(no subject)
I wanted to do a little write up on why Dairine is being fussy and argumentative in camp. TRUTH BE TOLD I'm kind of just making this up as I go along from how I remember her from canon so! We'll see. This state was a really natural occurrence and I wasn't thinking about it at all until recently.
So! Dairine is 11. This is very important because sometimes she actually acts her age! Shocking.
A short breakdown of events that happened within six months of her coming to camp:
-Her mom dying of cancer
-Her best friend disappearing
Okay, so that's only two things but they're two VERY BIG things that inform how she's dealing with being away from home. Hint: not well. I think that if it were before her mom dying (like with her ordeal where she was gone for awhile) then it would be a different story, but you can't tell me that an 11 year old who has just watched her mom die isn't going to run the scenario of that happening to everyone else while she's away. She misses her sister because sisters have a special bond and no one knows her as well as Nita does, even if they bicker all of the time. But mostly she misses her dad. She just really wants a hug from him and to sit with him while he reads the paper and does normal dad stuff. In canon, a lot of emphasis is put on the fact that the girls get comfort from knowing their dad is just doing normal stuff. Dairine can't confirm how they're doing so she's a little freaked out.
She's also really mad that Nita left her a note at Christmas. It should be comforting to know that her sister was there and that she got out, but for Dairine it feels like a challenge or a betrayal. Like, "look what I can do that you can't. Look what I did and now you're stuck, sucker." She's mad about that because she's frustrated about her own inability to leave. That frustration gets channeled into her conversations with people. She gets ultra-defensive and snaps at others when she's not getting the results she wants. She desperately wants to be treated like an adult but doesn't always react like she deserves to |D She got into an argument with Rictor because she wants him to trust her, and she's talked herself into the idea that if he trusts her then he'll share details about his life with her. Never mind that she's not all that interested in opening up to him. Except when she is.
Dairine really wants someone to talk to about stuff but she feels like they have to earn it, so while stuff that's bothering her is on the tip of her tongue, she'll often clam up. If people try to get her to talk, then at least she knows that what she has to say is worth the trouble to them. I think Dairine, as a younger sibling, spends a lot of time trying to get someone's attention but doesn't always know what to do with it when she's got it. So there's some pretty solid emotional immaturity.
OH one more thing. Her power levels are super duper low. They're tied in with her emotional state and they dropped dramatically after her mom passed, so I can only imagine with all of the above factors, they're not doing so well. Which makes her more frustrated because it's not something she can control, so it's a mini-spiral of doom.
IN SHORT wow I totally didn't expect for this to creep up on me like this BUT IT HAS AND HERE WE ARE.
So! Dairine is 11. This is very important because sometimes she actually acts her age! Shocking.
A short breakdown of events that happened within six months of her coming to camp:
-Her mom dying of cancer
-Her best friend disappearing
Okay, so that's only two things but they're two VERY BIG things that inform how she's dealing with being away from home. Hint: not well. I think that if it were before her mom dying (like with her ordeal where she was gone for awhile) then it would be a different story, but you can't tell me that an 11 year old who has just watched her mom die isn't going to run the scenario of that happening to everyone else while she's away. She misses her sister because sisters have a special bond and no one knows her as well as Nita does, even if they bicker all of the time. But mostly she misses her dad. She just really wants a hug from him and to sit with him while he reads the paper and does normal dad stuff. In canon, a lot of emphasis is put on the fact that the girls get comfort from knowing their dad is just doing normal stuff. Dairine can't confirm how they're doing so she's a little freaked out.
She's also really mad that Nita left her a note at Christmas. It should be comforting to know that her sister was there and that she got out, but for Dairine it feels like a challenge or a betrayal. Like, "look what I can do that you can't. Look what I did and now you're stuck, sucker." She's mad about that because she's frustrated about her own inability to leave. That frustration gets channeled into her conversations with people. She gets ultra-defensive and snaps at others when she's not getting the results she wants. She desperately wants to be treated like an adult but doesn't always react like she deserves to |D She got into an argument with Rictor because she wants him to trust her, and she's talked herself into the idea that if he trusts her then he'll share details about his life with her. Never mind that she's not all that interested in opening up to him. Except when she is.
Dairine really wants someone to talk to about stuff but she feels like they have to earn it, so while stuff that's bothering her is on the tip of her tongue, she'll often clam up. If people try to get her to talk, then at least she knows that what she has to say is worth the trouble to them. I think Dairine, as a younger sibling, spends a lot of time trying to get someone's attention but doesn't always know what to do with it when she's got it. So there's some pretty solid emotional immaturity.
OH one more thing. Her power levels are super duper low. They're tied in with her emotional state and they dropped dramatically after her mom passed, so I can only imagine with all of the above factors, they're not doing so well. Which makes her more frustrated because it's not something she can control, so it's a mini-spiral of doom.
IN SHORT wow I totally didn't expect for this to creep up on me like this BUT IT HAS AND HERE WE ARE.