Michael

Amidst a town full of monsters and mythology come to life, Michael sticks out like a sore thumb. One can commonly spy him in the lifeguard chair in the Mirrorglass Pool or walking around its premises. Striking up a conversation is best done while he's off duty, and the best starters are about the ocean. The ocean is perhaps the one thing he loves most and he can be easily nudged into talking about it if so much as asked. Sometimes, he'll go off about it when given no nudge to do so at all. In fact, there's a tattoo of a turquoise manta-ray on his back, and Michael would love to have other sea-related tattoos all over his body. A beach house, a job at an aquarium, a life spent near the waves- that's his dream. But for now, that's all it is.

Should he want to, it's possible for Michael to pursue a culinary career. Even only through teaching himself through trial and error and a library of cookbooks, he's talented enough to make any meal good. Maybe not outstanding- but the process of cooking or baking is enjoyable for him, and recieving praise for his efforts even more so.

To say he's attached to his boundaries and privacy would be accurate. Don't touch any part of him unless he lets you, don't take his things without asking, don't wreck his stuff. All reasonable requests, but he is especially attached to his hair and collection of mugs and newspapers. Almost nobody is allowed a hand on them unless they're close to him, and even then, a request to do so is expected. 

Michael adores company but finds it hard to open up or endure conversation centered on his personal life. Any topic other than that suits him fine. There has to be a topic of some kind though, as silence is uncomfortable for him, and rare are the people he feels at ease sitting in silence with. While Michael can come off as rude or stand-offish, he cares deeply about people. In some cases, he may care a little too much and cause himself to worry endlessly over something that isn't worth that much stress. While this can be a benefit, such as him taking extra precautions for safety and making conscious efforts to reign back his temper, it often leads to unnecessary anxiety. 

Michael has no shame over femininity. He prefers his hair long, and it can often be seen in a ponytail. While he'll wear skirts and dresses, he prefers wearing them on special occasions or in club settings rather than as casual wear, much the same for jewelry. However, he does use make-up on a daily basis in order to cover up the odd blemish or bruise. 

Michael has never led a happy life. While it's not the worst one can have, there's not a moment he can define where he was ever without worry. Ever since he was young, he was informed of his family's curse. No one is quite sure who cast it or why, but it was done so many generations ago. The curse's purpose is to rid of those the subject cares about and keep them lonely. While the simplest method is through death, any manner of things may be caused. Side effects include chronic pain, nightmares, and insomnia.

On October 27, 1988, he was born in Ramsey, Minnesota to two people who had not planned to have him. The two were young and unprepared, and a year after he had been born, his dad left, scared by the responsibility. His mom took this hard. Marilyn had to raise a child she didn't ask for, all on her own. Not only did she grow to resent the person who had left her, but Michael also grew up looking unbearably similar to him. The most he knew of proper care was through the occasional babysitter. They showed up when Marilyn couldn't be bothered to watch over him or had a busy schedule. Even when she was around, it never felt like it. Marilyn owned the house, and Michael happened to live in one of its rooms. He had to learn many chores on his own early on. If Michael had to be there, the least he could do is make it seem like he wasn't. At 12, the babysitters were no longer employed, but the level of disregard remained. She told him it was because he was now grown up enough to look after himself.

After years of neglect, Michael was angry and bitter about his situation. Having no idea how to properly regulate or deal with these feelings, they manifested in negative ways. In high school, he was a terror. Constantly disrupting, speaking back, picking fights, skipping classes, kicking up a fuss. In short, the stereotypical jock bully. At the end of the day, all this achieved was his mother yelling at him for yet another problem on her hands. This aggressive behavior only allowed him a single friend- a boy named Adrien cut from the same cloth. The two considered the other to be the only person they could really trust. Michael started having feelings he didn't understand nor wanted to acknowledge, growing up in a conservative neighborhood. Having him die late in Michael's junior year hit like a sucker punch.

He knew that Gleannes was the town his aunt Ollie lived in. What state it was in, he wasn't sure- part of why they never visited, he had guessed. Still, Michael figured that since all Ramsey had done for him was make him miserable, why not move away? Reaching out to Ollie and lying about Marilyn's agreement in his decision, Michael packed what he could and ran off in hopes of a better world. By the time he arrived, Ollie had found out about his deception, informed by Marilyn that he'd also stolen money from her. Terrified he'd be forced to return, Michael ended up spilling about his trauma for the first time in his life.

Gleannes was weird, strange, and new. It needed getting used to, and that was a herculean effort in of itself. This did not deter Michael, who was convinced that by escaping his mother, he'd escaped from his problems as well. He has been given a rush of freedom he hadn't felt before. This freedom spurred on many reckless decisions. It was in that way he met Lydia, a demon who made little effort to disguise that fact about herself. In some ways, adapting to a new environment helped dismantle negative ideals his hometown had taught him. In others, Michael's refusal to talk or even think about his issues in detail made life difficult for him. Searching to escape his trauma, he turned to sex in an effort to self-medicate.

After graduation, Michael met someone via an app, and after two years of talking, the two grew quite close. It was then Carmen, Michael, and Lydia wound up in an apartment together. For several years they lived like this, collectively struggling along in life. Over these years Carmen convinced him to seek therapy. The two experienced difficulty like any dedicated couple, but it was manageable. For a while, things looked like they were turning for the better. This would end up false, as Carmen would die and Lydia would disappear a month after. This became the start of a decline in Michael's health. Unable to pay for the apartment's rent on his own, he had to look for other options. Sure, he could've taken more support from Ollie than he did, but years of living with Marilyn had convinced him that he had to take care of things on his own. 

Now, striving to make ends meet with a worse-off situation than before, Michael is attempting to keep his head up. 

• ● Turquoise is his favorite color!
• ● Wants more tattoos. Preferably ocean-related ones.
• ● He has a fear of falling off of things and being unbalanced. Being picked up, in a hammock, or on anything with an unsteady base makes him extremely anxious.
• ● Both ears are pierced!
  ● Michael is hypersexual.
• ● His main love language is words of affirmation, and his secondary is physical touch.
• ● People around him will be treated to random facts about the ocean, given at random intervals. You can ask him to stop, and he will, but he'll be sad, disappointed, and hurt.
• ● Makes a mean cheesecake.