#yulia lore

MARK IMMORTELL canonically. he has a cane canonically, now whether or not the game wants us to believe he uses it for real or it's an accessory... for real to me. in my mind's eye he has sciatica. it acts up on and off so sometimes he'll be prancing around like a goat swaying his cane like he's trying to hit people with it, sometimes he uses it for real, and sometimes he has a fanciful little wheelchair when the pain's too bad to stand on his two legs. in which case he still holds his cane for hitting people purposes. his cane is a constant thing.

Yulia... she also mentions Leg Problem in P2 so Joy the cane be upon ye. i think her deal is a repetitive strain injury of tendinitis in the knee & ankle, and she never got enough rest for it to heal properly, never did physical therapy, so now, like other types of tendinitis, it flares up from use & some movements/postures. as the rainy & cold season approach, she gets more and more sedentary because the weather makes tendinitis worse by stiffening the tendons, so it gets in vicious cycles of Stiff tendons from the cold -> even less easy to do some stretches to help with the pain -> tendons get stiffer from no stretchin -> even less easy to do some stretches... her cane is an on and off thing, but becomes regular as fall & winter roll around

Notkin as he grows up. in p1 & 2 his spoken dialog mentions (a) bad leg(s); considering his mom died in childbirth (likely His birth) in my mind's eye his bad leg(s) is attributed to having been pulled out of there Fucked Uply. mom didn't make it through a complicated birth and baby got a leg messed up when they hurried to get him outta here. adolescence and getting taller gets him apophysitis (a bone + cartilage inflammation/strain injury often seen in teens because the bones grow faster than the muscles around them) in his knee and he never gets to have the rest needed for it to heal properly so as an adult, while the pain is mostly gone, it flares up sometimes. he's way past giving a fuck what anyone might think about seeing him limp with a cane in hand so he periodically, but quite often uses one. also might use it to hit people.

Khan occasionally once he gets into his mind that it's not a big deal & if he needs it he needs it. he already has a messed up knee as a kid (p2 model bandage) but i'm still deciding how extensive of a wound that is. more than what that is i think this guy gets inflammatory arthritis as a plague residual symptom, and while most of it is concentrated in his hands, fingers and wrists, it sometimes, rarely, attacks his ankles & knees, which is when he gets on his legs wobbly like a newborn foal. while his coping mechanism for it is to lie down and suffer through gritted teeth because he still has in mind that showing pain is showing weakness and is undignified of a man of his rank (the imaginary kingdom he once had) he eventually, from being yelled at "hey moron CATCH" and thrown a cane at, gets into his mind that he should use one for such moments and not even his Mortal Enemy* will care. his own would be a fanciful thing, black-lacquered wood, silver rings, a silver dog's head at the end of the handle. too proud and proper to hit people with it but he can't say he doesn't think about it.

had so much fun doing that piece and i still stand by it sooo much it's unreal. the homosexual bond between a gay guy and a gay woman who dress like each other (i know this to be true. the real ones know i give yulia sock garters). did you know yulia's p1 haircut is literally just dankovsky's but blonde.

and honestly i am not sure if they'd have been too good of friends outside of these circumstances (astute viewers might have caught that i'm a huge fan of both "these circumstances have brought us closer whereas outside of them we might have never understood each other" [burakhovsky] AND "these circumstances have torn us apart whereas outside of them we might have gotten along" [farkhad and the twins]). within the town, Yulia and her "spiritual austerity" (eva's words) and humility and "purity" (eva's words again) do not grate dankovsky as much as they would have grated him outside of it because she's a precious ally and We're All In This Together type of thing. but also i wonder if yulia would have developed (and/or kept) these features outside of the town. as per lara's words she's a "fatalist" and i think the only fatalism dankovsky accepts is his own (last rempart and if he breaks, it's so over for real). i do love thinking about them seeing a bit eye-to-eye, or maybe eyer-to-eyer, from their circumstances.

YESSSSS OMG #YASSSSSSSS I DO! I DO IN FACT! IT'S NEVER TOO NICHE FOR ME HONEY #THOUGHTSHAVER

since most of the population is right-handed, imagine that if i'm not mentioning anyone they're either right-handed OR i don't have any particular headcanons. + you get some handwriting headcanons as well, a "buy one get one free" deal

Dankovsky: right-handed, relatively neat writing when he wants, otherwise you're getting that Doctor's Handwriting

Burakh: naturally right-handed, but he trained himself to be able to write with his left hand when he sprained his wrist age 14. his left-handed writing is kinda fucked up and it's obvious that's not his natural dominant hand, but if you squint and focus it's readable

Clara: ambidextrous, but she has very rarely written in her life so she doesn't even notice.

Andrey: naturally ambidextrous, has a left-handedness dominance

Peter: naturally ambidextrous, has a right-handedness dominance

(fun fact about ^ i headcanon that they always had to be sat together at school and for a while the teacher didn't understand why they didn't get any work done and then realized that's because the way they had them (peter on the left and andrey on the right) their elbows keep bumping in each other's so they just switched them around and it was fine)

Rubin: naturally left-handed but trained himself to be able to write/do other stuff with his right hand in case (it was for him a thing of like Discipline)

Lara: right-handed, relatively clean handwriting unless she starts losing it and scribbling

Grief: left-handed

Eva: right-handed, neat handwriting, likes to either embellish her lettering a lot or have very "dry", austere, almost worryingly simple shapes

Yulia: right-handed, a nervoussss writer, very tense grip on the pen, very low and slanted letters

Nina and Victoria: both ambidextrous

Katerina: naturally ambidextrous, her proficiency in both hands has been coming and going, and her morphine addiction has made her lose her grip and stability on her writing to the point it looks like chicken-scratch now

Capella: naturally ambidextrous, she uses mostly her right hand so far but will learn to use the left one more as well as she grows up + trains with stuff like sewing, embroidering, playing instruments,...

Khan: right-handed, relatively clean handwriting. it gets cleaner and more precise as he grows up because he goes on to go to college and learn languages, so he takes pride and effort into materializing the letters of languages other than his own like greek, arabic, any using the latin alphabet, etc.

Notkin: left-handed. he's barely literate because of his Shit Life Syndrome making his writing, when he tries, somewhat unintelligible. since he barely ever writes he has no muscle memory of how to hold his pen so his left hand doesn't smear the ink all over.

Catnip: right handed, clean and pretty handwriting, her grammar is kinda shit but she has an excuse. she's an orphan.

Dandy: left-handed, messyyyy handwriting, but his grasp on grammar's preddy good. paired with his sister ^ they make for Notkin's Redaction and Deciphering Team.

gonna answer that last part bc it's the fastest: I've drawn most of the (adult!!!) pathologic blorbos I care about like In The Full Nude with the one they love at some point so if you've seen those you have your answers or at least can deduct them. i love and cherish all of my friends' hcs especially when/if they're able to Elaborate on it like all the hcs and bits and pieces and Ways These Characters Relate To Themselves/Each Other with/within/thanks to their transness and the Web Of It i eat that up i drink that up i enter my excited dog era. in my witness to greatness era. that's part 1 of answer.

now part 2 (cracks my knuckles and it echoes for thousands of years)

going to be 100% frank with you my favorite patho characters are yulia and peter but I'm going to make the list for Other Characters too bc like. I'm out there. mixing up a lil How They Give affection and How They Receive It… kinda. i'll make sense.

OK!

peter: oh he bites. ngl he bites. / chews. it's mostly something he did as a child for obvious reasons but as an adult he's kept the habit only now he only does that with romantic courtships and he stopped chewing on his family members. he also likes to Linger in general, his version of "hanging out" is standing in a corner of a room watching his loved person sleep or do whatever. really into mirroring as a love language. like cats do. he gives really weird hugs and in general likes to Slump against people & he likes to climb/climb atop romantic partners to just hang out (ONLY if the vibes are right and they're secluded/alone). he gives really weird kisses (cf. peterstakh fic honestly) and very weird looks. also used to give very weird mildly morbid romantic love letters to the art school classmate he was in love with, thankful classmate was also a bit weird and didn't take it poorly. lingering touch WITH nails he likes to scratch.

rubin: this guy has many problems and issues and is not Very Good at expressing love (no one here is bless em) but his mind Mode of affection regardless of if familial/platonic/romantic love is gestures of like. protection? like he will give his coat to lara (his best friend and To Me he sees her as a little sister), he will put himself between his friends/lover and danger because he thinks bc he's So Big he can take a shanking, things like that. also a fan of mirroring (peterstakh lore really) or just Standing There. also love language of Cooking for people. he's reticent at the touch like a dog at the shelter but that just means he needs patience and care and eventually he'll accept a hug without flinching (cf. the peterstakh fic again).

andrey: he also used to chew on people but he's stopped that mostly. big into chivalrous protection, like the type of guy to wrap arms around a waist and be like "fear not m'lady/m'lord". love language regardless of the type of love to Pick Fights In Their Behalf even if they go "can you staaahppp". also into stuff like baisemain, holding doors, touch on the shoulders and waist. also has a Cooking love language regardless of the type of love but doesn't lean into it consciously.

burakh: also a guy who recoils at the touch like a shelter dog… also a guy who has cooking as a love language. he's subconsciously very much into Giving Touch as a love language, handing [someone their] gloves back, keeping watch of stuff, offering his arm to walk home, etc. generally into Keeping Watch as a love language, making sure someone gets a good night of rest by keeping an eye on the door… he IS starved for touch will not lie. he is starved for touch. he does not actively seek it but will give it recklessly if asked/offered, and will receive it like a starving man if given.

dankovsky: ANOTHER one who recoils at the touch like a shelter dog! to me that comes from the fact that he is Deeply Reserved + closeted so a man's touch makes him feel like Oh Fuck. and yet. he needs touch like he needs water. most of the ways he gives affection is by kind words; bc for a guy who's so deeply full of himself, telling another that he sees them as an equal (or even better!) is like. a spectacle. if he feels comfortable, and he does not feel comfortable often, he will give touches, on the shoulders, backs, kinda pat them trying to appear detached and cool with it. Touch stays as a display of affection when he enters actual relationships. also likes to help with tying ties, helping someone put their coat on, etc. into offering tea.

yulia: she a Lil Shy. her main modes of display are also Hanging Out. hanging out and looking Very Intently at the other woman. she also appreciates Hanging Out, she's a huge fan of just Being In A Room with people. also into chivalrousness, helping women put their coats back on, open doors, walk em home… etc… she's also tense to touch but loosens up way faster than the guys up there because she doesn't have as many problems and issues.

#YAAASSS ok let's get to it

LET'S GO!!!!! OK!!!!!

yulia: CANON (p2) cello player soooo real so so real. so real to me. as I've said I think she could also have learned the piano and/or the violin, as her family was relatively Classic in that sense and she was incited to do Classic "bonne famille" stuff like play instrumence, be educated, read books, ride horses, etc... i think she mostly knows how to play The Classics (Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers arranged for two cellos, Bach's cello suites,...), she rarely Composes her own things because she's a lil shy to stray away from the paths she's learned, but she's getting there. she likes classical (as an umbrella term, which includes classical & baroque & romantic & impressionist music)

eva: as i've said i think there was a lot of Music in her home but she never learned to play anything; she does love to dance and sing tho, and I think if you gave her a little tambourine she'd shred that fr. she enjoys music that Makes You Move, whether it's waltzes or like very dancey eastern European folk music.

dankovsky: the #realones know he's also a player to me (bonds with yulia over being cello player and homosexual, peace and platonic love on earth). he also learned the Classics (is fond of Bach's suites honestly), but he also caught on a few folk songs his mom (also cello player) played when he was little. he rarely plays them, he prefers listening to mom playing LOL. kinda similar to yulia's ways he's not really into Expressing Himself Thru Musica but then... when he learns to welcome Emotions in his life... compose a little song he can. ALSO into classical-as-an-umbrella-term music. he enjoys his waltzes & also his caucasus folk music that mom and dad were like Listen To This Boy. Banger Of The Decade. he also has a bit of a soft spot for Armenian and eastern orthodox christian music bc it's what he heard some times growing up, and even if he's a convicted atheist/theomachist he can enjoy a little religious art.

burakh: in my own words he "wasn't musically-inclined beyond what he thought sounded beautiful, which was enough", loves music tho and I think that later in life she picks from one of the Brides or kinswomen a little khomus/jaw harp and fiddles with it. you can hear it in some of P2's OSTs, it goes like... byugyugyu... byeuyeuyeu... you know what I mean. he's not good at it for years tho. he also likes to sing. badly. lullabies and stuff... he's into Whatever honestly.

stamatwins: two for one deal, i think they learned piano as kids. if canto ostinato existed in patho time they would have Loved it. they're Also into "whatever", with andrey liking the more Experimental stuff, it makes peter's head hurt. but also peter listens to like. recording of metal scraping together. he would loooove the 2 Hours Of Squid To Relax/Study/Work To | Lofi Hip Hop | Monterey Bay Aquarium Krill Waves Radio playlist btw.

rubin: strikes me as a harmonica guy + khomus enjoyed but he's shy about it. mostly into The Music Of His People (I think he's half-kin did I ever mention it? he is to me it's obvious he is to me but my brain is blanking on the Canonicity of it bc I have so thoroughly put him in the deep-frier), classical music makes him kinda sleepy.

yaaa :3 i posted a few already on the yulia hcs post and the eva hcs post but I can Keep going