ramble about your favorite character in twst, or dynamic between characters
Pretty please
hii anon!! i fear this was a tough question for me because if you know me or have lurked around the channel anyw... i tend to just have multitudes in terms "liking" something, so specific favoritism existing in this house?? NAHH, i love variety
*..so decided to just spin a wheel to see who i'll ramble about lmaoo
Wheel winner: Riddle and Trey
First off, I'd like to say that I have crashed out over these two MULTIPLE TIMES because it turned out in Book 7 that their somewhat toxic dynamic had more layers to it then just the "two childhood friends reunited duo"
For context, in Book 7, their pre canon dynamic was revealed through the lens of Leona, Idia, and Cater; mostly Cater's perspective though since he was a first hand witness to how the two interacted, and met each other again in NRC, and let me tell you, it is so, oh so fascinating to realize how toxic these two were.
Contrary to initial expectations from myself, and maybe a decent majority of the fandom thought, Riddle DID NOT accept Trey back into his life with warmth or with the childhood reunion tone that most people imagined.
He ignored Trey's warm welcome to the dorm despite the fact that Trey was a senior, cold shouldered him even through simple interactions and kept to himself away from Heartslabyul dorm members, and especially Trey.
On the other hand, Trey was so ecstatic to see Riddle again to the point that he was yapping and talking to his Heartslabyul dorm members about how good of a person Riddle is during the 2nd years ceremony
> also note, Riddle fully crashed out during their ceremony because Floyd GRABBED Riddle's hair and obviously that's rude but Riddle had to be physically restrained by Vargas too; might've been not a good first impression to the other Heartslabyul who didn't believe Trey's gassing up of Riddle.
Eventually driven by self motivation, Riddle takes the crown of Heartslabyul 2 weeks in the school year, and the vice dorm leader is removed as well which prompts Riddle call in an election of the dorm to choose their next vice. Yes. He didn't choose Trey as his vice, he didn't even ask or anything, Riddle just acted alone.
The rest of the dorm, probably scared shitless, votes the one person that could "handle" Riddle (and also technically the one that kept hyping up Riddle anyway) which was Trey.
To be honest, I don't recall any other canon info about what happened during the first year of Riddle's rule (there's probably more hidden in voice lines or vignettes that I just don't know..) so let's move on!
Cut to Prologue and Book 1, Trey and Riddle have clearly settled into their duo position more comfortably than ever. Riddle acknowledges Trey, and the dorm is stable now (I had another analysis of how good Riddle administered/changed Heartslabyul if ever)
A lot of things happened which I'm not gonna narrate again because suddenly my brain ran out of fuel actually...
And then the overblotting happens, and finally it forces to Trey to act because it's not a moment where Riddle just got mad at a student and Trey can just ease both people involved later - it's one where it's a literal "fight or die" scenario.
A metaphysical moment that I think really altered my brain on Trey and Riddle was when Riddle shoots to harm people and then Trey raises his pen and vanishes the lethal spell within seconds, and Riddle has a meltdown.
This could go in two route: for a pragmatic argument to this, I theorize that maybe he viewed Trey as inferior to him and so when Trey "wrote" over his magic that was supposed to be stronger, he got upset at the realization that Trey is possibly more powerful than him
OR, if we wanna go down the more emotional route: Maybe it was more like Riddle was devastated. Ever since he's been in NRC, after meeting Trey again, fulfilling the duties of being a dorm leader, and supervising a chaotic dorm, Trey has been with him for more than a year.
Most likely, he's probably comforted Riddle through a lot of vulnerable moments too and not just through moments where he gets angry.
It's the devastation that someone who you trusted, who helped you in your vulnerable times, someone who's been the shield to your sword, your aid, turned his back against you in your most vulnerable moment possibly.
He's supposed to know Riddle's mother is right, doesn't he? He's seen it himself when they were kids. So, why did he go against him, against her? And why can he do it, when Riddle can't? How can he step away, when Riddle has been bound his entire life? Why can he overwrite his magic so easily, when Riddle spent his entire childhood perfecting it? What did he have, that Riddle doesn't?
Maybe Trey eventually became his shield whether Riddle realized it or not at some point or subconsciously. In a dorm where people slowly but surely started to antagonise Riddle; Trey was technically one of the true ones that was locked in to whatever insanity Riddle had.
But, even a shield can't be your true shield if they technically "lie" to you because they want to "protect" you, because is it really protecting if you won't help the sword sharpen itself for future battles?
Even from the very beginning of their NRC arc, Trey has only looked at Riddle with his past version etched into mind; the one who smiled more, the one who beamed when he won a little harder at croquet and the version that Trey gave a strawberry tart to.
This aspect was actually made so obvious in the manga when Riddle overblots and there's blot tears running down his face, and right next to that panel of Overblot Riddle is child Riddle crying.
In the events of Book 2, I find Riddle immediately jumping to action after Trey was hurt so deeply healing because he wants to protect Trey for once; to show him that he does care and he's trying to change, even if it's slow.
Extra Trey and Riddle moments thoughts:
There's a scene in the TWST Anthology where Ace catches up with Riddle who's worrying about keeping up to standard and Ace tells him something along the lines of "Trey advised you to stop doing that, because what matters is that you try anyway."
Book 7 scene where Trey headpats Riddle, and Riddle is genuinely caught off guard by the casual sign of affection - I also see this as Trey finally feeling comfortable around Riddle as well outside of trying to be formal (tbf it was also Malleus disaster confrontation time lol)
Anyway, thanks so much for the ask btw anon!! They have a certain tragedy to them that can't be easily replicated, and adding Chenya to the mix is another thing too (maybe I'll make a Chenya dynamic analysis if someone asks lmaoskdj)
AND I ended up rambling so much oh my god, beware i hate these two from the very molecules of my dissolved tears (个_个)
