how do u feel about anti lottienats saying lottie groomed nat and we shouldnβt ship them
i just know it came from yjtwt and in that regard i wouldn't even give it the time of day but this is genuinely perplexing me so lets dive into it
lottienat antis will come up with more reasons to dislike lottienat than they will to support their own ship but this is the first i have ever heard of a 'grooming' scenario and honestly, as usual, it strangely pinpoints lottie as the bad guy
i do wish i knew what sect of yjtwt this was coming from because i could easily determine from there why they're targeting lottie but alas i'm going into this blind
i'm going to tackle this from a teen timeline pov and an adult pov because i don't know what timeline they're arguing from.
teen timeline: GROOMING WHERE? no, like, i'm genuinely wracking my brain. They butt heads the entire time and legitimately never see eye to eye so it can't be that? I don't know what defenses they're using for grooming in this timeline so i'll try and think of one? maybe the blood tea? but even then there's reluctance/disbelief on nat's part. so.... where's the grooming?
adult timeline (i'm going to heavily emphasize that these are adults, meaning they have a greater concept of their own autonomy and when they're being manipulated): yes, lottie kidnaps nat, who is on the brink of ending it all. if you want to call saving someone's life 'grooming,' have at it. now we reach the commune, where lottie does make some... choice decisions, in the best interest of nat. do i think this has reached anywhere near grooming status? no. we begin to see nat heal, and i believe this is of her own volition. you can't groom a person into forgetting genuinely traumatic events; lottie is simply guiding nat through them in a therapeutic way. when nat credits lottie with having saved her life, that is not grooming -- it is just genuine, empirical fact. so, no, even in the adult timeline i see no signs of grooming. you can forgive someone for past trespasses and not be 'groomed' into doing so.
i'll leave it at that as i'm busy, and because if i guess which sect of yjtwt is targeting lottie my inbox will blow up.
As a closing statement, I think it is absolutely absurd to use a topic as severe as 'grooming' to discredit a FICTIONAL SHIP of all things just because you don't like it. if you don't like lottienat, cool, ignore it. don't bring in an actual, terrible practice to bolster your point which, in this case, is hanging on by a thread (if even that).
there is a very real agenda to demonize lottie and this just feeds into that. my opinion? ignoreeeee. i hardly doubt those calling 'grooming' could even support their own stance with examples from the show.
sorry if this is long-winded, but as a lottie akgae who has time and time again witnessed the POC, mentally ill, equally traumatized character be painted as some sort of antagonist i had to say SOMETHING.
now back to writing my lottienat fanfiction!