When concerning Heatherlil, what do you think Lil's relationship to Claire would be? Do you think she'd take on parenting responsibilities? Do you think Claire would see her as a replacement for Mac? Would Lil be comfortable taking care of a child? What would Heather think?
Lil strikes me as someone who isn’t entirely sure how to interact with a child tbh. Like she wouldn’t know how to talk to a child, so she’d talk to Claire like a small adult and have to keep correcting herself with ‘don’t tell your mother i said that’. She definitely wouldn’t be the best influence, but it can be nice as a kid when someone treats you like you’re grown up. I think Claire would think Lil’s pretty cool.
As for parental responsibilities, I don’t think Lil has a great frame of reference for what ‘good parenting’ is, so she might freak out a bit if left in charge of Claire bc oh god she’s so small what if I break her or something. There might be an element of not wanting to overstep, not wanting to get too involved and accidentally ruin someone else’s child, because then what would Heather think of her? But at the same time, she’d want to help Heather, so while she’d probably grumble about it a bit, she’d be ok with doing certain things like taking Claire places and giving Heather a break.
She might actually be better about some things than Heather, seeing as she has some….issues, probably relating to internalised misogyny. Easier to talk to, maybe.
And as for replacing Mac- would Claire even really remember Mac that well? Probably some hazy memories, but not much, she wouldn’t have really known what was going on and I doubt Heather has really spoken to her about it. If Lil’s there and present, and Mac isnt, then to Claire, Lil is more of a parent. There might be a bit of ‘you can’t tell me what to do, youre not my mum!’ when they’re first getting to know each other, though
I think Heather would initially be very protective over Claire, as she would be given what they’ve been through, and so she’d be a little reluctant to leave her alone with anyone and maybe micromanage Lil’s interactions with her a bit. Once she’s more able to let her guard down, it would get easier and start to feel more normal to lean on someone else