#tonally like. the way of the house husband manga. youre all playing 3d chess political maneuvers over when a 16-year-old luz goes to bed

[crimeronan]

Is Darius fully aware that Luz is actually the younger sibling? Because if not I imagine it would be pretty hilarious when he finds out.

Also I really like Raine slowly finding out that new Empress is actually pretty on board with everything they want reforms and freedoms wise, but Luz is just also painfully distracted worrying about Hunter constantly which just gets in the way of Raine's suggestions. Raine realising slowly that they're dealing with a scared child who shares their goals and not an evil political mastermind.

Darius: Just how is she controlling him and inspiring this much loyalty from him? He refuses to question her at all. She must be a master manipulator.

Raine: *slowly realising with every interaction that Luz is in fact genuinely well intentioned but deeply traumatised and terrified about the possibility of harm coming to Hunter and is in need of a hug, parents and therapy*

i think that darius definitely knows that luz is younger than hunter, but that he doesn't know how much that's reflected in their dynamic, if that makes sense? like. darius sees them as a princess/empress and her subordinate, without age factoring into it. to him, this is a dynamic where luz has all the power and hunter is an uncomplicated victim. and where hunter has been manipulated to a point where he doesn't REALIZE he's being victimized

i feel like the entire dynamic would/will make a HELL OF A LOT MORE SENSE to him if and when he finds out that hunter protects luz much more like a parentified older sibling who's paranoid than like a guy with a dogshit job and no sense of self. like oh, okay. yeah. that tracks. no wonder you two Are The Way You Are. For Fuck's Fucking Sake

this whole ask is SO SPOT ON. @turretpolygamy and a couple anons helped with concepting an alternate hollow mind a few months back (idr if you were here / part of it?), where darius and raine enter luz's mindscape to figure out what she's up to after belos dies, and raine is pretty quickly like. alright. darius. you overthought this. this is a baby.

there's a certain horror to darius and raine finding out exactly what luz and hunter's lives have looked like prior to belos's death because holy FUCK. but at the same time there's So Much humor in it, like. imagine you've been playing life-or-death politics and committing treason under a fascist government's nose for years-to-decades, knowing that doing so can and will get you and all of your loved ones So So So So So Murdered, and then suddenly your biggest problem is taking care of a pair of well-intentioned kids who keep having panic attacks when asked to spend six hours apart. it's such a wild sitcom-esque setup for all four of them like how do you . how do you even approach this. you are all insane people. you are all insane people thinking up insane person solutions to incredibly mundane problems. it's DELIGHTFUL.