/u/itsMiatch on Let's make a fictional asexual character

I have a character called, "The Running Man" in the book I'm writing.

In this tale set in the future, there is a well-known children's story about The Running Man. It is said that he runs in and makes you angry, and he runs out again none the wiser while everything you love falls to pieces in front of you. Analyses of the story agree that the moral is to never lose your cool no matter what situation arises, and that The Running Man is a symbol for humanity's self-destruction.

He first appears crashing his spaceship and emerging unscathed, albeit annoyed. He wears a coat and a black ring on his right hand that he claims can take him to a safe space (if you press, he will tell you it is "a metaphysical location"). He doesn't know how to fly, doesn't know where he is, and claimed that prior to crash-landing he was doing something else but "That never really happened, so it's not much of a... valid... answer, is it".

He does not state his name, claiming "Names are for people that aren't me. I don't want a name, I'm me, look at me go". He speaks in an odd manner, seemingly unaware of his surroundings, walking and talking in an abstract way that confuses friend and foe alike. He can run, yes. He can run fast. He can jump too, and in his words, "Well, actually, I think I'm more of a jumping man, look", followed by some jumping.

He's always talking and moving and can be quite whimsical, pointing out small details with glee and saying things like "Oh, look, there's all chips and things" and "I'm sure the muffin's miserable now, look at it. It is alone and sad". However, some claim to have witnessed him in a weird information-gathering state, as if in a frenzy, checking every corner, exit, hiding place and detail with practiced ease.

When he first heard his story (for he was not aware of it prior to meeting the main character) he refused to listen to all of it, with proclamations of "I thought I'd get famine, not self-destruction" and "The future's not for me. Well. Not yet, anyway, but I won't spoil the ending in case it gets set in stone or whatever."

One of my favourite characters given that he was recycled from an older, much cringier story and now he's the companion character for this one.

May 23, 2019 at 06:53AM