[ooc] augh this meme.

[sebastiansbear]

So! I did the old, fail version of this survey for, as a matter of fact, this character - many moons ago now. Last July, actually. I feel like this is long enough ago - also that I had really just recently picked him up at the time, and his original self not long before that - that it's worth rocking up and doing it again. I think. Maybe. This will probably end up TL;DR, because Martel has been my Main Dude for a while. (Fact: next month I will have been playing the original for a year. Sweet Jesus.)

Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Martel is loosely above 6', right now; he's seventeen, he's aaaalmost done with this whole 'puberty and growing' shit, when he's settled right down he'll be 6'3", which is pretty tall. He's built to be tall and lean and physically kind of imposing; he hasn't got a lot of bulk to him at this point, but he is well-built from the amount of physical pursuits his father has hurled him headlong into and despite being on the thin side, he's got ridiculous broad shoulders. He also has enormous hands! He's like a puppy that way, in a comparison he would totally appreciate. (No.)

2. How old is he?
His highness is seventeen, born January 4th, 1992. He routinely acts like he's seventeen going on forty, which personally I feel makes the moments when he is an enormous derpy derp even better.

3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
While the man he's an adaptation of was a nobleman and a warrior, Martel is neither of these things. Despite that, even at this age he carries himself in a very similar way. There are men twice his age much less secure than he is (which is sad, considering how incredibly fucked up he also is.) Martel has a self-assurance and a confidence in his abilities, physical and intellectual, that carry over into the way he holds himself in company. He has good, well-trained posture. He's been tall from a young age, but he didn't ever slouch with it.

4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
No disabilities; he's very healthy, and very fit. His diet has to keep up with the demands he makes on his body, which ... are numerous, he's a hilarious blend of athlete and intellectual. So on top of eating like a teenage boy (i.e. everything), he eats really well, too. (This will be consistent once he's no longer eating at home, too, because one of the ways in which he was kept out of trouble as a child was 'by teaching him to cook'.)
He has a lot of energy - and so does his brother - and on top of that has always been incredibly bright, so from a young age their father was essentially doing his damnedest to just tire the two of them the fuck out. (There are hilarious home videos of Vincent getting bum-rushed by his kids.) As he got older, it became apparent that there is, beyond energy, a lot of violence in them both (...lol where did he get that from, Vincent), so things like football (soccer) and the like became ways of channeling this energy.
On top of that - and not to mention lessons (coming mostly from Vincent, although not always) in various ways of holding one's own in a fight, and a keen interest in competitive fencing - Martel likes to dance. Consequently, he is ridiculously in shape, and now, in some fantastic irony, has much better stamina. Perhaps this was not the way to tire him out after all.

5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
First of all this goes back to his posture and how he carries himself - he moves confidently. (Which, in a good-looking seventeen year old boy, can often just read as cockiness. This is not completely unfair.) He's got an amount of grace (somewhere between a dancer and swordsman, hoo hoo, imagine that), but probably what strikes people first of all is how much control is evident in him and how he moves. He is very aware of himself and he exhibits self-control that you become progressively more aware of, which seems progressively more insane for someone his age. For so many reasons! He's tense more than he's not.
When he's kicking the shit out of somebody, practising one of his many favourite ways of abusing his body for success now or dancing, a lot of the tension melts. Fencing is something that makes him disciplined and focused (he likes it because he likes the competitive aspect and it half-fulfils something he doesn't really understand why needs fulfilling, but it's also not really...enough, fencing is not duelling and hasn't been for a long time), but without the epee/rapier/whatever he's using, as someone in a fight he's much less disciplined there, he said to Leto that there's much less of an art to what he does that way, and it's true, he operates on basically refined instinct. Anyway, the point is, he is...a lot more comfortable like that. If you pay attention to him, he often seems like he's holding back, and he is! Because he's young, and some of the things he's capable of frighten him, and that's frankly fair enough. But there are times when he isn't thinking that way, and he's much, much more physically free in those times.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
He certainly gets his fair share of attention! Martel's pretty good looking, yes; beyond his features and...well, let's not mince words, his body, he's also infuriatingly self-confident and given to brooding, these are things that will appeal to a certain kind of teenage girl.
He recognizes this, but as it relates to other people, well, that's something he largely ignores. He likes to present himself a certain way, he has an older man's taste in clothing and the family bank account to back it up, but this is ... really just because he likes dressing a certain way, he's vain and fastidious but he tends to view the amount of attention it can get him as basically a nuisance that he wishes he could do without more. ...yeah.

7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
He's pale, but he'd tan okay if he bothered. He has decent skin, he takes care of himself. There's not much in the way of scars, though...you know, one picks up a few when one spends as much time as possible climbing things, running up things, falling over things, occasionally getting rolled over into a rake (everyone was VERY SORRY, except Elena, who thought it was straight up fucking hilarious).

8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
His hair is long-ish, thick, and dark. It curls a little, which it will not do so much as he gets older and lets it grow longer, and there's...a lot of it. It's insane. It's ridiculous fucking hair, okay, let's not pretend. And, at seventeen years old, he has his first couple of greys. (Which he has noticed, quietly freaked out over, and not mentioned to anyone.) By the time he's about twenty, twenty-one, all colour will be gone. Straight up white hair. Some people go grey and then white prematurely, at a very young age, and thanks to his canon, Martel is one of those lucky people.
He will probably blame Maria and probably only be half-kidding.

9. What color are his eyes?
Brown! Very, very, very dark brown. Could be mistaken for black in the right (wrong?) light.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
When he was sixteen, he got his first tattoo! He went with Maria Khirdaji and their poor, poor friend Bobby Sturridge, who really didn't deserve to have them both inflicted on him at all, much less in a tattoo parlour, because of course those two found the pain kind of a turn on. (Martel was a lot better at hiding this, although Maria was probably not trying.)
Anyway, it's a quote from Latin Mass, judica me deus. ...he has issues. (Eventually, he will probably have a much longer passage from the same mass over much of the rest of his back.)

11. What are his chief tension centers?
His shoulders and back; Maria talks about him fucking up his back like he's forty, which kind of goes with ... him. Just FYI, his chief energy center is more like his hips.

12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Dressy. He wears button-down shirts and cuff-links and polished leather shoes. He owns one pair of jeans that he never wears if he can possibly avoid it, and even his work out clothes are expensive and worth the money. He likes pressed trousers. In the summer he wears linen pants and loose white shirts. He is spoiled, but while the easy assumption is that someone older (probably his mother) is dictating his wardrobe - no, uh, this is just how he likes to dress. He doesn't really do straight up "casual", as a rule. He will, however, also loaf around his home and anywhere else he can get away with it in a pair of trousers and...nothing else, he is totally at home making a nuisance of himself semi-clothed, because clothes are awesome but they are also a bit restrictive, and he is perfectly capable of restricting himself without anyone else's help.
I would sum up his personal style by describing him as a "young Jeremy Irons", only not as terrifyingly experimental as Mr Irons can sometimes be. So a young Jeremy Irons but without all those pictures that you've seen me link to going DUDE, WHO LET HIM OUT OF THE HOUSE LIKE THIS? WHO?

13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
A lot of them are actually tailored, haha >_> so yes, they do fit well, and his wardrobe is an expression of self in the way teenage wardrobes so often are, so he's very comfortable in what he wears. He's equally comfortable, as noted, in what he doesn't wear, although his mother has instituted a rule where if he wants to be fed, he comes downstairs wearing a fucking shirt, Aloysius Martel. She also doesn't like to let him use her kitchen except on special occasions, so this is a pretty effective rule.

14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
He's in highschool, there's a uniform. (He wears it as pristine as possible, for the record, although given the fact Maria has a long-standing fervent wish to get him to fuck her at school, it is probably not always as unmussed as he wants it to be.)

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
He prefers commando. Mostly it depends on his mood.

Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
His voice is pretty deep; Louis Garrel's own voice (though ... not his accent, obviously) is a pretty good baseline for him. (As an adult, I have used both Timothy Dalton and Julian Sands as PBs for different versions; they both work physically, as much as is possible, but Dalton's voice is much more on than Sands's. Deep, with kind of a hint of gravel.) He's been known to kind of rumble!

2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
As far as volume goes, he defaults to what's comfortable for a conversation; not loud enough to be obnoxious, not so quiet people have to strain to hear him. He has a pretty well-trained voice, actually; Martel views speech as a tool, like any other tool, so he's practised being really good at it! He can be pretty eloquent, be...cause it would be a lame tool if he didn't know how to use it. He might pause (some people call this "thinking before they speak"), but he's not going to stutter.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
He has a weird accent - he's American, he was born in Colorado. He's also Argentine, he has dual citizenship (which he will probably eventually have to give up as an adult, if he proceeds down a similar path to his original future self), and he's been spending months at a time in Argentina since he was born, and being immersed in Spanish for large parts of his life has had an impact on his accent when speaking English. You probably won't be able to peg it exactly when you meet him, and if you notice you're probably still going to need him to explain it, but there's a slight quirk to the way he pronounces things that he developed out of Spanish.
As far as the things he's saying go, he can be kind of...old fashioned, and a little more 'grown up' than your average teenage boy. He can use 'darling' or 'love' as an endearment and not sound contrived or pretentious; there's something kind of ~*old world*~ about him.

4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
Just Spanish (Castellano) and English; he's bilingual. He tends to think of them as his mother's language and his father's language, and if you asked him, he would give Spanish as his native tongue. (This probably has to do with the fact he is the biggest mama's boy in the entire world.)

5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
Well, for starters, even when they're in America, there's a lot of Spanish spoken at home. Serafina prefers it, pretty much, and it's a family thing. From his mother he's picked up the habit of reverting to Spanish in times of stress (he probably did not learn the words he uses from his madre, mind you).
...oh and there's that whole thing where he'll speak it to Maria to turn her on or annoy her or both, but we can just...leave that where it is.

6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
He's pretty good at it, but he'd prefer the opportunity to think about what he's going to say - as a general rule. If you want to have an ~*emotionally weighty discussion*~, it may not be a good idea to give him too much time beforehand. For...many reasons. Including the fact that he hates those conversations for this reason: when you view words as a tool, it's hard and uncomfortable to make them personal. If he has time to think about it, it becomes something other than personal, it becomes something tailored, and he doesn't generally want that, so at that point he's probably just going to shut it down.

7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Eloquent! Generally. So far Maria is the best at making him stand there groping for words and going 'AAAAARGH, WHAT EVEN ARE YOU, YOU'RE FROM SPACE, I DON'T, WHAT'.

Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
He's very, very bright. He's brilliant, pretty much. He's ridiculously intelligent. It's more book-smart than street-smart, that one ill-advised foray into drug crime aside. (Yes.) He's very much a budding intellectual, and he's also very aware that that's the kind of thing that can stagnate if you let it, if you rest on your laurels - so he doesn't. He pushes his mind probably harder than he pushes his body, and then he wonders why people think maybe he needs a nap.

2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
Martel can and will think on his feet if he needs to, and probably even be pretty good at it - but he doesn't like doing it. He likes to be prepared. He likes to be able to pin down the logic, he wants the world to make sense and if it doesn't, then he is prepared to force it to, with mixed results. His mother, who is more of an emotional person than a logical one, holds her husband personally responsible for this tendency in himself and both of their sons, and refers to it with varying levels of affection as 'Martel Germanic logic', curse the lot of them. He requires that everything have some kind of logical path he can follow, but this doesn't mean his personal logic isn't sometimes totally insane or would always make sense to an outside observer. He can logic himself all the way into a ditch.

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
He's perceptive, but he wouldn't call himself intuitive and I probably wouldn't either - as above, he is very logical, even if his logic is sometimes from, like, Saturn. His logic may come from Jupiter, but damn it to hell, it will exist. He doesn't see himself as idealistic, but he'd like to be. He's very self-aware - much moreso than a lot of other people are at the same age, or even older. It's something he views as a necessity; there are things in him that he finds frightening and difficult to control, and in order to be in control of himself, he needs to understand as much as he can. Many people would take this to therapy; Martel took it to his priest. Catholicism has built the foundations on which Martel continues building his self-control and his steadiness. It is his foundation. He's not as good at this as he always wants to be - there are times his temper will win, and essentially a lot of his idea of controlling himself is just understanding what his triggers are and trying desperately not to let them get hammered on.
This makes him kind of an overly-serious little dude. He really is his own biggest fear; this is not to say nothing else frightens him, but there's a difference between being scared of falling when at a great height, and being afraid of destroying his own life because he's kind of bored.

4. What kind of education has the character had?
He's had a lot of extra lessons over the years - for his assorted extracurriculars, and sometimes he's just studied up on things because he's a nosy little fuck - but he's not quite finished his highschool education at this point. All very good schools, all very Catholic schools. To the surprise of some of his classmates, he actually lobbied pretty hard for his family to move to Minneapolis so he could attend St Jude's; in the end they did it because he'd fucked up badly and his parents wanted to take him out of that environment while they tried to handle the fallout, but he did end up going.

5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
...medieval torture! You have some excellent personal interests, babby Martel. Uhhh, he's very into football (soccer! soccer!), he's very interested in older weaponry - bladed weapons in particular. As a matter of fact, he has his own personal collection of knives, antique and otherwise, built up over the years, mostly gifts. He's also really fucking Catholic; he knows a little Latin, but pretty much only that which relates to the church directly. He fences - and competes - and would like to learn how to use a sword for straight up combat, none of this wussy shit.
At one point he considered becoming a priest. Petra del Rey, uh...discouraged this. (With her breasts.) Trivia: his paternal grandfather was a priest. Before he got married. He left the priesthood to propose to Martel's grandmother.

6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
He's pretty introverted, really; he's not an incredibly social creature and he tries very hard to play a lot of things close to the chest. Often he succeeds, but it's frequently apparent he's holding back. And...sometimes it isn't! And sometimes he and Maria have fights about that.

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
Oh my god he moodswings like a pregnant woman. ...this is slightly exaggerated, but no, he's not naturally what anyone would call 'even-tempered'. He's driven, ambitious, and kind of nuts! He's very, deeply passionate and emotional, which you can bet doesn't help him any in his quest to not be constantly losing his shit. The fact is there's a reason it's so hard for him, and that reason is largely he finds his own emotions incredibly overwhelming. They're pretty powerful, in fairness to him. He doesn't do this shit by halves. He is an all-or-nothing kind of a dude, in all things. He's very, very intense, sometimes in ways that are a little frightening and sometimes in ways that are just kind of...out of place. He doesn't really fit in, which he tends to just try and force to work for him - intelligent, good-looking and obscenely driven spoiled little rich boys tend not to fit in, after all. It doesn't have to be more than that, he figures!
Also, he broods like a tiny, hilarious pro. Maria once described him, I think, as being like a mixture of the jock, the geek and the weird pretentious artist who wears a lot of black and writes poetry. This is not far off. (He reads poetry.)

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
As a rule, lately, he's probably meeting somebody new because Maria has forced him to, and it's possible that he first must discern what in God's name she has told this person about him already. (He came to St Jude's with a ready-made reputation, since she'd been showing his picture and letting people know he might beat the shit out of them. Bobby's first impression of him was probably 'Maria's huge scary boyfriend'. ...idk if that ever changed, mind you, since that is pretty accurate as far as it goes.)
Anyway. He doesn't mind it, and to describe him as timid you might first have to drug him severely, possibly with fear gas, but he's not really enthusiastic. He's not socially inept - actually, when you can force him to interact, he's not half-bad and he can usually attract and interest people, he's kind of charismatic somewhere in there - but he's not interested, either, as a rule. He's not a people person. He can and will cope, and you might not even know! But until something legitimately catches his interest, he would probably rather be reading a book. Or rolling around in the dirt with his brother and his dad until Elena turns the hose on them.

9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
Act. He prefers to do. Just for a change, I'm not going to write five paragraphs.

10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Fight, definitely; backing down is not something he does easily or gracefully, and he sure as hell doesn't like to run. He can be forced into a position where flight is preferable, but he will never like it, and he will always prefer to meet something head on. Even if that means headbutting it >(

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
GALLOWS HUMOUR, OH YEAH. Martel often has a pretty bleak sense of humour...practical jokes and pranks are not something he has a lot of interest in; if it's genuinely funny, he'll probably laugh, but ehhhh it's not his style. Puns are best delivered deadpan, as are many other things you could justify hitting him for. His humour frequently involves taking friendly (or less friendly) potshots at whoever he's talking to, he teases as a means of affection as much as he does it because he's a little jerk. Sometimes it's just because he's a little jerk.
He likes black humour. He likes 'British humour'. He does not, generally, appreciate 'bathroom humour', unless it's "Maria is laughing and we happen to be in my bath". ...which is different. And probably involves tickling.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Nnnnnmaybe. I don't think he has anything diagnosable, but he's certainly incredibly fucked up. He manages this with responsibility, physical activity, dedication to his faith and listening very closely to his parents when they tell him what to do. This is a good life for him, this is a good situation and circumstance, and he is still like this, a lot of his problems are just his nature. If he'd grown up in a different family, in a different way, then he would probably be a lot more actively dangerous. He's...still dangerous, but now he's a sad little Catholic teenager trying to be in control of that, instead of someone honing it to use against everyone around him.
He's afraid of being that person. He had a brush with it, and he's decided he didn't really like it after all. It was bad and scary and certainly a time when self-awareness didn't feel good, it didn't feel useful, it felt like not only had he fucked up so badly, he had a lot of his illusions about himself stripped from him and so there wasn't much to take comfort in. He couldn't tell himself he had good reasons. He didn't. He had shitty reasons.
Sooo, yeah. He has more issues than a subscription to National Geographic, but it would probably be difficult to put a label on them, precisely. A lot of it relates to not being built for the era in which he lives. IMAGINE THAT.

13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
When his father blackmailed Alan Dreyfuss became the legal guardian of his sister, Elena Dreyfuss. When he made the decision to see how much he could get away with, see: started manufacturing meth. When his brother caught him doing this and literally dragged him home, before kicking the shit out of the other enterprising young men involved. When his parents decided that the buck would stop here, quietly Made It Go Away and it became something dealt with behind closed doors. Having it decreed he would attend confession weekly from now on, and sitting in the confessional booth drunk and sorry for himself. Moving to Minneapolis. I think meeting Maria, also, which - you guys, you are seventeen.

14. What does he fear?
Himself. He is afraid of fucking up. He's afraid that the next time he fucks up, it'll be worse and it won't be something his parents can make go away; he will find something that they won't forgive him for. He's afraid of hurting the people he cares about. He's afraid that he'll never really feel proper empathy for people outside that sphere of influence, that part of him will always see them as something to be manipulated or ignored. He's afraid that he's not always going to be able to keep up with Maria, that the compromises and concessions they have to make between them to make their relationship work will become tiresome to her and that their relationship will crash and burn and probably take no prisoners but a few casualties. He's afraid of failure. He's afraid his father will never be proud of him again, he's afraid of disappointing him. He's afraid of Elena seeing him as someone like her father. AAAAAAAAANGST.

15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
He wants to join the CIA :3 ... yes. He considered becoming a priest, but that is really not a calling that any of the Martel men are made for. It's that whole chastity thing, they would kind of suck at that (a lot). He'd actually like to get married and have kids one day; he comes from a biiiiig family, a very big and very close-knit family, one that's always been very supportive and loving and kind of uniquely nuts. He wants that for himself, what he sees in his parents and the childhood that he's had.
...also, he kind of wants to outdo his big brother, but that's not really a big deal, just one of those little things where it would be kind of cool to be the one leading oh yeah >:3
He's also considering, if he doesn't go the CIA route, working his way towards taking over the family company when Vincent finally retires, or someone just prises control out of his cold, dead hands. He does feel a certain amount of responsibility to it - particularly now that his older brother has gone into the military and very obviously has no intention of stepping up to that particular plate personally.

16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
That whole thing where he briefly got tangled up in the making and selling of illegal drugs basically just to see how much he can get away with, because he was bored and looking for a challenge...yeah, that. He's okay with people not knowing that about him.

Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
Very close! Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children. This is very, very true. Serafina Rossi-Martel is the centre of her family and youngest son loves her soooooooooo much. He idolizes his father, who in turn is very affectionate and involved with his sons and their lives. It's...been tense, due to aforementioned mistakes that led to the move to Minnesota in the first place, but Martel has been steadily working to earn back their trust, and obviously you do not stop loving your son just because he can be an epic fuck up. You might not like the little shithead for a while, but.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
Technically he only has one, but he'll claim two; his older brother Marcus is easily Martel's best friend and closest confidante, from whom he has very few secrets, and who he would trust with basically anything, including his own life or, idk, Maria's. Marcus is The Good One, the more laidback brother, the one who doesn't have to try as hard not to screw up all the time. Instead of resenting this, Martel admires it; he wants to outdo Marcus in something because Marcus is who he wants to be like the most, next to Vincent.
The other is Elena Dreyfuss, who is actually Marcus's girlfriend! She's lived with their family since she was about fifteen and Martel was about thirteen, and is one of his absolute favourite people. She's on the road towards a political career and he loves her even when he is going AUGH DON'T CALL ME TEDDY BEAR or STOP TROLLING ME WITH HOME MOVIES FROM THE NINETIES, etc, etc. Elena and Marcus are now engaged, and Martel has been quietly going "sir, I would like you to know that I called it. a year ago." ever since they announced it.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
Tia Felice, his mother's younger sister, is an aunt to whom he's pretty close - she's who they stay with when they go over to Argentina, usually, and she is unrestrained in her affection for her family. He thinks she's batshit insane, also, but that's kind of standard. His paternal grandfather (yeah, the one that was a priest) is not someone he's close to, per se, but he loves him very much and he looks up to him, and he enjoys the visits to Denver to see him. They'll be going back for as many holidays as they can, because Donald is reeeally getting too old to travel himself.
He would like his grandfather to be present at his wedding, but unless he plans on getting married really fucking young, it's probably not going to happen.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
Well, one day he will be that close to Dieter, but no, not really.

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
His brother is his best friend, really; aside from that, he's developing a good, strong bond with his fencing instructor, Dieter Stragen. He met Dieter when, if I'm remembering rightly, Maria effectively blackmailed him into giving Martel one-on-one instruction. Dieter was kind of like "look, you're good and I'll enjoy teaching you, but for the love of god keep your scary little harpy away from me". (Martel finds this kind of hilarious, but attempts not to let on. To either of them. Especially since it has rendered him kind of crap at protecting Dieter from tinygirl trolling.)

6. Does he have other close friends?
He was friendly with Bobby Sturridge, when StJ's was up and running, and Ororo Munroe was one of his closer friends. Candice Monaghan gave him a helping hand in his early days in Minneapolis, and they bonded over speaking Spanish together. That's...probably about it, I think! Oh, and he and Leto Atreides used to meet up and kick each other around the park, which would traditionally be followed by boozing. Maria much enjoyed how relaxed this left him.

7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
He makes friendly acquaintances relatively easily; charming people isn't too hard when he makes the effort, and sometimes people just like him okay when he's not trying (mysteriously), but he tends to require some patience to actually be friends with, since he's an arrogant, too-smart-for-his-own-good prat with control issues out the wazoo. People are weird and difficult and he doesn't always care to try and get past that. He's good for casual conversation, particularly if his fellow conversationalist is actually interesting to talk to, but he has more boundaries than an atlas and he can be incredibly disagreeable and stubborn.

8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
Family. His priority, at the end of the day, is and always will be his family - however he's defining it. His family is his life, in a lot of ways!

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Oh my god he's seventeen. He's never been married, but he is in a relationship - a relationship which is significantly more committed than most people would necessarily consider healthy for people their age, which has actually come up as a concern from assorted adults. The fact he sometimes attends her therapy sessions is probably both reassuring and even more alarming.
His previous relationship crashed and burned harder than the Titanic. (Slight exaggeration.)

10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
Well, they're not married. Yet.

11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
His first crush was a girl he met in Argentina when he was thirteen; she was a few years older and just thought he was loldorable, which he was.

12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
Patience, so much patience. ...well, yes, AND: someone who can keep up with him and give him a run for his money, physically and intellectually. Someone who respects his faith even if they don't share it (sharing it would be nice, but it's not a dealbreaker by any stretch of the imagination). Someone who is okay with the idea of marrying him and having adorable crazy babies one day. Someone who doesn't mind that he likes listening to Gregorian chant.
Also, his physical type is 'tiny brunette'. Blondes need not apply.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
No, no, yes. I have already covered this in other answers.

14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
Nnnot really, but uh...give him time?

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
He is a 0; totally heterosexual. He is probably one of the most heterosexual young men you will ever encounter. (For some reason that completely escapes him, this makes things like how he doesn't mind shopping for/with women and is so fussy about his clothes really funny. He cannot imagine why and you can all just get right the fuck out.)

16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
Dude, he's seventeen. SEX IS FANTASTIC. It's very important, also, in a...it needs to be personal, kind of a way. He's totally okay with premarital sex, and you know, if you're the type of person who can have a casual fuckbuddy and be comfortable with that - more power to you! But he can't. He isn't capable. This isn't something he can be okay with. He does not share. 'All or nothing' applies to his relationships probably most of all, in a lot of ways. Martel is extraordinarily possessive; this is not (while it sometimes looks similar) at all the same thing as being jealous. He and Maria hit some speedbumps fairly early on after meeting each other because she wanted to hook up casually and he is...not...at all okay with that.
(Also because she was slamming up against his boundaries as hard as possible to make him react, while he was desperately covering up his reactions, which meant that by the time she got a little out of him it was because he was really, really near to breaking point! That was fun.)

17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
Uh they both like to bleed a little. Rough sex. He likes to be in control; there are people who are controlfreaks who at some point turn it off and want someone else to take the reins for a while, and Martel is not, ever, one of them. He likes to be on top, he enjoys the use of restraints - but not on him. He's a liiiittle bit of an exhibitionist, but he tends not to indulge this as much. (It is one way in which he can compromise with Maria when they're out; sometimes he'll let her do more in public if he's participating. It depends. I enjoy that I had to mention that in this section.)
yeah anyway. Pain is a thing, giving and receiving - more often giving, but yeah, he does roll out of bed with Maria looking like she just ripped the shit out of his back (because she did), sometimes, and he is completely okay with that. Also, biting. Always with the biting.

Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
Auuugh um. Maria actually did his stars for him once - the first time they met - and basically all I remember is that they concluded he's from Saturn. I will bug Kay or something and eventually remember the rest of this, and come back to it.

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
FINALLY, FUCK YEAH. Ummmm Martel is all the Catholic ever; it was an agreement between his parents that the boys would be raised in Vincent's faith, and if when they were older they wanted to look at other options, then he would suck it up and be supportive of that choice the same way he supports his wife's own beliefs. Martel...has never wanted anything else, Catholicism is something he feels really, really secure in. He loves and worships his God; he might not always do it in a way that the church would actually approve of, but he's very devout and very steadfast in his faith. It would be very difficult to shake. He finds peace and guidance in faith, and where some people go to therapy, Martel goes to confession. The church gives him something he doesn't get anywhere else, and you can see it in him sometimes, how beautiful he finds it, how worthwhile, how much he loves it. Catholicism makes him happy, it's his home, it's his safe place. God loves him, and he will work every day to be worthy of that love. He's not preachy about it, but this is one of the most important things in his life. His faith means everything to him.

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Yes! But this personal code of morals and ethics does not necessarily follow the law. He believes in doing what is right and what is best as much as you can; sometimes the law doesn't agree, and he's been raised to believe that, well, there are times when maybe the law just doesn't have to know. The Martels are not a family who take problems to the police. They prefer to handle matters themselves.
As an example: Alan Dreyfuss is a former business partner of Martel's father, Vincent Martel. He's a drug addict who's been in a (consensual and incredibly twisted) sexual relationship with his sister for a long time. His wife died when his daughter, Elena, was just a toddler and when certain aspects of his personal life came to light privately...Vincent had to decide whether or not a lengthy, drawn out public humiliation and court battle was actually what was best for the teenage girl (who was not actively abused, but neglected, required to be largely self-sufficient and was progressively more at risk as she got older and her aunt began to view her as a rival and a threat). He decided...no, not so much, and handled it a different way; Alan and Alyssa found a reason to move out of state, and it was agreed that since Elena preferred to continue her schooling in Colorado, she would live with the Martels, who would take over her legal guardianship.
Alan, Vincent reasoned, was manufacturing his own downfall. He and Alyssa were very self-contained, and the best thing he could do for Elena was to remove her from that situation and make sure they had no further contact.
...so, in, say - Elenia, this would be pretty reasonable among the aristocracy, although it'd be a little weird if anyone bothered. Not so much in modern day America, even if he got away with it. This is what to consider when thinking about Martel's code of ethics; a lot of things about his family are not quite right, and it's because they essentially behave like part of a world they're not in. They can function in the world they do live in, obviously, they can be a very efficient part of it. But it's not, really, where they belong.
Martel is a decent young man. But he has to work harder at it, and...beliefs like this, a way of seeing the world like this, does not make it any easier.

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
Frequently indifferent; if they don't affect him, and if they're just none of his business, then he probably doesn't care. He's probably not going to go looking for someone else's philosophy. When they're shared with him, or he comes across them - he will start out curious, at the very least. He will try to understand; if he can't understand but he can't see harm in it (you know, assuming the belief isn't "eating babies whole and screaming is totes okay"), then he'll probably agree to disagree. He's willing to respect your beliefs if you're willing to respect his.
Being raised aware of the fact that his mother supported his choices but personally belongs to a very different faith (which she prefers not to talk much about, because when you're essentially a witch in a family full of devout Catholics, your husband's crisis of faith in the first place is enough to deal with, much less your sons') made him pretty tolerant of other religions. He's fascinated by the glimpses he gets of this other side of her - all parents are sort of a mystery to their children for a long time, there will always be things their children don't see, but Martel is aware of this in a way that they're not always. He doesn't know what her secrets are, but he can see the shape of them and the ways that they impact his life, so he's very curious, and he's very protective of that and her privacy. He'd like to have it shared with him one day, but he can recognize the fact that Marcus is a lot more open to it than he is. He just...wants to be near mommy, basically. He wants to love all the things she loves.

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Well, he really hates stupid people.

Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Riiiiiiich filthy filthy riiiiiich. This isn't his money, though, not exactly; his family is wealthy, he personally is a seventeen year old boy who doesn't need to work if he doesn't want to. So, incredibly comfortable. Really fucking spoiled, actually.

2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
Unfortunately for him, he is not a young nobleman, but he's a wealthy, educated white boy living in America; there's a lot of privilege right out of the gate. (His mother is a small, beautiful woman with a pretty thick accent; he is not unfamiliar with prejudice based on race, coming basically in the form of people thinking that Serafina Martel is stupid or easy. She is neither of these things, and if she doesn't break your balls, her sons and/or husband will, so don't even think about it.)

3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
He lives in a house in Minneapolis! It's a large house, and he lives there with his mother and father - and, when they're not off training for the military or at college respectively, Marcus and Elena. They'll be getting their own place eventually (they're getting married, you know), but right now it's much easier to just come home, and their family is tight-knit in a way that they all find very comfortable and comforting, so.
His 'room' is actually the entire attic; he has his own toilet and bath. There's a lot of space up there, it's a veeeery nice room...it does not have a door. He has to earn back the right to privacy.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
Music, books, clothes, sometimes weaponry. Gifts for Maria or other people he knows (he was perfectly happy with bringing things back from Cordoba for people he found interesting before he'd actually arrived in Minneapolis). Delicious treats.

5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
He's a STUDENT, and he actually loves it a lot. Learning is the best thing ever, okay.

6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
I have largely covered this by now, I think. But to recap a bit, football (do I gotta say it again), dance, fencing, studying, listening to music, rough-housing, exploring, reading endlessly. Some of his fiction tastes might surprise you, or...maybe they totally wouldn't.
ALSO, which I forgot to say first and had to edit in, he is in choir. He started out in Minneapolis just taking it at school, and later auditioned for his church choir, which he joined. This is not really something he makes a big deal out of or much talks about, but his mother enjoys that he's in choir and encourages it.

7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
His mother has always, always, always banned pork and pork products in her home; Martel has never known why, but he's also never asked. He's never eaten it, because he's not allowed, so he really doesn't know what he's missing. He thinks it smells kind of bad, though. They're not actually vegetarian, but he's used to vegetarian dishes as well as everything else. He's a pretty good cook himself, actually, and will be better when he has more regular access to a kitchen! He eats on time, he eats as much as he can, and he eats good meals of good (DELICIOUS) food.
He doesn't drink much, and generally not to excess. He prefers to drink with company but not much; he'll have wine with dinner, he'll sit around drinking with his family or a few friends, but he's not going to drink much at a party - if he lets himself drink at all.
This is because alcohol loosens inhibitions and he has Experience with the fact that his temper is harder to control in such situations. It was nice of them not to press assault charges.

Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character:

1. Color? White.
2. Smell? Metal.
3. Time of day? Evening or dawn.
4. Season? Toward the end of winter.
5. Book? Magnificat, by Julian May.
6. Music? Classical.
7. Place? His attic.
8. Substance? Steel.
9. Plant? Pressed flowers.
10. Animal? Cats. Big cats, particularly, but cats.

END
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