https://www.tumblr.com/applefishcake/816563394792620032/about-the-last-ask-on-cals-protector-instincts
iām gonna respectfully half-disagree with this anon
i donāt think his relationship with gideon is an indicator that he doesnāt care about his close friends. although i do agree that heās charming enough to make the average person feel closer to him than they actually are.
i think his nagging is an intrinsic part of his character that isnāt just aboutā¦ care. itās a trauma response. he has no sense of self preservation, but heās always on the look out for danger. i can totally see him mumble about some idiot driving too recklessly and going on a tangent about how dangerous it can be BECAUSE he imagines his loved ones in that situation immediately
heās a walking contradiction who plays by his own set of principles, but that doesnāt mean he shies away from telling you youāre being stupid. i think youāre right in the sense that he definitely doesnāt care about others the way he would his loved ones, but thatās the thingāhe still acts like it. thatās why heās the golden boy. the nicest guy around. he likely gives the best advice and actually listens. because thatās how heās conditioned himself to be. heās always had to be the parental figure. the protector. the only thing is that people can mistake that for closeness, when to him, thatās just who he is. there arenāt any emotions attached to his kindness.
he IS a bitch to gideon š but only because theyāre actually close. like vy said i thinkāitās the opposite. because heās close, heās scared to reveal that he actually cares. so he acts like a bitch to create distance. but ofc his friends can tell he cares. thatās why theyāre his friends.
with mcā¦ in my mind heās still mostly performing. because heās always been performing with her, heās never been honest with her. the only difference is that there are emotions behind his actions. which is why they veer from āmatureā to āimmature idiot who is doing too muchā. so i can see him performing on a lower scale with others tooāwhich includes being the āreliableā one. which i agree would give people the wrong impression about their closeness. kinda likeā¦ hes very excessive when he actually cares. so his ānormalā is justā¦ the averageā¦ very caring person. until ofc his colonel persona kicks in. then heās someone else entirely. but thatās once again, another performance.
to me it feels fair to headcanon that heād nag strangers too. itās like second nature. heād also nag a stray dog for eating too fast. thatās just who he is š that has nothing to do with his emotions.
i hope this made sense š
These are some great points anon! i definitely agree with you on the gideon aspect---i think caleb is just kinda bitchy/playful to his closer friends when he's not literally in love with them lol. even with mc he did a lot of terrorizing when they were kids (just teasing, but still), and it tells me that man is literally the most annoying person ever (lovingly)
i also do think his nagging is kind of a trauma response. tbh i think half his habits are trauma responses and it's a miracle that he's as high functioning as he is.
"i can totally see him mumble about some idiot driving too recklessly and going on a tangent about how dangerous it can be BECAUSE he imagines his loved ones in that situation immediately" oh my god he's so nagging mom core ik he stresses about shit he should NOT be stressing about loll...it's sad because we know WHY he's such a parent but also endearing because at the end of the day, it really is just how he is
i feel he definitely has a lot of different masks for different scenarios as you said anon! and deep down he's just a mess...infold did a big one writing him he's so complex muah
dunno if half of this makes sense i'm half asleep so sorry in advance!
