Summary

Content warnings for this page include: drug use, homophobia, institutionalization,

Bishoy is a chill guy at the best of times. At other times, he's frustrated by Astral and his situation as a member of a cult. After escaping his family in search of a place where he could be unapologetically queer, he appreciates that he can be himself at the Connection, even if he has his doubts about how good Astral's intended future could be.

He is hyperlexic and has an eidetic memory. His first language is Coptic, but he also spoke Arabic and Siwi Berber as a child. It wasn't until he joined the New York public school system that he learned English, but he picked it up quickly. With the help of the library and a loving librarian, he also learned Spanish, Mandarin, and Ancient Greek.

Personality

Bishoy is sarcastic. Swallowing his problems instead of working on them, he's got an edge to him that manifests in hot outbursts, especially if he isn't mellowed out with grass.

Despite his hot-headedness, he's deeply empathetic. He makes friends quickly and always approaches new situations assuming good intentions from all (unless he knows otherwise).

Magic Powers

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.

Appearance

History

The current year is 1969.

Bishoy was born on October 8th, 1948 to a Coptic Christian priest and an overattentive mother. His brother, Abadir, was several years older and bullied him for being weak and effeminate, even as a small child.

Bishoy moved to southern California with Abadir and his mother in 1952 after his father's infidelity was exposed. Distraught, his mother tightened her grip on both her sons, but Abadir's education got him out of the house.

The effeminate behavior that Abadir noticed began to escalate. When Bishoy's queerness became an unavoidable topic after a teacher tattled on him for kissing another boy, he relied on self-injury to cope with mounting disapproval that manifested in neglect. Once the cutting was caught, he ended up in a series of involuntary psychiatric hospital visits that interrupted his education.

By age sixteen, he couldn't take it anymore and ran away from home to hitch-hike to LA. Astral discovered him doing just about anything he could to continue to couch surf and offered him a stable home and an opportunity to use his impressive language skills to magical effect.

The weed available at the Connection helped him regulate his emotions, and he mellowed out a lot as he got older.

Relationships

Astral: cult leader

Astral saved his life in a lot of ways, but he's also annoying and makes terrible decisions. Bishoy doesn't really respect him as a person, but he begrudgingly accepts him as a divine creature capable of effecting a new world order. He understands that he's part of a cult and that Astral manipulates all of them, but his will to escape is tempered by his love for the other members of the Connection.

Teresa: alien queen

Teresa scares Bishoy. Astral can be tempestuous, but Teresa is unpredictable in ways that fill him with dread. He can never tell when she's being actively malicious or merely acting on amoral alien values he can't understand. Because he likes spending time with Georgie, he does have to spend more time with her than he likes.

Mac: friend and lover

Mac's a good guy with other people's best interests at heart, and Bishoy sees a kindred spirit in him. Mac's naivete makes him roll his eyes sometimes, but he's attractive and kind and all sorts of other things that make Bishoy eager to drop whatever he's doing to go to third base. He's a little jealous of Mac for her relationship with Georgie, but he tries to forgive him.

Georgie: bff

Bishoy is in love with Georgie, but knows that her heart lies elsewhere. She loves him and likes having sex with him and values him as a person, but he knows that she doesn't feel the same way toward him that he feels toward her. He loves spending time with her, even if that means spending time with Teresa, and can be a bit petty if her attention flits elsewhere while they're together.

Meta

Origin of Name

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. "Tadros" is an Egyptian last name that is an Arabic form of "Theodore," so he happens to match Astral.