In order to make a friend for Kylie, we have to give Kylie herself a personality first. We have her story conflict (not feeling human), so let's jump off from there.
Kylie doesn’t feel human. With that, she must struggle with feeling isolated. Though, I don’t want her to be completely alone (I don’t wanna make Opal part 2). I think Kylie would still strive for human connection, interaction, and because of that, she’d have a few acquaintances she gets along with and can talk too. In order to feel more human and to get that connection she wants, Kylie would highly mask.
Masking is the action of hiding something about yourself in order to be perceived in the way you want. In terms of ASD, masking is covering up your symptoms to be more “normal.” With lots of experience, people can actually get pretty good at masking, but it's obviously not a great solution. Covering up your identity is absolutely exhausting, and trying to do that every time you need to commit to human interaction makes a whole bunch of problems internally. You feel as if you cant be the real you because you’ve instead put on a “human” persona to try to act correctly. Some people get so used to masking they have a hard time returning to their usual selves, even when alone. Internally, they still know what their body actually wants and needs, but being them has become foreign, which is just a huge identity crisis in the waiting.
Id like to give Kylie these issues that come with her masking so much. That constant feeling of being tired of trying to be normal, and even then, she can’t make a real solid friend she can be herself with. Since being around other humans is so tiring, that can be why she feels more connection to her cat, whom she can just exist around with nothing at stake. To further continue with this idea, she’d struggle with making eye contact because of how anxious she gets, and will constantly try to over explain herself to feel justified in the things she says and does. Another thing she’d do is mask her stims. Instead of loud and noticeable ones, she’d redirect them to being smaller and more socially acceptable, like bouncing her leg or finger picking. Kylie would also be more on the “I can’t express myself side” and in order to interact, she’d try to plan out how she’ll behave beforehand, or force herself to make expressions.
Sensory issues is another topic I’d like to explore. Like how my friends have, I’m giving her one main sense she can’t stand. For the sake of easy showcase in my film, I’m choosing sound. In order to still get the human interaction she craves, Kylie would allow herself to be taken anywhere by her friends or family, even if she knows she won’t be able to handle it, and might try to run off and hide. To combat her sound issues, she could use music, maybe always having earbuds in to block the world out and handle it somewhat better.
This is who Kylie is. A girl who wants friends, yet feels inhuman. She tries to cover up her behavior in order to fit in, which leaves her exhausted, finding more comfort in her cat, whom she feels more like. She needs to plan her behavior beforehand and force herself to emote correctly, and comes up with solutions, such as relying on music, to deal with her sensory issues.
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