#also he can always remember their nerve layout so they’ll always be tied to him

[spindle-girl]

Interesting part of Alec's power is the timeframe for it. At best he can take someone over in 15 min, but it can also take hours. With Cherish we see her affect Ballistic in an instant, Heartbreaker is probably similar, but for Alec the best he can manage is messing with limbs. With how long fights actually take, he'll never be able to hijack anyone in one. Pretty much the only time he could take someone over is if he actively goes after them.

And that makes sense with what his situation was when he got powers. He didn't really want strangers to come and help him. Heroes have tried and failed and that only makes his living situation worse and his dad more quick to anger. He wants the people he's familiar with, the people that are constantly around him to step in and help. But they don't, so his power forces them to, so long as he knows them and knows them well.

(Can't remember if you've talked about this particular aspect of his power before @lakesbian but I saw you're recent post and started thinking)

[lakesbian]

#also he can always remember their nerve layout so they’ll always be tied to him#and they can't escape that hold he has over them#kinda like how he can't escape the hold being part of his family has over him

i've mentioned this at least once or twice before yeah but never in a lengthier essay. 100% indicative of where his trauma is stemming from that his power works on people better the longer he's been around them and has a "holding capacity" of, like, 4 people tops before he starts getting too distracted to puppet everyone. shows a focus on specifically needing to control a smaller group of people he's familiar with vs. taylor's power giving her control over lots of faceless/omnipresent organisms in a way that indicates she's more viewing Society As A Whole as something that's out to get her. <- this is one of the points ive brought up before.

it's not that he Didn't want strangers/heroes to help him--i actually think the fact that he would've appreciated help from general/normal society & never got it is 1. exactly why he ended up where he did and 2. something he still carries a lot of loathing and envy over (he's so mad at sophia 4 a reason). but his trauma and powers are overall more specifically focused on needing help from people within the tight cult environment he was raised in, and never receiving it. i think it's why he's so obviously ride or die for the undersiders, why he does shit like leaping to conclusions that bitch betrayed them + getting furious about it, why he's so incandescent when he finds out taylor really WAS going to betray them, etc. he's deep down both v closely attached to the Only People He's Ever Been Able To Trust + always scared about the idea of being betrayed/neglected again.

Interesting part of Alec's power is the timeframe for it. At best he can take someone over in 15 min, but it can also take hours. With Cherish we see her affect Ballistic in an instant, Heartbreaker is probably similar, but for Alec the best he can manage is messing with limbs. With how long fights actually take, he'll never be able to hijack anyone in one. Pretty much the only time he could take someone over is if he actively goes after them.

And that makes sense with what his situation was when he got powers. He didn't really want strangers to come and help him. Heroes have tried and failed and that only makes his living situation worse and his dad more quick to anger. He wants the people he's familiar with, the people that are constantly around him to step in and help. But they don't, so his power forces them to, so long as he knows them and knows them well.

(Can't remember if you've talked about this particular aspect of his power before @lakesbian but I saw you're recent post and started thinking)