Character Studies: Introductions with Taira

After having a bit of indecision about what to write for this blog post, I decided to do a Character Studies interview with one of my 6 POV characters from the epic sci-fi, Taira. (Character Studies, by the way, is a monthly character interview from Morgan Dusky’s new blog, Studies in Character. You should look at her blog if you haven’t already — it’s written almost entirely be her characters.)

There’s two parts of the interview, but I’m just going to put them both in here. (You won’t get tired of Taira and her pessimistic attitude after 20 questions, will you?)

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• WHAT’S YOUR NAME?  DO YOU HAVE A NICKNAME?  IS THERE ANY MEANING BEHIND YOUR NAME OR YOUR NICKNAME?

My name is Taira, no, I don’t have a nickname, and I have no idea whether or not there’s any meaning behind my name. My parents never told me anything of that sort.

• HOW OLD DO YOU LOOK?  IS THAT YOUR REAL AGE?  HOW OLD ARE YOU, ACTUALLY?

I’m pretty sure I look around my real age, which is somewhere between 16 and 18; Lana hasn’t decided that yet.

• WHAT’S YOUR GENDER?

Female.

• WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOR?  HOW EASY IS TO TELL YOUR EYE COLOR FROM A DISTANCE?

Brown, and I have no idea. Do you expect me to be able to see my own eye color from a distance? I can assume it’s fairly easy to tell they’re a dark color, but I can’t be certain.

• WHAT’S YOUR ETHNICITY?  DOES ANYBODY EVER GET IT WRONG?

I grew up in the Outer Regions even though I was born in the city, but there’s not really any way to tell that. There’s a lot of different races in both places, so you can’t tell by skin color or anything. People have thought I’ve grown up in the city before, though, which I can understand. I like it better here.

• WHAT’S YOUR BUILD?  HOW TALL ARE YOU?  ARE YOU STRONG?

I’m not strong, at least physically, and I’m of average height. You could say I’m skinny, I guess.

• WHAT’S YOUR FOREMOST PHYSICAL TRAIT—THE FIRST THING SOMEONE WILL NOTICE ABOUT YOUR APPEARANCE?

The first thing that anyone would notice about me is that I’m usually removed from everyone else–standing in the corner of the room and all that. Or they might notice the glare, though that’s really not my fault. I have a nearly constant headache, and being around people makes it a million times worse.

• WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE OUTFIT, OR WHAT DO YOU WEAR THE MOST?  WHY IS THAT YOUR FAVORITE?

Well, Lana hasn’t exactly done enough world building to decide on clothing yet (*glares*) but I like clothes that look nice, but aren’t horribly stiff and uncomfortable. I don’t like to look sloppy or lazy, though.

•  HOW DO YOU USUALLY INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO NEW PEOPLE?

I don’t. Or I glare at them. If they want to talk to me after that, then that’s their choice.

• BONUS: WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE A PIRATE?

I don’t even know what a pirate is.

• HOW DO YOU USUALLY ENTER A ROOM?  (DRAMATIC ENTRANCE, WALK IN BEHIND SOMEBODY SO YOU AREN’T NOTICED, ETC.)

It’s not that I prefer to be unnoticed, it just makes my head hurt less if I stand in the corner, not to mention that I don’t like talking to people. So, yes, I usually try to slip in quietly without making a huge scene about it.

• HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN ONE WORD?

Ha, definitely not “enhanced”. Maybe “modified” would be better, or “different”. “Mutant” might work, even.

• THREE WORDS?

Misunderstood, modified, and aloof.

• WHAT KIND OF FIRST-IMPRESSION DO YOU USUALLY MAKE?  DO YOU THINK IT’S A GOOD FIRST-IMPRESSION?

I’m pretty sure I make the impression of a cold, reserved person who’s aloof from everyone else and hates talking to people. Is it a good first impression? Most people probably wouldn’t think so, but it’s fairly accurate and I don’t really mind.

• WHAT KIND OF FIRST-IMPRESSION DO YOU WANT TO MAKE?

Most of the time, I’m fine with the first impression I make. But if  I want to appear friendly to someone (which isn’t often) I’d rather have something less unapproachable.

• HOW WOULD YOUR BEST FRIEND DESCRIBE YOU?

I suppose Will (my cousin) would describe me as…someone he cares for deeply and is very close to, but who should also be pitied because of her time spent in the Enhancement Facility. Okay, that’s not actually what he’d say, because he’d start talking about my “good qualities”, like how I deep down have a sense of humor, and that I’m smart and that I persevere or something. But the first description is how he thinks about me, I know that.

• HOW WOULD YOUR ENEMY (OR LEAST FAVORITE PERSON) DESCRIBE YOU?

Full of potential that he can harness, not to mention his prized subject, but he’d likely also describe me as rebellious, stubborn, and weak. And lots of other insults I really don’t want to think about and list right now.

• DO YOU AGREE WITH EITHER (OR BOTH) OF THOSE DESCRIPTIONS?  WHY?

Out of the two, I’d agree with Will’s assessment more, but I hate being pitied. The problem is that no one can really describe me except for me, and I might not even be able to do that, since a lot of me is based off the influence of other people. If there was no one else in the world, I’d act completely differently.

• HOW DO YOU USUALLY EXIT A ROOM?

Through the door. (See, that’s something Will would say. He’s rubbing off on me.)

• BONUS: IF YOU WERE A FLOWER, WHAT KIND OF FLOWER WOULD YOU BE?

I hate flowers. I’d be whichever one that would wither up and die the fastest.