touya was born into a very prominent family. they were rich, had status, and to say that they had some pull was nothing short of an understatement. he had three younger siblings, mainly because his father wanted a good chance at having a successful child. 

he was always into art more than he was the family business, and to say his father was displeased about this was an understatement. it was so bad in fact that his father often got physical with him over the subject. 

by the time he was in middle school, it had reached the peak. even with trying, it never seemed good enough for his father, and after he brought home a c from school, his father got even angrier. they got into a physical altercation, and touya wound up with a black eye. it was the first time his father had left a mark on him. 

something had snapped in touya that day, and he wanted out. he was only fourteen, but he knew he could do better on his own than he could here. he stayed home sick from school one day, while the rest of the family went on about their daily tasks. 

he took lighter fluid from the grill and drenched the carpet next to a candle before lighting a match and running from his home. that was the day he started his knew life. he began to call himself dabi and even died his hair. he wanted nothing to do with his family, and he made sure it stayed that way. 

he did odd jobs around town for a while, making sure he had at least something to eat and enough to buy things to do his art. 

he started falling in love with tattoos at the age of 16, and wound up getting a few himself before he started getting into doing them on other poeple. 

bella   was   born   in   sparkwood   to   charlie   swan   and   renee   dwyer,   who   couldn’t   have   been   happier   for   the   birth   of   their   child.   however,   three   months   after   she   was   born   her   parents   got   a   divorce   and   her   and   her   mother   moved   to   california   to   live   with   her   grandmother.   

after   going   to   school   to   get   her   degree,   renee   found   a   job   in   arizona   as   a   kindergarten   teacher.   she   would   visit   sparkwood   every   summer   for   a   month   to   visit   with   her   father,   that   was   until   she   was   old   enough,   and   found   herself   hating   the   weather.   so   for   some   time,   charlie   would   come   to   arizona   to   visit   with   her   during   the   summers.   

growing   up   with   her   mother   was   an   oddity.   while   her   mother   was   absent   minded   and   wild,   bella   was   more   responsible   and   careful.   she   loved   her   mother   and   she   was   her   best   friend,   but   bella   still   felt   so   out   of   sync   with   everything   and   everyone.   it   was   as   if   she   was   a   square   peg   that   was   getting   shoved   into   a   star   hole   and   it   just   wasn’t   working.   

at   the   age   of   sixteen   her   mother   got   remarried   to   a   baseball   player.   her   mother   was   happy   an   bella   was   happy   for   her,   but   when   it   turned   out   that   her   new   stepdad   was   going   to   be   traveling   a   lot,   it   was   decided   it   would   be   better   for   bella   to   live   in   sparkwood   with   her   father   for   the   time   being.   

at   first,   bella   wasn’t   sure   what   to   think   of   the   idea.   it   wasn’t   anything   to   do   with   her   father,   she   loved   her   father,   but   she   wasn’t   ready   to   be   the   new   kid   at   school,   nor   the   weather.   maybe   it   was   just   an   excuse   for   a   girl   who   didn’t   like   change,   but   she   still   went.