First things first the physical matter which stood out to me, upon initially reading, was when Dregs slapped Sebastian and he turned his head—just like when Nolan had done to him when he first gained his Viltrumite powers. Now why he did this specifically is a little nebulous, but my guess would be that Sebastian is fundamentally connected to his past much more than anyone else, and people that he hates infatuate him—obsessively. I mean sure, he probably hates it, denies it. But evidently he almost enjoys reacting the past with Dregs; maybe that is why he turns his face when he gets slapped by Dregs—which certainly does not to do this—but is a behaviour of his because of his compulsive tendencies to think of the past, and takes this opportunity now to take that past and “react” it almost. And perhaps in doing so he has also triggered Dregs to respond to her own actions presently, and how much she has changed in retrospect, it like he infected her to remember a past of herself. That’s how I saw it anyways since I went and re-read chapter 1 for funsies.

I know I didn’t answer all the questions but idk I hope I got some points across

The thing about our fics is we tend to jump in without any plans other than the premise. The first 15-ish chapters is just straight vibing and figuring out who these characters are. Theres always a disconnect from later chapters to the beginning to me-

But Sebastian I think he stayed decently consistent. Thing is in the desert they all thought they were going to die and act differently from arc 1 to 2- even if slightly.

Sebastian put on more of a show for the others. All the Marklings act differently in front of each other vs Dregs because they are men. You know, the patriarchy.

He was more grand with his self expression in a “Im going to die might as well make sure you remember me in what time you have left” way. He was starving and circling the drain and campy. Final curtain call moment, full mask on.

The like “I should’ve done this awhile ago,” in last chapter was like a director’s note to himself. He acted outside his character— also it was just stupid of him (in sebastian’s mind) not to do so.

He has been acting a long time and genuinely can not stop. He does not know who he really is.

The past is a stage play for him. He’s replaying it but this time he thinks he can change things because he knows the initial outcome.

Sebastian has always been very dramatic on purpose. He’s always been about drama but if you ever told him that he would reject the idea entirely.

He will get worse! As promised- full on twitter