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vorcotec · 5 years

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41, 33, 21 and 1 for the character development meme !

1. How do they move and carry themselves? Pace, rhythm, gestures, energy?

jane is always Something. she’s got this janeniness. i rbed this post about virginia woolf into my ‘about jane’ tag a while back:

…In his autobiography, Leonard Woolf writes with pain and some bewilderment about the way in which complete strangers would react to his wife: ‘ … to the crowd in the street there was something in her appearance which struck them as strange and laughable … people would stare or stop and stare at Virginia. And not only in foreign towns; they would stop and stare and nudge one another – “look at her” – even in England, in Piccadilly or Lewes …’

Leonard makes the observation that these incidents tended to happen at moments when Virginia was lost in thought – when she had, in a sense, forgotten herself. There was something in her expression or comportment in those moments, which, taken with her unusual mode of dress, made her appear anomalous to people.

with jane, in particular, this sense of anomaly comes bc she is autistic, and there’s always been something in her carriage that sets her apart, since childhood. it’s all over her comportment and how she moves and acts.

first, no matter what she does, jane has this... aura of internality. she seems not to be paying attention to what’s happening around her and to be focused on anything but what one would expect her to focus on. if she’s moving through a room around you, you might get the impression she’s carrying out a task she thinks of as WAY more important than you. this comes about because she doesn’t make eye contact, her head is usually down, and she almost always needs her hands to be engaged in some form of stimming--playing with her phone, her bag, her journal; she’s usually seeking textures and shapes to trace, rather than pursuing any activity involving actual Braining, although she’s been known to draw while people talk to her. again--she seems not to be paying attention. but she is. virtually always.

jane’s posture is also unique. she has a pronounced slouch and will off-and-on stand pigeon-toed. if her hands aren’t in motion, they’re usually visibly Held at her sides, with her fingers curled in, and in general if her hands are still you get the impression she doesn’t know what to do with them. there is usually a sense of tension to her posture, especially if she’s around other people and feels observed--jane’s quite conscious that she’s weird/strange/off in various ways and she knows that other people know it, she just doesn’t know how to be different; hence tension. but because of a general lack of connection to her body she also isn’t so hot at perceiving how tense or relaxed she is at a given moment.

jane’s gestures are also Janey. she almost never gestures when she talks; this is one of the elements of allistic body language she simply doesn’t have. she will gesture if she needs to indicate something specific--such as pointing out the specific part of a painting or invention or equation written on a whiteboard or whatever--but otherwise, if she’s not stimming, her hands are at her sides or in her pockets.

broadly speaking in terms of how quickly she moves, jane’s slow until she’s suddenly fast; when she has a goal she fires off toward her goal, often without communicating that goal to whoever she’s with. you just kinda have to chase after her, or if ur short and happen to be wearing rollerskates, grab onto her sleeve and let her pull you.

overall, jane’s energy is... Jane™™™™™™™. that’s it. u either plug into it or u don’t.

21. What kind of relationships do they tend to intentionally seek out versus actually cultivate? What kind of social contact do they prefer, and why?

jane prefers social contact on Her Terms, not because she’s antisocial, but because she has... very, very, very little tolerance for most of the social contracts the allistic world takes for granted. she does NOT fuck with small talk, “saying hello just to be polite”, being civil to people she doesn’t like, etc. at this stage in her life she’s just over it all. generally speaking, she wants social contact with people one-on-one or, at most, in a group of three (3) total; she wants that to happen in semi-public or private spaces where they won’t be bothered; she wants it to be interesting, respectful, and if she’s talking to a pretty lady... fruitful ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (but it also doesn’t have to be because jane is a gentleman).

apart from the romantic, jane rarely seeks types of relationships; in general she’s just looking for people she can actually connect with--easier said than done as an autistic in an allistic world, not to mention a woman in STEM. so it’s possible for jane to cultivate relationships that seem sort of... wildly unconnected to each other? she’s able to forge connections w people from all over a range of personality types because what she’s after is that connection between her and them, the ability to experience something meaningful with them. when you compare e.g. margot @sapphiism‘s passionate intensity with the low-key thoughtfulness of dorothy’s father, roberto, they seem very different from each other, and it might seem unusual for jane to have forged such closeness w/ both of them.

33. How do they learn about the world–what is their preferred learning style?

jane learns by Touching All the Things; also by Doing, usually by a method that’s significantly weirder than how other people do it; to a lesser extent, also, research, which definitely plays a role, but is a strong second to her need to stick her hands in whatever’s going on and mess around with it. you can imagine how difficult it was to transition to biomedical engineering and not be allowed to just shove her hands into people goop. GOD DAMN IT LET HER TOUCH YOUR ORGANS.

41. What associations do they bring to mind? Words or phrases, images, metaphors or motifs? Why?

don’t u hate it when ur bopping along writing and u encounter something and ur like “damn i write about this a lot this is def a motif” and then u actually get asked this question and u can’t focking remember... let me try to think of some bhsfmsldkghdgkslm

ok, i associate jane STRONGLY with birds. i’m always thinking of her as birdlike in particular because of her habit of looking at people from angles, out of the corners of her eyes and/or w her head tilted, as a bird will cock its head to look at you. not to be discursive but if u wanna be Valid™ u should have ur character think of jane as being like a lorge bird.

an image that i often write about when jane is happy is bubbles. that’s how she experiences happiness--big, fizzy, effervescent bubbles of light and color lifting her up--and it shows in how she bounces, rocks, and sways when she’s very happy. like fizzy lifting drink but emotional.

in terms of words, phrases, metaphors... i think i’m always trying to find new ways of describing jane’s sensitivity, her engagement w/ the world around her. i think i was genuinely successful when i wrote this:

If she could thrust her hands into the colors of things the way she might thrust them into pools of paint, she would.

and i honestly might never top it.

character development questions. ∴ @marblecarved.

#marblecarved #∴ headcanon tag.#thank you so much for sending these in!

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lexidem-blog · 6 years

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dreams: parallel universes. kinda like a video game; each level was a crazier world. one was this beautiful pastel gradient one w/ these tall beautiful alien ladies bouncing on big pastel spheres. then i used the taxi service which was run by “kind demons” and u had to tell them which hill to take u to and then they just appeared and u were there but everything was fuzzy and dark blue and it took about two seconds n u were dropped off and took a few minutes to be conscious again. giant phone book full of hill names. bag w/ it as bottom. xbox game theif rides in a tropical place. paddle to the other side of the lagoon and then there was a ride i’m little boats w/ like half real half plastic ducks on it. running into the ocean but it was really hot water i was at a family party in a huge backyard and there were sooooo many dogs!! but then it was june and cold and ppl were trying to swim a dream that adele michaela madi and taylor kept being rly rly rude and then were acting like i was being ridiculous for being upset. carol was angry then agreed with them. adele would ignore me whenever i spoke. then later taylor apologized and said i was right n we were in a relationship so it was like back in high school and she made out w/ me and then i was like “ur straight” and told her abt her future and she was like no way i’m in love w/ u n i was like yea but ur straight in the future lol jordan skype showing me t-shirt’s all ugly she was annoyed in big weird space hbd mackenzie emoji straight to 😎 from ❤ lily frankle loook for vid dt n amusement park makeup skipping laughing feet in holes. racing game grandmom real cars. purple mascara. til mirror. lots of tickets. amy talking about marriages florence across table “knew you’d choose jordan” told her i didn’t choose her two dreams about florence’s parents checking in on me & one miimz checking i wouldn’t kill myself but angrily hours: 9 big confusing party was cuddling two girls then graduation but swim i got low place in figures b/c it was split into junior senior but one award set. then hiding but it was m n okay but then they like lost it b/c i held them too tight cuddling. also video games chris beds idk. then i think chris was antagonist. two submarines battling. kept shrinking ourselves but we were inside antagonists lair n breaking all the like dinosaur skeletons. halloween costumes mom orange wig. downstairs laundry washing bloodstained gown using bar soaps scrubbing. surrounded by half dead little girls doing same woke up in a cold sweat i couldn’t shake b/c all the blankets are cold n damp too. very long dream moving to africa to study abroad. still don’t know what country in africa. started by visiting to see if i’d like it disney style thing could see coronado springs. stranger things kids? then was home n there was maybe gonna be a storm so i was gonna miss my flight but made it. iphone has stopped working so was using my env3 but then phone started working. michaela and other swim ppl were there again saw her friend got bad vibes she got annoyed and i said all her friends still give off mean popular kid vibes. purple lit tunnel after long security/suitcase weird stuff. took like 7 different flights to get to the right country. u could see soooooo many stars and a huge planet and it was on the sea n there were so many mountains. then i had one i was at this place on rollerckatser w/ these girls from a glasgow band and they wanted to be my friend. the one was vegan and knew like ellie’s friends. then i was in this shop thing then a hut and some guy was fingering me and everyone was like “no that’s their job” these like beautiful ethereal women that lived in the water next to the shop. then i lived w/ han n cal n ppl and was tucking them into bed n we were having vegan food n wine also a part w/ a trick where id be chained in the middle of this part and tricked other ppl into me being set free n then ran to find a bus but they were all taking ages then bethany was there more cold sweat 13 hours don’t remember which night. started in moms house and kept feeling stressed. was w/ other ppl and went in an elevator kept checking around each corner. turned out main characters sister was villain and had made it so every time u went in a different room u went into this disorienting like parallel universe and back. walked towards evil sisters hub and hid in jewelry store that was closed for the night. could make self invisible. turned out sister had made eating meat a requirement for her followers? i (main character now?) revealed that she was evil and everything was okay. scaffolding ? climbing. something about a little boy (my child?) none. two hours sleep. i was in a little shelter and held a teeny tiny baby german shepard and pet an american eskimo but their fur was v matted. i was on my moms street and taylor and i were laying down and holding hands and men kept being like “ooooh”. then we were at a party and it was the weirdest mix of people in this weird space that looking back seems maybe. spacestationy? idk how else to describe it. but then i went to the kitchen and it was p normal but like huge and american and laura was there and she was being v sweet as usual and i was talking about baking and left to go to this other meet up thing. these 3 people there wanted me to make them v specific huge drawings in chalk pastel. one of the people was michael from IT who wanted it to be of his one professor and he had a photo of him in his pocket in an envelope. we were about to clean up the cakes n all but then i remembered i needed to grab stuff from this other stall (they were in like fair-esque stalls) and the lady in charge gave me the key and it was like this old cottage and when i went inside i felt like. suffocated. b/c it was rly hot and stuffy. but grabbed my stuff (two stone carvings of giraffes, two of a smaller animal, and two of lions that i realized were poorly done w/ the mane so i was like oh man i’m gonna put fur over them to fix the manes) they were v heavy and i held them in my shirt folded up like a child. the one girl kept saying she needed the chalk pastel thing by tomorrow n i was stressed 10 hrs. i was back w/ florence n hanging w/ her and miimz and we were all v happy very stressful. one w/ big bridge. driving. one w firefly patrol jordan replied. i was rly angry. also she cut her hair soooo short went to cheesecake factory. they said i couldn’t eat alone. was like wow i gotta tell marte at a play w/ like alice. walking down the stairs. colonial british men. teal set on stage. had to go to bathroom. amy and leah woke up and if rainbow reflected mckenzie room plants then on bed w/o her and tab but pad all over the bed trump was paying me to meet up gave me £700 florence mom debt angry dorney water park uber 2 stars

Brie

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