#you activated my trap card. talking about darius characterization. god i love that man more than life itself.

[crimeronan]

How does Darius treat Luz after the awful mindscape horror show? I imagine things are certainly awkward between them for a bit with Darius feeling no shortage of guilt that he was perfectly willling to villify a teenage victim of abuse and want to make amends and Luz just... completely agreeing with said vilification but also desperately needing another caring adult. Do Luz get the Dadruis treatment like Hunter eventually and what does their bond look like?

THIS IS A REALLY GOOD AND INTERESTING QUESTION. once again this is a concept that deserves an entire fic to itself. but since my time and energy are limited i'll see what thoughts i have.

okay so for background context:

here's a post from a while back explaining more of the context with darius's relationship to both luz and hunter. AKA, why he gets along with hunter much better much earlier than in the canon, and why he also finds luz Scary As Fuck.

AND HERE'S A POST I HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT, about darius thinking that luz has figured out that he's a traitor. and darius being afraid that if luz treats traitors the same way that belos did, then hunter might be in danger, even though hunter's never shown any signs of disloyalty.

so darius doesn't exactly hate luz or think that she's evil as much as.... he's wary of Anyone with the kind of power that she has. and the way she acts just makes him more suspicious and afraid. i don't know how much concern he has for his own wellbeing, but he's Certainly concerned that luz might treat hunter as disposable. and he's certainly concerned for anybody else who knows he's a rebel n does treason shit (raine, eber, the BATS, etc)

mainly that context is to say: i don't think he's been as big a dick to her as he is to hunter in the canon. but he HAS been openly rude and disdainful toward her. and he's probably made the occasional pointed comment that makes her go, "oh no, he's right. i'm Evil"

i think that he'd start changing his relationship with luz through his relationship with hunter. he and hunter know each other better, and hunter likes hanging around him. more than that, hunter Already Trusts darius. luz believes that darius is a good ally because she trusts hunter's judgment, but she's still afraid to show vulnerability in front of any other adult except MAYBE raine.

hunter spends a lot of time around luz both because he's her captain and because they're terribly codependent. darius avoids luz as much as possible, which severely limits the amount of time he can spend with hunter.

so i think post-mindscape, he'd just like. relax a bit??

he'd stop talking shit about luz even in passing, he'd make it clear that he's happy to spend time with hunter even if luz tags along, he'd start assuming luz will be around instead of expecting hunter to schedule his time around her. (inasmuch as either hunter or luz have any free time, what with her being the empress.)

i think he feels bad about misjudging luz, but even more than that, he feels bad about misjudging HUNTER. because his assumption has always been that time away from luz is good for hunter, bc it means that hunter has brief freedom from all of the empire's expectations. but now he's realizing just how much extra stress that puts on hunter's shoulders. and how much he misinterpreted where the problems with the kids were coming from

this approach means that he gets to spend more time around both kids and organically build a rapport with luz. i think she'd be a little uncertain and anxious about his intentions at first - but like i said, she DOES trust hunter implicitly. so if hunter doesn't think that there's any danger or political machinations afoot, luz will try not to be paranoid.

she and darius would get along pretty well once darius stops viewing her with suspicion and starts indulging her bright-eyed curiosity. luz thinks that he is So Cool and wants to learn Everything about him.

i think that if luz WAS going to confess about the murder to anyone besides hunter, it would Probably be raine.

but.

darius is more ruled by his emotions than raine is. and he's better at remaining stealthy and tactical..... UNTIL he's emotionally invested. so i CAN see darius reaching a point where he's, like.

like.

he's been watching luz and hunter try to manage all of this shit by themselves and has been subtly helping where possible, but both kids are Clearly struggling. and i can see him getting frustrated enough to eventually just. drop the bomb that he knows.

i don't know if luz would confess to raine first or if darius would lose patience before then. either way.... they'd eventually get on the same page. in as messy and stupid a way as possible.

#replies #long post #toh #princess luz au #darius deamonne #luz noceda #you activated my trap card. talking about darius characterization. god i love that man more than life itself. #hunter toh #dadrius