Norman Babcock (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
always_someone) wrote2017-12-29 08:25 am
always_someone) wrote2017-12-29 08:25 am
Entry tags:
Introducing: AbNorman! Er. Norman Babcock!
Hooboy, it's been a while since I've done up one of these suckers from scratch. Let's see if I manage to screw anything up and make this boy entirely unintelligible, shall we?
Meet Norman.
And Norman's ears.
Norman is that one weird quiet kid at your school. The one who everybody figures is just doing weird junk for attention. Nobody ever stops to think about why a kid who is doing weird junk for attention would then immediately insist that he be left alone, or whether there's any truth to his weird claims that he can see ghosts, because, come on, he's the weird kid. Isn't that enough? Besides, he seems quite happy to chatter to himself when he's walking down the street, pretending to be chatting it up with ghosts, right?
Weirdo.
Well, as it turns out, Norman isn't pretending.
See, Norman, like generations of people in his family line before him, has a gift. Norman can see ghosts, he can speak to the dead. Or, well, he can speak to the dead who don't move on, at least. People who had unfinished business in life or those who died suddenly or violently might end up sticking around for a while. Norman might be a little awkward about the living -- they didn't ever really treat him all that well -- but he's perfectly comfortable chatting up the skewered ghost of the pilot who got tangled in her own parachute and wound up hitting a tree, or the gangster who forever clunks up and down the street, gun in hand and modeling his concrete shoes. He'll stop to throw a stick for a dead dog, or, yes, to pat a flattened raccoon on the side of the road.
But he won't chat to flies. Flies don't talk.
They're still kinder than most people, though.
Norman comes from Laika's 2012 stop-motion film, ParaNorman. Or, rather, from about four years after Laika's 2012 stop-motion film, ParaNorman. He's not as shy around the living as he used to be, but he absolutely still talks to ghosts. He's just done a little growing in the meantime, that's all. In canon, he was eleven years old, with big sticky-outy ears and hair that refused to do anything but stand up on end.
Insert 'fwoomp' sound effect here.
Now he's fifteen years old, with big sticky-outy ears and hair that refuses to do anything but stand on end. I've managed to find a PB with the right ears, but in most icons, his hair isn't misbehaving itself properly... please, feel free to pretend it is.
Besides that, I think I made the right choice.
Something else that your character might not notice unless they're right up in his face? His eyes. Norman's irises aren't exactly normal. They're faceted, meaning that while, at a glance, he looks like he's just got normal blue peepers, a closer look will reveal that they've got some, er, pretty straight edges, there. Those are the visual tell of every seer in Norman's family line. If you've got eyes like that, you can see ghosts, understand zombies, and have the occasional unwanted vision that shows you how the most powerful dead around you have died. Congratulations!
Eh, they can't all be gifs, right?
Personality wise, Norman is actually a pretty laid-back kid. He doesn't go out of his way to pick fights, he's quiet, he keeps his head down a lot. He isn't likely to really do anything to knowingly cause problems for people. Heck, he isn't even really likely to stick his neck out for himself beyond a bit of deadpan snark, if someone is outright mean to him. That doesn't mean he's a pushover, exactly. He once stared down a screaming poltergeist as she warped reality and straight-up tried to murder him. He's got guts. He just also happens to not be a big fan of conflict. And hidden somewhere under the quiet kid who watches too many horror movies and is probably going to tromp around the dorms wearing squishy zombie slippers is a gentle optimist who doesn't think of himself as a hero, but he'll do some pretty heroic things in order to help hurting people find some peace.
Obligatory gif with his username slipped in goes here.
In summary: Norman's a gentle kid with big ears, weird eyes, and sticky-uppy hair who also happens to frequently chat up ghosts. If you have any need of a kid who can speak to the dead, feel free to give me a poke. If for whatever reason one of your characters has a ghost that follows them around, please give me a poke. I don't think we do have anyone like that, but I could absolutely be wrong, and that's the sort of thing that Norman would notice.
And Norman's ears.
Norman is that one weird quiet kid at your school. The one who everybody figures is just doing weird junk for attention. Nobody ever stops to think about why a kid who is doing weird junk for attention would then immediately insist that he be left alone, or whether there's any truth to his weird claims that he can see ghosts, because, come on, he's the weird kid. Isn't that enough? Besides, he seems quite happy to chatter to himself when he's walking down the street, pretending to be chatting it up with ghosts, right?
Weirdo.
Well, as it turns out, Norman isn't pretending.
See, Norman, like generations of people in his family line before him, has a gift. Norman can see ghosts, he can speak to the dead. Or, well, he can speak to the dead who don't move on, at least. People who had unfinished business in life or those who died suddenly or violently might end up sticking around for a while. Norman might be a little awkward about the living -- they didn't ever really treat him all that well -- but he's perfectly comfortable chatting up the skewered ghost of the pilot who got tangled in her own parachute and wound up hitting a tree, or the gangster who forever clunks up and down the street, gun in hand and modeling his concrete shoes. He'll stop to throw a stick for a dead dog, or, yes, to pat a flattened raccoon on the side of the road.
But he won't chat to flies. Flies don't talk.
They're still kinder than most people, though.
Norman comes from Laika's 2012 stop-motion film, ParaNorman. Or, rather, from about four years after Laika's 2012 stop-motion film, ParaNorman. He's not as shy around the living as he used to be, but he absolutely still talks to ghosts. He's just done a little growing in the meantime, that's all. In canon, he was eleven years old, with big sticky-outy ears and hair that refused to do anything but stand up on end.
Insert 'fwoomp' sound effect here.
Now he's fifteen years old, with big sticky-outy ears and hair that refuses to do anything but stand on end. I've managed to find a PB with the right ears, but in most icons, his hair isn't misbehaving itself properly... please, feel free to pretend it is.
Besides that, I think I made the right choice.
Something else that your character might not notice unless they're right up in his face? His eyes. Norman's irises aren't exactly normal. They're faceted, meaning that while, at a glance, he looks like he's just got normal blue peepers, a closer look will reveal that they've got some, er, pretty straight edges, there. Those are the visual tell of every seer in Norman's family line. If you've got eyes like that, you can see ghosts, understand zombies, and have the occasional unwanted vision that shows you how the most powerful dead around you have died. Congratulations!
Eh, they can't all be gifs, right?
Personality wise, Norman is actually a pretty laid-back kid. He doesn't go out of his way to pick fights, he's quiet, he keeps his head down a lot. He isn't likely to really do anything to knowingly cause problems for people. Heck, he isn't even really likely to stick his neck out for himself beyond a bit of deadpan snark, if someone is outright mean to him. That doesn't mean he's a pushover, exactly. He once stared down a screaming poltergeist as she warped reality and straight-up tried to murder him. He's got guts. He just also happens to not be a big fan of conflict. And hidden somewhere under the quiet kid who watches too many horror movies and is probably going to tromp around the dorms wearing squishy zombie slippers is a gentle optimist who doesn't think of himself as a hero, but he'll do some pretty heroic things in order to help hurting people find some peace.
Obligatory gif with his username slipped in goes here.
In summary: Norman's a gentle kid with big ears, weird eyes, and sticky-uppy hair who also happens to frequently chat up ghosts. If you have any need of a kid who can speak to the dead, feel free to give me a poke. If for whatever reason one of your characters has a ghost that follows them around, please give me a poke. I don't think we do have anyone like that, but I could absolutely be wrong, and that's the sort of thing that Norman would notice.