#feletz.character.analysis

On the other hand, Marc's Valentino impression is as strong as ever, and he's acting just as Valentino's impression is always asking to do, the quick wit and jokes only adding to Marc's charm when filtered through his own thoughts. But, Marc's impression of Valentino is not the real Valentino, it is the young Valentino who would have loved Marc as much as anything, not the dark and deeply flawed grown up Valentino.

The young Valentino that lives on in Marc's impression is always up for all of Marc's fun and lighthearted "mind games" and can move on even if he sulks about it, and impression-Valentino always is happy to egg Marc on to be fun and cringey. That's why Marc genuinely does not understand why the real Valentino is growing further and further apart from him. Their real relationship is so off, but his impression of Valentino is joyous and warm, something that seems so full of life and strong.

And one of the worst parts of it all is that even as the relationship between Marc and Valentino begins to strain, the impression that Valentino has of Marc is still his strongest impression by a mile. Maybe Valentino's impression of Marc is so strong that it almost feels like Marc is beside him, that he can feel the impulsiveness, competitiveness, hunger, and mental fortitude almost like it is his own. Valentino doesn't need to be told that Marc is quite simply not normal with his mental strength, he can fucking feel it. He can feel the never-give-up-ness of Marc's thought process. It begins to scare him and disgust him in equal measure. And it ends up fucking with his head because he himself doesn't know where that hunger ends, where it leads to.

Like imagine 2015 Sepang, where Valentino swears that he can taste Marc's determination to keep him behind like it's caught in his teeth, and just like anything caught in his teeth, he can't stop running his tongue over it until it gets unstuck. He ends up kicking Marc off just to feel all of that stone cold determination cut off into jumbled chaos. The foundations of Marc's affection for Valentino get shaken, and so Valentino's impression of Marc quiets. It doesn't stay that way, but it's muffled. When their relationship gets better again, it clears up a bit, but once their relationship gets worse again, it returns to that more muffled state. And yet, it's still the strongest that Valentino has.

Then imagine that after Marc closes himself off from the grid, he barely gets any new impressions from anybody on the grid. All of the rookies are firmly in Valentino's court, or they smartly keep their distance. Even being near Marc is more bad PR than it's worth. So Marc gets a bit lonely, only left with his old impressions, and ones from his closest friends and family. There is no warmth in the paddock for him anymore. Marc longs for that easy love from everyone that he took for granted when he had it.

The worst part is, that the normal impression collage that he would get from the entire grid is just absent, a void where normally he would have a pulsing wave of impressions, whether the impressions were weak or barely there. There's a solid wall of we-refuse-to-bond-with-you across half of the grid, and it's been long enough that even Marc's Valentino impression, has begun to lose its edge and color. The young Valentino and this new older Marc are growing further apart, evidenced by the fact that his impression of Valentino is starting to fade. Even with the few rookies and younger riders on the grid in his corner, it isn't like how it used to be. Back when he first got into motogp, even riders who didn't like him would leave impressions. Like Jorge's impression, who even at the worst points of their relationship, would always feel like a cool and steady balm of calm on Marc's shoulders.

So, then we cut to when Valentino's finally left the grid and Marc’s back after his injury and at Ducati. All of a sudden, the VR46 academy riders can form their own opinions of Marc and what they all discover is that he’s lovely. He’s suspiciously like Valentino in some ways and it’s crazy how a complete nothingness of an impression (something that was always so odd about Marc to them) becomes an incredibly strong impression and it’s clear that he’s not what they expected at all because why is a guy who’s like five years older than them mothering them and pestering them. Like why is Bez's impression of Marc screeching at him while he’s on his bike telling him when to break and when to push (he's fucking trying! Shut up Marc!). And why is Pecco’s impression of Marc a literal fucking specter like ten feet in front of him who is always getting up or walking away and waiting for Pecco to follow, always watching him carefully with his deer eyes as he gracefully stalks through Pecco’s world leading him to where he needs to go (everyone says he seems more confident and sure of himself, but he’s just following the Marc impression he has. When they compliment him, they're not even really complimenting him so much as they are complimenting Marc—).

Basically everyone eventually has a meeting where they talk to each other about Marc’s impressions on them and while it’s deeply personal to talk about impressions, they can’t help but say something about it because he has the most unique impressions they’ve ever seen. (Does it perhaps represent how much he cares? Does that mean that all along they missed this? It doesn’t bear thinking about).

For comedies sake, imagine a very confused and scared Pecco making a reddit account on r/impressions and asking if anyone else has a ghost-like impression that literally leads them everywhere and doesn’t talk at all, is just visually there and watching them. The entire comments section has people thinking that it’s a hoax or being gobsmacked because what on god’s green earth. Some people mention that they can see vague inklings of a person, but usually only a hand or a visual kind of mirage, that doesn’t actually inhabit the space, just an image that fades and doesn’t actually fit in their environment 3 dimensionally. Some people are asking him to message them privately so they give their contact information to see if they can study him. Pecco doesn’t respond, but apparently things like this, though less extreme, can happen so maybe it’s not completely weird?

Which brings us to why Marc likes Carlos. Marc’s been burned before, had his whole private life upturned for the sake of drama. Carlos is the anti-vale. He’s not loud charisma and a drama starter, Carlos is quiet charisma, a problem solver, and gentle. He’s not a predator looking for weakness, he’s family. In some ways, Carlos reminds me of Alex (Marquez), always ready to soothe, but emotionally intelligent enough to know how to soothe without being coddling.

Carlos is smart, someone that Marc can talk with about his interests and get genuine honest banter and opinions from. Carlos may make jokes or tease, but he’s easy to read. There’s no hidden games to see how he’s feeling about something when there’s a joke involved. Marc will never have to try and stay conscious of his body language or his tone, looking for clues because Carlos would just say how he feels. Carlos is not afraid of “I feel” statements or showing a glimpse of his softer sides. He’s confident in himself, there’s no need for posturing besides when he’s making a joke and playing a character.

Carlos is also funny, always teasing and that perfect mixture of knowing when and when not to touch. Marc is particular with affection, needs someone who is consistent with how they act around him. The second that they switch up, he pulls away, doesn’t let them close again until they prove themselves. Carlos knows that, would keep his distance when Marc needs it, but he can stay close too. Carlos will meet Marc’s eyes when he smiles, will never leave Marc hanging out to dry just because he can. He’ll leave a space between them so Marc can decide to close it or not.

And so many of those traits are why Lando and Carlos also work so well together.

Carlos is smart, doesn’t hide that around Lando, meaning he doesn’t dumb himself down for Lando like so many people do. He’s knows the difference between not being able to find the right word and just not knowing. He’s patient, willing to look at Lando for more than what is plainly visible from the surface. He knows Lando is smart, can absorb the information he gives him, only that it just needs some time to settle. If Lando looks confused, Carlos will immediately start explaining, will take his time to make sure that he and Lando are on the same page, even if it’s just a joke.

He values their time together, makes it clear that he enjoys and is grateful for every second, even when it’s pr mandated. Carlos will tell Lando outright how much he means to him, how close or not close they are. He doesn’t leave Lando floundering trying to figure out their relationship for himself. Carlos sets clear boundaries, makes it easy for Lando to tell the difference between them time and Carlando Camera Time TM.

On top of that, Carlos is patient, quietly insistent. If Lando is in a mood, he won’t forcefully try to cheer Lando up, especially when Lando just wants to brood. He’ll act as normal until Lando’s mood improves or Lando wants to talk about it. He doesn’t try to step over Lando’s autonomy like a lot of people tend to do. If Lando wants to do something on his own, Carlos will let him, might offer help, but will let Lando be Lando about it all. When Lando is self deprecating or making himself small, Carlos won’t offer platitudes or say nice things just to make it less awkward, Carlos will objectively try to change Lando’s mind. He’ll give examples, leave no real room for argument, but won’t be aggressive or forceful with it. He knows he’s only giving Lando an idea that he will ruminate on for a while. Carlos is aware of how to make Lando grow as a person on his own. He can plant a seed, but he knows that Lando is the only one who can actually make the metaphorical plant grow.

So both of them, for pretty much the same reasons, like Carlos. Now this is where gets a little tricky because Marc is slow to trust people and Lando is shy.

Lando can take a while to warm up to people, but Marc is extroverted and good at conversation enough that Lando doesn’t have to struggle with how to fill in the silence. He has energy that’s easy to build off of, to mirror. Even better, Carlos and Marc can talk to each other plenty so Lando is free to exist in the space without having to be the center of attention too. And, when either of them does bring him to their attention, Carlos knows him well so it’s comfortable, and Marc is all easy teasing and pestering compliments, which is good. Perfect even. For Lando, it’s easy for Marc to slot in, especially when Carlos doesn’t seem to favor either of them. They both have Carlos, and even when they’re together, they still both have him.

For Marc, it starts out as mostly all PR poise. He knows that Lando is a motogp fan, particularly of Valentino, but he also knows that Carlos wouldn’t bring someone into his space that he thought would hurt him. He’s met Lando before, maybe a few times, on track, shared a hug and a few polite words, but he was never able to get a solid sense of who he was. Lando is sweet to him, his words all jumbled but polite.

However, in the privacy of Carlos’ home, and looking past Lando’s shy hesitance, Marc gets to learn that Lando is bad at not being himself. Lando can’t help but laugh until he cries when Carlos’ dog starts chasing him around the house. He can’t hide his moodiness when he finds out that Carlos’ last guests have finished the cookies he bought and left at his place last time. He can’t hide his awe when they watch a race and Marc can tell him the specifics of the bikes and riding styles that even he as a long time fan hasn’t caught onto. Lando can’t hide his fatigue when he’s finally a bit peopled out at the end of the day, but still sitting pressed against Carlos’ side on the couch, on his phone with headphones on.

At the end of night, when Lando is still watching something on his phone, but sleepily blinking now, Marc feels comfortable enough to sit on Lando’s other side. He tries to maneuver Lando a bit, pull him closer, but Lando doesn’t lean on him, quickly amending that he doesn’t want to hurt Marc’s arm, his voice immediately having a sad and pouting tone. It surprises Marc because it’s not something people mention often when they try to get on his good side. But Lando hasn’t been trying to get on his good side, has just been himself all day, even if that means being a bit grumpy or quiet.

Safe to say that Marc is pleased and immediately pulls Lando’s head into his lap with an evil sounding cackle because what do you mean that this little gremlin is honest to a fault and doesn’t want to hurt him.

Lando’s heart beats a mile a minute for a while, staunchly avoiding Marc’s gaze until Marc and Carlos start talking. He feels less anxious when they’re mid conversation and he ends up half falling asleep there until they get him up and they all go to bed.

Carlos would have been watching the whole interaction between Marc and Lando while smiling to himself. He’d almost be wishing that he got them together sooner.