Whew! Well done Mallow. You can't fix choices of the past, but you can make good decisions going forward. <3
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33 thoughts on “Love Not Found- Ch24, p65”
Pixie
Way to go Mallow! He’s going to have an icy journey back to his icy planet though…
Jenny
If he’s lucky, Amaryllis will get a head start on a flight back to Pasque without him alone.
Bruce
And just like that, Mallow found the right words at the right time. Well, a bit late…. But luckily not too late…
Yay….
Sere
No, I don’t think they will. What a wonderful beginning to happily ever after.
Jenny
Regretting standing up to the winter-storm in more mature terms than she may ever do so, definitely not! Happily ever after, that takes a lifetime of work to upkeep. They’ve won their chance to continue working towards their dreams together, now they have to start putting in the effort for them. Best of wishes!
David
So now the question is what will happen with Amaryllis/Mallow. The previous sabotage of Abeille’s and Miel’s job situation suggests that it is Amaryllis who is able to wield influence, with Mallow only playing Queen Consort. If Amaryllis is letting Mallow go, Amaryllis is not going to try messing any less with Abeille’s life, and her current tactical retreat is not going to turn into lasting relief once she regroups.
Kendall 🍂❄
A pet theory of mine has been that Amaryllis plays helpless victim for Mallow, when we see them by themselves.
Felis Dee
If it’s anything like the one time my Dad stood up to my NMom, she will freeze him out for most of the journey home, and when she does talk to him, it’ll be berating him for how he didn’t support her against their daughter, how he never supports her ever, and why is she even still in this marriage, and making him feel like shit with a million microagressions every day until he’s practically grovelling to try and prove that he does indeed still love her. And it will go on for years until he’s sufficiently beaten down again that he won’t do that again.
Hopefully Mallow has a better time of it than my dad though.
Freya
I really hope that, if that starts, Mallow shuts her down with kindness, or firm but not yelling voice, “I love you, and I don’t deserve this. I think it’s time we went our separate ways.” Amaryllis appears to have significant abandonment trauma. If she can’t control or put her hands on everything around her, they will leave.
Jenny
Thank the Cosmos, or the Mallow in this case! Standing up for yourself or for others isn’t easy when someone wants to control everyone for their own choices while ignoring the impact it truly done. Speaking up is sometimes the only way to get the message across.
As for Amaryllis, maybe she can take her tantrum out on her share of the baggage. She’d certainly riled herself up to the task for hauling earlier.
Grandmotherbear
Tshanks Mallow for finally stepping up. Many of those who marry narcissists stay with them out of a mistaken idea that their children will benefit from having 2 parents. Unfortunately this just ain’t so. No parent is better than a narcissist parent. I’m forever grateful to my Papa for divorcing my maternal host beast back in the l960s and taking custody of my brother and me. I see Abeille as going no contact with hers, and hopefully Mallow will stick up for himself now he’s stuck up for his daughter
Paul Z
Now all Mallow needs to do is “accidentally” miss the boarding time for his ship back to Pasque.
David
In order to do what? Meddle with Abeille’s life instead of Amaryllis? I think he is right that right now they need to step back as parents. While you presumably think of him addressing a marital situation, it would be unkind to Abeille to do this in her face by not leaving with Amaryllis for now.
Allie
Yes, I agree. If Mallow were to stay via an, “Oops! Guess I missed the boat home,” kind of way, he’d also be avoiding, rather than standing up to Amaryllis.
A well-differentiated Mallow who is no longer an extension of Amaryllis, would continue to build on this confrontation with her and decide for himself if the relationship is sustainable for him. And if not, he’d complete a divorce process first, before starting new life elsewhere.
Flowers
MALLLLOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!! YEEEAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳❣️
Tina M Comroe
Amyrrilis is a narcissist. They will tear down anything that does not serve them and keep at it until they no longer serve a purpose. This is just a small skirmish. Keep the guards up and report her to the planet’s authorities; her behavior has red flags all over it. Aren’t there laws set in place for this aberrant behavior?
David
There are no laws against being manipulative towards adults. Being of age means having to make and defend your own decisions.
Tina M Comroe
No, not in reality. But Maybe in this ‘verse?
K-chan
One would hope there were some sort of guardrails to prevent it, but unfortunately most narcissists can turn their charisma up to 20 to people who don’t know them well. I suspect Amaryllis is well practiced in the skill of charming people and using the “concerned citizen/mom” or “respected scientist” masks to achieve her desires. I wonder if there’s some sort of interplanetary government or if Abeille could contact the government of Pasque with her story (not to punish Amaryllis necessarily but to take what she says against others cautiously. Punishment would be unlikely). Amaryllis’s behavior is kind of unhinged and looks a little vindictive even from an outsider standpoint, but I don’t think it’s illegal.
I’m glad to see Mallow finally sticking up for Abeille, but I wonder what it will mean in the future. Will Amaryllis turn on him and try to discredit him on Pasque or leave him in the cold (literally or figuratively)? Will she freeze him out so he’s unable to warn Abeille of any incoming shit-storms or put her vindictive attention on Abeille/Miel? I could see Amaryllis easily requesting and getting a delayed departure to wreak further havoc on Monotropa (though I’m not sure what else she can do since she got our honeybees fired, and Miel’s moms seem to be pretty respected). It would be kind of funny if *Mallow* chose to miss the transport though – he seemed to take better to Monotropa’s climate.
Sophie
I hope Mallow stays with Abeille… I think it’s time for a divorce…
Jenny
Or just move into an area close-by. I’m sure both Abeille and Miel would like to have their own living space again eventually as most young adults would want.
Ves
Proud of Mallow! Seeing him talk actual sense to his horrible wife felt cathartic.
Wren
“You’ll regret how you treat me one day!”
[Press X to Doubt]
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXow crap my thumbXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Bradamante
I know the popular sentiment here is a love of hating Amaryllis and projecting individual pain to reinforce that, but maybe just maybe Amaryllis was hurt a lot more by the death of her daughter than people are allowing for. The possession, the fear of loss, the anger, the desperation and passion feels like it could also be someone who has been shattered by something and flails angrily about clinging to what can still ground her even if its not appropriate. I’m not saying she isn’t a narcissist, but to one degree or another most of us are, or at least self-absorbed as seen by framing people comments and reactions always from their personal historical perspective. Its what it means to be an individual after all. But her husband is a kind soul, and he loves Amaryllis and is still devoted to her so I think that bespeaks something. And Abeille also loves her mother even if she is smothered by her. Amaryllis may not be a great mother and she has hurt those she loved, but I don’t think she hurt them for joy or cruelty’s sake. I think she’s a wounded angry thing that herself needs some help.
Jess
But in the flashback of how Abeille’s sister died, I remember it being implied that Amaryllis was hard on both of them already. Yeah it may not have been as bad because there was a golden child present, but she was still the arrogant judgmental person she is presently.
Even then, grief doesn’t excuse abuse. And with the stigma of touch in this world, Amaryllis grabbing Abeille like she did may as well been a backhand across the face.
Dinglehopper
Not wrong on her being a “wounded, angry thing”. I certainly know people IRL like that who will lash out at others every time to compensate for their pain, self-loathing, fear, and insecurity, and who may NEVER own their bad behavior, apologize, and make a plan for going forward. That doesn’t mean that Abeille needs to stick around or that Mallow needs to continue to allow himself to be abused. Amaryllis is the kind of person who will likely take everyone down with them, until they hit rock bottom. At that point, she will either start being more reflective and working towards better behavior AND mindset, OR she will continue to wallow in her rage, self-pity, grief, and pain until complete breakdown and/or self destruction occurs.
My point is, she CANNOT be helped, by anyone, until she spends some time actually facing herself. So, once a person who had been abused by someone has set boundaries and extracted themselves from the person, it is possible to start cultivating compassion and pity for the “wounded, angry thing”, while NOT re-engaging with or contacting the toxic person. (Possible, but definitely quite difficult)
David
Amaryllis’ history doesn’t really matter when the bottom line is that she is unapologetically toxic. Having her mess in Abeille’s life is helping nobody including herself.
Kendall 🌲
I agree with you, generally. Even if going no contact is practical, thinking of Amaryllis as nothing but evil hurts you ultimately. It puts her on a pedestal. In the back of your mind you will know that you cherish her falsely as something she is not. Amaryllis is a Chihuahua.
Abeille loves her mom of course, as she is a loving person. She can and has created a boundary that Amaryllis doesn’t get to cross ever or until Abeille lowers the boundary. She doesn’t need to lie to herself.
Beans
Like, sure. “hurt people hurt people”, and all, but no matter what happens to you, the only person responsible for your behavior… is you. Not your friends, not your family, not your trauma. You. Everyone has struggles. Everyone has felt pain. People have lost friends, family, loved ones. I lost the love of my life to a drunk driver. It broke me. I was an unperson. But even in the very darkest moments, in the pitch black that was my life at the time, it would have never justified the behavior on display from Amaryllis here. This goes beyond lashing out because they’re hurt. This is someone lashing out TO hurt. This is trying to punish someone for not being what YOU want them to be, and justifying it in the worst way imaginable. There are no excuses for this.
And I question Mallow’s devotion. That’s not devotion. That’s someone who has been broken by the abuse. That’s someone who has been beaten down to the point where they’ve internalized the idea that nothing matters more than keeping their abuser happy. That if they just tried a little harder, did a little better, acted the right way, then the abuse will stop. At least for a little while. Mallow says it right there. They tried to be a peacekeeper. Because by being a peacekeeper, he could calm down the abuser, so she’d stop abusing them both.
Jenny
True, Mallow realized here finally that Amaryllis won’t stop being a hurtful brat to everyone on her own so he spoke up against her behaviour rather than smooth it over with weak excuses. Amaryllis does need some help with her current psychological issues but she won’t try to change unless she loses her choke-hold over her family here. I’m glad to see that both Abeille and Mallow are done allowing her to persuade them abusively for her own selfish reasons.
Deb R.B.
Go, Mallow! Love to see it!
Ellri
THANK YOU SWEET BABY JESUS
GOOD BYE AMMY
I’ve been waiting for this scene for 100 years I swear
notamushimaster
Cue Amaryllis walking out the door and into a hover-bus, Regina George-style
Love Not Found
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