#Mouthwashing The Good Ending

[ksen-noodles]

🎉🎉🎉

.

I am obsessed with this achievement.

Even darker version under the cut

Hesitated to make it final bc the base line had a ton of detail that doesn't show here. But then. The colors SUCK. so here we go

[skyrigel]

Me when I consume media with a stabbing knowledge that I'll never experience anything as mortifying, beautiful and agonizing as this, with my hands tainted my brain rotted my heart overwhelmed and for my soul to be forever grotesquely haunted ( affectionately )

[evilresidentz]

A man’s friend before the crew’s captain.

[lightnersdream]

i've been thinking about exactly why people portraying one of the other crew members successfully killing Jimmy as a "for what you did to Anya" kind of thing rubs me the wrong way a bit and it's because like..... this is just another form of taking agency away from Anya, in a way. it's kind of framing her as some meek, shivery woman-thing who's entirely at the mercy of the men around her, either to hurt her or save her.

(i understand these are mostly for wish fulfillment on the audience's behalf because everyone would like to see Jimmy pay for his crimes. whether or not this is the intention of the person writing it isn't really relevant, characterization happens with or without intent. i feel like it misses the point by portraying it as an 'ideal ending'.)

because... Anya is a capable person. she takes things into her own hands when she can. it was partially(?) her idea to get into the cargo,

(before he interrupts her.. remember when she interrupted Curly in the dead pixel segment?)

it was her idea to get the code scanner from the cockpit,

it was her idea to get the medication from behind the foam.

(the chance to do these things herself is not given to her.)

she'd been keeping Curly alive for months in a critical state somehow, her psych evaluations at the start are only so useless because Jimmy refuses to take it/her seriously and Curly is obviously biased when he puts it into his own hands. he's known him a long time, like he said. "I'll just put good for that one."

there's not a lot of material to work with because of how the game is framed, but it's there. we are working with two very biased perspectives and neither one lends Anya what she deserves

there's significant changes in how she speaks post- and pre- crash, and depending on who she happens to be talking to. i recommend re-reading her dialogue, because the difference is drastic

she acts the way she does around Jimmy because he has tangibly done horrible things to her, is actively hostile, and physically could not escape him by any means. she can't take away Curly's agency herself, in my eyes. you have to remember that Especially in the post-crash segments of the game, it's entirely from Jimmy's POV, and he obviously does not (and has never) thought very highly of her or treated her with a shred of respect

i've seen a general idea that she can't bear to hurt other people for any reason, but that doesn't really track to me. this is the real point of the post by the way

it seems based on the parts where she says she struggles to give Curly medication. "It just hurts him so much, I can't stand the noise." "It makes me nauseous."

it's not really the same thing as, say, hurting someone in self defense

this sounds like she did want the gun itself. this never felt worded like someone who would refuse to, at very least, threaten Jimmy with a gun, with violence. if she had been given the agency to make that decision on her own. she wasn't though

she still tries to reclaim some of it even as she's denied it

by the end she's still trying to keep that gun out of his hands

i think some people overly soften her, for similar reasons the game itself is trying to comment on. she's not a tender victim who couldn't cause pain to another out of the softness of her soul, she's a person who's had every last bit of agency ripped from her repeatedly until she couldn't take it anymore. that's the point. that's why framing her that way, "needing" someone to save her, is odd to me

she didn't need Curly to save her, she needed him to take responsibility

she didn't want to escalate things, but she's not an idiot. self defense was absolutely on her mind

but who knows im just saying shit *smiles serenely*

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Remember: The burning sensation is part of the process.

[childofsardior]

My first and probably only contribute to the Mouthwashing community. As the old wise sage once said "if you can't draw humans, pony-fie them". I'm sorry.

Consider this as a late Halloween drop 🎃

EXTRA: My sib pointed out that a Pony AU of Mouthwashing would imply Polle the Mascot to be... human?? HUMAN EXPRESS??

The sketch scared me so much I decided to not draw it digitally :)

[the-real-couchrat]

Why do I keep seeing posts taking about everyone dying on the ship and Curly being put in the cryopod by J*mmy? Is this a popular AU?

Am I the only one who remembers the CANON ending where Pony Express is shut down for bad working conditions before the search parties are sent out, who find the crew after they’ve a been stranded for about two months? (“Unfortunately” they couldn’t get there before J*mmy fell down the stairs and snapped his neck)

Where they immediately bring Curly to a hospital while the rest of the crew stay nearby and start booking therapy appointments? Anya had an abortion and started medical school, Curly is getting fitted for prosthetics, and the whole crew (minus J*mmy) visits or calls him AT THE VERY LEAST weekly. (The crew was compensated with a lot of money so they don’t need to find a job for a while)

Anya and Curly had a heart-to-heart about how his actions (or lack thereof) affected her, and are trying to rebuild trust together. Swansea continued to mentor Daisuke (not officially, more like teaching him mechanical things when they come to mind) during their free time, and are trying to find a new direction in life.

J*mmy’s actions came to light, and no one showed up to his funeral other than the crew so they could throw tomato’s at his grave and talk shit during the eulogies.

HOW DOES NO ONE ELSE REMEMBER THIS!?!?!?

[dykedvonte]

Curly not immediately punishing Jimmy for assaulting Anya is something I don’t think a lot of people are viewing in the complex context for Curly as the superior to both of them and closest confidante they had.

Like I am in no way saying he didn’t under react or fail Anya by not being harsh or direct with Jimmy but it really is the case that he really couldn’t. Imagine being stuck in such a confined space with very little areas to genuinely hold someone if they commit a crime. It’s not like this was an event that occurred before they departed or that they have easy communication with The Pony Express to ask for how to proceed when something like this arises. Not to mention, Jimmy’s relative power in relation to Anya as the co-pilot and second in command, he has the knowledge and access to do something to her had Curly directly punished him in this setting.

They were also Curly’s friends. It’s not just the case of him mediating something between his subordinates but people he is personally invested in don’t want to see spiral further in Anya’s case while also not wanting believe his friend go that bad in Jimmy’s actions. They were both suicidal and Curly putting Jimmy’s stability first is both out of bias but also the fact he’s aware at some level Jimmy is a danger to himself and others if not constantly placated. Combined with the fact he was in denial or just not piecing together what Anya said it’s hard to say what he buying time for and what he had treat as urgent. This isn’t even saying he doesn’t care about Anya but he’s not going jump to the worst conclusions about his friends even if part of him acknowledges the evidence saying so. It’s a complicated thing but he’s still human and needed to process it on top of trying to keep a ship that already took on a lot of water from further sinking, metaphorically.

I just personally think that while Curly failed Anya, it was a scenario where there wasn’t much he could do to the best thing by her safely and like Jimmy, we are underestimating what a good leader would do in a very fragile and tense situation like he was in. By the time he may have been ready and had a plan, things were much too late.

[selliho6530]

It really makes me laugh that the game has a "the good ending" achievement where Swansea kills Jimmy 10 times, lol

[shardikart-blog]

it gets rid of 99% of bacteria what shall we do with the remaining 1%

[toxycodone]

do u think jimmy and curly would ever willingly share.. like could jimmy handle knowing he's getting "sloppy seconds" or would the feeling of curly being and doing better than him just eat him up too bad.. like i want to believe they could casually fuck the same girl especially someone on the crew but is it really viable or just in my dreams lolll

No, initially.

Jimmy is so fucking insecure that he even sits in the damn captain’s chair in game. And curly just lets him like. Oh my God.💀

I do think, however, they could share if Jimmy gets to “go first” if that makes sense. Like, he wants to have all the “rights” and the “dominance” or whatever. 🙄 like what he says goes. And Curly has to follow.

I think Jimmy would be fucking you just to take out his frustrations (and probably just abuse you on God) and Curly is like the one after who’s pampering you and patching you back up. He’s building you up for Jimmy to tear you down again. Vicious cycle…..but a hot one nonetheless.

[czlowiek-lasu]

Hello I’m here to announce that Anya’s actually alive, thriving and married (to me)

[trainer-blue]

boy did they get these labels wrong

[faceless-crowd]

Trying out a new lighting technique with my girl Anya

[scruncheduppaper]

can’t remember if i saved it or not but that one mouthwashing post i saw that said that “curly rehab aus are ableist” is insane and you guys should really think before you post

[trashgoblincreature]

so. i got into mouthwashing recently [spoilers]

so what if. i came up with an au of curly getting extremely vivid nightmares of the ship crashing and everything happening with jimmy being in control of things, and kept thinking to himself like. ok. no, that is NOT gonna happen. all will be fine

and then jimmy crashes the fucking ship. curly realizes his dreams might made been a bit more real than he first thought so instead of trying to stop the crash, he instead tries to focus on getting jimmy away from the cockpit. spoiler - jimmy takes heavy damage anyway bc it turns out sitting so closed to a METAL door that leads to a BURNING room is the far more severe equivalent of touching the inside of a pan while a stove is on

curly, realizing his dreams might have been more of an actual warning, becomes OBSESSED with keeping an eye on jimmy and anya, and suddenly gets 10x more worried about the damaged vent in the utility room. he has the strangest feeling he knows how everything might go down, so he does his best to keep an eye on everyone, and while he does a much better job than jimmy, the lack of proper self-care. really does start to show, as time goes on

might work more on this later. idk. its been on my mind