i made a list of headcanons about michael bc i have grown far too attached to this little zombie pig child some of this isn’t exactly canon compliant but who fuckin cares about canon /j
He's both completely deaf and blind. Therefore, he identifies most things based on touch; he identifies people based on things like the feeling of their hands and the vibrations of their footsteps through the floor. (He wasn't always deaf or blind; he started to become such when he turned into a zombie. He's been like that for a while, now, though, so he's used to it by now)
Tubbo's footsteps are quick and indelicate, but his hands are always soft and gentle, and he's almost always wearing a soft, fluffy coat. He tends to get upset whenever Tubbo wears gloves or mittens, because he can't feel his hands properly. He likes burrowing into Tubbo's coat, because it's soft and warm and nice.
Ranboo's footsteps are far lighter than should be possible for a man his size, and he takes long, long strides. His hands are long and spindly, and almost always cold no matter how warm the room is. He likes to take Ranboo's crown and turn it over in his hands, feeling every little engraving and gemstone. It's way too big for him to wear, but he still tries.
He likes being pressed up against people's chests, so that he can feel the vibrations of their voices when they speak. He prefers Ranboo's voice, since its lower pitch makes heavier vibrations. He can't hear singing, of course, but he still likes to be sung to- the rhythm of the vibrations is calming to him. He likes songs with longer notes and slower beats. Tubbo sings to him more often, though Ranboo sometimes will as well if they're alone. They'll oftentimes lay in bed with him curled up on either of their chests, singing him to sleep.
He's slowly figuring out how to use his little sword as a sort of cane to help him get around (the sword itself isn't sharp at all, nor is it completely made of gold. It's wooden, coated in a thin layer of gold, and the edges are dulled and rounded). He hasn't totally gotten it yet, though. He tends to hold it straight out in front of him, a little too high, so he'll often still trip over things on the floor. He doesn't run into walls anymore, though.
He gets upset if his environment is changed too much without his knowledge or input. He can't exactly see when things have changed, so if someone moved his room around too much he'd completely lose his mental map of the place and have to start from scratch. Introducing him to new environments- for example, his new rooms in the upcoming mansion- is a slow, gradual process.
His dads will sometimes bring him random blocks and items to play with, and he has a lot of fun exploring the textures of them. He loves grass blocks (Ranboo was very happy about that). He also likes wool blocks, or really any form of fabric like beds or banners or paintings, for the softness and woven texture. He likes feathers for a similar reason. He likes chains and nuggets for the smoothness, the weight of them in his hands, the coolness of the metal. He likes to crumple paper. He likes the texture of plants, especially flowers and leaves. His favourite flowers are probably the ones with bigger faces, like sunflowers or daisies. He really likes nautilus shells, feeling the spiral of them, and he likes discs for how round and flat they are and the subtle grooves along their surfaces. He likes shaking water bottles.
On the other hand, he doesn't like things like sand or gravel. They're too gritty, and they get everywhere. Snow and ice are too wet and cold, honey is too sticky. Clay is like the worst parts of sand and snow combined. Hay is really scratchy, sponges are soft but the porous texture makes him uncomfortable. He liked eggs at first, because round and smooth, but they're way too fragile. String is weird, cobwebs are worse. Slime blocks are fun to bounce on, but slime balls are sticky and weird. He refuses to go near soul sand.
He's shy around new people a lot of the time, though he's warmed up to some people. The shoes Phil wears clack against the floor all strange-like, and his hands are very worn, but Michael loves burying himself in his wings. Fundy's footsteps are light, almost too light, but he's so soft and fluffy. Ghostbur doesn't make footsteps, and almost always startles him, and his hands are so cold, but he's always so gentle and kind. Puffy doesn't come around very often, but she's even fluffier than Fundy, and always so sweet. Techno's steps were scary at first, so heavy and loud, but Michael started to notice how Techno's hands were shaped just like his own, only bigger. Techno tries his best not to let his heart get warmed by the child, but watching Michael get tangled up in his cape is way too endearing.
Techno sometimes acts as a sort of 'piglin language' translator for them. Michael can't really speak very well, and can't speak English at all. He probably wouldn't be able to learn any more of a spoken language. But he does know a little bit of piglin, stuff he learned before he lost his sight and hearing. Techno was surprised, when he first met Michael, to hear the boy refer to Tubbo and Ranboo as his parents- was surprised that he'd picked up that that's who they were to him.
(Tubbo asked something along the lines of, did Michael know they were both dads, or did he refer to either of them as his mother, or what? Techno explained that piglins don't exactly have separate words for 'mother' and 'father'. Piglins are pack animals, and raising of the young is often taken on by several members of the group regardless of biology- and anyways, most piglins don't tend to present with any form of distinct gender. So there's just one word in piglin for parental figures, and distinction is made with different adjective-type modifiers. The closest translations for what Michael calls his parents is "soft dad" and "long dad")
