MSTISLAV

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• ↳ INTRODUCTION: Fontanian locals would often describe Mstislav as a "huge man from Snezhnaya who has a head that's empty, if he is thinking about something, he is likely only thinking about about his wife and children all day and night." . Some call him a monster, other's call him a beast, but really he's just a family man who is doing everything for his wife and children. Many who actually meet the man tend to change their minds if they have previously thought negatively about him.

  That being said, Mstislav is also a man who has been through a lot. Perhaps too much for one to comprehend, perhaps it's too much for Mstislav himself to comprehend. The man doesn't really know much about social norms or how to be a "normal" person in society after years of being kept in solitary confinement or isolating himself in the dark depths of that Snezhnayan lab he once resided in.

  Word of advice from those closest to him:

  • He's more likely afraid of you than you are of him: That really advanced gas mask of his might make him look terrifying, he's the son of Pierro and Capitano (inherited Capitano's strength. For an idea of his strength (?) , he is strong enough to take down Wriothesley in a fist fight with bare hands, no weapons. He can probably kill anyone with just his bare hands.) , so his superhuman strength is something to be wary of (but he likely won't even use 1% of his strength most of the time.).
    
    

    Many call him the "Half Breed Monster" , a "half-bred beast" , but if you really get to know him- He's nothing like the scary stories want to tell, he's just a guy. A big guy, but a guy nontheless. He's likely more afraid of you thinking badly of him than you are thinking "he wants to kill me" (he doesn't, unless you give him a reason too. Shittalking or flirting with his wife is the easiest way to get yourself killed by him, or he will drag you to get executed by Fitzgerald-Gilbert (Chief Executioner) himself) . But don't interact with him if he's hiding in the darkest corner of a place he can find.

    He does have quite the bad reputation (that we argue is undeserved!) , but he is nothing like the rumors depict him. In fact, he's more of the opposite. Treat him nicely, and he will treat you with gentleness and respect.

    
    
  • If you speak Snezhnayan (Russian): Speak in Snezhnayan, that's the mans native language. Mstislav is more friendly and opens up quicker to those who can speak Snezhnayan, no matter their level. He gets notably excited if you're a Fontanian who speaks Snezhnayan we really do wonder why- Actually it's obvious, you would remind him of his wife . Speak in Snezhnayan as much as you can, even if you have a accent (Mstislav would not care) .

• If you do not speak Snezhnayan: Get used to non verbal communication, if you think that's weird or will see him as less than human for this- Do not speak with him. In other words Mstislav makes noises (he's like a dog , a Black (Russian) Terrier as a person.) Grunts, demonic sounds, whines, coughs, wheezes, you name it. Or he will likely just stare at you. His English is okay , Fontanian (French) is less okay (he would rather poison himself than have to speak in the language for an extended period of time) , though his accent is very heavy.

  If he does speak in anything other than Snezhnayan, expect short , one to two word responses with huge pauses in them. Unless you're someone close to him, Mstislav probably won't be speaking in full sentences in English or Fontanian. Let the man take his time, as many tend to get impatient with him for this reason. If anything, even his wife Fitzgerald-Gilbert was met with such responses at some point in their life as a couple together, so this is completely normal behavior.

  
  
• If you want to have a chat with him?: Make sure that he is not in a bad mood or otherwise wanting to be in the presence of his wife. If you do want to chat with him and he wants to be with Fitzgerald-Gilbert, Mstislav will want nothing to do with you if you're taking up his time that he otherwise could be spending with his wife (or his kids, don't bother him if he's taking care of his children, Fontainians and people in general cannot deny that Mstislav is truly a wonderful father.) .

  Once you made sure that the man is in a good mood or otherwise has free time: Get Navia or Furina (they are his besties) to introduce you and get Mstislav to loosen up so the man won't be confused by you're casual intentions and refuse to talk to you (he's probably afraid of you more than you of him) . Bonus if you chat with him while he's longing for his wife , you're helping to distract the poor man from his agony of waiting for his wife to be off from work or something, extra bonus if you want to chat with him about his family. For other topics to talk about... Not much, but he is not notably a very good listener and the shittiest person at starting conversations. Talk about something, he will listen.

• If you need him to do something for you (And you're not someone part of the Fortress of Meropide?): Say you know his wife (Fitzgerald-Gilbert / Fitz) and that Fitz has sent you to tell him (there is a certain chance that this might not work, depends on how head empty he is). Bonus if you know his kids (except for Coella-Borislava, do not mention anything about Coella-Borislava, everyone knows not to talk about the poor girl and her death).
  
  
• If you need him to do something for you (And you're part of the Fortress of Meropide): Anybody who has been in the Fortress long enough for their employment and even Wriothesley himself would tell you: Just get his wife to say it for you, do it for you're own survival.

  Mstislav does not like being told what to do by the likes of coworkers, and only Fitzgerald-Gilbert knows how to get the man to be receptive to commands using some (secret sauce) methods (???) - Trying to boss him around makes you seem like a threat to him, as all he has known in life is to fight for any semblance of freedom and self autonomy, it's from an amount of trauma we cannot comprehend.

-Written by Rosa-Amira (The Steambird) + others including Fitzgerald-Gilbert (Please don't show Mstislav this, he doesn't really like us of The Steambird)

Other stuff:

↳ Once in the past he was actually quite the handsome, cheerful, lively, a bit naive and clueless kind of dude- Like a big time dad friend who you feel safe and loose with and while he "didn't have as much potential" as his sister in his parents eyes (for what? Nobody truly knows and such records have been destroyed by the Fatui) and he really only wanted one thing in life as he loves children and he really thinks his parents love story (as they always tell him about it) is something he wants to experience. He always wanted a love to call his own and have a family of his own.

Kind of didn't have a purpose at first and thus he believed that his purpose was to find a lover and have a family, be a dad kind of thing. He became skilled with the claymore as he inherited Capitano's superhuman strength trait (and also likes his father Capitano way more than his mother Pierro, Pierro thinking he is a bit of a waste of time and resources compared to what Syvatoslav has been...In which they say Syvatoslav was a born Fatui member who could truly be the most powerful enough to terrorize Celestia itself before she- Disappeared in Dragonspine.) - However got into conflict with his mother Pierro over love as Pierro wants his son to know that love is only one part of life- Mstislav believes that love is the entire thing for life.

Also discovered a life purpose other than love after meeting his first lover- He got into chemicals and finding a way to extend his long life (as he is at least half Khaenri'arian (how to spell) and thus is cursed with Pierro's immortality to an extent and giving that immortality to others (especially his lovers), seeing it as a good thing rather than a literal curse. He went onto a career path of a chemist after discovering this life purpose

Also had like ONE friend in his entire life, a friend that is not a lover but just a friend. Ofeliya's younger sister, Yakterina who once saw Mstislav as a older brother figure and they were best friends, and Yaketerina was the only person Mstislav can call his friend. However they would not be friends forever.

↳ For some mysterious and unknown reason it seems that all of Mstislav's past lovers- From his first to Afonya always end up dead by "accidents" - Killed right in front of Mstislav, right before he can do something to save them all in "unfortunate accidents" situations. Mstislav finally broke when Afonya died as Afonya was probably the best lover he had before he met Fitzgerald-Gilbert and died bearing their unborn child, the unborn child dying with him. Similar to Homura Akemi from Madoka Magica, he turned from a cheerful, lively young man to a broken, depressed, and shattered older man who has seen too much shit in life.

Mstislav was formally a severe drug addict who also heavily smoked- His drug and smoking addictions were all enabled by his many of past lovers- The most notable lovers being (REDACTED - All records of his first lover were destroyed) who got him into his first drug (and the drug he uses the most) opiods and his last lover before his current partner , Afonya (Ofeliya and Yaketerina's brother) who enabled him to smoke.

The death of his many lovers made his addictions worse, the death of Afonya was the final straw- His drug addictions got so severe after Afonya's death that his parents, especially Pierro forced him to get off drugs and smoking by putting him in solitary confinement and leaving him to suffer in severe withdrawal- The experience so traumatizing to him that everytime he tries to withdraw from drugs , he just thinks it's going to be like the extremely traumatic way his parents tried to get him clean that does not involve proper help and therapy.

Luckily he wasn't in solitary confinement forever as Il Dottore, aware of Mstislav's skills with chemicals , biology and life properties took him in as an apprentence- Mstislav soon become his Assistant due to his skills and also simply enabled him to do drugs again (much to his parents disapproval but Mstislav being a hardened by trauma man now actually fought with his parents to make sure they can't interfere with his life anymore) . Mstislav kind of just stays away from the public during his time as Dottores assistant. Only coming out of the lab once in a while, he has lost all his charm, his cheerfulness, his lively and joyful personality- He has become cold, socially isolated and awkward (lost all social skills) , self centered, and people began to treat him as a "half breed" and a "monster from Khaenri'ah" due to this shift in Mstislav as a person, causing him to further isolate from society.

↳ His isolation didn't last forever as well as in some time (Fatui records of his and Fitz's meeting have been completely destroyed as the two are both estranged from the Fatui- Mstislav for wanting to be with Fitz and their kids wherever they go, Fitz as he wanted to be with Mstislav so badly he killed Yaketerina and her girlfriend Matronya, his adopted parents for a bit and now they are both estranged from the organization- Fitz being banned.) he met Fitzgerald-Gilbert (going by Fitzgerald-Gilles) who was a recent recruit of the Fatui and the couple seem to be a fated pair as they got together and after some time, had their first kid Coella and eventually started to get close with eachother.

Fitz even got Mstislav clean from drugs and smoking, helped him to start interacting with others and not be socially isolated, even talking more.

Mstislav ended up marrying Fitz and after some shit that went down that the Fatui have destroyed all records of , they actually end up in Fontaine as Fitzgerald-Gilbert returns to his homeland for redemption for running away and being with The Fatui and the two earn job positions in the Fortress of Meropide- Mstislav is Chief Interrogator. The two eventually got promoted to Chief Warden and share the position together, being the first couple to earn the job position as Chief Warden and have now settled in. Mstislav being known to interrogate via strapping criminals to a specialized chair and injecting them with chemicals, poisons, narcotics, etc to get them to submit and spill information. He also seems to work with Fontainian hospitals and medical schools on medicines and stuff, so he's still doing his chemical thing.

Now the couple enjoy a rather comfortable life that is of peace and tranquility that they both needed we don't talk about Coella being dead and they have a total of 6 kids, but only 5 are alive in the present day. Despite all that he has gone through, Mstislav is improving himself...Little by little, even if he fucks up on the way. Man's been through a lot, he's constantly tired and seems done (the ONLY thing keeping him going is Fitzgerald-Gilbert and their children together) , but he's improving. He's just a family man and father doing everything for his wife and kids, will do everything for his family- He believes not in "home is where the heart is" but rather "home is where the family is" .