ok y’all remember how like two days ago i was cryin in the Least Formal manner abt henry’s coping mechanisms & childish nature well here’s a proper(TM) hc post abt it strap in m’dudes here we go i don’t promise it’ll make sense but y’know i will Try
first & foremost , i wanna point out specific traits that henry possesses and then i’ll like... go into depth abt them or whatever but alrighty :
01. finding jokes / amusement in everything , even if it is not appropriate to do so
02. a desire to please / obey based on a perceived reward system ,
even if that reward is simply an absence of punishment
03. a fear of pain despite desiring death ( & an exciting death at that )
04. the idea of ‘ power ’ vs ‘ weakness ’ / a closer look @ certain fears
k so here we go . . .
first off , if we look at henry’s childhood it was not a happy place. the closest thing they had to positive companionship was animals , the love of other human beings a foreign affair from their earliest memories. even prior to the institution , things were not good & i imagine , that like most children , henry tried very hard ( at first ) to gain their parents’ love & affections ( there’s some quote that goes like . . . ‘ mother / parents are god in the eyes of a child ’ & i think that held true for some length of time ?? they v much wanted to please these beings who brought them into the world bc they were , despite it all , very precious to henry ) via being a ‘ good child ’ i.e. trying to do as told , regardless of what it was. while i don’t believe their parents simply dumped them in the woods ( the translations from jpn supports seem to suggest they did ‘ raise ’ them ) i do believe they were heavily neglectful , most likely not people who wanted a child at all but got stuck with one nonetheless. there was nothing henry could have done to make their parents fond of them , but ?? that is not a concept they will recognize until later.
so with that said , from that henry started to learn this idea of ‘ people pleasing ’ that they address a few times ( the most prominent ones that come to mind are their comment about ‘ if you don’t trust me , you can just kill me ’ & some comment that is made to robin about how the only order they won’t obey is ‘ don’t fight ’ , but i’ll address that a bit later on ) and the concept that they didn’t matter particularly , just the whims of those around them , something that was further expanded upon in the institution they were sent to.
from what henry says , we can assume it was not just an orphanage or place to house ‘ unruly ’ children. they mention spikes being on the floor & in a conversation with olivia they state ‘ It was in this institution my parents put me in, right~ there were quite severe punishments for kids who didn't listen -- that kind of stuff happened~ Now that was painful~ ’ which i am positive instilled in them a sense of obedience , further than that which their parents began. if you acted out , if you failed to do as told , if you fucked up in any capacity , you were subjected to extreme pain & near death experiences ( & frankly , i’m sure henry did watch some kids die while they were there ; accidents happen & no one seemed to care very much for these kids ) and henry has , without a doubt , been subjected to such pain themselves. which is where this idea of pain = bad , death = good likely begins to stem from as well ; pain is a prolonged thing , a very bad thing , a sign that you had done something wrong & it could hurt for very long periods of time , whereas death , they began to see , was instant release. to some degree , they were likely jealous of the kids that died , because at least then those kids were no longer suffering , never having to feel pain again. from this whole experience a lot of shit stemmed , not just that.
beyond just this concept of pain is bad , death is good , & a need to do as told , they were forced to normalize certain things at a very young age , those things being death , murder , blood , violence , pain , punishment . . . etc , etc. essentially , very bad things. being a kid , ‘ normalizing ’ them meant . . . not making them a ‘ comfort ’ per-se , but making them familiar in a way that wasn’t negative. to fear or hate them would have been too much for them to handle , so it had to become a game or an ‘ okay thing ’ & as such , henry’s fascination with war / blood / death became a coping mechanism , finding familiarity in such things as it was all they ever really knew and were unable to think of it was ‘ bad ’ ( on some level they are , of course , aware that it is not. a good thing. but to face that prospect is to face a lot of other shit that a child simply wasn’t prepared to do & that now , as an adult , henry is somewhat incapable of doing at present time bc their mind sort of ... stuck ??? them ??? in a child - like state because maturing was too difficult in the given environment ) and to a child if something isn’t bad then it must be good --- right ? thus comes the commentary of ‘ i love war ’ & a general chill attitude toward really morbid shit. but , beyond that , i think what they really appreciate is that they have this very familiar situation and where they are currently , they are not a victim of it. which brings me to point 04.
henry is not sadistic , in the sense that they do not find joy in the suffering of others & even go so far as to promise quick & painless deaths to people important to them b/c they understand that pain is a terrifying , awful thing. however. they do enjoy being in a position where they are ‘ powerful ’ i.e. in a position where they can inflict these situations vs. having to merely take them , though i think they vastly prefer like . . . giving quick deaths vs. painful ones , when they are on the battle field.
essentially henry is a scared child ( ‘ child ’ they’re an adult but y’know. childlike mentality. ) who doesn’t want to be hurt anymore but only recognizes carnage as a ‘ norm ’ & takes comfort in the fact that they now have a position in it wherein they may die , but they’re not a victim. they feel safer in this familiar environment , the way things are now. fear , i think , is a big motivator for them and they see a lot of things in a . . . not necessarily ‘ black and white ’ sort of sense , but a. ‘ if this is a thing then x isn’t ’ sort of ?? way ?? and there are exceptions and henry is capable of having in depth conversations abt it but like . . . they don’t want to lmao ?? not if ur gonna argue w/ them. so there’s that.
but that also brings me back to the ‘ don’t tell me not to fight ’ point from earlier. what i personally take that to mean is like . . . ‘ dont tell me to sit back and be hurt / let someone be hurt ’ bc that is , in a way , playing the victim again. being powerless in this sort of a situation. while henry is a very submissive person , they desperately don’t want to be hurt or put a helpless situation ever again. there’s a difference between people pleasing and letting yourself be put into a place where you’re actively suffering & can’t do anything about it.
oh yeah also henry is aware they’re coping lmao ,,, they know they use laughter and smiles and childlike behavior and the normalization of fucked up shit to get by , they know it’s not. actually ok. as seen in one of the convos they have w/ ... owain or inigo idr which rn but it’s one of them. so they’re capable of mature convos. abt this sort of shit but they : ) don’t like to have them : ) as much as they love oversharing that’s the sort of stuff u gotta like... fish out of them & they gotta be close to you before you get to the bottom of that can of worms so.
anyway i’m not sure this post had much of a point and it’s a bit all over the place and maybe unclear in some spots but this is how i chose 2 spend a solid hour of my life so here we are...
That's how long it had taken to patch the dumb broad up.
God. The sigh that came out of you was downright pathetic. It was too bad you dersites and prospitians didn't practice pity quadrants like the trolls did, or you might have actually gotten somewhere in your love life based on that sound alone. Though if you had to be real honest... you felt kinda pathetic most days.
You suppose that's why you liked to keep so busy. Probably how the girl'd conned you into this gig in the first place. Made it sound all appealing and shit.
...She didn't even speak English, for god's sake. How in hell had she convinced you?
Didn't matter at this point. You were waist deep in this shit and wading throughit like trudging in sewers. You were the top boss and head honcho of shit. And all you had to show for it so far was shit stains.
Or blood stains. Dark red ones.
You didn't own any fancy suits, like those guys at the top of the feeding chain. They had suits that cost thousands. Aramni. Burberry.
....
Put that thought aside. You were so low in society that you couldn't name more than two brand names. But guys like Droog. Your bosses dressed in style. They probably would have been justified in this grumbling indignance about getting troll blood all over your suit. When she woke up, the broad would probably tell you that your suit was too cheap to really mourn. And she'd be right, but you'd act all pissed off anyway.
That's just how you did it.
You carried the girl in your arms like you were torn-- like you couldn't figure out whether to cradle her like something precious, or treat her like luggage. Right now, she definitely looked delicate. She looked broken. Her cheek was swollen all to hell and patched up with bandages. They'd done a number on her face. There were wrappings around her shoulder to keep her from moving it again, something torn in the scuffle to try and subdue her. Gashes. Ugly, mottled bruises.
A lot of stuff didn't show. Stuff you didn't get from a glanceover.
He hadn't asked.
When he'd first seen her in the ward though, broken little wreck arranged on the bed by whoever'd tended to her and looking unnaturally poised, his eyes had caught the thick wads of padding taped to her neck. He'd narrowed in on it immediately.
They'd caught her.
It wasn't the first time she'd got a brand. She'd been through a lot of holds before this. She had a list a mile long in her records. No-one kept her for long. No-one had the finesse or might to restrain her. No-one handled the broad. Wrangled her down long enough to get a mark on her? Sure. Plenty of times. But they just cut the flesh off and healed it over before selling her to the next buyer, leaving her looking as pristine as the day they'd caught her.
They'd do it to these marks too, soon as they healed over.
...This would've been the first cattlebrand though.
Brutal bastards of a conquering race that they were, the trolls were more advanced than that. When it came to legal stuff, like labeling their slaves like any other possession, so anyone could look at them and see who they belonged to-- they were neater about that kind of stuff. They had less savage ways to do it.
Mobsters had a certain flair though. You Earthlings, immigrated or otherwise, had a different way to do things.
That iron'd had to have hurt.
You've reached her cell.
⇒
You don't think she ever called it that to her friend. Yeah. The neon green one. The one that was only a secret 'cause she bullied you into taking guard shift and being the one to escort her whenever she wanted to take her pet sprite for a walk. The mopey pain in the ass that you couldn't get why she kept around, and that wouldn't be around if you hadn't had to bust your ass to keep the rest of the crew from finding out. You could only thank Skaia that the kitchen staff was on your side. That they had a soft spot for the broad.
..Naw. You'd heard her calling it a room or that troll term-- block-- when talking to him. The few times you picked out the familiar words and comprehensible sentences she peppered her East Alternian with like some fancy seasoning. (Just enough English to keep people paying attention so she could sneer smugly when you didn't understand again.)
He probably didn't know what she did then.
Where he was staying.
She'd hid most of her marks from him. Been playing nice. Doing work. Probably didn't even realize herself how careful and conscious she'd been since he'd arrived. Since she'd started mentioning that other sprite in her conversations with him, unaware of the hope and admiration that crept into her voice unbidden every time she did.
She didn't realize how jaded she really wasn't. You..
..Another sigh.
You let her stay that way.
Her little friend was going to get a wakeup call though.
⇒
"Oi. Eyesore."
The carapacian swept aside the curtain to Damara's room without warning. For a decently sized guy, he was quiet as hell. Or maybe Erisolsprite was caught up in his work. Maybe he'd actually heard him coming and managed to hide. Maybe Erisolsprite wasn't used to any of the crew members coming anywhere near where the demon broad slept. Good. That meant he'd been doing his job right.
Regardless of what the sprite was doing, he had a damaged woman to pass off to him. He wasn't dealing with this shit any more.
"She's heavy as shit. Take her 'fore I drop her on th' floor."
Your name is Irascible Soldier. Erisolsprite would probably recognize you as that one dersite that lurked around all the time.
