Colette and Jason
Relationship Type
- Colette is Jason's Nemesis.
- Jason is an antagonist of Colette.
Feelings and Emotions
Internal
Not to beat about the bush, Colette despises Jason with every fibre of her being. Despite everything she has had to put up with in her life, such feelings do not come easily to Colette. It cuts against the very core of her social philosophy but, for Jason, it is not difficult to make an exception. Jason may not be (overtly) sexist, racist or homophobic but his attitudes to such matters are, nevertheless, “old fashioned”, still rooted in an us-and-them mentality. Passive-aggressive misogyny is never far beneath the surface. He is a white, middle-class, cis-het male who refuses to acknowledge his privileges but is not willing to give any of them up. In Colette’s eyes he is an archetype for what is becoming known as “toxic masculinity”.
For his part, although Jason does not like her politics or that she is, in his eyes, a working class northerner masquerading as a pretentious intellectual — and not even a proper northerner, at that, but some [insert nasty and probably inaccurate racial slur here] — it was only once he found out that she is transgender that he really began to take against her at a truly irrational level.
External
To the casual observer it might not be apparent that anything is amiss between them. It is true that Colette can be very standoffish with Jason but, there again, many have found her to be a very private person and difficult to get to know; very much someone who likes to plough her own furrow. People may also notice that she rarely attends social functions at which Jason is likely to be present or that she always seems to have a ready excuse to avoid being alone in the same room as him but, again, that is what she can be like with just about anyone — except Jennifer. And that, of course, is at the core of the uneasy peace that exists between Colette and Jason. Colette’s loyalty to Jennifer is a fierce (though not unquestioning) one and the last thing Jennifer needed was for Colette and Jason to have a bust up. For Jennifer’s election campaign to function, Colette and Jason needed one another: each had knowledge and aptitudes that the other was unable manage without.
Impact
Jason has allowed himself get more irritated by Colette than he would have expected. He is, certainly, a transphobic ass-hole and (almost) does not care who knows it but this might just be (and he knows this himself) a conduit for other nameless misgivings he has about her. She is a far shrewder operator than she gives the impression of being, he feels sure, but has no idea what her true agenda is. She has gotten under his skin, though; that much is for sure.
Colette, for her part, might, in different circumstances have let Jason get under her skin. Not now, though. She has learned to focus her emotional energy in much more constructive ways and, here, she focused them into a forensic examination of just what Jason's deal is. But she has failed in that quest; all that is left to her now is to refocus the seething contempt she has for him, not just for the irksome individual he is or even all the bad in modern politics that he is a part of but all the iniquitous bigotry that he represents. And refocus it she will, into one decisive act of retribution. Jason will certainly be a lot more open minded'' than he used to be once Colette has finished with him.
Commonalities and Shared Interests
The only point of common interest between Colette and Jason is politics and even then they are about as far apart in their respective outlooks and beliefs as it is possible for two people in the same party to be. The Labour Party prides itself on being a “broad church” but neither Colette nor Jason would demure from the opinion that it is nowhere near big enough for the both of them to coexist within. So, in reality, their only common interest is the election and in seeing that Jennifer is successful in her bid to become a Member of Parliament and Colette is not at all certain that Jason is fully committed to even that.
Had she discovered any other commonality, Colette would have refused to acknowledge it.
Shared Secrets and Intimate Knowledge
Colette and Jason share knowledge and information on a strict need to know basis: the one sharing with the other only what they need the other to know not, necessarily, what the other actually does need to know.
Both have spent considerable energy — largely without success — trying to dig the dirt on the other.
Romance and Sex
Be thankful for small mercies: despite his reputation for it, the one thing Colette has not had to put up with from Jason is unwanted sexual advances.
Comments