If your characters were real...

[Doug R.]

...what would they be? What would they do?

I'm envisioning this almost as an "I could have been" thread (as opposed to "I Am").

I suspect most of my characters would be average, boring people (just like me!) so I won't post those.

When you post, remember to factor in the population difference into your extrapolation (finding help isn't a problem IRL).

-A metal-head (what they wouldn't give for some Metallica and a mash pit - if they existed in Cantr).

-A weird cat lady.

-A special Olympian

-Career military (so no different, really)

-A mercenary for hire or a police detective

- Celibate religious (nun, monk, etc.)

Of course, all of this is if they were born in a "Westernized" country. I'm sure it would be very different if they were born into different circumstances.

[Armulus Satchula]

That creepy old guy down the street
Retired old man sailing his yaught
Retired old woman
Infantry
Door to door salesman
"Anti" except female
Living off Social Security Disability
Conartist / Professional Gambler
Some emo kid

[mojomuppet]

In prison for theft.

Some woman's whipping boy.

Mass murderer.

The cool lady , all the kids play in her yard.

Scarry lady that peeks out her curtains and never comes outside.

Village idiot.

An old maid with a thing for post it notes.

Sean Penn

Drank Jim Jones' punch, knowing it would kill her and was happy about it.

Killed in drive by shooting. Her murders show up to her funeral to make sure she is in the coffin.

Would think Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh is someone to look up to.

My Aunt Shirley.

Aerosmith's Janie's gotta Gun runs through my head when I play her not sure what that means yet

Lives her life thinking she is Scarlett O'Hara .

[SumBum]

- cattle rancher or some sort of rugged cowboyish type life

- corporate peon

- unwilling diplomat or working politics behind the scenes

- member of Green Peace, Peace Corps or other hippy activist gig

- white collar criminal

- tough broad trying to prove herself in a man's world, could see her as firefighter or coast guard

- police or something with action and the possibility to kill someone without getting in trouble for it, yet helping the community

- blue collar criminal

- not sure, still finding himself. maybe a paramedic

- fashionista or model

[Rebma]

- A severely depressed CEO/businesswoman

- A professional dirt-biker woman, doing Olay beauty product adds for sponsorship

- A lazy southern momma (I picture her making iced tea all day and chasing kids off her yard)

- A 'slow' woman, probably working in a flowershop, living off disability

- Hotel/Restaurant Manager, happily married, 2.5 kids.

- Mafia middleman

- A flamboyant man, often found at clubs with all his women friends. Possibly holding a mediocre job by day, like fast food, or busboy.

- That quiet loner heavyset woman down the street with the outdated flowerprint dress, who does whatever she's told.

[SekoETC]

Ooh, nice topic. Sorry, I ended up writing out full life stories. Some were easy and some took more work. A couple of mine just couldn't be placed in the US. I only did the English characters since my Finns live in the Stone Age and my Swede is an explorer. They don't have enough of a personality to say what they would be in the modern world.

- Labor union activist in her youth, worked in communal children's daycare until retiring in her 60s but still yells at the neighbors' kids from the porch as if it was her job. Doesn't have kids of her own, never been married although she's had short term relationships with co-workers and maybe a random fling with the postman or some other service person.

- Retired businessman, currently living in a huge mansion with a mail-order bride from some Asian country. He frequently bought services from prostitutes when he was younger, fell in love with one of them and eventually married her, but she had various problems and finally OD'd on sleeping pills. He has gone through triple bypass surgery in his fifties and had to give up smoking and start leading a healthier lifestyle, even though he's still obese. Tries to do jogging regularly on the treadmill and eat salad every day. Frequently orders Viagra from the Internet, tried penis enlargement pills once but was embarrassed and disappointed to find out it was a scam.

- Retired tailor and grandmother. Her husband got the Altzheimer's so she had to put him in a home but she goes to visit him frequently. She's usually not upset even though he rarely remembers who she is. She's often offering to babysit the grandchildren and has taught them how to crochet, even the boys. Her son is a businessman and the job involves a lot of traveling, so he's asked his mother to help his wife take care of things at home. This daughter-in-law was recently diagnosed with depression so she's taking meds. When they were younger, she used to follow her husband on the business trips but after the first kid was born, she had to stay at home.

- Currently in jail after kidnapping and raping a woman for the second time. His life has had it's ups and downs. His uncle sexually abused him when he was a boy, so he got taken into custody and spent most of his youth in an orphanage. They tried to find him a foster family a couple of times but he got into trouble doing things like shoplifting and running away from home. Finally they figured he was better off in an institution. He went through vocational training and got a job in a factory, soldering circuit boards. He was praised for his precision and dexterity but he was always known as the silent guy in the diner, sitting in a corner table and sketching things in a notepad. As he started getting enough wages, he started frequenting a gym and managed to develop some muscles in spite of his small frame. He started wearing white muscle shirts to show off his biceps. His skin was very dark and smooth. It caught the eye of a white girl a couple of years younger who wanted to feel his muscles, said he was impressive. He bought her a ring with his savings and they moved into a bigger flat. For a while he was happy. Then they started having problems and he started getting abusive, she started cutting herself. He'd put locks on everything and take the keys with him when going out. One day he came home to find her lying in the bathtub with her wrists open. She looked at him, pleading for help with her eyes, but he just held her until she stopped breathing. Only then he went to call the paramedics, and it was too late. He was given contact information for a survivor support group but he never went there. Instead he started stalking this Russian chick who lived down the block and started drawing sketches of her, lining the walls of his apartment with them. But he felt like she was a saint and he could never hurt her, so one day when he saw another girl who looked vaguely like her but in a distorted fashion, much sluttier, much dimmer, he dragged her into an alley and raped her while holding a knife to her throat. He was caught the next week and landed up in jail. But as he got out, it wouldn't take very long for him to pick his next victim. This time it was more elaborate, he planned things in advance and kept her locked up for weeks before she died of malnutrition. He tried to dump the body in a river but it floated up and they already had his DNA in the register after the previous case. So now he's back in jail, going to the gym and having his way with skinny white guys who are too weak to put up a fight. (I don't know why he prefers white people.)

- She has a degree in psychiatry even though she's a bit of a psychiatric case herself. After a colorful youth she came out shattered and scarred, both physically and mentally, finding herself in a peer support group after a hospital episode. After a couple of years she started leading groups of her own and her peers encouraged her to go back to college, so she graduated and continued on to university. But after having her degree, she has still continued working for the same familiar support organization. Now she's also helping them arrange fund-raising and such.

- She was a member of a native tribe living in the Amazon region, but she was often wandering alone and occasionally coming in contact with farmers and other people living on clearings, learning some Portuguese in addition to her obscure native language. Then she met some lumberjacks in the forest and even though she was initially frightened by the roaring engines and chainsaws, she was a very curious individual and made contact with them as they were on their coffee break. There were a couple of guys in their twenties who were best friends with each other and she grew fond of both of them, although one more than the other, even though they never took advantage of her. When they had to stop cutting wood there, she asked if she could go where ever they were going, and lied about being an orphan so they wouldn't think she had family ties. The guys had a little farm house in a rural village and they were living together. She would do household chores for them, even though she was quite clumsy at most of things. Then the guys died, first one, then the other, and she never quite understood why, but she was very sad. She continued living alone and taking care of their little plots. Later she ended up taking a couple of orphan girls under her wing, the first one had been thieving but the second one was just picking scraps.

- He was a young guy living in Kosovo and had just recently gotten engaged when the war broke out. They fled the country and didn't want to go back afterwards, so they ended up working together on a farm and later managed to take over an abandoned farm.

- She lives in Kongo and has been hiding from bad people all her life. Her parents died of AIDS when she was a child and her older brother was looking after her ever since, but he died after catching tetanus from a barbed wire fence, so she felt awfully lost. (She's a bit behind in her mental development due to malnutrition.) But she run into some nice people and they're going to take care of her, or that's at least what they say.

[Doug R.]

Very creative!

[MrDudeBroMan]

- That guy on the corner with the "will work for food" sign.
- Either a linebacker or a cop.
- A businessman with a ton of great ideas and a shit-ton of bad luck.
- Dead in a dumpster behind a bar somewhere.
- A depressed coal miner somewhere in the midwest.
- NASCAR driver


(The rest are too average to talk about)

[the_antisocial_hermit]

The spunky, little old lady in the nursing home that has no family or friends to come visit her anymore. Sorta like old lady Idgie in Fried Green Tomatoes.

Quite possibly approaching mid-life crisis. At least considering a change in profession because the career path she chose is no longer gratifying.

Because of a tragic accident, either in a mental facility or under the care of family (leaning towards family in this case). Perhaps on medications...

A young hopeful that has yet to learn what the real world is all about.

[Joshuamonkey]

As usual, impressive, Seko, but they were sometimes depressing.
I may have difficulties with this
- Living on an estate in the mountains with a loving family, with neighbors far away.
- An elected leader of a large city that has some oddities; use to manage a successful business. (Guess who that is..)
- The leader of some old organization and army in South America that has seen better days and tries to uphold justice.
- A leader of a ...
Okay, I give up, I'm not much good at this. Cantr is Cantr to me.

[Dudel]

Interesting indeed!

Born in a qusi-religious home, probably of multiple faiths. Eventually he took a combination of what he thought "best". Probably works for the church but is one of those types who only offers the help when it is asked for. Most likely is seen more as a member of the community then a member of his church. Tends to help with the homeless and troubled families.

In and out of jail for starting fights since he was about 13. I'm guessing a broken home but nothing violent/bad/whatever the boy's parents simply didn't love each other anymore. He lives with his father who is a bit "hands off" on raising. Has a habit of being rude and insulting so probably only has a few friends he "met on the inside"... and is now the squirrely muscle for some low end gang leader. Under this leader's "law" he's killed a couple people and stolen a few things but doesn't seem to care.

Very typical, and boring, girl-next-door. She has an okay job with a live-in-girlfriend and they have a movie night every Friday. Life never was bad, minus the loss of her mother (Doesn't know her father), and she doesn't truly know pain in any form. Well she might have broken a bone as a child... gymnastics or something like that.

*sigh* A special needs type of case. Was taken advantage of at a youngish age (mid-late teens) by an older woman (Probably an aid worker or family friend) and now has a "thing" for older women. Betting he's been babied to the point where he acts more childlike then he would otherwise.. giving his "older girlfriends" someone to mother. Nothing to obvious on his behavior as most of that has probably been worked on but, on occasion, he might throw a small fit. He could, can and has lived by himself but would rather be taken care of by a "mother figure".

Big loud-mouth manager working at McDonalds. Thinks his job is the best and most difficult to do which is why he, being the smartest and strongest of fellow McD workers, has the job. Tends to cuss out employees and probably gets a kick out of making coworkers cry. Only reason he has the job is due to family helping him out, somehow. Brother or father is a district manager or owns the franchise building which the guy works in. Has a girlfriend but she's probably thinking about leaving him for someone a LOT better. (For humor sake, I'd pick the guys brother/father.)

Socially odd and awkward; avoided people a good majority of his life, even to the point where others started to avoid him. Tends to come across as rude but simply doesn't know some social staple behavior. Eventually found himself an older girl over the internet and now he lives with her. He more cares for her then anything. On occasion he gets "treated" but he's more like a live-in-nurse then a younger boyfriend. Works from home making odd/stupid things then sells them online. Makes a good living from it but not enough to support himself and his sick/dying girlfriend/whatever so there is money troubles.

[Misato]

The lady who lives in the middle of the woods miles away from civilization, grows/hunts her own food, and refuses to leave her yard.

A very sweet woman who everyone loves, even though she hardly ever talks. Her boyfriend works far from home and she keeps to herself as she waits ever-faithfully for him to return.

Probably in jail for aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted homicide, murder in the 1st or 2nd...anyway, she's going away for a long long time. ^_^;

A shy, quiet girl on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. Make room in the hospital, people.

Possibly a therapist? She should probably be behind padded walls wearing a straight-jacket, but no one has the heart to put her there. ^_~

Some lady standing on the corner of an intersection with a sign "will work for food".