Bio Family (0-14)
Starting life out in a low-income neighbourhood of a city resembling San Francisco, in a small townhouse packed to the brim with siblings. The youngest of 6, he was ABSOLUTELY the most spoiled in the first years of his life, especially after a brief period where he lived with one of his grandparents in an attempt to alleviate the financial burden 6 children have on one household.
Resented by the majority of his siblings, either from being spoiled or, as he grew older, being put in charge of a few of his OLDER siblings. this was not his call, his father at the time determined he was more ‘capable’ than a few of his more anxious siblings, which created friction. His father did things like this intentionally to push them apart.
When he started reaching pre-teen age, and tried to explore who he was as an individual, it became easy for him to be the target of his father’s scorn, who became jealous of and tore down his children whenever he got the sense they were separating themselves from him or the abstract concept of ‘the family’, which was very important to use against Tad in these situations. for every act of rebellion, simply against who his father wanted him to be, was seen as a direct attack of his authority.
During this time, he struggled with a lot of stress that bubbled up in his relationships as explosive emotional outbursts and found it was difficult to maintain any sort of relationship with others.
In-between homes (14-16)
Though he had never been officially kicked out, it was obvious at one point that he wasn’t wanted, Tad started to spend as much time as possible away from home in his early teens, having received a lot of blame for his eldest brother leaving home suddenly, and not feeling able to amend for it, he started to avoid the constant battle of home and started to grapple internally with his own principles, trying to separate himself from the guilt he experienced, mostly, on his own.
Tad searched for support in those who didn’t always have his best interest at heart, and chased the approval and love of others who chose to treat him poorly at any given interval. He was making attempts on how to understand what caused other pokemon to hate him. what was wrong with him?
The scales of self-doubt, aided by the fear of being inherently bad, were tipped by One (1) Pizza Delivery Boy’s patience and kindness towards him. Aiden, who he now thinks of like a parent, changed the direction his life was going by offering him another option: To stay in the spare room in his apartment.
Found Family (16-present)
It has taken a lot of adjustment to settle into a completely different life, and Tad still grapples with opinions that planted the wrong ideas in his head. It took a lot of courage to become legally emancipated at 17, and although theres still contact with his previous family, he is able, most of the time, to separate from it and remind himself he’s not in that household any longer and he has someone in his life that values him more than they ever had. Aiden and him have their differences, and it can be difficult, but he is overall much happier and doesn’t have emotional outbursts as frequently as he used to.
He’s been so focused on making it to the next day that his future feels unsure, and sometimes he doesn’t think he deserves to be where he is now. But life is a marathon and you take it one day at a time, and at least he can always ask Aiden to bring home a pizza :)
