What is your OC's fatal flaw?
What are three traits your OC has that can both have positive as well as negative qualities?
Does your OC carry any guilt with them?
If your OC had to pick a new identity and skip town, what would they come up with? Where would they go?
I'm thinking of Jasper, but you can add on any oc you want to answer these questions for!!
Sooo happy to see you in my ask box, I literally ran to answer as soon as I got the notif.. unfortunately it took way longer than I meant for it to. (I’m glad I got it! I think tumblr is giving me issues with asks again. On main esp it says I have more asks than it’s actually showing me.)
What is Jasper’s fatal flaw?
Jasper’s fatal flaw is.. kinda a tough one to answer. Not really because they don’t have one, but more just it’s hard to clearly articulate or cleanly sort into one category. If I had to describe it neatly I’d probably say it’s that they believe that they’re doomed by the narrative. Which, they are, just not entirely. More of their tragedy could be avoided if they believed their fate could be changed, so what’s dooming them is their passivity against their belief in the tides of their fate. It’s not that they believe they’re doomed in a self pitying way, or one where they specifically believe they are being targeted. It’s just that even when it is not a conscious sort of thought, Jasper has a deep seated belief that their existence is fated to end in tragedy, no matter the route they take to get there. This, in a way, is what dooms them. It means they find no issue in acting as a vessel for their god’s will. They know it will end in tragedy, but that is their fate regardless, so there is no real reason to work against the tides of fate, is there? This is what they want anyway (Jasper has never known what they want). With their ending predetermined, Jasper is free to do whatever they like (they have barely found reason to have a preference).
2) What are three traits Jasper has that can have both positive as well as negative qualities?
a) Their cheerful/bubbly demeanor: Jasper is almost never seen without a smile on their face, which ofc has the regular boons those sorts of things have. They’re for the most part considered ..more likable and generally approachable than they would be if they were less upbeat on average, but on the other hand… they’re not very selective about this trait’s use. It’s ever present, so they’ve been known to be excessively bubbly and smiley at inappropriate or importune moments. It’s not malicious, but might come off as it, if not just as insensitive.
b) Their nosiness. Jasper is actually a very nosy person despite their faraway demeanor and general apathy towards many of their own issues! They often insert themselves after having heard of people’s problems from whatever source. (Ex: You need a rare hard to find herb, and you’re bitching to your friend about how you’re ever going to get it?? all of a sudden Jasper has disappeared from the village for a few days and then you see them back in town just kind of walking by with a basket full of said herb. If you bring it up they’ll feign ignorance about your need for it, but you end up with the whole basket anyway. If you don’t, you find some of the herb in your pantry the next morning. Certainly they didn’t break into your house to put it there. Certainly.) This often ends up with people being aided in many mundane troubles, which is appreciated by the village at large. This can cause problems when you highly value your privacy and think about how convenient it is where Jasper is showing up and when, or if they deem your interpersonal problems worth interfering with. So pros: they often end up helping you a lot via the information they learn, but cons: they learned the information because they’re nosy as hell and also are likely to do something about it whether or not you’ve requested it.. which can cause issues.
c) Their loyalty. Jasper’s loyalty is odd, because once they start caring about someone they become fiercely loyal, but not in a way that presents typically. Would Jasper die for Kohara? Absolutely. Kill for her? Yes, in probably more situations than is typical of the average persons loyalty, but only if she asked it. Would they tell her anything? Only if she asked, and likely they wouldn’t feel the need to say it in a way she was guaranteed to understand. Do they offer information about their life? No. Would they let someone she cared about die? Well, yes, if she didn’t specifically request their safety, and their death would be what Jasper considered ‘worth the cost’ (which is admittedly hard to qualify for, but they would let a person like that die to win a war, or preserve the life of someone they cared about more). Would Jasper let her destroy herself? Sure, if she wanted to, and rejects help. Thats her choice. Would Jasper try to help her though? Yes, but they likely wouldn’t go about it in the best way. Their loyalty can be extremely helpful and good for a person, but could easily be misused, and sometimes them being loyal doesn’t mean them doing what is best for a person, or even what is good or will make them happy. Very much a double edged sword.
3) Does Jasper carry any guilt with them?
Oh yeah absolutely. They don’t really regret or feel guilty about killing their mom, although they do vaguely pity her fate. The guilt they hold is about their family in the deep forest. Originally, Jasper was supposed to be with them when they went out that day, but it was a really bad pain day and they ended up staying home. Of course, this is when one of the larger creatures in the forest died and completely wiped out a section of the ice floor in its resulting fall, including the area where Jasper’s family was. While it’s not guaranteed they would’ve been able to do anything to save them.. they would’ve been able to try. Mostly Jasper feels guilty about not dying with them. They would’ve much rather been the one who was killed.
4) If Jasper had to pick a new identity and skip town, what would they come up with? Where would they go?
Well. Technically Jasper legally doesn’t exist.. they have no documentation, no official origin, etc. Aside from their appearance being so distinctive + also distinctively viewed as Ethneki, it wouldn’t be so hard for them to effectively disappear. As for how they would do that, I think it depends on the situation. If they wanted to have some new identity in the mainland, they would probably pose as an Ethneki merchant and just get as far from their regular sphere of influence as possible. They might stay on the edge of the deep forest in a different area so they could forage rare goods from there to sell. If they wanted to really drop off the map? They would just go back in the deep forest. They wouldn’t really need to have some new identity, they’d effectively disappear from existence in outside societies once entering it and they know how life inside functions. They would just find someone new to exist in the presence of there. People there don’t really tend to ask many questions.
