Dez Bourke is a firecracker! (_shakti) wrote, @ 2021-04-11 19:58:00
Bio
Been there, done that Messed around I'm having fun, don't put me down I'll never let you sweep me off my feet
This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof
Character Information Name: Deirdre Bourke Nickname: Dez Date of Birth/Age: August 14th, 2191/ 19 Ethnicity: Colonial Hometown: Himalia Sexuality: Heterosexual
History: Thomas Bourke was a born and bred New Yorker. Son of a sales associate and a newspaper editor, he grew up in Brooklyn, surrounded by history. However much he loved and appreciated his home, the old wasn't what excited Thomas. He yearned to be a part of the new pioneers settling space. With that goal in mind, he pursued a career in engineering and physics. He earned scholarships and took out loans when he needed, and through a lot of hard work, Thomas got himself through his graduate studies and into an internship with Williams & Gold, a firm that had contracted with the United States government to help build sustainable atmospheres for Project Io.
At first, he was nothing but a lowly paper pusher, but Thomas was determined to get his ride into space. His perseverance and consistent good work caught the eye of his superiors. At age 25 he was sent to Amalthea to aid in the final groundwork of the air filtration system. Thomas was thrilled. He left Brooklyn behind with no regrets, and threw himself with vigor into his work. The next year the colony was declared completed. Thomas applied to be a member of the Himalia team, the next colony to go into construction. His reputation for being an enthusiastic and solid worker was well known by then, and he had no trouble being accepted.
Thomas lived out his dream on the Himalia task force, becoming a key member and project manager. While working and living on the work site, Thomas found a kindred spirit in a young woman named Susan Deluth. She had studied to be a teacher back in Ohio in the United Americas. The thought of staying Earthbound had not appealed to her in this age of discovery, so she had signed up to teach the children of those constructing colonies for Project Io. She met Thomas not long after arriving on the Himalia site. Although neither of them had ample free time, they found what time the could to spend time together. They were often said to be two peas in a pod: energetic, open, with an indomitable thirst for learning and discovery.
Two years later, Thomas and Susan were married. They decided to wait on having children for a few years, until Himalia had more form and could be a home to a budding family. So they continued their work as a happy couple until 2188, when their first daughter Beatrice was born. Three years after that came their second, Deirdre. A mere year and 8 months following Deirdre's birth came a surprise in the form of little Dominic. The Bourke family was on its way.
They were a happy family, but not without their troubles. Born and raised on spacecraft, and later a newly formed colony, the Bourke children were all a bit weaker than their parents. Deirdre especially had trouble with asthma and allergies to anything not completely sterilized. She spent much of her younger years in and out of the hospital bay of the work site, but it did not stop her development into an energetic and bright child. Then, as Himalia neared completion, tragedy struck the Bourkes. In December 2195 Thomas was doing a spacewalk during a routine monitoring of the air composition surrounding Himalia. A piece of debris lodged in the outer panel of the support system. The ship automatically took measures to release the debris; unfortunately, it released Thomas in the process. He couldn't be reached in time.
The family was devestated. They received a healthy recompense from Williams & Gold; however, Thomas's will was very explicit about what was to be done with it. Susan received a large portion to help with all expenses. The rest was split between the three children and put into accounts not to be touched until each turned 18. Susan briefly considered returning to Earth, but Himalia was all the home her family had known. It seemed cruel to take their home away just as they lost their father. Also, she couldn't bring herself to abandon the dream she and her husband had had, their desire for discovery. So Susan and her children stayed to watch Himalia completed.
Dez was only four years old when her father died, but she was left with an indelible impression of loss. At first she couldn't sleep alone, for fear of her mother being lonely. So she would often crawl into bed with her, usually preceeded or followed by her younger brother Dom. As she continued to grow up, her memories of her father faded. The sound of a laugh, the sensation of being lifted by strong arms; it was only flashes of the solid person of Thomas Bourke that remained. Dez always kept close, however, the vaguer sense of a happy family.
Himalia was completed when Deirdre was 9 years old. The family settled permanently onto the colony, with Susan taking a job as a teacher at one of the high schools. Deirdre had grown to be a girl of her own mind; she had already started calling herself 'Dez' and insisting others do so as well. She was intensely interested in both her world and the world her family had come from. It was obvious that she had inherited her parents' sense of curiosity. Unfortunately, with an influx of settlers from Earth, Dez was also exposed to allergens she had not previously. Her health problems continued, causing strain on the family's resources. As soon as her older sister Bea was old enough to babysit, Dez's mother began tutoring at night to support her family.
The family handled this in different ways. Bea took her babysitting very seriously, acting like a second mother to Dez and Dom. She would monitor their schoolwork and make sure they did not stay up too late. Dom took it all in stride; too young to remember his father at all, he just assumed this was the way it had always been. Dez, however, felt nothing but guilt. Her mother came home late most nights, exhausted, only to wake up early the next day, and Dez knew why. She hated herself for being so weak. She often made her mother small gifts: paintings, attempts at cooking, homemade jewelry. The presents were always appreciated, but her mother still kept working. As she got older, all Dez wanted was to stop being a strain on her family.
Outwardly, Dez seemed to thrive despite her weak health. She made friends easily and showed unending enthusiasm for learning. Unfortunately, her attentions were so torn that she often got in trouble for being unfocused in class. She would get involved in one topic to the detriment of others, only to jump back to the first without warning. Her schoolwork tended to be mediocre at best, simply because she could not keep her mind on one thing at a time. She made both friends and enemies at school with her candid, honest personality, although her closest friend was always her little brother Dom. The two kept a fierce watch over each other, and if trouble happened, it was usually together, to the frustration of their mother and Bea.
Dez had always been a creative, outgoing girl. She had interests in the arts, academia, and so many other areas that her family had little idea of what she would choose to do with her life. Her sister Bea took the money willed to her and followed her mother's footsteps as a teacher. Dez, however, shocked everyone when she announced her intention to use her inheritance to attend Ganymede Academy. She had come to the decision around a year before, when suddenly she had switched on her focus during a history lesson about the Mecha Wars. Here was a solution to her ultimate problem: her physical weakness. With a mech, she would become strong and self-sufficient, earn her family money and prestige, and never cause her mother suffering again. Over the next year, she threw herself into her studies with surprising one mindedness, earning marks high enough to qualify her for testing into the Academy.
Her mother had her misgivings; being so active in space rang of the dangers that took Thomas. But Dez could not be dissuaded and continued to work towards acceptance. She spent the time before her move to Ganymede learning how to best control her asthma and allergies, and finally, with her family's blessing, she entered the Academy.
Personality: Dez is best described as a free spirit. She likes exploring the less appreciated things in life, and she pursues whatever catches her eye with vigor. Her interests jump around pretty regularly. One day she will be spouting about a little known band from Callisto, the next she'll be reading about the tenets of an ancient religion. She shows great enthusiasm for whatever she puts her mind to, and she enjoys learning about as much as she can. Her interests are many though, and besides mecha, she hasn't found the one thing that captures her passion. Instead, she spreads it around. This often makes her come off as unfocused and uncommitted, even a little bit ADD. She simply can't control her desire to learn and explore.
Dez is very open-minded about all walks of life. All people deserve to be judged individually on their own merits, and there is so much to learn from every facet of living and the choices made. However, Dez doesn't hold back if she doesn't get along with someone. She is always honest and will give it to you straight without any hesitation. She understands that this might earn her some animosity, but she's willing to handle that. This refusal to lie does not make her a blabbermouth or a poor secret keeper. She'll just honestly tell anyone interrogating her that she simply cannot share the information. Her candid nature means she sometimes forgets to have a filter, which is often the biggest source of her troubles. At least you can trust her when she says she likes you; she truly does mean it.
Generally, Dez is a spritely and cheerful girl, eager to share. She likes to give and let people in, but she is fiercely independent. She hates to have anyone do anything for her. This stems from her weak health. Born and raised on the colonies, her body does not have the natural strength of Earthborn children. As a young girl, she had a lot of trouble with asthma and general weakness. Although she controls these weaknesses now with diet and medication, Dez feels a lingering guilt for the sacrifices her mother made to keep her healthy. This desire to stand strong on her own is what lead her to Ganymede Academy, and it fuels her dedication to her studies, although she often feels the pull of distraction.
This need to stand on her own feet has a huge influence on romantic issues. Dez has no problem with a casual hookup or fooling around for fun. It's when feelings start to get involved that she starts pulling away. Dez wants nothing to do with a knight in shining armor or a handsome prince. Friendships are fine; there's a give and take involved, and a mutual respect that dictates that one won't take advantage of the other. But romantic feelings cloud those kinds of agreements, and Dez doesn't want some boy noting her physical frailty and deciding he can "save" her. So kissing in a darkened corridor? Thumbs up. Long-winded devotions of neverending love? Two big thumbs down. And if she can't have the former without the latter, she'd rather go without.
It would go without saying that a mech pilot would likely have to have a certain tolerance for violence. Dez has no problem with fighting. Despite her open-mindedness she is no hippie; she understands that violence is part of mankind's nature, and can even be beautiful when properly used. She believes it has its place, and Dez is not afraid to be part of it. She's all for trying to talk things out, but she also believes in competition, provided it is fair. A cheater is just another kind of liar, and Dez won't stand for it. She is particularly stringent about fair fights, as she doesn't want anyone taking pity on her for her weakness. She is determined to prove that she can weld a mech and be as strong as anyone else.
In sum, Dez is a small girl who wants to absorb as much as she can from the big, wide universe, defeating her own inherent weakness along the way.
Appearance: Dez is a tiny girl. She stands at a mere 5'3". She has always been a stringy, thin girl, although she finally filled out a bit a couple years ago. She is still quite skinny, thanks to a combination of her irrepressible nature and health issues. A natural brunette, Dez usually dyes her short, punky hair a platinum blonde. However, there are always a few days every couple months when she reverts to her normal brown. It never lasts long, though. She alternates between being energetic and bouncy in posture to overly relaxed. It depends on how interested she is on what is happening around her. Her style is hippie-punk, very relaxed and colorful.
Academic Information Year: 2 Rank: Cadet Mech: Shakti is her mech's name, a namesake taken from the Hindu concept of the personification of divine feminine creative energy. The white and silver markings of a Cadet are on arms and legs. She has big plans for Shakti decoratively, including a pink lotus blossom painted on the back, and the word "Brooklyn" in purple and yellow graffiti style on the back right leg. Other paintings will likely show up and disappear at Dez's whim, but these two she plans to be constant. She has no additional upgrades. Clubs: Music Club, Movie Club, Art Club
PB: Brea Grant
This journal is fiction and created for ganymede_mods. I am not Brea Grant. All original content belongs to me. Lyrics from "Bulletproof" by La Roux.