Dekas: Difference between revisions

* '''Hobbies and Pastimes:''' Socializing, singing and/or whistling. He often finds things to do with Engineering specifically; small practical things. Learning new languages. If he needs time to himself, he reads (fiction and nonfiction, but is a particular fan of the romance and fantasy genres). Journaling whether that's through personal logs, or physical writing. Fantasy holodeck programs.  

* '''Likes:''' Helping people, learning new things, show-tunes and upbeat sounds, also punk music, whistling, dancing, art, has a particular fondness for things that glow, flowers, bats, spiders, engineering. Hugs. Affection. When people give him lil cheek and face scritches and tell him his feathers are soft (he is liable to make contented little cooing sounds about it.) Head scritches (Dear god, have mercy on him he will melt if you get that far.) Friendship. Science. Animals. Men.

* '''Dislikes:''' Unkindness. Dishonesty. Cardassian architecture and interior design. (To be clear: He doesn't dislike Cardassian people, he's never met one, and generally gives them the benefit of the doubt that they're learning from their history and trying to do better. He just thinks their choices in architecture and decor make rooms feel hostile.) The Borg.

* '''Positive traits:''' Extremely kind, loving, honest, enthusiastic, compassionate, encouraging, nurturing, well-educated, curious, fun-loving, passionate, helpful, good listener, has a good sense of humor about him, healthy levels of gratitude, not afraid to ask for help for most things.

* '''Negative traits:''' Perfectionist, Too chatty, Can be a little too personal with people. Somewhat impulsive. Struggles with his own toxic positivity. He very easily can tell people to seek out professional help so they're not bottling emotions, but in recent months he has found anxiety in following his own advice because he doesn't want anything to be wrong with him, and he doesn't want people to think so. It's a process. He's also low-key insecure about being an Aurelian. He's surrounded by humanoids, and he's even seen more insectoids than avians. So he feels out of place. It's just that he would struggle to admit that he has unsettling dreams where he's no longer an Aurelian.

**His other goal is one of self-acceptance, and Aurelian pride. This is something he's struggling with. Because he is trying to reintegrate traits that he masked, or pushed out of him to feel "normal." But what he didn't expect was that doing so unlocked a good number of the insecurities he ignored while building up that mask. It's something he has trouble admitting to himself let along reconciling it. And the trauma he's been pushing under the rug doesn't help. But the goal still exists. He wants to love himself again as he is, as he was, and as the person he's becoming. It will take time.

* '''Temperament:''' Nurturing. Ferociously loving. It doesn't take much for him to feel pure and genuine love for a person. He is forgiving, and he is kind. If he is not being kind, he is apologetic. He has a good sense of humor about things. He is outrageously gentle and thoughtful and strives to embody the essence of unconditional love, and also to embody the simpler meaning of his name "Ardent Passion." So he loves people and things passionately. Whether someone accepts it as truth or not, you can guarantee that he will never lie about anything that matters. It's unlikely he'd lie about small things either. He might hold something back on his own time until he's ready, and he might even brush it off a little bit if he's not ready. But if someone were to ask, he would be honest about his feelings. Including just saying he wasn't directly comfortable expressing his feelings on something yet. Because he sees no benefit to lying. He is extremely honest and communicative either on his own or with very easy prompting if he seems a little hesitant.  

* '''Orientation:''' Short answer is "Gay" and "Polyamorous." There are a lot of nuances to his experiences. Because for him "gay" is something he says to keep it concise. For him, the label includes a primary preference for men/more masculine aligned people, but also other queer non-comformists like himself, and nonbinary people. His polyamory includes queer platonic life partners as easily as it does romance, which could include anyone. He's not strictly bound to his preferences, either. Love can happen anywhere, and he's open to it. He wouldn't actively seek out multiple romances, but he would not pretend to believe in a "One and Only" partnership for himself. And he would be very communicative and upfront about that with anyone he was more than friends with. He loves deeply, he loves many, and he loves with nuance.

* '''Spiritual views:''' He is a strong spiritual believer in The Great Pho'nix. A being he and most Aurelians consider a being made of warmth, passion, creation, and love in all She creates. He feels a strong connection to nature, the elements of air and fire, the sun, and the stars above. He has a necklace carved in the shape of a flame made out of a sunstone gem from Earth. It reminded him of his connection to The Pho'nix even so far from home. Like a fire of passion. At the end of the year 2398 he went through Borg Assimilation trauma. Prior to that event, he didn't believe in a devil at all. But he equates the Borg as Devil-adjacent. The "antithesis of everything he believes in". And it has left him with an odd subtle spiritual shift. Previous to that happening, he believed ''everything'' had second chances. The Borg became an exception. Not the people who were turned into drones, but whatever originated the Borg or continues to see fit that they aren't destroyed. It also means he's now more open to the concept that not everything is so deserving of unconditional love. Right now, it's only the Borg he feels it toward. But an exception leaves openings for other exceptions...

* '''Known Languages:''' Fluent in: Tropical and Formal Aurelian dialects, plus two other Aurelian dialects, and Federation standard. Conversational in: Three more flock dialects, and Vulcan. Has very basic beginner's understanding of: Klingon and sign language.

* '''Dekas traits (ever-shifting and growing):'''

** Dekas has the quirk of being in love with everyone. He's platonically and familially in love with his friends and family. Sometimes he falls in love with someone's energy, or a little bit in love with them. Sometimes those people are near strangers. He's a hopeless romantic. Most often, his romanticism will fade, but his love will not. He might have started with a feeling of romantic toward a person, but unless it's cultivated, it will likely fade to platonic. And still, the love remains. It will always remain. Perhaps on occasion, it is loving the idealized version of someone in his head. But it doesn't change that he loves them. And it won't make him stop loving them if they show beyond the ideal. If they show the flaws or the insecurities. It will make him love the more real parts of someone. So yes, in some capacity, if he cares for someone, he's also mildly in love with them. He enjoys flirting. Mostly it's just for fun or to show verbal affection for friends. If it is more, he usually gets flustered and will apologize for coming on so strong. But he does love everyone. He's in love with everyone. It is related to his Aurelian sensibility of being loving, but the way it presents in him is very much a Dekas thing. Because not every Aurelian is that strong about the love giving.

** Tendencies to first name people. And introduce himself without his rank. As in he will say "I am Dekas." rather than "I am Lieutenant Dekas." And unless he's unsure of someone's preferences, they're the captain, or he considers a situation particularly formal, he will often switch back and forth between someone's rank and someone's first name because it personalizes people to him. He never wants to forget that above rank everyone is a person first.

** He is unafraid to approach people first. He enjoys making new friends. So if the timing is appropriate, he'll usually approach new people with ease that a lot of people don't have. He's an extrovert who adopts introverts into his friend group with reckless abandon.

** Because of his extremely loving and nurturing personality, sometimes he unintentionally says things that border on therapy thoughts. Aurelians are strangely good at that. But one of the reasons he chose not to follow a caretaker/healer role like that as he could have is because he's aware enough of his own specific traits to understand that he personally would risk getting a little too close to a situation. He has the kind intentions of a healer, but a heart that is possibly too tender to be one in the official senses. So as someone who wants the best for people, he knows it's best that he doesn't risk making it feel like it's about him unintentionally. He's more than happy to be the very loving friend someone talks with to figure out they might need therapy. And he'll cheer them on in their therapy journey with an actual counselor!

** Respectfully bowing in greeting and other little scenarios. To everyone.  

** Rambling about life, history, or interests for extended periods. Aurelians are taught to appreciate and reflect on history and passions and the history of passions sometimes. Their rite of passage is to recall and recite their entire family and flock history in extensive detail. It often takes many hours, up to a few days. So he can be chatty. On the plus side, he'll listen to the things you say and never feel like it's too much. He thinks people's idea of "long-winded" is child's play.

** Very in tune with nature and elements. He feels more at home in open spaces with fresh air and trees. He is especially fond of rainforests and tropical climates. (Being raised in a tropical rainforest on Aurelia does make him less inclined toward snow, but he's still not opposed. He prefers rain and thinks rain is good luck.) He loves trees. And flowers. And knows a lot more than you'll originally think he will. But it's a part of life on Aurelia to know how to care for plants and the environment so he's quite aware of things. He has an insanely high ability to tell if a plant is unhealthy and get a feel for why and what it needs because of the way he grew up.

** Expletives/exclamations referencing fire, feathers, or the Pho'nix. Most common ones being, "Feathers / My Feathers", "Flame in the sky", and "Six flames." Or "For flame's sake/For Phoenix' sake!" if he's feeling uncharacteristically extra annoyed. Recently picked up the slightly more crass "pluck me" and "get plucked" versions. There are others, but those are the ones he uses the most. He does sometimes swear with terran swears, but he tries to keep up a professional appearance and is minimal about that. He can also be known to utter affectionate phrases with those themes, too if he feels strongly enough about it. Such as, "I love you from ashes to return." It's a lot like "to the moon and back" but involves Phoenix and fire imagery.

** He has a surprising appreciation for the typically creepy and macabre aspects of nature. He doesn't understand the fear of spiders, bugs, or reptiles, because Aurelians keep absolutely huge tarantulas as pets where he's from among other unexpected pets like large bats that eat fruit, but don't always remember their own strength when taking the food from people. And they have sharp teeth, so it is painful sometimes. But he thinks those creatures are beautiful and baby talks to them as easily as he does the pets he's met over the years from other cultures. Various forms of taxidermy are present in various Aurelian decor as well, and he thinks those things are neat, too. Not that you would know that about him outright unless he told you.

**As a result he struggles with interpersonal situations that aren't as easily resolved. He does his best to handle them if they come up. But he struggles with the concept of things not being able to be talked out, even if at the end things don't end on the most positive note. He doesn't need an end goal where everything is happy-go-lucky and people are in each other's lives. But he still wants closure. He finds situations without closure something very difficult to handle.