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game_byrd February 16 2012, 02:48:04 UTC
I really ought to be finishing up my MBU entry (it's written, I just have a pathological need to go over it a few more times), but here I am.

Peter's boundaries - I watch how he is with Emma, and with brain-tumor-Hiro in season 4. He's very hands-off. But with Noah? Same season, in some cases even the same episodes, my memory has Peter putting his hand on Noah's forearm, bicep and getting in his face a bit when pissed.

For brain-tumor-Hiro (I watched this ep just last week), Peter crowded right up to the bed and put his hand on Hiro's forearm, but then he withdrew it to the sidebar of the bed. He was close, but other than a couple touches, he kept his hands back when they could have just as easily stayed in contact.

For Emma, Peter was very hands-off and usually a couple feet back from her. Even when they walked down the hall together, they had six inches to a foot between them, which is different than how Peter walked with, say, Nathan (when they were often brushing shoulders because they were intensely weird that way).

Any scene with him and Angela, he's usually touching her. I can't remember a time when he willingly touched his dad other than the hug. Of course, Nathan didn't touch his dad much either.

Anyway, it's my take on it that Peter's personal boundaries are just about nil, exceptions being made when he hates someone or feels he's in danger. Even the 'in danger' thing is interesting, because he lets himself be grabbed, stifled, positioned, maneuvered and man-handled when in danger, often by people who aren't friendly to him. I'm thinking of Claude in this, particularly. Peter let Claude appear out of nowhere and slap a hand over his mouth; he let Claude *hurt* him; and he let Claude throw him off a roof. Not that Peter wanted to go off the roof, but he didn't react immediately or adversely to an obviously somewhat hostile Claude grabbing his front. If someone tried to grab Sylar like that, it would be on, right then (or so I imagine). Peter just stood there trustingly, like a dolt, and got flung off the roof for it.

So that's Peter's boundaries. On the other side, I think Peter notices other people's boundaries fairly well. It doesn't mean he respects them, but he sees them. Pushing past Emma to smash her cello was ignoring her boundaries. Kicking in Sylar's door in The Wall was ignoring his boundaries. Forcing his presence on Claude was ignoring his boundaries. Peter has a tactic that he uses a lot to get right up in someone's face to tell them off. He's used it on Nathan, Noah, Sylar, Claude and probably others I'm not thinking of at the moment. He knows that makes them uncomfortable, but he does it anyway. I think he does it intentionally.

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