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eowynjedi
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The thing is, Anthony is inflicting pain on her. He knows he is because she\'s standing right there and it\'s really obvious, and everything he\'s done so far in this scene are things he could have done differently. Assuming that he had no choice but to leave her, I still doubt that he could have arranged everything about his employment with the Court \'\'this morning\'\'. Even if he only had a day\'s lead time (again, way implausible) that would give him time to talk to his daughter without humiliating her in front of class, giving her a DeathGlare for showing perfectly natural concern, and pulling her world out from under her. He could also have talked to his old friend Donny, who has an adult\'s judgment and knows Annie, to be sure that Rey really \'\'isn\'t\'\' a threat and what\'s up with the Forest. And he could ask her politely not to wear that makeup in his class, and possibly put some of her worries to rest about their relationship. (Look at her nervous smile when she\'s standing in front of the desk, and remember \
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The thing is, Anthony is inflicting pain on her. He knows he is because she\\\'s standing right there and it\\\'s really obvious, and everything he\\\'s done so far in this scene are things he could have done differently. Assuming that he had no choice but to leave her, I still doubt that he could have arranged everything about his employment with the Court \\\'\\\'this morning\\\'\\\'. Even if he only had a day\\\'s lead time (again, way implausible) that would give him time to talk to his daughter without humiliating her in front of class, giving her a DeathGlare for showing perfectly natural concern, and pulling her world out from under her. He could also have talked to his old friend Donny, who has an adult\\\'s judgment and knows Annie, to be sure that Rey really \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a threat and what\\\'s up with the Forest. And he could ask her politely not to wear that makeup in his class, and possibly put some of her worries to rest about their relationship. (Look at her nervous smile when she\\\'s standing in front of the desk, and remember \\\"she always wondered about the \\\'still\\\'\\\").
*\\\'\\\'\\\'Ignores or leaves you out of things:\\\'\\\'\\\' Ditching off on her for three years, maybe? We know that he \\\'\\\'could\\\'\\\' contact her, at some point, but the one phone call she got was inconsequential conversation / code for something he wanted Donny to do. Also, ditching off is apparently a preexisting habit of his, so I\\\'d say it\\\'s even odds whether or not he actually had to do it.
*\\\'\\\'\\\'The makeup thing:\\\'\\\'\\\' It did make her feel bad. He called it ridiculous in front of ~twenty people, and she\\\'s not the only girl wearing makeup either. How would he not know that it would make her feel bad. Definitely counts.
*\\\'\\\'\\\'Pushes you away:\\\'\\\'\\\' \\\"Is it your \\\'\\\'business\\\'\\\'? [DeathGlare]\\\" He could have said just \\\"I don\\\'t want to discuss it\\\" without being a jerk about it.
*\\\'\\\'\\\'Stops you from having friends:\\\'\\\'\\\' I would say that yanking her out of Year 10 and removing her from Kat counts. I don\\\'t know how much detail he has about her life at the court, but \\\"Kat is her friend and she knows her classmates\\\" seems like a pretty basic hypothesis. His words about distractions also imply that she\\\'s going to have limited social time.
Also, Annie is a teenager (I think she\\\'s 14?) and is entitled to have at least discussion about all of this. Clearly, the Forest is something important to her or she wouldn\\\'t go there and be their Medium. She\\\'s not a child, and she\\\'s also had to build a life for herself without his help, and if she\\\'s veered off course (which she has, but frankly the Court is responsible for her cheating as well since they should have set it straight as soon as they noticed), help her more gently since she permanently lost one parent and temporarily lost the other and of course she\\\'s not going to be totally well-adjusted after that. It still would have been painful, but it didn\\\'t have to be \\\'\\\'this\\\'\\\' painful, and he could at least show her some modicum of caring. Instead, all he says are how he\\\'s disappointed and she\\\'s caused an inconvenience for everyone and other things that make her feel awful without any relief.
The point is, does Anthony have some hidden agenda? I\\\'m sure. He didn\\\'t come back just to lecture her about school habits. The dude is made of unknown motivations. Maybe he is really trying to help her. However, even if his ultimate intentions are good, his current actions are all incredibly hurtful. Most abusers don\\\'t think of themselves as such so even if he \\\'\\\'does\\\'\\\' have \\\"good intentions\\\" (the pavers on the road to hell) it doesn\\\'t necessarily mean he is not abusive. Right now, what\\\'s visible is that he is being a massive jerk to his daughter and she\\\'s clearly incapable of fighting back. Maybe he will subvert, repent, or zigzag in the future, but I think AbusiveParents is a fair trope right now.
*\\\'\\\'\\\'Ignores or leaves you out of things:\\\'\\\'\\\' Ditching off on her for three years, maybe? We know that he \\\'\\\'could\\\'\\\' contact her, at some point, but the one phone call she got was inconsequential conversation / code for something he wanted Donny to do. Also, ditching off is apparently a preexisting habit of his, so I\\\'d say it\\\'s even odds whether or not he actually had to do it.
*\\\'\\\'\\\'The makeup thing:\\\'\\\'\\\' It did make her feel bad. He called it ridiculous in front of ~twenty people, and she\\\'s not the only girl wearing makeup either. How would he not know that it would make her feel bad. Definitely counts.
*\\\'\\\'\\\'Pushes you away:\\\'\\\'\\\' \\\"Is it your \\\'\\\'business\\\'\\\'? [DeathGlare]\\\" He could have said just \\\"I don\\\'t want to discuss it\\\" without being a jerk about it.
*\\\'\\\'\\\'Stops you from having friends:\\\'\\\'\\\' I would say that yanking her out of Year 10 and removing her from Kat counts. I don\\\'t know how much detail he has about her life at the court, but \\\"Kat is her friend and she knows her classmates\\\" seems like a pretty basic hypothesis. His words about distractions also imply that she\\\'s going to have limited social time.
Also, Annie is a teenager (I think she\\\'s 14?) and is entitled to have at least discussion about all of this. Clearly, the Forest is something important to her or she wouldn\\\'t go there and be their Medium. She\\\'s not a child, and she\\\'s also had to build a life for herself without his help, and if she\\\'s veered off course (which she has, but frankly the Court is responsible for her cheating as well since they should have set it straight as soon as they noticed), help her more gently since she permanently lost one parent and temporarily lost the other and of course she\\\'s not going to be totally well-adjusted after that. It still would have been painful, but it didn\\\'t have to be \\\'\\\'this\\\'\\\' painful, and he could at least show her some modicum of caring. Instead, all he says are how he\\\'s disappointed and she\\\'s caused an inconvenience for everyone and other things that make her feel awful without any relief.
The point is, does Anthony have some hidden agenda? I\\\'m sure. He didn\\\'t come back just to lecture her about school habits. The dude is made of unknown motivations. Maybe he is really trying to help her. However, even if his ultimate intentions are good, his current actions are all incredibly hurtful. Most abusers don\\\'t think of themselves as such so even if he \\\'\\\'does\\\'\\\' have \\\"good intentions\\\" (the pavers on the road to hell) it doesn\\\'t necessarily mean he is not abusive. Right now, what\\\'s visible is that he is being a massive jerk to his daughter and she\\\'s clearly incapable of fighting back. Maybe he will subvert, repent, or zigzag in the future, but I think AbusiveParents is a fair trope right now.
