Hard
Filbrick Pines was a hard man. He didn't brook argument from either his wife or his twin boys, and ruled his home with an iron fist. He was uncompromising much of the time, especially when it came to money. Filbrick also happened to have a temper- while it was generally well controlled, when it did blast out, Filbrick usually came to regret it later. Kicking one of his boys out of the family home was one of the many times he regretted letting his volcanic temper get the better of him, and he regretted it for the rest of his life.
While he could be called cruelly hard-hearted at times, he wasn't a drunk at least- Filbrick knew his limits and also knew that alchohol was more likely to bring his volcanic temper to the surface, so he avoided it accordingly. He couldn't be losing control with his wife or his two tiny boys in the house. Filbrick also wasn't an abuser- he had more honor than that, and refused to pick on those who couldn't fight back like his wife and his little boys. But again, his volcanic temper and deep sense of pride had gotten in the way and ended up with one of his precious sons thrown out.
Filbrick also had a heart, despite encouraging his boys to stand up for themselves by not stepping in to protect them every time someone came after them…
The key phrase being every time.
Whenever the jocks got too hard on Stanford- leading his clever boy to cry in his room with only his stronger twin to support him, when Stanley came home with more bruises and cuts than untouched skin- leading to a worried scolding from his six-fingered twin and a session with the first aid kit, Filbrick would step in.
The boys never knew it, but it tore at his heart to see them so beat down. Which was why he proceeded to sign them up for boxing lessons- if the two of them knew how to fight, they'd get beat up less and maybe the other guy would come out worse than his twin boys for once. This was the only reason why his wife had agreed to the boxing lessons- she too tired of seeing their boys come home bruised and cut and trying to hide it. And if Filbrick wouldn't let her indulge her instantaneous Mama Tiger instinct and tear the bullies apart on her own, well, the next best thing was that her boys learned to have claws themselves and tear the bullies to ribbons that way.
Filbrick Pines was a strict man. But not as hard as everyone seemed to think.
...Bit of a character study for Filbrick. Intriguing, if a bit scary dude.
-June