#i retained nothing despite going to Japan after graduation to try and learn more of the language

[aceprosecuties]

Your recent post about Simon going to japan had me curious. Would you share more headcanons you have about his childhood, or his family?

OH BOY DO I 

I think about Simon’s childhood and the Blackquills a lot and so under the cut is kind of lengthy and a lot about his parents and honestly I probably could think of more but I figured I would put this up first since it was already getting kind of long aha. 

(also I don’t have first names for momma and papa Blackquill yet oops)

I go back and forth on exactly how Simon’s motherand father met, but I think the version I like best is that they met ingraduate school.  Simon’s mother (whosemaiden name I like to say is Yuugami in honor of Simon’s Japanese name) wasborn in Japan (I go back and forth on her hometown) and stayed there until shehit her early/mid-twenties.  She was ahistorian and linguist and eventually decided that she wanted to study in theUnited Kingdom for her graduate studies.

She emigrated and got accepted into a universityin London, where she was aiming to get her doctorate.  Here she met a fellow graduate student withthe last name Blackquill who lived in the same apartment building as her; hewas studying chemistry and was a citizen of the United Kingdom.  Despite their different academic interests,they hit it off and became close friends and eventually lovers.  He was usually shier than her and she would askhim to show her different places around London – at first she would ask fortouristy things, and he would oblige, but as they got closer, he startedshowing her different sites and places that were more personal.  

He tried learning some Japanese to converse withher in her native language, but he never really was very good at it.  It never stopped him from trying, though.

They eventually got married soon after they bothreceived their doctorates, and decided to stay in the U.K., since they eachreceived lucrative job offers there. Simon’s mother was able to finally bring her husband to Japan for awhile before they started their new careers; when they returned, they found outthat she was pregnant.

Aura Blackquill was born nine months later; asshe grew up she resembled her father a bit more than her mother.  While her mother’s hair was thick and black,her father’s hair was a dark purple, and she inherited the small mole that hehad on his neck.  The one thing shegained from her mother was her grey eyes. Aura ended up being quite a tomboy and developed a fierce interest inscience like her father.  She was closerwith her father than her mother, and wasn’t all too interested in learningabout her mother’s culture, and instead would beg her father to take her intowork with him whenever possible.  Shelearned the language, but as she got older she didn’t really wish to useit.  She sometimes butted heads with hermother about a lot of things due to their strong personalities.

Mrs. Blackquill then got sick, and while sherecovered, the aftermath of said sickness made it difficult for her to getpregnant again, despite her and her husband trying and wanting a secondchild.  They gave up on the idea after itbecame too much to deal with emotionally; Aura resigned to being an only childeven though she would sometimes get excited (in a tsundere sort of way) aboutthe idea of a younger sibling.

They were happy, their little family.  Aura was headstrong and intelligent and bothher parents were proud of everything she accomplished – she won her elementary school’sscience fair three years in a row,after all!  

When Aura was nine, her mother seemed to havefallen ill again, which worried both her and her father greatly…but only for alittle while, because when she returned from the doctor she announced that shewas pregnant.

Her pregnancy with Simon was somewhat moredifficult than with Aura, and they at times were afraid that Simon wasn’t goingto make it; he was born a few weeks earlier than he should have been and stayedin the NICU for some time.  His motherstayed with him the entire time; his father and sister were there as much asthey could be.  

Simon was brought home and, just as his sisterresembled their father, he started growing up to resemble their mother.  He inherited her thick black hair anddeveloped a fascination with her culture that Aura never really had.  He would constantly ask her for stories aboutJapan, and she would tell him historical tales of the samurai that wouldenthrall him and would stay with him through adulthood.

When they visited Japan, it was Simon who wouldeagerly run around pointing at things and asking about stories and history; bythe time he was five he was speaking Japanese far better than his fourteen-yearold sister.  His mother would call himher little samurai and while she didn’t know any swordplay, she found somewherenear their home where he could begin learning when he was old enough.  

Aura of course teased her brother, who was farmore sensitive than she was.  He wouldcry easily at sad movies and Aura would roll her eyes and call him a baby.  But she also was fiercely protective of him;no one else was allowed to tease her little brother.  Only shewas allowed that privilege, and everyoneknew it.  

Simon also loved animals from a young age,particularly birds.  While Aura wasindifferent to them, Simon would constantly beg his parents for a pet.  They refused only because they traveled a decentamount, and Simon would always get angry at the denial.  He refused to eat meat despite how much hismother and father would try to get him to at first, and has remained avegetarian ever since.    

Overall, though, they were a very happyfamily.  

Unfortunately, it wasn’t always to be; when Simonwas eight and Aura was seventeen, their parents left this world.  Their mother had some research to presentback in Japan, and their father took off to go and support her.  They didn’t want Aura or Simon to miss muchschool so they did not allow them to accompany them this time.

The plane crashed, and there were no survivors.

Aura and Simon left the U.K. to go to the UnitedStates, where some of their paternal relatives lived.  It was an awkward year with them, as theywere not at all close with their extended relatives, and it took until Auraturned eighteen and her gaining custody over her little brother for them tomove and find their own place.

The Blackquill siblings had two very differentgrieving processes: Aura was angry.  Angry at her parents, angry at the world,angry at herself for not saying the things that she should have before theyleft…she was just angry all the time.  This culminated in her wanting to doeverything to expunge traces of her parents from herself; her interest in sciencestayed, but traveled from chemistry to robotics.  She began dressing differently and spent a very long time training herself to nolonger have a British accent.  Sherefused to use British slang and told herself she would never travel back tothe U.K. or to Japan ever again.

Simon was just sad.  He cried a lot and Aurawould sometimes yell at him for doing so, and other times would hug him as hedid.  He missed his parents greatly anddidn’t want to ever forget about them, so he retained his British accent andslang and still kept up with his Japanese and would still read samurai lore asmuch as he could.  One of the biggestfights he had with Aura was when she refused to let him go to Japan when he wasfifteen.  While she said it was becausethey didn’t have enough money and because he was too young, he yelled at herand said that just because she wanted nothing to do with their parents didn’tmean that he had to as well.    

He developed an interest in law as the main thingthat separated himself from his parents, but he still wanted to be considered asamurai and so incorporated that into his style.  Aura of course continued to call him a nerdbut they were close, in their own way.  

Aura decided that she wanted to get her master’sin electrical engineering/robotics, and decided to attend a nearby universityso that she could still take care of Simon. It was here that she met Metis Cykes, a doctoral student in psychology,and the two became fast friends…after realizing she had a big crush on Metis, Aurasometimes thought about how their meeting seemed to mirror her parents’, and itwas the first time in a while that she allowed herself to be happy whenthinking about them.

Since Metis was also part-Japanese and enamoredwith Japanese culture, Aura introduced her to Simon, who took to her as quicklyas she had.  

After they graduated they both received joboffers at the Cosmos Space Center, and Simon pursued his desire to be aprosecutor.  He eventually asked Metis ifhe could apprentice under her in psychology, hoping that he would be able togain an advantage in the courtroom, and she said yes…also agreeing to teach himsword training, much to Aura’s dismay.