Thank you so much. Not sure where you're at, but if it applies I hope you have a happy New Year!
First impression : From the game, not the books, but you know, funny comic relief guy. I think even back then though, I thought it was interesting how wry he was, especially for someone described as the "heart and soul" of the team, since I was used to that meaning someone who was maybe a little more innocent than the rest, or sensitive, or compassionate. Scorch is none of those things. (I got Boss into SO MUCH SHIT and Scorch's weary sarcasm every time Boss ended up on his ass made a mark, all right.)
Impression now : Scorch is the heart and soul of Delta and that is a warning! His rare POV chapters are incredibly interesting, especially when compared against the only other member of Delta squad whose head we get to ride around in, in that Scorch is...not super interested in what other people have going on. He notices it, but if it's not another member of Delta he just cannot be assed to care beyond a rapid risk assessment to see how much it might impact them. He kind of gets close to appreciating Etain, but at a significant step removed. I think his exact words are that they, "have an understanding." This could just be an intact squad thing, since Fi remembers being just as insular, but Sev doesn't do this.
It sort of makes me think that Scorch tends to interact with the world in a way that reminds me of...sort of like when you're looking out through the heavy, slightly pitted, off-color plastic of a face shield or face mask, if that makes any sense. Even when he goes into a blackout rage, he stays solidly detached from his emotions, riding them like an unknowable tornado, and won't really label or examine them even after it's over.
The exceptions to this are when Scorch sometimes acknowledges "safe" positive emotions, and he always acknowledges fear and stress responses when confronted with Vau, though absolutely none of that makes it through to his surface presentation. Like when Vau tells him to come see him in his quarters at 1800 and Scorch is terrified but all he does is quip out a casual, "Sure thing." I thought that was an interesting note on the disconnect between Scorch's mouth and his actual (if ignored) feelings, and probably says a lot about how Scorch handled Vau's abuse in general. Vau's a sadist. Scorch...doesn't show fear. Not only does Scorch not show fear, he makes a point to be casual with the source of his fear. He also cares a lot about his squad, and Sev in particular, but doesn't really consciously acknowledge this until and unless shit hits the fan. He expresses it by avoiding teasing Sev about things Sev is actually sensitive about and constantly checking on him and having a moment where he - from inside his head - feels almost angry (a lot of emotions feel a lot like frustration if you refuse to actually identify them, weirdly enough. This one was almost definitely "worry") when thinking about how sensitive Sev is and comforts himself by cutting the emotion short reminding himself that "he keeps an eye on him" and then dropping it entirely.
WHICH. Means I'm not surprised when Scorch's emotions occasionally just shut him down. He goes into rage blackouts and gets tied up in knots with stress and panic, like the reaction that rendered him mostly ineffective when Sev went missing, frozen between stay or go and unable to get a grip long enough to commit until Boss took the reins from him. That does tend to be what happens when you refuse to process your shit. It rears up and punches you in the face and you can't handle it because you never learned how to cope with your emotions in a healthy manner.
This doesn't mean Scorch doesn't feel things, or that he lacks empathy or compassion, it's just that he does his level best to keep his emotional reactions shallow, and compassion is basically never a conscious priority for him. Being in a situation where he might have to feel or act on sympathy for another person would probably just make him uncomfortable. I doubt he'd know how to handle it. Somebody who spends a lot of time pretending he doesn't have feelings would probably not know what to do with someone who is very publically feeling theirs. Not because he doesn't care, but because he literally has no frame of reference for how to behave. The fact he's set himself up as Sev's keeper is especially interesting in this light. Sev's refusal to stop feeling things probably stresses Scorch right the hell out.
Which also fits Sev thinking to himself that the rest of Delta never seemed to want to talk about their feelings or concerns, so he feels like he has to keep his to himself. Sev thinks about his feelings a lot and wants to talk about them sometimes, but knows it's not something his squad does. Scorch included.
Because! As the heart and soul of the team, Scorch is indicative of his squad's emotional default. Which is very, very repressed.
And traumatized by their extremely abusive upbringing, Vau.
Favorite moment : On Kashyyyk when we're in Scorch's POV (already a very rare treat) and Scorch is observing everything going on in that way he does where he tags it all with zero emotions whatsoever, but just so happens to keep idly checking in on Sev like he's put himself on a timer or something. He is in the middle of an actual damn full frontal charge on treetops and he still has to take a pause to visually check on Sev, which is not something he does for Boss or Fixer, lol.
It's just cute. Scorch cares a lot about Sev, and it's nice to see.
Idea for a story : uhhhHHHHH. Okay, so this is more about Niner, BUT. The Scorch dynamics could be fun. So Darman doesn't get the opportunity to stay behind with Niner and Niner gets integrated with Delta instead after he's healed (HIGHLY unlikely considering the nature of the battalion as a test for flight risks and them wanting to divide and conquer among the squads and seed in spies, but anyway) and basically Niner being...himself and still branching out into amateur psychology, which is still way more than any clone has ever gotten before, and Delta just having to Deal With That. Scorch gives Niner a pass because he knows Niner's squad is still out there even if they can never, ever talk about it, so he knows Niner understands this is just temporary, it's cool, it's fine, and dammit Scorch needs to aim his codependent tendencies somewhere and Boss and Fixer are both in the doghouse. Welcome to the squad, Niner, congratulations, you will never be alone again.
Unpopular opinion : Uhhh. Not that I think this is really a "popular" opinion since I doubt those exist, but I've seen portrayals of Scorch as like, the "youngest" or the one who "needs the most protection" on AO3, and I don't see it, personally.
Favorite relationship : Sev. For. All the reasons already talked about in extreme detail. And because I appreciate the genuine care and affection because god knows Sev deserves and needs it, but also because I kind of view it as a little...maladaptive, and probably a bit detrimental to Sev despite Scorch's best intentions, which is interesting for me to think about.
Favorite headcanon : ...I hope you all know how hard it is not to once again talk about the dead Vau thing. Uh. I think I veered into this during the "Impression Now" portion of this, actually.
Scorch
Thank you so much. Not sure where you're at, but if it applies I hope you have a happy New Year!
First impression : From the game, not the books, but you know, funny comic relief guy. I think even back then though, I thought it was interesting how wry he was, especially for someone described as the "heart and soul" of the team, since I was used to that meaning someone who was maybe a little more innocent than the rest, or sensitive, or compassionate. Scorch is none of those things. (I got Boss into SO MUCH SHIT and Scorch's weary sarcasm every time Boss ended up on his ass made a mark, all right.)
Impression now : Scorch is the heart and soul of Delta and that is a warning! His rare POV chapters are incredibly interesting, especially when compared against the only other member of Delta squad whose head we get to ride around in, in that Scorch is...not super interested in what other people have going on. He notices it, but if it's not another member of Delta he just cannot be assed to care beyond a rapid risk assessment to see how much it might impact them. He kind of gets close to appreciating Etain, but at a significant step removed. I think his exact words are that they, "have an understanding." This could just be an intact squad thing, since Fi remembers being just as insular, but Sev doesn't do this.
It sort of makes me think that Scorch tends to interact with the world in a way that reminds me of...sort of like when you're looking out through the heavy, slightly pitted, off-color plastic of a face shield or face mask, if that makes any sense. Even when he goes into a blackout rage, he stays solidly detached from his emotions, riding them like an unknowable tornado, and won't really label or examine them even after it's over.
The exceptions to this are when Scorch sometimes acknowledges "safe" positive emotions, and he always acknowledges fear and stress responses when confronted with Vau, though absolutely none of that makes it through to his surface presentation. Like when Vau tells him to come see him in his quarters at 1800 and Scorch is terrified but all he does is quip out a casual, "Sure thing." I thought that was an interesting note on the disconnect between Scorch's mouth and his actual (if ignored) feelings, and probably says a lot about how Scorch handled Vau's abuse in general. Vau's a sadist. Scorch...doesn't show fear. Not only does Scorch not show fear, he makes a point to be casual with the source of his fear. He also cares a lot about his squad, and Sev in particular, but doesn't really consciously acknowledge this until and unless shit hits the fan. He expresses it by avoiding teasing Sev about things Sev is actually sensitive about and constantly checking on him and having a moment where he - from inside his head - feels almost angry (a lot of emotions feel a lot like frustration if you refuse to actually identify them, weirdly enough. This one was almost definitely "worry") when thinking about how sensitive Sev is and comforts himself by
cutting the emotion shortreminding himself that "he keeps an eye on him" and then dropping it entirely.WHICH. Means I'm not surprised when Scorch's emotions occasionally just shut him down. He goes into rage blackouts and gets tied up in knots with stress and panic, like the reaction that rendered him mostly ineffective when Sev went missing, frozen between stay or go and unable to get a grip long enough to commit until Boss took the reins from him. That does tend to be what happens when you refuse to process your shit. It rears up and punches you in the face and you can't handle it because you never learned how to cope with your emotions in a healthy manner.
This doesn't mean Scorch doesn't feel things, or that he lacks empathy or compassion, it's just that he does his level best to keep his emotional reactions shallow, and compassion is basically never a conscious priority for him. Being in a situation where he might have to feel or act on sympathy for another person would probably just make him uncomfortable. I doubt he'd know how to handle it. Somebody who spends a lot of time pretending he doesn't have feelings would probably not know what to do with someone who is very publically feeling theirs. Not because he doesn't care, but because he literally has no frame of reference for how to behave. The fact he's set himself up as Sev's keeper is especially interesting in this light. Sev's refusal to stop feeling things probably stresses Scorch right the hell out.
Which also fits Sev thinking to himself that the rest of Delta never seemed to want to talk about their feelings or concerns, so he feels like he has to keep his to himself. Sev thinks about his feelings a lot and wants to talk about them sometimes, but knows it's not something his squad does. Scorch included.
Because! As the heart and soul of the team, Scorch is indicative of his squad's emotional default. Which is very, very repressed.
And traumatized by their extremely abusive upbringing, Vau.Favorite moment : On Kashyyyk when we're in Scorch's POV (already a very rare treat) and Scorch is observing everything going on in that way he does where he tags it all with zero emotions whatsoever, but just so happens to keep idly checking in on Sev like he's put himself on a timer or something. He is in the middle of an actual damn full frontal charge on treetops and he still has to take a pause to visually check on Sev, which is not something he does for Boss or Fixer, lol.
It's just cute. Scorch cares a lot about Sev, and it's nice to see.
Idea for a story : uhhhHHHHH. Okay, so this is more about Niner, BUT. The Scorch dynamics could be fun. So Darman doesn't get the opportunity to stay behind with Niner and Niner gets integrated with Delta instead after he's healed (HIGHLY unlikely considering the nature of the battalion as a test for flight risks and them wanting to divide and conquer among the squads and seed in spies, but anyway) and basically Niner being...himself and still branching out into amateur psychology, which is still way more than any clone has ever gotten before, and Delta just having to Deal With That. Scorch gives Niner a pass because he knows Niner's squad is still out there even if they can never, ever talk about it, so he knows Niner understands this is just temporary, it's cool, it's fine, and dammit Scorch needs to aim his codependent tendencies somewhere and Boss and Fixer are both in the doghouse. Welcome to the squad, Niner, congratulations, you will never be alone again.
Unpopular opinion : Uhhh. Not that I think this is really a "popular" opinion since I doubt those exist, but I've seen portrayals of Scorch as like, the "youngest" or the one who "needs the most protection" on AO3, and I don't see it, personally.
Favorite relationship : Sev. For. All the reasons already talked about in extreme detail. And because I appreciate the genuine care and affection because god knows Sev deserves and needs it, but also because I kind of view it as a little...maladaptive, and probably a bit detrimental to Sev despite Scorch's best intentions, which is interesting for me to think about.
Favorite headcanon : ...I hope you all know how hard it is not to once again talk about the dead Vau thing. Uh. I think I veered into this during the "Impression Now" portion of this, actually.