"I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that your sister is deliberately abusive, or has physically abused Miss Dallon, but our information does show that there is a certain level of neglect and… shall we say, excessive and overzealous expectations… present. This is clearly causing very significant amounts of mental and emotional stress to Miss Dallon, as well as to her sister. In the long term the end results could be… unfortunate."
So there's something I feel is under-examined in the Worm fandom.
Psychological pain and suffering is by definition subjective.
Trigger events are interesting in that they represent a direct,
external assessment of the mental trauma a person undergoes, and is much closer to being objective than pretty much anything else we have.
An organization like the Wards program, that routinely deals with traumatized children and teenagers would be
fully aware of the nuances of emotional abuse, and would not be put off by platitudes.
"You know how kids are, everything is a disaster to them. They don't understand what's happening."
"They were hurt so badly that they
broke reality with their mind. I don't think 'misunderstanding' is the issue here."
Now the Wards program wouldn't want to get a reputation for stealing children.
On the other hand, they also wouldn't want a traumatized person with superpowers to be trapped in a traumatic situation until they lash out either.
If you take the stance that the government has all sorts of corrupt and dirty tricks they can use to force people to do what they want, this seems like a place where they would apply them.
New Wave might be able to put up a good front and avoid scrutiny.
Then you have situations where Tattletale assumes her parents could just regain custody, or Vista having to deal with her parents.
Because Worm.
