Uncommon Questions for OC Creators
https://toldentops.tumblr.com/post/645506491286159360/uncommon-questions-for-ocs-and-their-creators < OP deleted this post for whatever reason so I just nabbed it off my dash. Enjoy.

Numbers for OC questions, letters for creator questions.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR OCs
1. What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?
2. How easy is it for your character to laugh?
3. How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)
4. How easy is it to earn their trust?
5. How easy is it to earn their mistrust?
6. Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?
7. What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?
8. What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child
9. Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?
10. What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?
11. How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?
12. How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?
13. What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?
14. What animal do they fear most?
15. How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?
16. What makes their stomach turn?
17. Are they easily embarrassed?
18. What embarrasses them?
19. What is their favorite number?
20. If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?
21. Why do they get up in the morning?
22. How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)?
23. How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)?
24. Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom?
25. What are their thoughts on marriage?
26. What is their preferred mode of transportation?
27. What causes them to feel dread?
28. Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth?
29. Do they usually live up to their own ideals?
30. Who do they most regret meeting?
31. Who are they the most glad to have met?
32. Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke?
33. Could they be considered lazy?
34. How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt?
35. How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive?
36. Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap?
37. Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)?
38. What memory do they revisit the most often?
39. How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people?
40. How sensitive are they to their own flaws?
41. How do they feel about children?
42. How badly do they want to reach their end goal?
43. If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so?

QUESTIONS FOR CREATORS

A) Why are you excited about this character?
B) What inspired you to create them?
C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story?
D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?
E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you?
F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)?
G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most?
H) What trait do you admire most?
I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?
J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

[ some random snippets of Artemis' life. Warnings for implied child abuse, infidelity, substance abuse and implied suicidal ideation. ]

--

Four Leaves

You're impossibly small. The ornamental grass nearly swallows you and the benches scattered across the private park are too tall to easily climb on your own no matter how much you want to. It would be frightening if you were alone.

You're not alone.

The man beside you is too tall for you to comfortably hold his hand, so you cling to the leg of his pants instead as the two of you walk along. His gentle voice rolls over you and you love it so you listen though you understand few of the words. He's describing the park: the ceiling full of suns high above, the transparent path below that looks down over the bustling of CITIE's top floor, the animatronic animals that walk up to meet you as you pass, and most of all the flowers. The man knows all of the flowers and he names them one by one: oleander, foxglove, daffodils and belladonna. You want to pick them but he won't allow you too close to any of them.

Instead he leads you to a clearing where there's a pond filled with lifelike fish and surrounded by grass that you're allowed to sit down in.
"Ah, look," says the man, as he sits down beside you and plucks something from the dirt. He holds it up where you can see. "A four leaf clover. These are lucky, Tem. Keep it, you'll be lucky too."

The Stag

You're older now. Too old to spend endless days following your father around on what he calls 'little adventures,' though you want to. The other kids at school don't want to hang out with their parents anymore but you think that's just because they're not as good as yours. You get the best of everything, after all, including fathers.

He's picking you up after lunch today, to go somewhere - another adventure, he said, just the two of you.

He's late.

So late that you begin to think that he isn't coming after all, but then they call you to the office half an hour before you're let out for the day. He's waiting there, smiling at you the way he always does, but something in it makes you feel sick.

I want to go home, you tell him, and his face falls but you only see it for a moment before he's bending down to scoop you up in his arms like you're still too little to walk. You don't complain, though he holds too tight. He doesn't put you down in the car, even to put on your seatbelt, and you think he's crying even though you can't see where your head is pressed against his shoulder.

The car turns sharply and he takes a deep breath like he's about to yell - you've never heard him yell - but he doesn't. He just kisses your hair and rocks you softly. As the car winds through the familiar path toward home he starts to sing a lullaby you haven't heard since you were a baby.

Roots

Blossoms

Thought I'd find you up here.

You're in what used to be the garden. There's awful things ringing in your ears, a sting across your cheek where you'd been slapped, and you came up here looking for clover. There isn't any, of course; the park had been cleared out years ago so it's just a lot of dusty junk stored up here. The floor's still clear, though, so you're curled up in a corner watching the cars fly by below.

Ciaran doesn't understand the idea of leaving Artemis alone, so now it's the two of you up here hiding from the world. He drops down beside you and without asking at all pulls you close enough to smell his cologne.

Won't be like this forever, Art. Promise.

You don't answer, because you've had this conversation before and anyway your throat is burning. Ciaran doesn't need you to. He taps on the glass beside your shoe.

One day our shitty old men will kick it and CITIE will be ours. The words are familiar as your own name, recited a hundred times since Ciaran went from being a bratty kid you had to play with because your fathers worked together to something a lot more interesting than that. Familiar is just another word for comforting. You settle in closer and lean your head on his shoulder so the words can wrap around you. He kisses the top of your head. We'll be gods. Together.

PLAYER INFORMATION

Player Name: Banah
Over 18?: Yes
Preferred Contact: PMs, lilpocktninja or Banah#8257 on Discord
Other Characters: None

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Character Name: Artemis Hart
Canon: Original Character
Canon Point: Three years after learning the truth about his father's plans
Age: 24

Note: the rest of this app contains non-graphic discussion of emotional child abuse (+ violence by a parent toward their adult son), murder, gaslighting, body horror, eugenics, classism and indentured servitude, a climate change-induced apocalypse, and casual drug use.

( give me a shot to remember )

Basics
Name: Artemis Hart
Age: 24
Gender: Male
General Setting: Cyberpunk dystopia-disguised-as-a-utopia. Sleek black-and-white buildings and calm AIs by day, neon lights and futuristic club drugs by night, state-sanctioned reproductive control and quiet execution of political dissidents in the blind spots.

Physical
Hair: White-blonde, chin length, messy.
Eyes: Light blue
Height: 6'1
Build: Fit, but not huge. I base his body type on a pro surfer.
Note: Artemis' features are a little on the uncanny valley side in that he lives in a society with easy-to-access and relatively painless plastic surgery; his skin is extremely smooth, his features symmetrical, etc. More of him is designed than naturally occuring in a way that may read as subtly weird/unsettling to modern characters.
Dress: Artemis wears quite a lot of stupid and impractical outfits for Fashion. He's fond of androgyny and looks that combine bulky silhouettes with form-fitting pieces.
Body Language: Open and confident, with a half-smile as his resting expression. He has the ease and pleasantness of someone who almost always gets what they want without having to actually do anything for it.
Voice: Aaron Tveit

Backstory

Generations ago, as the planet succumbed to climate change and war, Artemis' ancestor Coeus Hart led the world's wealthiest citizens and an underclass of indentured servants into a corporate-owned sealed arcology known as CITIE. In CITIE, the CEO and board of directors have power over all of CITIE's resources, including the human ones. Cloning or artificially extending one's life is strictly forbidden and socially taboo. Coeus, however, couldn't give up his ultimate power over the place. Instead, he cloned himself in secret and raised the clone publicly as a son until the clone reached adulthood. Then, Coeus 'died' and uploaded his consciousness to the clone's body. This cycle continued for several generations until the man Artemis knew as his father discovered what was to happen to him.

Artemis had an idyllic early childhood. He was close to his father, indulged to the full extent their unlimited wealth allowed, and shielded from the harsher realities of life in CITIE. However, after he turned ten his grandfather 'died' and his father changed in ways he couldn't understand. He became in turns cold and prone to terrifying rage. He expected Artemis to perform well and uphold the family name in public, but in private seemed to hold no interest in Artemis at all unless Artemis disappointed him. Still, because of their earlier closeness Artemis did his best to live up to the pressure of being his father's son and repress his own outgoing personality.

Things changed once again on Artemis' 21st birthday. Through a series of riddles, Artemis recovered a bracelet containing a message from his father that warned of Coeus' plans. In a panic, Artemis tried to flee CITIE, but couldn't find a way out before he was caught. He was brought back home and beaten repeatedly until he accepted that there was no escaping Coeus' plans. Once he'd been mentally broken and physically healed he was allowed back out to resume his public role under a much closer watch.

Without any hope of long-term survival, Artemis became depressed and stopped trying to be a perfect son. Eventually, when he had fully accepted his own death he repressed his feelings about it and dedicated himself to doing the most he could with the time he had. He began collecting experiences and doing anything that he could to make a unique impression on the world before he died by reinventing himself as a celebrity and socialite. He fell into partying, drugs, extreme sports, street racing and aiming to capture the public's attention any way he could. While his fear catches up to him sometimes and his relationships to those around him are hollow, he's convinced himself he's having a good time and has no intention of changing course.

Personality

Most of Artemis' personality has been profoundly reshaped by the knowledge of his fate; the thought of it is never very far from the surface, and it drives the way that he responds to the world and the people around him. His main drive is repressed fear of the future he has accepted as inevitable. That said, he's also an extrovert and the cheerfulness isn't entirely an act - he's simply embracing that part of himself to the exclusion of all others.

On first impression, he's likely to strike someone as shallow but pleasant, maybe a little dim. Despite an excellent education he isn't academically inclined and he's intentionally avoiding thinking too deeply about anything at all. As long as it's interesting he isn't inclined to question it.

Artemis' drive to always be doing something can land him into trouble as he doesn't always think through whatever his latest idea is, and his idea of fun can often be dangerous. While he doesn't actually want to die - he very much wants to avoid it, in fact - the belief that he will regardless of what happens has driven him to become an extreme risk taker with little regard for his own safety.

As long as he can keep active he stays in an outwardly good mood, and while it's mostly genuine he has to work hard to maintain it. Beyond the constant activity, he does this by seeking out company of people he finds interesting and trying to drag them into trouble. For all he wants constant company, though, he's terrified to get too close to people in case they betray him and will resist letting them get to know the unpleasant or negative parts of his personality. If anything forces him to reveal too much of himself he'll become anxious and more obvious in his attempts to push back, to the point of telling obvious lies or just plain leaving somewhere to avoid a conversation.

When someone does manage to break through his adamantium shell, they'll find a surprisingly decent friend underneath. His empathy is rusty, but he genuinely wants the people he cares about to be safe and happy and will go to great lengths in order to help them or try to solve their problems. He is rarely malicious and the worst most people will ever get out of him is gentle teasing. He's non-judgemental to an extreme; very little registers to him as weird, and what does is more likely to excite him than upset him.

Likewise, if an enemy or threat gets him backed into a literal or figurative corner, they'll find a surprising core of strength there. While he hasn't exactly been coping well, he has come out the other side of a good amount of trauma still functional and that's left him with more emotional resilience than anyone - including Artemis himself - might suspect. He's also spent the last two years getting into a bunch of trouble and brushing up against some dangerous situations and people while questionably sober, which has taught him to be resourceful in a pinch and calm in a crisis.

Permissions & Such

Triggering Topics: Please avoid themes of institutionalization. Please give a heads up for suicide and themes of child abuse by parents or caregivers. Otherwise I do not require warnings for dark topics/themes.
Shipping/Smut/Flirting/Kissing: He's pan, probably DTF and absolutely terrified of commitment or emotional intimacy. Have fun! (Characters 16+ only, please.)
Powers: Artemis is an ordinary human and not from a world where psychic powers or magic are a thing. He's defenseless against them and I'm generally fine with them being used against him. In the case of mindreading please work with me to make sure it doesn't throw his development off track.
Killing: Talk to me first.