[ooc] Anita and love.
In-game, Anita reacts badly to emotional relationships with other people - specifically, falling in love. In a way it's cute, but at the same time it strikes her as a little odd. At this age she should be developing at least some interest in boys, or at least stop treating people like social pariahs every time she hears about it.
So why does she react so badly? Consider Anita's personal history, which is a huge amnesiac blank for ten out of thirteen years. Afterwards, she lives with her sisters, both of whom would rather have a good book than a hot date on any given day of the week. All Paper Masters, with the exception of Anita (THANKS TRAUMA) go absolutely crazy with books, using all their senses to intimately know a book. See volume one of R.O.D: Yomiko looks like she's just tumbled out of the bedroom after looking at a particularly rare book in the first chapter. Paper Masters, in general, love books so much that they'd be willing to forsake a lot else, including human relationships. Definitely not role models for Anita.
Anita's 'true' history doesn't lend itself to a lot of social exposure, especially among her own peer group. She was born in the British Library as a test subject to see if a Paper Master could not like books. Since no powers manifested, she was deemed a failure. Way to go, self-esteem. From the brief scene we get of her, Anita appeared to be a pretty happy kid in the Library, running around and...er, running, but there were no other kids in the library, let alone a friend her age. After the fire she was kidnapped by Dokusensha and studied so Dokusensha could copy the British Library's results - again, not conducive to peer interaction. All the Paper Sisters (there's no evidence that men were ever made, save for Sunny Wong) that Dokusensha created developed their own psychological problems, leaving them unable to function on their own. Dokusensha wrote up fake memories for each of the girls, then staged meetings between them so they could learn to work together as a team and a family. Joker later comments that the writers for Maggie, Michelle and Anita's memories must have been "exceptional", since they're the only surviving set of sisters.
So really, even though Anita doesn't remember these years, it's probably better that she doesn't. Not remembering that you were a lab specimen for your childhood years is probably better, let alone making friends and interacting with other people. The Anita I play thinks she was in orphanages and foster homes before meeting Maggie and Michelle, although memories of that are extremely vague.
After meeting Maggie and Michelle the three sisters set up the Three Sisters Detective Agency, where they work as a family to solve mysteries, often around books. Given the amount of time Anita spends at home or on a case, I assume that Anita never went to school. (I highly suspect that the sisters were living in Hong Kong illegally, but that's just a hunch.) She doesn't seem to have any friends except for the people who come to their apartment for help. Those don't count by a long shot.
In short, the only people Anita really knows are her sisters. Anita's never really had the opportunity to get to know someone intimately enough to develop a relationship. She's also never seen in demonstrated by her sisters (I grin when I remember Luna's reaction at hearing that Anita's 25-year-old sister never went on a date).
Skip to the beginning of ROD TV. When Natsume (an overdramatic classmate of Anita's) implies that Anita and Tohru secretly love each other under the veil of hate, both Anita and Tohru yell at Natsume for being stupid. Tohru then goes on to say that's why he hates girls, they're always assuming things; Anita yells that she hates him too.
Okay, after years of not speaking to another boy, Tohru and Natsume are the first major impressions Anita gets about boys and love. And really, it's not a pleasant impression.
At camp I imagine that Anita's going to mature a little. She's already friends with Kyon, Jun, Ken and a bunch of other guys that I probably forgot to mention, and they are not jerks most of the time. I predict that she'll eventually move away from "OH MY GAWD YOU'RE DOING WHAT?!" to mild shock, maybe even a congratulations. Yeah, it'll take a while BUT SHE'S GETTING THERE.
Now we get to the future part where Anita actually likes boys and may consider dating them and the few campers she yelled at start collecting their long-awaited payouts. As for a boyfriend, Anita's really looking for someone to look after her, consciously or subconsciously. The only people she loves are her sisters, who've sworn to protect her from everything. (Did you watch the last episode of ROD TV? That makes me cry every time.) Anita won't admit it, but she relies on people (thank you, British Library and Dokusensha, for making my awesome character such a clingy person at heart) and would go ballistic if her precious person is taken away from her. It even overrides her phobia of fire...although I might be confusing it because she thought said people had died in the fire.
ANYWAY. YES. Potential future boyfriend must be protective of her, completely immune to her insane ravings, able to withstand physical abuse and deal with a mysterious past (so mysterious that not even Anita knows what it is!) and all psychological issues stemming from it. Applications open when Anita turns fourteen, minimum, because I really don't want to think about what something not exactly non-consensual will do to her. Anita's got enough issues on her plate already.
So, to summarize:
I was originally going to essay about Anita and sex, but. Well. I wanted to do something that wouldn't damn my soul to Hell. Maybe tomorrow.
So why does she react so badly? Consider Anita's personal history, which is a huge amnesiac blank for ten out of thirteen years. Afterwards, she lives with her sisters, both of whom would rather have a good book than a hot date on any given day of the week. All Paper Masters, with the exception of Anita (THANKS TRAUMA) go absolutely crazy with books, using all their senses to intimately know a book. See volume one of R.O.D: Yomiko looks like she's just tumbled out of the bedroom after looking at a particularly rare book in the first chapter. Paper Masters, in general, love books so much that they'd be willing to forsake a lot else, including human relationships. Definitely not role models for Anita.
Anita's 'true' history doesn't lend itself to a lot of social exposure, especially among her own peer group. She was born in the British Library as a test subject to see if a Paper Master could not like books. Since no powers manifested, she was deemed a failure. Way to go, self-esteem. From the brief scene we get of her, Anita appeared to be a pretty happy kid in the Library, running around and...er, running, but there were no other kids in the library, let alone a friend her age. After the fire she was kidnapped by Dokusensha and studied so Dokusensha could copy the British Library's results - again, not conducive to peer interaction. All the Paper Sisters (there's no evidence that men were ever made, save for Sunny Wong) that Dokusensha created developed their own psychological problems, leaving them unable to function on their own. Dokusensha wrote up fake memories for each of the girls, then staged meetings between them so they could learn to work together as a team and a family. Joker later comments that the writers for Maggie, Michelle and Anita's memories must have been "exceptional", since they're the only surviving set of sisters.
So really, even though Anita doesn't remember these years, it's probably better that she doesn't. Not remembering that you were a lab specimen for your childhood years is probably better, let alone making friends and interacting with other people. The Anita I play thinks she was in orphanages and foster homes before meeting Maggie and Michelle, although memories of that are extremely vague.
After meeting Maggie and Michelle the three sisters set up the Three Sisters Detective Agency, where they work as a family to solve mysteries, often around books. Given the amount of time Anita spends at home or on a case, I assume that Anita never went to school. (I highly suspect that the sisters were living in Hong Kong illegally, but that's just a hunch.) She doesn't seem to have any friends except for the people who come to their apartment for help. Those don't count by a long shot.
In short, the only people Anita really knows are her sisters. Anita's never really had the opportunity to get to know someone intimately enough to develop a relationship. She's also never seen in demonstrated by her sisters (I grin when I remember Luna's reaction at hearing that Anita's 25-year-old sister never went on a date).
Skip to the beginning of ROD TV. When Natsume (an overdramatic classmate of Anita's) implies that Anita and Tohru secretly love each other under the veil of hate, both Anita and Tohru yell at Natsume for being stupid. Tohru then goes on to say that's why he hates girls, they're always assuming things; Anita yells that she hates him too.
Okay, after years of not speaking to another boy, Tohru and Natsume are the first major impressions Anita gets about boys and love. And really, it's not a pleasant impression.
At camp I imagine that Anita's going to mature a little. She's already friends with Kyon, Jun, Ken and a bunch of other guys that I probably forgot to mention, and they are not jerks most of the time. I predict that she'll eventually move away from "OH MY GAWD YOU'RE DOING WHAT?!" to mild shock, maybe even a congratulations. Yeah, it'll take a while BUT SHE'S GETTING THERE.
Now we get to the future part where Anita actually likes boys and may consider dating them and the few campers she yelled at start collecting their long-awaited payouts. As for a boyfriend, Anita's really looking for someone to look after her, consciously or subconsciously. The only people she loves are her sisters, who've sworn to protect her from everything. (Did you watch the last episode of ROD TV? That makes me cry every time.) Anita won't admit it, but she relies on people (thank you, British Library and Dokusensha, for making my awesome character such a clingy person at heart) and would go ballistic if her precious person is taken away from her. It even overrides her phobia of fire...although I might be confusing it because she thought said people had died in the fire.
ANYWAY. YES. Potential future boyfriend must be protective of her, completely immune to her insane ravings, able to withstand physical abuse and deal with a mysterious past (so mysterious that not even Anita knows what it is!) and all psychological issues stemming from it. Applications open when Anita turns fourteen, minimum, because I really don't want to think about what something not exactly non-consensual will do to her. Anita's got enough issues on her plate already.
So, to summarize:
- Anita didn't understand friends because she never had any except for her sisters.
- Anita doesn't understand relationships because her first and lasting impression of boys was that they're all jerks.
- Anita doesn't understand love because the only people she loves are her sisters and the only things her sisters love are books (which she hates/fears).
I was originally going to essay about Anita and sex, but. Well. I wanted to do something that wouldn't damn my soul to Hell. Maybe tomorrow.