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Character Development Challenge

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

Regarding a Djinn

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Day 1 [Seasonal]

Preferences

• As the days turn warmer, Scarlett is more comfortable. She likes hot, dry climates with plenty of sun and few clouds. On the other hand, her job gets difficult in warmer weather. When the weather turns cool and crisp, she will not complain. Scarlett regulates her temperature better than humans and maintains a consistently warm body regardless of external forces.

Activities / Dress

• During summer, Scarlett likes to spend as much time outdoors as possible. She likes going to restaurants and opting for outdoor sitting so she can enjoy the feeling of the sun on her skin as she eats. Rarely will the opportunity for her to be able to dress up arise. So, she may take advantage and throw on a dress with a pair of heels. In winter, she spends most of the day indoors with her focus directed on a computer screen or her cellphone. When Scarlett goes out, she will stack on layers to appear more conscious of the weather.

Day 2 [Vices]

Temper

• Because Scarlett is quick to bottle up her emotions, she often loses herself in her feelings. Her temper can flare up out when all those repressed emotions bubble up to the surface. No stranger to blinding rage, Scarlett has come down from these temper tantrums with broken belongings and bruises. She'll scream and shout, choosing purposefully hurtful words. It's no wonder she has no close friendships.

Alcohol

• She likes to drink. Don't be fooled by her joyful disposition as she partakes; it is an effort to escape. Scarlett will disregard her safety when she drinks and does not know when to stop. Anything to forget him. Anything to forget them. Anything to forget herself.

Obsession

• Unable to enjoy anything casually, Scarlett is prone to obsession. She can become particularly attached to people. Always able to justify her disturbing behavior as acts of love, Scarlett will stalk and manipulate her love interests. Due to her upbringing, those she obsesses over tend to be unusual.

Day 3 [Paradigm]

Turning Hero

• It's unlikely that Scarlett will make a conscious choice to relinquish her darker habits. For Scarlett to assume the role of hero, drastic measures are necessary. Enslavement, possession, or manipulation by way of her unhealthy attachment style. Looking forward, it is only through coercion that she may take upon the role of hero.

Fixing the Past

• Undoing the events of her life may cause a shift in Scarlett's personality. Would her attachment issues have manifested differently if she had more time with her mother? Could Scarlett develop a stronger sense of empathy had it not been beaten out of her through the sect? Changing significant moments in her life could change the trajectory of her life.

Day 4 [Scars]

Lover's Kiss

• A scar spanning the length of her torso twists from her left shoulder blade to her right hip. There is a defined center, and from it branches out thinner lines, almost resembling a tree. She received the scar after enduring torture from her self-proclaimed first love. It is the only significant marking on her body.

Day 5 [Parents]

Biological

• Scarlett had been too young to remember her parents. Her father disappeared before she was born. And her mother passed not too long after Scarlett's first steps. She takes after her father in looks - her mother of darker features and sharper lines. There once was a lullaby her mother sang to her, but she does not remember it.

Adoptive

• Scarlett is taken in and raised by the Mubarak, a religious sect of Djinn. They nurture her as a soldier, not as a daughter. She grows up around countless other brothers and sisters. One man in the clergy refers to himself as her Father, so she calls him as such and forgets to remember his real name. He has a fondness for Scarlett, inappropriately so.
• When the sect instructs Scarlett to kill her first love, she turns her back on them. She murders several of her brothers and sisters. In the end, her lover dies. Knowing that punishment waits for her, she fled.

Day 6 [Erasure]

The Mubarak

• Her greatest regret is the loss of her first love Jasper Holstein. Accepting his death was easy, but living on without him was difficult. Their relationship was doomed to fail. Her mission had been to infiltrate, gather information, and kill Jasper. Falling in love was not part of the plan. As captivated as Scarlett was, her affections had not been reciprocated. However, she refused to give in and swore to make him love her. Shortly after, the sect murders Jasper when Scarlett's stalling becomes too much. If she could, she would erase her affiliations with Mubarak. One may argue she would have never met Jasper had she not been in the sect, but Scarlett believes they are soul mates; destined to meet no matter what.

Day 7 [Sleep]

Sleep

• Unlike humans, Scarlett does not need much sleep. A few hours per week will suffice; even so, she can go months without the need for sleep. In the event she does not sleep for a lengthy period of time, she may need to sleep for a long stretch of time once she does rest. However, resting for so long is not ideal nor functional. So, Scarlett tends to spend at least one day of the week resting. 
• At heart, Scarlett is an emotional woman. She prefers to be curled up and cocooned in a swarm of pillows and blankets. Turned on her side, cheek pressed close to the pillow that is half wrapped in her embrace and half under her head. Because she runs hot, she will sometimes swing a leg over the top of the blankets. However, when she is tense, Scarlett will sleep rigidly on her back with both arms at her sides.

Bedroom

• Due to frequently traveling. Scarlett's sleeping quarters are kept bare. She will leave hotel rooms unchanged, or temporary rentals with as few personal items as possible. There is a good chance that her bed will stay unmade, sheets peeled back and blankets left in a bunch. But she is otherwise tidy when it comes to keeping her clothes off the floor and her suitcase neatly packed.
• As for her personal home, an apartment in Dubai, her state of cleanliness is more or less the same. She is not particularly messy nor particularly clean. Her bed is decorated extravagantly with several large, soft pillows and expensive sheets. Upon a bedside drawer, there is a collection of personal items;  a pocket lighter or two, a sealed envelope, and several gold accessories.  

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