really wanted to talk about the parallels between enjin and tamsy with amo.
personally, I love the fact that she’s testing boundaries and such to a fought when she’s introduced, though that obviously crumbles the moment she’s captured.
she tries every tactic she can to get tamsy to give in, but it doesn’t land. he essentially neutralizes her manipulation leaving her with no outlet. besides, in his pov as long as he can break rudo she’ll remain a pawn in his plan.
then you have the detail that he altered her memories, and even by doing that, he acts demure around her—though I don’t believe that he wouldn’t not cause harm. (do believe he’s smarter than that but also not if he’s over here talking aloud lol)
which then brings us to enjin!! backstory aside, the detail that he is an outlet to amo—an outlet that won’t cause harm—namely—is very important.
idk maybe manipulation isn’t the right word with amo, but basically she was trying to get out of the situation…maybe disassociation????
(ignore the fact that enjin’s part is shorter, I’m blankin’)
(oops this is more Enjin, Amo and Mymo with slight Tamsy)
There's also the bit where it's noted Tamsy dislikes women that exploit weaknesses, which Amo does exactly that—uses everyone's memories against them to protect herself, not just with the Cleaners but people that've come across her tower. Because she's learned that manipulation works well to get what she wants.
Until Rudo beats her down. But who's there to stop him? Enjin.
He immediately addresses Rudo's emotions and how he let himself get carried away. He empathises with Rudo's, then turns the moment into a lesson about personal flaws and growth, and guides him into overcoming them, choosing to apologise and make amends instead of holding onto resentment.
It's Enjin who encourages Rudo by directly addressing what needs to change, stating, "The first step to growing up is recognising your faults." And he does this every single time.
Whereas Tasmy does none of that. After their first interactions, he takes her hostage, goads her with cake, wipes her memories—essentially manipulating her in order to get to Rudo, who has no clue. Tamsy's 'altering' Amo's memories the way she did to Rudo—both of them unaware—with the intentions of fulfilling his personal goals just like Amo did back in the tower.
Once she's out, Corvus encourages her to "Use your [her] experiences to comfort and lift others", another moment that motivates Amo to change. She's a sensitive person—pointed out by Corvus—just like Rudo, and both absorb external emotions, be it by projection or truly understanding them.
BUT!
You get to the Doll Festival arc. And who's there to point our her flaws? Mymo and Enjin.
She's with Fu, trying to encourage everyone to beat Mymo, but she's still naive and childishly believes it's love keeping them on par with Mymo. She doesn't know any better.
Then Mymo calls her out, and it shatters her.
He takes her flaws—her naivety, immaturity, and her warped understanding of the world, love, and relationships—and rightfully questions whether her actions and feelings towards Rudo are from a genuine place, or if it's to make up for what she lacks—to 'use' someone else to fill a part of herself.
Because how does she know her actions are fueled by intentional love? (Obviously it's key point of her character development.)
In the next breath, he takes it too far. He tries to gaslight her into believing she was justified in her reactions—he states she "Hadn't done anything wrong", and it was the Cleaners who are trying to manipulate her to take her boots. To his credit, he does bring up people perpetuating their past cycles (because they're unable to break from them), but it's not intended to help Amo grow. But the goal is to manipulate her—something Tamsy's done, and something she did prior.
Regardless, it's a growing point for Amo.
And while her resolve is 'strong' at first, after insisting (again) it's her lack of experience that' while overwhelming her with his minions, it crumbles her resolve.
She questions if she's capable of being someone that can 'comfort and lift others', and it's Mymo who denies it. He calls her out, and she falls into hopelessness because it's true—how can she motivate others when she doesn't have the experience to do so, when she took the path of manipulation to find companionship instead of building it on mutual trust, respect, and understanding?
She may have felt helpless before, but she's never sat with it, because she always chose to blame others, to influence how others feel towards her, to never sit with anything like it.
And Enjin agrees, crushing her, but uses it as a learning opportunity. See, Enjin encourages people in different ways, but always challenges their beliefs and experiences and points out something tangible they can hold onto.
Knowing Rudo struggles with rumination, Enjin promptly redirects his thoughts with his "Hot chicks" comment, then shares his own struggles, showing Rudo isn't alone in falling back into his shortcomings.
With Zanka, he suggests the line between his black-and-white perspective of "normal" and "genius" can be crossed, and points out how he still desires to continue getting stronger, as he still holds the stick.
But Amo is different—she, unlike the others, is unaware of the depths of her faults. She needs to know her faults before she learns to grow, which is why Enjin agrees. Because this is Enjin's encouragement.
He opens her eyes to her lack of experience—and only that—because she needs to know what it feels like to be helpless by choosing inaction. He calls her "useless", the antithesis of what she wants to be: helpful.
He corrects her feelings of uselessness to be "discouragement", because Amo isn't useless. She just had her unrealistic views shut down by both Mymo and Enjin, and doesn't have the nuanced understanding of emotions to know she's demotivated—hell, to be aware that her views were idealistic at best.
But it paves a path for her.
Enjin challenges her to prove him wrong because it gives Amo her autonomy back. It shows her she has the power to choose what she does with her emotions—how can motivate herself to grow.
He isn't forcing her to decide, but gives her the opportunity to, knowing Amo only wants to help, knowing she—like anyone else—doesn't want to feel useless, especially after she has resolve to become better than their past.
And, just maybe, Enjin uses himself as the motivator because he knows how she feels about him.
... or something like that
TL;DR: Tamsy manipulates Rudo and Amo both the way Amo manipulated others. Enjin is there to encourage them both.
really wanted to talk about the parallels between enjin and tamsy with amo.
personally, I love the fact that she’s testing boundaries and such to a fought when she’s introduced, though that obviously crumbles the moment she’s captured.
she tries every tactic she can to get tamsy to give in, but it doesn’t land. he essentially neutralizes her manipulation leaving her with no outlet. besides, in his pov as long as he can break rudo she’ll remain a pawn in his plan.
then you have the detail that he altered her memories, and even by doing that, he acts demure around her—though I don’t believe that he wouldn’t not cause harm. (do believe he’s smarter than that but also not if he’s over here talking aloud lol)
which then brings us to enjin!! backstory aside, the detail that he is an outlet to amo—an outlet that won’t cause harm—namely—is very important.
idk maybe manipulation isn’t the right word with amo, but basically she was trying to get out of the situation…maybe disassociation????
(ignore the fact that enjin’s part is shorter, I’m blankin’)
nobody ever mentions the fact that tamsy’s face probably has texture due to his scars or his body for that matter. I really like the idea of you being curious and he lets it be, but maybe with an irking of warning. thinkin gently taking hold of your hand and pressing a kiss to it—anything to change the topic.
If anything, he’ll remain reserved—I doubt he’d give up any information about himself whether out of control or not, but the thought of him allowing enough curosity to slip through even if there is no acknowledgement on his part, feels fitting.
he’ll let you wonder, but he’ll always keep the truth just out of your reach.
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