Do you always carry that with you?

[Terpsichore]

When you're creating a character, there are lots of little accessories that can help show off their personality to other people. Sometimes, it will be their clothing of their hairstyle, sometimes it's the car they drive or the job that they do. After all, seeing a warrior carrying his sword around, or seeing an engineer running around with a pencil behind her ear is just an extension of the job that they do.

What happens if a character happens to carry an item that doesn't immediately appear to be relevant to anything? It's not to help with their work, nor is it a family memento... It's just an ordinary item, like an umbrella, or a packed of toffees, or even a fork.

That's where your challenge comes in!

Write a paragraph or two about an item that you can see from where you're sat that a character might conceivably carry with them. Why do they always carry it around with them, and what kind of image does that give to the people that they meet?

 

[Sora Blade]

Lilly is a sweet girl with a dark past, she always cares a small leather backpack with her and inside she keeps a notebook, sheet music, pens, and two large bags of candy. Lilly herself didn't care for sweet so one day a friend of hers, Adrian, asked her why she cared the sweets around if she didn't eat them. "Happiness is fleeting, life is short, and the world is corrupt. When I see a child walking down the street, most of the time they aren't smiling so I offer them a piece of candy, with there parents permission of course, there face light up like a Christmas tree and for a second their happy." Adrian began carrying candy as well but no one ever said anything, soon the area became known for the small group of friends who gave away happiness wrapped in plastic.

 

[Captain Scrubz]

Dominic is a Skateboarder who works full time in a factory. He's your everyday skateboarder, styled messy brown hair T-shirt and shorts/Trousers. But every piece of clothing and on his skin there is duct tape wrapped around him. It seems to change with every passing day. His friends and work colleagues asked him why and he just replies "Why not".

They think it's weird to start of with but it grows on them and treat him normally after a few weeks of knowing him. He sometimes gets some hassle from a few random strangers but he does his best to ignore them. He has gotten into a few fights because some of them were pulling the Duct tape off but after those incidents they tend to leave him alone and just shout weirdo as he passes.

The reason why he has duct tape scattered everywhere is just a cover up. He is 28 now but 6 years ago he just finished college and going into university, learning to become a teacher, that was his dream. Usually once a year he has a big trip out with family and friends but this one year he had to stay behind due to sorting out his university and interviews. He didn't mind not going he was determined to become a teacher.

But the plane all his friends and family were on crashed and everyone perished leaving Dominic alone. When he was told by his favourite college teacher he quickly decided to take his own life by slitting his left wrist. The college teacher expected him doing something stupid and luckily enough he cut his wrist the emo way.

The doctors saved him and Dominic moved in with his teacher. Over a year with his teacher he decided to start a fresh and move town, he was ashamed for taking his own life and if you notice carefully there is always duct tape covering the scar over his left wrist.

Ok it's a little more than 2 paragraphs and I apologise now. You know how it goes.

 

[Drew]

Lucas Nova my most recent character has a steampunk look that is almost nears that of an outlaw. Out of most of his clothing the goggles around his neck stick out the most since they are something he uses all the time and keeps close. Out of fear of losing them and not being able to get another pair he keeps them close. People use to ask him why he never removed them but since his social circle has gotten smaller and smaller the questions stopped coming.


It's just part of who he is now. To see him without them means something is very wrong or that he is very ill. The setting of the story requires Lucas to do welding and so he uses the goggles. He also gets himself into different situations where he needs to protect his eyes from steam or fly debris so they are very handy

 

[Ashi]

A character-in-progress of mine, whom I've named Chrysanta, always carries with her a camera of some sort. Most often, it is a large black one hanging around her neck like a Nikon or Cannon. Other times, she might carry a small digital camera that she can wear with a strap around her wrist or put in her pocket. She carries it, obviously, because she deals with photography; however, she is not a professional photographer. Actually, in the way of a living, she repairs and alters computers and other articles of technology such as smartphones and cameras, even appliances like clocks. She doesn't really make any money from her photography, though she does occasionally have someone buy a print of her photos online. Really, photography is just a hobby, something she enjoys.

As for what the cameras say about Chris as a character, as a person if you will, they tell the observer that she is an observer herself. She is the objective third party watching from the sidelines or the background, catching the many faces of people - and their true selves - with the all-seeing eye of her camera lens. It gives the impression that she is focused, ready to snap the perfect shot the instant it presents itself. What it perhaps portrays the most is that she has a different way of seeing things, she likes to get the whole story and have time to think and look it over before she comes to a conclusion. She sees the wonder in children's eyes when she catches them in a photo playing, the beauty in the sunrise and sunset; and she notices details that many would overlook.

 

[Nougat]

My character, Ryan, is a typical teenage boy. He stays inside most of the day, playing video games, but he always love going out to play sports with his friends. He has messy brown hair and earrings, and a mischievous light in his eyes that always made people do a double take. And, he always carries a set of headphones with him. It doesn't matter whether or not he has something to plug it into, he will always have it handy. Not because he thinks he will suddenly need it. Not because he has a dark past of death and despair that left him deep psychological scars that could only be filled with that set of headphones he always has. If you asked him why he had them, he'd simply laugh and tell you, It's because it looks cool, before pulling the headphones over his ears. But that is not the reason. Well, not all of the reason, anyway.

Ryan has always loved to listen to people. To gather information, to not be constantly left in the dark. It was easier when he was a child, and people thought he was too busy playing make-believe to hear a thing he said. Now, as a teenager, it's a bit more difficult. But he had the most perfect solution to it. People tended to think that he wouldn't hear a thing if he were listening to music, and clearly, if he was wearing headphones, with the cord disappearing into his pocket, he couldn't hear a thing. That was when they could talk about things he'd never hear otherwise. He finds it funny, really, that they could be tricked so easily. People were such idiots.

 

[Zizikitty]

When someone looks upon Dameyen Mbyen many things stand out. His five foot six slightly pudgy frame is tan and freckles splatter his bronze skin. Most notably his arms and face. His hair is spiked and messy and dyed a vibrant lime green. To match that flair is his purple dog collar, complete with dog tags and a piercing one his eye brow that holds a chain that dangles from his brow to the top of his ear. On his other ear there are two more hoop earrings, one with an orange bead and the other with a skull. But of all these flashing adornments there is one that is easily missed despite it being just as obvious as the others. On his left wrist is a bi-colored braided hemp bracelet from which a single shark tooth hangs. Of all he wears it is the one that holds the most significance to him and the one he's had the longest. The pearly white tooth is wide with an abrupt jagged edge to it. If one knew enough they'd right away tell it was from a tiger shark. To someone looking at him, the tan and the stoner surfer drawl tone in his voice would leave them thinking it was part of the image of someone who loved the ocean. It might signify someone who lived dangerously like every day might be his last. And that might be true considering the story behind the tooth.


The tale they'd hear would be one told from someone who looked death in its black eyes and fought a heroic battle for his life. Only to feel remorse and deep sorrow for ending something so powerful, primal and beautiful. Dameyen had barely turned eighteen when he moved to live with his uncle in Hawaii, finding his passion for both the sea and beautiful women. Though he quickly realized the net around his uncles beach side resort did not keep out sharks rather it killed the native wild life and create a buffet for predating sharks. One day while cutting dead fish and turtles from the net his jet ski was rammed by a twelve foot tiger shark. In that moment when the shark had him in its mouth and shook him violently that he reacted with the knife in hand. Dragging himself back on the jet ski he managed to get back to shore and get help. But his time in the hospital allowed him to think.


The shark never would have been drawn to the dead turtles had the government not placed a net out in the surf. If they had taken the time to understand and educate, he wouldn't have had to kill something that evolved to perfection well before the first dinosaurs walked on land. It also made him realize how quickly life can be suddenly taken away. That everyday needs to be lived like it's your last, because you never know when your last day will be. It also made him respect sharks as a whole so much more than he had before. The tooth is not only a grim trophy pulled from the bone in his leg but a reminder that life is too short to be not lived to the fullest.

 

[Cabob7]

There once was a man, who had a stick. He didn't need the stick, as he had a heated home, and a job, and a family, and a car, and all of that. He could walk perfectly fine without it. He couldn't fight with it, he hadn't the heart for violence. But he always walked with that stick. He brought it everywhere.
One day, I asked him why he always had that stick, and his answer made me rethink my view of the world. he said, 'I'm strong, as are my friends. But one day, we will fall. This stick will support me when all others have fallen.' Confusedly, I asked him how he knew he'd be the last one. 'I'm too stubborn not to see the end,' he'd said with a laugh.
(It's short but, eh.)

 

[Capt. Blu]

"Do you always wear that hat?"

Ace Tain, a fiery redhead, looked at the black and red baseball cap in her hands before putting it on backwards and grinning. "Of course I do!" Looking at the young woman, she looked like a regular person. She wore a white graphic tee today, with the words 'Cereal Killer' on it. This along with black pants and black fingerless gloves made her look like a wannabe punk, in a sense. What one wouldn't know, was that despite her look, she was an orphan that had been homeless, or a wanderer as she called it, since she was six.

"I wear this hat because a guy gave it to me when he took me in... I was around eight or nine. He told me, 'If you can help me sneak into this store, I'll get you whatever you want.' Heh, as absurd as it may sound, I was a child. So, I crawled through a vent like he instructed and unlocked the door. And the guy even kept his promise." Ace laughed. "He told me that he was a leader of a gang and he wanted me to stay with him and his 'family'. It was a mutual relationship at first. I'd get him into places, and he'd give me necessities and things I wanted. But the hat is a symbol now. I'm not just some tool to use. I'm apart of a family I've never had." She smiled and then nodded. "Yep! That's pretty much the story of my hat! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and do more interesting things!"