What aspects of a person does your character notice first? When they first lay eyes on someone, what runs through their head? Do they observe the way people present themselves? How genuine their smiles are? What their motivations might be? How they speak? Do they completely objectify people altogether? I'm curious!
My main character, Feraen, usually does a quick once-over of any new person and immediately judges if they're rich or not because she's a commoner and there's a big divide between classes.
I think for Piper the character's aesthetic is a big thing, like the kind of clothes they wear and how they do their hair, because that can say a lot about personality. She noticed that people who wear very plain clothes are actually quite interesting (most of the time). Also, their mannerisms is a big thing. Whether we realize it or not, that's part of how we identify people. WHether it be hunching shoulders or twisting your head a bit to the side or something, we all have something that subconciously tells others who we are. People's scents are also a factor.
Coallen judges initally by bearing and directness of gaze, and occasionally handshake strength. So, essentially, their presence. Then he observes them to try and pick them apart so he knows how they work. He's a manipulator, and he has to know what they fear and what they want to get the best effect from them.
Colby would judge based on people's tone and voice. Tone is everything. She is really touchy so a dip in tone might make her offended.
Tyler would judge on smile. He is a very real person and wants to know if someone else is being real with him. He can usually tell by someone's smile
Duxe would judge someone on how they look. If they care about themselves they will care about other people. But if they look like a mess and don't care Duxe isn't a fan of that person.
Hunter is too sweet to assume things and judge people. He just would accept everyone and everything.
Kandy would judge people the same way Duxe does. She wants people to care for themselves.
Catiline is a judgy bitch. She judges everything. Their personality, their looks, their height, their walk, appearance, voice, eye contact. Fricking everything
Tolkalee was trained from the age of ten, to notice the small things that tell the most about people. Things like how they stand, what they do with their hands when they talk, the tone of voice they use when they talk about different things. The reason being that the small things about people could tell him how dangerous that person might be.
Tonakee his sister notices nothing about people, not even how they look, because she's blind.
Ooh, I really like all of these! A lot of a character's world-view depend on their background. Sometimes it's just pathological. Either way it's a fun aspect of character to observe.
The protagonist to my story, Allister, doesn't like getting involved with people–she is more willing to associate with people who speak with a milder tone, though. Tone is a big thing. She goes on to decide whether she can trust someone based on their facial expressions. She reads into smiles and when she's feeling confident enough will make eye contact through which she can usually tell someone's intentions really quickly.
Her brother, Bryce, is a tad more judging than prospective like his sister. Part of this is due to stress and anxiety, but he often notices mannerisms and nervous habits in people as well as changes in tone, though his reaction is often much more severe. If he doesn't like the way you wring your hands he'll never like you. Likewise, if your breathing patterns are comforting to him he'll be pretty clingy.
Heidi is weird because he'll usually just look at someone from a distance and automatically assume exactly what that person is like and oftentimes is right. The "weird" part is that it doesn't usually affect his interactions with said person in any noticeable way at all.
Sawyer would judge how they carry and present themselves, plus their rank and deaths caused which is a really big thing in my story.
Riverpaw has had trust issues since she was like four because of a traumatic experience, so she tends to evaluate, first and foremost, if a person is trustworthy enough to even be near. She looks at their body language - if they look like they might try to grab at her for any reason, or something along those lines, she tries to keep at a distance. Being nervous or hesitant or restless and fidgety contribute as well. She watches their faces too, mostly their eyes - she's an empath, and has an ability to "see" a person's energy/aura, so she is really good at reading people in general. Keeping eye contact, as scary as it is for her, helps. The eyes are the windows to the soul, after all. She's not fond of loud noises, so people with loud voices automatically don't resonate well to her (except for her best friend, who usually lowers her voice, but is otherwise tolerable). Quieter voices make her feel a little comfortable, rougher voices might set off her PTSD, so…there's that. Changes in tone, whether because of the subject or just because, will usually set her off as well.
Sinistra underestimates most people she/it meets, and generally views most creatures either in three categories - of interest, not of a threat, or of threat. I think the best one to be classified as is the second one. She generally notices the character’s general behaviour around her. Are they scared? Threatened? Happy? She makes a choice on how to act from there, and she’s a pretty manipulative little abomination. Sinistra generally tends to approach a situation being overly friendly, or taunting. Or even interested. When she was a bounty hunter on Earth, many many years ago; she also acted clueless.
If she’s meeting someone she knows, her greeting can vary. Acigokon, her sibling, is generally greeted with passive-aggressiveness or just full on aggressive. She’s a very judgmental..thing.
Acigokon is a bit better than Sinistra; he doesn’t underestimate, and reserves his judgement for later. He judges based on similar things of Sinistra; and what he can classify them as. Like, “can I manipulate this person later?” He is generally looking for body language and scent, as well as wording. Acigokon though is definitely more feral than human when it comes to socializing for the first few times with new people as he makes an attempt to intimidate which is how he receives his info on how they react to him.
Vryllost doesn’t care, either way, making him the least merciful of the three Eldritch siblings. He’ll just judge you based on how you react to him fighting you.
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Aurelius: He first notices clothes, hairstyle, and other features that are the choice of an individual. He usually first tries to pinpoint all of the things that make them beautiful and unique on the outside. He pays very close attention to visual presentation, but also to how they treat others. His smiles are usually halfhearted- not fake, but he has a hard time truly smiling. He usually has good motivations, like protecting his friends no matter the cost (however, in the story, he's also trying to get his job back, then later he wants to kill someone as revenge). Aurelius has a clear, soft, and lilting tenor voice. He tends to ramble when he's interested in something, but is usually quieter. He swears a moderate amount. He has a generally positive outlook on people. He has higher regard for the lives of others than he does for his own.
Evinrude probably would look for how they act around others, and whether they treat one person different than another.
Meredith would look for their body language to see if they seemed approachable.
Cochiti would look for their weak spots to see how she could bring them down.
Adam Clarkwood: He is a master at body language and is constantly reading everyone around him as he is a master manipulator.
Chion is always watching for the slightest sign of aggression as she was tormented for her unnatural white hair.
-Malin watches everyone with a great interest and thinks even the smallest things are neat. Different coloured eyes? Awesome! Can juggle more than two objects? Fabulous! Giant plant monster? Gotta appreciate that style… She's always on the lookout for new members for the circus after all.
-Nax is more concerned with figuring out whether someone is a threat or not and what kind of threat. High-class armour? Probably good in close combat situations and rather skilled. Dusty robes and a newly bought notebook? Might be a magician just starting out.
-Rostal is much more interested in how animals act around you. If his pets don't mind your presence your probably a good person or at the very least not there with hostile intentions.
One of my favorite parts of a good character arc is how the way they approach people changes. The sweet airhead who would look at everyone through rose-colored glasses in the beginning of the story slowly beginning to see the darker aspects of the people they once loved. The stern and unfeeling workaholic who one day begins to see beauty in people and things. Mental illness like trauma or depression can also have a huge impact on a character's world-view. Do any of your characters experience a change such as this?
@The-Althalosian, sounds like cool characters :) Does Adam Clarkwood have a history in law or secret services that contributes to his evaluations of people? Or is he just a very intuitive person? And I can't help but feel interested in Chion.
I believe he is a politician. Or at least a hanger on to those in high places. He probably has some experience in the law as he got a girl out of court after she was accused of murder. (She did kill someone though.) But don't be fooled. He is no philanthropist. Everything he does has a purpose. The girl, Grace was imprisoned and forced to do his illegal work since he had first class dirt on her.
Chion lives in my Althalos prequel. She and her twin Ancro are so close they developed a kind of non-sophisticated sign language between them that no one else can understand. They were shunned by their society and lived together, just the two of them for a long time. They nearly died of starvation several times, and they feared all humans. It wasn't until they were found by Zol, the protag and leader of the group of elementalists, that they began to even speak out loud. Ancro has storm magic and Chion has ice magic. She is the only one who had physical manifestation of her powers. (Idk why though. Maybe it turned white from fear.)
My main protagonist (sounds redundant, I know), Jade, would just stay quiet and analyze their behavior and tone, mostly, while another one of my characters, Starry, usually blindly trusts unless you're VERY shady (physically, she can't really pick up on behavioral and vocal shadiness).
Melody would check how outgoing they are and try to match their comfort level.
My other 3 characters idk lol