aa_fandral | Question Meme [OOC]

Ask me questions about my character(s) and I will answer. The meme is entirely OOC, questions and answers both. Use it as a fun time to find about about character's choices, motivations, feelings, actions, or anything else you've been wondering.

I play: Mystique (Raven Darkholme), Fandral, and Bullseye.

Current Music: Hard Candy (film)

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From:

aa_sif

Does he have any conception of what qualities a woman might have to have for him to want to settle down with her? Is this a thing he’s ever considered?

What is Fandral’s family like?

Does he feel any type of obligations as a nobleman, aside from his role as courtier and warrior?

Loki has tried to kill Thor a couple times already. Why is this time so much worse?

What are Fandral's ambitions, or long-term hopes? What long-term hopes does he have for his friends?

Edited Date: 2012-12-15 10:23 pm (UTC)

From:

aa_fandral

Fandral has considered it because social expectations exist, but he hasn't really thought it through. It's an easy assumption that he knows she'd have to be a cool person, honorable, trustworthy, funny, a good conversationalist, and have to get along with his friends. She'd probably have to be pretty as well! However, the obvious set aside, he has 1) avoided thinking about what he wants in a wife and 2) difficulty picturing himself in that lifestyle to form more sophisticated hypotheses.

As his writer behind the scenes and having some godlike knowledge of Fandral's needs, however, I think he basically would be happiest married to someone he can mush the 3 categories (see my answers to Loki's questions above) together into. Whether because of sexism, bad experiences in court, habit/practice engineering beliefs, or a combination thereof, he's made use of stereotypes and templates to protect himself, in courtly games, from emotional harm (as seen in courtly games), and because it's comfortable and makes him happy right now. He doesn't know it and doesn't need to know it, but he'd be crazy for someone he could fight beside, as well as explore space and have lots of interesting sex and make decisions and engaging words with.

I have played characters who ~needed~, on some level, a significant other who could cauterize their emotional damage, or be reliable because they were used to dating selfish bastards, or take them down a peg, or share the same core cultural beliefs, or blah blah blah. Fandral isn't like that, really. Some say you can (or should) be married to your best friend, and that's what would work best for him.

Fandral's family consists of: mom (courtesan) and dad (noble warrior turned military advisor), 1 sister, and 2 half-brothers raised by other moms/families of varying ages (I think he probably had another half-brother who died in battle). They are not close. I think after the initial firestorm of passion, the love burned out of mom and dad's marriage a long time ago, although they're comfortable together and only get nasty/bitter about the infidelity and lack of fulfillment going on when it's rubbed into their faces. They are both fundamentally nice but Fandral gets his catty horrid streak from them and they're substantially worse about it, lacking the good influences Fandral has in his life. They are monstrous in their verbal fights and forget about it a day later. Though he wanted for nothing, Fandral nor any of his siblings got a lot of protection or guidance from them early on.

I figure his siblings are a mixed bag of those who fought against the parent's momentum and who went with it. His baby sister and he aren't close, so I figure she decided fuuuck that bs courtly people are miserable >8( and went ahead to study healing and horticulture with very specific, minor magic, though she possibly has an under-cultivated talent for art. She is not as pretty as Fandral but smarter, and Uror takes care of her. His half-sibs are probably second-tier warriors.

Fandral doesn't talk to any of them much. He'd say it's his fault, but none of them crave for intimacy with one another, really.

OBLIGATIONS: I believe the sense of honor he was brainwashed into does fold into that yes! If someone in Asgard wants for food, vouching for, or gifts, he'd be compelled to generosity about it. We've established our dude/ttes are rolling in it and, despite how he messes around with it sometimes, he doesn't value his material possessions quite as much as many of his peers do. Practical warriors are practical. None of us packed heavy for New Mexico, for ex, not even in the way of comic relief. And we must take care of the little guy!!

POSTING BEFORE IT ACCIDENTALLY OH NOES

From:

aa_fandral

Loki trying to kill Thor this time is the worst because, well, he succeeded. That generates a lot of angst! Successful murder aside, it is not that much worse than the other times, actually. It was always completely and entirely atrocious and horrible. However, it does get worse every time.

The first time in New Mexico, it looked like shit spiraling out of control, less deliberate, less thoroughly planned, as he'd tried non-lethal means until Thor became an increasingly problematic threat (partially the Warriors Three and Sif's fault, for coming down to try to bring him home). However, Thor attempting to reach out and fix it was thrown back in his face, which meant it was recognized.

As such, Loki's second attempt to kill Thor was worse than the first, assuming we're counting his crusade to take over Earth with the Chitauri army. I mean yeah that was also exacerbated by the fact he victimized hundreds of little humans who were minding their own business. Again Thor tried to reason with Loki, which I'm assuming Fandral knows he did or would have tried to do. Again Loki continued to escalate the situation until there were giant robot fish blowing up Manhattan, and who wants to rule Earth anyway?

This will have been Loki's third major attempt to Fandral's knowledge, and it succeeded. This, after yet more attempts from Thor to understand, make peace, make clear his stance, etc. Loki never seems interested in clarity or any other outcome besides murdering Thor's face off to get whatever he wants (rulership of Asgard? of Earth plus Asgard? the Nine Realms all, presumably). It's disgusting to Fandral that it doesn't matter how hard people try to become real and honest with him, how he has thrown out hundreds of years of childhood, how he could prooobablyy even get what he wants if he'd like, try a non-mass-murdering soloist I WANT IT NOW NOW NOW STOMP FOOT route. Fandral knows a little about politics and fame, and he knows Thor is well-loved, but Thor jeopardizes his own reputation all the time but nooo Loki has tojaglhsl--

In summary, Loki has cost the Nine Realms a lot of blood and heartache; more of it the more chances he'd given. Repeated demonstration has shown Loki cares more about his obfuscated final objective, and achieving it in his particular way, than he does about the lives and efforts of those who would love him enough to try, repeatedly, to help him be happy.

Ambitions! Fandral honestly doesn't have any. Horrific galactic wars and the looming threat of Thanos in the meta-narrative of Yggdrasil aside, he is pretty content. Things have gone well for 800 years and he isn't getting old by Asgardian standards, so he doesn't have to worry about decrepitude showing him up (suck on that, baby boomers). At the same time, the equilibrium is getting a little too familiar.

I feel that, while being a warrior is core to his archetype, our characters are adventurers too. For Fandral, that meant he had a thirst for new experiences, different sights, thrills he hadn't before experienced. However, visiting other realms, risking his own death, killing and claiming something new, being famous, rolling around with all sorts of ladies, that stuff is now varying iterations of the same old thing. This may be partly why he was relatively open-minded about Thor spending so much time on Earth, as well as why he looked askance at Bruce and has slept with Amora quite a few times now. At this point, the uncharted territory might well become internal, or more about looking deeper into people and places than adding more people and places to the list. He mi-ight want something different but uhh. Well he can spend a few centuries thinking about it before that surfaces into his consciousness, never mind action.

As for his friendssss he wants them to be happy, beyond or within the inertia they've built up over their years together, fighting, partying, etc. Like with Sif, he has this obscure, near-dead hope that Loki will actually 180, fess up, ...apologize, basically not be Loki anymore and upset Sif some in the process but then it will be OK and they'll get married or whatever it is she wants with him. He hopes Volstagg gets out of the life if that's what he wants, maybe find a wife, kids, all the food in the world. And Hogun become a Yeti in his next life or whatever. Whatever they want to do. Anything. He knows they technically 'have it all' as Aesir their age go, but he knows or just believes (i.e., ideas about human nature) that they still want something they don't yet have.

Fandral also wants them all to be friends forever. It would sort of suck to be the creepy old bachelor living above someone's garage, but he'd rather move in than watch them move on without him. Insofar as he doesn't actively think about this much at all, though it comes up in jokes and peripherally in his worries, of course.

Edited (typo) Date: 2012-12-16 01:31 am (UTC)