Michael Liu
24 | Crematory Technician | 6'4 | Homosexual
Out where the stones lay like bones by the ocean
Out where the waves crash contempt on the land
Someone was trembling for fear of the tempest
Somebody silently reached for their hand
Likes: His friends, music, being in control of a situation, his little brother (begrudgingly) and pigeons.
Dislikes: Being angry, not being in control of a situation, fucking posers, tomatoes.
Background
He grew up in a small household with his parents and younger brother, Rhys who has him wrapped around his finger. It was honestly fairly stable, and aside from when his parents had to work double shifts and Michael had to watch his baby brother, he was given the freedom he needed to come and go as he pleased at a young age. Often, he spent the nights with Pete, breaking into buildings and taking shitty photographs on his old ass polaroid camera, or experimenting with various drugs.
Around age 11, he stopped going to school for two weeks. He had woken up one morning unable to put any pressure on his left leg, which wasn't exactly weird considering his shit joints, but when it didn't get better-- In fact, when it began to get worse, he ended up in the hospital and was diagnosed with May-Thurner Syndrome. Essentially, it involves his veins and blood clots and he doesn't ever talk about it or the fact that he lost his leg that day.
Ever since then he's been wary of people getting too close, not wanting them to get inside his personal bubble and learn information about him he doesn't want to share. The only people allowed in that bubble are Pete (described affectionately as his person), Henrietta, Firkle and his younger brother whom he would unfortunately do anything for. Unfortunately for him, Mike Makowski and Stan Marsh have also worked their way into this bubble and it is infuriating.
(Especially since one of them was his first crush.)
Currently, he's living in a small apartment with just enough room for a friend to crash if needed. This invitation is almost exclusively open to the goths and the goths only, unless otherwise specified. And they get the couch, one exception.
Physical & Mental
Michael stands at 6'4, towering over just about everybody he comes into contact with-- Which, thanks to his job, is not a lot of people. It's a blessing, really. He also walks with a very slight limp, due to his prosthetic right leg. Only people close to him know about that, and it's the reason he still uses a cane, combined with his generally shitty joints.
He's naturally somewhat pale, at least compared to the rest of his family, and his eyes are a muted sort of brown until you get him in the right light. The sun tends to bring out the soft honey specks in them. He's fairly lean, any muscle mass he has usually being hidden underneath multiple layers of clothing-- a trench coat, an undershirt, a shirt haphazardly thrown in between to make him look as ambiguous as possible, and his boots are either Doc Martens or dress shoes, no in between.
Michael deals with depression that is borderline debilitating at times, and undiagnosed intermittent explosive disorder, which leads him to overreact a lot to tiny things that end up setting him off. Despite being undiagnosed, he's gotten better at hiding away when shit makes him mad- Unless you're with him in person, in which case yikes.
Personality
He's hard to read, mostly because he tries to be. Michael's least favourite thing about conversations and meeting people and making friends (ugh) is that there's always a potential for him to be seen. Really, truly seen, which is a terrifying prospect considering he already knows what's under the facade, why does anyone else need to see it?
So he holds himself above just about everyone, just out of reach. That isn't to say he's hard to talk to. On the contrary, he doesn't mind spending an hour or two spouting bullshit about music or whatever the fuck someone wants to ramble on about.
But it doesn't mean he cares.
When it comes to those he holds close, they see a slightly softer side, the parts of him that tend to be kept under wraps when literally anyone else is around. He's protective, fiercely so, and god help anyone that tries to fuck with his found family. They'll meet a grim fate, because damn does Michael have anger issues, easy to set off and hard to settle down.
