thin_beige_line | App to Empatheias

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Basil
Contact:

woodrift
Age: 30
Current Characters: N/A

⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Odo
Age: Unknown, Estimated to have been active in Bajoran society for 30+ years.
Canon: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Canon Point: Season 3, Episode 21, after being beamed aboard the Defiant with Garak but before they return to DS9.

Background: Here

Personality: Odo once stated to Commander Sisko early on in the Starfleet's command over the space station that came to be called Deep Space Nine that "Laws change depending on who's making them, but justice is justice." This simple statement itself displays much about Odo's personality, from the way he manages to walk the fine line of gruffness and politeness in the same breath to how he upholds order and justice above everything else-- even the rules, which change depending on the ones who are in control. Known to snub his nose at authority and resent any suggestion that he take part in team efforts, Odo is nonetheless an extremely efficient man of the law no matter how it is interpreted. He is blunt in his affect and his words, to the point where his reactions to a variety of situations are wordless huffs and scoffs that display his irritation. He is also possessive of the few things that he considers his, to the point that his first encounter with Commander Sisko ended with Odo barking that no weapons of any sort were allowed on his Promenade. That rule also applies to himself, for he has never seen fit to use a firearm or lethal force on anyone during his time as a law enforcer. That said, his knowledge and understanding of both Bajoran society, by which he was raised, and of Cardassian society, in which he had worked for the last five years of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, made him an invaluable resource to Starfleet, who was just moving into the system to protect the newly freed Bajor from further threats to their culture and society. While he considers himself to be an outsider in all affairs and is even somewhat proud of this status, his ability to observe and retain his impartial status no matter the situation made him ideal to be trusted by all parties involved in the field.

Although he was impartial in all things, Odo himself has admitted that no one is without an agenda. While he observed this, he is apparently unaware of his own agenda to enforce order and deliver justice to the strongest degree. It was later learned when people on the station accidentally triggered a security program that almost destroyed the station that Odo himself was not entirely trusted by the Cardassians who had controlled the station previously. They feared, with his strong sense of right and wrong, that he would side with the captive Bajorans if they revolted and set up security measures to keep him isolated from them. Although his goal is impartiality, he's clearly not as neutral as he thinks he is. His agenda ultimately consists of ensuring that people don't have to live a life like he did-- a life where they need to live being subjugated by the oppressive rules of another. This is why he chaffs under the regulations Starfleet gives him, and why he ultimately finds himself at odds with his people.

His fierce displays of self sufficiency and gruff, off putting manner covers a great many insecurities that he feels about his own self. In the earliest parts of his life, he was treated as little more than a scientific curiosity by the Bajoran scientists who found him. Being unable to form a humanoid shape at that point, he was unable to communicate with them-- and the anger at his mistreatment in the laboratories caused him to lash out violently at times, at one point even attacking Dr. Mora, the very scientist who was assigned to him. In the end it was his own creativity that allowed him to prove his sentience-- but, he still stalked out on his own to carve his own path in the world. There is a sense of worthlessness underlying his rigid manner and demeanor-- a sentiment that he shares with very few people-- for he doesn't believe that he is worth anything of value. This is reflected in his very name, which is a shortened version of the Cardassian word odo'ital', and literally means 'nothing' in the language. With no family, no history, and no form, he found this to be very fitting in a wry, bitterly humorous way.

As someone who was literally 'nothing,' Odo took to filling his mind with something to make up for the hole he felt in his spirit. He took to studying humanoid behavior, gamely making connections between which behaviors lead to various consequences on both the small and large scale. Along with this, however, he never once tried to fully pass himself off as just another humanoid. As a being who is forced to take liquid form every sixteen hours or face dire consequences, Odo saw no reason to hide what was imbeded in every fiber of his being. Over time, these observational skills lent to people coming to him with their disputes over food or resources-- and, eventually, by Gul Dukat to investigate a murder that took place on the Space Station, then called Terok Nor. When questioned on his shape shifting nature by a young child that they found on a planet in the Gamma Quadrant, Odo is patient and even candid in his explanations to her, commenting that nothing had happened to his face but that he simply wasn't good at making them.

However, he was never overt about his inhuman nature either. He openly attempted to make himself as approachable as was necessary by maintaining humanoid form in all of his social interactions, and only used his shapeshifting abilities for mundane practicality as necessary. While he bluntly states at various points that he doesn't eat or drink when refreshments are offered, he doesn't shy away either. In fact, when it's just assumed that he doesn't want to go to a party because of this and isn't even asked for his opinion on the matter, he is furious. After being treated as a thing for so long, even the little things were triggering for him. While it would have been easy to allow this to color all of his interations, Odo instead adapted-- and it's his own sense of politeness that keeps him in check. While he was trapped in a Turbolift with Ambassador Lwaxana Troi, he could have escaped by himself at any point; he chose not to because it would have been rude to do so. He stayed with her until they were freed, even at the expense of his pride as he passed his time limit and forced himself to stay in his physical form despite the discomfort and pain he felt. It was only at Lwaxana's coaxing that he let go and literally melted into her lap-- but, this was the start of a fond friendship between the two of them. Tellingly, no one else besides Dr. Mora and his team had even seen Odo in his transitional form until that point, both because of his general mistrust in people's intentions toward him and his intensely private nature.

While his intensely private nature served him well during the Cardassian occupation, Starfleet's influence upon the station and the people serving upon it affected him as well. While maintaining his position as the stern and sometimes even grim Cheif of Security, he starts showing a sense of amiability and humor at the strange shenanigans that happened from time to time. When the ridiculous situations reach a height that culminated with figments of everyone's imaginations parading down the Promenade, Odo could be found escorting various manner of strange creatures out of the way in much the same manner as an animal trainer-- all the way gruffly urging the creature to move along with him. At times he intentionally does this and dons the hat of the 'straight man', retorting to his criminal rival, Quark, with a cuttingly dry wit. He's also open to playing along with setting up situations for other people, such as asceding to Commander Sisko's son, Jake Sisko's, request to be thrown in a holding cell with his friend Nog so they could sort out a disagreement between the two of them. He even made up 'criminal charges' for this and threatened them with court to add to the illusion. Additonally, he's not above using his connections gained through various intelligence offices to gather petty gossip surrounding subjects he knows are important to the people around him, such as when he quietly told Dr. Julian Bashir about how it was heard through a long string of connections that one of his rivals for a prestigious award was definitly not going to be receiving it.

His sense of right and wrong borders on obsessive, a trait which he feels must be part of his racial make up but at the same time laments because he has learned that the Human axiom that 'Justice is Blind' may actually be false. He lives and breathes for solving the criminal cases that fall into his department, and pursues every avenue to ensure that the correct solution is found and the right consequence is dolled out. In particular he keeps a keen eye on Quark, the Ferengi barkeep and smuggler on board who always seems to have his fingers in everything. Even when the case doesn't revolve around Quark in particular, he still investigates the man for the sake of making absolutely sure that he wasn't involved. While his relationship with Quark is by no means amiable, it can be argued that Quark is by far his closest associate. The reparte between them at times borders on affectionate insults while expressing some concern for the other's well being.

While he has studied humanoid behavior for many years, it should be noted that as of the current canonpoint he hasn't 'coupled' with anyone, nor does he have any desire to. With a distaste for compromise as his excuse for this, it still didn't stop him from developing feelings for Major Kira Nerys-- the second in command aboard the station. While she falls in and out of love on several occassions, Odo maintains a polite distance and offers a support for her when times get hard. He can't bring himself to tell her of his feelings because he is certain that she will reject him-- and this certainty helped him identify an imposter while he was on an away mission with her. When questioned, he commented that it was merely a 'slip of the tongue' that gave the truth away-- and made no reference that he had bared his entire heart to the imposter.

Beneath all of his attempts to intermingle with a society that is so alien to him is a desire for a sense of belonging. A sense that, once he finds it when he discovers the Changeling homeworld by accident during a mission with the crew in the Gamma Quadrant, doesn't shake itself away once he learns the devastating truth of his people. Odo's belief that his sense of justce was a part of his racial memory was correct-- however, his people took this rigidity and obsession with order to the ultimate length and essentially took over the Gamma Quadrant with that desire. On a small scale it creates clean Promenades; on the larger scale it created a near facist regime over a large sector of the galaxy.

And this fact was appalling for Odo.

However, it should still be noted that, while he finds himself at odds with the ideaology of his people, he still longs to be among them. It's his deepest secret, one which he told no one on the crew... and a former Cardassian spy while under duress.

This incident brings up another facet of Odo's personality. While he can't bring himself to forget the incident, he does find it within himself to forgive Garak, the man who interrogated him and tortured him for this bit of information. Though it's difficult for him to fully empathize simply because he lacks the life experience to do so, he does find an understanding with Garak.

After all, there's nothing that's worse for him than being utterly and entirely alone.

Abilities: As a Changeling, Odo has the capability to transform his physical figure into any object that he can imagine-- transforming himself into everything from ordinary mice and birds to inanimate objects such as cups, chairs, and even wall panels as he sees fit. While he prefers to take a shape resembling the Humanoid form for the sake of convenience and simplicity, the imitation is by no means perfect; his skill with forming a proper face leaves much to be desired, he has no sense of smell or taste, and he has no apparent internal organs. Thus simple acts that people don't think about are vastly different or even nonexistant for him. Eating, for example, described as being both 'unsatisfying' and 'messy' in his perspective. How this is, is never elaborated upon.

While in humanoid form, Odo has been described as being 'heavier than he looks', but while he's in the shape of a drinking glass he's still light enough to be carried across a bar on a tray by a member of the staff. This suggests that Odo can alter his very mass to a degree but, like all of his other skills, it is self taught and by no means perfect.

The biggest drawback he faces is that, as a Changeling, his body is ultimately a liquid. While he can take physical shapes, he must return to his liquid form every sixteen hours in order to 'regenerate', or else his physical form literally starts to deteriorate in a torturously painful process.

Like other members of his species, Odo has a phenomenal memory and a near obsessive need to maintain order-- which he interprets not through a belief in the Law but a belief in Justice. This, along with his keen observation skills gained through spending a lifetime as an outsider to society, allows him to navigate complicated politics with ease and even make 'friends' everywhere from Starfleet Intelligence to the Cardassian government. Some of this he maintains through a series of debts and favors. Others are ostensibly because of the more polite aspects of his personality.

Additionally, like other Changelings, Odo is resistant to telepathic communication from the Betazoid species.

On a mundane level, Odo has passing knowledge of basic engineering, including a variety of explosives, and how to fly a shuttlecraft-- although he admits that he is not skilled enough in the latter to participate in aerial or space based combat. Beyond this, Odo has a keen awareness and understanding of exactly how his skills as a Changeling can be used for espionage and even assassinations. With these skills as the Chief of Security for Deep Space Nine, he can and will take down criminals who disturb the peace by strategy or by physical force if necessary, and he will throw them into a holding cell until justice is satisfied.

Alignment: Piphron. So much of Odo's characterization is based on his relative status as an outsider, how that affects his relative distrust in the people around him, and how he slowly grows to trust them enough to consider them friends. Additionally, Odo's status as an outsider to society is exactly why people trusted him with their disputes. He was nothing if not an impartial observer.

Other: I don't plan on having Odo's racial immunity to telepaths be an issue when the amulets are involved. Additionally, as of his canonpoint, the only additional item he has on his person is a combadge-- a two-way communication device so long as there is a network of other devices. It will be non-functional, and similarly a non-issue.

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Remember that we ask for samples that show 1) core character portrayal and 2) some use of emotions, such as environmental effect. You can also use the same sample source for both, just make sure to directly link or quote the emotion portion. We highly encourage using the Test Drive, and you can use prompts from the Test Drives, Intro Logs, and the Task board if you need them. Refer to the main application page for links and more suggestions.

General Sample: Odo on the TDM

Emotion Sample:

Home.

The thought of it made his spirit ache from the sheer emptiness of being alone, and made him wish that he hadn't ventured into the library for some reading that afternoon. The well meaning girl had gotten off with a scoff and a sarcastic quip-- someone like Quark would have earned a harsher, more volitile responce than the fractals of ice he had left in the lobby with his abrupt departure. The ice trailed after him as he stalked down the street, curling around his feet with every step but never directly touching another.

It was a raw subject that he kept wrapped up tightly in a place idle conversation couldn't touch. It shouldn't have been touched.

But, after Garak, it was closer to the surface than he realized.

He snorted and didn't make eye contact with others on the street as he left the downtown, thoughts swirling on the twin concepts of 'home' and 'family' that were so exquisitely painful for him. To him, Home wasn't the surface of Bajor or even the Promenade of Deep Space Nine. It was in the Great Link, with his people. He knew that one simple decision would relieve this ache-- but he couldn't. With the Dominion threatening the freedom of the Alpha Quadrant and his people as it's Founders, there simply was no way that he could abide by it.

His sense of justice wouldn't allow him to idly stand by.

This difficulty in holding onto his loyalties and truths was something he hadn't mentioned in his reports to Starfleet, with reason. He was already distrusted by them, and the subject would make his job more difficult.

But, even on Deep Space Nine, 'home' was on the otherside of a Wormhole and blocked from access by lightyears and veritable fleets of Jem'Hadar soldiers. It was impossible to attain, but still...

The thought lingered, and Garak had found it.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was sliding toward the horizon just enough that the first stars could be seen between the rooftops of this strange little city. Odo paused, taking a moment to admire the colors and how the clouds reflected the fading light. In an odd sense, he had found himself missing something else in recent days. The rabble from the Promenade, with food vendors calling from their stalls and the echos from the Dabo girls calling another win in Quark's bar had become familiar to him. Nearly a decade spent in the same place would do that to anyone, he mused. Not even Philip Marlow was immune to the distinctly unkempt atmosphere of his Los Angeles. He had felt a certain nostalgia when he recalled his duties on Deep Space Nine and the strange avocations he had been introduced to by his peers. Even kayaking in the Holosuite with Cheif O'Brien had become a part of this filter.

And the warmth he felt from those thoughts, even of Quark counting his Latinum or the Chief singing 'Louie Louie' off key while they paddled, was enough to break the chill of his irritation at having something so delicate accidentally tread upon.

The ice dissolved into a fine mist. Odo looked up at the sky.

Perhaps, Deep Space Nine itself was his home.

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App to Empatheias

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November 2018