8, 14, 21, 27, 35 / share with the class
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONS // still accepting!
8. Where and when do they seem most and least at ease? Why? How can you tell?
Rhys likes to have a plan and be in charge, and feels most at ease when he is being listened to and supported by those around him. He generally enjoys problem solving when it comes to work, though he can get anxious when a carefully laid plan suddenly requires changes (this can sometimes be his faultâif heâs too comfortable, then heâll sometimes get overconfident and forget to add contingencies in his planning). If heâs in a good mood, itâs normally pretty obvious as his speech becomes a lot more casual and he has a tendency to ramble excitedly. If heâs alone (or thinks he is) he will also 100% do his own victory jingle and/or dance.
Itâs equally easy to tell if heâs not at ease, since heâll almost definitely be moaning about it. He greatly dislikes anarchy, and gets stressed out by sudden, drastic change, especially if it is beyond his control. With that said, he has been known to make some surprisingly bold and innovative decisions under pressureâthough not without a lot of complaints.
14. What do they care deeply about? What kind of loyalties, commitments, moral codes, life philosophies, passions, callings, or spirituality and faith do they have? How do these tend to be expressed?
Heâs a workaholic and incredibly committed to his career, in which heâs had a clear goal in mind since he was very young. Though his family wasnât exactly hard up, he wasnât born into wealth eitherâso has always known things will never just be handed to him, and learned the value of hard work early on.Â
When at Hyperion he bought into the fatalistic âsurvival of the fittestâ and âevery man for himselfâ culture that surrounded him, although he still felt strongly loyal to his friends and believed in always returning favours (at least in part so as never to end up indebted to anyone).
By BL3 his thinking has evolved, and he sees that constantly pitting employees against each other as Hyperion did is a recipe for disaster; so he firmly believes in making sure that his staff are treated fairly, and is always on the lookout for talent in unexpected placesâsince that was where he started out himself.Â
His company is the most important thing to himâto the point that by BL3 a few of his close relationships, while not broken, have certainly faded a little as he became even more dedicated to his work.
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?
Rhys is relatively charismatic and doesnât have much trouble making friends, though this is a practised skill rather than an innate one and his awkwardness can become apparent if heâs surprised (which, depending on his luck, some might find sort of charming, too). On a pragmatic level, he tends to be drawn to people who he feels complement his own skillsâoften, this means people who are physically more powerful and fearsome than him, which obviously can be a bit of a dangerous game.
He often attracts oddballs and outcasts, as having seen some pretty strange and extravagant things means he is often able to ignore less blatant strangeness if the person has other qualities or skills that interest him. In this vein, he has an unintentional knack for making the people around him feel accepted, and is good at inspiring and retaining loyaltyâfor instance, by BL3 most of his staff (including Zer0) are very fond of him.Â
Rhys spent most of his adult life as part of a corporation where backstabbing was frequent, encouraged and expected. This means that while heâll happily be friendly with a wide range of people, he is somewhat cautious in who he opens up to and there are only a few people he considers truly close. Once someone has entered this small circle, he is incredibly loyal to them and trusts them completely.Â
Unfortunately, once Rhys is attached to someone, it also becomes immediately obvious what a complete dork he is, and often by then itâs too late to end the friendship.
27. What do they strongly like and dislike, in any category? Why?
I chose pets because although I donât really think heâs an animal person, his aquarium in BL3 is very cute to me. u_u
Likes:+ Fish (pretty, quiet, low-maintenance if youâre rich and can afford all the accessories)+ Dogs (loyal, obedient)+ Horses (thinks they look cool and relates to being tall and skittish)+ Honorable mention to virtual and/or robotic pets for being interesting to him on a coding level and much easier to look after than regular animals
Dislikes:- Birds (pretty but loud and messyâdislikes rakks for similar reasons)- Bugs (are icky)- Cats (too aloof, donât respect him)- Domesticated âmonstersâ like skags and jabbers (sorry, Fl4kâhe just constantly thinks theyâre going to eat him :C)
35. How and why do they internalize knowledge? What effect has that had on them?
Rhys is often quick to process professional and intellectual information, but slower to process more emotional and personal experiences. For example, heâs the sort of person who could easily learn and retain a bunch of obscure trivia about a movie before watching it and repeat it all during the opening credits⊠and not quite register why the person he saw it with dumped him immediately afterwards.
While he can quickly analyse a problem that is concrete, helping him to solve it next time, his tendency to keep people at armâs length means he is less experienced in handling problems that involve emotionsâincluding his own emotions. As a result he can sometimes appear shallow or even controlling when problems come up in a personal relationship, as his tendency is to attempt to turn the issue into something physical he can âfixâ rather than trying to understand the other personâs perspective.
He cares a lot about his physical image and will fuss over it a lot, but is inept at self-reflection and takes a long time to acknowledge and address deep emotional insecurities and pain. When deeply hurt, he will often appear numb at the time and later deflect concerns with jokes and sarcasm, unless he is forced to confront the issue or reaches a breaking point.
This is just a really long way of saying heâs kind of smart, but also a dumbass.