#(said in the style of like You Understand. gay ace aro serafine was Just saying she would've Been A Boy no problem

[unproduciblesmackdown]

and I'm Always Saying This: let's think about how confident we can be that what's on the verge of happening in the comic is the savoys easily catching up to mordecai trying to scoot along a guy like thrice his size in a squeaky desk chair through a derelict brewery, serafine will noscope gracie, and mordecai will have to agree to Stay Friends With The Savoys Whatever Happens if for the practical purposes alone (as he presumably did when enduring rather than physically fighting his way out of, oh you know, serafine putting a hand-width sigil on his chest with a knife amidst the congregation Zulie Is There like hands together against my nose and mouth Deep Inhale. absolutely beyond belief. happy pride) when otherwise he'd at best be left with the savoys having something to hold over his head without any especial incentive to cash it in on any particular thing, so rather may as well let them use the leverage to press the Affiliation on him, when evidently in offering it in the first place, the savoys aren't that invested in staying affiliated with marigold forever, nor even really anticipating being thus indefinitely. plus, yknow, maybe if mordecai, for the strategic interests of it all, offered up the info that he's trying to figure out what's going on around here re: marigold, because the savoys might like to know too rather than everyone being jerked around & kept in the dark while they're here, mysteries re: atlas / anticipations of breaking ties or forming other connections or no, such that they're at all willing to help / be in on it

it also just seems Probably Helpful more generally for mordecai to have allies based on recognizing a kindred spirit of Trying To Survive, Brought Here By Nearly Dying existing in the (ferocious little, gay little) shadow(s) and this rather than emphasis on mordecai ending up isolated thanks to people finding him impersonable not even simply b/c of his efficient gunman job aaa eek but just his personality (autistic character alert) like that matter of why mordecai ends up with that brush with death initially like, was he cooking the books? seems completely plausible, in that: he'd be able to do so successfully for any amount of time, and escaping tenement conditions is time-sensitive (as in the sooner the better for like morale but even more general wellbeing), and random bookie probably doesn't pay as well as doing that And being a gunman And ferocious little shadow, even if it pays better than things like, i dunno, see: newsies. other possible child labor '20s moments that are more "legal" haha lmao & furthermore lol. wow yeah apparently the higher competition for jobs during the depression shifted things so that now there was that incentive to regulate child labor to now prioritize adults, Lol Lmao, additionally, whatmakesyouhaha.mp3 like christ. one does imagine the employment opportunities for an immigrated jewish child in a tenement are a heartwarming inspirational bootstrapping tale for the ages waiting to happen for all, way to fuck that one up mordecai. same as we see the charity(tm) bestowed upon the young savoys & the authoritarian violence of its cishet agenda to be a real opportunity they fumbled! smh! which, just as they say, We Are The Same Kind. happy pride, again (savoys are Not of the cishet agenda in any way shape or form. neither is mordecai)

so that is to say. potentially Great to indeed have a steadfast alliance that is based directly on "i recognize we're kindred spirits who are trying to survive on this bitch of an earth" rather than that anyone finds mordecai personally likable & charming, since how much they care if he lives or dies again sure is more weighted on "oh well You Know how people hate his general personality" than on what he actually does, see: already i'm like [my god the Autistic Character Alert] that "gee mordecai you're really good at killing people before they can kill you" factor is what makes people interact with him Positively at all, doesn't particularly factor into [wow you're so hated], bobby framing it as like "oh i don't even have to theorize or confirm that mordecai crossed anyone by cooking the books. i'm sure any & everyone was raring to kill him because he's so annoying & weird & it inspires seemingly completely speculative rumors of disability to explain the nature of his just day-to-day existence" and that speaking of speculation it's entirely plausible someone else might've been skimming funds from [whoever / whatever mordecai worked for] & mordecai was just an easy scapegoat to settle that (this hypothetical responsible party could just stop / change course after that lol)

like absolutely No Exaggeration Required that truly like mordecai is as endangered by "yeah people dislike him in interpersonal interactions & find him weird, grating, rude, surely just too full of himself, and so on. hmm" as by the danger of lethally dangerous jobs & like oh no now viktor lives for revenge e.g. (which we probably would've heard about by now if he did. even if he's also probably not thrilled mordecai kneecapped him. just another classic no emotions zone fellas type of moment. it's kind of funny how much i Don't often think about the mordecai & viktor history & dynamic but i do appreciate them lmao. no characters / dynamics that Can't be appreciated around here, like goddamn) and like, especially because This Is A Narrative lmfao like now we Know it's not required like hay's code style "well this must end with everyone being arrested, because of the crimes" or similarly that we should weigh & rank those breaking Laws or God's Laws (abelard arbogast time) and decide on a threshold for Whom Must Die about it. kicking my legs thinking of these irl Certified Lawbreakers and like the right hand man of years who kept living w/this lady after they retired from the business & doing poetry, all the interesting stories of (and still very recent) history....But it is like. :/ wuh oh, autistic guy everyone hates. oh lord and he's [Romance Armor]-proof. :/// plot armor For Now but most everyone's got that (except how i think gracie's a page away from being shot on sight by serafine, as mentioned). Staying Friends No Matter What Happens With The Savoys and their triumvirate being able to break away from marigold and anyone else too and keep offering collaboration on Survival to each other? that's great i think that's great i think mordecai could use that Something, Anything to help him out on that front. And i think they're a lot of fun as that trio, though i have to presume that unfortunately once again the savoys probably must personally dislike mordecai (who has certainly had actual extra hostility towards them lmfao and they've also apparently only been interacting for like, a handful of days at most? which also still only contributes to the joys of the savoys agreeing "well been mulling him over & damn if we aren't the same kind!!!" like well i respect the hell out of that lol. and of course i like the savoys on their own, as a duo & individually) and their interest in messing with him to get a reaction probably still starts & ends with Like A Chew Toy dynamics there (extrapolation based in Boy Is There An [Autistic Character] Moment Here (Ongoing Of Course)) but. one can dream of "path to Genuine Familiarity via both this active interest & in shaking this range of reactions from him." but again, that's where "regardless, they recognize being The Same Kind & want to forge a transcendent affiliation based on That" comes in.

and i appreciate the drama of it all. let's think again of Missing Scene scarification like. bracing inhale