#⌇lore headcanon ( 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 )

[distopea]

Zodiac aggressiveness can be truly explained because of the lack of acknowledgement and trust he cruelly suffered during his youth.

For the Lenio Family, Mattia was nothing like his brother, Alessandro. He wasn't smart enough, he was too small, he didn't have the spirit to take tough decisions, and more importantly, he wasn't strong enough. While under the influence of heavy drugs, his brother was capable of monstrous acts, Mattia on his side, was a shivering teenager watching with horror how his own bloodline was turning bad. Many times he had been the one cleaning after his brother's mess, his addiction turning him into a blood beast who wanted nothing but control and power, getting more and more paranoid over the years.

Hidden in the shadows of someone he slowly started to despise, Mattia was condemned to be less than useless to his uncle, godfather of the Lenio gang. He grew bitter about the fact that no one was listening to his ideas, even if they were years after years far smarter than Alessandro. His inability to express himself had grown like a sour seed inside of him. Only through anger and resentment, he was able to express himself, until it became his only way to expose his thoughts freely.

[distopea]

More intel regarding the Cleaners' psychology

NB: I won't put diagnosis on their behaviors, nor illnesses names either, but I will talk about general aspects or their demeanors and how it's perceived by people.

For Astra, what defines him the most would be his distance with the criminal world he's leading and his actions, almost a full dissociation certainly due to the numerous aliases he uses. He's perfectly aware that his decisions are cruel, ruthless and often very unfair, but he doesn't perceive most of people like human beings, just pawns. Treating them like animals doesn't affect him very much, mostly because he experiences a rather high megalomania when it comes to his ambitions. Stepping on others is a part of his plans, a necessary sacrifice, whether they are willingly take part of it or not.

However, he still feels common emotions and appears as someone with a decent spectrum of those. He shows empathy, love and care for the few selected people he lets enter his circle.

Gambit tries to stay far away from negative impulses, even if he barely controls himself most of the time under heavy emotions. Hurting people affect him in a way that he will experience guilt. That guilt will only result in more paranoia coming from his side, and a need a control, but Gambit can't see the fact that he's utterly cruel and devious when he wants to be. His actions are motivated by his strong and uncontrolled emotions, and while he believes to act out of common behaviors, he's perceived as a lunatic by most of the members of the Cleaners.

He's not aware of the danger of his actions, hiding behaviors that should be concerning in the first place. He feels in control, only sometimes just slightly upset by something (even if he had killed someone because of it).

Kaizen on his side lacks almost everything regarding basic human emotions. He's totally insensitive and detached, and he sincerely doesn't care about hurting people, quite on the contrary. He doesn't experience any sort of guilt nor remorse, and no pleasure as well, and he will pursue his actions for the sake of his own ambitions or for the benefits of the Cleaners. He only swings between a deep loyalty for the organization and a profound boredom for anything scratching the surface of his quiet life. If it's profitable for the Cleaners, then Kaizen will enjoy his job and nothing else.

Even the most upsetting event wouldn't shake him, and he doesn't bother faking emotions at all to morph with society. Kaizen is blunt and exposes the fact that nothing truly matters except what he has decided to do.

On Zodiac's side, what he lacks the most his a real maturity and control over his anger issues. He's in a deep denial of his own flaws and would never acknowledge what others really can't miss. Zodiac doesn't like to be perceived as the weak post of the Cleaners, even more when someone would bring his past on the table, and he has a profound urge to prove that he has earned his place as one of the commanders. He overuses his position, and he shows no mercy, even more when he could somehow feel that someone might experience the safe story than his. He often loses control, runs his tongue wild and argues harder, and that leads him to act of cruelty. For Zodiac, showing weakness would be worse than dying, which is why he's quite ruthless.

Deep down though, Zodiac is probably the most sensitive among them all.

[distopea]

If Astra lacks trust with everyone, whenever he decides to give it to someone, this is something he offered totally and with no restrain.

Trust and lies are the two main assets used by the Cleaners to expend their territories and gain more power. Through fear, they can hold their subordinates, their pawns, those who are meat for the field but nothing that truly matters on the chess game. He doesn't need to earn their trust, nor to be perceived as a honorable leader. He wants them to feel the invisible threat he is upon their sorry lives, because that's how he makes them obey. With trust though, Astra can move forward and rely on the necessary people to reach his goals.

So far (and regardless threads of course), his trust has been only offered to the three commanders of his empire. He doesn't need to check on them, he doesn't need to monitor them - he knows, in the most absolute way, that they are men of trust and he wouldn't be betrayed. It's a risk he's willing to take, the only calculation of his life he doesn't completely control.

[distopea]

As the Amazon Club is mostly used as a facade to cover the Cleaners' activities, it's also often the most vulnerable place for the organization. Since a lot of gangsters and other rivals believe the Amazon Club to be the epicenter of their organization, it has been attacked quite often already, mostly to either damage the building, steal documents, or simply kill members of the Cleaners.

That being said, Astra has always been aware of the problems the club would bring along. That's why Kaizen has been put in charge of this place, instead of Zodiac, who was initially the first chosen for this job.

Kaizen's brutal and violent reputation is far enough to discourage a lot of potential rivals to ever assault the club. He's well-known to shoot before talking, and he's trained to survive against multiple assailants.

Even if Kaizen doesn't particularly appreciate that position, nor really care, the problems and other attacks around the Club have drastically diminished since he's in the charge.

[distopea]

So, who wins in the end between Gabriele and Astra? Can you give us any spoilers?

To be perfectly honest... I don't have the answer to this question! 

I prefer to have open possibilities regarding their potential ending? I have no doubt that Astra will gain more influence and power in the future, but in this line of work, betrayal is a common thing, and he's only a man. I have no ambition to write the kind of villain who would see every trap and trick. He's intelligent, but he's still limited, and he could get played one day. 

Gabriele on his side, is a tired man with a wagon of negative emotions and his own trauma regarding his past life as an undercover agent. He's dedicated and pragmatic, but he's also suffering from the image he has and all those emotions he bottles up. I wonder if one day he won't just stop out of exhaustion, or be killed on duty. 

I somehow want to experience my characters fully and see if I actually plan to have an ending. So far, I find it more interesting to watch them evolve and interact with different people, mixing universes and creating new lines and new fates, rather than just focusing on MY lore (otherwise it's just a book, right?). My purpose here is character development, pulling strings and seeing what will happen. 

[distopea]

What would Astra do if he lost one of the Cleaner members? Does he have a back up plan? Can he temporarily step into their shoes and do the job as effectively as they can?

Losing any of the commanders at the stage and current timeline where I picture the Cleaners would definitely be a big blow for Astra's organization.

Perhaps it's a flaw of his, and perhaps he shouldn't have built his secret empire the way he did, but only Requiem, Gambit and Zodiac are the three most reliable individuals of this group. They have matching skills and complementary personalities that couldn't be replaced, and they have their own devotion and trust in the organization itself.

One day, Astra knows that the Cleaners will need to push forward the Nebula he has created and to actually open-up to new heads among the different sections and branches they control if they want to survive. He believes that his system can work long enough to be strong in the future and be unshaken, but a part of his megalomania forbids him to trust anyone else but the ones he has chosen for the current tasks.

Surely, he can lead a few things here and there if he needs to or if he ever loses one of them, but without the balance of the three commanders and him, his organization and dream might be doomed.

[distopea]

META   + family (kaizen)

@tigermcth

IT WAS A MEME I REBLOG A LONG TIME AGO

Family doesn't ring any bells for Kaizen, and doesn't mean much in the first place. 

For as long as he can remember, he had never been attached to the members of his family. He was a lonely kid with no brother and sister, and his parents and grandparents were awfully bigoted with no other interests than going to church and give themselves an image of good Christians. He had never liked their behavior, nor the fact they were hiding their lack of empathy towards outsiders. They were pretty much very racists and homophobes, something he had never understood as he thought they were truly useless people themselves. 

He was keen to do things on his own, and he had a lot of cruel games that his comrades or neighbors wouldn't like at all. He was the scumbag and big brute of the neighborhood, gaining a bad reputation despite his parents' best efforts to muffle the rumors. He had no real bonds with anyone in his home country, they had never understood each other. 

When he left, Kaizen knew that he wouldn't talk to his parents anymore. He didn't care; he was a delinquent with no other salvation than getting his ass whipped in the army system, and he was the family shame. He had never received any news from them after he had left the country. He had learnt that his mother had died from cancer thanks to Gambit, but it hadn't affected him at all, he didn't care. 

He had never loved them after all. 

[distopea]

“Oliver, apart from being Astra’s prized pig, what is the next worst thing about not being able to feel pain?”

Was there anything worse next to the fact he was used as a guinea pig for Astra most cruel and sadistic clients?

"Ugh..." He gently scratched his head, and decided that he wouldn't think about his life as an escort for once. "What is complicated is whenever I injure myself but it's inside. Everyone is able to feel or experience if they break their arm, their ribs and such... I usually don't see it. I have to go several times to the hospital just to check that everything is fine, because I might to feel if I have an internal bleeding... And with my profession, it's getting complicated..."

He sighed painfully. "And of course, the Cleaners are quite generous with the hospital fees, they pay for everything but add it back to my already enormous debts... In order to stay alive, I have to go through these check ups so it's basically just a way to be trapped even more and never be able to repay my debts..."

He just wished he was born normal for sure.