Survey

[stringsavant]

Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy? Elliot's quite thin, but certainly not so much as his father. He's thin enough to seem delicate without appearing brittle.

2. How old is he? He runs the gamut between being conceived to dying at the age of 25. So... like that.

3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch? He carries himself like someone who doesn't pay much attention to the way he stands, or sometimes like someone who is trying to take up less space. The exception, of course, is when he performs; his back is ramrod straight and his posture is exemplary in these cases.

4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities? Elliot has always been weaker than his twin sister, physically and arguably mentally, despite his genius. He is autistic, nonverbal, and highly phobic and easy to upset.

5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid? It depends entirely on whether or not there's a violin in his hands. Elliot goes from an awkward, terrified young man to a graceful concert performer in a heartbeat as long as he has his outlet.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror? Elliot doesn't like mirrors, but he is actually almost unrealistically attractive. He takes after his mother, a Stake of Purgatory summoned by Beatrice the Golden Witch, so there's something just a bit unearthly about his good looks.

7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred? Very fair, and unfairly clear.

8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style. Elliot's hair is sleek, dark brown, and falls at about shoulder-length. Any shorter and his neck gets cold, any longer and it's distracting.

9. What color are his eyes? Deep garnet, resembling his mother's.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? Elliot looks very different from his fraternal twin sister.

11. What are his chief tension centers? Shoulders, back, forehead, buttocks, arms, legs, neck. You name it, it's probably a place Elliot feels tension.

12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit? A mixture between so casual it's drab (he's fond of a particular lumpy brown sweater he's worn since he was a child) and concert-formal attire. For occasions that fall between the two extremes, he settles for a white button-up shirt.

13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them? When he was a boy his sweater was far too big. He has long arms, and sometimes he has to get his clothing altered so his sleeves fall at the correct length.

14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences? No, his casual attire is either a brown sweater or a white button-up shirt. His concert attire is a suit.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? Boxers. :D



Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? If Elliot were to speak, his voice would sound hoarse from disuse, and a bit too much like his father's for comfort.

2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate? He speaks in italics, or in cursive. Because while he has something like a psychic connection with Anita, he just won't talk to anyone else, not even his parents.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics? Since he grew up in London, I'm sure he at least thinks with a British accent.

4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency? Elliot understands English (his native tongue), French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese, with a smattering of Japanese (not a language he needs much, in this timeline.)

5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations? If someone's talking and he understands them, he listens. He will change his handwriting if that's called for.

6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words? Thinking is what he does, solely. The only time his words aren't carefully thought out (before they're written) is when he communicates with Anita via their "special twin power connection."

7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? Surprisingly eloquent, unless emotion and empathy are the topics of conversation.



Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart? Very book-smart. Elliot might even be more intelligent than his brilliant father, though his genius is channeled in a different direction.

2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate? He does both in different situations. When he's composing or performing, he can adjust immediately to whatever the situation throws at him. Otherwise, he has a hard time coping with change.

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? He's logical and idealistic, strangely enough. He's like his father, in that he's very, very good at what he does, but the rest of the world rather confounds him and he has a narrow view of much of it.

4. What kind of education has the character had? A very strong one, since he's attended Wammy's House since he was old enough to fill out bubble sheets.

5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about? Elliot is a musical prodigy. Little else occupies his thought or his time... but Anita is a notable exception.

6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert? Uncommonly introverted. It comes with the whole "autism" thing.

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven? Elliot, like his father, never developed beyond a certain point emotionally. He feels emotion, but sometimes they get lost in the complicated process of translating them from feelings to demonstrations of those feelings. They tend to be raw, violent and shallow, much like a child's. He responds to various triggers with fear and upset, leading many to label him as a flighty and tempestuous youth. He's calm, however, when his sister is near or there's a violin in his hands.

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic? Very uncomfortable. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he was kidnapped when he was a year old, but Elliot has an incredibly difficult time not being suspicious of strangers.

9. Is he more likely to act, or to react? It depends on the situation, entirely. Elliot's virtue is diligence; regarding his music, he'll act. Regarding everything else the world has to throw at him? He's highly reactionary.

10. Which is his default: fight or flight? Almost always flight. When people or situations cause Elliot pain, fear, or any amount of distress, he responds by fleeing or retreating. The exception is after his sister's death, when the ensuing meltdown results in the morgue attendants fearing for their lives and emergency personnel tranquilizing him and putting him in a holding cell overnight.

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks? Hardly any. Elliot has a difficult time with humor, and unlike his dad, he doesn't even really try with bad puns.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them? Elliot is autistic. He doesn't deal with it; his mother, his sister, and his father do. He is a very dependent character who relies heavily on his family's support just for basic survival. He's a prodigy, but as a human being, he could get along much better. This also contributes to a fairly large depressive streak as he gets older.

13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person? Being kidnapped at a year old is definitely one of them. Being diagnosed with autism was a blow to his father, who blamed himself. Being given a violin gave Elliot a direction and an outlet and a strong (if short-lived) connection with his father. His sister beating up bullies showed him that he was loved. His first (and last time) having sex with a girl who used his sister to get to him. His father's illness. His father's death. His sister's death. His own suicide.

14. What does he fear? His sister leaving him, under any circumstances.

15. What are his hopes or aspirations? To keep Anita close to him and write music.

16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him? Once he accidentally plagiarized a piece, writing down a refrain he'd heard before and unconsciously committed to memory. He never showed anyone, but is terrified and ashamed of it anyway.



Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he went unnoticed for the nine months he was in Belphe's womb, but Elliot's relationship with his mother is amicable and lukewarm without being what one might consider close. His relationship with his father, on the other hand, has been both hot and cold. Elliot was fascinated by his father as a child, seeing him as a person who could really understand him. L was the one who had the idea to give him his violin, after all. But that freezes over when L falls ill and starts dying.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? He has a twin sister named Anita. They are close, even for twins.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand? He does not have a fond concept of Sophie Lawliet, his deranged paternal grandmother who kidnapped him when he was four years old. Aside from the occasional trolling from his "aunts" (the other Purgatory Stakes), he doesn't really have anyone else.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them? Watari has a role in his life, similar to that of a grandfather. Mello and Near are also presences, though Elliot seemed to be adversely affected by Mello's blond hair even at an early age.

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet? Anita is Elliot's best and only friend.

6. Does he have other close friends? None, sadly. :<

7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people? He has a hell of a time just getting people.

8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends? Family.

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once? Single for life.

10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? Nope.

11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest? Music, and music.

12. What does he look for in a romantic partner? Potential to take Anita away from... oh. Oh, you meant for him. Then nope.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any? He never had time or opportunities.

14. Does he have any rivals or enemies? Anyone who tries to hurt Anita.

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale? Elliot is mostly asexual, not feeling or responding to feelings of attraction. That's not to say that he's incapable of having sex, which did happen once.

16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him? He was confused and ultimately unnerved with his one time engaging in intercourse. Mostly because of how it ended he has dreadful memories of the experience. He doesn't associate it with good things.

17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits? Doesn't really apply. He probably could get off on Mussorgsky, though.



Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type? He's a Leo, and he doesn't fit it as well as his sister does. He's highly creative, though, which is something of a Leo trait, right?

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life? Neither. Elliot knows that there's magic. He owes his very existence to it and can communicate with his sister without saying one word. He has no reason to look for more in the universe.

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? It's absent, more so than his father's. Consideration for others doesn't come naturally to Elliot, and consideration for himself isn't actually much better.

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? Generally indifferent. He tends to react to the people around him; if Anita's upset about a bitch at school, for instance, he's likely to get upset himself. Otherwise, people, especially those outside of his immediate family, don't affect him, and he's indifferent to what they think and believe.

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them? He has a problem with the color yellow and loud, sudden noises (he never composes music with cymbals.) He seems to have a hard time trusting people with blond ("yellow") hair. They're pretty irrational, but that's how neurological pervasive developmental disorders can be.



Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt? Elliot and Anita are both, thanks to their father's legacy, very wealthy and set for the duration of their short little lives. Elliot can afford expensive (ie, not scratchy) clothes, a very fine instrument and its maintenance, and the occasional expensive bottle of champagne or wine to celebrate a successful composition's debut. He also has a heck of an itunes habit; his ipod is crammed with stuff, and he purchases new music almost every day.

2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him? Elliot is admired without being popular, like many savants, oddities, and child prodigies. He lacks the charisma his sister possesses, and has very little desire to make friends and endear himself to others. When he does, it's by accident. When he doesn't, he forgets it quickly if it upsets him at all in the first place. That being said, when he was younger, and even to some extent in the competitive world of music, Elliot has some trouble with bullies.

3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others? Elliot grows up with his parents but ends up sharing the lease on an apartment with Anita shortly after they both turn 18. It's mostly a crashing place for him, since he keeps very few knick-knacks and spends most of his time at the local university's concert hall and music archives.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on? Though he doesn't drink much of it often, Elliot is a compulsive purchaser of wine and champagne. Mostly because he's figured out that the more people drink his alcohol, the more fun they have without him having to find ways to entertain him. He loves itunes and always has the absolute best speakers, headphones, and equalizers and balancers and everything that only obsessive audiophiles care about. He also gets a new, expensive, tailored, designer suit every year on his birthday. For concerts and such.

5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else? Elliot is a concert violinist and a composer. He's very, very good at it, and it is his life. He would have felt very differently had Watari successfully pushed him into a career as an investigator like his father.

6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time? The beauty and joy of doing what he loves for a living is that Elliot would probably be doing it anyway, whether it was his job or not. He likes to read, and he likes his ipod, and he has a few movies that he watches. By that, I mean that he's seen three movies, ever: The Iron Giant, The Land Before Time, and The Brave Little Toaster. He has no interest in seeing any others. (Technically, he saw part of Amadeus, but he didn't like it, and turned it off.) He likes anthropomorphic machines and robots, but hates it when animals end up with human characteristics, so he always fast-forwards through the scene in The Brave Little Toaster with the singing fish.

7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? Unlike his father, Elliot goes beyond just being a picky eater with a penchant for unhealthy food. Getting him to eat at all can be a chore, due to his preoccupation with hating yellow food. He's likely to reject something if he can even see something yellow that's unrelated to the food, or if he thinks it contains something yellow (ie, butter). He does drink alcohol occasionally, since he seems to enjoy collecting and arranging wine and champagne bottles in the apartment he shares with Anita.



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

1. Color? White and red.
2. Smell? Rosin and sheet music.
3. Time of day? Around 8:00 PM.
4. Season? Winter.
5. Book? "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst
6. Music? "Pictures at an Exhibition" in its glorious entirety, by Modest Mussorgsky. The orchestral arrangement, if you please.
7. Place? A concert hall.
8. Substance? Wood.
9. Plant? A maple tree.
10. Animal? a scarlet ibis.



END
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