GOODNIGHT

“Chapter I.”

Dáithí was born to Aoife and Mickey Killough (“ki-loch”) - a fashion model and a college English professor respectively. The entirety of Dáithí’s backstory requires some simple context: Aoife fucking sucks, and Mickey is a wet rag, and this is persistent throughout his entire life. Aoife is controlling, narcissistic, transphobic, and weaponizes her religion (as well as anything else she can) to make herself out to be the victim.

Aoife never wanted kids, and only settled down to please her mother because she wanted to make her proud, and assumed that after Dáithí was born that she would be able to return to her career. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and she persistently blames Dáithí for ruining her. She is not subtle about it either. I will never make Aoife a proper character or a profile so this is the only place you’re going to get this context.

She bullies her kids throughout their entire lives. Many of Dáithí’s mental health problems stem solely from her. There is even 1 canon case where Aoife admits Dáithí to a mental institution purely to get him out of her hair for a little while. She does not care about her kids, but Dáithí gets the worst of it since he is the firstborn. In any case, this concludes most of the context that should be kept in mind throughout, as Aoife is consistently present in the background through everything.

The flow of this probably isn’t that great, and maybe there are some chunks missing. I’m trying to get as much important info out as possible while keeping it in chronological order. It should be assumed that none of this is exactly happening back to back and that there are passages of time gaps where nothing exciting really happens. This is the only way to keep myself on track lol.

“Chapter II.”

0–10
Dáithí Killough was born in Salem, Oregon on October 31st and raised just on the outskirts of the city. He spent a lot of his early childhood outside, often away from the home exploring the woods and getting into trouble to avoid the environment at home, which was hostile at best. His brother Aindréas would be born two years after him, Ruaidhrí four years after, and eventually Siobhán six years after. Eventually, he became friends with an odd girl called Deidre, who came from a family the locals deemed strange and suspicious. They were pagans, and Deidre’s mother was a practicing witch, who would sooner than later grant Dáithí with the ability of precognition as some sort of gift before Deidre and her family would disappear entirely - no forewarning or reasoning as to why. Shortly after his last encounter with her, the Killough family would pack up and move down south to New Mexico.

10-17
The entire point of the move was to be closer to Aoife’s parents - which could really be boiled down to Aoife wanting to be able to leave her kids with their grandparents as much as possible. Dáithí was forced to get integrated into a new environment right away and unlike most he was excited to meet new people and make new friends. He makes himself right at home by being an absolute menace to anyone who will entertain him, which eventually leads him to meet Sylvester, who becomes his victim for the rest of the school year… and the following school years. He also meets Phoebe and Christine during this period. On the sidelines, Dáithí begins to question everything about himself and his identity around this time, but keeps quiet out of fear of his mother.

Around the age of thirteen or so, he’d nearly drown in the lake near the family home, but would be rescued by his brother just in time. Interestingly enough, this would go on to give him a fascination with the water rather than fear, and he eventually learned to swim.

Dáithí eventually musters up the courage to come out as trans to his mother one night during a ride home from out of town. Particularly poor timing on his part, as his mother, a very staunch Catholic who already dislikes him for existing, drops him on the outskirts of town in the middle of a storm and, more or less, tells him to walk home or get lost. He had always been a burden to her family, but now he was a disgrace as well. Dáithí doesn’t return home and instead finds his way to Sylvester’s place, where he’s welcomed like family. It does not take long for Sylvester’s mother to alert Dáithí’s parents of his whereabouts, upon which he’s picked up the next morning, but from then on out Dáithí slowly integrates himself into their home to the point he is practically living with them - at least until Sylvester’s mother dies, which places his stepfather in complete control and forces Dáithí to return home for good.

But it isn’t for good, because he discovered that he can go to Phoebe’s, and eventually Stevie’s, in spite of the fact Stevie’s situation isn’t a lot better than his. Stevie gets Dáithí involved in drinking, psychedelics, prescription pills and nearly heroin before her father catches on and also tells Dáithí to get lost. At this point it’s home or Phoebe’s. Fearing he’ll get kicked out a third time, he rations his time spent at Phoebe’s place altogether.

Dáithí’s mental health, already poor, goes even further down the drain and just a few months before he turns sixteen, he’s diagnosed with Bipolar 1 and OCD and begins spending a lot of his time missing school to spend time in therapist’s offices and mental institutions on and off, for the following five years.

Around mid-February, just after his seventeenth, someone unknown to the family breaks into the home and Dáithí is the only one awake. Instead of alerting anyone, he borrows a handgun from his father before confronting the man in the kitchen. Dáithí is shot in the shoulder but comes out of the event later with only a scar - which is more than could be said for the man who broke in. Briefly labeled a hero for protecting his family, Dáithí can now add PTSD from killing a man to his list of diagnoses.

“Chapter III.”

18-24
Dáithí has given up school to follow his passion for car culture which lands him as a mechanic in the town's only body shop. Promptly after his eighteenth birthday, his mother kicks him out of the house and lives out of a truck for the next two and a half years - or he couch-surfs.

It is also during his time living out of his truck that he gets abducted by extraterrestrial beings, who quite literally keep him captive for about two weeks until deciding they’ve had enough and they drop him back down to earth under the cover of a storm. His disappearance makes local news which ends up labeling him as the town crazy and adding to the sensationalization of aliens in New Mexico. The only ones who genuinely believe him and touch the subject with some sort of tact happen to be Phoebe and Sylvester. This incident lands him back in the institution briefly a couple of times.

In between his times of admission, which grow further apart, his addictions resurface and he begins relying on Xanax to keep him calm. His prescription gets the axe but he quickly finds ways to keep obtaining it - theft, and reluctantly trading his teeth to the dentist for it. A dentist who also blackmails him in the process.

25-35
After years of on and off treatment and idealizing death, Dáithí realizes he’s had enough and attempts to take himself out the only way he feels is appropriate. Drowning. Being keenly aware of Dáithí’s habits gives Sylvester the idea that something isn’t right and he’s prompted to check in on him that night. When he doesn’t find him at home, Sylvester fears the worst and recruits Christine to help search for him. Eventually they find him dead in the water of Lake Cyra and drag him out in an attempt to help.

Sylvester realizes quickly that they were far too late, and from behind tears he begs Christine to bring his friend back and she does - much to Dáithí’s disappointment. Thinking it would be better to let Dáithí believe they had rescued him in time, he goes on to live life relatively normal. But he slowly discovers the fact that he can see what can only be assumed to be ghosts and, about a year after the incident, presses his friends about it. He eventually squeezes the truth out of them and it’s revealed that he is now living in a state of limbo - right between the living and the dead. Strangely comforted by the notion, Dáithí settles with the idea and continues on. Being aware of ghosts is sadly not the most harrowing thing he’s dealt with thus far.

To be continued.