cmdr normandypants

And that translates into passive neglect/negligence- she's not thinking about how much rest they need, the last time they ate, or how long they've been on their feet. They follow orders without complaint and they don't speak unless spoken to; it's easy to put their well-being out of mind. Maybe the moonstone also dampens her own physical needs – maybe Cass doesn’t even realize nor care that she eats and sleeps less after bonding with it – and this further distances her from being able to consider what Hector and Adira need.

They don't have the autonomy to groom when under the MT’s influence, so I imagine that as time passes they look increasingly unkempt and ragged. Their paint smears and washes off, their braids come undone; Cass absolutely isn't wasting time letting them maintain their hairstyles. Small injuries go untreated, because they can't tend to them themselves.

I can imagine Cass suddenly losing her connection with Hector or Adira at some point, becoming unreachable mentally, and when she investigates why she finds one of them collapsed somewhere on their patrol from exhaustion.

After that, she modifies their standing orders so they'll sleep and eat mechanically between assignments, but it's the bare minimum to prevent them from breaking down.(I think Cass would recognize they need to be maintained the same as any asset- a horse, a sword, etc.- which is dehumanizing in its own way.)

Even in a canon-compliant track that's pretty low grade on angst, I think Hector and Adira would probably come out of their time in captivity having lost a lot of weight. He has less to lose than she does because he's already lean, and might end up closer to emaciated by the time they're freed. He needs like 5000 calories a day and Cass is feeding him gruel and maybe one (1) apple.

I think the next level down/the darker version of this AU is her actively antagonizing the Brotherhood while they're in captivity. And I'm writing this ask so obviously I can see it LMAO. Cass is at her worst with the moonstone- she's isolated and spiraling, bonded with a magical artifact that may or may not amplify and warp her negative emotions, and her only company is a demon who has zero interest in the Brotherhood's well-being outside of their utility as weapons. She's so angry. 

And here's where my character interpretation/possible hot take comes in- I think Cass would really enjoy making Hector experience the humiliation and powerlessness she felt at the Great Tree. The role reversal and control/dominance is new to her, it’s a rush. 

We see shades of this in the unused scene from the finale that got as far as being storyboarded despite not making the final cut. Cass leans in while Hector leans away, she grabs his face, she gloats about her plans while he's unnerved- she seems to enjoy making him uncomfortable. Loooot of powerplay going on in this G-rated scene LMAO

Interestingly, Hector also appears lucid there- my guess is that it was simply boarded before the artistic decision was made to give people under the mindtrap’s influence glowing blue eyes as a visual cue. The Watsonian explanation that Cass allowed Hector/Adira to be self-aware while still under her control is a lot more interesting to me though, and fits w/ this whole train of thought.

I tend to see Hector as bearing the brunt of Cass' anger because... he's an easier target, honestly?

Cass knew Adira- even if she disliked her and grew to resent her presence in the group, there were times where she was almost warming up to her. They traveled together. She undermined Cass and came off as arrogant or dismissive of Cass at worst. But Cass has only ever had truly negative interactions with Hector; he physically beat her and belittled her in front of the princess and all her friends. He's not a person to her- she's only ever known him as an enemy. 

And Hector's so insanely stubborn and arrogant that she hurts him and he just doesn't LEARN. Even in a position of powerlessness, he's too reactive and impulsive to keep himself from mouthing off/talking back, or verbally attacking her- calling her a child, reminding her that she's nothing without the moonstone, etc. (In contrast, I think Adira would quickly realize how unstable Cass is and after trying and failing to reach out and get through to her, she'd adopt the grey stone method and comply to survive. Hector has no such self-preservation.)

You might notice in some of my sketches Hector has uhh cut hair and the story/implication for me there has always been that Cass sheared it in off in a fit of rage/as a punishment. Maybe Hector was showing a lot of resistance to her direct orders and she couldn't control him, or maybe he spat/bit her when she tried to grab his face, or headbutted her if she got close enough.

ANYWAY. Tl;dr I think Cass would have a really toxic dynamic w/ the Brotherhood and ESPECIALLY Hector while they were under her control. She needs an outlet/heatsink for her anger and Hector is too emotionally stunted to not make things worse for himself. (And, again, reiterating that this is a contextual exploration of Cass’ capacity to do harm, and an exploration of her at her worst.) 

Aside from that, my gf and I have also toyed w/ AUs where prolonged exposure to the mindtrap (and Cass focusing its full power on Hector more often b/c of how how hard he fights her) is actually destructive, and/or the effects of possession at the Tree + the mindtrap are cumulative and basically fry Hector's brain. 

In that path, Hector ends up completely hollow/borderline catatonic at worst by the end of the series. He disassociates, has holes in his memory, can't find words and struggles w/ making decisions on his own at all. It adds another layer of complications for a man who, by the end of the series, would arguably already be struggling to re-integrate back into society after 25 years of isolation.

"AUs" like that are kind of narrative cul-de-sacs in that there's no real destination, but I love iterating/permutating and focusing on minutiae of recovery. Here's another old doodle: