When The Dust Settles

1. Do they have many personalities/masks, or only a few?I wouldn’t say she has very many, no, but she does utilise them often, so it might seem like she has many. It’s more of a quality/quantity thing, though.

6. Do they put effort into maintaining and cultivating each version of themself, or do they go with the flow and adjust their behavior without reflecting on it?Sort of? But also not really? The masks are just that, masks, and she does put effort into maintaining them, but not in a sense of like, as a complete, consistent personality if that makes sense? The masks aren’t (usually) for appeasing others, they’re for defense, her self-preservation, so it’s important to her that they work and are flexible enough to serve in many situations, while also not really mattering whether or not it’s something they buy into a lot of the time, yknow? Basically, she doesn’t care if you believe the attitude she’s presented is genuine as long as it keeps you from trying to get around or through it.

….And you know what. It’s as I finished typing that sentence that I realize the “I don’t really care” position is the mask and I’ve been played by my own kid. Apparently her masks are cultivated really really well, she got me for a second there, I really believed she would not care about the strength of the believability when – that’s the whole reason they’re her crutch. Anyway she’s spent a lot of time perfecting her select few masks and it must be super difficult for anyone outside of her immediate circle to identify them as facades. As far as her reputation and most of the population of the great, dusty earth is concerned, Vi is an secretive, short-tempered, masochistic bitch, and by god is that exactly how she wants it. (Well. Most of the time.)

8. Have they encountered problems in the past, regarding their own inconsistencies? In terms of with strangers, I doubt it, because the odds of them even spotting an inconsistency in her seems unlikely. In terms of with people close to her, yeah, it’s no doubt caused a few issues here and there. Hurt feelings more than anything else, probably, when they realize that she’s effectively been keeping them at an arms distance. (Luckily for Vi, most of the people she gets close to can recognize that, despite her initial distance, she’s making real effort, and they tend to be prepared to forgive her.)

(((Not always but that’s a different conversation)))

10. When, if ever, are they completely genuine?There are moments. They are scattered and often brief, and it can be hard to predict what will really, actually bring Vi out of her shell, but it happens. The situation often involves her being around Fox, Lith & Tech, or Jack (but yknow, doesn’t have to, that’s the whole thing, no one ever knows when it’s gonna happen) and all of the Haven kids are very deliberate not to make a big deal out of it when the little moments appear cause it’ll embarrass her. Except, well, sometimes Fox can’t help it, but he can get away with a lot in Vi’s books. He’s been really instrumental in breaking through all of her masks, actually. He’s sort of brought her back to the light, in a sense.

11. If they’re an adult, have they gained masks as they aged, or simplified?I don’t think I’d quite classify her as an adult (despite the fact that she’s like 21(?)) but nevertheless I’d say she’s simplified, stopped using so many. She still relies on the ones shes kept a lot, but she’s gotten the chance to put a number of them away, which -in her case- is a big step forward. Just because of the way the desert is I doubt she’ll ever be able to be rid of them all, but it’s nice to see her start to forget some of them as she keeps going and finds herself starting to feel, sometimes, almost kind of safe without them.

14. Pick a mask. What is its purpose?The main, most fleshed out one is a Vi that is aggressive and powerful and mostly just really, really doesn’t give a single flaming shit about you or anything else. This is her go to, her comfortable day-wear; it’s rare to see her without it. It’s purpose is, as I’ve kind of said, proactive defense. It’s a front to warn people off in an attempt to avoid letting them have the ability to hurt her. Which isn’t to say she won’t fuck you up, because she absolutely will, but even that -her willingness to cause people physical harm- can arguably be called a mask. She doesn’t necessarily enjoy it, it just feels like the best choice. Theoretically speaking, you can’t hurt her if she’s hurting you. 

1. Do they have many personalities/masks, or only a few?He definitely has..I mean, at least one sort of .. impassive mask for dealing with less than savory types, but I think for the most part it’s more a matter of him being reticent by nature than specifically masked or of varying personality.

2. What are the most dramatically different masks they take on?It’s not a mask he uses anymore, but the happy-to-be-a-pawn performance he had to give in the years after mayhem was found out and Mads was in detainment was definitely a very jarring thing to be met with if you knew him at all before (and ultimately became somewhat difficult for him to shake.) The most different one from that was probably from the era when he was fresh to the desert - he felt trapped in the puppet persona and tended to overcompensate with a lot of aggression and, sometimes, straight up antagonism as a way of making sure people knew he wasn’t just another mindless drone.

3. Is it important to them that others believe they’re being genuine?Rather than “believe” he’s being genuine, I would say it is fairly important to him that people know he is being genuine. His reputation is, at this point, important to the way he lives and rather than have that be some kind of false front, it’s important to him that it stands as much as possible (people exaggerate) on truths. He’d rather have a few instances of people having negative opinions about whats true than a bunch of false and varied impressions floating around.

4. What’s their favorite mask?This is.. I mean, n/a. He’s never found any joy or comfort in fronting with anyone.

5. What’s their least favorite?He really hated happy-to-be-a-pawn. Not that he had ever been like, particularly inclined to public protest before (more like quiet disagreement) but just the total subservience and inability to even feel like you could feel differently than how you’d been told was brutal. He’d always had a fairly strong sense of self, individuality, even when he was young, so forcing those kinds of thoughts and his sense of honor and pride as a person down and down and down (even in the name of a good end goal) really ate away at him. It broke down a lot of his previous certainty and had this effect of like…being a mask that he himself almost believed, and it just about crushed him. It took a lot of work to pry it all the way off and leave it behind. He still, in a way thats very hard to articulate clearly, loves the city.

6. Do they put effort into maintaining and cultivating each version of themself, or do they go with the flow and adjust their behavior without reflecting on it?I guess the answer here is “go with the flow” though he’s not like, thoughtless about how he treats people. I’m stuck again with feeling like he doesn’t have different masks to really maintain, so it’s not like he has to plan how he’s going to react to things according to perceptions or anything, but at the same time he’s not going to be blase about how he behaves. Which might not actually but the question here, but felt important to distinguish.

7. When they see discrepancies in another character’s behavior, do they feel betrayed? Unsettled?Not typically. Some of this stems from him being relatively skilled at reading people which leads me to think he probably wouldn’t believe a front (or he’d at least have suspicions) to begin with, therefore rarely being shocked by the turn. Also, though, he just… gets it. Some people have to hide or amplify or duplicate or twist or conceal (or or or…) themselves to survive. (*cough Tech cough*) He’s not a big fan of it, but he gets it. Ultimately, if he feels like someone’s hidden behind too many masks and doesn’t even want to make effort to be sincere, he just avoids investing in them. Do what you have to, but don’t expect him to play along much.

8. Have they encountered problems in the past, regarding their own inconsistencies?Um. I feel like yes but I other than the struggle with himself I don’t have any specific examples.

9. How hard would it be for them to live as their single, genuine self?I mean. I think he already does and I don’t think it’s a struggle. He had to struggle to get to the point where he could, but now its.. I mean he’s just Jack.

10. When, if ever, are they completely genuine?A walking genuine artifact, ladies and gentlemen. I mean, okay, he’s not above bluffing now and then and it’s not as if he’s an open book you can walk all over, but, as I feel like a broken record, there’s just not a lot of call from him to be ingenuine. There’s nothing you can use against him that hasn’t been already or that he hasn’t used against himself. His identity -it being known- holds no horror for him.

11. If they’re an adult, have they gained masks as they aged, or simplified?Simplified, definitely. There’s no demand for fake Jacks anymore, at least none he feels compelled to bow to.

12. How do they deal with situations where they can’t tell which mask is required?(See the last part of answer 11.) You get what you get. You can outline your expectations but I mean..if you’re asking for something that would see him change his fundamental self you’re (very probably) not gonna get it.

13. Do they more admire adaptability or authenticity?He doesn’t think they’re mutually exclusive ((and……actually I don’t either 👀)) You can be adaptable and multiskilled without sacrificing an authentic self. It’s a disservice to humankind, really, to say there is just one thing you can be at a time with certainty, and certainly to say that one cannot be adaptable simply because they are authentic. Especially if adaptability is their authenticity.I mean, his callsign is “Jack of All Trades.”  –And that’s less of a callsign and more of him making a joke. 

If killjoy names hold identities you design for yourself, he’s still Jack. He chooses that.

(And I get that like… its more of a sense of “adaptability” in terms of delivering on someone’s expectations or desires rather than a broad application of the term, I don’t mean to say this is a poor question because it’s not. It just. Feels like a point at which contention should be made. Context is key, obviously, but labelling authenticity and adaptability as opposites feels …wrong?)

14. Pick a mask. What is its purpose?For the sake of argument, we’ll call Haven Leader™ a mask. I suppose it does, at times, call for him to put aside a bias or embrace a bit of false bravado, so you could say it’s something liek an altered personality. From that angle its purpose is to protect and inspire. (Really though it just feels like more of a facet of him than a separate identity. Part of the package, not a separately sold item.)

15. In a life or death scenario, what mask do they wear?Okay so on this I have wiggle room. I still hesitate to call it a mask because it’s more like layers of the thing as opposed to any intetional coverup. He’s going to present with a “not if I kill (person/threat/etc.) first” kind of righteous determination/anger, but I feel like, at the same time, it’s clear that that’s the surface of a torrent of emotions that also includes ripe desperation and corpulent fear that aren’t actually all that hard to detect.

16. At The End Of All Things, a la Frodo on the slopes of Mt. Doom, what mask do they wear?This…feels like it’s going to be really similar to the last answer. You might primarily be presented with one thing (in this case … acceptance I think? Very “I’m glad to be here with you, Sam” feels right, since you mentioned it) but it’s not in an attempt to guise anything else, per se, it’s just what’s most important to him. You know it’s sad and crushing, and that’s still present, but that’s not the point that stands to be made.

17. Alone with the most important person in their life, what mask do they wear?None. (And the ease of familiarity draws out more of his physically affectionate displays and it’s the best, I love.)

18. Are they easily pressured into taking on altered roles, or do they only do so out of necessity?Absolute necessity, and I’d say he’s really almost at a point where a “necessity” for it can’t exist to him anymore. (I mean, see the last part of answer 11 (again))

19. Do their masks tend to exaggerate features of their authentic self, or mute them?His former masks uh..both. Obviously there were faces he put on that almost deconstructed his entire identity, but things like the new-to-the-desert-and-angry was an exaggeration of his outrage and sense of injustice. A belated response to everything his mother caused, if you will, reawaked by her freshly abandoning them a second time and having (as he thought at the time) lost Maddy forever.