Deviant Behavior (Connor x Reader)

Letter from the Author

"NOW THE LORD IS THAT SPIRIT,
AND WHERE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS,
THERE IS LIBERTY."
- II Corinthians 3:17

(Engraving behind the statue named The Spirit of Detroit)

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Closing credits written to "Champion" by Barns Courtney"

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The Making of Deviant Behavior

There's a lot of mushy stuff later in this letter, but I wanted to share a quick personal experience with you before we dive into that realm of emotions. So, being straight-forward: Here we go.

There's been one consistent topic of discussion since the publication of Deviant Behavior on June 8th, 2018. Why the "Reader" (AKA Phoenix, courtesy of Cerulaine) wasn't an "Original Character."

To answer that question, I'd like to start by sharing the short version of the story about my first semester of college.

I've always had a fascination with Humanities. Being 18 and excited to be out of high school, I decided to start my academic career with topics I was passionate about in order to make the transition more bearable. I immediately enrolled in Anthropology, Psychology, Mythology...and I couldn't find another class that wasn't full. I've always been a procrastinator, and I started picking classes too close to the semester's start date.

Perhaps not to your surprise, I chose Philosophy.

Within two weeks, I realized I fucked up. Bad.

Everything I learned about in Anthropology muddied the lessons in Mythology. Everything I learned in Psychology contradicted Philosophy. I didn't think I was going to make it, and quite frankly, I hated Philosophy.

I complained so much about why people needed to put so many fucking words into one sentence when they were just trying to explain a simple concept. I was angry that I spent 8 hours a week decoding 3 pages of Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, or any other of the assholes who made the first half of that semester a living hell.

I tried to pick apart each paragraph piece by piece, and it wouldn't work. But then one day, in Psychology, we were talking about Sigmund Freud. I won't go into Freudian theory, but someone in my Philosophy class who shared this Psychology class with me asked a question in the middle of a lecture:

"Why do people compare Freud and Nietzsche?"

My Psychology professor told us that Freud was actually influenced by Nietzsche greatly. So then I asked:

"How could a Philosopher influence a Psychologist when Psychology disproves core concepts of Philosophy?"

She told us a story about how when Nietzsche died, Freud bought his collective works. I fact-checked her, and saw that Freud had actually said:

"'I have just acquired Nietzsche, in whom I hope to find words for much that remains mute in me.'"

And I thought to myself, if this "Nietzsche" could help make sense of anything that Crazy Fuck Freud was going on about, then maybe reading his work would help me understand Philosophy in general.

I went to the book store, poked around the student texts...and found a copy of Beyond Good and Evil, picked solely because I thought the title was the coolest out of all of them.

What I didn't expect to find was that his work helped me understand life.

I won't go into too much detail, here, but I truly felt like by reading his work, I reached a higher level of understanding everything.