Basically excessive clinginess/nurturing impulses. Which can be directed in a healthy manner, and Kid is well-adjusted enough that some talks with older relatives and a checkup with his therapist will have him mostly on an even keel.
To make it more interesting... there are different cultural expectations. And Long-Lost Relative went through some other traumatic stuff before they reconnected... both of which give me a chance to play The Patient Is Escaping and Fright-Induced Bunkmate / Unexpected Bedmate Reveal, as a serious / realistic culture clash instead of the usual unrealistic comedy.
Don't worry, everyone in this particular scenario is doing the best they can with what info they've got; and they try to work out problems as they find them; but some things take time.
Just because you're doing everything right doesn't mean that everything goes well, especially if you run into outside-context problems.
>>Someone once said that writers will put their heroes through any harrowing experience, except having to learn a foreign language. I was like, "But that's my favorite one!" Both reading and writing.<<
Furthermore, such writing is a good teaching tool for how to interact with people non-verbally, and for how to interact and build relationships with people who are different than you.
I'm actually toying with trying to have one group use a sign language, (which you almost never see done in literature). Or maybe it should be a trade languague, with the one amphibious/aquatic group being habitually bilingual and switching to suit current needs...
...and yes, Imma include languague shenanigans. Don't annoy your volunteer interpreters, folks! Also, Divided by a Common Languague, Translation Chain, your Translator Buddy is a security blanket, and being the Unintelligible 'cause you learned to speak from books are all very true.
For a different story idea, I'm tempted to base aliens off earthlings (cockatoo, dog, horse, dolphin, fish, cephelopods etc) and then use the earthling 'donor species' body language as the alien one. Sneaky way to get people to learn about cross-species communication, bwahahaha!
Its fun talking about this stuff with you. :)
And now I'm tempted to challenge you to write a story with a complete languague barrier and no workarounds (i.e. translators), where the characters fix the problem / make friends / confuse everyone around them. (Or as someone incredulously asked me once "How do you talk to each other?")
Re: Thoughts
Basically excessive clinginess/nurturing impulses. Which can be directed in a healthy manner, and Kid is well-adjusted enough that some talks with older relatives and a checkup with his therapist will have him mostly on an even keel.
To make it more interesting... there are different cultural expectations. And Long-Lost Relative went through some other traumatic stuff before they reconnected... both of which give me a chance to play The Patient Is Escaping and Fright-Induced Bunkmate / Unexpected Bedmate Reveal, as a serious / realistic culture clash instead of the usual unrealistic comedy.
Don't worry, everyone in this particular scenario is doing the best they can with what info they've got; and they try to work out problems as they find them; but some things take time.
Just because you're doing everything right doesn't mean that everything goes well, especially if you run into outside-context problems.
>>Someone once said that writers will put their heroes through any harrowing experience, except having to learn a foreign language. I was like, "But that's my favorite one!" Both reading and writing.<<
Furthermore, such writing is a good teaching tool for how to interact with people non-verbally, and for how to interact and build relationships with people who are different than you.
I'm actually toying with trying to have one group use a sign language, (which you almost never see done in literature). Or maybe it should be a trade languague, with the one amphibious/aquatic group being habitually bilingual and switching to suit current needs...
...and yes, Imma include languague shenanigans. Don't annoy your volunteer interpreters, folks! Also, Divided by a Common Languague, Translation Chain, your Translator Buddy is a security blanket, and being the Unintelligible 'cause you learned to speak from books are all very true.
For a different story idea, I'm tempted to base aliens off earthlings (cockatoo, dog, horse, dolphin, fish, cephelopods etc) and then use the earthling 'donor species' body language as the alien one. Sneaky way to get people to learn about cross-species communication, bwahahaha!
Its fun talking about this stuff with you. :)
And now I'm tempted to challenge you to write a story with a complete languague barrier and no workarounds (i.e. translators), where the characters fix the problem / make friends / confuse everyone around them. (Or as someone incredulously asked me once "How do you talk to each other?")