hi emil! would love to know your natvan childhood thoughts…how do you think they met? What type of relationship dynamic did they have? How do you think it changed in the wilderness especially with their different beliefs in the power of the wilderness!
(also no pressure to answer any/all of these questions haha)
Hi! I love this question. Van and Nat are so good together as a friend pairing that it’s hard to believe it’s not overtly canon.
I’ve always hc’ed that Van and Nat were friends as really young kids because they were moth likely “tomboys” as kids. Then whenever Van’s dad was out of the picture and Vicky’s parenting took a downside, that Nat was one of Van’s friends due to Vicky having a social stigma among other parents. (I see Laura Lee being friends with Van because her parents would probably be accepting of Van, albeit pushy about religion).
Their school friendship probably started to get more distant when Van became close to Taissa and Nat became close to Kevyn and that other guy. Van probably still cared immensely for Nat, but Taissa likely saw Nat as a bad influence (whose heart was in the right place).
Van, wanting to get the hell away from her mom, probably put the nose to the grindstone in soccer and in school to be able to get some sort of scholarship to get out of their hometown.
I could see Van being the one to really convince Nat to play. I think Van has a few trust and understanding of Nat and vice versa. There are commonalities with how they were brought up that they could lean on each other throughout.
I feel like Natalie likely isolated from Van/core YJ friend group after her dad died and joining the team likely happened after that.
Van and Nat were probably close as teammates but I could see Van feeling a little hurt by Natalie drifting away after dad’s death, and Nat feeling sad about Van drifting away to Taissa.
I am 100% in on Nat knowing Van’s sexuality.
Van and Nat probably regained lots of closeness as they both have similar past traumas that they would comfort each other through.
Natalie probably felt the same sadness watching Van buy into the Wilderness as she did watching Lottie fall into delusion. Does not agree, but will do everything in her power to keep her safe.
Taissa changed her tune on Nat because she admires Nat’s rationality and skepticism. Taissa welcomed Van and Nat being close when Nat would challenge Lottie’s delusions.
The amount of guilt Nat, Van, and even Lottie feel over Javi’s death is probably what brought Van and Nat. Lottie doubled down on Wilderness because of Misty’s pressure and needing to maintain consistency.
After the rescue is a whole other blurb.