Oh *Grant*. I'm so sorry. I don't know if you'll believe me, but I *do* understand. For the first forty years of my life, *I* spent a lot of time trying to come off as non-threatening. Well, I'm a gay man of color with a non-typical psychology and no particular desire to draw the ire of racists and homophobes. Keeping my head down always seemed like it was the better part of valor.
You never met me before I went home for six years, but I even held myself differently when I was younger, like I was *trying* to minimize how much space I took up. Because I was. I'm not a big as you, but I'm *not* a small man either. And people can find that intimidating.
Well. I won't really go into what changed there. But I *do* get it.
And I know Thace would too. He's very conscious of not coming off as the big scary alien invader with people, especially ones like Shiro who've encountered Galra before.
[He hesitates for a moment before adding,]
(Regarding Thace's people... the kinds of things he's told me happened were done *to* the Galra and *by* the Galra, to each other as 'disciplinary measures' and to the people they conquered. The Galra as a whole are far from guiltless... but they weren't *always* like that and their nigh-immortal emperor did a *lot* to twist them.)
no subject
You never met me before I went home for six years, but I even held myself differently when I was younger, like I was *trying* to minimize how much space I took up. Because I was. I'm not a big as you, but I'm *not* a small man either. And people can find that intimidating.
Well. I won't really go into what changed there. But I *do* get it.
And I know Thace would too. He's very conscious of not coming off as the big scary alien invader with people, especially ones like Shiro who've encountered Galra before.
[He hesitates for a moment before adding,]
(Regarding Thace's people... the kinds of things he's told me happened were done *to* the Galra and *by* the Galra, to each other as 'disciplinary measures' and to the people they conquered. The Galra as a whole are far from guiltless... but they weren't *always* like that and their nigh-immortal emperor did a *lot* to twist them.)