Aleksandr Rasputin the former Russian ninja (phasingin) wrote in avalon_ooc,
Re: Al Rasputin
1. Piotr DYING (haha yes that's a failing) (actually for the record he was originally dead for old character reasons but it was weird to change it later). But yeah Piotry dying when Al was old enough to have a good amount of memories about him...but young enough to still have that idolizing view of his dad. His dad will forever remain a kind of 'can do no wrong' hero in a way because of that, which has given Al this sort of impossible thing to try and live up to. He wants to be that for people and...that's really not possible.
Kitty I think did a good job with him, but with enough moving around and this element of unpredictability in his early life...I think it led to Al not being the type to plan life things out ahead of time. He doesn't make life plans, he just doesn't, because things kept happening that could be predicted and every time it does he sort of takes that as a confirmation that planning life out isn't a good idea. So she probably could've tried and given him more a sense of stability in those years and tried to show that yes you can try and make life plans.
2. Piotr I think taught him the value of having someone to rely on who really would do the self-sacrificing thing. He's tried modelling himself off that, and it's damaging at times but it's also why he's ended up as a big brother figure to quite a few of the younger xmen. He wants to be that guy who watches out for them and I think he's adopted a sort of easy going approachable thing throughout his life to encourage that.
Kitty...I'd say two things. Be proud of who you are and 'don't let life get the better of you', the latter is a lesson he has struggled with in recent years but by and large Al is pretty adaptable. Kitty has been through a lot in her life, and Al got to see some of that and see her just truck on and he tries to take inspiration from that. The world can suck for mutants, life can get you down, but keep on going.