Been relistening to balance and Lucretia’s reaction to hearing that the “red robe” showed up just solidifies my headcanon that… She had absolutely no idea what had happened to Barry.
He just fucking disappeared, like Lup before him disappeared, without a trace. She erased her crewmates’ memories and suddenly when she went to look Barry wasn’t on the ship anymore. He was gone.
So when a “spectral guy in a red robe” shows up to talk to the THB, asks them if they’re afraid, tells them they’ll learn fear, makes captain bane drink his own poison… She seemed not only genuinely shocked, but genuinely afraid for them.
And yeah, some of that fear is the realization that Barry may not let her finish her plan.
But part of that is a very real fear that Barry isn’t in there anymore. Liches are feared for a reason. They’re forbidden for a reason! They’re not stable, and with Lup gone, his family forgotten, I think Lucretia is absolutely terrified that they’ve lost Barry for good, and that in his confusion, with the boys having no idea who he is or how powerful he can be, that something seriously bad could happen if they ran into them again.
Every time Barry speaks to them in his lich form it’s not the charming Barry Bluejeans we know and love. He’s mysterious and spooky at best, and menacing and downright terrifying at worse.
They learn to trust him, of course, but that’s kind of beside the point.
I think what I love most about Lucretia (and I think what people misunderstand about her most) is that she’s not some calculating mastermind sitting behind a curtain going “Aha! My secret plan is working!” She’s a person who is, in an effort to save the whole universe and, impulsively, protect her family from the suffering they’re feeling is constantly, desperately fucking up.
Nothing ever goes the way she wants it too, even with the best intentions because she’s trying to accomplish it alone and we see a stark reminder of that after their first real interaction with “the red robe”: she realizes that whatever happened with Barry is just another one in the long line of mistakes that she doesn’t know how to fix
You are good at something, stop lying to yourself. You’re good at breaking down comic book plots, cooking ramen perfectly, making your friends happy, knowing the time without looking at a clock, getting the perfect ending at RPG’s, or figuring out the twist ending to movies. Don’t let society tell you your talents are meaningless because they don’t serve an economical purpose. Your talents reflect your interests and passions, and what’s important to you is important.
The phrase “No amount of skill will protect you from the sheer luck of a chronic dumbass” popped into my head and if that aint a Big Mood™ i dunno what is
