California Slim and Alcatraz headcanons [Anime Campaign]

 In the Epithet universe everyone speaks one global language, but in RSR they introduced the concept of old world languages to justify Cragior's accent. This isn't cannon but I'm adopting it purely so that Slim can swear a people in old world Italian.

 I've also decided the boys are from Island country because of course they are, its themed around the mafia for fucks sake. Specifically they're from an island called Chaparral since California doesn't exist in the Epithet universe.

•Most criminals will reconsider robbing you if you claim to have an epithet so the fact that Cal and Al specialise in cleaning up inscribed makes them very sought-after. They have a very consistent cash flow but still live like Daniel Dancer, childhood financial insecurity will do that too you.

 Al is like 2 degrees of separation away from a living statue and acts like it. He's almost incapable of being bored, he'd be perfectly fine standing dead still on display for years at a time (though he'd probably still prefer to be doing something other than that), and though he can't sleep, at night when there's nothing for him to be doing he will go dormant in this manner to conserve energy.

 On a related note he doesn't emote much naturally, but he intentionally exaggerates his reactions when around people because he doesn't want to seem intimidating. A 6 foot something suit of armour with no facial features is hard to read after all.

 Since he never actually sleeps or looses consciousness when Slim's asleep and Al's left in the hotel alone Slim leaves the comedy channel on for him. Its the only channel that will be reliably showing the same thing all night and not suddenly leave Al unable to change the channel when a scary movie comes on. As a side effect its the cause of Al's interest in stand up comedy.

 Isn't technically made of any metal, he's pure magic pretending to be a suit of armour. If you pointed an industrial magnet at him it wouldn't affect him at all until he turned around and noticed it was there, similarly Ramsey's powers only work on him if Ramsey announces what he's trying to do so that Al know how to play along. He also forgets he's supposed to rust for months at a time only to step in a puddle and be stiff and struggling to move a hour later.

 To be clear this isn't something he can control, it's pure epithet instinct to fit into people's perception of him. This is also why he's randomly Scottish.

 Part of the reason he's so willing to go along with Slim's bullshit is because of how he lost Bev. He's not about to let down another sibling even if that means compromising his morals.

 Even though Alcatraz the sentient moral compass didn't exist until after Bev died, Alcatraz the magic suit of armour very much did. Bev would ask Slim to summon him just so she could play dolls with him, he'd always be the knight that had gotten into trouble on his noble quest and she'd be the princess who'd have to go out to save him. Al remembers every single one of the adventures even the ones Slim wasn't present for.

 When Slim was available for these play dates he'd be the dragon Al need saving from.

 As much a Slim never wants to admit to ever having relied on his epithet, he was still using it for the first 17 years of his life and that experience still does colour his image of himself.

 Most notably Al has healing abilities which means at some point Slim had healing abilities, healing abilities that allowed him to shrug off injuries that would have sent other kids to the hospital. That combined with his naturally high pain tolerance means he regularly neglects to seek medical attention when he should because he thinks he shouldn't need it.

 Hospitals are where you go when you are weak and vulnerable! And Slim's never vulnerable and especially not weak, in fact he's strong as hell! He can take anything! He can handle himself just fine! He knows first aid!

 The list of medical issues he's currently ignoring includes:

 Chronic nose bleeds. Al came out his nostril and permanently fucked it up a bit, plus his high blood pressure means even sneezing can set him off on a bad day.

 High blood pressure. Canonically he straight up doesn't believe the doctor who told him this, quote: "If my blood really was pressurised theoretically I could just slit my wrist and use it to squirt blood at people." He should probably be taking medication for that, or at least cutting back on smoking.

 Fatigue. The stamina cost for his abilities and Al's come out of the same stamina pool and being the one with a physical body Slim's the one who feels that harder. He's constantly tired and running on coffee and spite. The switch from "night shifts" to the strictly regimented prison lifestyle is not helping.

 He's lost all hearing in his mauled ear. He's been successfully ignoring this the longest but it's becoming increasingly evident he needs hearing aids. He needs the captions on for everything and regularly struggles to keep up with conversations, he's only been going out at night for ages now just to avoid big, overwhelming crowds that make it impossible for him to tell where a sound is coming from. Any attempts to bring this up to him are quickly shut down, it's sunk costs at this point.

 He's always either completely apathetic to everything and won't move from his hotel for days or extremely switched on and ready to fight anything and everything that moves. The only consistency between these two moods in his putting off eating to a nebulous later that never comes.

 One day in the future a treasure hunter will dig up California Slim's buried mafia treasure and they will find a metal box filled completely with old baseball cards and cool novelty knives he's never used.

 There's a betting pool in the prison based around guessing Slim's real name, the punchline is that California is his real name. He's actually been introducing himself as California, Slim (as in "Hi I'm California, most people call me Slim") and everyone just misheard him. Slim is unaware of the confusion.

His full name is California Holmby Hills, Holmby Hills being the neighbourhood right next to Beverly Hills to keep with the theme.

 When Bev was alive Slim would be the one to do her hair, he'd do her bow up every morning before breakfast. As a adult Slim only wears a tie specifically to have something to put a knot in while he waits for the coffee to boil.