I promised that I would do a Mike pov next! His mind is simultaneously moving at a million miles an hour, but also at a snails pace. Yes! Okay I'm so pleased that's already coming through, a first chapter can be hard because obviously I have a lot of themes and ideas that I want to explore about Mike here, and this is one of them, that duality of him.
I tried to stay very close to what canon tells us about him, which is double, right. On the one hand he is someone who was a rather precocious child, making connections easily, talking over adults, I think that he would have a high IQ score if tested. He's a leader, he can formulate plans easily. I also see him as someone who is on 'high alert' sensory-wise, he's continuously very preceptive to what's around him. And then if you take all those things and add trauma, grief, and a very strong internalized suppression of emotion, you get someone who is walking around dissociating, who is overwhelmed to the point that he has no idea that he is overwhelmed at all, someone who feels out of step with the rest of the world and has trouble connecting and keeping pace with others around him. They’re two sides of the same coin.
The rubber bands are that what's stopping him from reaching out, from stepping into touch and feeling, although he is aware of the desire to touch. Obviously we'll work on that awareness and go from there ;)
Forcing Mike Wheeler to write poetry I just think that would be SO interesting. Like, what would he write???
And yes to you picking up on the word 'brave' and the connotations with Mike's alter ego, with who he thinks the best part of him could be.
Thank you so much for your enthusiasm already! <3 It's hard starting a whole new story in a whole new voice, and it means a ton to know that there's someone excited to read! Big hugs, and much more to come!!! <3
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Indybaggins on Chapter 1 Fri 13 Mar 2026 07:50PM UTC
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