psyche:what's their head space like? do they have any mental illnesses? how do they process difficult or emotional situations? what are their coping mechanisms?
OKAY, GET READY FOR A WALL OF TEXT
Hmm, I haven't officially applied any specific mental illness or term to him yet. I can for sure say he came from an unhealthy family background and it fostered unhealthy responses.
A lot of his problems stem from his father. I might expand on this further at another point, cuz its a lot, but his father was emotionally manipulative. John Whitacre has Narcistic Personality Disorder and as the years went by, it became worse and worse. He was difficult to deal with because he would never, ever admit he did anything wrong. John is very charming up front, but he's actually deeply insecure, and he deals with this by keeping himself the center of attention and tearing other people down. He's sly and would discreetly insult people using careful language. He'd frame it as a joke or an interesting story knowing full well it will upset the other person, but if the person he's bullying gets angry he laughs them off saying it was "oh come on, it was just a joke!", making them look too emotional or fragile. Or, when Thomas was very young, John would ask questions in front of his wife "Who do you love more, me or Ida?" Thomas quickly learned he had to answer "father" or John would suddenly become irritable and stiff.
Thomas in many ways grew to be his father's keeper. Ida Whitacre wasn't able to hold herself back and would snap at John in return, creating an explosive atmosphere. Thomas learned to watch his father's mood and tried his best to keep him calm. He learned how to force himself to smile naturally even if he was scared in attempts to keep his father's mood down. John can pick up on the slightest hint of defiance, so Thomas would often force his true feelings down so deeply, it was hard to see them. In a strange way, he loved and hated his father. When John was in a good mood, he was normal, fun, and a pretty decent dad. But when he decided to be viscious, he was seriously horrible.
Thomas acts adultlike and calm despite his age. He learned to cope by throwing himself into studying and reading constantly, it kept him distracted from the reality or tense atmosphere in his home. He also struggles fully understanding what it is he really feels deep down. Those feelings of fear and anxiety come out in small ways, like tapping pens or bouncing things in his hand shows how quickly his thoughts or feelings run even if he looks calm.
Adults yelling, especially men, make him freeze. When a situation spirals out of control and his own feelings get too intense, he tends to completely shut down and become unresponsive. If someone tries to get his attention then, he'll briefly look at them but he won't say anything.
Although buried waaaay deep under all that, he's still a little kid. He never had the chance to fully act on it, but if he feels calm around someone you can see some of his childish components come out. For instance, he can pout around Natya because she'd never yell at him for doing something like that. He likes games, but he doesn't enjoy losing lol. He can also make side quips, and is generally more playful if he really trusts someone. Thomas also relies on adults a lot, and can be a bit impressionable. Especially if he deals with really smooth liars like Theodore, Thomas can be very gullible and unable to tell when someone is lying if they have a good poker face. He tends to pick up a few physical ticks from people he's around, usually over the course of a few years. He watches people wether he fully realizes it or not and it leaves an impression on him. Like his mother often touches her face or her lips when thinking, and he picked that up from her without realizing it. If he really feels safe around someone, he'll drape his arms over their shoulder and watch them in whatever it is they're doing.(usually he does this to Graham or Natya)
Naturally, he's so much more warmer and vibrant than what he shows. He was closer to that when he was really little and hadn't learned to fear his father yet, but its still there, he just needs some help bringing it back out.
