From My Instagram Lol At A Goodwill

behind every hot girl there is an unhealthy, slightly concerning, spiritual connection to a sad gay fictional character

THAT WHICH DRIVES US, A MYSTERIOUS THING CALLED THE HEART

IF YOU EVEN CARE!

Odysseus and Penelope's first date:

Athena:

Now tell me he wouldn't do that

A lot of pop psychology gets thrown around and since I already have a headache, here's preventing you lot from making it worse.

Love-bombing: A manipulation tactic of increasing affection and grand gestures before or after doing something abusive, specifically to weasel one's way out of consequences.

What it is not: A streak of affection and generosity towards friends/loved ones.

Trauma-bonding: Knowingly traumatizing someone to take advantage of their vulnerable state, to then act like the "hero" or the one who cheers them up.

What it is not: Bonding over similar traumas.

Gaslighting: *Knowingly* convincing someone they cannot trust their own perception of a situation in pursuit of one's own narrative.

What it is not: Misaligned perception of events.

Narcissist: Someone afflicted with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a traumagenic cluster B disorder, that struggles with self-obsession, paranoia, craving validity from the public, delusions of grandeur, and social disconnection.

It is not: Your rubbish ex that cheated on you.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

-Xanthe

I think it's interesting that many of the languages Henry learns are liturgical/sacred/associated with religious works.

Ancient Greek goes without saying, but there's also (If I remember correctly, don't have access to the text at the moment) Coptic, Latin, and Pali.

Henry has been searching for something beyond the physical world to believe in, and feel at home in because he isn't altogether connected to this world. He uses the skill he knows he has, languages, to search for a place he feels spiritually at home.

Him suggesting the bacchanal tells us he does believe in the Greek pantheon, but if we stick with this reading, that makes sense because Julian encourages a tendency he already had.

Henry's headaches could perhaps be likened to trances, further cementing him as a character drawn toward faith. His material wealth also highlights this, as he is mostly disconnected from the real world in the sense of needing to know how much things cost.

His search for faith begins before joining the greek class. This could bring him into a parallel with Richard, who recognizes he himself was in the right circumstances to be in a cult, also searching for something more than his physical/material life

“studying like henry winter” right so flunking and skipping the sats on purpose and dropping out and doing nothing else but reading for pleasure and generally being a lackluster student

straight friend groups be like : "jock", "blond", "smart", "nerd", "quirky", "girl"

queer friendgroups be like: "nothing in my soul if not obsessive", "redistribution of matter", "cubitum eamus", "a kiss for your jailbird brother", "murdered", "heavily romantisised"