Editing Flashbang (section)

==Relationships==
===[[Carol Dallon]]===
Mark sincerely loves Carol even after the decades of marriage. However, he feels responsible for not being able to negate her worse impulses.<ref>“Not ally.  Family.  Family absolutely a part of the problem.  I have a complicated relationship with your mom.  She has her own struggles.  If I stay close to her I’m validating decisions and behaviors I don’t like or respect.  Her treatment of Amy.  Of you. [...] But, holy hell, Victoria.  I love her.  She brings out the best in me, and I think my being close to her helps her good side shine.  When I’m not with her I don’t feel like a whole person.  So I tell myself that this time, I’ll push her harder, draw a firmer line, call her out.  But it takes resources I don’t always have.”- [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/10/29/sundown-17-9/ Excerpt] from [[Sundown 17.9]]</ref>

===[[Victoria]]===
Mark seemed to be protective of Victoria.<ref>The door had been left open, at my dad’s insistence.  One foot tucked under me, I’d snuck my one foot across the bed until I could touch Dean’s knee, trace my toe along his leg.  Seeing if I could break his focus enough to make him mess up while reading aloud. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2017/11/25/daybreak-1-5/ Excerpt]</ref> When she was sent to the [[Parahuman Asylum]], he chose to go with her, rather than go with Carol to see Amy off, after an argument between them.<ref name="Interlude 15">“Your husband decided not to come?”<br/><br/>“He exchanged words with her in her cell this morning.  He decided it was more important to accompany Victoria to Pennsylvania.”<br/><br/>“I didn’t realize that was today.  If you’d asked, I could have rescheduled Amy Dallon’s departure.”<br/><br/>“No.  It’s fine.  I prefer it this way.”<br/><br/>“You didn’t want to see Victoria off to the parahuman asylum?”<br/><br/>“Victoria is gone.  There’s nothing of her left but that mockery.  Mark and I fought over it and this was what we decided.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/interlude-15-donation-bonus/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 15.x]]</ref> He visited Victoria more often than Carol.<ref>“They came a lot,” I said.  “I know that.  My dad more than my mom.  But every missed visit was a horrible thing, and the little things mattered so much when I had nothing else.  Um.  And this basketball game, I know I’ve talked about this before.  But this one girl kicked my freaking ass.  In my face, knocking me over, intercepting every pass, blocking every shot.  She didn’t have any powers or anything, she was just… good.  Better.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2017/12/01/daybreak-1-8/ Excerpt] from [[Daybreak 1.8]]</ref> After recovering, Victoria seemed to be generally closer to her father than to her mother.

===[[Amy]]===
Mark tried to be a father to Amy, but his depression kept getting in his way.<ref name="RPG2">Treating like a monster might be a little overboard, but they're accurate in reading scenes where Amy was neglected.<br/><br/>Carol's word choice is one hint here - you can read the interlude that was just covered and note how Carol refers to Amy vs. how she refers to Victoria. The words aren't hateful, but Amy is 'amy' and Victoria is 'my daughter'. She says, outright, "I don't want her" while the child is in earshot, and then when Lady Photon says "You could grow to love and trust that little girl, too.” Carol's (later, connecting) thought is "Liar".<br/><br/>Look at Amy's conversation with Gallant... "Carol never really wanted me. Mark is clinically depressed, so as nice as he is, he’s too focused on himself to really be a dad."<br/><br/>Interlude 11.h, ''It had always been Victoria, only Victoria, who made her feel like she had a family here.''<br/><br/>Then later, same interlude, ''What Amy felt from her ‘mother’ was a chill. She knew that she was only justifying the darker suspicions Carol had harbored towards her since she was first brought into the family. It was doubly crushing now, because Amy knew about Marquis. Amy knew that Carol was thinking the same thing she was.''<br/><br/>Carol didn't reach out, she wasn't warm, she wasn't a mother. At best, Amy was a person living in their house. At worst, Amy was someone suspicious, Marquis' daughter. So Amy never really had a 'home', a safe haven to retreat to. If you want to read between the lines, the fact that she'd go out at night to visit the hospital (and that nobody was stopping her) might indicate more about her feelings at home. She wasn't mistreated. She got fed, she got clothes. Mark (Flashbang) even tried to be a warmer dad when he was up to it, but that's something as rare as the sun coming out in the UK - brief and unpredictable bouts of good in the midst of a perpetually overcast setting. In the end, all she really had was Victoria. - [https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?707142-Where-I-Read-Worm&p=17388925#post17388925 Comment of RPR.net] by Wildbow</ref><ref name="Interlude 11h" >Mark had tried to be a dad.  He’d made her pancakes on the weekends, taken her places.  But it had always been inconsistent.  Some days he seemed to forget, others he got upset, or was just too distracted for the trips to the ice cream store or mall.  Another secret that the family hadn’t kept – Mark was clinically depressed.  He had been prescribed drugs to help him, but he didn’t always take them. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/interlude-11h/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 11h]]</ref> Though Amy recognized his efforts to be her father, she was nonetheless distant from him, feeling that Victoria was her only true family.