Something interesting I noticed in this week’s ep, that others probably have too, but it hasn’t come across my dash so I’m posting it.
We see both Locus and Felix react poorly to being called ‘crazy’, ‘psychos’, etc, (both in the new ep and in the Chorus arc), but at the end, Felix gets up into Locus’ face about “that broken fucking brain of yours!” and Locus doesn’t even flinch
Not quite sure what I want to do with this info yet but
Hey, Zhaneel, I’m back. (Former mutual of the silent reblogs type).
Not to take this away from the Lo/lix shipping corner – I guess I ship it too, in that I think it’s a fascinating dynamic and they have just tons of tropes that I find way too fun and so I find their scenes entertaining as hell (villainous can’t-live-without-you-can’t-live-without-you live fast die young ND as hell rogueish duo) – but something that occurred to me, as someone who definitely subscribes to the interp of their relationship as abusive;
DEF FELIX AND LOLIX NEGATIVE META BELOW
I don’t think Locus ever assumes that /anyone/ thinks he’s sane. He probably runs off the assumption that they know nothing of him, or that they know how fucked up he is – there’s no alternative.
In retrospect, what I think Felix is doing here, or will shortly be doing, is testing Locus’ boundaries. He doesn’t or won’t want Locus to hate him. He canonically needs Locus. He’s just very, very convinced that he’s more whole that Locus is, that Locus needs him, that he has authority between the two of them – and his language reflects that. He will not change his view of Locus to see him as as whole and independent as he is, and he sure as hell won’t let Locus parade that view of himself in front of him. He will remind Locus of who he thinks he is in the language of not-an-enemy – he won’t use the c word, but he’ll sure as hell use broken to prove a point.
Locus thinks he’s found a kindred spirit. He may not like the guy, but Felix doesn’t let other people bandy around the c word, he’s flamboyant, he keeps the attention off of him – when he’s not pretending to be his opponent, where they both play up their first impressions.
So Locus tolerates it. Pick your battles, right? Felix is just being honest.
It takes him a long, long time to realize that Felix’s friendship comes with strings attached, and that he’s being controlled.
Because – and I have some experience with this brand of misfortune – that scene looked like an abuser’s casual (not deliberately punishing, but disrespectful all the same) words to someone who doesn’t have the pride or energy or self-awareness to bristle over it.
(It’s … sad that when I think about it, despite Felix becoming more dangerous to Locus with his increased attachment and dependence by the Chorus arc, I think he’d also started to see past Locus’ disabilities(s)/illness(es) and recognize genuine kinship with him).
I stumbled across this in the tag, love it, and have to second it now that I’ve seen it:
This moment happens well before Locus has become the person we’re familiar with from Chorus, by which point Felix has gotten under his skin and into his head. So, Felix isn’t there yet, by the stage. There’s still genuine resentment between them, and the fact that Felix has already infuriated Locus when they’re having this fight is enough for his gaslighting to be the least of Locus’ concerns. But it is gaslighting. Sure, maybe Felix doesn’t use the C word, but he uses the equivalent, KNOWING Locus harbors doubts about his sanity and that he’s sensitive to comments on it. This scene is a prologue to how Felix will come to treat him–the difference being that, someday, Felix will do this because he needs him around, and can’t risk a Locus that’s confident enough to stray.
Note: He is actively snarling at Felix at this point in the conversation, too, so honestly, he could react and it wouldn’t even be visible beyond that obvious anger
These are all very very good points, and I love this discussion! Especially since this is something that came to me as I was falling asleep and writing a cracky shapeshifting fic last night, so I wasn’t sure I was getting across what I was trying to say. Hell, I’m not even sure what I was trying to say!
Part of the problem I have getting a read on them here is that we had 2+ seasons with them on Chorus (I only give partial weight to s11, since they weren’t in it much then), and <10 minutes here. So anything is colored by that knowledge of how they end up. What are their current mental states? Is Felix actively trying to get under Locus’ skin even this early, or is this how he is naturally, and twisting Locus around his fingers is a bonus from his POV? How early is it compared to what we’ve previously seen?
We know their relationship ends up unhealthy (as much fun as it can be to just write them as assholes); how did it start? We only have Kimball’s recounting of Felix’s version to go by, and we know how reliable that is.
I was just really really struck by how well they animated everyone’s body language and facial expressions*, even down to a tiny eyebrow twitch when Felix tries to lay the blame for the coms fiasco on Locus’ shoulders, but there’s nothing here at all. IDK, maybe I was reading too much into it because I was half-asleep. We’ll just have to wait for the other 2 eps for more pieces, I guess.
(And of course, I’m trying to reply to this before I’m fully awake, so there’s that too. Good luck trying to decipher what I mean. If you figure it out, let me know, because I’m not entirely sure myself! ~_^ )
*Still forever cackling about Felix’s little shoulder slump when he gets ‘interrupted’ in the beginning, right before he pastes on the charm and turns around.
(For some reason, I got the note about this reblog but not @menzoberranzanite’s. Weird)
What I’ve been thinking is that Locus changes over the course of time, while Felix really doesn’t. This got long, I’m sorry, but I’ll dump my headcanon here anyway.
I don’t know that Felix is always a deliberate abuser, necessarily. (Although let’s be honest, he’s not broken up about it if he notices.) But he’s a guy who, by his own admission, loves having power over others. He enjoys the hell out of being in control, pulling the strings. Not necessarily for any special purpose, but just because it’s fun and feeds his ego. So he doesn’t always have to be consciously aware of what he’s doing to be doing it on purpose, if you see what I mean.
Which is to say that Felix’s behavior towards Locus in the beginning (whenever ‘the beginning’ is) isn’t necessarily carried out with an endgame in mind. Given the way literally everyone who’s ever worked with him seems to react to him, I imagine that he automatically sniffs out their vulnerabilities and then starts working his fingers into the cracks, just because he likes to watch people squirm for him.
That could go from casual to pointed at any moment, of course, if he decides he actively wants something from them.
I love @menzoberranzanite‘s summary of Locus up there: Locus thinks he’s found a kindred spirit, so Locus tolerates it. I think anybody who’s had mental issues probably knows there’s a huge difference between somebody writing you off as “crazy” vs. a fellow traveler acknowledging that you’re fucked up. But the trick is that being fucked up means you can’t always trust your own brain, and so if they’re somebody whose insight and opinion you trust enough, you can start prioritizing their perspective on you over your own.
And Felix is just that kind of guy: perceptive, intelligent, good at parsing people as well as good at showing them what he wants them to see, and loyal to Locus for his own self-serving reasons that have nothing to do with fellow feeling (and for that Locus might trust him that much more, because he knows just how easily emotions can be compromised).
I think that’s basically what Felix ultimately wants from
Locus: for Locus to rely on Felix’s perspective over his own. He
doesn’t seem to be out to shape every element of Locus’s personality or
decisions (remember he mocks him about the no-name thing when he first
meets Wash; he thinks it’s ridiculous). He just wants him to stay, and keep working with him, and of course let Felix have the last word when he wants it. (I forever enjoy that ‘liking each other’ is not among the requirements.)
Hell, I could even see Felix offering his advice in good faith, because
I think it’s probably what he really believes: “Look, just stop caring about people. They don’t care about you. We’re soldiers, and our only job is to shoot at the people we’re paid to shoot at. You want honor? Here you go: deliver on what you promise. Everybody’s an asshole anyway, if you dig down far enough.”
And whether Felix actively works on him or just passively abets, it’s no wonder Locus eventually tries his hardest to become that. When you look around at what he, Wash, Carolina, the Reds and Blues have all been through, it’s so much easier to not care. More than one of them have tried it at some point.
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