Honestly it's just because of this. Rufus is an older man, and has lived a long life even before the Overseers drank from the fountain of youth. Jean confiding in him, even though Rufus is so detatched from his role as Overseer, is quite cute. I think it's a little toxic for sure, and Jean would be a lot more invested in the relationship than Rufus, but yeah. I kinda fuck with that too :D :p
Being a victim is crazy because every character you write is gonna have some element of grooming at play to their lore
short O5-6 rewrite explanation under cut
Anyways, O5-6 is repeatedly abused by the system that he is apart of, that being the military. However, it is a grander analogy for grooming of minorities in general.
Even before joining the foundation, Micheal was allowed to join the--at the time--seemingly heroic American military despite his status as a man of Native American descent.
Micheal was deliberately fed an opportunity to "prove himself" by integrating himself into an obviously predatory system that is presenting him with a special form of treatment.
He, of course, fell hook, line, and sinker to this ploy to use him as cannon fodder, but miraculously he survived the war of 1812 with only a few scratches.
This is a large indication of how exactly Micheal began his propaganda journey with the foundation, because he himself knew how easy it was to bribe young, weak men into what essentially is a form of warfare.
Eventually, after being left destitute by the war, again, a savior figure descends from the heavens: Aaron Siegel. Again, again, and again, Micheal is manipulated by him into joining the foundation, promising him a high greater than war. Despite the war of 1812 being against the British and the colonial legacy looming over him as a Native American man, Micheal submits as he sees it as the only way to survive.
Roche soon comes into play as Micheal becomes attracted to him due to their similar roles in defending “democracy” and “revolution”, as Roche participated in the Napoleonic wars. Roche actually sees a man who’s been ostracized by society as an equal to himself. After Roche enters the Faust phase, cracks begin to show in that relationship as well as he uses Micheal as a living source of food. Despite being madly in love with him, Micheal is still exploited by his husband.
Do you see a pattern? He is presented as a sacrifice every single time he gets into this situation.
First time: war, revolution
Second time: for the safety of humanity
Third time: for the survival of a demon from hell
Micheal has no agency, no free will, and his authority is only given to him so he can continue the cycle that he was a victim of.
Soon, Micheal has been reduced to half a human, both literally and figuratively when he takes one of Mephistopheles’s arms. He is then transformed into the foundation’s living weapon: a tool to be used until it breaks.
My fuckass author avatar… my evil warmongering homosexual…. Oh how I’ve cursed you….