Lost on a tangent

Over at wow_ladies on LJ, there was a prompt to outline a character's typical day. It's a fun exercise - I always like the ideas of Thespian Thursday, they usually inspire me to write a little bit. And writing is always good, yup.

So let's have a look at my Troll rogue's day! Being a guild leader and a workaholic, it's a loooong one.


-He gets up quite early, usually between 6 and 7 AM.

-Stumbles over things because someones always leaves stuff lying around. Curses the usual suspects silently.

-Prepares too much breakfast for the few guild members who are around at the moment. (He never learns. And it doesn't help that the Forsaken don't eat much.)

-Starts cleaning the guild base.

-Checks for new commissions (he advertises his work as a cook and alchemist. Troll needs money.)

-Either starts working on said commissions or, when there aren't any, tells one of the two prospective alchemists he trains that they can come over for some hours. Forgets that he can delegate, does the training himself.

-Has some breakfast leftovers for lunch. Tells himself that he should stop cooking for a whole company. Forgets this right away.

-Meets with his second-in-command. Gets told that no, he doesn't have to read the letters and to do the paperwork, she doesn't have to sleep and can do it on her own. Is reluctant, but secretly relieved that at least one person forces him to delegate stuff.

-Either continues working on commissions or prepares some simple alchemical stuff for sale. Troll needs money, remember?

-Notices that the guild base is cluttered again. Starts cleaning for the second time - if it's a week where a certain BElf paladin doesn't have cleaning duties for "being disrespectful at a guild meeting, which involves telling embarrassing stories about the leader's adventures in Northrend".

-Talks to guild members who have concerns or requests, tries to find solutions or at least listen. Is happy when a day passes where nobody got into trouble, which means that he has a free hour to drink tea and doze off on the sofa.

-Hurries out to buy supplies for the guild base or for work.

-Prepares dinner. Usually eats alone because the rest of the guild is either somewhere else or undead.

-Meets with his partner. She rebukes him because he works to much. He reminds her that working that much ensures that he can still make her expensive presents. They agree on taking a day off together... soon. Very soon. Yup.

-Some... er, shared relaxation ensues.

-She either has to leave or stays for the night. When she's asleep or has left, he usually spends another two or three hours in the alchemy lab. Falls asleep there from time to time.

Tomorrow my guild will have their first plotted event, which doubles as a trial for our newcomers and the ones who are due to be promoted.

It will be rather simple: I'll send them to a certain place to talk to someone and find hints where a missing person had been seen for the last time. If everything goes well, they'll follow his route and talk to some different characters I provide, to finally find and rescue the missing person. And then there will be cookies and promotions and much rejoicing... I hope. I'm still afraid I will mess up as a "game master" or people will get bored or the plot is too stupid or... well, let's see, right?

Yesterday I found out that the supposed OOC drama I talked about was not in fact OOC drama, but the other guild leader procrastinating her answer. Well, I think we had a friendly and civil exchange of messages afterwards, and she and my rogue will have a little talk in confidence. Let's see what comes out of it.

I think I've finally found the reason why our characters clash at every meeting, but I will have them figure it out for themselves. Or not figure it out at all. Hmm... I don't like applying OOC knowledge to IC situations, but I don't want this alliance to fall apart either. That's a difficult situation to be in. Maybe I'll just decide that my rogue will be in a good mood that particular day, so he won't blow up again. He's rather calm anyway, but at the last meeting too many things happened that ticked him off, and so his troll temper took over. And when this happens, things get... bad.

It doesn't help that he's in a period of change at the moment. He's adjusting to his responsibilities, growing more self-confident, and getting over some things that troubled him. His relationship is really stable now, and all the adversities his partner and he have faced have forged an even stronger bond between them. Plus his troublemaker sister starts to settle down and work on her temper, so there's one thing less to worry about. But as all those changes happen, some of his viewpoints and behavioral patterns change, too. He would never have openly confronted an ally in front of their guildmates before. Nope, he would just have sat there silently and felt miserable. So everything is a bit unusual and inconversant for him - and for me as a player, too.

I love to watch my character grow, I really do. It's not just "dropping some weaknesses", it has been a hard year for him (and a year of long, intense RP sessions and plots for me), and I feel it's understandable for him to finally "grow up". I hope he'll never drift into sue-ish territory; there are enough things about him that would hint at that if I just listed them all. But I've always preferred playing out a character's flaws, having them struggle, having them lose fights or embarrass themselves. Not to the amount of having a broken, overly tragic character who constantly needs to be "healed" - but enough to avoid becoming The Invincible Godmodding Imbadude. (Or Imbadudess, to use everyone's "favourite" suffix ;) ) Okay, at least I hope so - and I regularly check with my RP partners to make sure that I'm not going over the top with anything.

And now I wonder on how many tangents I went off to end up at "Mary Sue/Gary Stu" when I started out with "well, I got a message".