Anyway, I've got a character with a very noticeable and gnarly scar on her face that originated from a traumatic event and is a couple years old by the time of the story I'm writing. She's a pretty serious character, but still jokes from time to time. Would it be appropriate for her to make gallows humor-type jokes about it every once in a while along the lines of "Of course that guy's scared of me, have you seen my face? lmao" or would that just be weird? I know some people missing limbs and/or with prosthetics will make jokes about that, but I just wanted to make sure something like this wouldn't be weird and out of place.

Hello!

To me, it would not be as much weird as it would strike me as sad. I do not want to say that real life people with "gnarly" scarring never joke like that but if I read a character say something of that nature I would automatically assume they are just trying not to show how they actually feel rather than that the character actually finds the concept of being seen as scary funny. Please keep in mind that even if people being scared of a person because they have a facial difference is not a trauma to your character specifically it is very much traumatic for a lot of real life people.

I guess my answer boils down to “please just be aware that for a lot of people the joke your character is making is very real and could remind them of painful things”. Keep in mind your potential readers who might have gone through that and decide if it fits in your story and if you are willing to unpack the fact that people do in fact get scared of people who look like your character and how it affects her - if it is a no for the last one I would recommend reconsidering it. I do not think it would be a good idea to show it as “just a joke, this does not happen” and not a real problem.

Thanks for your ask,

Hey thanks so much! Pinterest is the bane of my artistic existence so thank you for the heads-up. 🥲

(I picked these at random but it kinda looks like I wrote “five snail” so do with that what you will)

F: Fenris - Dragon Age. mostly for his voice actor actually. His voice rules. Also his character design FUCKS

V: Veezara - Skyim! He dies in the actual game but i have mods that keep him alive bc he is my bestie 😌

S: Sten - Dragon Age. i like him . hes mean and ugly and ??? my poor little meow meow or w/e 😌😌

N: Namira - TES. Lady of the Ancient Darkness? of Rot and Decay and the Slithering Things? Girlboss.

😏😏

She likes to watch the sunset,

We can't lose touch but we can't let go,

Everybody chooses their own love,

Purple haze,

What are their love languages:

Haven't thought much about it before, but for atul’haka: acts of service, quality time, and a bit words of affirmation. For ivan: also words of affirmation but way moreso, and receiving gifts!

If you want 2 hang out w/ haka, you gotta get used to going on like. Endless hikes and stuff. He loves doing that w/ people he knows, friends or family or partners :]. Also his “”hikes”” will definitely be the most dangerous things you’ve ever been on . acts of service for him goes both ways; he naturally picks up the load for other ppl (ESpecially ivan, like he barely lets ivan do stuff bc he’s like “no no allow me i got it :)”). Tho it means a LOT 2 him if someone turns around and reciprocates :].

atul’haka is not very talkative (at least, not as much as ivan is; its usually ivan doing all the talking during their conversations w/ haka offering a quip or comment every once in a while). But he is vry good at giving random-ass well-thought out compliments to ivan, who is knocked out cold everytime bc of it (figuratively jhkfd). Nd when i said he appreciates gifts, i mean like. He went “!!!!!!!!!!😳😳👉👈👉👈” when haka gave him that scarf like. He doesnt care much for big flashy stuff, its just like. “Woah you thought of me when you saw this so u bought/made it??? Lets kiss right now”

How do they feel about PDA: pretty comfortable with it, the both of them! Like get these two a room levels of comfortable dkghfg. I think they do it out of spite TBH. they uhm. Didnt do much pda back in their early days At All tho, mostly during the rare times they found themselves in silvermoon/any belf town since it was mega Sus and haka didnt want to get ivan into trouble yknow (yknow bc haka is very clearly a forest troll and everything). But when they got older and shit calmed down they stopped caring AND also lots of spite.

Most surprising thing they learned about each other after they started dating: gonna cheat a lil bit bc they didnt start dating until After they got to know each other pretty well, but something that rlly surprised ivan was haka’s sense of humor by far. Like when he first met him he thought he was going to just be gruff and stoic all the time, but as they spent more time together haka opened up a lot and ivan found a guy who just liked to have fun and tell a good story :]