Same same but different! I agree that John getting his first tattoo is in part distinguishing himself from his father and regular teenage rebellion. But I also hc a modern au John as always hovering around high adrenaline spaces and he gets a tattoo to Fit In to his new life, not just Stick Out in his old one. It doesnât totally work.
I think his adrenaline junkie stuff starts as a child in approved and supervised spaces by Henry - swimming, sailing, equestrian sportsmanship, etc. (it really doesnât matter what you pick. But they are rich people sports, and he is good at them. Itâs important that heâs rich, heâs the golden boy, and he is good at them), and as he enters teenage hood it becomes rock climbing, driving his car too fast on South Carolinaâs backroads when his dad pisses him off etc. by the time heâs an adult it can either go two ways- he join militant leftist spaces, or heâs joining the army, or both, or both but successively. There is no version of John that wouldnât have some type of service arc, and thatâs what I think makes modern aus hard. There is no version of these people that isnât thorny and political. They do not need to exist in a revolution to be thorny and political. I partially headcanon his final political orientation doesnât solidify from his time in Europe, but rather culture shock from joining the army (people of lots of different backgrounds and incomes etc.) and dissolution and dissatisfaction from what he THOUGHT he was there to do v. What theyâre actually doing. TDLR, ânot just a rich boyâ John or ânot that kind of officer John â˘â gets a tattoo, or multiple to fit in , this time with more enlisted men. Maybe one is an eagle and itâs embarrassing lmao. I donât care what they actually are- This insecurity just serves a through line to actual 18th century John having what I imagine to be dissatisfaction with relying on his father for military rank. âWhen does the uniform stop feeling like a costume,â etc.
Alex- exactly the same reason you expressed. he loves Johnâs tattoos, doesnât think thereâs anything wrong with them, but he needs social flexibility that John doesnât. Alex will talk about tattoo ideas, but at the end of the day, heâs not serious. John knows heâll never do it- and that IS a microcosm of bigger things that Alex will do v. John will do to be happy and themselves in the modern au. Point of tension! Follow-up crack hc- I have half a mind to keep modern au Rachel Jewish, and if she is, a tiny reason why Alex will never get a tattoo is because if he does, it feels like a final goodbye to his mom. Alex doesnât even think of himself as Jewish, but it lingers. If John knew, he would stop poking at the idea, because he would understand Alex has a Personal not just a Social reason not to. He does not know.