Looks like it's fact time! I think I'll do Demiastle for this one. I have a few fun things I'd like to say about this man:
During the time of Neo Arcadia (22XX), Demiastle worked as what was known as a "service reploid" - these were reploids whose job was to live with and assist humans who were physically or mentally disabled or ill in some way with their everyday activities. It was also possible for people who weren't explicitly diagnosed as such to request one by filling out the proper paperwork and going through the proper channels. And while he was affected by each household in some way (both for better and for worse), the person who had the greatest impact on him was the final person he worked for: Bethany Whytte, a kind elderly woman who he came to see as a mother figure.
While living in Neo Arcadia, Demiastle was part of a group called the Aviary: a secret society dedicated to making Neo Arcadia a better place for reploids to live in by working behind-the-scenes to introduce laws that would allow them to gain back the rights taken from them while they were under Copy X's rule (although the Aviary's success rates were... variable at best). Demiastle, while operating under the name "Mr. Hawk" (the Aviary, in a manner befitting its name, kept its members anonymous by having them use fake bird-themed pseudonyms and through wearing corresponding masks), was elected as the group's vice president. Meanwhile, his fellow service reploid and greatest rival, Palice, was voted as the President proper.
After ending up in the year 56XX, both Demiastle and Palice decided to become lawyers, with the former becoming a prosecutor and the latter being a defense attorney. And with reploid mistreatment largely being a thing of the past, the Aviary was revamped to be a group meant to help other reploids adjust to living in the new era (while also being a law firm on the side). At the time Convergence takes place, he lives a much more peaceful life with his wife, Woya, and a girl they took in named Idalia.
Less backstory heavy/sillier facts under the cut:
Demiastle's name is a portmanteau of the words "demitasse" (a type of coffee cup) and "castle". As a result, Woya sometimes calls him "[her] castle" as a pet name.
Speaking of Woya, the two of them met on a rainy day while waiting for an orchestra performance they had both bought tickets for to start. Demiastle had offered her his umbrella.
Demiastle met Idalia after finding her unconscious after she had gotten into a fight with some other reploids - and somehow won, despite the fact that she was a fourteen-year-old going up against adult models. Her win, however, didn't stop her from shutting down due to going days without charging. Demiastle decided to take her home with him, as leaving an entire child to lie unattended in the middle of a rough part of town was obviously not a good idea. He and Woya decided to keep her with them when they realized that she didn't have a family of her own that could take care of her.
Unfortunately, he and Idalia don't really get along - they have certain traits in common (such as being stubborn) that make it hard for them to do so, and they both have certain things that they need to work out before they can really start trusting each other.
He and Palice became good friends while they were still living in Arcadia. But they really started getting along after the time shift - mostly because Demiastle stopped constantly bullying him and allowed himself to start being more vulnerable with others, but that's a story for another day-
Palice eventually introduced Demiastle to Newbert, who, despite their vastly different personalities and backgrounds, gets along with Demiastle rather well. Their dynamic is a combination between "mentor and student" and "straight man and funny man comedy duo".
Demiastle is a man of rather... macabre tastes. His favorite artist is the painter Francis Bacon, his favorite literary work is Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal", and he could probably get through horror films like The Thing (1982) without batting an eye.
Interestingly, though, this doesn't (usually) extend over into his musical preferences. He's a fan of classical music (he even plays the cello as a hobby), and likes older music from the 1920s-1940s. He might listen to 70s music if he's in an especially good mood. He makes fun of Palice for his taste in 80s music, and if you asked him who his favorite artist was, he'd probably say it was someone like Frank Sinatra.
...Only to turn around and have Britney Spears as his actual favorite artist.
He didn't mean for it to happen. "...Baby One More Time" (1999) just came on the radio one day and he found it relatable. Now he owns a copy of all of her albums (hidden in a secret location in his car, of course) and listens to them as a guilty pleasure when nobody else is around.
The only other person who knows about this is Newbert. One day Demiastle was driving him somewhere, and Newbert asked if he could turn the radio on. Demiastle said yes. Cue "Circus" (2008) playing at full volume out of nowhere.
Demiastle then saw his life flash before his eyes, and turned the radio off so fast that it took Newbert a second to register what had even happened. He was convinced that Newbert was about to start bothering him about it - only for the Irish reploid to look at him with the most innocent expression on his face before going "Wow, Demiastle! T'at song sounded really cool! C'n we listen to the rest o' it?"
Demiastle reluctantly turned the radio back on, but only after Newbert agreed to not tell a living soul that he was the one who introduced him to this music. Now whenever they're in his car together, they end up singing along to a bunch of Spears' songs or Demiastle goes full lyric-analysis mode and goes on little tangents:
Demiastle, while "Mona Lisa" (2009) is playing: "Now these lines of the bridge are a clear allusion to how despite the music industry's reputation for discarding or outright replacing artists after a number of years, their legacies end up persisting regardless..."
Newbert: *nods while listening and learning*
He has a bad habit of swearing under his breath when he's angry. He'll get loud about it or straight-up cuss someone out if he gets ticked-off enough.
He was the head of the house staff when he worked for Ms. Whytte, which was a position he took very seriously. Especially since, in his words, a lot of the staff "couldn't tell a feather duster from a bottle of bleach" before he got there. (An exaggeration on his part, of course, but there is some truth to it - they really did need his help.) And even though he's not in that position anymore, he and Woya still keep their house immaculate. A small part of Demiastle even finds cleaning to be somewhat relaxing.
He is rather skilled with various firearms, with him sharing a particular liking for more "old-fashioned" guns with Palice (think along the lines of cavaliers, blunderbusses, flintlocks, rifles that use gunpowder (although they couldn't actually use that last one in a fight since gunpowder isn't easily accessible), etc.).
