So, my MC has amnesia, and when he does start remembering who he was, he feels like he’s lost that part of himself. He’ll never get it back and any friendship built is completely gone. But his “best friend” holds out his hand and…I had the bright idea of a secret handshake to be the one thing that ties him to his best friend and the memories they share.
It’ll be one thing to bring him back to one special memory with his friend.
So, I need some examples of a handshake that has words. The only epic handshake I’ve come across is the Parent Trap one. The only epic handshake with words that’s not even a handshake is the one from the movie Big. Some kind of silly, random thing that two friends came up with and recite to each other.
Also vaguely remembering a handshake where one person was saying “up high and down low and…” something like that.
But I need a few more examples to come up with something. Does anyone have any handshakes with words to go with it? I won’t be using it. I just need examples.
Also, I know we’re less likely to shake hands now, so remember the times we did.
The Water Buffalo Lodge on the Flintstones had a secret handshake, but I can’t remember how it goes. Maybe your character remembers the handshake because it was from a TV show they both loved…?
They’re tetchy about it being Roman to do so, but there’s a sculpture of Hera and Athena, one is grasping the other’s wrist during their handshake (which makes sense when yourealize that the Romans saw the wrist as part of the hand).
I do have a secret handshake with my brother, but we don’t have words. For us, the motions of the thing (it doesn’t actually doesn’t involve any hand-shaking at all, so is it still a handshake?) is enough of a silent expression of love and understanding between us. I think there’s a silent magic of it that it can mean anything; ‘Hi, I missed you’, ‘I love you,’ ‘I’m sorry/i forgive you,’ ‘you’re my friend’ etc. And there’s plenty of times when I feel like my brain has forgotten but my hand hasn’t- so it could be like a muscle memory reaction for your MC? (I think that would make sense only if they had been bffs for a long time?)
So, you mentioned TV and I kept thinking, and then I did remember something they do have–theater plays!
I decided they would have referenced a certain play that resonates with both of them coincidentally. It’s a fictional play I made up about a tragic Moth Princess
Sometimes, thinking simple is the same as thinking big.
If someone who has amnesia remembers a handshake, it’s probably muscle memory. The handshake may not be that complex, or original, but their fingers still remember.
Well, actually, I think I remember hearing that somewhere. So they could essentially have a wristshake?
