#which now that I think about it is a very YJH line of thought lmao

[renirae]

reading ORV fanfiction is just thinking "how can one man be so stupid (affectionate)" on repeat the entire fic

[your--isgayrights]

i Really love your take on kdj's relationship with the kids id love to hear more of your thoughts on them :]

Yessss okay. So like the big thing with SYS is that she's KDJ'S "incarnation," I think that even though she's not like he was as a kid she's the most similar to how he is now if that makes sense. Her relationship to LGY is sort of like KDJ and HSY's friendship where they argue and antagonize one another but are ultimately united by like fundamentally shared interests. So whereas when giving advice to LGY KDJ is often surprised by the outcome or LGY's reaction, with SYS his words will strike a bit more true. Idk if this is TMI or not, but as 3 & 4 explore KDJ'S relationships with his people, chapter 5 gets into his relationships to YJH's people, which will include a SYS moment where you may see what I'm talking about...

I think that the kids are really funny too. I tutored kids in highschool at my local math center and they're sooo funny is the thing, they are just little people lmao. I think that issues I have with people who write kids is that they just ascribe them the personality/role of "kid" and leave it at that. I think that works just fine when they only need two or three lines, but sometimes the caretaker role is important in an adult character's arc and for that to work you NEED TO UNDERSTAND KID PROBLEMS. Things are sooo dramatic and sooo important when you're a kid is the thing. Like half the things that are happening to you are happening for literally the first time ever and that's fucking! Dramatic! Important! Foundational!

This is also very much the influence of me 1. Psychoanalyzing myself and retaining a lot of memories from being a kid myself 2. Studying developmental psych for a while, and 3. Working with kids and babysitting, but like... The thing about kids in particular is that whenever they act in certain ways that is like... Coming from Somewhere, you know? I think ORV does a good job of showing this in how the kids start imitating KDJ'S self-negligence and try to act as grownups. I think sometimes it's hard for grown ups to see how they effect their kids if they don't put a lot of focus into being self-aware, because then they can't recognize what behaviors their kids are copying/responding to in them.

Like I have a little map of SYS's Issues I've put hints at through chapter 3 and want to get into later, but if you take LGY for instance, you see how he's overly formal and business-like at the beginning of things. That's very much him trying to imitate adults and put on the affectation of being an adult. After his parents died, it's hard for him to feel like he's a kid anymore, because he doesn't know any other kids who are going through what he's been through. Therefore he begins to act like he's an adult to normalize being on his own without a supportive guardian.

What KDJ does without realizing it is that he engages with LGY on that level that he projects, respecting his desire to behave like an adult in accepting his "sales commission." At this point LGY isn't ready to be treated like a kid by an adult again, that doesn't feel safe to him. As the bug deal continues, LGY begins to test the boundaries of this "business-like" relationship — bringing titano over, asking if Hyung has any snacks, just sitting on Hyung's couch reading comics after he's done with the bugs for the day — and since KDJ is a pushover this experimentarion leads to the attitude you see in Chapter 3 where he boldly declares to the still overly-polite SYS that Hyung is cool and doesn't care if they make a mess of his house. Without either of them really realizing it, KDJ has made his presence as a responsible adult and his home somewhere where it is safe for LGY to be a kid again. That's what allows him to become friends with SYS, whereas he couldn't connect with his cousins or other kids before, his friendship with SYS is nurtured by this environment where he doesn't have to be an adult, he doesn't feel like he's living in a different world than another kid here. SYS hasn't had the same realization and tries to be polite to every adult, and then, LGY arguing with her is where her childish side gets to show, thus it's an important relationship for her as well.

You can see how SYS's relationship with Yoo Mia is a lot different. In chapter 3 she does a lot to appease YMA, so it may seem like YMA is bossing her around. In reality, this is SYS trying to perform the role of an adult. To escape acknowledging her own mother's negligence, she tries to take on the role of caretaker herself. We see this in the way she looks after her pets and also the way she tries to appease the slightly younger YMA, versus the indelicate way she treats LGY who is closer to her in size and age. Then YMA is obviously imitating her brother, haha...

Oh about my age/height head cannons. I think SYS is the tallest and YMA is the shortest. Then, the way that ages work in South Korea is that all ages switch over in the new year and everyone starts at "1" when they're born. So, in my interpretation, YMA was born closer to before the new year and SYS and LGY were born closer to after the new year (in the same year), so even though they'd all be in the same grade, YMA is actually nearly a year younger. That age difference matters a lot in earlier years, so I think that SYS feels a bit of responsibility to be an older sister to YMA because she knew her from when she first started living with YJH when they were 6 or 7 (I think?) and developed a habit of being overly indulgent and trying to spoil her like she would a kitten.

Vs LGY when they're all about 10 seeing that and just thinking YMA's a bossy know-it-all taking advantage of SYS and making her more lame >:/ conflict!

Lmao yeah I could probably go on but I don't wanna keep ya too long. Thanks for your ask!!