#but shit Capcom doesn't have much interest in keeping to canon either

[diedindulvey]

A few headcanons so I don't forget them later there may be changes later

Ethan is from the Midwest, but his family moved to CA when he was about 14, after the bombing of Raccoon City- mostly because of the bombing. His parents were worried about the residual effects of the bombing- air quality, was their home at risk of becoming the next Raccoon (his father, a low level Umbrella employee until he quit just after the bombing, was particularly concerned), would they be overrun by any surviving refugees from Raccoon and would this increase crime in the area? They did not tell these worries to Ethan, feeling he was too young to understand, and instead stated "the schools are better out West".

Finding work was difficult for his father after the move; especially with the stigma against Umbrella employees as the news on their involvement with Raccoon broke. He worked odd jobs to supplement Ethan's mother's income. Misjudging the difference in the cost of living between their old home and their new, they had enough for housing, bills, and little else. Ethan got used to skipping school meals to stretch the money his parents had to put in for it, and getting clothes too big so he could grow into them, allowing them to last longer. Despite this, his mother always took the family out to eat for Ethan's birthday, and made sure they were able to get him gifts for Christmas, even when he tried to tell her he didn't want anything and to save the money.

Despite not being involved in anything more than tech support in the company, Ethan's father felt guilt for working for Umbrella. Every time there was something new and awful in the media about the constant he wondered how many people had he helped went on to develop things which killed Innocent people? How much of his paychecks had been funded by blood money? His guilt festered into depression, which he coped with by drinking and lashing out.

Ethan did not fit in with his new school across the country. The city was much bigger than his town back home and the people were different. He was often treated like a country bumpkin despite only really visiting the "country" a few times as a kid- his grandparents had a small farm before they passed; it was left to an uncle or maybe a cousin owns it now, he isn't sure. There were also rumors that he had been from Raccoon and was l that his dad was an on the run scientist and a murderer. The more he protested these lies the more his classmates doubled down on them. This lasted until he left for college a county over.

Ethan was shy and a little awkward. This hardly changed as he grew older. He began to react to the rumors or bullying at school by lashing out. Despite not looking like much, Ethan could throw a punch; more than that, he could take a hit and push on despite the pain no matter how many fights he got into, or with how many people. He was moved around to several schools by the time he graduated from an alternative school.

Ethan and his father hardly saw eye to eye on anything. Sometimes Ethan disagreed just to distance himself from the man. He had what felt like a million reasons to be mad at his father, but couldn't explain any of them to anyone else. The arguing only sometimes boiled over to physical blows. Every time this happened, his mother got between them. She often had to keep the peace between the pair. Neither Ethan nor his father ever hit his mother.

Ethan moved away for college. He earned a grant and took out loans. Despite his usually rocky relationship with his father, Ethan followed in the man's footsteps to take courses with computers. He graduated with a bachelor's and became a software engineer. He began a master's degree, but never finished it.

During college he met Mia. Theirs was an instant connection. Despite his father warning that they were moving too fast, the pair got engaged on their first anniversary as a couple and were married before their second.

Ethan never quite believed that Mia's family liked him. They were always nice to him, always seemed happy to see him; but he always felt they looked down on him. Like maybe they thought he wasn't good enough for their daughter. His family was but as well off as hers. His education was not as good as hers. His job didn't pay as much as hers.

Despite this, they moved to Texas once Mia finished her master's program to be closer to her family. Ethan was happy to pack up and move with her, with promises to his family that they would still visit every year. Even if he had to go alone, Ethan always kept this promise until his parents passed.

TBC

[mayybirds]

honestly the more I think about mia the more interesting and morally fucked up she becomes. like it's just never really brought up how she was a high enough rank in re's latest Evil Company, the connections, that she was directly involved in the handling of eveline and the fact that eveline was designed to imprint on her handlers implies mia was there from the start, at the very very least must have watched eveline's growth from a baby to a child. the fact that she's so removed from empathizing with eveline despite playing a mother role is messed up but fascinating since she doesn't seem like a cruel person. i just watched a walkthrough of when the bakers found eveline and zoe finds mia's note like mia was just going to write them a note saying "don't save the little girl, it's probably too late for you, peace out" and leave in the night? the whole eveline project was irresponsible, even without the knowledge that eveline was literally designed as a weapon, just thinking of the way the connections, including mia, endangered civilians on a cargo ship and then again with the bakers. like they didn't save mia but would mia have saved someone else in her shoes if she was on the other side of the glass? it makes me think mia has a "for the greater good" mindset, where she might see the science and her brain as more valuable in the long run than innocent masses. it's a mindset that differs drastically from ethan's in your fic, esp since he's been on the sharp end of that mindset! even in canon it seemed like they weren't really a good fit with mia continuing to keep secrets and them constantly fighting. SORRY this got so long i'm just so interested in the facets of the characters re never explored but hinted at. in a way, mia was the actual downfall for the baker family. and yet it's still pretty fucked up what happened to her and YET isn't that what she designed/groomed eveline to do?

aaaaaa anon I'm so sorry it took so long to answer this one bc I need my computer for the big asks but I love everything you're throwing down and agree with it all 100%.

I 100% subscribe to the belief Mia was either involved in Eveline's creation or brought onto the team almost immediately after she was born. Especially given we have this image from the RE7 opening--

Which is almost certainly Mia with a baby Eveline.

Mia has been involved in some truly fucked shit and while I don't begrudge Capcom their decision to keep her alive or a 'protagonist', I do wish her dark background was capitalized on more, and hope RE9 will make use of it at least. Rose is kind of the perfect, and last, person who can confront Mia about the person beneath the persona, and that no matter how much she loved Ethan or Rose, that didn't excuse the horrible things she participated in in the other parts of her life.

I do read Mia as having a 'for the greater good' mindset, where she thinks about human development and the future over immediate casualties--probably because it's the kindest reading I can give her. Otherwise, if it's assumed she was with the Connections for the money or just genuinely felt nothing at all about what she was doing, she becomes an even darker character.

I love contrasting that with Ethan, who canonically is so family and immediate-good oriented (look at Elena in RE8! He has no reason to help her and her life or death doesn't actually matter to his goals, but he's driven to help her and upset when she dies), and of course, I push that even further in my fic with Ethan's backstory. Ethan is all about protecting victims and the innocent, and the recognition that there is no such thing as "acceptable losses" or "collateral damage" when it comes to human lives. It's very different from Mia, who definitely sees some lives as worth more than others.