Graphite, palette, and pastel for Tristan?
Ooh!! Thank you!! These are really thought provoking questions...
From this ask game!
Graphite: what's something decently common that your character does in a unique or different way? (like how graphite is present in all pencils, but not everyone uses pure graphite)
Tristan generally marches to the beat of his own drum, and somewhat consciously does things according to his own fancy and against convention. What's harder to think of is anything he does that's decently common. Lol. But here's a few things I can think of atm, and that I've developed specifically so far:
First thing I think of is his appearance. It was not uncommon for young boys to have longer hair in the period, and Tristan has shoulder length hair in a typical style BUT he likes to put his hair in a ponytail, which is kind of out of fashion by 1810 (I think). My idea is he ties it back with a black ribbon or finds an old wig pouch/bag. This is partially the result of his obsession with the late 18th century (he's like a "born in the wrong generation" kid longing for the 80s only he's longing for the 1780s..) and partially because of his going through a phase where he was really interested in the theories of Franz Mesmer, who rocked a similar look:
Also related to his appearance, Tristan wears suits with jackets like other boys of his era BUT once he's on his own (when he lived with his family he would not have been able to do this) he experiments with mixing in feminine articles of clothing in subtle ways. One of the ways he does this is by wearing spencer jackets (worn by women and girls) in lieu of an actual young boy's jacket. Both types of jacket were often cropped. He doesn't do this out in society either--the differences are enough where you can definitely tell which is which. He does it in the presence of all the supernatural freaks he hangs out with though, being that they aren't themselves concerned with gendered social conventions.
Left, a spencer. Right, a boy's jacket.
Tristan, like many aristocratic people of the period, greatly enjoys dancing BUT since he had so many health problems growing up he never had a dance master, so he's only been able to glean so much knowledge of how to "actually" dance from observation, and so fills in the blanks with his own fanciful movements. He couldn't do this at an actual ball, but he loves dancing about like a wild fairy whenever possible. (Usually just by himself...in the woods...)
Like most aristocratic people of the era, he speaks in an upper class "refined" accent BUT it sounds a bit old-fashioned, overly formal, and exaggerated. This is partially him overcompensating because he feels like an outcast of his family/their world, partially due to the practical shortcomings of being somewhat isolated from society as a whole, and partially due to him being a kid who's trying to sound "grown up". He also purposefully uses excessive flowery language because he thinks it sounds pretty/wants to add a dramatic flair to daily life/thinks it makes him sound smart. Since he reads so much he may use language more commonly found in writing than in casual speech. He also never goes to a school and thus hasn't mixed with other kids his own age much. Any slang he uses he gets from Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
Like most kids, he played with toys when he was younger, including ones that have heads and limbs, such as toy soldiers, dolls, etc. (due to his family's wealth Tristan is also lucky enough to have mechanical automaton figures) BUT their "lives" did not last long, because Tristan was quite fond of chopping their heads off with a model guillotine he also had.
Palette: list four of your character's primary skills, then share at least two ways these skills might blend or overlap
languages (French and Latin)
magic / occult
literary knowledge
hairdressing/cosmetics
His knowledge of Latin might have helped him access some occult texts. His ability to read French likely allowed him to read a wider range of literature, AND also access French beauty manuals/journals describing French fashions in hair and cosmetics.
Pastels: Give me three colors that best represent your OC. Now give me three colors that your OC likes best. Is there an overlap?
Purple, blue, red. Purple, blue, black. Yep lol
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G'day, I hope you are doing well.
Ever since I finished the story of Dungeon Meshi (all supplementary material included) I've been writing down bullet points on characters in addition to in-depth synopses as a way to tidy up my rather busy mind. To this end I've also greatly enjoyed reading other folks' interpretations of particular characters, as it gives me further insight into aspects of that character I may have glossed over.
However, there's one character I'm struggling to write a cohesive synopsis about, that being none other than 'miss enigma' herself, Falin Touden. I get that her whole shtick is that she's kind of a mystery, but I find myself drawing a lot of blanks when it comes to her as a character, and while I have nailed down some important bullet points, there are a lot of different interpretations on her, all of which starkly contrast one another. Though perhaps it's just the wording. Hard to say.
It could very well be that I'm being too dense i.e. perceiving "Falin is willing to risk killing others to save her friends." and "Falin, in the heat of the moment, when faced with certain death, was willing to face the prospect of harming potential passersby in a final Hail Mary to get her friends to safety." as entirely different observations. I have a hard time with those kinds of things.
With this being a hub for all sorts of observations, interpretations and cool trivia, I was wondering if you'd perhaps be willing to share how you yourself perceive Falin as a character, so I can compare notes and perhaps gain a more proper understanding of her as a character as a result. I know this question is very broad and kind of vague, but if you could spare the time I'd be most grateful.
Other than that, I wish you an excellent day.
Hello!!! I love Falin!!!!!
She *is* a mystery, we mostly know Falin through the perception other characters have of her instead of a direct deep look onto who she is, which I find very interesting. I think the best post I've seen about her (which as usual I can't remember where edit: someone linked it thank uu) I think called her perceived altruism/love "selfish" and I've been thinking about that ever since.
In that sense the way she cares so much about the comfort of people around her might be a way to keep *her own* comfort because she doesn't want to see other people suffer.
This girly died and came back to life from bones and the first thoughts she has is that she caused trouble for her loved ones
She probably has felt this way since she was a child, "because of her" that her family was torn apart "because of her" that Laios left, her mom was sick, her father had to send her away. (wasn't actually her fault but she might think it is)
I imagine ever since then Falin has done her best to not cause trouble and to make the people she loves happy, everything we know about her and the things she was doing was always for the people she loved, that's why I enjoy the post canon comic where Toshiro asks her hand in marriage again so much. The first time she considers accepting just because "might as well" while for the second time she finally wants to live for herself.
I think Falin herself has lost who she "really is" by trying to accommodate everyone around her and that's probably part of why we ourselves don't really know her, so much so that the most cynical character is uncomfortable around her (probably cause he notices Falin is "hiding" something)
I think Falin is quite the melancholic character to be honest, someone who has lost herself in self sacrifice and who is only now learning how to live for herself doing what she wants.
Both the teleportation scene and the bit about healing show "cracks" in the selfless front she puts out tbh. By context I don't think what she did was only due to "desperation of the moment" she says out loud "Even if I end up hurting others I want you and my brother to live on". She weighted out how much suffering she might cause and decided she wanted to save them anyway, and I'm sure in that calculation she knew that they would suffer because of her sacrifice too.
Falin is saving them for herself, I'm not great with words so this is all over the place and maybe sounds a little negative about Falin but the thing is, you cannot live your life for other people, you can't sacrifice yourself for other people's happiness, you shouldn't erase your own presence so others are happier and I think Falin is starting to learn that by the end.
I'd probably keep rambling without getting anywhere and missing a lot of more meaningful moments but I'll stop here, if anyone has recs for Falin analysis please share!
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