Ken and Relationships (Camp)
This? This is my desperate attempt to talk myself out of dropping. The following is long and rambling.
Ken and Relationships (Camp)
If anyone reading this has read my Canon Relationships Write-up, you'll know that Ken has some issues. Everyone he's ever loved has left him. And not a breakup sort of leaving. A dead-now kind of leaving, or a try-to-kill-you kind of leaving, or in the least traumatizing case, a plane-to-Australia kind of leaving. For camp-canon, Omi vanished without a trace, and Ken didn't see him again for eight months, at which point he wound up at camp, too. And here's something Ken likes about camp. People can't leave him. Or die. They can try to kill him, but physically speaking, no one's going anywhere. This fact, combined with how Ken forms attachments at lightning-speed (a week with Yuriko, and he's considering moving to a different country with her), makes for a rather messy tangle of relationships.
When Ken first got to camp, his welcome was pretty diverse. There were the nonchalant, "oh, another camper," greetings. There was Omi's "KEN-KUN!" There were threats of bodily harm, guns pointed in his face, offers of tours, and warnings about where not to go and what not to do. And the first camper to really be nice to him was Swift.
Ken is not used to getting attention. He works in a shop with two very attractive men (Ran is exotic and mysterious, and Youji is tall, blond, and flirty) and Omi, who all the fangirls love. Ken got some attention, sure, but he wasn't the one the girls came to see, and I'm pretty sure his time in J-league turned him off the fangirl-spazzy type anyway. The one girl he has a relationship with in canon, Yuriko, is nothing like the fangirls... she's smart and athletic and wears pants, le gasp! Swift was the first person, campwise, to make him feel like he was worth something. Swift talked to Ken about his being an assassin, and his being just a little crazy, and didn't define him by it. He made Ken think that maybe there were other people out there who wouldn't, either. And Swift is... well... Ken's got eyes. And a crush. He knew, though, that nothing could come of it, because Swift has a family of sorts waiting back home. That, and learning a bit about Wraeththu culture, actually took a lot of pressure off.
The pressure didn't appear, exactly, until Ken started to figure out how he felt about Omi. See, Ken is oblivious to most things that involve him, including how he feels. He has trouble explaining and sometimes even identifying his emotions and actions; that's part of why he goes so nuts pre-Gluhen, I think. So coming to camp and finding out about Omi's relationships was a bit of a wake-up call. He was upset. And didn't understand why. Until he saw Omi and Swift kissing. And got upset again. At first he thought it was because he liked Swift, but that wasn't quite it... it took him awhile to figure it out, and relief at finding out that no, Swift and Omi weren't involved, but Ken realized that he had a thing for Omi. And talking to Swift (and kissing him; I'm pretty sure that Swift was the first person to hold/kiss Ken since episode 5, over a year ago) was actually boosting his self-esteem a little, for awhile there. He deluded himself into thinking that maybe he had a chance, since his friend was so happy to see him. Then..........
[And this is where I step OOC to explain a bit more. Ken is in love with Omi. He probably always will be; canon estrangement isn't enough to stop it, and neither are a few camp relationships. Ken is bad at understanding his feelings. He still wonders if he's misinterpreting, and it's some strange combination of friendly love and attraction and protectiveness or something. But he knows that it's serious, and that it'll probably never go away, and OOC, whoever becomes involved with Ken needs to know that he'll always have an Omi-torch.]
This? This is where it starts getting complicated. Ken is impulsive and just doesn't. think. about. consequences. Episode-something, he jumps into a pit with no way out to get to a poisoned Omi, without grabbing a rope or something first. And then screams for Aya and Youji to come get him out. (This is some kind of metaphor, seriously.) Ken just does things. So he's having a heart-to-heart with Omi, and kissing him felt right, so he did, and... yeah. Ken had figured at worst, Omi would spazz and tell him off. At the best, they'd have some sort of romantic relationship. Instead, Omi turned and ran, and rejected him properly later. Ken might have taken it alright if it wasn't for the fact that he knew Omi was out kissing other people. So it must have been him, and Omi must have been horrified, because running away is a pretty extreme reaction. Ken doesn't understand Omi's explanations about being teammates, he doesn't want to go to a different world, and he pretty much has himself convinced that Omi is just completely disinterested in him romantically. And that Omi deserves better than him anyway. He thinks that Omi wants the space, so he's trying to give it... Ken deals with things by beating himself down, and relationships are no different. It hurts to see Omi getting close to other people, but he cares for him and wants to be close to him, so he's telling himself to just deal with it, and not let it affect their friendship.
So.. of course, it's going to affect their friendship. He's vaguely uncomfortable talking to Omi about his romantic troubles with other people, because he's not sure he could take Omi being excited over the prospect of Ken having a relationship with someone. It seems to him like, "oh good, you won't be coming after me anymore." He also thinks it could be potentially awkward, like the time their mutual crush on Swift came up in conversation. Ken wants to be able to talk to Omi about these things, as they are best friends, and he values Omi's advice above pretty much anyone else's..... but it'll probably take a little more beating over the head for him to clearly suss out what he's feeling.
Alright, on to Francescu. This one took them both by surprise, and Ken still isn't sure exactly what's going on between them. But I'll get to that. They first met when Ken was being haunted, because of his little rage problem. Sai (and by connection, Rosalyn) could feel when Ken's temper sparked, and at the point in canon I took Ken from, he was on the verge of developing a serious violence addiction, anyway. (Pre-Fight Fire with Fire, for the Weiss-savvy reading this.) Also, Ken was having issues keeping from attacking Ranma when the other teen provoked him. Francescu taught him how to focus and center himself, and between that and increasing his physical exercise regimen so he didn't feel so pent up, Ken got himself under control. Making friends helped a lot, too... talking to people is much healthier than arranging flowers and running deliveries all day, in Ken's case, because he's not alone to guilt/angst himself into oblivion. And at this point, Ken was talking to Francescu a lot.
They first kissed somewhat platonically, because Francescu never had, and that just didn't seem fair to Ken, who draws comfort from touch and affection. Things advanced from there fairly quickly due to a number of factors, the largest among them being Francescu's growing responsiveness to contact and the memory post, which pressed about half of Ken's trauma buttons at once. They kissed again, and in essence, Francescu offers stability, which is something that Ken has never really had. Ken trusts him, respects him, and is physically attracted to him, which doesn't quite equal love just yet, but could. Francescu has a lot in common with Yuriko, in that way... give it time, and it could turn into something permanent. Their relationship is currently something like boyfriends, except that Ken really doesn't want to call it that because it's a label doesn't exist in Francescu's world, and labels imply things. They're currently calling it 'together' and nothing more than that, and Ken knows, deep down, that if asked to pick between anyone and Omi, he'd pick Omi. Always. Even though that would hurt Francescu, who he cares about.
And because Weiss does everything in fours, I'm going to discuss George here, too. The poor girl is doomed, really, because at this point there's far too much guilt and emo attached to their relationship for it to become anything romantic. Yes, Ken likes her. She's sweet and funny and pretty and attracted to him, and if he hadn't responded to that, I would have checked his pulse to make sure he wasn't dead. If circumstances had been different, they could have been a cute couple. Unfortunately, Ken really horrible at dealing with these situations, and flailed and spazzed and refused to lie, and George cried and emo-ed, and it just turned into this gigantic mess. Currently, he's doing everything he can to save the friendship and her self-esteem, but it's wearing him a little thin.
In a nutshell: Ken is very very confused.
Thank you and goodnight.
Ken and Relationships (Camp)
If anyone reading this has read my Canon Relationships Write-up, you'll know that Ken has some issues. Everyone he's ever loved has left him. And not a breakup sort of leaving. A dead-now kind of leaving, or a try-to-kill-you kind of leaving, or in the least traumatizing case, a plane-to-Australia kind of leaving. For camp-canon, Omi vanished without a trace, and Ken didn't see him again for eight months, at which point he wound up at camp, too. And here's something Ken likes about camp. People can't leave him. Or die. They can try to kill him, but physically speaking, no one's going anywhere. This fact, combined with how Ken forms attachments at lightning-speed (a week with Yuriko, and he's considering moving to a different country with her), makes for a rather messy tangle of relationships.
When Ken first got to camp, his welcome was pretty diverse. There were the nonchalant, "oh, another camper," greetings. There was Omi's "KEN-KUN!" There were threats of bodily harm, guns pointed in his face, offers of tours, and warnings about where not to go and what not to do. And the first camper to really be nice to him was Swift.
Ken is not used to getting attention. He works in a shop with two very attractive men (Ran is exotic and mysterious, and Youji is tall, blond, and flirty) and Omi, who all the fangirls love. Ken got some attention, sure, but he wasn't the one the girls came to see, and I'm pretty sure his time in J-league turned him off the fangirl-spazzy type anyway. The one girl he has a relationship with in canon, Yuriko, is nothing like the fangirls... she's smart and athletic and wears pants, le gasp! Swift was the first person, campwise, to make him feel like he was worth something. Swift talked to Ken about his being an assassin, and his being just a little crazy, and didn't define him by it. He made Ken think that maybe there were other people out there who wouldn't, either. And Swift is... well... Ken's got eyes. And a crush. He knew, though, that nothing could come of it, because Swift has a family of sorts waiting back home. That, and learning a bit about Wraeththu culture, actually took a lot of pressure off.
The pressure didn't appear, exactly, until Ken started to figure out how he felt about Omi. See, Ken is oblivious to most things that involve him, including how he feels. He has trouble explaining and sometimes even identifying his emotions and actions; that's part of why he goes so nuts pre-Gluhen, I think. So coming to camp and finding out about Omi's relationships was a bit of a wake-up call. He was upset. And didn't understand why. Until he saw Omi and Swift kissing. And got upset again. At first he thought it was because he liked Swift, but that wasn't quite it... it took him awhile to figure it out, and relief at finding out that no, Swift and Omi weren't involved, but Ken realized that he had a thing for Omi. And talking to Swift (and kissing him; I'm pretty sure that Swift was the first person to hold/kiss Ken since episode 5, over a year ago) was actually boosting his self-esteem a little, for awhile there. He deluded himself into thinking that maybe he had a chance, since his friend was so happy to see him. Then..........
[And this is where I step OOC to explain a bit more. Ken is in love with Omi. He probably always will be; canon estrangement isn't enough to stop it, and neither are a few camp relationships. Ken is bad at understanding his feelings. He still wonders if he's misinterpreting, and it's some strange combination of friendly love and attraction and protectiveness or something. But he knows that it's serious, and that it'll probably never go away, and OOC, whoever becomes involved with Ken needs to know that he'll always have an Omi-torch.]
This? This is where it starts getting complicated. Ken is impulsive and just doesn't. think. about. consequences. Episode-something, he jumps into a pit with no way out to get to a poisoned Omi, without grabbing a rope or something first. And then screams for Aya and Youji to come get him out. (This is some kind of metaphor, seriously.) Ken just does things. So he's having a heart-to-heart with Omi, and kissing him felt right, so he did, and... yeah. Ken had figured at worst, Omi would spazz and tell him off. At the best, they'd have some sort of romantic relationship. Instead, Omi turned and ran, and rejected him properly later. Ken might have taken it alright if it wasn't for the fact that he knew Omi was out kissing other people. So it must have been him, and Omi must have been horrified, because running away is a pretty extreme reaction. Ken doesn't understand Omi's explanations about being teammates, he doesn't want to go to a different world, and he pretty much has himself convinced that Omi is just completely disinterested in him romantically. And that Omi deserves better than him anyway. He thinks that Omi wants the space, so he's trying to give it... Ken deals with things by beating himself down, and relationships are no different. It hurts to see Omi getting close to other people, but he cares for him and wants to be close to him, so he's telling himself to just deal with it, and not let it affect their friendship.
So.. of course, it's going to affect their friendship. He's vaguely uncomfortable talking to Omi about his romantic troubles with other people, because he's not sure he could take Omi being excited over the prospect of Ken having a relationship with someone. It seems to him like, "oh good, you won't be coming after me anymore." He also thinks it could be potentially awkward, like the time their mutual crush on Swift came up in conversation. Ken wants to be able to talk to Omi about these things, as they are best friends, and he values Omi's advice above pretty much anyone else's..... but it'll probably take a little more beating over the head for him to clearly suss out what he's feeling.
Alright, on to Francescu. This one took them both by surprise, and Ken still isn't sure exactly what's going on between them. But I'll get to that. They first met when Ken was being haunted, because of his little rage problem. Sai (and by connection, Rosalyn) could feel when Ken's temper sparked, and at the point in canon I took Ken from, he was on the verge of developing a serious violence addiction, anyway. (Pre-Fight Fire with Fire, for the Weiss-savvy reading this.) Also, Ken was having issues keeping from attacking Ranma when the other teen provoked him. Francescu taught him how to focus and center himself, and between that and increasing his physical exercise regimen so he didn't feel so pent up, Ken got himself under control. Making friends helped a lot, too... talking to people is much healthier than arranging flowers and running deliveries all day, in Ken's case, because he's not alone to guilt/angst himself into oblivion. And at this point, Ken was talking to Francescu a lot.
They first kissed somewhat platonically, because Francescu never had, and that just didn't seem fair to Ken, who draws comfort from touch and affection. Things advanced from there fairly quickly due to a number of factors, the largest among them being Francescu's growing responsiveness to contact and the memory post, which pressed about half of Ken's trauma buttons at once. They kissed again, and in essence, Francescu offers stability, which is something that Ken has never really had. Ken trusts him, respects him, and is physically attracted to him, which doesn't quite equal love just yet, but could. Francescu has a lot in common with Yuriko, in that way... give it time, and it could turn into something permanent. Their relationship is currently something like boyfriends, except that Ken really doesn't want to call it that because it's a label doesn't exist in Francescu's world, and labels imply things. They're currently calling it 'together' and nothing more than that, and Ken knows, deep down, that if asked to pick between anyone and Omi, he'd pick Omi. Always. Even though that would hurt Francescu, who he cares about.
And because Weiss does everything in fours, I'm going to discuss George here, too. The poor girl is doomed, really, because at this point there's far too much guilt and emo attached to their relationship for it to become anything romantic. Yes, Ken likes her. She's sweet and funny and pretty and attracted to him, and if he hadn't responded to that, I would have checked his pulse to make sure he wasn't dead. If circumstances had been different, they could have been a cute couple. Unfortunately, Ken really horrible at dealing with these situations, and flailed and spazzed and refused to lie, and George cried and emo-ed, and it just turned into this gigantic mess. Currently, he's doing everything he can to save the friendship and her self-esteem, but it's wearing him a little thin.
In a nutshell: Ken is very very confused.
Thank you and goodnight.