#it's mildly anti derena but like. anti s6 derena

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

(submission) what are your thoughts on dan convicing serena to stay on the ues in s6? i hate that and i thought it was very out of character for dan (yes even for evil!dan) considering how dan was to jenny in 4x06, the fact that dan never stopped loving her (lmao, i get why blair would want serena to stay even knowing that it would better for her to leave but dan? if he truly loved her, why would u make her stay in that shithole???) and how important it was for serena and their relationship that dan wasnt from the ues and was different from its society (like serena said: WHY THE HELL would she stay or listen to him considering that place turned dan to “Bart Bass” lol) 

sorry, i ranted for too long. i would love to read your opinion. 

hmmm. honestly, i haven’t thought about this too much, mostly because analysing dan in s6 feels extremely redundant (evil!dan and all that.) i don’t think he loved her, i think he just sort of needed her because she was all he had left, and i think in that context it makes sense for him to ask her to stay (but it’s evil.) tbh i found it more creepy that he hung out with bart bass and used his friendship with bart bass in order to buy a flat in an “elite” apartment that wouldn’t have given him that house to live in otherwise, just so he could be serena’s neighbour. like, that is joe-level of creepy, and that is not dan. serena was like, done with him, and dan was like, sike! we’re neighbours now! 

i think that’s sort of the crux of evil!dan, in the sense of like. evil!dan needs serena. evil!dan cannot function without serena. evil!dan made all his other friends hate him, evil!dan hates his family. serena is all he has. serena is the only person he needs. he would do anything for serena. there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for serena. even if she’s explictly told him to stay away. he’s obsessed with her! this characterisation of dan really pisses me off; it makes even less sense than s5 serena (& that’s really saying something) and when people act like dan was ALWAYS this character i’m just like *blinks*. like, did we watch the same show? s1 dan would kill s6 dan with a knife to the neck.

ANYWAY. i didn’t think dan convincing serena to stay was super out of character. he was at this point where she was the only positive thing in his life, and he was ~evil~ on top of that. *halsey voice* he couldn’t stand the person inside him so he turned all the mirrors around. but serena made it better.

a more generous interpretation of that gesture…. i’ve got one. so bear with me a bit while i just, give context i guess.

serena leaving the ues wasn’t like, a “i’m going to follow my heart, i’ve always wanted to leave.” it was an “i hate who i’ve become, i hate what i feel, i hate everything this place symbolises, i’m going to run away.” it’s not unlike the first time she leaves, pre-season 1. the fact that nate & blair don’t know that she’s leaving i think is the BIGGEST tell. 

if serena was really leaving because she thought it’d make her happy, wouldn’t she tell nate & blair? nate wants serena to be happy, he wouldn’t stop her. blair, too, would initially be like :( but she wouldn’t force serena to stay if she could see that serena would truly be happy elsewhere, as long as serena keeps in touch and all that. serena leaving wasn’t self care; it was a trauma response, in my reading. she just snapped, and couldn’t take it anymore. 

and in that context, i think dan asking her to stay (bear in mind, i’m thinking regular!dan, dan my son, not evil!dan) makes sense. it could be in the context of, ‘you ran away once, serena, and when you got back you had to rebuild everything. if you really want to leave, i support you, but you should plan. you have to take care of yourself, and leaving like this is not taking care of yourself. this city has been cruel to you, but all the people who love you are here.’ i feel like dan would encourage her to think on it. not to just leave at the drop of a hat. but to spend a few days just making a plan. deciding on what she wants. and if she still wants to run away without telling a soul, then he’d let her. but i think he would encourage her to stop and think.

so yeah, my tl;dr response is basically: i think it was in character for evil!dan to beg her to stay and all that. he wanted her to stay for him. but were dan not evil, i think he would’ve still asked her to think over it. i think regular!dan would’ve wanted to know that whatever decision serena was making was a choice that was right for her. he would’ve made her reflect. and if she still wanted to leave, he would’ve let her go.