#sochi canons

I already answered fresh cut grass, so I’m going to skip that one!

acai berry: what is something you’ve always wanted to try but have been too scared to?

Skydiving, bungee jumping, base jumping…and pretty much any of those activities that mean jumping off of something ridiculously high while attached to some sort of device.

It seems silly since I don’t mind heights, and with some of the parkour I’ve done, I obviously don’t mind jumping from one roof to another roof (though since I’ve been in a long-term relationship I think twice about that), but there’s just a difference because when it’s me doing it, I have control over my body and whatever negative fallout there might be.

With something like skydiving or base jumping, you’re trusting a parachute.  With bungee jumping you’re trusting a bungee cord.  It’s just very very different, and considering my body is my livelihood AND my instrument…so much of my definition of myself is wrapped up in my physical capabilities…that trusting it to something like that is just really scary to me.

((I’m going to answer this for Sochi’s canon before and after Aleister.

As a child, he never really had any housework. Maids and assistants cleaned up his trailer–not that he had much mess since he wasn’t allowed distractions like toys–and he lived with April and Banhi if he wasn’t on set or allowed to visit his parents home. They had housekeepers there as well.

When they moved to Boston, Sochi didn’t interact more than he had to with his parents, but when bored and alone he’d find himself cleaning, organizing, and even categorizing things. He actually had his own things to do this with, so it was a new experience. When his parents would leave, he’d do the same throughout the rest of the house.

As he grew closer to his parents, he took a more active role with cleaning. The only thing he didn’t clean was the kitchen, including dishes. The kitchen was Fatima’s territory, and both her and Gupta doing dishes together was a little intimate tradition for them.

With Aleister, they do a bit more sharing; though, certain patterns remain the same. Sochi will clean and organize if he gets bored, and since he’s home things get clean. Now he does dishes too (and had probably broken his fair share of them in the beginning), but I’m sure there are some things regarding the kitchen Aleister prefers to deal with himself.

((This is actually interesting. Despite his childhood behind the camera and the modeling he did for years, he really never took pictures of himself outside of anything performance related. He’d take pictures of friends and family on his phone, but selfies weren’t a thing. Any pictures of himself he posted were ones from his modeling portfolio, headshots, photos from the BIT or dance, and, generally, photos someone else took of him.

Mostly this was because he didn’t see the point in taking a selfie. They turned out worse than posed photos (in his mind), and it felt uncomfortable for him.

This changed when he started dating Aleister. Not only was Aleister a photographer with a deeper appreciation of the meaning behind a captured moment than Sochi had had, but Aleister wanted to see pictures of Sochi that weren’t posed and perfect. He wanted to see just plain Sochi.

I actually remember an off-tumblr text conversation between the two of them before they started dating where Aleister asked for a picture, Sochi sent one of his modeling headshots, and Aleister called him out and asked for a “real picture.” Wanting to be seen as the real him was very new for Sochi, was a factor that made his crush on Aleister skyrocket, and also lead to him starting to take selfies.

((Alright. Hear that Allie? It’s your fault. I’m laughing, but I don’t know why.

Pizza is one of Sochi’s guilty pleasure foods. He’ll eat pizza even if he’s not craving it, but that’s usually when he’ll eat veggie pizza (especially with bell peppers) and will actually be concerned about how much he’s eating. That’s also when he’ll eat a big salad with it.

▼ - opinion or value of theirs I disagree with

((Sochi’s value system when it comes to trusting others and forgiving others.  He’s all heart, and he’s very genuine and open with people, and I respect that about him, but I fundamentally disagree on two points. 

1) He trusts implicitly.  He has good perception but poor intuition, which makes having implicit trust a dangerous thing because people can skew your perception of them with sweet words and manipulative actions.  In my opinion, trust needs to be earned, not given.  Sochi’s too soft for that, though.

2) He forgives easily.  No matter how someone has hurt him, he forgives easily.  Even Shawn, to a certain extent, was forgiven.  He hates him, but he’s forgiven him.  To Sochi, this is something he has to do to move on.  Forgiveness, in his opinion, is for the person who was hurt so they can let go.  I think that’s naive because, much like trust, I believe forgiveness needs to be earned.

All in all, I think my issue with Sochi’s values are that any walls he puts up are somewhat non-effective because they’re only defeated by his ideals, and while to a certain extent they’re admirable, I find them a bit too naive.  Mostly, it comes from the fact he’s emotionally driven with a big heart, and I just don’t understand that because I am very rational.))

▶ - one plot I’ve always wanted to do with them

((Don’t really know.  I’m rather bad at plotting and coming up with plots.  Besides, some of the plots I was really excited about never got off the ground.  I had a thread that took place in Spain during Sochi’s backpacking trip when he was 19, but that starter wasn’t ever answered.  There was another one that took place during his and Shawn’s relationship at a bakery where Sochi would have gotten to interact with a little toddler that could have been really interesting to play out.  Those would have been really fun. 

((In all honesty, I’m just happy that he has healthy romantic and sexual habits now.  None of his other relationships were entirely fulfilling or even positive, and considering all that happened to Sochi because of Shawn, it’s honestly a testament to his desire to recover that Sochi is even remotely sexual.  Of course, it has a lot to do with Aleister as a character, and I’m grateful that Aleister was patient with him and gentle with him, especially because Sochi isn’t inherently either of those things with himself.

With that said, I do think Sochi can push himself (and Aleister) a little too hard without really thinking of the consequences.  Sochi is a little shit, and that is even more noticeable in the bedroom–he definitely puts emphasis on the power in power bottom–meaning that if Sochi says he wants something, odds are he’s going to find a way to get it.  I think he’s a little too selfish in that respect, but it’s often not the physical high he craves so much as the emotional high of getting what he wants.

All in all, any sexual experience is primarily emotional to Sochi.  In his other relationships, sex was something he used to try and strengthen that emotional connection, which hardly ever worked the way he wanted to, or was something expected of/taken from him.  With Aleister, emotional intimacy and connection is the goal, ultimately, and that’s much healthier.  Sochi has always believed that how something makes him feel is the most important among anything he does, which includes sex.  It’s not something I understand about Sochi–because I’m not an emotion centered individual–but it is important to him.  I am, however, proud that Sochi has that viewpoint (and has held onto it through relationships like Chieu and especially Shawn), and glad it still guides him.

Alignment :: What would be their D&D alignment? How might it come into play? 

((Chaotic Good, definitely.  I was thinking of Neutral Good at first, but he’s definitely much more of an independent and free spirit.  While he does believe in laws and rules and tries to be as moral as he can be, his morality is centered in what he feels the strongest, so there are some laws and rules that he disagrees with based on feeling that they’re unfair or morally wrong.  Essentially, he has a big heart and a free spirit. 

Which makes the most sense considering he is a little shit.))

Escape :: What do they do to destress? How successful is it?

((Mostly, when Sochi’s stressed, it’s the kind where he needs to just shut himself off and be upset or sad.  When he does this, he’ll go outside, listen to music, and think.  At his parents house, that place was his trampoline in the backyard.  At his house with Al, it’s the swing in the backyard and Al and Gupta built together.  This is the most successful way of chilling out for him, especially if Al comes out with him and he gets a nice petting.

Kin :: What’s their role among their relations? Do they consider others family?

((Sochi has always been the type of person to believe that the title of “family” needs to be earned.  While he does have loyalty to his blood relations, he didn’t interact with them more than a couple weeks a year from the time he was five until he was eleven.  It took him a long time once he moved back in with his parents to get to a point where he didn’t resent them, and he learned from that that the most important thing about family to him was that he loved them for who they were to him not because of a blood connection.

This was only reaffirmed by how his father’s family treated him.  Because of their very traditionalist views, they already considered him something of a bastard child because 1) Gupta had broken off an arranged marriage to run away with Fatima, and 2) Fatima was half-British.  They started acknowledging him to others when he was a child star, but that dwindled once his parents moved him to Boston.

The final nail in the coffin with them was on a visit back to visit them when he was 16.  He was dating Aaron at the time, and he let it slip that he was bisexual and in a relationship with a guy, for which his father’s family–despite how Fatima raged and Gupta tried to plea and pacify–threw Sochi out and told him he was no longer a real Chauhan.  One of his aunts, who claims to be a witch, even cursed him to have bad luck and hardships to equal his sins.