Let's talk meme

[petronia]

From fahye:

Pick a character I write, and I will give you the top five ideas/concepts/other I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to depicting them accurately. This includes both original characters and characters about whom I write fanfic.

Actually, you can extend that to any character I've read a lot of fic about... not that you'd know necessarily, of course. XD My voracious and not-particular-picky fic consumption is (among other things) a way of honing my own ideas of characterization against Fandom, like window shopping or a card-sorting exercise. Right, right, wrong, right, hmm, wrong, poor taste, right. Reading is what creates the model. Writing only introduces quirks.

Or, pick up the meme so I can ask you.

Or-or, I was taking Ask Me Anything questions on my Tumblr the other day - click link, ask me a question?

Comments

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Asami. OK! This is more one where I don't agree with every characterization out there.

1) He doesn't do moments of self-doubt. Not repressing or anything, nature just made him a magnificent bastard. It's that or bust. He doesn't have a lot of sympathy for other people's self-doubt, either. Either you want something or you don't want it; if you want it, do your best to get it.

2) He thrives on challenge. It's kind of that Ayn Rand thing. XD; He likes strength, competence, resilience. Anything he can run roughshod right over doesn't hold his interest. I think his fondness for Takaba (which implies respect, although he takes Takaba about as seriously as a toddler) is predicated at the most basic level on Takaba's indestructability... by Asami, at any rate. As ukes go, Takaba is a 4WD off-road vehicle with body armour that can stop tank rounds.

3) He's very protective. Incredibly territorial. But he's not paranoid-jealous, which is nice. I mean, he's usually given a good reason to scowl and shoot ppl in the face. XD; There's no sense that he's overextending himself, that the implied responsibility weighs on him or causes him angst. He's a yakuza boss, if you work for him or sleep in his bed he'll make sure you're taken care of, that's what a yakuza boss does.

4) He's genuinely fond of Feilong too, but Feilong has the same job as he does and that seems to be Asami's version of Friend Zone. Also if he perceives Takaba as a little kid I think he perceives Feilong as an emo teen with daddy issues. This is because Feilong is an emo teen with daddy issues.

5) He expects loyalty but the leash is long, nearly invisible unless you try to throw it off... It's a subtlety but important to VF's overall non-skeeviness, that he doesn't manipulate or force Takaba into going back to him. When he wants to see Takaba he... goes to see him, almost like a normal boyfriend.

6) ......I kind of fell asleep in the middle of this for the whole night...... Nnn apparently I need a 6 but it's an important 6, to wit, it doesn't destroy Asami's self-image to genuinely care about ppl like this. I don't know what that says about his background, but Takaba, Feilong, are well within his capacity to handle and not have a meltdown over omg what have I done with my life up to this point.

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

2) So much is explained, lol, thank you for this--I've been sort of stumped as to what Asami sees in him, other than a satisfactory fuck obv (if it weren't satisfactory he wouldn't continue to bother). An indestructible toddler or small dog, yes, the kind you can drop from 3 floors up--repeatedly--and he just bounces off the concrete and maybe howls for a minute but then promptly goes back to playing with his toy. From the perspective of an onlooker it's sort of amazing, not to say uncanny--why doesn't he sustain lasting damage? Too dumb for trauma?? XD So I can see why this trait at least would be of interest.