Forums » RP Discussion » Responsivness

Here is a question I've been thinking about recently.

What kinds of reactions do others characters have towards sudden, uncontrollable events More often traumatic or dangerous in some way and how they compare to normal people.

to start off with a rather 'common' one...being so scared you pee yourself...I for one, would/have reacted in that way to some things....the only time i ever have was a bad car wreck soo x.x

I figure that different people/characters would respond differently to the same kinds of incidents.

That's an interesting topic. I might say that most of my characters much rather prefer to face and fight the creature or whatever--if they can. Some of my characters hate hate hate the psychological stuff. They'd much rather face down an eight-headed fire-breathing hydra than something that may or may not exist.

For myself, I tend to run away from what scares me. Spiders. Yeah, I could squish it with my shoe, unless it's the size of my big toe, in which case it can obviously pick me up and haul me outside on its own. The great thing about illogical fears is that they're illogical.

Did you have a particular scenario in mind?

EDIT: Just realized you mentioned uncontrollable aspects... In that case, I'd say that most of my characters have learned to roll with the punches. They kind of muster up their strength and go from there. The only time I've truly been frightened was when I got out of work super late (back during Petsmart days) and I had this feeling of "wrongness" and a small voice telling me to hurry up to the car. I no sooner get in and lock the doors than a taxi pulls up right next to me in the empty parking lot. The taxi driver then proceeded to get out of the car and tap on my window. Needless to say, I threw the van in reverse and practically gunned it for the exit. I was halfway home before I realized that my headlights were still off--I kind of wanted a cop to pull me over at that point. So I'd say that's the only time I've been truly frightened to that degree.

The best one I can think of is that one video game trailer with the crashing helicopter about to land right on/in front of your guys. That's the kind of 'holy crap' scenario that rings in my mind for those kind of things....like after your safe instead or just 'run away' what's their reaction After the running away?

This fits right in with my idea that different personalities respond different to certain situations! Huzzah!

I try to make my characters different, but some do have similar traits. Let's start with Avary and Connery.

Avary is quite a happy gal who loves to meet new people and sees the best in all. If somebody would get killed in front of her, she'd be in utter panic and likely flee as quickly as possible if she felt threatened as well. If the murderer ran before she did, she'd be panicking more to try and save the victim's life (fruitlessly). The effects on her mentally would be quite devastating, probably provoking anxiety and survivor's guilt: what if something happens to someone I care for? Could I have done something different to save them? Was it my fault? She'd lose an element of cheerfulness unless someone pulled her through and erased her guilt and fear by making her stronger.

Connery on the other hand is a lot more grumpy and serious. He experienced traumatizing things as a child that shaped him. If someone would get killed in front of him and someone else was with Con (like Avary) his first instinct would be to protect her. If there's no apparent threat to either one of them, he'd be mostly very pissed off someone would kill another person like that and pursue the murderer and beat him up before making sure he'd be put behind bars. The murder and victim themselves wouldn't upset him too much, even though he'd feel sorrow, but Avary's state would worry him a lot and make him take care of her.

I realize that their relationship makes this example rather specific, but they both have very different reactions because of their backgrounds. Avary isn't used to such violence and it can change her dramatically, while Connery's coping mechanism consist of refusing to feel much of a connection to victims while eliminating threats where possible.

If I take Panne, it's a little more elaborate. She used to be very confident and not easily frightened when I started RPing her. She was loud-mouthed, and not easily put off by things. Then she got captured by fishermen and sold as a novelty item/slave. In an attempt to escape her prison, she was caught and punished. On dry land and in a glass bowl she had no ability to control the situation. (Some violent descriptions follow here, highlight to read:) She was whipped many times until she bled by an anthropomorphic owl and another character, before they burned several tentacles and ate one while it was still attached to her body. Due to the traumatizing experience she passed out and was left broken, obedient and terribly phobic towards birds and anything resembling a bird. So creatures with wings already made her panic, even if they weren't birds.
After that she was locked up for years and put on display, sold and bought by rich people who wanted to show her for status. It took away every ounce of fight in her until she didn't even respond to threats anymore. She was discarded into the ocean after her tentacles were removed and just barely survived an infection. She met people who helped her after washing ashore on an island, where one individual (with wings!) very, very slowly regained some of her trust. She recovered from her injuries and when her tentacles had grown back, she left and found a new home.
The person she began to trust found her again and very slowly she's returning to be who she was before. She'll always have irrational fears towards birds, but she'll probably learn to manage it. What happened utterly changed her and has been some of the best plot fodder I've experienced in roleplay!

An interesting topic! Personally, I react with curiosity (or at least I have in the one car accident I've been through) or I start viewing the whole situation from a distance, as if it was a movie. A couple of days/weeks later, the enormity of the situation catches up with me or is triggered by something similar and I cry for a while, then I'm usually OK.

I get really angry if someone appears to wish to endanger me or attack me.

Most of my characters are kinda cold-blooded about this sort of thing, getting unattached from the situation, cynical about it and so on, with possible consequences later. I honestly have no idea what it would feel like to freeze in fear, as I always either do something or start viewing real life as a movie or a roleplay, or decide that dying is OK after all and that it'll probably be an interesting new experience.