Mates & Mating

Mating?
Yes, mating! Elementals, like humans, 'mate' for life. Their concept of mating is similar to ours of marriage, but they go about it in different ways. You know how we present our partners with shiny, overly expensive rocks? Well, they do that with less expensive things. Usually.

How do they do it?
Elementals often present their partners with objects with meaning. If an Elemental wants to mate with a gem Elemental, often the first elemental will present the gem Elemental with a rock. It doesn't have to be beautiful, it just has to be important, like a piece of concrete from a sidewalk they walk down every day or something like that.

Who follows who's tradition?
When an earth Elemental wants to propose to a fire Elemental (which would rarely happen due to the element's history, but still-) the earth Elemental will have to follow the fire Elemental's tradition. Basically, whoever is proposing has to follow their mate's tradition.

Polyamory
In polyamorous relationships, two Elementals will propose at the same time.

What if...
If an Elemental doesn't follow their Element's mating tradition, they'll say something like, "I don't follow the Insert Element] mating tradition, I follow the [Insert Element] Mating Tradition"

Water
When proposing to a water Elemental, you have to present them with an object with special meaning. If it's store-bought, it can't be bought within the last six months and it has to have some sort of date attached to it (such as a first kiss, first gift given, etc.). Any item presented has to have some kind of meaning to it that both parties understand, but it can be a bit more subtle, like you have to have it explained but once you know, you know.

They value loyalty over all other traits in a relationship, so when you present them their object, you must recite a speech involving the following lines;

"[NAME], I love you more than I've ever loved anyone. You mean so much to me, and I would never leave you for a perfect mate, because perfect isn't you. I love your flaws, your weaknesses, everything about you is so special."

It's viewed as lazy to leave the speech at that, and you may even get rejected over it, but that's uncommon.

Gem
Gem Elemental traditions are much more like human traditions in the sense that they present their desired mate with a shiny rock. However, this is only if one gem is presenting to another.

Air
Air Elemental mating traditions are like bird things. They will usually dance to court their mate, though it's done in a different way. When one wishes to mate with an air Elemental, they must invite the air Elemental to dance. This is why you'll rarely see air Elementals dancing with anyone and why there aren't any clubs/school dances on Airplix. Dancing is a way to invite them to be your life-long mate. Not something you want to accidentally do. One may wonder how they appreciate music, they sing. A lot. They're known to have an excellent vocal range. And, usually, an item is presented before they are asked to dance.

Fire
Fire Elemental traditions involve fighting, but not with other Elementals. The proposer is supposed to catch some kind of large creature, such as [./https://zanzus.fandom.com/wiki/Lesser_Creatures Zephyruns], which can be found only on Dritura and Falecea. After they've killed the animal, they're supposed to cook it, season it, etc. and give it to the proposee.

This rarely happens because really, almost no other Elementals would want to mate a fire Elemental. Those that do, their desired Fire Elemental are generally not like most fire Elementals in that they're highly aggressive, rude, and generally not desirable for other Elementals.

Light
Light Elementals, regal as they are, often enjoy their mates presenting them with beautiful, meaningful objects. Most examples are home-made by their mate and Light Elementals keep the things forever. Rarely does one present a Light Elemental with a store-bought gift. Supplies, yes, but buying it fully made with no effort? They really don't appreciate that...

Devil
Devil Elementals often rely on brute force during fights, and a lot of their "culture" revolves around following the most powerful Elemental in the room. Because of this, it is customary to, when proposing, to either overpower the Devil or let them overpower you. The latter doesn't typically go well, since you don't usually tell the Devil you're trying to propose and just have to piss them off until they pin you on the ground or the wall or something.

Sexualities
Below you can find a list of Elemental sexualities and their meanings! They're different from Earth Sexualities, due to the addition of the third biological sex, Hermaphrodite, which doesn't naturally occur in humans (normally, at least, there are intersex people, but they generally look down upon fetishizing them).

Bisexual
Bisexual, for Elementals, is wanting to date any two sexes. Generally, when saying they're bisexual, an Elemental will say "I'm bisexual, with a preference to females and an aversion to males", or something along those lines.

Omnisexual
Omnisexual Elementals have a certain preference for biological sex or gender when it comes to a mate, but they will mate with any sex.

Pansexual
Pansexual Elementals don't care about gender or biological sex, they just want someone who loves and cares for them the way they would like to.

Demisexual
Demisexual Elementals are only interested in sex after getting emotionally attached to someone!

Homosexual
Homosexual Elementals only want to mate the same sex. This also goes for Herms wanting to be with other Herms.

Monosexual
Monosexuals want to mate with one sex only, but that sex isn't their own.

Trisexual
Triseuxal Elementals want to mate with Hermaphrodites, and only hermaphrodites.

Cisgender
They identify as their assignment at birth. AMAB (Assigned Male at Birth), AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth), and AHAB (Assigned Hermaphrodite at Birth) are all viable.

Transgender
Umbrella term for anyone who isn't cis! It may not be right to call a demigirl person trans, but for Elementals, trans is the same as Queer, but for gender rather than everything!

Demigender
Demigender means they only partially identify with their birth gender! Usually it's more specific (Demigirl, Demiboy, or Demiherm.) but Demigender is an umbrella for the 3.

Agender
TBA

Presentation
In the context of gender, presentation refers to fem., masc., or oth! Fem is short for feminine, masc is short for masculine, and oth is short for other! Sometimes there are more specific lables particular groups prefer, but generally oth is what is used!