Hard Question Meme: 1,3,5,7,9 and 11
Character Development Questions: Hard Mode
1. Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?
Indeed, he does. His older brother, Stefan, was three years older than him. He and Stefan were very close, and they probably still would be if Stefan were alive. Kurt’s adoration of his brother bordered on idol worship. When he was young, Kurt believed everything his brother told him, without question, even when Stefan told him some pretty out-there things.
Jimaine is two years older than Kurt. They’ve always been close, though their relationship hasn’t been as emotionally intimate as Kurt’s relationship with Stefan. Kurt has never felt comfortable telling Jimaine just anything, not like he would with Stefan, and Jimaine has always felt more of a responsible role over Kurt. He’s her little brother, and she’s imitated their mother and cared for him since she was just two years old. The circus folk often called her a little mommy when she was young and helping to take care of Kurt. (I should also mention here that I have separated Jimaine Szardos and Amanda Sefton into two separate beings. That is just too uncomfortable for me to write.)
Rogue is also close in age to Kurt. I honestly forget the difference, but I believe he’s the elder one; nevertheless, he’s probably closest to her. It might be the fact that they are closer in proximity, and it might be the fact that they share an occupation. They also both know what it is to be different, to be a mutant, and to have some sort of barrier between themselves and everyone else, hers being her energy-draining mutation and his being his physical mutation. They both have been hurt by their mother Mystique, though Rogue has had much more experience with her, and they both are adopted kids. They’re strangers in New York, both having been raised apart from society. Really, there’s a lot they have in common, and because they live so close together, Kurt sees her more often and feels he can go to her when he needs someone to talk to.
3. What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?
Now, this is an interesting answer. I used to absolutely loathe Azazel, but XMFC and an rp friend changed that. I still can’t stand 616 Azazel, but XMFC Azazel was intriguing, and also there was all this fanart of Azzy being a father to his young son. Well, I ended up developing my own version of the red-skinned Neyaph king (which you can find at callmeazazel), and this is the one I’ve developed Kurt’s relationship with (because I write a lot of fic and it just worked out that way).
Azazel was absent for most of Kurt’s life. He ended up returning and wanting to get to know his son a little while after Kurt joined the X-Men. Kurt was torn. On the one hand, he really wanted this potential relationship, but on the other, he was angry and hurt for having been abandoned. Finding out that he resembled his father was even more painful; he’d always assumed that he’d been abandoned because his biological parents couldn’t accept his physical mutation, but this man resembled what people thought to be a demon even more than Kurt did. Still, because Kurt is the forgiving type, he allowed Azazel to explain. Kurt wanted answers, and he got them. As angry as he was, he made the decision to forgive. It wasn’t easy. It was a constant thing. After all, he and Azazel are incredibly different men with drastically different belief systems. They argued nearly every time they got together, and sometimes, those arguments turned into full-on fights, but Azazel persisted in pursuing a relationship with his son. They both made efforts to understand, or at least to leave certain topics well enough alone and accommodate one another, and now, they enjoy a peaceful relationship. It’s not terribly affectionate, and they’re not as close as either would like to be, but it’s still a work in progress. They get along, at least, and Azazel is very proud of his son.
5. On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?
His phone and his wallet. He doesn’t carry much else.
7. Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?
Oh, yes. Kurt has been diagnosed with PTSD, so he does suffer recurring nightmares and night terrors of traumatic events, and he often dreams about work, as many people who have such stressful and dangerous jobs do. He dreams about losing fights, losing friends, and pulling bodies of mutants beaten to death out of Dumpsters, all of which has happened in real life. He dreams a lot about deaths of others, of being in mortal danger, of getting his teeth knocked out, of losing limbs and eyes, and even about teleportation accidents (which are always messy).
9. Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?
Very much so. Kurt lives in an actual mansion with state-of-the-art technology, abundant food, and reliable utilities. Should he need or want anything, he has money to buy it. He has savings, he has healthcare (thanks to the school), and he has an image inducer; however, when he was growing up in the circus, money was always tight. Bills were paid in order of necessity, and there were times that they simply didn’t have enough money. He never got new clothes. Everything he owned was a hand-me-down. If Jimaine’s old clothes could pass as boy’s clothes, he wore them. Clothes were patched many times before being deemed unwearable and turned into rags or something else reusable. There were times Margali skipped meals to make sure her kids all had something to eat. Thankfully, times never got too lean, thanks to the circus family and Kurt’s priest, Vater Bauer. Once he learned of Margali’s going without, he made sure that would never happen again by giving her a portion of the offering his church took up for charity. Had the Szardoses not had their circus family or Vater Bauer, Kurt very well might have known hunger and want as a child. It also goes without saying that he never left the circus, but that also meant he never saw a doctor or a dentist. Thankfully, he was a healthy child.
11. In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?
That’s hard to say. Kurt is an X-Man. He’s faced death many times, and he’s come a lot closer to it than he’d ever want to admit. Three times come to mind, though, that would likely tie for the most afraid he’s ever been. The first would be when he was chased through the streets and nearly staked through the heart in Winzeldorf. The second would be when he faced a maddened and possessed Stefan and accidentally killed his brother, then had to face his mother. The third would be when he was living in misery and uncertainty in Amos Jardine’s trafficking circus.
