#macks talks

[mackspaws]

IM BACK WITH ANOTHER MAIDEN COMM I GOT FROM @/butchdiary !!!! GO SHOW JOHNNY ALL THE LOVE

[mackspaws]

idk if this is a hot take but I think aiden has an incredibly complicated relationship with his childhood trauma, especially after finding out his memories were repressed and waltz wasnt an evil man experimenting on kids just to hurt them, but a father trying to save his daughter

I have a hc after the events of villedor, the real memories come flooding back, and he has to come to terms with the fact that as a child, he loved waltz and he was the only father figure he had. Waltz may have essentially groomed him (REMINDER GROOMING ISNT ALWAYS SEXUAL) into taking responsibility for his sick daughter, from what we can infer Waltz convinced him the painful experiments he went through was a good thing because he was "saving" her. at *five years old* he had aiden believing the horrible things that had been done to him were *necessary*

its so much more complicated than the memories he grew up believing, that waltz was an evil man that hurt him and his sister just to hurt them. He has to come to terms with the fact that he loved his abuser, he sacrificed himself for mia but because HE told him to.

in all honesty I think itd take a lot of unlearning to curb aiden's self sacrificial behavior bc it was literally ingrained in him from the beginning, and he spent his entire life revolved around putting himself in danger for someone else. Hes a shield forced to be a sword.

Something I love about dltb is that they didnt forget about this. Aiden instantly walks right back into danger when he finds out someone he loves is in trouble. He knows he wouldve most likely been tortured again, but it doesnt matter to him as long as everyone else is saved.

Aiden at his core *is* a hero, in the most literal definition, but its to the point that he becomes a danger to himself, and honestly, to others. He is shown time and time again that he will gladly sacrifice himself to make sure others are safe, even if they dont want saving.

also not to mention this directly ties into aidens struggle with his identity bc his entire life has revolved around one person, he kept moving not just to survive but to survive for *mia* because its all hes ever known. He says multiple times he has no idea who he is without her

[mackspaws]

(posted this on twt- might as well post it here!!)

gonna ramble about max (n maiden) for a second here bc theyre very dear to me and I love them so much

max is a very happy go lucky, optimistic person despite living and growing up in the apocalypse. theyre spoiled, and bc of that a bit naive, not bc they dont get the reality of the world they live in, they've been through horrible shit themselves, but bc unlike a lot of people they have a home to go back to, a family they can rely on. bc they were swooped in and saved at a young age, they believe if theyre a good enough person they can save people too!! theyre a very "stop and smell the roses" type person, in the end they believe everything will turn out okay. Which leads to them ignoring problems instead of making an effort to fix them, the opposite of Aiden. (They arent stupid, though! Theyre very smart, they wouldnt still be alive if they didnt know to survive). however despite this, their cheery demeanor is partly a mask, a desperate attempt to not sink back into the person they were before. You could say their kindness is performative then, and I wont argue with that because it surely can be, but they do genuinely care. they are deeply, DEEPLY scarred and chose to not only refuse to acknowledge it but downright try and forget it exists. They dont want to fall back into that cycle of violence they were stuck in where they did horrible things to survive. SO they just! Ignore it! this also makes them a MASSIVE hypocrite because they'll encourage healthy coping mechanisms for other people, they *know* what they're doing is wrong, but again- if *they* ignore it itll go away! They dont have to work through anything because everything is fineeee.

this makes their relationship with aiden so interesting bc they meet at a time where Aiden is at his lowest and Max is at their highest. Hes desperate to find meaning in his life when here comes this annoying optimistic pilgrim that seems to have it all figured out. Max sees a lot of their past self in him; lost and stuck in a destructive cycle, so they stick around bc while they do genuinely want to help, they also pity him in a way. They also find him incredibly intriguing, his attempts to scare them away never work bc they've BEEN there. they literally meet bc Aiden saves their life, and while he wants to move on and continue wandering (bc its all he knows atp, without mia), Max decides to follow him around, hijinks ensue, and they somehow end up on a two person job together to deliver a package. aiden comes to admire their boundless optimism even if it gets on his nerves sometimes, and its not always the right call. And Max admires Aiden's unwavering strength, his will to keep fighting even when it seems like the whole world is against him. they end up caring for each other in a way neither of them expect, and while Aiden wanted nothing to do with them before, now he cant imagine not hearing their constant yapping every day <33 but ofc max straight up downplaying the fact that Aiden is turning and has hurt people before bc of it, it comes to bite them (literally) in the ass and now theyre forced to deal with being infected themselves, a problem theyre forced to find a solution for- a solution that backfires heavily, and causes them to lose everything. the mask they have before slips and theyre forced to confront themself the same way Aiden had to when they met.

Anyway im rambling ofc but i love these two so very much and their story is very dear to me!! They persevere because they have each other even if they can bring out the worst in each other (toxic codependency <3)

[mackspaws]

dni if you ship aiden/kyle and haiden shippers yall are on thin ice. Thanks

[mackspaws]

Hello mutuals!! Idk how many people will see this but I made a dl discord server if anyone wants to join!!! Its just a place to share art, fanfiction, headcanons, etc!! Please dm me if youre interested!! The fandom is so dead so itd be nice to interact with more people LOL

[mackspaws]

I posted this on twt already but techland this is gen insane behavior. That's not Lawan

[mackspaws]

rising from my grave to say DL the beast is an aiden enthusiast's nightmare

Come on now. Scrapping dlc2 for a stand alone story about CRANE instead of what was promised, which was continuing Aiden's story? I'm sickened 😭 I cried. Since it's a direct continuation of dl2 I'm sure Aiden is in it (my money is on *him* being "the beast") but hhhhhh I'm so not happy bc HES NOT THE PROTAGONIST

[mackspaws]

i normally don't post wips (or much here at all) but this AU is my baby and I love Mia so much she has become my oc, like every version of her in my mind lol. ive been working on this au since like november god it plagues my brain so much ANYWAY DID SOMEONE SAY VILLAIN!MIA AU?!?!? I could rant for hours, but basically waltz injects her with the inhibitors he uses for renegades because she was dying, and now that she's found a way to live she'll do anything to keep it that way. she takes Waltz's place as the main villain, and leads the renegades. here's a wip of her design, she calls herself The Vulture (she's edgy on purpose! I've thought very long and hard into detail about how she'd act and again COULD TALK ABOUT IT FOR HOURS but maybe I will once I finish the design lol)

I'll be using a placeholder tag for now if/when I post more of this au as #villain!mia