Teodor Cirro

Teodor Dominikovič Cirro (né Germanov; 17 April, 22 BDY — 21 December, 61 DAN) better known by the stage-pen-name Dakota, was a Foreaftian cultural figure, journalist and National Television Host, and is considered to have been one of the most influential journalists in Foreaftian history. He was the biological son of Tanya and Dominik Germanov, later adopted into the Cirro family by Vlada and Emma Cirro, and was the adoptive father of Rift Pawor.

He garnered an impressive list of achievements during his eighteen years as a journalist for national outlets and independent work prior and after, from holding prestigious positions on national TV, responsible for trendsetting cultural and artistic movements, to single-handedly starting the Interslavic Renaissance and completely overhauling the very definition of local journalism. He also held a number of “firsts” under his belt, from being the first host with a speech impediment, to first outsider to have ever reached the level of national influence, to being the first local journalist to ever acquire international notoriety.

Early life
Teodor was born Teodor Dominikovič Germanov on 17 April, 22 BDY, in Segunica-Moxno Dipole to Tanja and Dominik Germanov.

Coming back from a weekend with his grandparents, he found both of his parents dead in their bed from CO poisoning.

He was soon adopted by his aunt Vlada and her wife, subsequently moving to Foreaft. Regaining confidence in himself during high school years and finding an escape from emotional pain in the rave scene and alcohol, Teodor began indulging in his extroversion and expanding his social circle with absolute glee. He took intense interest in people from all walks of life and found great pleasure in meeting them, getting acquainted with their experiences, views and ideologies. Overtaken with ecstasy of new connections and sinking deep into alcohol addiction, he started disregarding his own safety, getting himself into questionable environments and situations just to meet individuals with new, interesting worldviews. He shortly became a member

Appearance
Teodor was a tall (187 cm), slender man with high cheekbones, round blue-grey eyes with central amber heterochromia, straight nose and seven birthmarks on his face in the shape of the Big Dipper. His natural hair was light brown and curly.

Extroversion
Being an extroverted child largely raised in seclusion, Teodor would be on the constant lookout for any sort of social interaction. As a result he was exceptionally clingy, especially Tanja, who worked long irregular shifts as a nurse.

Regaining confidence in himself during high school years and finding an escape from emotional pain in the rave scene and alcohol, Teodor began indulging in his extroversion and expanding his social circle with absolute glee. He took intense interest in people from all walks of life and found great pleasure in meeting them, getting acquainted with their experiences, views and ideologies. Overtaken with ecstasy of new connections and sinking deep into alcohol addiction, he started disregarding his own safety, getting himself into questionable environments and situations just to meet individuals with new, interesting worldviews. He seemingly valued quantity over quality. It is ultimately how he found himself in the fetish theatre in which he discovered a slightly sadistic, albeit non-sexual part of himself and met Blagica years later.

Being young and naïve, easily lured in with the promise of a story, he was easy to take advantage of. And so he was, when the person he had considered his mentor and a role model ended up sexually assaulting him when he was 19.

Need for privacy
Paradoxically, while having been being hypersocial, the overwhelming majority of his relationships were devoid of any meaningful emotional connection. Even if there was, it became even harder to foster a genuine relationship after the assault, as he became rather distrusting of others. Teodor became an intensely private individual, who viewed deeper personal connections as a threat to his emotional well-being and physical safety due to personal experience with loss and betrayal. He was almost aggressively unwilling to take a relationship past the point of a formal friendship and would usually not go beyond acquaintances. After the loss of his parents he developed a slight aversion to touch, which was exacerbated by the assault. The fear of genuine connection, combined with excellent oratory skills, resulted in him becoming a master of talking about himself without revealing much. Even with interviewing being his primary field of work, he has given only a handful of interviews himself and never discussed his personal or religious background with journalists, giving only a few remarks about his ethic background in the context of the Interslavic Renaissance and languages known.

Self-doubt
Teodor seemed to be perpetually unaware of the scope of his influence and put down his success when asked about it, stating that he was doing what felt right and that his "success" (he would always air quote the word) was nothing but luck. He was oblivious to being a role model to others too, a trait he carried since childhood, and would be left baffled whenever someone mentioned that was the case. He struggled coming to terms with his brother looking up to him and was perplexed by the letters he received thanking him for being a role model for other outsiders or individuals with a heavy stutter. His inability to see himself as an inspiration might have contributed to him pushing away an inner desire to be a father.

Sexuality and intimacy
Despite the common joke among those that knew him (namely Hubert) Teodor did not, in fact, die a virgin. Teodor was asexual, but not repulsed, rather disinterested. He has, however, gone through several periods in his life where he was uncomfortable with the thought of sex, most notably in his early 20s due to PTSD, early 30s, due to having recently lost mobility from the waist down and insecurity, and in his late 40s, when his age, combined with paralysis affecting his reproductive system, made conceiving a child a frustratingly long process.

He had no interest in it himself, but could occasionally do it for a person he loved and wholeheartedly trusted (which, admittedly, was a very rare occurrence.) Teodor saw sexual intimacy as a highly personal matter, especially because it required for both parties to be highly vulnerable, something that did not come to him with ease. Being slow to build trust in the first place, it was a big step for him to take. Seeking security, trust and comfort in a relationship, he reacted extremely poorly to his emotional input in physical affection not being recognised, such as lashing out at Opoka after a breakup in high school (although Teodor was under the influence at that moment.)

Attitude towards children
Teodor most definitely had a soft spot for children. He enjoyed babysitting and knew exactly how to explain even more complicated topics to a young mind. His affection extended to all children, though he particularly cared for troubled teens, as he could sympathise with them the best. On numerous occasions he would let his guard down around kids and put their need of support above his own fears and insecurities.

Despite all of that, he did not start thinking about becoming a parent himself until his mid-40’s. Up until then he had been pushing the thought away, not believing he would make a good parent, however, seeing most of his peers settle down to create families brought those feelings to surface.

To Teodor the question of parenthood was a complicated one. Aside from the lack of confidence in his caring-for-another-being skills, there were physical challenges too. He still felt some inadequacy due to being paraplegic, which strongly affected his reproductive system, as well as his age. He was over forty, Blagica was almost sixty, she was very much out of shape to have a child, and even if she did, she absolutely despised them.

Love of arts
In his diaries Teodor wrote that as a youth he dreamed of becoming an artist, and although his life turned out differently, he remained invested in art until his death, especially in modernist movements, actively promoting Foreaftian painters in his work abroad. He was a fan of theatre and opera, but adored visual arts the most.

In his personal art preferences, Teodor took interest in exotic aesthetics and was noted by both Hubert and Taiika as having masterful yet somewhat disturbing tastes, which subtly echoed his minor sadistic tendencies. He favoured dark, morbid themes, often those encoding messages of suffering (especially emotional) and death, however he considered literal depictions of gore to be crass and held himself above it.

Hubert Cirro
Hubert was adopted into the Cirro family when Teodor was 9 years old. Initially Teodor wasn't eager to accept the notion of having a brother, since he was still coping with the loss of his parents.

Teodor wasn't aware of being role model for Hubert until about 16-17, when their relationship started deteriorating.

In his mid-20s Teodor would frequently get frustrated with Sneky’s countless flings, being under the impression that the relationships were similar to his and Opoka’s — one putting in great input while the other was laid back — but those feelings largely disappeared after Hubert explained to him that even if it was public knowledge that he wasn’t looking for anything serious, he would repeat it to a potential partner before pursuing a relationship.

Blagica Gustanova
Legally, Teodor and Blagica’s relationship was cohabitation. In conversation with others they sometimes referred to each other as their “partner”, but denied dating. They did, however, share a bed, a house and romantic feelings for one another that were never explicitly voiced but mutually understood.

Blagica was the first and the only person to fully break through Teodor's shell and reach the level of trust and closeness they had.

Teodor was even a little protective of Blagica at first. He finally felt safe and stable, he felt like he had to something to rely on; she understood and appreciated his emotional input and what it meant for him to be so open. Teodor found himself feeling like he had to return the favour. Although he quickly backed down from it when Blag told him she wasn’t okay with it.

Opoka Batonauskienė
Opoka and Teodor dated for about four months in their senior year of high school. They were in the same year, both members of their school’s debate club and in the clubbing scene, and were both starting to take intense interest in fashion, all aspects that they bonded over and eventually started dating. They broke it off shortly after they started experimenting with being physical, as it became clear that Opoka had a more casual approach to the relationship, taking physicality for granted, and was not as emotionally invested as Teodor was. Her not recognising his emotional input until their breakup, while unintentionally, contributed to his downward spiral that was gaining momentum at the time.

Meta Trivia

 * Teodor was created on 17 April, 2017, his original design being greatly inspired by Juuzou Suzuya. He was one of the Government agents/executioners.