HEHEEE THANK UUU i adore taru so much.. every time he mentions the Tsaritsa he has such an interesting sense of adoration. not to call him a Puppy all the time but he literally talks like a dog fawning over its owner
the way he talks about her being a Gentle Soul that had to harden herself just makes me think there is some intimacy to their dynamic. maybe that's what he's gleaned from watching her and their relationships is a bit more parasocial but i think there's equal potential that he's had those close moments to get to learn who she is beyond his God.

i don't think she's replaced his mother at all i think he's still a mama's boy but i imagine after falling into the abyss he probably lost some of that closeness. he went from being a cuddly kid that needed his mama a lot to a teenager that nobody got too close to. i imagine in the abyss skirk probably knocked him around a little bit, even when at first he might've tried going to her for comfort and only got told to toughen up-- skirk doesn't exactly strike me as maternal in the slightest. so by the time childe got back home not only was his behavior scaring people off but i can imagine he himself started to deny himself hugs and kisses, even when his mama kept insisting he was still her baby :( and it just grew into a dynamic where he still loves her to death and his mama loves him but in her mind it's a case of "oh he just grew out of needing and wanting hugs" so she doesn't offer them. and childe tends to deny himself the right to be close to others so he doesn't ask for hugs.

and the tsaritsa can see that in him. this warrior who holds his head high but is also overflowing with loneliness that she can't help but want to help him. whether it's bc she actually wants the best for him or bc she just wants an obedient dog is smth we might only learn over time, and maybe even childe is aware of that but he can't help but indulge in having that sort of maternal figure back in his life. intimacy frightens him but there is something about the Tsaritsa that just calms him from a frightened stray to a docile lapdog. i know arlecchino also sees the Tsaritsa as very kind but at the same time she doesn't seem nearly as blindly devoted, and scaramouche seems straight up distrustful of her. i love that childe sees himself as just a weapon and ignores his own humanity so much he might not realize just how weak he is to emotion (striving for love and affection while having very few actual friends, being really hurt when people are mean to him. easy to tease. he's very soft)