Marie's parents
Marie never met her father and didn't even learn his name until she was a teen. Nagisa became pregnant by accident while a cadet in the merchant marine. Parenthood meant the end of her dream of life on the high seas, but she accepted her duty to her unhatched daughter while her boyfriend, a fellow cadet, did not. She left him before Marie hatched and never had contact with him afterward. Her parents supported her and lived part-time with her in the old Calamari County house so she could restart her career in law enforcement. Relying so heavily on her parents filled her with a sense of personal failure. She only accepted her father's persistent offers of a post within the Agency to escape Calamari County after assuming custody of Callie. Her need to provide the girls with a better life finally overrode her own drive for independence. She had no long-term relationships after Marie's birth.
Callie's parents
Nishi Cuttlefish met Orn in school and dated him as a rebellion against her famous and old-fashioned father. Orn had no aspirations for himself and no expectations for Nishi. They quickly fell into destructive behavior. The pair could barely provide for themselves, but Nishi gladly started a family. Callie hatched only months after Marie. Nishi loved Callie dearly, but neither she nor Orn were willing to change their lifestyles to raise a healthy child. Instead, Nishi took advantage of her sister's sense of responsibility. Callie spent more time in her Aunt Nagisa's house than in her own, forming a sisterly bond with Marie from infancy. She lived with Nagisa and Marie permanently after the incident in the summer before fourth grade. That night, Nishi overdosed and became unresponsive. Orn, himself drunk, thought she was dead. He fled the scene and took Callie to try and escape the province. Marie's call to her mother started a police chase that ended with a crash on an ocean bridge. Nishi recovered in the hospital, but was wracked with guilt and shame for endangering Callie. Craig Cuttlefish used his influence to drop charges against Nishi in exchange for her testimony against Orn. Orn went to prison, and Nishi bowed to her father's pressure to leave Callie in Nagisa's custody. Nishi left the province soon afterward and has had no contact with her daughter since.
Sera's life in Octo Valley
Serashura na Gazan hatched in the orphanage where she would spend her first ten years of life. Food and resources were always scarce, and once she ranked among oldest children, she and the others near her age were expelled to fend for themselves. She took up residence in a slum with a group of teens who used her as a thief, since one so young was unlikely to be suspected. In return, from them she learned crafting and fishing skills to sustain herself. When she was 14, an imperial scientific expedition en route from the north seas took shelter from a storm in the Valley ports. Sera sneaked aboard their vessel to pilfer supplies. She couldn't reach the cargo hold but managed to break into the captain's quarters while he bargained with the harbormaster. There she took the easiest item to conceal: a small, locked case that looked like it might hold something valuable. She was nearly caught during her escape, and soon found herself hunted through the Valley by a well-armed navy crew. Discovering the data crystal inside the case, she realized the gravity of what she'd done. After her miscreant housemates tried to turn her in to claim the bounty for her capture, she fled the Valley forever.
Goji's parents and childhood
Lluvia Esponda was born and raised in Caladar (once the west coast of North America). She met Yamura Fayuda while studying abroad in Inkopolis and was smitten from their first date. Instead of going home after university, she stayed in the city and soon married him, making the relationship her young life's top priority. With distance she drew away from her friends and family even after the births of her daughter and son. She reasoned away the signs that Yamura was growing distant and unhappy with family life. Lluvia was diagnosed with chromatic cancer when Goji was ten years old and Kiyo three. Yamura grew to resent his ailing wife over the course of the next two years. He stayed away from home for long stretches of time under the pretense of work travel. Goji was twelve when she saw her father for the last time as he left, promising to return and take her to watch turf war playoffs. She waited for him for weeks after Lluvia accepted that the three of them were on their own. His departure ended Goji's childhood. She did every odd job she could do to earn extra money until she was old enough for real employment, at the same time serving as Kiyo's childcare until Lluvia was too sick to work. In desperation to pay medical bills, Goji joined the Agency as a contractor during the Zapfish Uprising. With Marie's help, she lived a tangled lie of working as an assistant at a free clinic. Lluvia finally succumbed to the cancer, leaving Goji as Kiyo's sole guardian, defeated, heartbroken, and alone. Dr. Sloom would slowly teach her to be kind to herself and to release the guilt and anger she'd so stoically buried.