Name
Declan Turei

Nicknames
Dekka, Dec

Age
18

Gender
Male

Sexuality
Uninterested Straight

Relationship Status
Single

Label
Token Maori, Tardy

Appearance Details

Declan’s skin is naturally a warm, chestnutty colour from his Maori father, flecked with small darker spots and freckles. His face is mainly smooth, with a wide, angular shape that tapers outwards into a strong jaw. He has strong facial features to match, with a broad nose and prominent lips. His eyes are an honest, chocolate brown, with slight laughter lines at the corners. Declan’s speciality is the lopsided smile, his lips curving to the left. He is often quick to use it, finding an infectious grin always useful as a calming or uplifting influence.

He likes to keep his hair cropped short, especially on the sides. The dark black strands grow thick and curly, and they can get unruly if he leaves a haircut too long. Not a big fan of beards, he stays clean shaven.
Declan grew up averse to sports or working hard in the gym, meaning he never really gained the muscle mass of the athlete or weightlifter. He also doesn’t eat nearly enough to get fat and so has a quite scrawny build. He stands at an average-ish 5’10”, not tall or short enough to really be of note.

A fan of vintage and slightly eccentric clothes, he loves a good neon jacket or ripped jeans. He makes frequent visits to op shops and second hand stores to hunt for hidden treasures. Unfortunately Palm Beach being the place it is, he has to drive for a while before he finds one. He has a special love for his lennon flip-up glasses, a lucky find in a Goodwill.

He has one tattoo, a tribal band around his right bicep. It’s design comes from a traditional Ngāpuhi moko (tribal face tattoo), a connection to his New Zealand culture even though he moved to America when he was young.

Personality Traits

Friendly - Creative - Laidback - Musical - Unassertive - Apathetic

Declan is the sort of guy who everyone recognizes, but no one really knows too well. While he is only really close with a small band of dedicated friends, he often drifts around groups. He only really gets uncomfortable with some of the more pushy of his classmates, where his passive personality gets overshadowed by their aggressiveness. He can be seen as a bit of a pushover, as he prefers to settle down or leave to avoid fights and arguments.

He never seems to be stressed, always aiming to be a beacon of peace and calm in the wild winds of drama and excitement of Kings. He has always been quite laid back, but it is helped at school by a casual disregard for his GPA and tuning out to music when things get trying.

Declan lives by the old adage ‘treat others the way you want to be treated.’ This means Declan always tries to be friendly and encouraging even if he doesn’t know the person very well. He strives to see past the shit in everyone and look for the heart of gold, even if for some people he might need a telescope. He’s always willing to help you, whether it be wingmanning a friend or a comforting shoulder after a bad day.

His only problem is that the dedication he shows to his friends doesn’t really translate into his own life. A C grinder - or worse - in school, he often skips class if he feels he has something more important on, or even if he just isn’t feeling like it that day. This gets him in trouble with the admin occasionally, but when the parents are as rich as they are in Palm Beach most of the kids get away with much worse things than tardies. He prefers to spend his time working on his music or at concerts and festivals, to the dismay of his father.

Upbringing Synopsis

If there had ever been a couple perfectly suited to each other, friends and family of Joshua Turei and Rosie Shanahan agreed it was them. The unlikely union of Maori and Irish were like soulmates from the moment they first locked eyes. After a short engagement and marriage, they bore a child in September of the new millennium. The baby boy, named Declan after Rosie’s grandfather, had the looks of his father but the speckled green eyes of his mother.
Joshua was working a lot in the early years, establishing a financial consulting business off the back of his double degree in commerce and marketing and so Declan was mainly raised by his mother, a content but unexciting childhood in an upper-class Wellington suburb.

The family’s perfect world crashed down in 2008 when Rosie was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. With it being caught so late, she had to deal with only having a few short months to live. Joshua sold his 50% stake in his company to his business partner and used some of the large sum making Rosie’s last days the happiest possible- they took Declan out of school and toured the world. Her favorite was the week they spent in a luxury hotel in Palm Beach, with the ocean within short walking distance.

Rosie died that December, leaving Joshua to look after Declan by himself. Seeking a fresh start away from the bad memories, he took his son off to live in the South Florida neighbourhood Rosie had loved. Finding a house in Crown Heights, they settled down. Declan slowly made his way through school and his father fell into a sedentary lifestyle, resting on the dividends of his considerable investments. To his father, every look into Declan’s green eyes was a painful reminder of his lost love and he was determined to protect the young man and give him a good life. Unfortunately to Declan, his father’s protectiveness was suffocating and overpowering.

He soon found himself rebelling against his father’s authority. First there was wagging at school. Then came sneaking out of the house at night for concerts. And then came pot... luckily his father didn’t know too much about that one yet. Too passive to argue with his dad, Declan spends as little time as possible at his home and often ends up couch-surfing or sleeping in the back of his van. This of course drives his father even madder, as ‘no son of his should be living like they’re homeless.’

During his early teens he discovered a love, and a talent, for music. He picked up proficiency on the piano quickly through school lessons, and his teacher realised the boy had a cracker of a singing voice. Rounding off with skills in music production and soundboard usage, Declan was able to play solo or in a band and often did. With particular interest in jazz and rock playing, Declan made his way from performing in front of his classmates to small gigs around town in a few short years. In secret, he dreams of concerts in front of sold-out crowds and tutelage at one of the prestigious music colleges. Hopefully one that didn’t mind too much about his appalling attendance and grades in the non-musical subjects.

At King’s Academy, he has a small group of friends but a wide, shallow social circle. He enjoys knowing most people in his year, and the small interactions he has with everyone. Although he doesn’t spend too much time in school, he always shows up to his AP Music Theory and Music Band classes.

He has missed events so far at Kings due to bunking the first month to pursue a touring band up north and hit up a few music festivals. Who does work in the first month anyways?

Family

Joshua Turei - Father - 42
Rosie Shanahan - Mother - Deceased

Misc.
James Rolleston | #c1a259
ngl Counting the Beat by the Swingers is kind of a jam

Classes
AP Music Theory
Music Band
PE
English
Art (often bunked)