The Xan - Interview

The following is an interview taken from a basic template meant to flesh out your characters a little, and so you can see what their voice and mannerisms are like.

Basics

• What is your full name? Do you have a nickname (if so, who calls you this)?

• I am Xan. I am always Xan.

• Where and when were you born?

• This is unimportant. I am here now, this is all that matters.

• Who are/were your parents? (Their names, birthplaces, occupations, personalities, etc.)

• I am my progenitor.

• Do you have any siblings? If you do, what are/were they like?

• No. There is only me.

• Where do you live now, and with whom? Describe the place (home and location) and the person/people you live with.

• I am in all places I desire to be. I go where curiosity compels me.

• What is your occupation?

• I am a seeker of knowledge. This is why I defy time and death in equal measure.

• To which social class do you belong?

• I am beyond classification, a whole unto myself.

• Are you right- or left handed?

• I remembered, once. [The Xan holds a hand up. With a series of grisly cracks and pop, skin parts and ligaments shift as the hand and fingers fold back and a wavy tendril emerges from the wrist, quickly splitting into dozens of ends.] I think it is less important now.

• What does your voice sound like?

• Clinical. Flat. Neither high nor low-pitched. Perfectly average in the most intentional fashion.

• On what occasions do you lie?

• Truth is an abstraction, a litmus test for reliability in creatures with imperfect methods of communication. I am beyond such foibles.

• Do you have a motto? If so, what is it?

• No.

• Do you have any annoying habits, quirks, strange mannerisms, or other defining characteristics?

• When I am younger and less experienced, I prefer this shape. I have not yet fully divested myself of familiarity during these times.

• What is your hair color and eye color?

• Anything I wish. My default, however, has no hair and black eyes.

• What kind of distinguishing facial features do you have?

• I am told that sleepless eyes are a trait I am watched for.

• Do you have any physical traits that stand out (such as scars, birthmarks, tattoos, etc.)? If you have scars, how did you get them? If you have tattoos, why did you get them and what meaning do they have to you?

• I am free from marks and blemishes unless I wish them to be there.

• Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

• None. (A/N - Xan doesn't recognize his overuse of the word 'irrelevant'.)

Past

• How would you describe your childhood?

• How was it said? “I live. I die. I live again.”

• How much schooling have you had?

• It is my purpose.

• Did you enjoy school? If not, why did you struggle?

• In my deepest past, I was abandoned and taught nothing. I have never forgotten the feeling of ignorance.

• Where did you learn most of your skills and other abilities?

• I learned them everywhere that I am. Everywhere that I have been. Everywhere I will be.

• Did you have any role models? If so, describe them and why they were your role models.

• There was one I looked towards. …I will not speak of him.

• How did you get along with the other members of your family?

• There are no others. It is only Xan.

• What did you want to be when you grew up?

• I had no meaningful aspirations before I knew who I was.

• What were your favorite activities?

• Irrelevant.

• When and where were you the happiest?

• At the time that I found myself.

• Who were your friends, and what were they like?

• Irrelevant.

• When did you have your first kiss, and who with?

• Irrelevant.

• Are you a virgin? If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity?

• Irrelevant.

• Describe any influences in your past that led you to do the things you do today.

• I died, knowing nothing. That is all that drives me.

• What do you consider the most important event of your life so far?

• The day that I was born.

• Who has had the most influence on you?

• A peculiar query. It assumes the existence and agency of minds outside of my own. There are none. You are all meat. Randomly arranged compositions of protein and electricity moving in a shambling semblance of true thought. You are not me.

• What do you consider your greatest achievement so far, why?

• I have not yet completed it. The pieces must still be teased out of query and inference, and assembling it will be a labor of lives. No matter. Its shape lurks in my darkest dreamings. I will not forget.

• What is your greatest regret so far, why? Has this regret formed you into the person you are today? If so, why?

• I regret my ignorance. I regret ever succumbing to hesitancy or petty niceties, compromising the one thing that matters. I have turned my back on such things, and will not face them again.

• What is the most evil thing you have ever done so far?

• Evil is a value judgement rendered by cooperative organisms that require regulatory controls on large-scale behavior trends. It is a system for imperfect individuals. It does not apply to me.

• Do you have a criminal record?

• Most governing bodies aware of my existence find me objectionable enough that they refuse to openly acknowledge my presence. I would say I supercede such trivialities.

• What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you so far?

• …I died, once. Hard vacuum. Neglected to induce appropriate adaptations to survive said environment, and was compelled by erroneous thought to unseal my hardsuit. Do not ask me further.

• If you could change one thing from your past, what would it be, and why?

• Irrelevant. I have tried; time’s flesh is not easily bitten.

• What is your best memory so far? Why is it so powerful and lasting?

• The day that I found myself, and realized what it is that I had to seek. I was incomplete before then, a purposeless wretch.

• What is your worst memory so far? Why is it so powerful and lasting?

• The day that I first died. It was so … petty.

• What is your biggest secret? Does anyone else know about this? Which person do you least want to know about this secret, why?

• My secret is this: There is none. I have never lied about what I do and what I am looking for. You are all merely incapable of understanding.

Relationships With Others

• In general, how do you treat others (politely, as they treat you, by keeping them at a distance, with sarcasm, etc.)? Does your treatment of them change depending on how well you know them, and if so, how?

• People are disposable. The knowledgeable ones are useful as leads, but oftentimes little else. I allow them to think they are of more utility to me than they actually are.

• How close are you to your family?

• Every one I have been a part of has not been able to discern my presence.

• Which person do you wish you were closest to?

• I never was able to grasp the mind of my mentor.

• Do you have a spouse or significant other? If so, describe this person in some rough strokes.

• No.

• Have you started your own family? If so, describe them in rough strokes. If not, do you want to start a family? Why or why not?

• Not in the manner you speak of. I am my own collective.

• Who is the most important person in your life, why?

• There is no one who is truly important. I am merely the only one to understand the work.

• Who is the person you respect the most, why?

• My mentor showed me the folly of my prior existence. I owe him much.

• Who are your friends? Do you have a best friend? What do you most value in your friends? Describe them with some basics like their personalities, how you met them, what you have in common, etc.

• There are countless people of every class, affiliation, species, and walk of life that profess themselves to be my friend. None of them know me in the slightest. You people are pathetically simple to dupe.

• Have you ever been in love? If so, describe in some rough strokes what happened (love at first sight, unrequited love, ended up marrying him/her, ended with heartbreak, etc.).

• Could you convince yourself to love a stone?

• What do you look for in a potential lover?

• I do not.

• Who would you turn to if you were in desperate need of help?

• With sufficient leverage, anyone may be made into an appropriate vector of assistance.

• Do you trust anyone to protect you? Who, and why?

• I trust every individual to follow their primary psychological and physiological drives. Anything beyond this is folly.

• If you died or went missing, who would miss you?

• All of me? This would constitute a considerable portion of many important organizations across the realms. There would be strife.

• Who is the person you despise the most, why?

• I do not despise anyone, for the simple reason that there is no one person who is real enough to earn my true ire.

• Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict?

• I am always correct. This renders argumentation pointless.

• Do you tend to take on leadership roles in social situations?

• If I so choose. It is oftentimes not worth the attention.

• Do you like interacting with large groups of people? Why or why not?

• It is sometimes necessary. People are simple and tiresome things.

• Do you care what others think of you? Why or why not?

• Do you care what a piece of bread thinks of you?

Personal

• Describe the routine of a normal day for you. How do you feel when this routine is disrupted?

• Routine is a psychological crutch for the weak-minded. I am more adaptable than that.

• What is your greatest strength?

• I suspect most individuals would say the answer to that is my ability to alter my flesh. This is incorrect - my most potent weapon is my perspective.

• What is your greatest weakness?

• On occasion, I will incorrectly predict the actions of those around me. The motivations of others are beneath me, and so I do not understand them.

• Which talent would you most like to have? Why?

• I reject the self-limiting belief embedded in the premise of the question. What I desire, I obtain.

• Do you like yourself?

• My continued existence is a necessary conduit for me to obtain the information I seek. It would be foolish to not place myself in high priority.

• If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

• I have. I am. I will.

• Are you generally introverted or extroverted?

• Do not subscribe to such limiting modes of thought. I do what the situation calls for.

• Are you generally organized or messy?

• I comb through datasets that are incomprehensible to ordinary minds. Considering things ‘messy’ is indicative of a lack of processing power, which I do not suffer from.

• Name three things you consider yourself to be good at, and three things you consider yourself to be bad at.

• I adapt. I mimic. I find what is hidden. As for lack of talent … I do not yet possess the capacity to selectively alter my mind as I do my flesh. Beyond needing to rely on deception, this means I cannot adopt certain magical abilities that are keyed to holding selective morals and standards, such as those bound to oaths and promises. Additionally, I will not accept anyone or anything that attempts to exert control over me.

• What three words best describe your personality?

• Chameleon. Controlling. Ruthless.

• What three words would others probably use to describe you?

• Malevolent. Sadistic. Megalomaniacal.

• What goal do you most want to accomplish in your life?

• There is only one thing I am working towards. You cannot imagine it, and everyone you know and love will die before it is ever seen.

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

• …this facility will be rubble, with vines snaking through the crumbling stone. I will come here, and sit in this chair, and give the same answer I speak to you now - everywhere.

• If you could choose, how would you want to die?

• If I truly were able, I would never die again. As that is currently not an option, it is not worth considering.

• If you knew you were going to die in 24 hours, name three things you would do in the time you had left.

• I will die within the next 24 hours. As widely spread as I am, it is inevitable. If I were to be fully extinguished, with no hope of survival even in far-flung holdouts … an unforgivable slight. I would bring low everything that I could before I went.

• If you were to die and come back as a person, animal, or thing, what do you think it would be, and why?

• This has occurred. 

• What is the one thing for which you would most like to be remembered after your death?

• I care not for what you people think of me. I wish only to accomplish my work, upon which I will still be laboring when you and yours are dust upon the winds.