[Characters] Surprising the puppeteer...

Does anyone else ever get surprised by their characters?

Now, some people might respond to that with a rather confused expression and a statement that sounds something along the lines of, "Are you nuts? You control your character, so how can you be surprised by them? You do the typing!"

Yes, this is very true.

But I've been RPing for a while and I really love when I don't have to really think while RPing save for an appropriate choice of words to describe what my character is doing. There are many scenes that I get into where I have no idea what my character will do until I start typing the pose (or even until after I have finished typing it!). My characters seem to get lives and minds of their own and really do react in ways that I would not, nor would I dream of even considering doing.

Marrow has been shocking the hell out of me right, left and centre as of late. Almost to the point where I have thought, "Who are you and what have you done with Marrow?" I'm seeing sides of her that I only sort of knew about and never thought would ever surface. Then again, it helps that I've had a few other players who have been willing to help bring these aspects of the character to the surface with their own characters' involvement in her life.

A minor example, but who knew that Marrow actually has a ticklish spot? It's harder to find (get your minds out of the gutter!) and so it wouldn't come up often, but she does! I didn't know she had one until it was recently discovered. *shrugs* And who knew that she wouldn't pummel a certain someone into a paste when she found out he recently found her sketchbook and read through it? Who knew that it would actually shut her down a bit, emotionally? She's just usually all rage and riot, so it was so odd to see her get all quiet and vulnerable.

I don't think for a second that this is breaking out of the character's mould. I think it's delving deeper. She's still Marrow, to use her as the example, but there's just more to her than vitriol and venom; other's just don't usually get to see these things unless they stick around long enough.

And honestly, I really enjoy getting to see these things along with the other characters. It's just as new and surprising (or sometimes shocking) to me as it is to them.

So, what about you? Do you find your characters sometimes surprise you or do you always orchestrate their every move?