Something that's been in the back of my mind, an "all there in the manual" bit about Daniel is that not only was he there when his village, East Hollow, was destroyed (obviously) but that he was-
witness to his own adopted parents' deaths. Maybe didn't directly see them die, but he saw the Chaotic lunge, and he was the one that... well, found them afterwards. And it's on thinking about that-
that a whole lot of things click into place for him. It's always been why the whole event left him with PTSD, rather than just a burden to carry. But little character things here and there make more-
sense now, when actively considering that event. Biggest of all is his reaction to Yang coming back bloody and beaten in this thread, after an encounter with the Steel Thorn. -
It was bad enough to send him into a PTSD flashback like none recently, one he wasn't even able to pull himself out of. And when you consider he's been doing that on his own for two years, and has a-
good bit of experience with knowing what he needs to do to ground himself, by himself (even though until talking to Yang and Blake in another thread, he didn't even know what he had had a NAME), to-
be unable to pull himself out of a flashback is a Big Deal. And... when viewing that thread in the light of "He found his parents after a Chaotic killed them" it... makes a lot of sense. A lot of heartbreaking-
There's a lot heartbreaking about Daniel, really, and not just the PTSD either (though obviously that's a big part of it). The fact that for two years, he hasn't stopped moving. He's been on the move, deadset-
on his mission to find his birth parents, so much so that he never stops to have fun. He never stops to make friends, he hardly stops to eat and half the time only sleeps when he drops. Before he got-
caught up with his friends in Demons (and met actual family members, and got spoken to about what he was doing and how wrong he was going about it), he was malnourished enough that he wasn't even-
growing. There's a reason he's a 5'3" nothing, that's because his body is literally in stasis until he starts getting regular meals, stops being so stressed, starts actually living. Then he shoots up to-
Yeah, delayed puberty is a heck of a thing. I've done the best reading I can about it, and while I'm taking liberties with some I think, growing so much in such a short time isn't unheard of?
That's what regular meals, friends, family, de-stressors, and everything else will do for you. Not having to worry about where your next meal is coming from or whether today's the day the Chaotics finally-
get you, because you let down your guard. No more getting super sick because your body's too weak to fight off something as simple as the common cold. (Which is something he brings up to Yang in one-
thread where she asks him what his life's like, and just the nonchalance he says it with. "/shrug/ I get sick a lot." Honey no you're malnourished, it's not as simple as "I get sick a lot".)
Yeah. Things like this is why Yang's literally one of the most important people in his life. I mean, others like Rongo, Etera, Blake, Fluttershy, the lot of 'em are super important too, no doubt, and all for-
different reasons. But Yang took the time to sit down and talk with him, to bond with him at a time when she was just "Ruby's sister who hangs around us", and even at a time when it was dubious they were-
more than acquaintances, she opened her home to him. She told him he was always welcome there. And then he found out they were related? And he had actual, tangible family. And she saved his life, she-
really did, and he knows it. Especially after reading about PTSD, and other things he got curious about, and finding out just how much he was actually destroying himself those two years.
Yeahhh, there's a lot going on with Daniel. And the sad thing is, his MLJ self is before all the character development. From the point in time where he's still on his travels.
I'd like to canon update him sometime but it'd be super weird considering the Yang, Blake, and Ruby we have are canon, and not the AU versions he comes to know
I mean, LOOK AT THIS DIFFERENCE. This is two years.
I'd like to canon update him sometime but it'd be super weird considering the Yang, Blake, and Ruby we have are canon, and not the AU versions he comes to knowSuper weird and kinda really painful, and even evil has standards