#mentor-mentee

I'd been in kind of an angsty mood lately and have also been in a Detective Pikachu loop. The scene where Pikachu tells Tim Goodman that things weren't his fault kind of inspired this: Audrey might feel in some way responsible for both her own death and her part in Wilson's genocide (not to mention the creatures she's had to kill to survive) despite being tricked into it herself. Ericka, who sees some of her own struggles in the kid, reassures her young friend that she's far more innocent than her old self was. Ericka was brought up to hate and kill monsters where Audrey was merely a young woman thrust into the horrors, trying to get home.

Bonus: The morpeko is Frank, one of Audrey's WIR-Verse pokemon pets and a birthday/Game anniversary gift from her "cousin", Bendy. He's named after both Frankenstein and legendary animator Frank Thomas (A flat out reference to the Bendy Fan song "Find the Keys" by the Stupendium: "Frankenstein meets Frank and Ollie." Bonus: she has another pokemon named Ollie, a shiny smeargle given to her by Memory!Joey.) She carries the little Guinea pig/hamster around with her perched on her shoulder, sharing her food with him, and using him to help power her Gent Pipe as well as help crawling through the vents to find things and access places....well, as long as he doesn't get distracted by food, that is. He's normally a mellow little fella, but his Hangry Mode can quickly turn him into a raging ball of demonic fury much like how the timid yet friendly Bendy can turn into the terrifying ink demon.

The Color of Money (1986). Fast Eddie Felson teaches a cocky but immensely talented protégé the ropes of pool hustling, which in turn inspires him to make an unlikely comeback.

Mentor Character: As your commanding officer/boss/leader/etc., what you did was extremely risky, you defied my orders and went behind my back and that’s not how missions/cases/jobs/etc. are done around here, but as your parent/adoptive parent, I’m proud of you and you did good

Or the same thing but opposite, like

Mentor cherishes “problem kids” because they were one as a child, and remembers exactly how hard it was to find someone who believed in them

At first, the “problem kids” cause— well— problems— but when their teacher compliments their creativity and encourages their divergent thinking, they’re fueled to use their energy towards making the learning space better, not worse

The “good kid” is thoroughly frustrated by the fact that they’re being overshadowed by peers who always made them suffer, and the fact that their mentor teases them only makes it worse

It takes a LONG time before the “good kid” approaches their mentor about it, after the mentor explicitly asks the kids to tell them when something is wrong

The mentor is a bit mortified to realize that they’ve been making one of their kids feel insecure, because that’s the opposite of their goal, and asks the “good kid” to work with the other kids on a big project with the designated job of keeping everyone on-task

There’s a lot of fighting at first; the “problem kids” already have negative perceptions of the “good kid,” and vice-versa

But anytime someone comes to the mentor about it, the mentor suggests something dumb, like flipping a coin

The kids all go “well even WE can come up with a better problem-solving strategy than that” and proceed to formulate a list of rules that offers everyone a chance to speak their mind

Whoops now they’ve organized their own micro-government and they all get praised by their mentor for overcoming their differences and figuring out how to combine order and creativity

Also the problem kids stop picking on the “good kid” because hey, they aren’t so bad, they were willing to compromise and maybe they kinda judged them the same way people have judged THEM their whole lives

“The best mentor-mentee relationships I am a part of have allowed me to make mistakes while encouraging me and giving me targeted ways of doing better the next time around. They have also consisted of developing realistic goals and expectations. But, above all, they have taken what I bring to the table and helped elevate what is already there, not change it. That’s the hallmark of any good relationship. In medicine, I have found that these relationships are not only invaluable, but they lend themselves to a network of people who are committed to making sure you take care of yourself so you can take care of your patients for years to come.”

“Hey kid, grab me the bottle over there.” “Okay! What’s inside—“ “Just bring it to me.”

Mentee bouncing up and down to contain their excitement over doing tasks most people would consider completely mundane

Mentee watching a very bored Mentor do their work in what is the equivalent of the Spiderverse meme

Mentee getting wise to how Mentor’s brain works and using it to their advantage

“Hey, can you teach me to do [the thing]?” “Not right now, [Mentee].” “But if you teach me how to do it, you won’t have to do it yourself anymore!” “…okay so the first thing you gotta do is—”