#and this is something that i feel goes very against the fanon interp!

[rxttenfish]

also thinking about this in terms of one of my most... controversial choices for miranda, i guess? is that i dont think she actually responds to words of affirmation. like. complimenting miranda and showering her in pretty words isnt actually what she wants nor even really likes.

now dont get me wrong, i think she often SAYS she wants that, but i do think she also knows enough about herself to be aware that she doesnt actually like them very much.

and mostly thats because. theyre cheap to her. like its the single thing that miranda gets the most of from everyone in her life, to the point of it being constant and a part of the royal posturing towards each other, which i feel is the issue. everyone does it for her, but basically no one who actually says it means anything by it. shes smart enough to know when someone says something without meaning it, she knows how little words actually amounts to, she knows words are just another tool to catch and hurt someone and have to be wielded as such.

i think its just an expectation from her. that, yes, they should be saying this, not necessarily because she wants it but because its acknowledging her position and her title and thus sets a basic foundation for the rest of the way she moves through the world.

honestly, if anything, i think miranda actually likes the opposite? like, i feel like she gets along much more with liam in canon when he disagrees with her and. not really insults her. does his liam-isms? where hes incapable of not being immediately sincere about whatever he feels about whatever is happening, and most of the time he shows his disapproval and distaste, and i feel like miranda gets along with him more in those moments than she ever does getting fawning attention and compliments from the PCs. i feel like she gets along more with vera and damien when theyre more hesitant to outright offer her praise.

like, i think miranda is someone who is INTENSELY aware of what someone's actual feelings are and what their true motives might be, and so she wants actual proof that someone likes her or enjoys her presence or sincerely enjoys something that she does much, much more than ever being told these things do. if anything, i feel like she gets along best with people who dont want to say what they really feel for this reason, or cant be stopped from speaking negatively, because they paradoxically mean so much more to miranda when she does pick up on their true feelings.

i really do feel like miranda is someone for whom words are entirely worthless and not something she gives a shit about, and entirely cares about actions and gestures that require a lot more commitment to them than words ever will.

having some kind of thought with both aaravi and miranda in that everyone wants bossy, growly, destructive, aggressive, dominant people, but they never want to actually deal with them or be forced to reconcile that they are, in fact, whole ass people on their own too