OOC: Settling back into the hat and cloak

[evillurks]

Goodness, it has been a while, far, far too long in fact, since I was posting on here. Now we've had a move to another host and all sorts of chaos. I apologize for my long term absence, and to anyone I might have left hanging in threads although I don't believe I did too much of that. Tensions and chaos simply ran too high in our household, and the last year has been full of unpleasant incidents. I don't mean to sound like a temperamental writer or somesuch, but my ability to focus on roleplay simply faded to nothing.
I'm missing this old fellow, though, and now that we've transferred to Dreamwidth I can only hope my favorite players and characters have transferred over as well. I feel as though I'm still finding my way here, poking about a bit to get The Shadow's voice back. He's always tricky to play because he's so impolite and I'm forever removing softening modifiers to his speech.

At any rate, it's good to be back, and I'm hoping to play with friends again soon!

Comments

[evillurks]

He's not dead, either, of course. He's trained himself to live like a monk in so many ways, though.

Oh dear! It doesn't really. The older Shadow does as little undercover work as possible, now. He'll slip into the role of a crook or a harmless old man or somesuch for a stakeout, but playing a longer-term role is very rare for him. I don't think he has any female agents of an appropriate age to play his wife, for that matter. Ye gods, technically he is, as of this January, Ninety-seven. Not that he looks it.
In his younger days, yes, he likely would have pulled Myra or Margo lane in to play the part. It would have been rare even then. I haven't seen him play married in any of the pulps I've read. He prefers to work alone.

[tothebone]

True! And it'd be nifty if he made a special friend.

Yeah, I guess I can't see him tolerating too much undercover; I imagine it'd be kind of frustrating for him, especially if the people around him were incompetent.

[evillurks]

*Laughs* They'd have to have a very high tolerance for his antisocial tendencies. He quite liked Myra, the one in his own world, back when he was a younger man himself. The age difference was still fairly significant, and they were both involved in their work. He never made his move, and ultimately resigned himself to the decision that romance isn't something he can allow himself as long as he does what he does.

It's an entertaining game, sometimes, but yes he finds it a little frustrating partly because of his own inability to really relate to people. Withdrawing from that and using agents for it most of the time is his version of retirement.

[tothebone]

Metody might make a move if there wasn't such an age difference, but he's pretty sure that The regards him as a kid. Er, and isn't gay, or likely to get over Metody being male half the time.

Aw, he's kind of tragic, in a completely awesome way.

[evillurks]

Oh dear! Well I'm afraid he's oblivious, and he does think of him as... not a kid precisely, because he has teenagers working for him and he recognizes Metody is much more mature than that. A nice young man, perhaps. Much too nice to really be one of his agents, but he appreciates having him as an ally and a medical go-to. He appreciates the overtures of friendship, for that matter, he's just not terribly good at expressing that.

He is a bit! Certainly he doesn't come off that way in the pulps, because you see him in action, but when you take those same qualities and transfer them to everyday life it becomes more obvious that he's not really equipped for normality.

[tothebone]

Fortunately, Metody is no stranger to antisocial people and difficult friendships. For his part, he adores The, and hero-worships him a bit.

Yeah, having keen insight into the human mind and an endless well of suspicion doesn't work so well when you just want to have a cup of coffee with someone.

[evillurks]

That's sweet, if a bit sad in its way. I feel awkward sometimes that the character is unable to recognize the way others feel about him, and might not know how to deal with it if he did.

Precisely so. On one level, The Shadow understands people extremely well; He comprehends them like puzzles, and he's skilled in gauging how they'll react to things, what they'll do and how to manipulate them into what he wants. On the other hand he's had a level of emotional distance his entire life, and has no idea how to really let someone in or relate to them as a friend. It goes against all his instincts.

[tothebone]

I imagine that the smaller things in a friendship are also a bit troublesome - small talk, idle complaining, contact with no planned point, things like that. Though he is making an excellent stab at it, like when he invited Metody over when he was so sick.

As for it being awkward, I think it's kind of cool. It gives an interesting spin to his relationships, and it's neat to see him a little off balance by something most people take for granted.

[evillurks]

He's realized more recently that he has friends, or at any rate people who consider themselves his friends, so he has been making some effort to return it. When he did undercover work more regularly, he was slightly better at things like small talk, but yes, when it comes down to doing that sort of thing as himself he's more than a little out of his depth.

I'm always pleased to hear people like my portrayal of him! He is, in truth, a somewhat difficult character to play.