#props to whoever reads all of this but i don't expect anyone to DSHJFK

[bravevolunteer]

SCOOPED MICHAEL — THE MASTERLIST

A compilation of headcanons detailing the scooping, its physical and mental effects, and how Michael manages it. Meant to function as a guide/archive with answers to the most common questions. Warning for descriptions of body horror / gore ( primarily in the first two sections ), as well as mentions of dissociation, suicidal ideation, and theoretical substance use.

THE SCOOPING / ENNARD / REMNANT

Upon being lead to the Scooping Room during his final night at Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, Michael was met with the room's namesake: a device designed to destroy animatronics and pull out their endoskeletons. Stood directly in front of it, its excavating arm easily tore through Michael's flesh when it went off.

The first wound was the most brutal, tearing a large gash from Michael's naval all the way up to his sternum, the primary entry point located between the ribcage and pelvis. The machine began to pull out his organs ( though they did have to be removed in pieces ), before jerking back and leaving Michael slumped against the opposite wall. He was only conscious for a few moments afterwards, just enough to feel the excruciating pain and look down at the blood and viscera spilling out before everything went dark.

Since the Scooper wasn't built for human disembowelment, it was not a clean removal. Ennard either likely had to use it again a couple times or manually pull out the excess in order to crawl inside. Michael is left with all his internal organs removed and a heavily damaged ribcage, along with all additional damage from Ennard using him as a skinsuit.

The scooper contains a remnant injector, which was administered to Michael from the machine's reservoir when it made contact. While his body sustains sufficient damage, this is what keeps him from dying.

While Michael is alive when Ennard pilots him, he is not necessarily conscious OR entirely unaware. He exists in a sort of in-between state, fluctuating through varying levels of awareness. As a result, he does have memories of this time, but they are incredibly blurry and disjointed. What he remembers most is the feeling of it rather than specific moments: watching his own body move without his control, the different entities inside him fighting to take over.

The amount of time that Ennard is in control is left open— based on the regular pace of human decay, it would likely be at most two weeks before existence became unbearable, but this can be slowed due to remnant.

Ennard leaving his body was equally messy— they emerged primarily through his chest as well as his mouth ( leaving significant tearing on the side of his face ), coming out a gruesome amalgamation of wires, eyes, and blood.

Michael wakes on the sidewalk, fully in control of himself. The remnant keeping him alive is best described as Michael essentially possessing his own body— he still has a grasp on some senses, as damaged as they are, but he is technically using himself as a husk about as much as Ennard was.

APPEARANCE:

When Ennard leaves his body, it has significantly decayed. The state of his appearance is reflective of actual decomposition stages, however it tends to linger somewhere between due to the strange grey area he exists within. The decay eventually exists in a state of mostly stagnation.

His skin gradually discolors to a pale, purplish shade. It's not literally bright purple, but closer to extremely pale with purple undertones, similar to this shade pre-advanced decay ( image depicts drawn stages of decomposition )

He looks sickly: his face is sunken and seems hollow with noticeable eyebags. He keeps his hair due to the slow pace at which it tends to decompose normally, but it thins out and he will lose some ( if that becomes noticeable, he'll eventually get a wig ).

Injuries / scars : Largest is the gash from the scooper. While that wound doesn't actively bleed, it never really heals and stitches tend not to hold, leaving him with the hole in his chest exposing what's left of his bones and insides. Deep gash on right cheek exposing teeth ( from Ennard's exit ). Assorted scars across his torso, limbs, and face. Gashes in areas where Ennard would poke out that he has to actively keep stitched up.

The wounds that he keeps stitched do tend to reopen, either when he's in rough physical circumstances or just when it's been awhile, requiring Michael to replace them himself. He's definitely also had to stitch back on a finger or two.

As an unruly amalgamation of wires, there are some pieces of Ennard that were left behind. Mostly stray wiring lodged in his body. It doesn't cause problems as much as it's simply there, but it does sort of help to hold his mess of leftover internal parts in place.

Michael puts in significant effort to hide these aspects of his appearance in public. He wears clothing that covers most of his body, frequently layers, usually wears a jacket ( this is the black trench coat scooped Michael agenda ). All clothing has a dark color palette to avoid drawing attention to himself.

He'll also wear accessories to conceal parts of himself that clothes don't: gloves, hats, sunglasses, cloth masks

Underneath the clothing, he usually has bandages wrapped around sensitive areas on his arms and legs, occasionally some on the side of his face. This both prevents him from worsening any injuries and hides them should his clothes not be enough.

Will sometimes use makeup: not a significant amount, just enough to make his face appear a more humanlike shade

PHYSICAL:

Michael experiences constant chronic pain— this eventually becomes his default state to the point where he's learned to function within his limits, but it was a difficult adjustment. The intensity fluctuates depending on circumstances. Pain is most common around around his chest/ribcage area and during extended periods of standing or walking. He does have to move or stretch, though, or else the pain will come from stiffness in his limbs.

Although he doesn't always require them to walk, Michael will sometimes use a mobility aid. He has a straight cane with an orthopedic handle and two forearm crutches that he picks between depending on needs and location, but they both reduce strain and make movement easier.

The oldest Michael possibly is when scooped is 25, though the default placement is around 23. Therefore, he is still physically that age, just decayed.

Eat and drink: Michael is unable to eat or drink anything, as he doesn't have the necessary functioning to process food. His sense of taste and smell is dulled as well. He does still chew gum often, as it's harmless and provides a small sense of normalcy.

Substance use: Obviously cannot drink alcohol either ( no liver ) and smoking/drugs would have no effect. He can technically try, but with no lungs any inhalants would simply... pass right through him. Swallowing doesn't work for the same reasons he can't process food. Snorting is technically viable but his brain functioning makes the effect debatable and the risk of further damaging his body is high.

Sleep: Not required, he doesn't get any benefits from it but he CAN still sleep. When he does, it's usually to pass the time since there's only so much he can do ( more common in intense depressive episodes ). He does still experience constant nightmares, though, which usually makes the experience more of a hassle than it's worth. Ultimately, he has a similar sleep schedule to when he was alive, disjointed and chaotic.

Breathing: Not required, no lungs. He no longer breathes "by default," though it took some time for that instinct to fade. It kicks back in during moments of distress where he'll breathe raggedly/gasp for air he doesn't need, the attempt to catch his breath is entirely mental ( can be seen in 3/PS ). He will also intentionally breathe sometimes as a more human response/familiar motion.

Temperature: He's always cold, no longer able to feel warm temperatures much. The cold doesn't necessarily bother him much, either, it feels like a neutral state. This does help when it comes to wearing layers.

Michael does still bleed... in a way. Blood isn't constantly being pumped through his body anymore, but whatever's left will leak out of certain injuries when they reopen ( more likely in forearms and legs due to livor mortis ).

He's unable to cry, as his tear ducts no longer produce the fluids for it. He sure can feel like it, though.

Biggest weakness is extreme heat. It neutralizes remnants' effects, which is why burning is the method used to free the trapped souls/himself.

External damage to his body won't kill him, but invulnerability to death doesn't mean it'll heal. This is why the animatronics still pose a real threat to him: being stuffed into a suit would destroy his body even more and he would simply go on to possess that instead. He'd rather deal with the existence he's adjusted to.

MENTAL:

In addition to his onslaught of pre-existing mental health issues, Michael develops depersonalization-derealization disorder. While he had experienced dissociative symptoms before, the intensity and frequency at which they occur increases. This is rooted in his body being piloted against his will, the disconnect between his mind and what he sees in the mirror, and the isolated experience from floating between life and death.

He will often feel as if he's watching himself from outside his own body, numbness— fundamentally disconnected from his thoughts, feelings, body, and surroundings. He also has a warped sense of time caused both by dissociation and existing in isolation for so long.

When he isn't simply numb, the state he lives in amplifies his constant exhaustion, loneliness, and depression. The emotional pain dulls into dejected acceptance over time, but nothing necessarily eases the loss.

Michael continues to survive solely based on his drive to put everything to an end by killing his father and freeing his victims, both out of empathy and a desire for atonement. He doesn't have a will to live anymore outside of that, which is why he maintains that he'll burn with them.

LIFESTYLE:

Michael Afton has been legally recognized as a missing person since his last night at the warehouse. Michael does not try to combat this ( letting the government know what happened to him doesn't strike him as a great idea! ) and instead works within these lines. He uses multiple fake identities over the years to get apartments, bank accounts, and jobs. Sticking around Fazbear Locations and housing that doesn't have many qualms around shady practices makes it easier.

While he did have to put significant effort into learning how to forge documents... he's more inclined to bullshit things around Fazbear since he knows it'll work anyway. This shows in his tendency to make up aliases on the spot, which he's never been that good at coming up with ( Mike Schmidt, for example )

Although Michael has his aforementioned methods of disguising himself, he primarily lives in isolation to lower the risk of anyone catching on. He is either at home or at work, not much else between, and he tends to be incredibly secretive at the jobs where he does get the chance to interact with others.

He has a handful of stories he switches between to excuse his unconventional appearance: burn victim, claiming to have a "rare genetic disease," pretending to be a germaphobe ( to explain the clothes ), or simply pretending there's nothing weird about it.