#johnwiseman

No need to apologize for the truth: Nick and Humorous Button take after John, which says all there is to know.

Morbid-Confident Button takes after Hope.

Will that be a scene about that, or make a big impact in anything?

Yes to both questions! Button can refuse to meet with John and Hope, and that refusal will have major repercussions later on the story.

Aw, I’m blushing! In regards to your question (which is a great one!), John and Hope are somewhat stereotypical. Parents often claim to have faith in their children, but then will encourage their progeny to stick to safer, more secure choices, especially if they believe a choice has the potential to make their child unhappy (or they secretly doubt their kid’s ability to handle adversity despite outwardly being supportive).

Their pushback over Button’s enrollment at Aeon is similar to the pushback one might receive upon telling their parents that they plan on studying, say, theater tech and interpretive dance at university. Hope and John are concerned that Button may eventually regret the decision to join Aeon, especially if anything goes sideways. Coupled with their residual guilt over leaving and unavoidable worry that Button may be choosing a dangerous path in order to follow in their retreating footsteps--their resistance makes sense, even if it doesn’t make for A+ parenting.

Kids often expect perfection from their parents and become disillusioned and bitter when they inevitably realize that parents are still flawed people who simply happened to procreate (see: resentful Buttons). Likewise, parents often underestimate their children because it’s their baby damnit and must therefore be guided into making the right decisions. Other than the psychic stuff, it’s a fairly common situation.

Contrast Hope and John’s attitude with Nick’s, who’s in total support of Button’s decision, and you get at the root difference between being a parent and being an older sibling. Nick may be protective, but his view of Button’s capabilities is more realistic (or even over-estimating) since siblings usually have an easier time seeing each other as humans than do parents and children.

Nick's telepathic brainrange when trying is insanely far due to his telepathy/telemetry dual inheritance (telemetry is a fancy word for psychic farsight) Hope's psychic reach can also go over 90 miles if she strains. "Resting brainrange" (ie range that their abilities always work at, without deliberately pushing their limits) on the other hand can be fairly limited--for Nick, it's a few blocks but for Hope it's 60 miles.

Nick is a pretty dang huge deal. He’s easily more powerful than both his parents, who are already both level tens. Pollard’s Scale doesn’t really go high enough for Nick, in the same way it doesn’t go low enough for Button. This is played down some in Mind Blind’s narrative because Button is accustomed to the disparity. Even if Nick is superpowered, he’s still their obnoxious older brother. 

2/2 Also sorry! Seems rude to come ask for food and not even mention how much i love your story! Very excited to follow your progress. Mind Blind is currently sitting at the top of my favorite cog wips.

Thank you so much! I’m so glad that someone likes John--he’s such a soft dork. He’s who Nick and Humorous Button inherited their bad puns from. If he and Button are close, then he’s probably overheard all of their crushes since he comes to Chicago every week.

That actually changes depending on how reluctant you come across to Grayson about going to lunch! If Button is highly resistant and expresses resentment, then lunch with John is as a tentative attempt on his part to heal their broken relationship. However, if you go happily without being pressured, it's stated that John drives down every weekend and Button has the option of determining how often they video chat with Hope (or don't, if the relationship with their mom is still strained).