Okay now time to talk about my selfship with Devstar, (Northen Lights!Starbi and Devon) and how I connect their relationship with the song Lower One's Eyes by Nulut (specifically with Trickle's lyrics).
Okay so, let me first establish who represents who, but not in the way you'd think. If anything both of them can
NL!Starbi (sometimes titled North) clearly represents the Witch, but is in the position of the maid. He clearly has less to offer compared to the privileged Devon with a well-off family.
Devon represents the maid, but is in the position of the Witch. He has way more to offer, has a clear friend group, an education at the very least, and a job despite his reservations of his future.
Much like the Maid in the original MV. Devon has an initial resentment towards Starbi. For context, both Starbi and Devon are coworkers at a diner in Montana. But Starbi is managing his job way more compared to Devon with his bubbly personality. Customers seem to find Starbi enjoyable, and the two's manager favor the cat a little more compared to the grumpy doberman.
It doesn't help that Starbi is a bit of a new guy compared to Devon (subject to change). And in turn leads the doberman to envy Starbi despite his own predicaments of needing to be happy and cheerful to pay nights at the motel. And in turn becomes a bitter resentment towards Starbi.
But due to his stance as a privileged individual, it unfortunately influences his sense of empathy. Devon has been taken advantage of, or made fun of for being in a wealthy family. And has only spent time with Aldric and Misty, his two close friends from childhood. He only stopped being mean to Cody after learning he was Aldric's friend. So it would be a little more tough seeing as Starbi is a complete stranger. Case in point, I interpret Devon not having much empathy, or emotional intelligence for someone that's not from his friend group. Its writing like this that makes me want to see more of both him and especiallg Misty in the souce material.
Even when Starbi offers gestures of kindness to Devon. It unfortunately wasn't reciprocated by him, with him still not opening up to Starbi. But as time goes on, Devon understands Starbi a bit more with the help of Cody, and tries to be nice to him, in his own way. It also allows Devon to hang out with someone who shares similar interests with him. And in turn, the two surprisingly grow closer.
But unfortunately, tense feelings still remain.
Starbi, as shown in his reference and design, is an Avoidant. Due to his own way of thinking and need for survival from his predicament, he has a severe clash with himself on whether or not he wants friends not, or if he even can have them. He unfortunately sees himself as both unworthy, and worthy of friendship given his kindness to the friend group. But is noticeably distant with all of them. Starbi believes that to survive, he needs to be a "background character". A person that lives idly who doesn't concern himself with the "main characters". Its a way to protect himself so people don't find out his secret of being from another world, so to speak. So in turn, he protects himself by distancing himself from others.
But of course, Starbi's way of seeing people and himself are definitely skewed. He believes that he won't be noticed by people in the long run, but he's proven wrong by the kindness and interest Cody and his friend group have for him. Seeing this, Starbi plays a game of hot and cold with them.
"Be nice, but don't take the spotlight. Be what they want you to be. Anything but their friend."
But despite his precaution, Starbi doesn't even know that he failed. He failed at this goal and philosophy of his as even he grew to care about these people. How Starbi had grown to care about his friends. He did something he never thought he'd do.
Get people to care about him.
As time went on, he unintentionally let himself slip. Having heart to hearts with people like Cody, watching Misty play guitar, exploring the national park with Aldric, and spending quality time with Devon. It ultimately lead him to wanting to stay like this with everyone, forever.
Except, he could only dream such a life when his secret was exposed.
Feeling like everything came crashing down, how to him, it felt like everything ended. To him, Starbi could only do the thing he did best, and run away.
However, while doing so, Devon and everyone went after him. Not with disdain as Starbi had thought, but with understanding and compassion for him.
Despite their efforts, despite Devon's efforts in particular to look for him, to have him in his arms again. Starbi was gone. Whether he left to another state, whether he remained hiding in Montana, or whether he was dead. It didn't matter. He was now gone, and that was the very thing that mattered to Devon.