{meme} No sickness, toil, nor danger

[tetoncowgirl]

Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is she heavyset, thin, short, rangy? Short and curvy. She's not so much thin as she is just well-distributed in her weight.

2. How old is she? By state age, she's 119 (technically she's closer to 170 or so), though in human appearance, she's about 20-21.

3. Describe her posture. Does she carry herself well or does she slouch? She holds her head up high when around people she believes she needs to impress or prove something to. Otherwise, she's very relaxed when by herself or around people she's comfortable with.

4. How is her health? Is she fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities? She's in shape for the most part, except every now and then she gets a little bit short of breath (radon) and she has one knee that bothers her if she works it too hard. Otherwise, she's as healthy as a horse (pun not intended).

5. How does she move? Is she clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid? She walks fast, and sometimes goes into a skip if she's trying to keep up with someone. She's not very clumsy, although she trips and falls like everyone else. Her walk itself is sort of a mix between tense and fluid, because even though she doesn't have the grace of someone on a catwalk, she's got a ladylike walk all the same.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does she perceive herself in the mirror? She's actually quite pretty, though not completely alluring. She's somewhat rugged in looks, and she prefers it that way. She's aware she's attractive to a degree, but she doesn't fuss over it. When she gets up in the morning, it's just a few brush strokes through the hair and voila, she's good.

7. Describe her complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred? Does the summer-tan, winter-pale thing. She's got her fair share of scars, but they're more like nicks and cuts, except for a burn scar just below her neckline. That's the only thing that is somewhat noticeable.

8. Describe her hair: color, texture, style. Reddish-orange, to the mid-back, flowy, straight, and with one curl that sticks up, as much as she wishes it wouldn't.

9. What color are her eyes? Blue

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? Physically, not so much.

11. What are her chief tension centers? Neck, upper shoulders, and her left knee.

12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does she have six of the same suit? Very casual. Hoodies, t-shirts or tank tops, jeans, and work boots. She favors earthy tones. On occasion, she'll wear a skirt or something other than jeans, but it's inconvenient otherwise.

13. Do her clothes fit well? Does she seem comfortable in them? They're a little baggy on her, but she prefers it that way. It means she has a lot of room to work with.

14. Does she dress the same on the job as she does in her free time? If not, what are the differences? Just about the same.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? Just...ladies underwear. :|

Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? Kind of high-pitched and with a slight twang in it. Actually sounds like her PB, especially with the "Now how the hell would I know somethin' like that?" and "You couldn't come up with a less explosive way to get a stinkin' cat out of a tree?"

2. How does she normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does she talk easily, or does she hesitate? Surprisingly, she speaks quietly in any normal situation, if not a little fast. However, the more temperamental she gets, the louder she gets.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics? She's got a slight twang in her speech (lots of contractions), and has a habit of swearing both casually and when she gets especially pissed.

4. What language/s does she speak, and with how much fluency? English, obviously. She's still got a decent grasp on French and can remember bits of some tribal languages.

5. Does she switch languages or dialects in certain situations? If she gets angry enough or frustrated, she'll throw some French words into her speech.

6. Is she a good impromptu speaker, or does she have to think about her words? She has to think about her words, unless she's speaking to someone she knows. But around strangers, she'll stop halfway through her sentence and think before she speaks. She has a loose fear of messing up in front of others.

7. Is she eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? Somewhere in the middle. Her speech isn't completely elaborate and articulate, but she's not at a loss for words either.

Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is she book-smart or street-smart? She's more street-smart in a way, but not so much "street" in its usual definition as that she's intelligent with things she's familiar with, like ranching and several recreational activities. That isn't to say she isn't book-smart at all, as she does like reading. She's just got her mind on other things.

2. Does she think on her feet, or does she need time to deliberate? For the most part, she's impulsive and thinks on her feet. It's only when she's in a situation that requires some thought does she deliberate, and she deliberates for a long time, to the point that important decisions take a long time to make.

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is she more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? She's intuitive, yet practical. As before, she's impulsive, and follows her instinct and what she considers her "womanly" intuition. Yet her decisions and thoughts usually rely on practicality. She tries to do things in the most efficient and quickest way, though she can get quite creative.

4. What kind of education has the character had? By a normal educational system, she would probably have gotten a bachelor's degree. She's got enough education that she can do things in an intellectual way, at least.

5. What are her areas of expertise? What, if anything, is she interested in learning more about? She's an expert in things like ranching and alpinism, or basically things she grew up around. While some of the things she's become an expert in were learned as a way of life, she's rather fond of hiking (the more difficult trails, especially) and sciences like geology and biology. She's taken up more of an interest in sciences, like chemistry, though she's finding she's not too good at it as she is geology.

6. Is she an introvert or an extrovert? An introverted-extrovert. She's a lot of both, being both amazingly shy and very much so in-your-face. Lots of it is driven by her moods.

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is she even-tempered or does she have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven? She's temperamental to a fault and highly prone to mood swings. This has rooted from having to fight to get her way in the past, and it's never left her. She's also oddly lazy and only driven when she's doing something she enjoys. Otherwise, she really likes nothing better than laying out in the middle of a field and napping.

8. How does she respond to new people or situations? Is she suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic? She gets defensive around new people and situations, and tends to step away from both if she can. She's very timid, though has a habit of snapping at people if they stun her on initial meeting.

9. Is she more likely to act, or to react? Definitely react.

10. Which is her default: fight or flight? Both, depending on what the situation is.

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does she appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks? She enjoys jokes and pranks, and frequently gets into pun wars, especially the ones that make people roll their eyes and groan.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does she deal with them? Not a one. She's stable mostly.

13. What moments in this character's life have defined her as a person? Most of her childhood, especially the Manifest Destiny years, have shaped and defined her. Both the trauma of massacres and battles and the delight of striking oil and getting suffrage first have made her who she is.

14. What does she fear? She fears fire and deep water.

15. What are her hopes or aspirations? She's not entirely sure what she hopes for except maybe an increase in population...maybe.

16. What is something she doesn't want anyone to find out about her? There's actually a surprising amount of things she's afraid of people finding out about her. Part of it stems from her inner need to please people, and the other is not really seeing people enough to tell them anything. There's a lot on this list, from surface flaws she dislikes to deep dark secrets that she denies even to herself.

Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with her parents. She's just about turned her back completely on her parents, except for maybe Alfred, but she sees that as more of a business relationship than anything like family. France lost touch with her a long time ago, and for the most part, she'd like to keep it that way.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? She considers Matt to be somewhat like her brother, or the closest thing she has to one. They're certainly close and make that clear, though there is just some tenseness between them, mostly from people moving between the states. Otherwise, they maintain a noticeably close relationship.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom she is close? Are there ones she can't stand? She doesn't really have "blood" relatives, or anyone else she considers as a family member.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom she considers part of her family? What are her relationships with them? She considers Ada and Burch to be part of her family. She's not very close to Ada, but she seems more like some kind of cousin who she sees every now and then. Her relationship with Burch is a little tougher to explain, as it's done its fair share of fluctuation between closeness and just plain spite against each other.

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet? She also thinks of Matt as probably her best friend, and they met just by growing up together.

6. Does she have other close friends? Not really. She keeps to herself.

7. Does she make friends easily, or does she have trouble getting along with people? She definitely has trouble getting along with people, and internally, it bothers her. She sometimes doesn't know what to say to people, and in defense of this, she'll get unintentionally angry, which is kind of a put-off. She doesn't mean anything by it, but it does keep people away. Other than that, she really just likes to be off on her own.

8. Which does she consider more important: family or friends? Since she doesn't know a whole lot about friends, she thinks family is important over all. She's close to her cities in particular and if everyone dropped off the face of the earth except them, she really wouldn't mind.

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has she been married more than once? She's been single all her life.

10. Is she currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? No, and she doesn't really plan on it. She's got other things on her mind.

11. Who was her first crush? Who is her latest? She had a pretty cute little kid crush on Matt when she was like, three feet tall. It was more of a need to impress him and follow him around like a lost puppy. And she doesn't even remember her latest crush.

12. What does she look for in a romantic partner? Someone who can keep up with her, understand her when she falls short, and knows when to give her space.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does she relate to them? If no, does she want any?Unless you count her cities like children, she doesn't have any and doesn't plan on it.

14. Does she have any rivals or enemies? Montana is just about her only real rival in just about everything. She's got a friendly rivalry with Colorado over football (which ends in quite a bit of failure on her part, oh the despair) and that's the extent of it.

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does she fall on the Kinsey scale?She's about a 2X. While she maintains that she's heterosexual, she does have her swinging thoughts in the other direction. But mostly, she doesn't care.

16. How does she feel about sex? How important is it to her? She's very neutral about it, as it really doesn't apply much to her. It's an expression of love in her mind, or of affection at least.

17. What are her turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits? None that she can recall.

Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does she fit type? Cancer - Emotional and loving, intuitive and imaginative, shrewd and cautious, protective and sympathetic. Negatives - Changeable and moody, overemotional and touchy, clinging and unable to let go.

I think she fits being a Cancer pretty well. She's got bits of the positives and the negatives.

EARTH OX - Oxen are bright, peace-loving, often easy-going and trusting. But, on the other hand, they can also be stubborn, methodical, and fiercely competitive, with fierce tempers to boot.

Yeah, definitely fits that. Also, the site that described an Earth Oxen said that years of hard work have led them to have barely any financial problems. I do believe this goes for her, as well.

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in her life? She's not very religious at all, and church is reserved for holidays. Though recently, she's been more spiritual in a new-age way. She's got very unique approaches to religion and spiritualism, but they are hardly important to her.

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? She follows a loose-ish code of morals and ethics, being a combination of cowboy code and a more morally-upright code that seemed to come with the Mormons back when she was a little kid. However, she tends to react fast and harshly to things that she doesn't consider morally righteous, which can come off as annoying to others. It would take a good deal of effort and time to compromise most of what she thinks, as loose as it may be.

4. How does she regard beliefs that differ from hers? Is she tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? She's oddly intolerant at first, trying to force off other beliefs and ignore them altogether. However, she can't help her curiosity, and sometimes, that gets her into trouble with some very odd beliefs.

5. What prejudices does she hold? Are they irrational or does she have a good reason for them? She does have a degree of racism and oddly, sexism. It's irrational, mostly. It seems to come from a noticeably intolerant background during the manifest destiny years, though she has been working hard to fix it.

Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is she rich, poor, comfortable, in debt? She's definitely not in debt, and one of the few states still stable as far as finances.

2. What is her social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected her? She considers herself to be exactly middle-class. She used to be more lower-class, but she's worked her way to the next level through years of promoting industry.

3. Where does she live? House, apartment, trailer? Is her home her castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does she share it with others? In a house on the western half of the state, where she feels most comfortable. It's definitely her castle, and when she's back home, she doesn't normally get to far away from her house. It's just a basic ranch-style, plus an actual ranch, and she just shares it with some of her pets.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does she spend her money on? Mostly, she keeps close tabs on her money and doesn't spend much of it, but sometimes, she has her girly moments and goes on shopping sprees. Otherwise, she buys season passes to national parks and occasionally spoil herself at a spa around Teton Village.

5. What does she do for a living? Is she good at it? Does she enjoy it, or would she rather be doing something else? She ranches, which is her specialty and something she greatly enjoys. She's been doing it most of her life and can't imagine herself doing anything different. Though sometimes, she goes out to the mines, but that's more to keep tabs on her people than to actually work. It's too cramped down there, anyway.

6. What are her interests or hobbies? How does she spend her free time? She does any number of recreational activities, like skiing, hiking, kayaking, mountain-climbing, and horseback riding. For quieter activities, she reads or draws.

7. What are her eating habits? Does she skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? She cooks most of her own food, and usually her food covers all the main food groups and calorie servings for the day. She drinks recreationally, but not compulsively.

Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is her favorite:

1. Color? Dark red
2. Smell? Sulfur White pine
3. Time of day? Sunset
4. Season? Summer
5. Book? A good portion of Louis L'Amour books
6. Music? 'Wayfaring Stranger' - Jack White
7. Place? Grand Teton National Park
8. Substance? Lake water
9. Plant? Sage
10. Animal? ...Bison

END
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