#my dad is hershel layton without trauma if you will

[worriesndoodles]

i have some feelings about work that are so weird and complicated and i feel like it shouldnt be but it is!!!

i am kinda doing what i enjoy (that also balances my burnout since i decided not to go into gamedev or illustration for my mental healths sake at least for now) but obviously there are stressful moments and a lot of the time i have to remind myself that i dont dream of labour, i dont live to work. and then there are times where i genuinely am having fun at work and get hyperfocused and cant stop doing things and....i also have to remind myself of the same "i dont live to work" mantra??

my workplace is probably genuinely one of the best places out there in terms of worker treatment in the bigger structure of things but i also dont want to become a workaholic just because i dont hate my job. does this make any sense?

[cry-stars]

Hershel Layton and LayClaire for the meme?

Thank you so much! I’m sorry, this is super long.

Hershel Layton: 

How I feel about this character: 

I love Layton! I really love how, even though he’s a Sherlock Holmes-style genius and puzzle-solver, he has none of the arrogance that usually shows up in those kinds of characters. He’s gentle and kind, and always tries his best to protect others. He just has this calming effect on everything around him, somehow. I love how he shows mercy and kindness even to people that are rude to him or who have hurt him. He’s a true gentleman and really inspires me to be like him, honestly.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: 

I don’t actively ship him with anyone, but I have some fondness for both Layclaire and Layemmy, the latter mostly because of my friends who like the ship!

My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

Layton and all of his students/children, but especially Clive, haha… the two of them are very similar in a lot of ways, and I really love the idea of Layton deciding to extend mercy to Clive and helping him become a better person, and along the way, learning that maybe Clive also has some ways to help him as well.

My unpopular opinion about this character: 

Um… I don’t think he’s an awful dad. I think he’s pretty good, if a bit distant. He’s always kind and thoughtful, and always concerned for Flora’s safety (and I assume Alfendi and Katrielle too; I still haven’t finished Kat’s game). Layton’s main problem is that he doesn’t plan on being a dad, but when someone is in need of a guardian or caretaker, he just can’t say no and jumps to helping them, perhaps without being emotionally prepared. His first instinct is to help. Like, for Flora, Layton just wanted to solve an inheritance dispute, but finds a girl at the top of the tower who has no parents, likes him, and wants to go to London with him. How could he say, “sorry, I’m not ready to be your dad?” and leave her behind? 

Layton just needs to learn when to ask for help himself; he has parents and friends that could be a support system if he asked them. I think that he really tries his best, though, and there’s no way that he would ever be abusive or neglectful. I think he really should listen to Flora, of course; I love Flora to bits and I think the way he leaves her behind is awful. I just think that people need to think about Layton’s past, and how he’s trying his best to fill a position that he may never have been ready to take. It’s a grey area, for sure.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I wish Layton got more closure regarding all of the horrible things that happened to him. His long-lost brother vanishes, seemingly dead. His biological dad goes to jail. His best friend returns from the dead, and they never even get a conversation together. Claire dies twice, and while they got a final goodbye, he learned that she was alive and watched her die again all in the space of one day. So many awful things happen to him so quickly, and he never gets the chance to process them.

my OTP:

Layton/therapy

my cross over ship:

Not romantic, but I love his interactions with Phoenix and Maya so much. I want to see them go on another adventure together (this time with Flora! And maybe Trucy or Pearl from AA).

a headcanon fact:

I’ve thought for a long time that Layton has PTSD, but ordinarily manages to hide it quite well. This is why he’s so reticent and doesn’t show his emotions very much, for fear of losing control, and also why he tries so hard to be helpful and understanding to others who share similar traumatic backgrounds to him (for example, why he takes Flora in, why he wants to help Clive, and why he so quickly takes Luke in as an apprentice). It started after Randall’s death, became worse after Claire’s first death, and was re-triggered for a third time after Claire’s second death and Luke’s move overseas. Layton was trying to help Clive after this by visiting him, but seeing the similarities between Clive’s PTSD and and his own, and seeing Flora and Clive’s concern for him, he was finally convinced to go and get help for his own trauma.

 Layclaire:

when I started shipping it if I did:

I’ve always shipped them casually because I enjoyed the story of PL3 so much.

my thoughts:

Layclaire is one of those complicated ones for me, where I like it in canon and don’t have a problem with it, but I don’t get butterflies thinking about them like I do for my OTPs. Recently though, I got a little more invested in shipping them after reading an old post about the parallels between Layclaire and Clive’s parents. (Of course it was Clive related… :P) Basically, I don’t ship them hard, but I appreciate how they work together in the story and how they make PL3’s story meaningful.

What makes me happy about them:

I love how Claire was such a wonderful new part of Layton’s life! After playing the prequels, we know how tumultuous his early life was, and after losing Randall and having to leave Stansbury, I imagine that Hershel felt pretty lost. Claire’s bright-eyed idealism and motivation might have inspired Hershel, and likewise, Hershel’s quieter nature might have been grounding to Claire.

What makes me sad about them:

Claire’s dead…

Also, I wish we got to know Claire a little better! Maybe if we got to play as young Hershel in a similar way to playing as teen!him in Miracle Mask? I’d like to get to know Claire in the same way that we got to know teen Randall; it might make her loss more meaningful. (I know Clark and Brenda didn’t exist yet, but it would’ve been fun to see them too during a flashback!)

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

I haven’t read a lot of Layclaire fanfics, honestly, so I’m not sure. I don’t know if this is the case in any, but I’d be a bit annoyed if Claire was the “manic pixie dream girl” to a depressed Layton and cured his depression, or something. At the same time, I do think she would have helped him a lot, so I might not be too picky with this. 

things I look for in fanfic:

I love fanfics that build on Claire’s character, or give her more of a backstory! Take Two, which is an AU in which Claire survives the explosion and she and Layton adopt Clive, gives Claire a lot of good backstory; she was an adopted child herself, for example. It also lets her grapple with feelings of guilt over having caused the explosion. People often let Layton feel darker emotions in fanfics, but I don’t often see Claire being allowed to have that range of emotion (although again, I admit that I haven’t read a lot of Layclaire-centric stories, just ones that have Layclaire as a part of a bigger plot). Basically, I’d like to see Claire grow as a character, and see her be allowed to feel darker emotions like Layton is allowed to.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

I’m not sure… Maybe Emmy for Layton? And Claire could become bros for life with Dimitri.

My happily ever after for them:

In a canon-like universe, I’m okay with Claire dying, to be honest (although I feel bad saying that) but I wish that she and Layton had a bit more time together. Maybe if they had a week where they could talk through everything they never got the chance to? In a universe where Claire never died, I’d like to see her as a part of Layton’s other adventures, becoming Flora’s mom and being a mentor to Luke.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Layton’s the little spoon, I think, but Claire lets him be the big spoon sometimes.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

They love to ramble to each other about their projects. They’ll make a pot of tea, and sit down, and talk through what they’re excited about and what they’re having troubles with, and give each other advice. Even though they’re in separate fields of study, they always give each other new ideas. I think that they might have been planning an interdisciplinary project together on Azran technology before the explosion.