#i'm also planning on specializing in art therapy and can we agree terry would thrive having a therapist that is like

[sluttyspiderkinnie]

Oh boy, here I go deeply speculating upon and psychoanalyzing my emotional support aliens again!

@korvotron’s post about unstable gray hole got me thinking a bit more about both terry and korvo’s desires to be liked, and also has me once again begging for/manifesting some more background info about their lives on Shlorp pre-mission or meeting. (sorry it's a little long, but i think it's good n worth reading)

We don’t know a whole lot yet but what I speculate and headcanon until being presented with other evidence or info is that on Shlorp Korvo was decently popular, and Terry was not well liked.

I think a big piece of why Terry wants to be liked so badly on earth has to do with the fact that on Shlorp, nobody was really allowed any sense of individuality or a lot of choice with their lives. We know he hated the whole conformity is cool thing, and we know that being very openly expressive with your emotions on Shlorp was considered to be at least a little bit taboo. He loves being somewhere he can express himself and be an individual but it also makes him feel way more vulnerable at the same time, because when people dislike him on earth, it’s for things way more personal than like, not buttoning a robe the same way everyone else does or smth. I bet he felt super lonely and like nobody really knew him (apart from Terri I’m assuming, bring my girl back I want more background on her too) on Shlorp. And when it comes to Korvo obviously he wants the validation that he is more than willing to openly give to him reciprocated, but he knows Korvo is all repressed and shit so he just doubles down on trying to validate or just does whatever Korvo wants even when he doesn’t want to or doesn’t agree, in the hopes that it’ll bring Korvo further out of his emotional shell. (PLEASE don’t do this it is so unhealthy and it makes me so sad to see :((( even though i love these two ugh i just want them to work on effective communication)

Korvo, on the other hand, was doing just fine and really enjoyed his life on Shlorp. He likes structure, he likes rules, and he thrived in the Shlorpian environment because it aligned well with that and it also made him pretty well liked. Despite his low regard for earth and the majority of humans, it’s frustrating and difficult for him adjusting to the fact that he went from popularity to basically everyone hating him. He might hate humans but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t upset him when they don’t like him. As for the few people he genuinely does like and want approval from (despite the fact that he will never admit it)? Oh man. It’s not like he doesn’t have feelings or emotions, but he is real bad at expressing them, after a lifetime of living in a society that encouraged him to bottle them in and probably never think about them too much. Because he’s still pretty repressed and uncomfortable being vulnerable, a lot of times he ends up snapping and being mean to everyone he loves or just doing something absolutely nuts like getting dinner parties outlawed because he can’t just say “i miss you and want to spend time with you”. Obviously he loves and cares about Terry but I’m sure he’s also still not done reeling over the fact that he deeply cares about this dude he would’ve never in a million years ever wanted to hang out with on Shlorp and it is very scary admitting that Terry has the power to hurt his feelings at all, so it’s easier to be mean or say something demeaning to feel like he has a bit more power than he really actually does. (Korvy please go to therapy i love u and hate that ur so repressed)