Bishoy

Full Name: Bishoy Salib
Pronouns: he/him
Time Period: Late 60s - mid 70s
Default age: early 20s
Sexuality: Bisexual

Bishoy is the rock upon which all of the wacky, unstable members of the connection rely on for important things. He had to depend on himself for a lot. Bishoy is sarcastic, loves bread, and is psychologically addicted to weed. Swallowing his problems instead of working on them, he's got an edge to him that manifests in hot outbursts, but he doesn't cut anymore, so that's progress. He is in love with Georgie and has been for the duration of her stay with the Connection. He thinks he's second-best, so he doesn't ever shoot his shot. In some universes, Bishoy sports a tentacle penis.

He is hyperlexic and has an eidetic memory. He's fluent in Arabic, English, Spanish, Tongva, Greek (modern and ancient), Mandarin, Hebrew, and Siwi Berber. He has a pretty heavy accent in non-Semitic languages, and when he speaks in English he has a hybrid Arabic-Brooklyn accent.

Georgie Palmer: crush

• pines after her even when she's the middle of sucking his cock
• super duper best friends

Teresa Francis: queen

• is filled with dread when she's near
• can't tell if she's being malicious
• jealous of her relationship with Georgie

Mac Carroll: buddy with benefits

• guy his age
• also in love with Georgie
• always down to drop everything and go to third base

Astral Parsons: cult leader

• has zero respect for him as a person
• wholeheartedly believes Astral is god
• begrudgingly appreciates the role Astral's played in his life

His father was a priest, his mother absent or demeaning, and his older brother was belittling. When the Egyptian revolution of 1952 started, his family booked it from Cairo to the United States, landing in Brooklyn. His parents tried to pray his bisexuality away, but Bishoy discovered the intimate joy of self-harm and started doing that. The combination ended up in a series of hospital visits. After his last one, he runs away and hitch hikes to California, where he meets Astral.

Bishoy's timeline is one of the more consistent ones. In AUs in the 1990s, sometimes he's born in the United States in California instead.

• Son of a converted priest and an overattentive mother. His older brother, Muhammad, is a tool.
• Moves to Brooklyn with his family when the Egyptian revolution of 1952 starts.
• Starts to cut himself when his parents start to abuse him for being queer.
• Ends up in a series of involuntary psychiatric hospital visits.
• Runs away from home and hitch-hikes to LA, where he meets Astral.
• Lives with Astral and starts smoking weed.

Bishoy can give people migraines. Astral has a vague theory about how Bishoy's actually simulating what it's like for him to read and process information, which overstimulates other people and makes their heads hurt, but they don't know if that's true at all.

• TBD

• Name meaning: "Bishoy" is a Coptic name that means "elevated, lofty, high." It fits him because his intellectual prowess has disassociated him from others, and there was a saint named Bishoy and he is resisting following in a similar pattern. "Salib" is an Arabic last name that means "cross, crucifix."