Fic Meme: Five Facts

Alrighty.  I can't remember if this is a meme I've seen or one I've made up.  It's similar to the very lengthy character interview meme that was current a while back, but less complicated. 

List five facts about a favorite character in someone else's universe that are not in canon, but are canon for you.  If you're a writer, note things that you haven't (yet) made explicit in your fic, or that are consistent even across fics that don't fit together into a 'verse.

FIVE FACTS ABOUT RUPERT GILES that are canon for me. 

1. Giles' mother is still alive at the time of "Chosen"; his father probably died sometime before he came to Sunnydale.  (There's a certain temptation to believe that he died when the Council blew up, since that would add extra weight to the PTSD!Giles explanation for why he's so weird in s7, but... I think Giles Sr  probably died when Giles was in his twenties, perhaps within a few years of the Eyghon mess, and probably of something stress-related-or-exacerbated.)

2. He loves to cook, and both cooks and bakes very well.  (Unlike Wesley, who probably regresses to his slapstick self when confronted with a frying pan and a carton of eggs.  This is probably not unrelated to my feeling that tiny!Giles spent a lot of time standing on a chair at the counter in his  mother's kitchen, happily 'helping' mum by covering himself and the environs with flour when she was baking, while for tiny!Wesley food meant either stern instructions from Nanny to clean his plate or throat-closing anxiety about spilling something at the Big Table with his parents.)

3. He considers herbal tea an abomination: not tea at all and only to be consumed for medicinal purposes.  In Sunnydale he does, however, usually keeps some sort of  lemon/rosehip or mint tisane around for Buffy, Willow, or Tara to drink.  Possibly he consoles himself that it must be better for them than diet cola.

4. Speaking of medicinal purposes, he is a master of thriftily hoarding the tails of prescriptions for painkillers, muscle relaxants, and sleep aids., and when in need he doctors himself with the stash rather more freely than a medical professional might like.  He is, however, conscientious (some young people of his acquaintence might call it "anal") about finishing a course of antibiotics.  "I haven't worked to avert multiple apocalypses just to be killed by drug-resistant bacteria," he says.  (He's less good about laying off the scotch while taking prescription drugs.)

5. There was a painful period of his childhood during which it seemed that every time he was introduced, some would-be-witty adult would say "Oh, like Rupert the Bear?"  He had an extensive collection of Rupert the Bear annuals that he got rid of in a late-adolescent fit of pique, and now regrets because they would be rather valuable.