Discussion Funny character quirks/habits

[Valery Noble]

Just a random discussion for fun! I've been curious if people intentionally give their characters funny little quirks/habits. To me, it makes a character feel more "real" because we all have them to some extent, so what are yours?

For Valery here, she goes into what Kahlil Noble has called over-explaining mode. Whenever she's nervous about a mission/assignment, she starts talking about it way too much, and goes down a whole briefing even if everybody already knows exactly what to do.

Let me know yours!

 

[Auteme]

yes it's true auteme picked up the habit of randomly putting "ah"s into her speech from listening to Aerarii Tithe talk so much

 

[Phylis Alince]

Phylis has liberal uses of 'hmm' as a pause in a sentence and 'hmmph' when she huffs about something!

It's been a long term trait of hers going back years now.

 

[Kuzon Lu’ten]

Kuzon at times will nervously chuckle when he is in an especially awkward situation and try to remain calm but his facial expression pretty much gives him away.

 

[Amani Serys]

Wow, you just beat me to asking this exact sort of question! Glad to know I'm not the only one curious about this stuff tho. I like to try and inject little tics and idiosyncrasies when I can, because it's fun and like you said, makes the characters feel more real.

It's a small thing, but several times I've written Amani as having a tic where she brushes the tip of her nose. She also tends to snort when she laughs. In a similar vein, Cato Harth often sticks his tongue out when he's focusing on something intently, and he sometimes likes to monologue to himself when no one else is around to talk to.

I like to do the same with like, trivia. Just random traits and information that might or might not have any relevance, ie Amani being a bad dancer or having a guilty pleasure for Life Day music.

Curious to know what else other people have come up with as well!

 

[Jand Talo]

Jand has no scruples when it comes to killing - literally doesn't care!

 

[Starlin Rand]

When he is trying to sound smart/about to divulge a lengthy explanation, Starlin will begin by saying "Well..." He picked up the habit from Jacen Nimdok , who was his original mentor and a professor, so Starlin associates sounding "smart" with him.

Arlo Renard has a catchphrase: "Okay good, okay fine!" Or sometimes: "Not good, not fine!"

Ishani Dinn tends to use a lot of "uhs" and "ums" in her dialogue, because she's awkward as hell and doesn't know what's even happening half the time.

Cato Harth made it canon that Inanna Harth habitually does something cute with her nose when she's thinking, although it's never been specified what exactly she does. Since she's a shapeshifter, I like to think her nose literally changes shape or size without her realizing.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Thurion's a terrible dancer but still enjoys slow dancing with his wife when no one's looking.

He also eats left-handed despite being right-handed.

 

[Minerva Fhirdiad]

Since that one night Minerva gotten into karaoke with her favorite songs when off duty heh. Also she is secretly a fan of an old comedy/drama series from the holonet called My Wookiee Neighbor, obsessing over trivia facts and behind the scenes stuff about it.

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

As Elpsis is conventionally blind and dependent on Force Sight, she doesn't really 'look' at people she's talking to. So she just sort of stares in vaguely the right direction, and there's of course no eye movement and a pretty slow blink speed. Might be a little unsettling first off.

Elpsis trying to flirt is amusing since due to the way her sight works, she doesn't really see what people look like beyond seeing a broad outline of their shape. So...she focuses on other senses - touch, smell, hearing. Chances are she'll try to flirt by gushing about a lady's voice or scent. Tying in with this, while Elpsis is overall very 'tomboyish' in mannerisms, interests and her typical attire, she likes and wears strong perfume. It is a source of amusement for her posse.

Enyo stands very still and speaks in a flat monotone. She has inherited the headtilting from her HRD creators. She also dislikes chairs and never has them in her office or briefing room. She can stand for hours on end, and the organics will just have to adjust. Fortunately, briefings with her are short because she just sticks to what's essential for an assignment and gets annoyed when people waste time with random chatter.

When she is not plotting murder, Kyriaki likes embrodering, sewing and stargazing. She's a lightweight who can't hold her liquor. Drunk Kyriaki is happy and emotional. Also a lightweight in the sense that she doesn't eat enough. Having to attend all those fancy Vaderite banquets and watch evil scumbags gourge themselves on delicacies kills her appetite.

 

[Marlon Sularen]

For Sully it's a complete disregard of morality as well as the fact that he is easily prone to fits of rage and his analytical thinking. He also has a tendency to hold a grudge for any wrong doings made against him

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Jasper has a few different things about the way he speaks. He says "jeez" a lot, for starters, but more into other quirks he has a habit of muttering something along the lines of "here we go" before engaging in a battle, a little bit of talking himself up. Also when he's thinking or awkward and confused on what to do, he scratches the bridge of his nose.

 

[Daiya]

Oh my stars, how many are there for Daiya?

She giggles too much, for one, even if nothing should be funny. She tends to drop an m'kay? when in a particularly bossy mood, but her favorite word is a punctuated "A-mazing!" when something is deserving of the awe. She also gives out nicknames to people who don't identify themselves, or the moniker fits better than their name.

Plenty of verbal tics in this girl.

 

[Lady Venge]

Venge oftentimes lacks any sense of subtlety or tact, which means her big mouth gets her in trouble.

 

[Seku Bondara]

Starshine Surprise is this Twi'lek's #1 weakness. Karaoke and a strip poker game broke out after she crashed a Life Day Party and got hammered on shots of Starshine Surprise.

 

[A'Runda]

Something I remember doing a lot with my old character here that I'm trying to get back into writing is that A'Runda isn't well educated at all. This generally comes in the form of misreading or mispronouncing words he's not very familiar with. Another thing too from being a tusken he's sort of a "Textilist" (the closest word I've seen to describe someone who's very anti-nude) and ever he sees someone showing what he considers a large amount of their skin/body he blushes red like a tomato and gets a little nervous and shy.[/div]

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

I believe I had Dreidi hum or soothe herself with music if and when she feels anxious in the past. She also fidgets with her hands and tends to look hyperactive crazy when excited or nervous so can be hard to know which it is for her.

Thurion Heavenshield I do that eating style irl!

 

[Hailyn]

Past characters only, as I haven't written Amara yet and so any ideas I have for her aren't yet set in stone:

• Vesta / Darth Mori: The personification of under sharing, if there ever was one. Talking in metaphors, beating around the bush, dropping "hints" that weren't really hints unless you had special knowledge of a given topic of conversation, and pretty much anything at all to keep her true thoughts, feelings, and goals to herself was essentially how interacting with her went.
• Silara / Darth Vitium: She had a very soap opera-y "noble" choice of vocabulary, to the extent that she was dubbed "Sith Barbie nobility edition" by good old Mikhail Shorn for how annoying she was doing it.
• Lily: Just imagine dialogue meant to be read by someone with the most egregious valley girl accent, at least for most of her life.
• Nadja: Introverted city girl, with an added stutter that would manifest itself whenever she reached a certain threshold of uncomfortableness.

 

[Caltin Vanagor]

Aside from sometimes arguing with me, and slaying those commas nudges Auteme , it really depends on who he is around. The less he knows you, the more "grumpy" he is. The better he knows you? He can be pretty obnoxious.

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

While it's not as much of a problem as it used to be, Briana has a very strong competitive streak and problems with backing down, hates being told that she's wrong, etc. Has lead to both fun and distressing situations for her. ( the lunchroom incident and Justice Lesan 's missing arm, come to mind)

She also likes to de-stress by tinkering with things, droids, ships, pretty much anything mechanical that she can get her hands on. Does a lot of scavenging in her spare time.