Aubrey pushing Basil into the lake being narratively comparable to Sunny pushing Mari is a hill I will forever die on.
>Lashing out in a fit of anger and pushing someone to get them away
>Freeze up once the act is done
>Run away, lock themselves away in their room
>Shut out their friends
>Lie about what happened
>Nearly word for word give the same excuses "I didn't mean to do that, I just meant to push them. It was an accident."
The dots connect. It's just that for Aubrey, it lasted less than a day and Basil lived. For Sunny, it was four years and Mari died. This right here I feel is always the linchpin for Aubrey understanding Sunny. She was in the same position he was, and made the same choices even if the consequences weren't as cataclysmic. Even if she doesn't forgive him, she should at least be able to understand the action. I think.
>>531275852
My best guess is that they didn't know it was going to be unused until they decided to not use it. That seems like how it works.