aaron_agate | Preferences (Reply)

Achate tends to class potential partners into three groups: equals, brain-tank useful people, and stray kittens. There are always outliers, but since he is somewhat aromantic and lists towards asexual by nature (he can and does demonstrate both traits, but they're learned behaviours from humans) he does not class love or sex as a sole reason to keep another person in his life. If you'd like to guess where Achate would feel comfortable grouping your character, read on for hints.

Equals
Qualifying Traits: Displays a level of craftiness or cunning that shines like a beacon of decoy light to misdirect attention. Can also be very intelligent with enough wits not to reveal every piece of knowledge at the wrong moment. Can equally be powerful in other arenas that Achate is not versed in, but in such a way to override his own craftiness. Generally what does not fall into this category is brute strength (too barbaric), insane evil (too cliche, also too unpredictable), and anyone associated with a known anti-AI sentiment. Trends towards making hell of mock out of good-aligned characters, but may still class them into this category.
What Of It? Most equals Achate doesn't initiate an intimate relationship with, but when one is proposed of him, or on the rare occasions when he sees it worthwhile to include intimacy of any sort with the mixture, he tends to be formal until other parameters are decided upon. One can expect respect and an emphasis of sharing, back-scratching -- feeding information that might save the partner trouble, but without the direct interference that Achate might cause otherwise. Because equals deserve respect, they also deserve an element of wariness. Achate will test these people on occasion, and for a rare few, the testing is what comprises the relationship.

Brain Tank
Qualifying Traits: High intellect, high creativity, high ingenuity, high innovation, but little means to achieve greatness on one's own, or else some encumbrance in the way to prevent it. Achate doesn't collect these people out of a philanthropic urge to preserve and enable, he wants them under his power to see what they will achieve, and if it will benefit him in some way. This can be a subtle thing: he's not usually too heavy-handed on the deadlines or the makework, prefering free-range minds. He has mixed feelings about these people and at times can appear to be inhumanly fickle, sometimes incredibly impatient in face to face conversations, sometimes more understanding than should seem possible. Usually he has a favourite among multiples, but he treats all of this category with a slight lean towards fondness, encouragement, enablement and (often) means by which to support their work.
What Of It? Achate is happy to initiate friendly or even intimate relationships with a person of this type, though this has turned against his favour more than once when he has discovered more than he wants to of the other party. Gifts are the game, here; Achate can be a sugardaddy but he usually requests that his partner not latch on to him for it. He can be tempestuous and usually physical intimacy results from signals on the other person's end: whipping a partner up and then getting some passion in there can be good for the imagination! Achate is also, unfortunately, sometimes brutally quick to dispose of relationships with these people if he feels that they have betrayed him. He sometimes likes to keep tabs in ways that his partners don't appreciate.

Stray Kittens
Qualifying Traits: A worthy cause, a loyal attitude, a shitty background, but not much genius-itude and/or not much means to make it big. 'Stray Kitten' is a fondly derogatory term for those catch-alls that Achate takes a liking to, who he privately doesn't think much of from what he considers an objective standpoint. He doesn't collect these often -- certainly not so much as he seeks thinkers like the above -- but when one of them fall into his lap he can dote. On the other hand, those who aim to get into his field of focus this way can be in for an unpleasant surprise. The most common method of falling into this category tends to be from those with a quirk that Achate sympathises with.
What Of It? While perhaps demeaning for the other partner, should they know what being mentally assigned this category by Achate, the benefits aren't too much different than one from his thinkers category. He gives gifts, but he also tends to be more gentle and sometimes doting. He can be milder, too, tolerating a very strict level of wheedling before he calls it off. He's less likely to initiate intimacy of the physical variety here than with a thinker-type; if he does, it might be considered a lower-burning type. He also has more trouble turning a stray kitten out on his, her, or its ear, though he may very well foist them off on someone else if he's feeling that they're not worth his time. Usually loyal kittens get places of honour with him, at least privately. A few with physical aptitudes have been body guards of a type.

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