2217 Father & Son.

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I wasn’t originally going to make this part of the main story. It was posted, incomplete, as a patreon bonus, but as I was writing it out I came up with something that made me want to use it in the comic proper. Otherwise it would have to be explained, or presented separately somehow. So this is kind of old news for patrons, although it is actually different from the draft version I originally posted.

31 Comments

Oh, the Boothe siblings talk so much about their hated mother I’ve never considered the father. Can’t say I surprised, really

That’s interesting! I actually don’t remember any mention of their mother at all. Were you thinking of their dreaded aunt who’s high in Megatainment hierarchy?

On the other hand, though, I do remember them talking a lot about the father. Reggie talked a few times about him owning a construction business.And Victoria told John that one time he went to Beary Pizza with Alex and co. about her father being (at least partially) responsible for the notion of the siblings having to work to understand the value of labor.

Going by their description, the guy seems… Strict, to say the least. But that’s their perspective, so things may be a little different objectively. Gotta say, though, I too was caught offguard by his appearance. His figure does seem to loom over his children. And then suddenly there he is, in the flesh. Guess we’ll see what’s there to him.

During the ghost hunting arc Victoria tells John about how she and Reggie are just channeling their mother, but filtered through their own experiences.

I have never felt more sorry for Reggie than in this moment.

I find this very telling. We can see his father does care at least a little, but also the way he does may be exactly as expected.

More interesting is how Reggie, very quick to want to try and prove himself most of the time, didn’t take this as an opportunity to show it to his father who presumably he wants to be proven to. I feel it means he wants to prove himself but probably more to himself, and he’s not actually trying to get his fathers approval, or at least doesn’t directly go for that. It’s an odd but interesting level of maturity, and an aspect of his character I dont think has been shown much as directly as this.

Also. Very sad.

My take is more along the lines of that he has given up on getting acknowledgement from his dad long ago as a kid. Being ignored or treated as bothersome or just not giving any time to a kid will result in them eventually giving up on that person is a parent. My dad was such a person.
Building first large scale model and need an extra pair of hands? No time. Weekend camping trip with scouts? Last to be picked up every damn time. Graduate High-school with honours and Sr Letter. On a trip to the homeland. Earn Queen Scout to be presented by the Gov Gen? Go with the other scouts. Graduate Top of class in college? Gave up by then and had the diploma mailed.

“More interesting is how Reggie, very quick to want to try and prove himself most of the time, didn’t take this as an opportunity to show it to his father who presumably he wants to be proven to. ”
Maybe just not anymore.

Reggies father looks kinda like Thomas with a mustache and a wig. Once I compare them they are very different… but for a moment there.

I actually thought the same thing! Maybe that explains some of Reggie’s initial animosity towards Thomas? If so, I wonder if Reggie was conscious of the resemblance or not…

It breaks the heart to see Reggie’s utter lack of emotion when he interacts with his father. I’m not even really getting a passive aggressive vibe off of Reggie. It feels like his responses are delivered as if he were a HAL series computer. Calm. Direct. Factual. I’ve had more human interaction with my smartphone. I’m not sure if his dad truly deserves that level of dispassion, but it is clear he had a hand in the creation of that attitude.

I just…. I just really feel this.

Reggie is me in almost all my relationships. Granted, my life has been interesting, so perhaps it’s truly not normal to respond this way to “loved ones” but…

I would be taking this to be as close to a loving conversation as I’m likely to have (in most cases)

Though really, it WOULD be a great opportunity to talk. Considering how much of that venture depended on Reggie’s construction knowledge, even a complete jerk-dad would be interested to know “the boy paid attention.”

It would be, but Reggie seems to have long ago realized that the effort isn’t going to get a result, so the ball is 100% in dad’s court. I am that kid (with mom) and am working to overcome my inherited flaws to not be that dad. Now to go hug my kids.

Oof. I’ve never felt more sorry for Reggie than at this moment.

Also this is a wonderful example of the “show, don’t tell” rule of writing.

Wow, I felt bad for the dad. Surprised by the comments. Reggie kept it to himself. He’s the one not communicating. “Of note” does not have to be construed negatively.In fact, it is an implicit compliment. Reggie never makes eye contact when the artist specifically demonstrates that the dad tries to make eye contact.

How many of us long to have our father ask after us just one more time?

The reply “I didn’t think you’d be interested in it”, makes me feel that the father is rarely/never interested in anything Reggie does. This then make the “of note” part an indication that the father only cares about Reggie’s/his children’s activities if they are special/stand out/may reflect back on himself.

Its also potentially still a bit unclear how much Reggie’s father knows or would approve of the venture, or the venture’s initial goals at least.

“Something of note” might not be intended to sound like a negative thing, but with how Reggie’s last biggest “thing” with his Father’s direct involvement with him (as far as we the readers know of for sure) being an incident where Reggie was possibly in his mind forced “out of the family business” by his father due to an extremely humiliating on the job accident, and his father seeming to not be the warmest of people (or maybe just not the best at trying to bridge whatever gap has been caused by however many ‘disappointing’ events there’d been), it’s understandable that Reggie would have misgivings of bringing it up even if those don’t represent what how Mr. Boothe “means” to be perceived by his son.

Though yeah it does kind of speak to a history of apparent disapproval or disinterest at least. Sometimes Dads are just bad at this stuff out of priorities that don’t sit as well to a lot of people anymore though, so we’ll have to see how things go from here, if/when things do to figure out more.

Definitely could be the “concerned about how Reggie is presenting himself/whether or not it’ll help the family in some way” end as well though.

Look again. Reggie’s father may be trying to make eye contact, but he’s not actually FACING Reggie. His body is at a near-perfect 90 degrees to Reggie. It’s the exact same posture as two people chatting in an elevator. He doesn’t want to have a dialogue with his son, he just wants some information before “it’s his floor” and he walks off.

With all the talk about their parental units coupled with the flair for the dramatic we see with the Boothe siblings I wasnt expecting their dad to look so normal.

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