#this guy👆 is wow! ❤️🦆

[morballs]

i don't discuss much about my Duck lives AU outside of design elements and the context behind them, but I feel like Duck's and Kenny's relationship would be intriguing to explore...

Within the game canon, it's mentioned and somewhat shown that Kenny takes a more distant parenting approach with his son, especially throughout his earlier years, where Kenny mentions that he often went fishing for long periods of time to get away from his family (to which he laments about regretting later on). Personally, I like this attribute about their dynamic. While Kenny obviously deeply cares for his son, he'd still probably not entertain his interests beyond surface level, which would ultimately develop into him being clueless and/or ignorant to how his son has changed over the years, even if they spend majority of their time together. I see their relationship as becoming strained in my AU. Sure, they have their cute moments every now and then, but ultimately their disputes and arguments overpower these warm and fuzzy instances. Kenny's character in the first two seasons are best described as aloof and resentful, often holding grudges and usually letting his emotions lead his actions. A prime example would be when if Lee choses to be against killing Larry in the meat locker, as in the following episode, Kenny decides to run away from the walkers attacking Lee in the drug store, trying to use him as bait for his own escape because his vendetta against Lee not taking his side back then (to which he obviously survives... dumbass bitch) He's openly affectionate towards Clementine in season 2, mostly because he sees Duck in her, and takes her return as a sign to correct his wrongs when it came to raising Duck. (He admits this, IIRC) But since he has no real need to redeem himself through his own guilt of losing his son, he'd likely keep Clem and AJ at arms length... But since Duck survived, he feels as if he's done a good enough job of raising his boy. "He's still alive and kicking, right?" kind of mentality I guess... Kenny believes that his aloof demeanor towards Duck had successfully worked with toughening him up for this new world. Duck obviously views this differently, often struggling with the idea that his father might view him as a massive disappointment, and therefore imagines himself as being useless or a burden, to which this ultimately just creates a greater rift in their relationship.

With Duck being a kid in the second and third seasons, he struggles with a healthy outlet to vent his frustrations, and even struggles finding a name to the emotions that he's experiencing. While caught in the throes of being a pre-teen to early teenager, he begins acting more and more spiteful towards his father, maybe through distancing himself physically and emotionally (Kenny doesn't notice), becoming hostile or downright acting physically aggressive with either him or Clementine, who "got in his way in the middle of an outburst." He doesn't have much time to grieve when his father either dies or goes missing, filing their complicated kinship away for another day to dissect thoroughly. Or he simply just doesn't want to accept the reality of the situation he was caught in; having never had the chance to mend their relationship or at least shown care for his father until it was too late.

HWATVER!!!! what im trying to say. is that. Duck is a complex character full of complex emotions that got handled unfairly, this probably left him emotionally stunted and inexperienced with the fragility of relationships and bonds. While he'd definitely be an extrovert, he'd genuinely struggle with debating whether or not he should seek true, and raw friendships with people, as they'd either die, disband, or turn against him.

He'd only truly be close to Clem and AJ.

yay!!!