Okay so I think I've developed a bit of an ick-
As we all know by now there's a lot of discussion going on about Lace and her childishness and her dynamic with Hornet, and whatever. Interesting stuff, usually fun and informative and sometimes silly depending on how pressed people get about it
But I guess as I'm looking at people's takes, I start to notice a pattern. About Lace and the probability of her being a kid and how it takes away from her character. How it reduces her, subtracts from her, leaves less substance to work with. Now obviously this isn't a dig at all against people who ship Lacenet or people who just otherwise see her as an adult, since I agree, there's a hell of a lot of fun and interesting topics to cover with that. It's just that–
Why does it reduce from her? Why does Lace being a kid or a teen revoke the potential of her character placed upon her by canon? And I completely understand and stand by those who go with whatever version of her character is more interesting to them, but why does that make the other choice inherently bad??
And this is coming from someone who isn't even on a solid standing for her actual legitimate age, since for my interpretation of her it doesn't necessarily matter all that much, but to me she absolutely represents children, and the struggles that they go through with autonomy and self preservation and feeling objectified just because they're dependant on someone else. I think what highlights this best is the conversation she has with Hornet at the cradle, where she calls herself a "husk made to act like a child", since she doesn't see herself worthy of personhood due to her form as well as the fact that she never was able to garner her mother's attention, but Hornet reaffirms that her life holds as much meaning to everyone else's, no matter how artificial. She continues to call her "Child" throughout the rest of the game not to degrade her, but to reaffirm her personhood.
So I guess what I'm saying is that though I usually like hearing about whatever thoughts people have on Lace, I can't help but cringe at any take remotely similar to "Lace being a child takes away from her character" or "Lace can't be a child because of her response to her abuse" or "Lace being a child would reaffirm her abuse" ew ew ew ew sorry
I guess from the perspective of someone who finds Lace's story as revolving around the theme that the lives and autonomy of children are just as important as those of adults, it's just incredibly distressing and unfortunate to see.
