Your lines for canon!Stephen here are spot-on. Paradoxically, I think his aggression at that point would have been a sign of greater health. He assumes there's going to be criticism and deflects it before it can happen -- not the best defense mechanism, but at least it's something. Whereas castle!Stephen has no defenses at all: he assumes there's going to be criticism and immediately starts apologizing.
By this point, Stephen Freem has made a lot of progress (kickstarted by the soulbond, which convinced him that it was safe in the first place). If canon!Stephen were reading the story, by this point he would be thinking "I wish I lived in a world with all these magical fantasy innovations, like unicorns, soulbonds, and people who are genuinely nice without wanting something from you."
Papa Bear had Stephen's papers the whole time. It's just that Jon had no reason to pick them up (he thought he was rescuing a person, not acquiring a pet), and Stephen assumed they had been handed over whenever Jon negotiated to buy him. They're probably still at the O'Reilly estate, lying forgotten in a dusty box somewhere.
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Your lines for canon!Stephen here are spot-on. Paradoxically, I think his aggression at that point would have been a sign of greater health. He assumes there's going to be criticism and deflects it before it can happen -- not the best defense mechanism, but at least it's something. Whereas castle!Stephen has no defenses at all: he assumes there's going to be criticism and immediately starts apologizing.
By this point, Stephen Freem has made a lot of progress (kickstarted by the soulbond, which convinced him that it was safe in the first place). If canon!Stephen were reading the story, by this point he would be thinking "I wish I lived in a world with all these magical fantasy innovations, like unicorns, soulbonds, and people who are genuinely nice without wanting something from you."
Papa Bear had Stephen's papers the whole time. It's just that Jon had no reason to pick them up (he thought he was rescuing a person, not acquiring a pet), and Stephen assumed they had been handed over whenever Jon negotiated to buy him. They're probably still at the O'Reilly estate, lying forgotten in a dusty box somewhere.
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