#harold (aa)

[deathstroke-the-himbonator]

Harold: Did you hang out with Mr. Hattington last night?

Kenning: Uh, yeah, actually, I did.

Harold: Oh… I love Mr. Hattington! :)

Kenning: Wait, I thought you hated Mr. Hattington?

Harold: yEAH NO SHIT, SON!

[deathstroke-the-himbonator]

Terra: There's only one thing worse than abusing someone!

Terra: *Pulls off paper to reveal "Abusing your Stepson" on a whiteboard*

Harold: My stepson :/

Terra: No!

[deathstroke-the-himbonator]

Where does Terra stand in her opinion of Kenning?

Oooooo, okay, here we go:

Terra, by all accounts, loves her son. She’s not the best at showing it, but she tries really hard to be there for Kenning, especially once he’s hit twelve to thirteen years old, as she was pretty emotionally absent when he was a little kid and wants to make up for it now that he’s older. On that same note, she definitely holds some level of resentment towards Kenning, as she low-key, subconsciously blames him for being why her marriage is falling apart.

She wants to get to know Kenning better, and she wants to be a good mother to him, but she’s still fairly entrenched in her own bullshit, and she’s a tad too selfish to completely set it aside and focus on raising her son. Terra’s a good mom at heart, but she’s also very self absorbed- she’s not a narcissistic or anything, but she’s certainly selfish- and kind of obsessed with getting out of her family’s shadow (something she and Kenning could bond over if she was more open with him/bothered to realize he was just as miserable as her).

Although this is a smaller factor, it should be noted that both Terra and Harold fear Kenning to some degree; they know he’s Black Hat’s biological child, and as Black Hat has never had any children before Kenning, no one really knows what kind of a person Kenning will/can be. It’s expected that he’ll have some of the villain’s powers- body modification, resistance to poison, high pain tolerance, etc- but it’s unclear if he’ll be just as powerful as Black Hat, who may or may not be at the power level of a young god. Needless to say, Terra and Harold are terrified to find out just what their son is capable of.

So, all in all, Terra loves her son Kenning a whole lot, but not enough to be the mother he desperately needs in his life.

[deathstroke-the-himbonator]

Now I'm worried what will happen to Lil' Jack in the next chapters.... *Imagining the snake getting flushed down the toilet because goddamn Harold gone pissed off again* ....

I understand your worry, but rest assured that Lil’ Jack isn’t so easily killed. Harold doesn’t really Know she’s mystical in any sense, but he definitely avoids her like the plague because… well, he has a bad feeling about her. And no matter how much of a dickhead Harold is, he would never kill Kenning’s beloved pet; he’s an abusive jackass, but he’s not a heartless monster.

Harold, tbh, is a bit hard to describe morally, because he definitely doesn’t have a problem with slapping/beating a child he doesn’t see as his own, but he justifies it to himself as being for Kenning’s benefit later on down the line, either to “toughen him up” or “beat the evil out of him” neither of which are good.

If Harold had more forethought, and a ton more empathy for his stepson, then he honestly wouldn’t be a terrible person, but it’s all based on perception; Terra loves him because she’s seen him at his best, Kenning fears him because he’s seen him at his worst, and Aaron idolizes him because Harold has only ever been kind and generous to him.

This probably wasn’t what you were expected from my answer, but tbh I’ve been looking for an excuse to ramble about Harold’s (and hopefully later Terra’s) morals and mindset!

[deathstroke-the-himbonator]

Kenning, at Harold after realizing his true father is BH: YOU'RE NOT MY DAD! GO ON AND HIT SOMETHING- UGLY SHI-

He’s definitely gonna be in for quite the shock, I’ll say that much. Needless to say, if there was anything worth saving in the relationship between Kenning and Harold, it’s not there anymore.

[deathstroke-the-himbonator]

Me: I'm never going to kill any main characters in AA because I don't want to do anything cheap for shock value.

Also Me: I wouldn't mind seeing Harold die tho :/