We Wear the Mask: The Appendix Chapter 1: T Introspection, a descendants, 2015 fanfic

Hey our lovely readers!

We know there's been some confusion about T, and to be fair to you guys, that was us dropping the ball. So we'd like to take this time to help clear up any confusion or misunderstandings.

When we first introduced T in the story, we used the pronoun he when referring to the character because we wanted there to be an air of mystery to this person that only identified themselves as T.

The VKs that interacted with T saw a mask that Faustina wore, a personality that she created so that she could leave her room and meet people. At this point, she is a girl who simply didn't correct the people she met when they assumed she was a boy. She was happy with the misconception, it suited her needs.

Slowly she came to enjoy her life as T far more than the torment she endured as Faustina. T was learning things that contradicted everything Frollo said, and each new fact was like another piece getting pulled from a Jenga tower; eventually the lies weren't stable enough. Faustina, empowered by her life as T, confronted her father with disastrous results.

And that was the real turning point for T. Waking up chained to a wall with all suspicions confirmed was too much for a teenager. (Would be to much for almost anyone.) Faustina broke.

In times of stress people react in many different ways, but the action is always something to help ease the suffering. In this case, Faustina 'died', becoming T instead. T was stronger, braver, and, more importantly, was free to do whatever the hell he wanted, when she couldn't.

We believe what happened was that T compartmentalized the abuse and trauma she suffered at the hands of her father, and by compartmentalizing she was able to more fully believe in her own mask. At this point, T became her whole personality. He was able to look at what happened to Faustina, learn from it, but not have to admit that it happened to him.

To all of our readers, we understand gender roles in society is a hot button issue right now, and we didn't mean to confuse or offend. Twisted just really fell in love with the concept of T without thinking about RL. She really just thought it was a logical way for a character to react in that situation. Our world is pretty male dominated, but the United States of Auradon, A country made up of disney ideals, is absolutely chauvinistic. It's not a stretch for someone observing people on the street, with no context, to draw that conclusion. Men are strong, women are weak, which breaks down into females are the ones who needed to be protected because they're an easy target.

(If you find yourself asking but wait, where the hell did this clearly sheltered girl ever get the idea to start cross dressing in a Disney themed universe… Spoiler warning:)

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Gaston use to make Gil dress up as a girl and call him Gilly as punishment for being weaker than his siblings. Yes, Gil and T have a history.

Yes, this is something that will be discovered in the story.

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(SAFE) :)

It even makes sense that Faustina could identify with that concept. She was a female being 'protected' from the rest of the world by a father who abused her with no consequences. It was for all these reasons she decided to dress up as a boy when she finally worked up the nerve to venture out of her room.

Can you just imagine her glee when the first person she spoke to referred to her as a boy? The triumph that must have been for her? The relief of not having the gender limitations she believed were the driving force in the world they lived in?

Obviously T was in for a lot of confusion and revelations as she met people that didn't hold the same views she did, and yet her own view of how the world worked was never fully changed.

So in short,

T is just a very broken cis girl with very skewed perceptions on the male female dynamics. She found comfort in a hard time by burying herself in a mask she created. She's also confused about any type of interpersonal relationship, whether it be of the sexual or familiar variety due to her upbringing. Not many of the VKs are good at identifying these relationships. T's mask just hides the most and she's worn it so long she forgets it is just that; a mask.

This is one of the many reasons we named this work 'We Wear the Mask'.

We hope this helps to clarify any T related confusion. If you have any other T related questions hit us up and we'll be more than happy to answer.

Also, did this actually help? Would you like to see us do these pull aside talks with other characters? Let us know :)