Thursday DE

[needsmoreresearch]

Simple (...not really) question today: Is your character good at being a friend?

Comments

[cottoncandypink]

It depends on how much the other person is there to have fun, and willing to put up with a never ending string of bullshit. If that’s the case, Wilford is the best friend in the world.

If not, well. Sorry.

[exiled_heir_of_the_eighth]

I'm honestly not sure about this one. Sahaal's only ever had one friend in canon, and while I think he's made a few in Milliways, you'd have to ask their opinion.

In all honesty, my gut feeling says kind of. If he likes someone, he'll help them out to the best of his abilities, but he's not always good at knowing how to help.

[bjornwilde]

With Ahsoka, I'd say she's mostly a good friend. She does have missteps in canon--her pushing a new droid on Anakin a few hours after he lost R2 comes to mind--but her heart is in the right place. I'd say it's more a lack of general social learning than anything neglectful on her part. I mean, she will go to extreme lengths for friendship, even reaching out when that friend has turned to the Dark Side and is barely recognizable, but she also won't sacrifice her morals for friendship. She thinks the best of her friends, which has bitten her a couple of times, yet she is willing to give second or third chances.

She will have your back, no matter the odds, even if she has doubts about your actions...at least until she decides you actions are wrong. Then she will reach out and try and talk you down.

I think a challenge with being friends with her is she defaults to what seems a casual attachment, but really isn't. She just takes what friendships she can find as they are and doesn't cling to them. They are important to her, but she values them in the present.

I think she also doesn't realize other people, i.e. non Jedi, would miss her when she is not there. She is so used to non attachment that she doesn't intuit when others get attached to her and kind of needs obvious signs they are.

[inlovewithwords]

And if she can't talk you down, she'll do her damnedest to take you out.

[bjornwilde]

To be fair, he did threaten to kill her.

[bjornwilde]

OK, other pups...
Sabine is a good friend, though I think she can be abrupt. Or hands off. She's a funny person when it comes to inner emotions. She totally has your back, but I can see her either yelling at you that you are an idiot when you are being one or just watching to see if you'll figure it out. This could depend on how much you are annoying her and how much danger you are in.

Sam is the bestest of friends. He is there when you need him, even if you are running from a super spy organization and he only met you the day before. He will call you on your shit, but will still back you up. He will hold your hair back when you've had too much to drink and are praying to the porcelain god, as well as coming over in the middle of the night because you woke from a bad nightmare or something.

Hank is mostly a good friend. He wants what's best for you, but can be judgey. He can be self-focused, as well.

Izana is loyal to a fault. They are there anytime you need them and need to be pushed by extreme behavior to lose their patience with you. They may not have the best advice, but they will listen as long as you need.

[inlovewithwords]

Eriond is a very good friend! Goes with his basic nature tbh. He's not really around much these days, but he'll be there if a friend needs him. prayer probably reaches him pretty well

Lois has had trouble learning how to be a good friend because her family moves constantly to wherever her Army General dad gets posted. Once she manages to settle--and once she discovers her Online Community and makes An Friend--she starts learning how to become a very good friend indeed. (If she were not so Gryffindor it hurts my teeth, she'd be a Hufflepuff.)

Evelyn is a very good friend, actually! She tries to be, and certainly will sit and talk through people's emotional shit and help them do things or relax and have fun or whatever. It is one of her Things aka she does all the sidequests and gets high affection points and extra conversations with all her party members except vivienne because they disagree too much on mage things and even that's pretty high

R2 is actually an incredibly loyal, usually very helpful friend. A bit maddening at times, but he does not abandon his people or what they love.

Anakin... sort of wants to be a good friend, I guess? For one, the lack of social learning that afflicts many Jedi (gosh I wonder why) definitely plays in here, but also he kind of doesn't do things by half measures. With the clones under his command, even the ones he is friendly with he's still their commander and there's a power dynamic that gets in the way. Everyone else he's either vaguely helpful to or devoted to to the point of insanity, torture, and murder when necessary. (See: time he tortured a Geonosian when Ahsoka was in trouble, Tusken village, Jedi Temple, Mustafar...) That said, he does actually sort of have a friend who is neither under his command, a Jedi, nor a loved one: Tarkin. Possibly also Admiral Yularen, who ends up in ISB and is on the Death Star. Yay, fascism buddies. He also has this problem where he considered Palpatine sort of a friend. Yeah, about that...
Vader: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha good joke

Tavi wants to be a good friend--certainly he tends to be a very good family member!--but he doesn't always succeed. If you are his friend, he absolutely will go to fairly extreme measures--near- or contemplated-murder, jailbreaks, saving species (granted that one was supported by strategy and Ethical Concerns), ignoring the law in various ways--but he sometimes makes some massive fails, whether through his compulsive secret-keeping, sheer thoughtlessness (usually through focusing on work and he is consciously trying to avoid that now that it destroyed a valuable friendship), or needing to put other things first (something he also tries to avoid, because he knows his grandfather did far too much of that). There is also the basic problem that even when he loves people, even when he respects them, his brain always has a track of "What can they do that is useful and necessary to the future of Alera?" He absolutely uses everyone he knows--which includes himself. Unlike Sextus, he tries consciously not to break people with that. But it is something to know about him. So... he is an excellent friend to have, even though despite how hard he tries he is not always a good friend.

[iprotectyou]

Baze tries to be! He tries really hard to respect other people's need for space despite how touchy-feely he is, both mentally and physically. He's not the best at listening to problems--except for Chirrut's, Chirrut is always the exception--and can be overbearing with advice sometimes, but he tries not to be.

[thebattycakes]

Barry and Cisco are great friends to have. They aren't for everyone, thanks to their awkward and nerdy, but are willing to accept just about anyone. They always seem to look past a person's faults and see the good inside, and they FORGIVE. These two things can bite them in the ass sometimes, but it also means when someone happens to turn into an icy super-villain, or sells them out to an evil speedster they can move past that and regain a valuable ally.

They are also very ride or die. Put together a superhero team with near no experience? Yeah, let's do that. Journey to another Earth to save a friend's daughter while facing evil doppelgangers? Bring it on. Buddy trapped in an inter-dimensional plane made up of extra-dimensional energy? Build a bazooka to get them back.

They're also a whole lot of damn fun if you like things like science experiments, movie watching, laser tag or just chilling.

Kay is a great friend to Cassian. Loyal and stalwart, if prone to complaining. A lot. He doesn't have any other friends, though, and doesn't really see a whole lot of reason for more.

Matt is a terrible friend. Like really. I love him, but oh my gosh do I want to shake him sometimes. He's moody, and quick to frustration and anger, there's an arrogance in him that he doesn't always see, and he has a lot of trouble putting himself in other people's shoes. Not only does Matt not tell people who matter to him about his vigilante shenanigans, he also gets defensive and mad when they find out and don't understand.

Matt does care about his friends, though! Especially Foggy. There are bright, shining, wonderful moments when he is an excellent best friend. When he and Foggy hang out and are just Matt and Foggy it's great. The two of them know more about each other than anyone else in the world, and Matt definitely falls apart when Foggy isn't there.

Still, he can be a dick and Foggy is practically a saint for putting up with him.

Logan is a great friend. If you don't mind him fighting you once in awhile, aaaand maybe trying to kill you. Friends of Logan tend to understand that the deal comes with a lot of surliness and violence.

That said, he is a man who will go to hell and back and then some for people he cares about, tearing through whatever is in his path along the way.

He's a great drinking buddy and, perhaps surprisingly, an awesome confidant. Not a talker, he's a great listener, and even though his reactions are generally laconic, they tend to be helpful, even comforting in some weird way.

Hellboy is a high-maintenance friend. He tends to put his feelings first and is prone to irritability and tantrums. BUT, get used to that and figure out how to handle him, and he's great. He'll stick up for his friends and punch anyone in the face for them, no questions asked. He's got a soft side and can also be a lot of fun.

[justices_conscience]

A lot of the people The Judge interacts with are either undead he's hunting or end up dying at the hands of undead or their Resurrectionist masters so he tends to keep some distance at first.
On the other hand he's fiercely loyal, open and even caring once a bond is formed.

[oldmancreed]

If Tess decides you're her friend, she is excellent at it. She'll destroy the world for you.

Rose is a great friend. She's honest and good at listening and is up for good, clean, wholesome fun. Thorn, not so much.

Kylo and Creed suck at being friends.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

'Being a good friend' is basically the bread and butter of Yamato's Crest (it is the Crest of Friendship, after all), although he's probably the Crest bearer that struggles most to live up to those expectations, and the one who experiences the most instances of his Crest just flat-out refusing to work (as they are prone to doing when their bearer is failing to live up to their expectations).

He's very loyal, and he goes above and beyond to make sure his friends are okay, and he's generally pretty good at identifying their best selves and pushing his friends towards becoming those people. But he also tends to fall into spirals of envy, resentment, abandonment issues, and anxiety that make him lash out at people. So many of his conflicts with Taichi come from either being envious and resentful of him, or nervous that a change in behaviour is somehow a prelude to him abandoning Yamato.

Eden, meanwhile, is a terrible friend. At present, he's basically incapable of warmth and affection (but he's very good at feigning both of them). He'll totally help out his friends, though, just so long as doing so doesn't clash with his own agendas in any way. He's going to get better about this over time.

[just_cant_lose]

God no.

At all.

[misslucyjane]

Steve will invade other countries for you. He will also gently ask if you're okay when he sees you being melancholy.

Sherlock is a better friend than he thinks he is, which he's only recently had a chance to prove.

[childofrebellion]

Cassian is a better friend than he thinks but friendship for him is mixed up in his work. He has to be friendly to the informants he works with but he's also lying to them and depending on who it is, there's a lot they don't know. So he's very aware of how he's not a good friend yet he's also someone who is loyal, and cares deeply, but he's lost many friends and people to the war with the Empire. I think he would say he isn't a good friend but with how much he cares about other people and tries to do the best he can in a hard situation he is. Kay would probably disagree with him as especially with Kay, he's a very good friend. They banter, Cassian listens and appreciates how lucky he is to have Kay as a friend.

Charles is a very good friend with a tendency to meddle. He's compassionate, a good listener and wants everyone to be happy. He's the peacemaker friend.

Quentin isn't easy to become friends with but once you are, he's a very good friend.

Sameth is another who doesn't open up easily but he will do everything he can for his friends.

Ivan is someone who can be wary about what people want but he's always there for his friends.

Moist isn't a good friend at all, he's fun to be around but he lies, runs away and doesn't like commitment. If you keep your expectations low, he's not awful.

Demeter is an amazing friend who tends to adopt people which can be with the wrong person, that can be tough since her family isn't always the best with boundaries. But she's really good at watching out for people.

William is a good friend though another one that's not easy to get close to.

Will S. is known for the kind of dedicated friend he is in canon.

Tumnus is a great friend.

[for_everyone]

Hera is generally a kind and conscientious person, who is very invested in helping others. She'll do what she can to help her friends (and, you know, also complete strangers), listen to them and offer advice and consolation when they need it, and to provide for those friends who depend on her.

But she also has a cause. And most of her friends are also allies, or crew. And there is a tension in that, as she has to risk the safety of her allies and crew in the service of her cause. She'll always be the first to put her own safety or her life on the line to protect others, but her choices are always made with her cause in mind as well. I think, for the most part, those who are friends with her are also generally those who work with her, and so can understand this mindset, as they're also working toward this cause. But it can lead to tension when it means Hera can't always be as honest or upfront as she might like to be, or when she has to make calls regarding what's best for her crew and their mission, versus what's best for any one individual.


Kanan spent a long time not really wanting to form sincere relationships of any kind, as any place he stayed would have an end date on it. He'd put effort into building useful relationships, like with the nearest cantina owner or whomever could get him a job, but beyond that he avoided becoming too friendly with anyone. That being said... he was really bad at avoiding those relationships, as people tended to take to him anyway. He would tell himself that he wasn't really making friends, but also could never ignore his urge to help or stand up for others when they needed it. This in turn meant he always ended up accruing some friendships, but would still have to cut ties when he moved on.

That more or less came to an end when he shipped out with Hera, but he still can have trouble really initiating or maintaining friendships outside the crew, as his instinct is still a need for secrecy, and an anticipation that any other relationship is only temporary. That being said, it's also still often the case that others will take to him pretty quickly, and now given that the Ghost crew has spent a lot of time on Lothal, he's again done the work of building up useful relationships. Like Hera he'll put his own safety or life on the line to protect others, and he's generally a patient listener, though he can sometimes be more uncertain of himself when it comes to giving advice or instruction, but he's sort of growing out of that. And perhaps because he's not really the one giving commands, he doesn't quite have the same degree of tension that Hera does 'the cause.'

[genarti]

Enjolras: Yes. Very, very good at it!

Thor: Yes... if you're okay with the fact that he's also your prince and eventually king (Asgardian edition) or that he might vanish for months on end to deal with duty and/or interplantary fight-laden road trips (non-Asgardian edition).

Cosette: We don't get to see a lot of this in canon, but I'm going to say yes! She's a good and supportive friend in person, and pretty good at keeping in touch with chatty letters too.

Kazul: Yes; she throws regular dinner parties for her local dragon friends, and she's good about visiting others and generally being in touch for hanging out and/or emergencies.

Doctor Dinosaur: Emphatically no.