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What? Moar?
14 years ago
What is this? Moar Sam? I promised no moar?
Well too freaking bad. I've been working on this meme for like three weeks now and I stayed up all night to finish it. Read it in pieces, it's a lot to take in... and most of it is boring and repetitive. Only bother with it if you are insane.
I haven't gotten a chance to proof read it yet so excuse any weirdness, typos or misspellings.
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Sam is of an average height, about 5'6" and is the second shortest of the major gang figures. She's not very imposing in any other matter of stature either- she's pretty twiggishly thin, having just enough substance to keep from being painfully anorexic. Her metabolism is on freaking steroids so she hasn't an ounce of fat on her, despite having a very... prominent appetite.
2. How old is he?
Late-20's, probably, but no one really knows for sure. I doubt Sam even knows. She lost track when she was a teenager. As her creator, I often think of her as being approximately 27 or 28, but purposefully looks (and acts) much younger than that.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
Generally full of energy, she's usually standing relatively upright but she's very mellow, not at all high strung, so upright but without tension. I don't know what constitutes a perfect posture but, whatever it is, a retarded gang banger probably doesn't have any of it.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Health? Hmm. Nothing particular stands out about Sam's physical fitness or abilities. Though I doubt that she's in perfect health, since she eats nothing but fast food, loves cheeseburgers and likes to roll around in garbage, it's nothing that seems to impact her functionality. Well, other than the occasional criticism from vegetarian Jillian of course, about cholesterol and what not. Sam can't even spell cholesterol so she hardly listens.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Sam is a generally goofy, clumsy, silly character and moves in ways to match. Though generally easy-going, she does bore very easily and tends move in exaggerated and animated ways, mostly as a means to keep herself entertained. Rather than walk down the street, she’ll jump around on random obstacles and do hand-stands to keep things interesting. She’s very agile and has surprisingly good balance. She can walk on her hands for more than a city block, and does it regularly.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
She was deliberately designed to be unattractive to the general public- a very average individual in terms of appearance. She's very careless in her fashion and clothing related decisions, knows nothing about societal expectations for her gender, and is generally just too ADD to bother with the finer points of making oneself look appealing... Basically, she never learned and doesn't care about physical beauty or being pretty. She just wakes up in the morning, gives her head a good shake to reset her hair and walks out the door.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
I always imagined Sam with a fairer skin tone, being at least half Pacific Islander. But I think I fudge that a little bit in my artwork of her, I dunno. x3 I'm not very good with coloring skin tone. Anyway, medium-ish tone, generally free of obstructions, save a few tattoos.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
It's supposed to be something generally short and spikey, but it always ends up looking too poofy in my drawings. xD It does frame her face in the form of shaggy bangs, but that's about as styled as it gets. The rest is just kept short and is often seen sticking up in random places at random angles. She has a slight cowlick where the hair changes direction just above her brow.
9. What color are his eyes?
I described this on a sketch of her. They're silver gray, almost completely colorless with a tendency to loosely reflect the colors of her environment, giving the illusion of color. Indoors, they tend to appear yellow-orange hazel, catching the warmness of interior lighting. At sunset, they are more of a reddish almost cool brown or dull purple color. At night, they appear almost deep blue, unless hit with some powerful light. During the day, it's more of a yellow-green hazel, depending on where she is looking. Her irises are average-small in size and her pupils are generally tiny pin points by comparison (so small, that I often totally omit them in my drawings of her. This helps to make her appear very clueless and "blank" almost, which she often is). In extremely bright light, they narrow side-ways into cat like slits, but this is a generally uncommon occurrence, left over from her whole shapeshifting thing. Usually, they are normal and circular.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Other than having strikingly reflective eyes and naturally blue hair (eyebrows and pubes included)? No, not really.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
Sam... does not really experience tension at all, so... nowhere. x3 She's unnaturally easy-going.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Is "generic urban gangster" an option? lol. She likes shorts, and shirts with short or no sleeves, but that's as far as her specifics go. Being lazy as she is, a blank or patterned tank top and a pair of shorts that may or may not match is more than enough for her. To see her in more than that, someone else will have to pick the clothes... which happens from time to time. Sam is the face of the gang she's a major part of, so she's usually the one to appear at major events and gatherings and things. For this, obviously, she has to dress to impress, but Jillian usually sorts out those clothes for her ahead of time.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
Sam would be comfortable butt naked so, yes. That's a lie, she hates exposing her chest.... but you see what I'm trying to say here. She really does not care one way or another, and can find comfort in the most uncomfortable things.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
Yeah basically. When you're the second highest ranked member of a notorious street gang, you're kind of always on the clock. So, no, short of the special events mentioned above, Sam does not do anything special when going out to handle some business. She's taken down enemy lieutenants in her pajamas before.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Briefs are fine. She's not one to really think about it and has always just put on whatever she had available. Generally, being a girl, this means briefs. Sometimes, she'll find a pair of woman's boxer-briefs in her drawer, or Jillian will forget to do laundry and she'll go without anything. She really couldn't care less.
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Probably deeper than average but far from being anything frightening. Despite her tomboyish appearance, she does not have a particularly manly voice. She is recognizably female, without question... well at least when you listen to her she is. Visually, there is plenty to argue.
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
Confidently, for someone notoriously lacking in intelligence. x3 Sam doesn't afraid of anything, so she never hesitates to say what's on her mind... which is probably part of her problem sometimes. I'M HUNGRY, COULD GO FOR AN EGG ROLL... WHY IS IT CALLED AN EGG ROLL? IS IT MADE OUT OF EGGS? IS IT A BABY CHICKEN ROLL? YOU KNOW WHAT, SCRATCH THAT, I WANT CHICKEN... I LOVE CHICKEN... BABY CHICKENS. WHO FIRST THOUGHT TO EAT A BABY CHICKEN? THEY'RE SO SOFT AND FLUFFY, I WOULDN'T WANT TO EAT IT IF I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE SO DELICIOUS... THE FIRST GUY WHO COOKED CHICKEN MUST'VE BEEN A BADASS. HEH... ASS... x's all the damn time.
She's also probably relatively loud with very little volume discretion. Her generally easy-going nature means that she doesn't shout or anything, but she certainly isn't difficult to hear. She might be difficult to understand. She grew up in Baltimore, so she likely has an accent accurate to the urban East Coast- complete with slang and slightly slurred words. It kind of takes some getting used to, I bet.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
I just mentioned a possible accent, but it's not very distinct... at least not to me. But, then again, I am on the East Coast, so it's all normal over here. x3 Yeah, she sounds like she's from Baltimore... and she uses a lot of slang terminology. Her favorite word is "Ballin'", which she uses to describe things that are cool, awesome, fun or impressive in any other way. She's pretty easy to impress, so she uses it all of the time. Her favorite words are “ballin”, “bangin” (which means the same thing as ‘ballin’- aka “cool”, “sweet” or “awesome”) and “shoot” (usually used as punctuation or emphasis when something is crazy or unbelievable… or hilarious, “Are you crazy? I ain’t goin in there. Shoot, you must me out of your damn mind.”).
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
She knows a little Spanish- just enough to get by her Latino friends, but other than that, it’s relatively strictly English.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
Nope. She does not really have the mental capacity to think about how she is speaking or in what language.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
Generally, Sam is not good at speaking in any sense... not speaking and not thinking either, really. She does not think about her words beforehand and tends to speak whatever is on her mind. But her mind tends to be jumbled and make no sense, so, consequently, her words do not make much sense. They make sense in short fragments, but longer thoughts/sentences tend to derail themselves as she goes. "Have you heard that new song that came out on the other side of town where the walruses do their dance in the pool I am hungry... wait... what were we talking about?" This is particularly noticeable when she is tired, hungry or otherwise distracted by something. Casually, it’s a little more tolerable.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Take a guess. x3 Sam is nothing even close to being eloquent. She is a very open minded speaker, but she does not adhere to the proper rules and regulations related to formal English language. Not at all.
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
Pfffffffffffffffffffffffft. x3 I think it goes without saying that Sam is a complete and utter idiot in every sense of the word. The term “smart” generally does not apply. Though her instinctual reactions means that she’s not completely senseless (in fact, quite the opposite), in terms of overall intelligence, she’s off the retard end of the scale. Her short attention span, tendency toward distraction, and lack of the capacity for logic means that she’s a terribly slow learner (in fact, she rarely learns much at all without tedious amounts of repetition) and what she does learn is usually forgotten a short time later.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
Neither. Sam doesn't think at all. Short of very basic thoughts like "I'm hungry" or "that hurt", she's relatively clueless. She can make observations and, given some time and deprived of distractions, she can form very basic conclusions based on those observations. "That hurt... maybe, I don't think... I want to do that again." But those conclusions are usually forgotten soon enough unless repeated over a period of time. She has zero short term memory, but can remember things once they are committed to her long term memory. So she remembers friends and people that she trusts, but she may not remember the name of a recent acquaintance… or even whether or not she liked that person upon meeting them. She’s very forgetful.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
I repeat: Sam has no thought process. Or very little anyway. She doesn’t wander around the earth blindly, she has some capability of basic thought, but it’s probably comparable to a young child or a well-trained dog. Her mind is governed by her desire to react to stimulus in her environment- she reacts rather quickly to pain (though it usually must be significant pain, she is ignorant of minor issues: cuts, bruises, even small fractures and dislocations), is relatively astute once her attention has been grabbed, and can display a remarkable amount of comprehension regarding anything witnessed first-hand. It’s the secondary conclusions that fall apart with her. Logic, deductions and reasoning are usually lost in the abyss of her mind. The technical term for this is “thought derailment”, where her thinking patterns get more and more convoluted the more complex they become. So she tries to keep things simple.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
Very little. She was raised in an orphanage where education was mostly just a word. She never attended public school.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
Everything. Sam may not learn very much or very quickly, but understand that it's not from lack of trying. Easily bored, she is always curious about things and is very contact oriented. She likes to touch things and explore them physically when they confuse her, and she is notorious for asking questions. But she never learns so questions are often repeated and things are often explored numerous times before they are dedicated to long-term memory and remembered later. You have no idea how many times Sam has burned herself on the stove. She does it pretty much every day. She loves to touch fire... until it burns her. She then makes a note not to do that again, but has forgotten her lessoned learn by the following day.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Sam is... somewhere in the middle, probably closer to an extrovert than an introvert. She behaves like an extrovert- she's very gregarious and outgoing, never fearing social interaction and always treating people as though they are new friends just waiting to be made. However, her inability to manage information and her reliance on other people means she's got to be picky about whom she truly trusts. So she is technically an introvert- preferring to be around fewer people and enjoying the company of a small band of close friends. She's not a loner by any means, and honestly loves social interaction in almost any form, she actually hates to be alone for any period of time. But her memorable friends list is shorter rather than longer.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
Sam’s general demeanor is that of someone laid-back but easily bored. Though she does not like to idle, she tends to drag her feet whenever given something to do unless it is something of particular interest (involving guns, for example). She’s rebellious, as gang members often are, childishly interested in always testing boundaries and seeing what she can get away with. She finds joy in breaking the rules, but has no legitimate interest in being malicious. It’s almost just a habit of hers, from being raised in a gang environment pretty much all of her life- she simply got used to the idea that rules are just a suggestion. She’s relatively even tempered, only losing her cool when something of immeasurable importance is put in immediate danger, and usually this must be painfully obvious for Sam to notice and then react to. On a day-to-day basis, she is very casual, relaxed and very amusing, happy to do whatever is asked of her but also happy to make it a pain in the ass for anyone else involved. She’s very snarky, but playfully so. She just likes to mess with the rest of the world, treating it like a giant enjoyable playground. She takes very little of it seriously… even when she really should.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
Sam is pretty easy-going about almost everything, but especially new things. Being easily bored, she often grows tired of repetition and welcomes anything new into her life. She loves to try new food, learn new things, and give really old things another go, just as an excuse to keep herself busy. She really hates doing the same thing for too long. This includes her group of friends. She always looking for someone new to mess with and pester, like some sort of annoyingly ignorant child.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
Absolutely react. All Sam does is react to the world around her. She reacts to what she sees, what she hears and what she feels. She almost never takes the time to think about a possible course of action and instead just does whatever she feels like doing, based on her environment, her mood and any friends that might be around to influence her. She is very submissive towards her friends and almost always follows their lead.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Sam is generally a fighter. Her life has been very “rough and tumble” and her general ignorance and lack of intellectual capacity means that she rarely completes the thought process necessary to fear something, so she honestly does not fear anything. Instead, she waits to see what it will do and will simply react accordingly. Sam’s options generally are either: stand there and look stupid, or do whatever Jillian tells you to do.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Sam is very humorous and light-hearted. Her cluelessness and inability to reason works to her advantage in that she does not have the capacity to be embarrassed. She has no problem being the butt of jokes and will often deliberately make fun of herself for the sake of a good laugh, taking everything in stride with a goofy smile and a dopey laugh. She has the humor of a mischievous child- she finds sex, farts, and poop very amusing in all aspects. She also enjoys pulling pranks, cracking jokes and generally horsing around. Anything to keep from being bored for any length of time.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Most likely. A proper diagnosis was never pursued for Sam- orphans don’t get very good medical coverage, but if it ever was, she would likely fall under some likely developmental thought disorder. I mentioned “thought derailment”, for which Sam very regularly qualifies, frequently spewing off nonsense sentences that over time make less and less sense. But she also has issues with conduct (her love of breaking rules and ability to very easily forget the feelings and desires of other human beings, loss of empathy, that sort of thing), has generally slow reaction times, and has noticeably impaired cognition on a very general scale. She has other issues with sleeping (she’s a chronic insomniac to a very severe degree and, even when she does sleep- which is rarely, it’s very restless and plagued with issues such as sleep walking, sleep talking and other parasomnias). In short, yes, Sam’s probably got some serious issues that likely need sorting out. But the chances of that ever happening are completely dependant on friends concerns. Sam herself is incapable of thinking of a possible solution, so she just grins and bears it. To some degree, she is almost in denial about being anything short of stupid.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
Very few, other than where/how she was born. She was an unwanted crack/heroine/Idon'tevenknowwhat baby, left unwanted in an alleyway after some addicted prostitute made a terrible mistake. Hence why it's probably safe to assume she has a mental disorder of some sort. She was not a very healthy child. She was raised in an orphanage- it is likely that she spent her earlier years in foster care but no one really knows for sure. Sam has no memory of her childhood before age 7 or 8. She was very slow to develop mentally and very little is known of her past because of it. So nothing there impacts her behavior... not until she turned 13 and left the orphanage with some friends to try life on the streets. Her reactive personality means that she just... did what everyone around her did. Because everyone around her was a gangster, she became one too. She was just a follower- always has been, always will be.
14. What does he fear?
Sam is my only character whom I can say legitimately fears nothing. Her brain just functions in a way that rules out fear. She does not think far enough ahead to warrant fearing something, so she generally just doesn't. She has some sense of self-preservation, of course, and is not really interested in dying or anything. But her thoughts and decisions are never specific enough to form the concept of fear. She just doesn't think that way. x3 "There's a spider, it could be poisonous, poison kills, do not want to die. Therefore do not want spiders." Doesn't happen. "There's a spider... I wonder what its insides look like..."
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
Living moment by moment, only reacting to what's going on the present, Sam has no hopes or ambitions. She just doesn't bother with that really, not unless someone specifically asks her to think of one. She likes food and she likes guns. Anything outside of that simply depends on her environment.
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
Sam does not want anyone to know when she is depressed. She doesn't get depressed very often but that problem with living from moment to moment comes when the moments are really terrible. When Sam is unhappy, that is all that she can see. Though she is usually able to remain very happy, certain things can bring her down and she tends to isolate herself as a result. She does not at all enjoy the fact that she cannot sleep peacefully and spends all night, every night, just being miserable. With all of the world asleep, she tends to feel isolated and alone, the only one that can't sleep, can't be normal, etc. And it's quite bothersome. But she doesn't like to bother others with these issues and, being not so great a communicator, couldn't tell anyone about it even if she wanted to anyway. So she just sits alone in the dark, tends to spend her mornings moping a little, until her friends wake up and then she's happy again, distracted by their presence.
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
Sam is an orphan- the nature of the beast is that she has no relationship with her parents and never even knew who they were or what they looked like. She was abandoned on her birthday in an alleyway behind a strip club… someone’s mistake.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
None that she was related to by blood, no. However, growing up in an orphanage means that she was surrounded by a number of other children her age whom were just dying to be accepted. She was part of a small band of five and considered the other four to be “siblings” of hers in a way, but in truth they were just close friends. They all ran away from the orphanage together when Sam was about 13 or 14 years old- only Sam and the other female Damara are still living. The three boys- two blood brothers Nick and Henry, and the group leader Viktor all died at varying times after leaving.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
No blood relatives since, again, Sam never knew her blood family. However, she did have a series of foster families back when she was very young. She was usually only kept by them for a very short period of time and spent most of her young life at the orphanage (presumably, as she cannot remember much of her life prior to the age of 7). However, she does still remember her most recent foster family- the Doltans, whom she occasionally checks in on. They are usually the first people to vouch for her when she needs vouching before the law and Matteo Doltan- her foster father, is a member of the local police force so she crosses paths with them a lot. Of course, Matt is not amused by Sam’s illegal antics and his wife Bethany begs her to come and live with them. But Sam always chooses her life on the street. She’s simply too used to the freedom and the discord to bother with life in a family as perfect and well kept as the Doltans.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
Pretty much everyone I listed so far is technically unrelated. Sam has no blood relatives, I’m sure I mentioned.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Jillian, though Sam has a slew of stupid nicknames for her that she uses when she wants to be annoying. Sam and Jillian met on the street, low ranking members of rival gangs. They met by chance and immediately, Sam was considered an annoyance and a nuisance by the younger woman, which resulted in a small altercation that landed Jillian in Sam’s gang’s (The Cats) custody- a prisoner of sorts. Negotiations were held between the two gangs and lots of fighting took place, of which Sam and Jill were conveniently excluded- Sam was in charge of watching the prisoner, so the two spent most of their days in a basement, bickering like school children. But, when the rival gang’s motives were revealed to not favor Jillian in any way (in fact they were intending to sacrifice her to destroy their rivals), Jill was quick to defect and Sam somehow charmed her way into being the red-head’s loyal sidekick, despite their initial issues with each other. Sam is a powerful and loyal ally, very willing to follow and obey. Jillian is a headstrong firecracker of a girl with a love for domination and bossing others around. It was a match made in heaven once they were on the same team.
6. Does he have other close friends?
No, not really, save the other gang lieutenants and a few contacts here and there. Sam’s second go-to person is Mercy, Damara’s lesbian lover and a local mechanic. She handles all of the maintenance on the cars Sam regularly fucks up and the gang pays her handsomely for it, so the whole group is on good terms with her. Though Sam and Damara had a very serious falling out, Mercy still enjoys her company, being a very patient and relatively compassionate individual. When Jillian is not available for any reason, Mercy is the next best thing... Though Mercy and Jillian don't particularly get along. No one really knows why. They simply have clashing personalities. They are not hostile towards one another- Jill respects Mercy's fine craft with cars and construction while Mercy respects the fact that Jillian could easily cut her in half if crossed the wrong way, but they are in no way buddies.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
I’d say so. Her tendency to fidget and easily become bored with idle tasks and banter means that Sam is usually too quirky to be tolerated by strangers, but her generally humorous personality and easy-going demeanor means that she can pretty much find a way to get along with almost anyone. Her ignorance is childishly charming for most people she meets.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
Since Sam has never really had a family, friends are more important to her. But, in her mind, they are pretty much the same thing. Her friends were her family and her family are her friends.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Single, never been married and never been in a relationship before the beginning of this storyline. However, there is definitely something between her and Jillian. Sam doesn't notice, being the dolt that she is, but anyone with an extra braincell can probably see it.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
Not officially.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
Sam does not have and never really ever had a crush. Not for a lack of suitable candidates, though it does take a very special kind of person to tolerate her quirky personality, she is more than friendly enough to find those people. But Sam’s shallow thinking means that she doesn’t even consider the possibility of love… doesn’t understand it. Probably because she’s really never truly been exposed to it, other than in movies or unbelievable stories. She learns from experience and, since she never experienced love, she doesn’t know what it is or ever really consciously participates in it.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
Like I said above, Sam does not knowingly participate in the idea of romance or love or anything like that. She gets along with almost everyone and, even those she does not get along with provide some entertainment in the form of being prank targets, so she just has friends and doesn’t generally look any further. She gets along better with certain types of people though. Very dependant on others to function, she’s very clingy and enjoys anyone who can tolerate that. But she doesn’t like stereotypes- people who are too perfect, too ideal, who care endlessly about everyone and everything. Sam is jealous of normal people, so she gravitates towards others who are just as fucked up as she is, but in different ways. She needs someone intelligent to balance out her senselessness, someone who can keep up with her energy, but not someone so weak and so lovy-dovy that they bend to everyone and everything. She likes challenges, doesn’t mind conflict, and actually enjoys the feeling of getting on people’s nerves.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no. Sam’s generally good with kids and has no problems with them at all, her childish personality makes her easy to relate to. But she’s not to be trusted with them alone- she can’t take care of herself, who would trust her, a gangster no less, with their children? Even she's smart enough to realize that's a bad idea.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
No one specific. Of course, she has an automatic dislike of anyone from a rival gang, but she’s usually too ditzy to notice when meeting them face-to-face and has befriended rival gang members before. She’s just too stupid to be anything but open-minded so she has no one specific that she dislikes terribly. Yet, anyway.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
Sam is likely pansexual, with no particular gender preference. She has very little sex drive- and what little she does have is convoluted by her inexperience and cluelessness, but it is not at all limited by gender or physical appearance. She just doesn’t bother thinking about that sort of thing.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
Not at all. Sam has only participated in sex for social reasons- it’s just kind of part of street life, like a chore or some bland activity done to pass the time. She only really does it when absolutely necessary, and even that is not very often. Her lack of concentration and general personal weirdness means she’s not at the top of most people’s list for having sex. Normally she just supervises while someone else does the actual act. She probably hasn’t had sex herself in years… but would if the opportunity arose, I bet. She just hasn’t had anybody she really wanted to have sex with, if that makes any sense.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
This is a very weird thing to be turned on by, but Sam loves to get under other people’s skin (no, not literally you weirdos). She loves the opportunity to put up a fight and is usually turned off by things that are too easy- they become boring and disinteresting at that point. Though this applies to almost all aspects of her life, it’s probably most notable in the bedroom, where she’d likely do a lot of annoying fussing. She’s similarly very physical and enjoys lots of silly games, again in any aspect of life but sex in particular needs to be very active to get her interested in it. Stereotypical kissing and gentle touches would bore her to death in about 20 seconds. Finally, though she’d probably never admit it outright, Sam is generally the submissive one of a pair. She has a secret desire to be dominated… but I guess it’s not so secret. In daily life, she is generally submissive in behavior- challenging and annoying, but in the end she usually does what she’s told. I guess the secret is that she really enjoys it, can’t live without it in a way. That’s probably why she is so attached to bossy Jillian.
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
Sam is a Gemini and, like most of my characters, fits the sign description to a t. Gemini are generally energetic and youthful, adaptive and communicative. They are also usually witty, and, though Sam does not have much raw knowledge to access, she does think quickly, having a very active mind, and can occasional show a bit of wit… usually humorous wit, of course. Don’t mistake it. Gemini are also superficial and shallow supposedly, which Sam is not at all exempt from- she’s very shallow, very stupid, and makes inadequate decisions based only on surface knowledge. She’s also quite petty and will do a lot to achieve very little. She does not display any of the Gemini’s typical nervousness though. Her shallow, inattentive mindset probably saves her from that.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
Though she’d say otherwise, Sam is more spiritual than she is religious. Though she loosely practices Christianity- wearing crosses, listening to religious tunes on her ipod, and often muttering prayers before doing something dangerous, she’s not a very good Christian. She doesn’t go to church, swears a lot, and obviously practices unlawful and unholy activities. So she’s not a very formal Christian and probably has never read the bible herself… but she does believe in higher powers, the power of sin and the existence of hell, and therefore does what she can to avoid going there when he time is up. She is not at all obnoxious about her beliefs- heck, most of the time she completely forgets about them, and only practices them when she remembers to. If not for the cross she wears around her neck, you’d probably never know she was religious.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Nope. Her forgetfulness and a life lived on the wrong side of society means that Sam’s idea of right and wrong are severely confused and convoluted. To avoid any internal unrest over the matter, she just avoids thinking about it at all and instead just follows her friends and trusted few. Whatever they do is right, and everyone who disagrees is just stupid.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
She’ll poke fun at others who may or may not disagree with her, but she doesn’t think enough nor feels strongly enough about something as arbitrary as belief to bother picking any fights over it. Either she’ll bond with someone over agreements or enjoy picking on them during disagreements. It’s always a win-win on her end of things.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Sam has a very understandable prejudice against police officers. It’s not a very concrete idea- she doesn’t have a real reason why she dislikes them, nor does she have any evidence to back up some of her often silly claims about them, but she does definitely dislike police officers. They’re a hard group of people to like when you are a gun-toting, highly dangerous, unintelligent gangbanger with a taste for killing hookers and blowing up motor vehicles. The cops generally aren’t down with that sort of behavior. And Sam isn’t down with being arrested or spending time in prison, so they just butt heads like two angry bulls.
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Sam, as an individual, is broke with only a few hundred dollars to her name officially, sitting in a bank account somewhere that she doesn’t even remember. However, being the leader of a very notorious gang (well not the leader but a very high roller), she has access to quite a large amount of funds. The Catalysts are one of only four major gangs in a very large metropolitan area, so they have a rather large chunk of real-estate under their control. They collect bribes from local establishments, hired thugs to protect stores and businesses from rival gangs. They earn money under the table for illegal acts such as fight clubs, underground destruction derbies, drug trafficking, murder for hire, the usual unsavory sort of things. The one thing The Cats will not do is abuse animals. Sam is not particularly wise to the matter (though she does like animals so she’s likely not against this practice), but gang leader Jillian will eject any gang member caught mistreating an animal. So no dog fights, cock fights, nothing of that nature and, when conquering rival gang territories, they will usually take in any animals that need rescuing. They are better than the local cops at breaking up dog fights- Sam in particular. Being able to actually turn into a fighting pit bull really helps to locate the fight rings. Anyway, with all of this stuff going down, the gang as a collective whole is very very wealthy. Sam is not given too much access to these funds, as she is not very responsible with money (or anything else really), but her closeness with Jillian means that she still reaps all of the benefits.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
Like most gang bangers, Sam started at rock-bottom- a runaway orphan with little more than a first name. However, over time, she climbed her way through the ranks and eventually ended up sharing the top seat. Over the course of about ten years, she went from being nobody to being instantly recognizable. She is the face of the V Street Catalysts, acting as a figure-head for Jillian to keep the true gang leader safe from harm. She’s the one who appears on the news, the one to represent the gang in the prison system (after she spent 2 years locked up), and is just about as famous as anyone in town. Now, generally, gang status and social status are not quite the same thing… but they are for Sam.
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
Sam shares a number of different pads and cribs with Jillian and other front-runners in the gang. Located in different parts of their gang’s hoods (and even a few in rival gang zones), they vary in style and type from a shabby single bedroom shack all the way up to a high-rise apartment. Her main haunt is an old animal shelter on, you guessed it, V street. Technically, it’s Vince Street, but the neighborhood is in such disarray that the street sign has been long destroyed. Everyone knows it as V street, and the animal shelter is right in the center of it. Sam and most of the gang live beneath it in secrecy, where an expanded fall out shelter has become a large underground hide out full of lights, music, and stripper poles. Most of the gangs activities, meetings, animals and stashes of illegal substances are kept here, away from prying eyes.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
Food. Sam is an absolute glutton for food. Her hyperactivity extends well into her metabolism, so she must eat like a pig to sustain herself and still does not succeed. She instantly loves anyone who can cook and is usually never far away from some sort of food stash or another. The local fast food places know her by name and she visits them at least 3 times daily, usually whenever Jillian isn’t paying attention. She also likes the novelty of new clothes, cars, guns or other such toys, but just because repetition bores her to death. This includes repeatedly getting into the same car or wearing the same clothes over and over again. She likes new things every once in a while to spice things up and keep it interesting. She never buys anything large or significant without Jillian hovering over her… and not by her own personal choice either. Jillian is just the watchful type.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
I may have mentioned in passing that she is part of a gang, yes? Yes, Sam is considered the lesser of two leaders of The V Street Catalysts (Cats for short). It wasn’t an easy job to get- it took her years of hard work to get to that position, and she didn’t do it alone. However, now that she has it, she finds it fun and enjoyable, full of freedom and violence. She’s not very good at every aspect of it (her lack of sensibility and logic means she is terrible at making decisions or handing out plans or commands), but the parts involving violence, guns, cars, and explosions are all her specialty. She loves to wreak havoc, and that’s all it really takes to be a good gangbanger.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
Sam spends her free time eating, sleeping when she can, smoking marijuana, watching tv while stoned out of her mind (she loves to do that), shooting passers by with a bb or paintball gun, teasing the animals she lives with, and pestering Jillian. Fortunately, she does not usually have much free time as other gang members make a point to keep her busy. Otherwise, she’s rip-your-hair-out annoying.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
I totally went over this already. x3 Sam eats constantly. She hardly ever sleeps so she has plenty of time in the day to waste snacking on anything that’s handy. More importantly, because she only sleeps once every few days, her energy comes solely from her food intake… and having a lot of energy means she generally has to ingest a lot of food in order to keep up with herself. Despite being an absolute pig, she is about 20 pounds underweight for someone her size, just barely hovering over 100 lbs. Her metabolism is crazy fast and her digestion manages to keep up with everything that she throws at it, it’s quite a marvel really. Sam’s metabolism- the 9th wonder of the world.
1. Color? Blue
2. Smell? Lavender (it's a big cat thing- Sam is a shapeshifter and is commonly found in the form of a black tiger, Lavender is like catnip to big cats so Sam shares the sentiment)
3. Time of day? Any, they're all the same to her
4. Season? Summer, she likes to wear shorts
5. Book? None. She doesn't have the attention span for reading. She probably can't do it all that well either, actually.
6. Music? HipHop and R&B, anything generally fast paced with a good beat, she doesn't really care about or pay much attention to lyrics
7. Place? Whatever place is considered "home"
8. Substance? Um... food? Soda? Alcohol? Lots of things can be considered "substances", it's hard to pick one
9. Plant? Marijuana plant
10. Animal? She has a thing for big cats but anything with stripes will do. She has a pit bull named Jugs whom she absolutely adores. He’s just about the only animal more stupid than she is.
Well too freaking bad. I've been working on this meme for like three weeks now and I stayed up all night to finish it. Read it in pieces, it's a lot to take in... and most of it is boring and repetitive. Only bother with it if you are insane.
I haven't gotten a chance to proof read it yet so excuse any weirdness, typos or misspellings.
Body and Appearance1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Sam is of an average height, about 5'6" and is the second shortest of the major gang figures. She's not very imposing in any other matter of stature either- she's pretty twiggishly thin, having just enough substance to keep from being painfully anorexic. Her metabolism is on freaking steroids so she hasn't an ounce of fat on her, despite having a very... prominent appetite.
2. How old is he?
Late-20's, probably, but no one really knows for sure. I doubt Sam even knows. She lost track when she was a teenager. As her creator, I often think of her as being approximately 27 or 28, but purposefully looks (and acts) much younger than that.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
Generally full of energy, she's usually standing relatively upright but she's very mellow, not at all high strung, so upright but without tension. I don't know what constitutes a perfect posture but, whatever it is, a retarded gang banger probably doesn't have any of it.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Health? Hmm. Nothing particular stands out about Sam's physical fitness or abilities. Though I doubt that she's in perfect health, since she eats nothing but fast food, loves cheeseburgers and likes to roll around in garbage, it's nothing that seems to impact her functionality. Well, other than the occasional criticism from vegetarian Jillian of course, about cholesterol and what not. Sam can't even spell cholesterol so she hardly listens.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Sam is a generally goofy, clumsy, silly character and moves in ways to match. Though generally easy-going, she does bore very easily and tends move in exaggerated and animated ways, mostly as a means to keep herself entertained. Rather than walk down the street, she’ll jump around on random obstacles and do hand-stands to keep things interesting. She’s very agile and has surprisingly good balance. She can walk on her hands for more than a city block, and does it regularly.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
She was deliberately designed to be unattractive to the general public- a very average individual in terms of appearance. She's very careless in her fashion and clothing related decisions, knows nothing about societal expectations for her gender, and is generally just too ADD to bother with the finer points of making oneself look appealing... Basically, she never learned and doesn't care about physical beauty or being pretty. She just wakes up in the morning, gives her head a good shake to reset her hair and walks out the door.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
I always imagined Sam with a fairer skin tone, being at least half Pacific Islander. But I think I fudge that a little bit in my artwork of her, I dunno. x3 I'm not very good with coloring skin tone. Anyway, medium-ish tone, generally free of obstructions, save a few tattoos.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
It's supposed to be something generally short and spikey, but it always ends up looking too poofy in my drawings. xD It does frame her face in the form of shaggy bangs, but that's about as styled as it gets. The rest is just kept short and is often seen sticking up in random places at random angles. She has a slight cowlick where the hair changes direction just above her brow.
9. What color are his eyes?
I described this on a sketch of her. They're silver gray, almost completely colorless with a tendency to loosely reflect the colors of her environment, giving the illusion of color. Indoors, they tend to appear yellow-orange hazel, catching the warmness of interior lighting. At sunset, they are more of a reddish almost cool brown or dull purple color. At night, they appear almost deep blue, unless hit with some powerful light. During the day, it's more of a yellow-green hazel, depending on where she is looking. Her irises are average-small in size and her pupils are generally tiny pin points by comparison (so small, that I often totally omit them in my drawings of her. This helps to make her appear very clueless and "blank" almost, which she often is). In extremely bright light, they narrow side-ways into cat like slits, but this is a generally uncommon occurrence, left over from her whole shapeshifting thing. Usually, they are normal and circular.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Other than having strikingly reflective eyes and naturally blue hair (eyebrows and pubes included)? No, not really.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
Sam... does not really experience tension at all, so... nowhere. x3 She's unnaturally easy-going.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Is "generic urban gangster" an option? lol. She likes shorts, and shirts with short or no sleeves, but that's as far as her specifics go. Being lazy as she is, a blank or patterned tank top and a pair of shorts that may or may not match is more than enough for her. To see her in more than that, someone else will have to pick the clothes... which happens from time to time. Sam is the face of the gang she's a major part of, so she's usually the one to appear at major events and gatherings and things. For this, obviously, she has to dress to impress, but Jillian usually sorts out those clothes for her ahead of time.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
Sam would be comfortable butt naked so, yes. That's a lie, she hates exposing her chest.... but you see what I'm trying to say here. She really does not care one way or another, and can find comfort in the most uncomfortable things.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
Yeah basically. When you're the second highest ranked member of a notorious street gang, you're kind of always on the clock. So, no, short of the special events mentioned above, Sam does not do anything special when going out to handle some business. She's taken down enemy lieutenants in her pajamas before.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Briefs are fine. She's not one to really think about it and has always just put on whatever she had available. Generally, being a girl, this means briefs. Sometimes, she'll find a pair of woman's boxer-briefs in her drawer, or Jillian will forget to do laundry and she'll go without anything. She really couldn't care less.
Speech1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Probably deeper than average but far from being anything frightening. Despite her tomboyish appearance, she does not have a particularly manly voice. She is recognizably female, without question... well at least when you listen to her she is. Visually, there is plenty to argue.
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
Confidently, for someone notoriously lacking in intelligence. x3 Sam doesn't afraid of anything, so she never hesitates to say what's on her mind... which is probably part of her problem sometimes. I'M HUNGRY, COULD GO FOR AN EGG ROLL... WHY IS IT CALLED AN EGG ROLL? IS IT MADE OUT OF EGGS? IS IT A BABY CHICKEN ROLL? YOU KNOW WHAT, SCRATCH THAT, I WANT CHICKEN... I LOVE CHICKEN... BABY CHICKENS. WHO FIRST THOUGHT TO EAT A BABY CHICKEN? THEY'RE SO SOFT AND FLUFFY, I WOULDN'T WANT TO EAT IT IF I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE SO DELICIOUS... THE FIRST GUY WHO COOKED CHICKEN MUST'VE BEEN A BADASS. HEH... ASS... x's all the damn time.
She's also probably relatively loud with very little volume discretion. Her generally easy-going nature means that she doesn't shout or anything, but she certainly isn't difficult to hear. She might be difficult to understand. She grew up in Baltimore, so she likely has an accent accurate to the urban East Coast- complete with slang and slightly slurred words. It kind of takes some getting used to, I bet.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
I just mentioned a possible accent, but it's not very distinct... at least not to me. But, then again, I am on the East Coast, so it's all normal over here. x3 Yeah, she sounds like she's from Baltimore... and she uses a lot of slang terminology. Her favorite word is "Ballin'", which she uses to describe things that are cool, awesome, fun or impressive in any other way. She's pretty easy to impress, so she uses it all of the time. Her favorite words are “ballin”, “bangin” (which means the same thing as ‘ballin’- aka “cool”, “sweet” or “awesome”) and “shoot” (usually used as punctuation or emphasis when something is crazy or unbelievable… or hilarious, “Are you crazy? I ain’t goin in there. Shoot, you must me out of your damn mind.”).
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
She knows a little Spanish- just enough to get by her Latino friends, but other than that, it’s relatively strictly English.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
Nope. She does not really have the mental capacity to think about how she is speaking or in what language.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
Generally, Sam is not good at speaking in any sense... not speaking and not thinking either, really. She does not think about her words beforehand and tends to speak whatever is on her mind. But her mind tends to be jumbled and make no sense, so, consequently, her words do not make much sense. They make sense in short fragments, but longer thoughts/sentences tend to derail themselves as she goes. "Have you heard that new song that came out on the other side of town where the walruses do their dance in the pool I am hungry... wait... what were we talking about?" This is particularly noticeable when she is tired, hungry or otherwise distracted by something. Casually, it’s a little more tolerable.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Take a guess. x3 Sam is nothing even close to being eloquent. She is a very open minded speaker, but she does not adhere to the proper rules and regulations related to formal English language. Not at all.
Mental and Emotional1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
Pfffffffffffffffffffffffft. x3 I think it goes without saying that Sam is a complete and utter idiot in every sense of the word. The term “smart” generally does not apply. Though her instinctual reactions means that she’s not completely senseless (in fact, quite the opposite), in terms of overall intelligence, she’s off the retard end of the scale. Her short attention span, tendency toward distraction, and lack of the capacity for logic means that she’s a terribly slow learner (in fact, she rarely learns much at all without tedious amounts of repetition) and what she does learn is usually forgotten a short time later.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
Neither. Sam doesn't think at all. Short of very basic thoughts like "I'm hungry" or "that hurt", she's relatively clueless. She can make observations and, given some time and deprived of distractions, she can form very basic conclusions based on those observations. "That hurt... maybe, I don't think... I want to do that again." But those conclusions are usually forgotten soon enough unless repeated over a period of time. She has zero short term memory, but can remember things once they are committed to her long term memory. So she remembers friends and people that she trusts, but she may not remember the name of a recent acquaintance… or even whether or not she liked that person upon meeting them. She’s very forgetful.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
I repeat: Sam has no thought process. Or very little anyway. She doesn’t wander around the earth blindly, she has some capability of basic thought, but it’s probably comparable to a young child or a well-trained dog. Her mind is governed by her desire to react to stimulus in her environment- she reacts rather quickly to pain (though it usually must be significant pain, she is ignorant of minor issues: cuts, bruises, even small fractures and dislocations), is relatively astute once her attention has been grabbed, and can display a remarkable amount of comprehension regarding anything witnessed first-hand. It’s the secondary conclusions that fall apart with her. Logic, deductions and reasoning are usually lost in the abyss of her mind. The technical term for this is “thought derailment”, where her thinking patterns get more and more convoluted the more complex they become. So she tries to keep things simple.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
Very little. She was raised in an orphanage where education was mostly just a word. She never attended public school.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
Everything. Sam may not learn very much or very quickly, but understand that it's not from lack of trying. Easily bored, she is always curious about things and is very contact oriented. She likes to touch things and explore them physically when they confuse her, and she is notorious for asking questions. But she never learns so questions are often repeated and things are often explored numerous times before they are dedicated to long-term memory and remembered later. You have no idea how many times Sam has burned herself on the stove. She does it pretty much every day. She loves to touch fire... until it burns her. She then makes a note not to do that again, but has forgotten her lessoned learn by the following day.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Sam is... somewhere in the middle, probably closer to an extrovert than an introvert. She behaves like an extrovert- she's very gregarious and outgoing, never fearing social interaction and always treating people as though they are new friends just waiting to be made. However, her inability to manage information and her reliance on other people means she's got to be picky about whom she truly trusts. So she is technically an introvert- preferring to be around fewer people and enjoying the company of a small band of close friends. She's not a loner by any means, and honestly loves social interaction in almost any form, she actually hates to be alone for any period of time. But her memorable friends list is shorter rather than longer.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
Sam’s general demeanor is that of someone laid-back but easily bored. Though she does not like to idle, she tends to drag her feet whenever given something to do unless it is something of particular interest (involving guns, for example). She’s rebellious, as gang members often are, childishly interested in always testing boundaries and seeing what she can get away with. She finds joy in breaking the rules, but has no legitimate interest in being malicious. It’s almost just a habit of hers, from being raised in a gang environment pretty much all of her life- she simply got used to the idea that rules are just a suggestion. She’s relatively even tempered, only losing her cool when something of immeasurable importance is put in immediate danger, and usually this must be painfully obvious for Sam to notice and then react to. On a day-to-day basis, she is very casual, relaxed and very amusing, happy to do whatever is asked of her but also happy to make it a pain in the ass for anyone else involved. She’s very snarky, but playfully so. She just likes to mess with the rest of the world, treating it like a giant enjoyable playground. She takes very little of it seriously… even when she really should.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
Sam is pretty easy-going about almost everything, but especially new things. Being easily bored, she often grows tired of repetition and welcomes anything new into her life. She loves to try new food, learn new things, and give really old things another go, just as an excuse to keep herself busy. She really hates doing the same thing for too long. This includes her group of friends. She always looking for someone new to mess with and pester, like some sort of annoyingly ignorant child.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
Absolutely react. All Sam does is react to the world around her. She reacts to what she sees, what she hears and what she feels. She almost never takes the time to think about a possible course of action and instead just does whatever she feels like doing, based on her environment, her mood and any friends that might be around to influence her. She is very submissive towards her friends and almost always follows their lead.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Sam is generally a fighter. Her life has been very “rough and tumble” and her general ignorance and lack of intellectual capacity means that she rarely completes the thought process necessary to fear something, so she honestly does not fear anything. Instead, she waits to see what it will do and will simply react accordingly. Sam’s options generally are either: stand there and look stupid, or do whatever Jillian tells you to do.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Sam is very humorous and light-hearted. Her cluelessness and inability to reason works to her advantage in that she does not have the capacity to be embarrassed. She has no problem being the butt of jokes and will often deliberately make fun of herself for the sake of a good laugh, taking everything in stride with a goofy smile and a dopey laugh. She has the humor of a mischievous child- she finds sex, farts, and poop very amusing in all aspects. She also enjoys pulling pranks, cracking jokes and generally horsing around. Anything to keep from being bored for any length of time.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Most likely. A proper diagnosis was never pursued for Sam- orphans don’t get very good medical coverage, but if it ever was, she would likely fall under some likely developmental thought disorder. I mentioned “thought derailment”, for which Sam very regularly qualifies, frequently spewing off nonsense sentences that over time make less and less sense. But she also has issues with conduct (her love of breaking rules and ability to very easily forget the feelings and desires of other human beings, loss of empathy, that sort of thing), has generally slow reaction times, and has noticeably impaired cognition on a very general scale. She has other issues with sleeping (she’s a chronic insomniac to a very severe degree and, even when she does sleep- which is rarely, it’s very restless and plagued with issues such as sleep walking, sleep talking and other parasomnias). In short, yes, Sam’s probably got some serious issues that likely need sorting out. But the chances of that ever happening are completely dependant on friends concerns. Sam herself is incapable of thinking of a possible solution, so she just grins and bears it. To some degree, she is almost in denial about being anything short of stupid.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
Very few, other than where/how she was born. She was an unwanted crack/heroine/Idon'tevenknowwhat baby, left unwanted in an alleyway after some addicted prostitute made a terrible mistake. Hence why it's probably safe to assume she has a mental disorder of some sort. She was not a very healthy child. She was raised in an orphanage- it is likely that she spent her earlier years in foster care but no one really knows for sure. Sam has no memory of her childhood before age 7 or 8. She was very slow to develop mentally and very little is known of her past because of it. So nothing there impacts her behavior... not until she turned 13 and left the orphanage with some friends to try life on the streets. Her reactive personality means that she just... did what everyone around her did. Because everyone around her was a gangster, she became one too. She was just a follower- always has been, always will be.
14. What does he fear?
Sam is my only character whom I can say legitimately fears nothing. Her brain just functions in a way that rules out fear. She does not think far enough ahead to warrant fearing something, so she generally just doesn't. She has some sense of self-preservation, of course, and is not really interested in dying or anything. But her thoughts and decisions are never specific enough to form the concept of fear. She just doesn't think that way. x3 "There's a spider, it could be poisonous, poison kills, do not want to die. Therefore do not want spiders." Doesn't happen. "There's a spider... I wonder what its insides look like..."
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
Living moment by moment, only reacting to what's going on the present, Sam has no hopes or ambitions. She just doesn't bother with that really, not unless someone specifically asks her to think of one. She likes food and she likes guns. Anything outside of that simply depends on her environment.
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
Sam does not want anyone to know when she is depressed. She doesn't get depressed very often but that problem with living from moment to moment comes when the moments are really terrible. When Sam is unhappy, that is all that she can see. Though she is usually able to remain very happy, certain things can bring her down and she tends to isolate herself as a result. She does not at all enjoy the fact that she cannot sleep peacefully and spends all night, every night, just being miserable. With all of the world asleep, she tends to feel isolated and alone, the only one that can't sleep, can't be normal, etc. And it's quite bothersome. But she doesn't like to bother others with these issues and, being not so great a communicator, couldn't tell anyone about it even if she wanted to anyway. So she just sits alone in the dark, tends to spend her mornings moping a little, until her friends wake up and then she's happy again, distracted by their presence.
Relationships1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
Sam is an orphan- the nature of the beast is that she has no relationship with her parents and never even knew who they were or what they looked like. She was abandoned on her birthday in an alleyway behind a strip club… someone’s mistake.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
None that she was related to by blood, no. However, growing up in an orphanage means that she was surrounded by a number of other children her age whom were just dying to be accepted. She was part of a small band of five and considered the other four to be “siblings” of hers in a way, but in truth they were just close friends. They all ran away from the orphanage together when Sam was about 13 or 14 years old- only Sam and the other female Damara are still living. The three boys- two blood brothers Nick and Henry, and the group leader Viktor all died at varying times after leaving.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
No blood relatives since, again, Sam never knew her blood family. However, she did have a series of foster families back when she was very young. She was usually only kept by them for a very short period of time and spent most of her young life at the orphanage (presumably, as she cannot remember much of her life prior to the age of 7). However, she does still remember her most recent foster family- the Doltans, whom she occasionally checks in on. They are usually the first people to vouch for her when she needs vouching before the law and Matteo Doltan- her foster father, is a member of the local police force so she crosses paths with them a lot. Of course, Matt is not amused by Sam’s illegal antics and his wife Bethany begs her to come and live with them. But Sam always chooses her life on the street. She’s simply too used to the freedom and the discord to bother with life in a family as perfect and well kept as the Doltans.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
Pretty much everyone I listed so far is technically unrelated. Sam has no blood relatives, I’m sure I mentioned.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Jillian, though Sam has a slew of stupid nicknames for her that she uses when she wants to be annoying. Sam and Jillian met on the street, low ranking members of rival gangs. They met by chance and immediately, Sam was considered an annoyance and a nuisance by the younger woman, which resulted in a small altercation that landed Jillian in Sam’s gang’s (The Cats) custody- a prisoner of sorts. Negotiations were held between the two gangs and lots of fighting took place, of which Sam and Jill were conveniently excluded- Sam was in charge of watching the prisoner, so the two spent most of their days in a basement, bickering like school children. But, when the rival gang’s motives were revealed to not favor Jillian in any way (in fact they were intending to sacrifice her to destroy their rivals), Jill was quick to defect and Sam somehow charmed her way into being the red-head’s loyal sidekick, despite their initial issues with each other. Sam is a powerful and loyal ally, very willing to follow and obey. Jillian is a headstrong firecracker of a girl with a love for domination and bossing others around. It was a match made in heaven once they were on the same team.
6. Does he have other close friends?
No, not really, save the other gang lieutenants and a few contacts here and there. Sam’s second go-to person is Mercy, Damara’s lesbian lover and a local mechanic. She handles all of the maintenance on the cars Sam regularly fucks up and the gang pays her handsomely for it, so the whole group is on good terms with her. Though Sam and Damara had a very serious falling out, Mercy still enjoys her company, being a very patient and relatively compassionate individual. When Jillian is not available for any reason, Mercy is the next best thing... Though Mercy and Jillian don't particularly get along. No one really knows why. They simply have clashing personalities. They are not hostile towards one another- Jill respects Mercy's fine craft with cars and construction while Mercy respects the fact that Jillian could easily cut her in half if crossed the wrong way, but they are in no way buddies.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
I’d say so. Her tendency to fidget and easily become bored with idle tasks and banter means that Sam is usually too quirky to be tolerated by strangers, but her generally humorous personality and easy-going demeanor means that she can pretty much find a way to get along with almost anyone. Her ignorance is childishly charming for most people she meets.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
Since Sam has never really had a family, friends are more important to her. But, in her mind, they are pretty much the same thing. Her friends were her family and her family are her friends.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Single, never been married and never been in a relationship before the beginning of this storyline. However, there is definitely something between her and Jillian. Sam doesn't notice, being the dolt that she is, but anyone with an extra braincell can probably see it.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
Not officially.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
Sam does not have and never really ever had a crush. Not for a lack of suitable candidates, though it does take a very special kind of person to tolerate her quirky personality, she is more than friendly enough to find those people. But Sam’s shallow thinking means that she doesn’t even consider the possibility of love… doesn’t understand it. Probably because she’s really never truly been exposed to it, other than in movies or unbelievable stories. She learns from experience and, since she never experienced love, she doesn’t know what it is or ever really consciously participates in it.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
Like I said above, Sam does not knowingly participate in the idea of romance or love or anything like that. She gets along with almost everyone and, even those she does not get along with provide some entertainment in the form of being prank targets, so she just has friends and doesn’t generally look any further. She gets along better with certain types of people though. Very dependant on others to function, she’s very clingy and enjoys anyone who can tolerate that. But she doesn’t like stereotypes- people who are too perfect, too ideal, who care endlessly about everyone and everything. Sam is jealous of normal people, so she gravitates towards others who are just as fucked up as she is, but in different ways. She needs someone intelligent to balance out her senselessness, someone who can keep up with her energy, but not someone so weak and so lovy-dovy that they bend to everyone and everything. She likes challenges, doesn’t mind conflict, and actually enjoys the feeling of getting on people’s nerves.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no. Sam’s generally good with kids and has no problems with them at all, her childish personality makes her easy to relate to. But she’s not to be trusted with them alone- she can’t take care of herself, who would trust her, a gangster no less, with their children? Even she's smart enough to realize that's a bad idea.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
No one specific. Of course, she has an automatic dislike of anyone from a rival gang, but she’s usually too ditzy to notice when meeting them face-to-face and has befriended rival gang members before. She’s just too stupid to be anything but open-minded so she has no one specific that she dislikes terribly. Yet, anyway.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
Sam is likely pansexual, with no particular gender preference. She has very little sex drive- and what little she does have is convoluted by her inexperience and cluelessness, but it is not at all limited by gender or physical appearance. She just doesn’t bother thinking about that sort of thing.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
Not at all. Sam has only participated in sex for social reasons- it’s just kind of part of street life, like a chore or some bland activity done to pass the time. She only really does it when absolutely necessary, and even that is not very often. Her lack of concentration and general personal weirdness means she’s not at the top of most people’s list for having sex. Normally she just supervises while someone else does the actual act. She probably hasn’t had sex herself in years… but would if the opportunity arose, I bet. She just hasn’t had anybody she really wanted to have sex with, if that makes any sense.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
This is a very weird thing to be turned on by, but Sam loves to get under other people’s skin (no, not literally you weirdos). She loves the opportunity to put up a fight and is usually turned off by things that are too easy- they become boring and disinteresting at that point. Though this applies to almost all aspects of her life, it’s probably most notable in the bedroom, where she’d likely do a lot of annoying fussing. She’s similarly very physical and enjoys lots of silly games, again in any aspect of life but sex in particular needs to be very active to get her interested in it. Stereotypical kissing and gentle touches would bore her to death in about 20 seconds. Finally, though she’d probably never admit it outright, Sam is generally the submissive one of a pair. She has a secret desire to be dominated… but I guess it’s not so secret. In daily life, she is generally submissive in behavior- challenging and annoying, but in the end she usually does what she’s told. I guess the secret is that she really enjoys it, can’t live without it in a way. That’s probably why she is so attached to bossy Jillian.
Beliefs1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
Sam is a Gemini and, like most of my characters, fits the sign description to a t. Gemini are generally energetic and youthful, adaptive and communicative. They are also usually witty, and, though Sam does not have much raw knowledge to access, she does think quickly, having a very active mind, and can occasional show a bit of wit… usually humorous wit, of course. Don’t mistake it. Gemini are also superficial and shallow supposedly, which Sam is not at all exempt from- she’s very shallow, very stupid, and makes inadequate decisions based only on surface knowledge. She’s also quite petty and will do a lot to achieve very little. She does not display any of the Gemini’s typical nervousness though. Her shallow, inattentive mindset probably saves her from that.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
Though she’d say otherwise, Sam is more spiritual than she is religious. Though she loosely practices Christianity- wearing crosses, listening to religious tunes on her ipod, and often muttering prayers before doing something dangerous, she’s not a very good Christian. She doesn’t go to church, swears a lot, and obviously practices unlawful and unholy activities. So she’s not a very formal Christian and probably has never read the bible herself… but she does believe in higher powers, the power of sin and the existence of hell, and therefore does what she can to avoid going there when he time is up. She is not at all obnoxious about her beliefs- heck, most of the time she completely forgets about them, and only practices them when she remembers to. If not for the cross she wears around her neck, you’d probably never know she was religious.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Nope. Her forgetfulness and a life lived on the wrong side of society means that Sam’s idea of right and wrong are severely confused and convoluted. To avoid any internal unrest over the matter, she just avoids thinking about it at all and instead just follows her friends and trusted few. Whatever they do is right, and everyone who disagrees is just stupid.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
She’ll poke fun at others who may or may not disagree with her, but she doesn’t think enough nor feels strongly enough about something as arbitrary as belief to bother picking any fights over it. Either she’ll bond with someone over agreements or enjoy picking on them during disagreements. It’s always a win-win on her end of things.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Sam has a very understandable prejudice against police officers. It’s not a very concrete idea- she doesn’t have a real reason why she dislikes them, nor does she have any evidence to back up some of her often silly claims about them, but she does definitely dislike police officers. They’re a hard group of people to like when you are a gun-toting, highly dangerous, unintelligent gangbanger with a taste for killing hookers and blowing up motor vehicles. The cops generally aren’t down with that sort of behavior. And Sam isn’t down with being arrested or spending time in prison, so they just butt heads like two angry bulls.
Daily Life1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Sam, as an individual, is broke with only a few hundred dollars to her name officially, sitting in a bank account somewhere that she doesn’t even remember. However, being the leader of a very notorious gang (well not the leader but a very high roller), she has access to quite a large amount of funds. The Catalysts are one of only four major gangs in a very large metropolitan area, so they have a rather large chunk of real-estate under their control. They collect bribes from local establishments, hired thugs to protect stores and businesses from rival gangs. They earn money under the table for illegal acts such as fight clubs, underground destruction derbies, drug trafficking, murder for hire, the usual unsavory sort of things. The one thing The Cats will not do is abuse animals. Sam is not particularly wise to the matter (though she does like animals so she’s likely not against this practice), but gang leader Jillian will eject any gang member caught mistreating an animal. So no dog fights, cock fights, nothing of that nature and, when conquering rival gang territories, they will usually take in any animals that need rescuing. They are better than the local cops at breaking up dog fights- Sam in particular. Being able to actually turn into a fighting pit bull really helps to locate the fight rings. Anyway, with all of this stuff going down, the gang as a collective whole is very very wealthy. Sam is not given too much access to these funds, as she is not very responsible with money (or anything else really), but her closeness with Jillian means that she still reaps all of the benefits.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
Like most gang bangers, Sam started at rock-bottom- a runaway orphan with little more than a first name. However, over time, she climbed her way through the ranks and eventually ended up sharing the top seat. Over the course of about ten years, she went from being nobody to being instantly recognizable. She is the face of the V Street Catalysts, acting as a figure-head for Jillian to keep the true gang leader safe from harm. She’s the one who appears on the news, the one to represent the gang in the prison system (after she spent 2 years locked up), and is just about as famous as anyone in town. Now, generally, gang status and social status are not quite the same thing… but they are for Sam.
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
Sam shares a number of different pads and cribs with Jillian and other front-runners in the gang. Located in different parts of their gang’s hoods (and even a few in rival gang zones), they vary in style and type from a shabby single bedroom shack all the way up to a high-rise apartment. Her main haunt is an old animal shelter on, you guessed it, V street. Technically, it’s Vince Street, but the neighborhood is in such disarray that the street sign has been long destroyed. Everyone knows it as V street, and the animal shelter is right in the center of it. Sam and most of the gang live beneath it in secrecy, where an expanded fall out shelter has become a large underground hide out full of lights, music, and stripper poles. Most of the gangs activities, meetings, animals and stashes of illegal substances are kept here, away from prying eyes.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
Food. Sam is an absolute glutton for food. Her hyperactivity extends well into her metabolism, so she must eat like a pig to sustain herself and still does not succeed. She instantly loves anyone who can cook and is usually never far away from some sort of food stash or another. The local fast food places know her by name and she visits them at least 3 times daily, usually whenever Jillian isn’t paying attention. She also likes the novelty of new clothes, cars, guns or other such toys, but just because repetition bores her to death. This includes repeatedly getting into the same car or wearing the same clothes over and over again. She likes new things every once in a while to spice things up and keep it interesting. She never buys anything large or significant without Jillian hovering over her… and not by her own personal choice either. Jillian is just the watchful type.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
I may have mentioned in passing that she is part of a gang, yes? Yes, Sam is considered the lesser of two leaders of The V Street Catalysts (Cats for short). It wasn’t an easy job to get- it took her years of hard work to get to that position, and she didn’t do it alone. However, now that she has it, she finds it fun and enjoyable, full of freedom and violence. She’s not very good at every aspect of it (her lack of sensibility and logic means she is terrible at making decisions or handing out plans or commands), but the parts involving violence, guns, cars, and explosions are all her specialty. She loves to wreak havoc, and that’s all it really takes to be a good gangbanger.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
Sam spends her free time eating, sleeping when she can, smoking marijuana, watching tv while stoned out of her mind (she loves to do that), shooting passers by with a bb or paintball gun, teasing the animals she lives with, and pestering Jillian. Fortunately, she does not usually have much free time as other gang members make a point to keep her busy. Otherwise, she’s rip-your-hair-out annoying.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
I totally went over this already. x3 Sam eats constantly. She hardly ever sleeps so she has plenty of time in the day to waste snacking on anything that’s handy. More importantly, because she only sleeps once every few days, her energy comes solely from her food intake… and having a lot of energy means she generally has to ingest a lot of food in order to keep up with herself. Despite being an absolute pig, she is about 20 pounds underweight for someone her size, just barely hovering over 100 lbs. Her metabolism is crazy fast and her digestion manages to keep up with everything that she throws at it, it’s quite a marvel really. Sam’s metabolism- the 9th wonder of the world.
Associations/Favorites
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:1. Color? Blue
2. Smell? Lavender (it's a big cat thing- Sam is a shapeshifter and is commonly found in the form of a black tiger, Lavender is like catnip to big cats so Sam shares the sentiment)
3. Time of day? Any, they're all the same to her
4. Season? Summer, she likes to wear shorts
5. Book? None. She doesn't have the attention span for reading. She probably can't do it all that well either, actually.
6. Music? HipHop and R&B, anything generally fast paced with a good beat, she doesn't really care about or pay much attention to lyrics
7. Place? Whatever place is considered "home"
8. Substance? Um... food? Soda? Alcohol? Lots of things can be considered "substances", it's hard to pick one
9. Plant? Marijuana plant
10. Animal? She has a thing for big cats but anything with stripes will do. She has a pit bull named Jugs whom she absolutely adores. He’s just about the only animal more stupid than she is.
But thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm not going to pretend like I'm not unhealthily obsessed with my characters and their personal information. lol
BUT, i shall read all of this...eventually :U im just a very slow reader ;)
But wow O.O you really know your characters! Im glad some people put real effort into their characters apart from just a cool looking design -.- and they have real 'character' instead of....being possessed by a demon..or something cliche like that D:
I say when I have homework to be doing also. LOL
Yeah I... am a little obssessed with character design, is really my only explanation. x3 The way I decide whether or not to keep a character is whether or not they "create themselves" and take on a life of their own, and Sam (obviously) is a text book example of that. She was never even supposed to exist, but somehow she's evolved into someone I feel like I know in real life. It's a very cool and interesting feeling, like making a friend... only that friend is a bunch of lines on a piece of paper. lol x3 I dunno. It doesn't make much sense to me either- I don't know much more about my character development process than anyone else does. It just happens on it's own, based on things I see on tv, on people I know in real life, on stories told in songs or in fanfiction, and so on. :3
and i know what you mean :) Its so awsome when youve created a character you adore <3 i do that with some of my characters, my fursona especially, who is actually nothing like me at all D: but has a very interesting personality. i LOVE making characters, even if they are plain looking, theyre still fun to create personalities and backstories to <3 i love sam D: * needs to make moar human characters* i have too many animals -.- ff.
...*says this while in my computer tech class* OH ITS SO BORING >:U
I have to admit that there's a really interesting dynamic that comes with human characters. Their lives are so much more active, more involved than the lives of animals, it makes them really challenging to design but also really interesting. Things like education, time period, setting, living arrangements, occupation, so many things can completely alter the character's functionality, it's a really fun thing to play around with. :3 Still haven't figured out how to properly design their appearance though, not sure what the secret to that is just yet. >.>
oh well, science now ;) not as bad, still boring D: i suck at science too FF.
I actually have more fun designing humans aswell, im working on a human character at the moment aswell, hes a crazy bastard ;)
should probably upload him to here eventually -.-
as much as i love designing animal characters, i feel like there has to be more to them then just a cool design, or where they live, or some soppy backstory that is just plain boring -.- not only that its hard to come up with something that makes them unique personality wise when its an animal, and trying to make it seem realistic is hard D:
not only that... i need to work on human anatomy moar. D:
Yeah, human anatomy still kicks my ass pretty bad. >< Me and the human pelvis have a serious beef with each other, we do not get along at all. It'll be like "Hey Avy, you gonna be at this party tonight?", "I dunno, is The Human Pelvis going to be there?", "Um... yeah, think he's supposed to show up.", "No, screw that, screw you. I hate that guy, he's a dick."
Hate the human pelvis. It can go die in a fire somewhere. Also knees are the bane of my existence, faces and arms confuse me. hng ><
you know what gets me...hands. and feet. and for some reason the male chest. WHY DAM YOU.