Since I returned to tumblr I’ve realized most of us have missed the first season of the Living Story and specially the Lost Shores event, which has not been re-released in any way. It was where we were introduced to Canach and I think it gives a lot of information about his personality.
There’s a big gap in Canach’s story between the Meeting the Asura flashback and the very first time we meet him in The Secret of Southsun storyline. I’m one of the many players who missed the Lost Shores events (and lucky enough to have been there for the Last Stand at Southsun one, so in canon, the first time Marilyn met Canach was when she helped Ellen Kiel to capture him at Canach’s Lair). As I am a very lore-obsessive person, I have researched online anything related to the very first time he appears in game, and information is so scattered here and there, the scavenger hunt was really fun and challenging to me.
It is a lot of information and I think that, even if I am like 13 years late, maybe some other people as obsessed as me (in case they didn’t find it yet) will appreciate it, so I have made it readable (my own notes were a mess) and here it is. In the worst of cases, I will have it in here classified and reachable. Also, some of the sources are so old and so well hidden I am still finding facts, so I will edit if I find anything new.
I’m going to divide the post in two parts: canon events (that is, things that are stated like that in the information) in chronological order, and extra facts with a bit of headcanons (what I think should be even if it is not told).
Information under the cut.
Canon events (with links to the sources):
Canach was hired by the Consortium in 1325 AE to map, explore, and begin construction of settlements and tourist facilities at the newly-discovered Southsun Cove. Although his contract prevented him from exploiting animal, mineral, or magical sources on the island, it did not mention local flora, and Canach ordered his team to collect samples of Passion Flowers as they explored.
The lost shores: Prelude event started on November 1st to 5th 2012. Since during that time the release dates were canon in game (that changed when they realized new players wanted to play the Living Seasons too and made them re-playable), that means the expedition took place some time before Colossus 36 1325. Probably while the Commander was full hands busy defeating Zaithan.
The first expedition ship was the SS Prospect. According to the wiki, it was destroyed, and wreckage from it started washing up not long before the karka attacks began. We have a list of the crew and a log book fragment which was available only during the Last Stand at Southsun live event.
The crew list doesn’t include Canach, but it doesn’t include Owain either, who was the only survivor of that expedition. Now, Canach being actual part of the expedition is not clear, though.
According to the log book, both of them were in the ship too: “Canach brought a chef along of some renown, he says it's to help discover new food sources. All I know is that we've never tasted anything better than what this sylvari Owain prepares". "First Mate Sharphorn doesn't trust Canach, but I keep assuring him that this charter will put our fortunes on a better course once we're back in the Arch. I just wish I could believe it myself.” – while it is not clear he was on board, the Captain talks about him as if he were present.
When you talk to Owain at Southsun’s Cove (she’s still there), and ask her about the expedition, she will say “There was a prospector, a cartographer, the cap-captain... (choke) I don't want to talk about this anymore”. Since Canach was sent to “explore and map the island”, it feels safe to assume he was either the prospector or the cartographer. He isn’t in the memorial list because he, obviously, didn’t die.
According to dialog with Canach at Lion’s Arch in Lost Shores Phase 2: “ Very well. Weeks ago, I sent an expedition to an unknown island to the south. They were to ready an asura gate as part of the Consortium's development plans. My team never returned. The gate remains inactive, and wreckage from their ship started washing up not long before the karka attacks began”. – He talks as if he just “sent the expedition” and was not part of it. But that’s a bit contradictory with the fact that he was the one who decided to get flora samples “as they explored the island”.
During one of the events at Last Stand at Southsun, Ellen Kiel states that: “He spent a lot of time here exploring the place. Didn’t think he’d ever come back, though.” – That means he was there physically BEFORE the karka attacks. Now Southsun’s shore is full of wrecked ships and maybe there were lots of expeditions after the first one, so he could have come later in one of these.
So there are two options: either he was part of the first expedition, survived somehow and karka followed him and his samples to Lion’s Arch, or there were more expeditions despite the first one’s demise and he was part of them. Both options are equally valid I think and I leave it to each one’s headcanons (if anyone has evidence for any of them I'd be happy to add it here)
The Lost Shores event was short (just one weekend) and the story is scattered in the wiki in a quite confusing way. But I found this article which tells it in a narrative way, and found it very useful to understand how it went. There are also some videos in youtube if you want to watch them, but they’re messy because there are lots of players clicking things at the same time:
Phase 1 of Lost Shores started on November the 16th 2013 (Colossus 47 1325). After the first attack (we don’t see Canach here yet) there’s an initial investigation you can see in this video, which leads to finding and arresting Canach in Garenfhoff - aprox in minute 11:48.
Phase 2 of Lost Shores started on November the 17th 2013 (Colossus 48 1325). There’s a second attack to Lion’s Arch, and after it you get to interrogate Canach about the first expedition (the dialog quoted previously, aprox in minute 17:20). According to the wiki, you also have a chance to speak to him “on the boat during the invasion” but I couldn’t find the dialog in the video.
Phase 3 of Lost Shores started on November the 18th 2013 (Colossus 49 1325). Canach doesn’t appear here, so it is safe to assume he has already fled.
Between Lost Shores and The Secret of Southsun (which starts on May the 14th, 2013- Phoenix 44 1326) there’s a span of 6 months (the wiki says 5 but whatever) in which he has been on the run and he changes his looks, according to dev Scott McGough.
That’s when the short story An After Hours Meeting takes place. Now, in the story images we already see Canach with his current look (spiky hair, grey skin...). BUT in the text it says Blingg recognizes him because he “was every bit as grim as Blingg remembered” (that doesn’t say much, but it seems he still had his old look) and, more over, when he moves around Blingg in the darkness, “Canach was close enough for Blingg to hear leafy hair rustling and smell the scent of freshly cut grass” (his scent is canon for me now, btw). LEAFY HAIR RUSTLING. So, the story takes place BEFORE he changes his look.
Flame and Frost started on January 28th 2013 (Zephyr 28 1326). It is in this short story when he learns about the Molten Facilities and the refugees, so it makes sense that he took over one AFTER talking to Blingg. That should make his change after this date.
He returns to Southsun some time before the Secret of Southsun release, and he gets the help of, at least, one of the settlers to perform his plan of using the karka to destroy the contracts. That settler is Henrika and she provides some interesting information when you talk to her, during one of the events. None of them are currently available though, but there are videos (she talks about Canach in minute 2:20 approx).
That information leads the Commander and Ellen Kiel to Canach so he is captured in the (this one re-playable) Canach’s Lair dungeon. That happens just before the June the 6th (Phoenix 65 1326) update.
After this update he’s already captured, but we get to help Ellen Kiel to destroy the contracts, in the stance Contractually Obliged.
Extra facts, mixed with a bit of headcanon
He feels the world owes him something. If you click on him during the second phase attack, he will say:
He also refers to his status as a secondborn in the dialog I couldn’t find in video, the one “on the boat during the invasion”: “I am Secondborn sylvari; I don't make excuses. What's done is done”
He has always been a snob. Even Henrika says so: “He was...a sylvari. Kind of a snob. Tough, though. He knows this island inside and out”.
Despite having all the reasons to hate asura (having been tortured by Vlorpp, and betrayed and abused by Noll and Blingg), he doesn’t seem to have any kind of grudge against them as a race. And he knows some golemancy since he was able to re-program a golem to help him in Southsun (Subdirector NULL). So it is safe to assume in his early years (we have a gap of 20 years of his previous life we know NOTHING about) he contacted other asuras who helped him and maybe even became friends.
He used the Fervid Censer to spread the toxins. You could get the original one as a back item as an achievement (not available anymore) or a copy with Laurels (still available). I like the idea of keeping it as a trophy XD.
The reason why Canach messed up everything in Southsun Cove in the very first place is because he collected botanical samples using a loophole in his contract, which “prevented him from exploiting animal, mineral, or magical sources on the island” (source: wiki), so, since “it did not mention local flora, Canach ordered his team to collect samples of Passion Flowers as they explored” . If he used a loophole, the only reason I can imagine for that is that he wanted these samples for personal profit. So he was not that different from the billionaire he has become nowadays.
Moreover, he insisted on bringing Owain "along to help discover new food sources" (sic). And Owain herself has a special line of dialog if you’re making The Dreamer leggy saying her dream is “to start a business exporting the eggs. I think I could make a fortune selling omelets in Lion's Arch”. So maybe they were planning to open a restaurant together? Does that ring a bell? HE HAS ALREADY OPENED THREE OF THESE! I see a pattern here XD.
This is more of a headcanon of mine (I have more XD) but I think he and Owain had some kind of relationship. No necessarily a romantic one, maybe he was his protector or something like that (since she seems so fragile), but definitely they were close. Clues: he INSISTED on bringing her along, and she choked when talking about the other members of the expedition, specially the prospector/cartographer.
Maybe everybody knew all of this and I was the only one to think I had discovered anything, but if this was useful for any of you to help you build your headcanons or fanfics I'll be happy to know about it!
so in my oc world, humans are dead dude to global warming, marine animals, become the dominant species and evolve to look more humanlike, and species are basically treated like races right ? this is just like basic info ok
here are my oc designs btw (in order these are thalassa, skyler, and angla ok angla's the main one remember that now)
so basically anglerfish were treated like black / darkskinned people, which obviously led to racism and shit
and this led to skyler creating a political party where everyone would be treated equally, this goal was achieved, and skyler had alot of power in the government, unfortunately, this sense of power made the party slowly deteriorate into communist stuff, and eventually became a cult, skyler exploiting others through her power and appearance (by appearance, i mean stuff like "oh i have two antennas that means im the chosen one) and revolved around the belief of "everyone is equal but me"
due to this, some other powerful dudes *OBVIOUSLY opposed this, however, the debate had gotten so bad that it ended in a huge war, in this war, people launched nukes and caused genocide to the anglerfish, so no other anglerfish were alive other than skyler and her sister, again skyler had gotten insane from the feeling of control so she murders her sister, steals her kid and forms a plan
said plan is, if she raises those kids to kill specifically people like criminals and bad people, the people in charge of the world will forgive her, she rises in power again and WORLD DOMINATION !!!!!!!!
so angla and thalassa's life is pretty much just staying hidden and killing others assigned by skyler over and over and over again, until this happens
turns out, the people in charge somehow knew about skyler's plan, and they were planning to wipe out all three of them
so they send a raid to angla, thalassa, and skyler's shelter, skyler and angla manage to survive, killing everyone in the raid, but as for thalassa....she got shot in the neck and died :(
after this, angla and skyler IMMEDIATELY find somewhere else to shelter, skyler already knows that her plan has completely failed, she sends angla on a mission, just for angla to come back and find skyler hanging herself
furthermore, angla flees that shelter after seeing skyler's body bound on the ceiling.
angla now, gathers police evidence and collects names and addresses from lists, hunts those people down, and kills them, because that's the only thing she ever knew how to do, all while staying hidden from the government so she doesnt get shot down,
BONUS INFO
thalassa knew about skyler's actions, she was a worse assassin than angla on PURPOSE, told the government in secret, and died just to spite skyler
skyler is middle-aged, angla is 14-15 and thalassa is 18, although angla acts like a child due to the circumstances in when she was raised
angla sometimes will get so starved, that she eats her victims after killing them, she maybe could've eaten thalassa's body after she dies
thalassa and skyler exist sort of like tulpas (NOT WESTERN TULPAMANCY) or souls inside her mind
in defense of padawan haircuts: do ewan and hayden both have lovely hair that is part of what makes them ever so beautiful? yes. but padawans are monks in training so they're not supposed to be fuckable treats for the eye. they have funky hair that marks them as members of their order!! awkward, uncool, unlovely haircuts that make them look like dork ass home-schooled losers. their silly braids advertise the length of time they've studied as a proxy for their deepening commitment to the order and mastery of the jedi arts!! they have a stubby lil nerf tail because it's traditional and tradition is sometimes awkward (and idk some cultures actually enjoy hair in that style!! they're not supposed to look like usamericans maybe) and like.. the order also maybe doesn't want its baby jedi to be fashionable trend setters with glossy flowing locks for good reason!! look what happened when anakin was too pretty!! he was so fuckable it broke the system and ruined his life and the entire fuckin galaxy, maybe the council should have made his haircut worse. his hair should have been so deeply tragic it distracted padmé from his sharp jaw and pouty lips. obi-wan should have completely nuked his charisma stat from orbit before shipping him away to naboo (his game was already terrible, so he was halfway there!! just make him terrible to look at too!!) sexy hair needs to be earned with knighthood, once they know you're truly committed to the jedi way. curls and mullets are a privilege not a right!! the padawan haircut is like training wheels for non-attachment, like.. leave them alone!! their brains aren't done cooking yet. their hair is so bad it's good, just like the prequels ok. i'm bleeding out on this hill but you. Cannot make me leave
this might flop because its not art, but i wanted to share my personal interpretation of Miss Halloween and what she represents for X.
if genderqueer character analysis is your kind of thing, i hope you enjoy it. :-)
i've heard there's been a bunch of transfem X content after the release of Beauty, and as neat as that is (it's nice to see people interpreting a non-binary character in different ways), i personally view X as an immensely transmasc-coded character.*
but the point of this is not to say that transmascs are only "allowed to be" masculine! i just wanted to start this by making it clear i explicitly do not read X as a transfem character.
so, yes, the point of the post... i think Miss Halloween represents the femininity of X; the embodiment of a kind of gender presentation that it very rarely explores, but cares for regardless.
i highly doubt she's an entirely separate character, more a "part of X" personified. she shares X's physical appearance and its voice (also note that these are both kinds of gender-nonconformity for her), but she's still distinct enough to go by a different name.
notably, you could easily compare this concept to a drag queen; performances that do not dictate the identities of their performers, but still say something about them as all art does.
it's also worth noting that she seems to have amy's colour palette. this could be a side effect of the song's trans palette, yes, but it's not hard to imagine that if sonic is X's primary outlet for its gender presentation (which heavily leans masculine), then who would be the most likely character to embody its femininity?
if you ask me, it's probably the series' most important female character, and arguably the most important hedgehog besides sonic himself.**
so yeah. that was probably a bit of a winding tangent, but in conclusion... i think of X as transmasc, but still with a connection to femininity that it nurtures in its unbeating heart. and as a kind of self-expression, it created a persona to embody this part of itself in the form of Miss Halloween.
footnotes:
*in a canon sense, i doubt it- though objectively genderqueer, i highly doubt think X views itself as trans- but like. come on.
it idolises sonic and depicts itself with an individualised version of his form, wearing it even as it grows old and withered with time. it goes without saying (which is why i turned this into a footnote)
**it's also definitely worth noting that this would mirror how the main amy vessel is a trans woman, and though countless souls have joined X in its eternal game- meaning there are surely many other trans vessels- i think it can still easily be read as directed towards her. especially considering that, out-of-universe, the song was obviously made in reference to her
Skybound has me in a chokehold (new to transformers fandom this year besides bayverse/tf1) and my plot bunnies have been screaming with all the bricks they’ve had thrown at them,,
Spoilers ahead!!
brick | brick | mouse | brick | brick
ck | brick | brick | brick | brick | bri
what if. What if starscream/ ulchtar are a form of DID of sorts??? not the best word for it but idk what it o call it; it thought about this after the whole screamer sees the titan and reverts to ulchtar shebang. (at least i think that happened? i didn’t dream it?)
After Megatron collects ulchtar in skybound the “starscream” persona takes over as we know. But what if screamer was created by an attempt to protect ulchtar? Like how the brain tries to protect us from trauma by making us forget traumatic memories, but in ulchtars case he subconsciously constructed a whole person. If I ended up writing this as a fic it’d be with flashbacks/calls to moments where ulchtar doesn’t remember something happening and as the war gets worse the blank spots also get worse. The whole screamer-being-an-ass personality is bc ulchtars mind needed something drastic and it thought the best way to deal was to make a personality with the most prickly traits possible so no one would get close enough to hurt him emotionally. Maybe the tipping point where this starts happening is beginnings of revolution, someone heckling/accosting ulchtar bc he’s on neither side of the conflict (wrong place wrong time where he’s just passing by but there’s a street fight/riot) and he starts having a panic attack or summat (haven’t decided) and it’s enough of a traumatic experience that his processor straight concocts a whole personality.
Ulchtar doesn’t remember the things that happen when screamers there to start. but when Megatron starts to push into his mind with his oogaboogaloo gun ulchtar find that he in fact. Has a whole separate identity as screamer rushes up to wrap up “ulchtar” and messily push him into a safe little hole. At first he’s a little freaked and panicky about the whole thing (who wouldn’t be?) bc he’s become a passenger in his own body. Eventually screamer (who renames himself as a double layer of protection) is able to shout over ulchtar and make him notice that Megatron is also in his mind and it is in fact for his safety. yadda yadda and megs releases him, and ulchtar asks to be released but is denied bc it’s not safe. I imagine this as Starscream takes over the body and bears any physical pain impulses whereas “Ulchtar” still exists but has no real control over anything, external stimuli is significantly dulled but he still feels (like if the character you played in a first person pov game was aware of wha you did but could only see through their eyes and has no control over what they do). However he still has his whole range of emotions and , though “starscreams” emotions are dull to him he feels an inkling (screamer takes the full brunt of a beating. ulchtar would feel a fraction of the pain and fear and various other emotions from screamer as well as his own distress.)
Why did screamer join the decepticons, and why won’t screamer let ulchtar go? the whole persona was a convoluted attempt by the processor to protect ulchtar. It was a desperate and last ditch effort as prior attempts to just wipe ulchtars memory afterwards proved to only result in more unpleasant encounters (read: revolution escalation doesn’t help prevent conflicts, so he kept getting into shitty situations). Meeting Megatron and joining the decepticons would have seemed the most logical option considering the majority of the unpleasant encounters were due to the fact that screamer was neutral. Also bc he just watched his friend die. But screamer realizes that he fucked up the moment Megatron turns into his oogaboogaloo gun and seizes control over screamer. He can’t back out of being a decepticon, that’s historically and with the current event a dumb decision. So to ulchtars processor, the best option is to retain control over him until it’s safe enough to left him be. but as we know, that’ll never happen :(
Why does starscream get beat up so often then? I like to think that he’s got an anti-authority module. Both as ulchtar and screamer he hates having to answer to someone above him that he doesn’t respect and believes he can do better. Ulchtar was able to control these urges decently, given he wanted to avoid conflict and his emotional modules were capable of inhibiting such. However, screamer is 1. born from anger and fear and uncertainty and 2. part of ulchtars processor. He’s much more processor-modules dependent and has all of the righteous fury with little of the this-might-be-dumb inhibition. Ulchtars got some strong opinions about the autobots and Megatron and all of them too. Either way, ulchtar wouldn’t be hurt if he’s in a coma…it gets boring sometimes, just existing there. He likes to retreat into his own mind palace, and it’s not like his processors gonna stop him from being even safer from all the dangers outside. With Ulchtar in “safety” screamers got even less inhibitions.
hi i'm gonna talk about the half life HEV suits for a while because i have many thoughts
I like how the differences between both HEV Suits, the MkIV and the MkV, are not just aesthetic.
The MkIV looks heavier and bulkier and like it has more armor plating, whereas the MkV looks lighter, more agile and easier to move in.
Here is a text wall of my explanations and thoughts:
-1: In practice, the MkV allows you to move considerably faster. This is represented through the Sprint function it provides.
In all the HL games that use the original gldsource engine, all the HEV Suit wearers move at the exact same speed with and without it, meaning that despite the fact that they all literally ZOOM RIGHT THROUGH RIDICULOUSLY FAST, their speed is not in any way affected by the suit itself.
In HL2, Gordon moves at the exact same speed with and without the suit, but can ONLY use the Sprint when he has the suit ON.
It could be argued that the MkIV has better mobility since all characters can technically sprint indefinitely while wearing it, but I consider this argument invalidated by the facts that the characters can still sprint indefinitely without the suit, and that moving slower is something you can do completely unassisted whereas moving faster is not.
It could also be argued that the MkIV is the better one due to the fact you can attach a Long Jump Module to it. I think this argument is also invalidated by the fact that similarly long jumps can be performed by jumping while sprinting with the MkV without the need for extra addons, being able to do this right out the box.
So for all intents and purposes, the MkV has in fact more mobility.
-2: The MkIV's aforementioned armor plating does actually play a role, represented through it having an extra layer of protection that the MkV lacks entirely. These layers of protection are Damage Negation, and Damage Absorption.
The MkIV has both of them, while the MkV only has the latter, albeit a stronger version of it.
Let me explain:
If you take 10 damage, the MkIV will get it reduced by 40% through Damage Negation leaving it at 6, then that 6 will be further reduced via Damage Absorption by 66%, making it so the suit's energy takes a hit of 4, while you yourself only take a hit of 2.
Meanwhile, the MkV lacks the Damage Negation layer and uses a better form of Damage Absorption, which has a strength of 80% instead of 66%. This means that if you were to take 10 damage, the MkV would still make it so you yourself only take 2, but the suit's energy would take a hit of 8.
Something to keep in mind however, is that the MkIV is offset by the fact that despite having all that plating and extra layer of protection, both suits will provide NO protection whatsoever if they have no energy, meaning that the Damage Negation part is not because of the suit itself being flat out bulletproof but rather by how its systems in their powered state handle any damage it sustains.
Also, it could be argued that the MkIV is better due to it having a helmet, which can be seen on the dead scientists in full HEV suit that you can find in some parts of the games. Unfortunately this argument is invalidated by the fact that there is no way to prove if the helmet makes any difference, as none of the characters we play as wears said helmet.
All in all, we can conclude that this effectively means that the MkIV is just as effective at reducing damage than the MkV, yet more efficient.
(btw the source for these numbers is the half life wiki and some personal experiments i ran with headcrabs in both games)
-3: The MkV is possibly increasing Gordon's physical strength, as represented by his handling of the Gravity Gun.
Alyx is shown to be capable of fending off and taking down Civil Protection officers, headcrab zombies and augmented Combine soldiers (and zombines) using nothing but her physical strength and fighting skills. Yet she has considerable difficulty handling the Gravity Gun due to its bulk and, as mentioned by her, the kick the gun has when fired. Yet Gordon uses it seemingly with no difficulty whatsoever, even in its super powered state which can pull off huge machinery from walls and violently chuck it away.
Meanwhile, the MkIV wearing Gordon is knocked back by the fully charged shot of the Gauss Gun.
I can't rightfully elaborate on this one as I lack enough physics knowledge to establish this as a fact, but something tells me that if MkV Suit Gordon were to use the Gauss Gun he wouldn't suffer as much of a kick as he did with the MkIV.
So, my closing thoughts on each suit:
I'd say that the MkIV was designed leaning more into the protective aspect of it since everyone wearing it was expected to not only handle hazardous things like radioactive or toxic chemicals/materials but also participate in physical combat against unknown creatures and even possibly other humans, seeing as the armor Adrian Shephard wears is speculated to be a derivative of the HEV suit. High energy efficiency was an important design choice as well, since there was no way to be sure that the suit would always have a suitable source of energy available or how long would the suit go without said source being available.
As for the MkV, Kleiner did somehow get from the USA to wherever City 17 is located all the way up in Europe, seeing how broken the world is now that the Combine have taken over, so he must have realized that the bulkier MkIV was not agile enough to deal with this new environment, and managed to increase mobility in a way that could even make it so the Long Jump Module is no longer necessary while maintaining the same level of protection at the cost of greatly reduced efficiency. In his eyes however, this sacrifice was probably a trivial one, for he managed to adapt the suit itself to the Combine's sources of energy. Said sources of energy are everywhere now, because the Combine are everywhere now. Gordon will most likely never run out of ways to power his suit up.
Personally, my heart will always be with the MkIV.
I need more ishtar clan worldbuilding, how is the "thousands of years underground in isolation" thing so focused on yet so grazed over. There was thought put into them not having meat down there, do you think that's affected their abilities to carry body mass over the years? Do you think their lack of pigment is an evolutionary adaptation, or do you think they just lose it from lack of sunlight as they age? Are there actually separate branches of Atem's followers that split over time, or did Bobasa just make that tf up? Malik and his immediate family are definitely like, priest figures to the clan, how do their lives differ from everyone elses? Because we know there are a bunch of other people in the clan, we SEE some of them doing Malik's bidding in flashbacks and before the ceremonial duel. Are all the women allowed to leave for resources or is it just the ones in the ishtar family? I mean I'd assume so because otherwise it'd be harder to manage the One Exit they have. What resources are they allowed to get? Do they just trade with the gold they seem to have in surplus? What happens when they start running out? How much connection are the qualified people allowed to have with the outside world--like can they invite new followers? Are those books from 3000 years ago and if so how are they so well maintained... what languages do they actually speak? Are only the women taught arabic or is it common for all the ishtar clan people, or is that straight up just their primary language? Because that would explain the arabic names (WHOLE other can of worms btw) but it also raises a lot more questions about how isolated they actually are.
Baby masacrik, likely an only child who's neglected because his father is crazy abusive and his mom wants to chase his attention but she sometimes takes care of him?? Idk anyway he developed a hatred for holidays because people usually enjoy them with their family and he's isolated to the point he cant make friends so when hes 13 he lured away a girl who was 14 and loved Halloween in an attempt to make her hate the holiday as much as he did. He degrades her costume and how childish she is but she just offers him candy and stuff and tries to be friendly despite being scared, he eventually cracks and cuts her free and gifts her a little stray black kitten he'd been taking care of for a couple weeks as an apology 😭 (this makes me think he isn't a born "psychopath" but shaped by his home life growing up)
His dad would beat him for dressing informal which is why when hes an adult he dresses pretty horribly, he never got the chance to explore his style as a kid and now absolutely hates dressing formally
Erm eventually he gets his hands on medical textbooks and using the knowledge he got from his mother about sewing and very basic medicine he'd sneak his way into those in person classes some hospitals do to just go stare at actual patients being worked on (this part is me filling in the gaps its not really stated how he got his knowledge)
My best guess for meeting Mimi is she was a patient with either a chronic illness or something terminal so they'd see each other often or something.. I absolutely believe he kidnapped her then said she left against doctors orders rather than letting her die in the hospital just due to the missing posters
Shes given a cat hat because his mom had a cat hat and he's probably a mamas boy because of the affection he'd get from her when she was taking care of him. My reasoning for him not feeling guilty for harming Mimi is just because "My Dad was way worse so It must be fine" he's more likely to make her think shes going to be hit rather than actually hitting her
Uhhh basically nothing is known about Mimi pre death other than she's willing to put up a fight and that she was probably still living with her parents or barely moving out for college based on her age
Uhhhgmm Masacriks father probably is why he has a chipped tooth tbh, I imagine in the elevator man au he actually has a decent relationship with his father just due to the fact thats the kind of man he'd want him to be or something, and thats why that mimi ends up cracking his tooth when she punches him instead of it already being cracked
Their codependency isn't obvious at first glance but its kinda clear in some art Masacrik hates himself some amount and would likely kill himself if he didn't have Mimi, her dependency on him makes him feel valued/needed. The thing is shes so isolated she could easily have a perfectly happy life, but he has to create problems and make her scared in order to be the shoulder for her to cry on and make her life basically impossible without him.
He loves her as much as he is capable of loving, but I wouldn't call it romantic, at least not fully, it's been shown he can be jealous and possessive of her despite trying to deny it, but he loves her closer to the way an artist would love something they put a lot of time and effort into. He made her to be the perfect companion, the perfect life partner, but she'll likely never feel completely fulfilled and he likes it that way so she'll constantly be chasing his affection (a parallel to the relationship of his parents)
