This is merely my observation, but it seems like in mots of the fics I read involving the human Octavia she always seems to have.....well a strict mother. She seems to lean to being somewhat elitist, some level of stage parent with Octavia's musical talents, and tends to give off the vibe that putting her in the same room as Vinyl would be a bad thing.

Am I the only one who has noticed this, and is it just limited to human Octavia?

It's not just you and it's not just human Octavia. I've seen it too. I've even put it into one of my stories. I think people like using it because it makes Tavi a little rebellious. Strict mother says stay away from Vinyl and she ends up best friends or more with her. That's my thoughts on it anyway

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I would say it's probably a mix of the common trope of the hover parent/rebellious child dynamic and personal projecting. The controlling hover parent is a trope for a reason and a lot of younger writers are going to have personal experience with that via their own parents or those of their peers.

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That trend predates EqG. It's been fairly common for Octavia stories for a long time. At least going back to University Days.