Back to Cedric -- I think his greatest fear is of letting down others. He wants to PLEASE people. Does that make him weak? Or considerate? A chameleon? Or sensitive? I think it makes him all the above, depending. Cedric wants to be kind and loyal -- strives to be. But isn't always. He's beautiful (and he's not blind), and is USED to the world revolving around him. I've noticed this is true of pretty people, talenting people ... others do things for them and they come to expect it. That DOESN'T mean they don't genuinely appreciate it, or that they demand it. But it's been a part of their world for so long, it's hard for them to imagine people NOT doing such things. They're often optimistic about people because having others be nice to them has been a regular part of their experience. (Children learn what they live.)
In short, they're unconsciously self-centered. Not selfish, but self-centered because it's what he's used to. (And I say this AS an only child; I'm not trying to be unduly critical of Cedric, so much as very aware of where his blind spots are.) I think he'd be horrified to find himself either assuming, or selfish -- but that doesn't change the fact he can be. And when I saw him lying there on the bench, at the center of his friends, I saw that side of him. He's the Leo -- the Lion of the Zodiac. He loves to be admired ... yet in BEING admired, he'll graciously acknowledge -- and genuinely appreciate -- all his friends. He wouldn't be there without them, and he knows it. (E.g., He may have told friends not to wear the badges, but probably not very hard ... because to get mean about it would, to him, be a slap in the face of their friendship and loyalty to him. It's mean, insulting. And he doesn't want to spurn their friendship and honoring. He finds it sweet ... even while finding it embarrassing.)
It's a strange line he walks, between honest humility -- yet also honest awareness that he is 'special.' Leo is, after all, the king. :-D Nobelesse oblige. (This is the same thing I find fascinating in Warren Worthington, btw, another beautiful, rich ... and really, genuinely nice guy. But War has an arrogant streak he's all but unaware of. So does Cedric, I think. And Warren would be sorted into Hufflepuff, you know. (g))
But all that is why I've come to really like Cedric. He's a 'type' of character I'm fascinated by -- the truly gifted (and beautiful) who is not arrogant, yet who can never quite escape awareness of their own uniqueness. After all, how does one graciously handle being squandered on by God? (g) That, to me, is Cedric's primary delimma. He'd have to be a lot stupider than I think he is to be unaware that he's multiply blessed -- but he does his damn best not to let it go to his head. It's a struggle ... and I love watching him navigate it. I saw the courtyard scene as evidence of that struggle. :-)
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In short, they're unconsciously self-centered. Not selfish, but self-centered because it's what he's used to. (And I say this AS an only child; I'm not trying to be unduly critical of Cedric, so much as very aware of where his blind spots are.) I think he'd be horrified to find himself either assuming, or selfish -- but that doesn't change the fact he can be. And when I saw him lying there on the bench, at the center of his friends, I saw that side of him. He's the Leo -- the Lion of the Zodiac. He loves to be admired ... yet in BEING admired, he'll graciously acknowledge -- and genuinely appreciate -- all his friends. He wouldn't be there without them, and he knows it. (E.g., He may have told friends not to wear the badges, but probably not very hard ... because to get mean about it would, to him, be a slap in the face of their friendship and loyalty to him. It's mean, insulting. And he doesn't want to spurn their friendship and honoring. He finds it sweet ... even while finding it embarrassing.)
It's a strange line he walks, between honest humility -- yet also honest awareness that he is 'special.' Leo is, after all, the king. :-D Nobelesse oblige. (This is the same thing I find fascinating in Warren Worthington, btw, another beautiful, rich ... and really, genuinely nice guy. But War has an arrogant streak he's all but unaware of. So does Cedric, I think. And Warren would be sorted into Hufflepuff, you know. (g))
But all that is why I've come to really like Cedric. He's a 'type' of character I'm fascinated by -- the truly gifted (and beautiful) who is not arrogant, yet who can never quite escape awareness of their own uniqueness. After all, how does one graciously handle being squandered on by God? (g) That, to me, is Cedric's primary delimma. He'd have to be a lot stupider than I think he is to be unaware that he's multiply blessed -- but he does his damn best not to let it go to his head. It's a struggle ... and I love watching him navigate it. I saw the courtyard scene as evidence of that struggle. :-)