a collection of my Xenoblade 1 headcanons

spoilers may lie ahead. some of these were formed while i was still playing the game, and it shows. i'm keeping them for posterity.

• Dunban views Shulk and Reyn as his siblings just as much as he does Fiora; the three were near inseparable, after all!
• Shulk definitely sees Dickson as a father figure
• Dickson was away a lot, gallivanting about the Bionis, so Dunban also shouldered a lot of the responsibility of caring for Shulk whenever Dickson was away -- this was how Fiora and Shulk became friends. as a result, Dunban kind of views himself as a parental figure to all three of the kids
• Dunban had had his reservations about joining the Defence Force -- not because he wasn't interested, but because he was worried about what would become of Fiora if something happened to him
• conversely, Fiora is adamant against joining the Defence Force, because she's experienced what it's like to almost lose a loved one in the line of duty
• Dunban's time in the Defence Force directly inspired Reyn to join up; as a younger kid, he would hang off Dunban's arm and trail him around like a puppy dog, badgering him with all kinds of questions
• returning someone's body to the Bionis functions as the Homs' version of a funeral. after Fiora dies, her body is taken by the Mechon, so her loved ones don't even get the closure of returning her to the Bionis. they still hold an honorary service for her, though
• it takes a while to fully clean her blood spilled through the Residential District, and repair the damage. Shulk, Reyn, and Dunban avoid that area as much as they can afterwards
• Dunban and Sharla bond over having been active members of the Defence Force, and being older siblings -- having watched people die, and bearing sole responsibility for their siblings at too young an age, and how heavy a burden that is to bear
• Fiora is good with kids
• the barrette Fiora wears is a keepsake from her mother
• Melia is a terrible cook. being crown princess, she simply never needed to learn how. her cooking ranges from disastrous to inedible, to the point where not even Reyn can choke her food down. Shulk, however, continues to eat unbothered, and when they question him about it he simply shrugs and says, "what? it's good."
• Shulk doesn't know when his birthday is! since, you know, his family is dead, and he's too young to remember it himself. instead he celebrates it on the day he first arrived in Colony 9.
• this makes him the youngest out of his friends. they turn 18 a little bit before he does, and relish in making jokes about "babysitting" and "taking care of the child". even Dunban joins in occasionally -- on their way out the door, he'll remind the trio to "have Shulk home by curfew". Shulk does not enjoy this.
• as a child, Shulk had bad separation anxiety and was unable to be away from Dickson for any period of time
• because of the separation anxiety, young Shulk would have to accompany Dickson to the Weapons Development Lab. to keep him occupied, Dickson would hand off small pieces of scrap metal for Shulk to pore over. eventually, he started forging basic puzzles and assorted things to fit together -- resulting, inadvertently, in Shulk's love of machinery.
• Shulk hates the cold, and is deeply afraid of the dark. this may or may not be related to his experiences at Ose Tower as a toddler, and also makes Valak Mountain pretty much his least favourite place on Bionis.
• Dickson's a wanderer. he prefers wide open spaces to being cooped up indoors -- it's one of the biggest differences between him and Shulk, and also one of the biggest points of friction between them throughout the years
• Dickson's spike attacks exist because it causes Shulk and the others genuine emotional pain to fight him :))))