Staton

History:

- Comes from an isolated, militaristic ant colony with a huge emphasis on suppressing individuality for the good of the group

- Was infected by cordyceps on a patrol one day and immediately ridiculed and exiled. The only thing he had was the uniform he had been wearing

- He immediately began searching for a cure for the fungus, hoping he could return to the colony and be accepted if he was healed

- As the weeks went by, he could feel himself slipping into the fungus's control, and his search became more frantic. The focus began to shift from curing himself to doing anything to keep his sanity

- He eventually heard of another mysterious parasite that could strengthen organs, called werms. Having no other leads, he went out to an area he had heard was full of them and slept

- His choice of location was not as densely populated as he had heard, and in the end, he was only found by a pair of young werms, but he was infected

- The werms, especially the one in his brain, began to eat away at his cordyceps, saving his sentience. Unfortunately for him, the fungus became their favorite food. 

- Since his werms were aware that finding a consistent source of cordyceps outside of Staton would be quite difficult, they kept some of the fungus alive within Staton's body and allowed it to grow so that they could feed of it

- Due to the continued presence of the fungus and the new parasite he had, Staton knew he would never be accepted back into the colony

- This caused him quite a crisis, since he had never had an identity outside of working for the colony. He had never existed as an individual, and he wasn't sure how to do so. And now that he didn't have the pressing worry of his imminent shutdown, the shock of seeing being that weren't ants was hitting him. All his life, he had never heard of other species, other ways of life. The colony was all there was. Now that was shattered.

- Due to these problems, he did experience a shutdown of sorts, but not due to the fungus. He sat where he had been infected for a couple days, doing absolutely nothing, lost in this new world, until his brain werm wiggled its way into his conciousness to force him to eat and drink. Since he was unable to comprehend the need to take care of an individual, his werms presented themselves as new members of his own little colony he had to take care of. This made the transition to this new life much easier for Staton, and he began taking proper care of himself. He stayed away from others for a while, working through all the information about his new life and the concept of doing things for himself and his enjoyment. While it was a confusing time, it was also exhilarating to find his passions. He discovered that he loved to birdwatch and swim. He learned that he wasn't the biggest fan of oranges, but he liked pears. He learned that his werms were also fond of pears, so he tried to always have some around. 

- One downside to this isolation was the growing loneliness of his werms. They both longed for communication with someone outside of the host but, seeing how much good this time was doing for Staton, they stayed quiet.

- Eventually, Staton migrated towards a small town and began to learn the rules of interaction in the outside world. The idea of having a personality to communicate with others was foreign to him, so he tended to just conform to whatever would make the person he was talking to like him. This resulted in a lot of identity issues for him as he struggled with what the real him would be like.

Now:

- Staton is still unlearning his early social behavior of conforming to those around him. He's doing better now and is actively working on it, but he's still very much a people pleaser. This makes him very fond of people he feels he can be himself around (even as he's still discovering who this self is)

- His werms still show the consequences of their isolation. Since they are much better at communication and working through issues than Staton, this mostly just results in them being super excited to see other werms to talk to, but occassionally his brain werm (the more excitable of the two) will get so obsessed with talking to a werm that it will accidentally overpower Staton's will and force him to drop what he's doing and go over to the other werm. Staton tends to get very flustered when this happens and apologizes to the werm host for the interruption.

- Although his strengthened brain is able to resist the cordyceps, due to the youth of the werm, it is not able to completely escape the side effects. Staton drifts off quite easily and will often just stare into space if he has nothing he is supposed to be doing. He understands this can be very disconcerting, especially if the space he's staring into happens to be where another person is, so he tries to keep alert as much as possible.

- Due to the remaining cordyceps, Staton's vision isn't quite as good as it used to be. He technically needs reading glasses, but he doesn't like wearing them, so he often "forgets" them.

- After being exposed to other species and seeing how they were frightened or made uncomfortable by his mandables, he became very self-conscious of them and will often wear a surgical-type mask to cover them. 

- He and his werms bonded a lot during their collective isolation, and they are quite close. Staton does everything he can to keep them safe and happy, as he still sees them as his little colony. The werms are very grateful for Staton's care and try to help him whenever they can. They are always willing to help him talk through whatever's on his mind.

- Around strangers, Staton is very fluid, sometimes taking on multiple different traits or personalities in the span of minutes. He tends to come off as just a little too awkward to be charismatic, but fun to talk to. He doesn't like how he loses himself in order to fit in with others, so he tries to avoid big social gatherings.

- Around friends, Staton is much more concrete in his personality. He is kind, always willing to be a shoulder to cry on or help out however he can. He's begun to pick up a sarcastic edge to his humor. He's more grateful for his friends accepthing his quirks than he could ever say, and his face lights up when he's around them. He considers them members of his colony and would die for them. He knows his friends aren't perfect but is determined to accept their flaws as they accept his. He can be peer pressured pretty easily, and he still isn't fond of conflict.