very tired and ends up falling alseep rather quickly.




I'll do my other characters when I get back home. :3

[Hirato Murano]

Hirato-

When Hirato becomes stressed, it usually makes his back stiff and occasionally makes his shoulders sore. Hirato has developed many methods to deal with stress over the years, although those methods increased greatly once he took the position of 9th Captain. Which method Hirato decides to use depends on the level of stress and the type of stress that is currently plaguing him. If it's a low amount of feeling stressed out, he typically takes a tea break. If it's a moderate amount, Hirato usually takes a walk around Seireitei to clear his head and think through whatever is bothering him. If it's a high amount of stress, Hirato typically deals with it through physical exercise.

Makoto-

Makoto feels that his job as a lawyer is worthwhile, but it definitely stresses him out from time to time. How he deals with it doesn't really coincide with the type of stress or amount so much as how he's reacting to it. If he's thinking about it a lot, Makoto likes to take a break from work in a quiet place and use the quiet to simply think it through. If he's angry about it, Makoto takes a walk or does some other exercise to work out his frustration. If he's feeling down about it, Makoto usually visits his favorite coffee shop and relaxes there for a bit, which picks his spirits up most of the time. Makoto feels the stress in his feet most of the time, experiencing a feeling of tiredness there even if he's been sitting most of the day like he usually does.

Enigma-

As unlikely as it might seem, Enigma does get stressed out from time to time. However, he doesn't rely on methods to relieve it so much as doing something about the cause of the stress. Enigma usually eliminates the source of his stress by whatever means necessary and feels relaxed again once that is done. Getting stressed out rarely happens to him since he takes almost everything so casually, even if it's a serious matter. On the rare occasions when it does happen, Enigma's signature smile might fade or disappear and his shoulders get stiff.