Which suggests that Mac, with him, could *also* be different, and not have to stick to learned (military) behavior patterns.
yes. because, though mac doesn't think this consciously, the expectations for other people's behaviours are integral to how YOU behave. danny doesn't have military behaviour expectations. is mac to just... intuit what danny expects? what DOES danny expect? do you just respond naturally... ? and what's the natural response to flirting, flirting back? [i was noticing how they do this thing--they both CONSTANTLY steal glances. they look quickly when the other's looking away. and they take turns. danny looks at mac, then as soon as he glances away mac looks at danny, then as soon as HE looks away danny looks back at him... of course sometimes they look straight at each other too. but the turn-taking is very often. and i was also noticing how frequently danny licks his lips when he looks at mac. helloooooooooooo. what's mac's natural response to that--the broken long gaze with all these little nervous lip-licks and pauses and looking up through his eyelashes? how are you supposed to respond? --i'm sure mac can't quite decide. inasmuch as he catalogues these things *consciously*, which... is debatable.]
And Danny seems a chance for him to open up in ways that he hasn't had the chance to, yet, by virtue of being a man who's *not* in the military. Or something like that.
because danny doesn't exist in the masculinity of the military, has never existed inside it or any other similar society. so he's a different species because of how different his masculinity is. but he's not a woman either, he's essentially VERY male all the same. (in "a man a mile" mac likens the sanddogs or whatever they are to the marines and danny's like "clearly he would choose his family over the group because that's what anyone would do"--he's so positive, and mac doesn't know how to explain it to him).
even people who are terrified of expressing their emotions also in a way long to do so. and mac does. and he's able to realise now that, counter to what military masculinity might teach, men can have complex deeply emotional relationships full of layers of passion and commitment and meaning. it's like he can *feel* the truth of this now from inside. (obviously, he would never consciously have thought that it was impossible before, but people can't help absorbing what their societies teach, and that WAS his society, one which he adopted and devoted himself to passionately.)
maybe he didn't realise certain emotional components of male-male friendship *could* even exist before claire and stella put him in a little more touch with his emotions. they made him more open, more ready to perceive or experience or--whatever. and then he met danny and suddenly it was like mac *himself* had the possibility of becoming some new danny-like species of man, because of how different danny is and the fact that mac relates to him, feels about him, in a way that is new to mac in terms of other men--maybe because the feelings were too deeply buried before, but still, it feels new.
i may try again and make more sense tomorrow, but...
yes. because, though mac doesn't think this consciously, the expectations for other people's behaviours are integral to how YOU behave. danny doesn't have military behaviour expectations. is mac to just... intuit what danny expects? what DOES danny expect? do you just respond naturally... ? and what's the natural response to flirting, flirting back? [i was noticing how they do this thing--they both CONSTANTLY steal glances. they look quickly when the other's looking away. and they take turns. danny looks at mac, then as soon as he glances away mac looks at danny, then as soon as HE looks away danny looks back at him... of course sometimes they look straight at each other too. but the turn-taking is very often. and i was also noticing how frequently danny licks his lips when he looks at mac. helloooooooooooo. what's mac's natural response to that--the broken long gaze with all these little nervous lip-licks and pauses and looking up through his eyelashes? how are you supposed to respond? --i'm sure mac can't quite decide. inasmuch as he catalogues these things *consciously*, which... is debatable.]
And Danny seems a chance for him to open up in ways that he hasn't had the chance to, yet, by virtue of being a man who's *not* in the military. Or something like that.
because danny doesn't exist in the masculinity of the military, has never existed inside it or any other similar society. so he's a different species because of how different his masculinity is. but he's not a woman either, he's essentially VERY male all the same. (in "a man a mile" mac likens the sanddogs or whatever they are to the marines and danny's like "clearly he would choose his family over the group because that's what anyone would do"--he's so positive, and mac doesn't know how to explain it to him).
even people who are terrified of expressing their emotions also in a way long to do so. and mac does. and he's able to realise now that, counter to what military masculinity might teach, men can have complex deeply emotional relationships full of layers of passion and commitment and meaning. it's like he can *feel* the truth of this now from inside. (obviously, he would never consciously have thought that it was impossible before, but people can't help absorbing what their societies teach, and that WAS his society, one which he adopted and devoted himself to passionately.)
maybe he didn't realise certain emotional components of male-male friendship *could* even exist before claire and stella put him in a little more touch with his emotions. they made him more open, more ready to perceive or experience or--whatever. and then he met danny and suddenly it was like mac *himself* had the possibility of becoming some new danny-like species of man, because of how different danny is and the fact that mac relates to him, feels about him, in a way that is new to mac in terms of other men--maybe because the feelings were too deeply buried before, but still, it feels new.