“I don’t like to talk about it.” Theodore tended not to get angry – there were men who had known him for an entire decade who if asked the very same question about him, would be hard pressed to provide an answer. Much like undead pirates, the temper of Theodore Groves was a rather fantastical thing that very few would believe existed at all.
In truth, Theodore’s anger tended to show itself in small and subtle fashions – often shockingly passive in nature for a man who could be so bold in all other aspects of his life. This is due to several factors.
The first of course being that Theodore is incredibly difficult to anger to begin with. He has no sense of patriotism whatsoever, and nationalism has also failed to cleave to him – so many of the insults and insinuations that could rile another officer are more often than not, water off the duck’s back. He is not goaded – he attacks only when he is ordered to do so – battle is, after all, a necessary evil to a life of adventure.
Threats to him get very little response, and threats to his family result in the logical and mild reminder that there is no benefit to threatening them. His family is poor and his own inclinations make him an inadequate and unlikely candidate for captaincy – meaning it is very unlikely he will ever hold much value to the admiralty. Attacking the Groves nets nothing but a good deal of effort for no true payoff.
Threats to his friends net you a very fond good luck as they are all rather better at fighting than he is, and he has never once chosen a lover without some capacity for self defense. So attempting to yield a response out of him through interpersonal blackmail is – more often than not – a disappointing venture.
Theodore is not involved with politics. He has no ambitions beyond “adventure” he has nothing that can be wielded against him that will force him to act in any way he is not comfortable with – and as an inherently hedonistic individual that is quite terrifying in and of itself. He tends to respond to criticism with gratitude, and more often than not when he is confronted on his choices he opts to learn and carry forth without any fuss. ( And as someone once wisely noted, this Forward Thinking / “Well I learned! Won’t do that again” attitude of Theodore’s is not healthy, because it actually avoids addressing having been hurt at all. )
Which means that Theodore’s anger stems from something else entirely, when it does deign to draw itself forward. Because for as unhealthy as his look forward mentality can be, he does not forget the lessons he learned. And there are times when people cross lines – when people do things he knows are unacceptable – and if he weren’t himself they would never dare.
Theodore knows when he is being taken advantage of, when his kindness is being exploited, and when his ability to mitigate situations have shifted from a skillset to a necessity for survival.
In all of these scenarios, Theodore is likely to be angry in ways he feels impotent to express. How does one express vexation over people taking advantage of a good nature that has no intentions of darkening just so they cannot? How does one say how dare you when it is so out of character to do so?
In truth, Theodore doesn’t know how to express his anger in these moments because he is so rarely truly hurt enough to be angry. But there are ways to tell.
- When he begins agreeing with everything you say, and ( to quote a comedian ) essentially makes you the King of Right and he is just over here, the Czar of Wrong – you’ve entered dangerous territory. This is not to be mistaken with him conceding a point and agreeing to learn from it – there is a difference between him agreeing that his perspective needed shifting, and him saying you’re right, of course, I have no idea what I was thinking – Yes, of course, I am quite ignorant on the topic – Naturally, you know better than I. This is generally a sign you have, some fucking how, managed to offend him and he can no longer be bothered to grant you sound advice or insights into his thoughts.
- When he seems very determined to ‘give you space’ – or alternatively, just leaves you alone without explanation frequently, this is a sign that he is feeling taken advantage of, and is his most frequent signal that he does not appreciate it. This is especially notable when he feels as though someone is using him as their anger outlet / their excuse to emote a bad day on someone who will not retaliate for it.
- When he refuses to touch you. He is a tactile person – he touches the people he likes. When Theodore withdraws that entirely, you have not only made him angry, you may well have hurt him in some manner he cannot express.
- When the small things Theodore does every day to make your life easier suddenly stop, you’ve fucked up somewhere.
Ocean Archive 