02. What is one of your character’s biggest insecurities? Are they able to hide it easily or can others easily exploit this weakness?

Cesc’s insecurities deal a lot with masculinity; because he’s so predominately a gendered color, people tend to make a lot of assumptions about his masculinity/sexuality. He doesn’t quite understand it (or why he gets it so often), and he wonders often if he’s ‘enough of a man’, even though he’s not super sure wtf that means. He tends to wear baseball caps when he doesn’t feel like dealing with it–although he wears those frequently anyway–and regrets that his antlers make hoods impossible. 

He’s not very overt with the insecurities and he doesn’t overcompensate by falling into toxic masculinity, thankfully, but he does show some exasperation when people make assumptions about him to his face these days. 

03. What would be their favorite physical trait about themselves?

Cesc is sort of vaguely aware that he’s a good-looking guy in the way that most people over-nitpick themselves but can’t deny that people tell them they look nice. He thinks his hands are pretty nice and likes his jaw; he hates to shave but still makes sure he doesn’t have any neckbeard going on that would ruin the overall look. 

15. Is there a certain person in this world that they cannot stand? The very mention of this person’s name makes them tremble with anger or fear. 

Uh, Cesc hates Jamie a lot, buuuuut that’ll happen when someone tries to kill you. Gertrude talks to Cesc fairly frequently about forgiveness, and he’s trying, but it’s not working out super well. That feeling is more conflicted–they WERE friends–but he also loathes Cerise, even though she’s dead and he’s kind of ashamed of still hating her. 

17. Does your character have dreams of getting married and/or having children?

Right now, Cesc is mentally like… 19? So he does think of that stuff as kind of far-flung plans he can get to. He’s immensely worn down by the idea of romance and managing to have an actual healthy relationship, but if he lets himself get past that frustration and resignation, he does want to get married. He’s aware the idea of natural children is probably not possible to him, but ever since meeting Claire, he’s started to think that fatherhood would be a nice goal. He’s always liked and enjoyed being around children, and he feels like in the future he would want to adopt, if he could. He certainly would have a very difficult time being with a woman who didn’t want children. 

30. When it comes to the arts (music, film, theater, etc), what does your character like?

Music, Cesc listens to a lot of boring top-40s and cafe chill music while he works, whatever Vivi and Shep put on in the kitchen, and he listens a lot to the chill channels on Pandora and XM. He likes Muse and also has a fondness for old jazzy standards. He can be caught singing things like Autumn Leaves, My Funny Valentine, that kind of thing. He mostly listens to radio mixes depending on mood rather than curating things himself. 

He goes to musical theatre and opera with Ethiriel, which he enjoys, but partly because of her enjoyment. He is moved by some opera arias and gets musical theatre stuck in his head–of the two, he’ll take the opera. 

As for pop culture, Cesc doesn’t like to watch much TV or movies; he doesn’t like sitting still for that long when he could be doing something active. He’ll watch a summer blockbuster in theatres, but otherwise, he will watch sports, sports media, and sports documentaries. His Netflix is just 30 for 30s. 

32. If your character’s lover offered to take them out on a dream date, what would they want to do?

They would go for a hike, have a picnic in a clearing, and then go to a baseball game. He’s not really hard to please. 

37. What are some of your character’s pet peeves? What are some things that annoy them or disgust them?

People handling food right after they handle money (don’t you know where that’s been?). People who refuse to wait patiently in line. People who are rude to cashiers (both at work and at other establishments). Entitlement. People who, when he tells them he likes baseball, tell him how boring and slow they find it (who cares? w h o c a r e s ????)

Vivi: 

08. What is, perhaps, their biggest flaw? Are they aware of this or oblivious to it?

There are a lot of things Vivi doesn’t take seriously enough. She finds a lot of problems just funny; she tends to leap over hurt feelings with a laugh and a smile and a wave of her hand. She can be sweet, but if she doesn’t care, she doesn’t care. She can be quite mercurial with her attentions and affections in ways that worry Cesc and Shep at times. 

She knows she is this way and tries to be more even-keeled, but it’s difficult for her–like I said, when she doesn’t care, she doesn’t care.

09. Do they have a favorite season? What about a favorite holiday?

Autumn and Halloween. Halloween is her shared birthday with Zul, whom she adores, and is a fantastic reason to celebrate the macabre and dress however she pleases and do whatever she likes. She loves Halloween. She takes the day off from the bakery and all her other responsibilities every year. 

Autumn she loves because of the colors, the crispness, and the closeness to Halloween. 

11. What is something that would make your character fly into a rage?

It sort of depends on her mood. The idea of someone trying to take advantage of Cesc could alternately make her fly into a rage or laugh and tell him to suck it up, depending. She gets VERY annoyed when either Shep or Cesc fall into self-pitying and destructive behaviors and loses her temper at them when she thinks they’re being idiots. 

14. Do they live alone or with family? How do they feel about their family/roommates?

Vivi lives in the apartment above the bakery with Shep and Cesc. The bakery is three stories, with the bakery on the ground floor, Shep and Cesc’s rooms on the second, and Vivi’s on the third. Now that she and Shep are together, they kind of switch between rooms, but there’s still the general assignment of rooms. They’re all tolerably neat and get along well, and nobody shirks their chores too often, so it’s not a problem. Nobody’s threatened to move out, although Cesc kiiind of wishes they’d spend more time in Vivi’s room than Shep’s. 

23. What is your character like when it comes to school? What subjects are they good/bad at? Do they get in trouble a lot or are well behaved?

Vivi’s schooling happened on the road; her parents were performers and she traveled with them. When they settled down, she continued with the circus. She had lessons from the same tutor that taught the rest of the company’s children. With things she cared less for, she would easily and guiltlessly shirk her lessons, and with things she enjoyed, she would dive in wholeheartedly. She did fairly well in her lessons, but she wore her tutor out with her frivolity (which was much, much worse in those days), and the tutor probably never had a happier day than when she got her diploma. 

Shep: 

07. Is there a catchphrase or sound that they tend to make a lot (likely without being aware of it)?

Shep curses a lot, he does actually say ‘mate’, and he does yell ‘oi’ at people to get their attention. 

11. What is something that would make your character fly into a rage?

Shep has a shorter fuse than anyone in the house. Ways to piss him right off include: being a clueless asshole, being too loud, being rude, and doing anything he finds exhausting. Ways to REALLY piss him off include: fucking with Cesc, Vivi, Iorek, Granny or animals. He will punch you in the goddamn throat. 

12. Is there some particular talent, skill, or attribute that they simply could not give up?

Shep likes to work with his hands, he loves carpentry, and he really enjoys general functional engineering. Puttering with things is his favorite thing to do. 

29. What is one of the most courageous things your character has ever done for a loved one?

He almost died because of Vivi, but not really because he chose to–although he would have. His life hasn’t been marked by courage; he left his home because he was quickly becoming an unhappy alcoholic, and he stays with Vivi come hell or high water because he loves her more than anything. He stood up for his sister (and her honor, although she quickly informed him she didn’t need any of that b.s.) plenty of times when he was growing up. Maybe the most courageous thing he’s ever done was forgive Jamie for being crazy as shit and trying to kill him, mostly so that Vivi and Cesc could hopefully let it go and move on from it, too. 

33. If your character wanted to be alone, where would they go?