#laoft brian

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

So have the entire family just been thinking Brian's acearo?

not exactly, they might think he's aroallo because he's had a few very adolescent-nymph-grove-typical casual flings with a few different nymphs (these typically consist of like, making out at a revel one time)

in a next-gen twist on Thomas and Logan, Brian acts a lot more like a fae than Linda does, and Linda acts far more human than him - Linda gets flustered at revels and mostly hides in the family tent

but mostly Brian has just been carefully redirecting their thoughts away from the topic of his love life for like ten years

[incorrect-laoft-quotes]

Linda: We’ve been conducting an ongoing study to see what Remus will and will not eat.

Linda: Grass? Yes!

Brian: Moss? Yes!!

Percy: Leaves? Ohh, yes!

Brian: Shoelaces? Strange but true!

Linda: Worms? Sometimes!

Percy: Rocks? Usually nah.

Brian: Twigs? Usually!

Linda: Mamaw's cooking? Inconclusive

Logan, who just woke up: How did you… test this?

Linda: You just hand them stuff and say ‘eat this’ and if they eat it, they eat it.

Logan: ... I don’t know how to feel about this.

Patton: IS THAT WHERE ALL MY SPARE SHOELACES WENT?

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

reading about brian in other works (when he's not busy being a potato baby) and he seems like the reasonable straight man of the family. and then august drops with the 'yeah so, he's been basing a lot of his life decisions around his death'. jesus christ. against all odds, the human storyteller is more mentally ill than his cousin, the literal personification of grief. also he and patton using their gifts to mask their mental illnesses!!! twinning! :(

Brian's 'calm rational straight man to everyone else's comedic chaos' is as much a facade as Logan's is lol. Brian just has cheat codes in the form of powers that let him peek into other peoples brains

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

I think Linda saying “I want you to be happy more than I want to live forever.” is genuinely one of the best in all of LAOFT and LAOFT extras. The LAYERS!!!

Explaining Brian's whole Deal obviously sounds very tragic, like, 'Oh, this young man has decided to sacrifice his happiness to spare his loved ones from a horrible death-'. But when you break it into the simplest, least poetic language? Brian self sabotages so his family can continue to live forever and lose people even later in life. And, this is obviously something he knows on some level isn't fair to him. If the situations were reversed, Brian would do the same thing his family does, and demand the human pursue what he loves anyways. It's so OBVIOUS when you point it out that way. His family loves him, of COURSE they'd rather be happy, and it's almost an insult to them to even think they'd ever want this for him. Like that post about how self loathing can make you imagine your loved ones in ugly ways.

It also is a perfect example of Linda Being Linda. The mix of fae inability to lie with human style bluntness and a lack of flowery words, AND emblematic of her more forceful personality. AND!!! It shows the way Linda represents a (in this example, healthy) grief. She knows she'll be grieving, and that every love gained is a love lost, but it's still WORTH IT. It's ALWAYS worth it.

Just, genuinely loved that line SO much

three paragraphs on one line? this is so nice!!! yall are being extra cool to me on my birthday and i appreciate it so much. That line really is the last miserable flick to Brian's house of cards of reasoning

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

I know part of why Brian is trying not to be with Auggie is not wanting to cause even more grief. Hypothetically, if he hadn't met Auggie, would he have been willing to take a fae/immortal partner as some point? Or is ANY potential grief too big of a risk to him?

Oh no no no. An immortal partner would be even worse, then he'd be dying on them as well as the rest of the family. Brian has been swanning through teenage nymph parties, the handsome human Storyteller, sending everybody into pining titters and is entirely unaware of this

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

Do Brian and Harley end up leaving Wickhills for a bit?

not quite, Auggie kinda finesses him into unofficially moving in with her in her cabin in Vinton County by way of big beautiful brown pleading eyes. his address is still his Dads' place but he spends most weekdays at hers and they come to wickhills to hang out on weekends. they move back after they get graduate and get married. its good for him! close enough to still hang out but far enough a way he can sort of de-enmesh emotionally

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

August chapter 3 the day after my birthday and it wrecked me in the best way. Fuck dude, his house of cards. The most brutal way to have "tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all" branded into your brain permanently.

I also really loved all of the meta portions and Brian knowing he was doing things technically wrong but also knowing that the story he wants, the story his family wants, and the story AUGGIE wants is that he brings her back and loves her right.

And Brian and Linda... The Grieving Cousins. Being an embodiment of grief and your cousin, who has worn grief as a second skin his entire life.

Also delighted Tina will be a return character and that auggie thinks shes funny I would agree with her (in her position. If I was Brian I think i would dissociate every time I saw her)

soooo true. Auggie's like 'look at it, she's just a sad wet cat who thinks she's a supervillain. it's adorable!'

Brian, white-knuckling while the unblinking black eyes of auggie's corpse stare at him: i have never disagreed with you harder in my life

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

oooh, dolly thinking brian was aro and had rejected auggie makes her snapping at linda for the eloping joke make SO much more sense. yikes

oh yes. dolly was PISSED for that one

the worse part of this for brian being the guilt that his aunt believes him, is taking him at his word, trusting him, while he is going around desperately wrapping himself in lies to keep everyone out.