#TCOAAL

[ash-leyley]

ashley is such a broken girl, it's sad.

everyone in her entire life, even on some accounts her own brother, has told her that she is an insignificant, small, useless, loud, annoying, childish and irritating thing. everyone either talks bad about her directly, or has negative thoughts about her in the back of their minds. and she just lives in the label because she has, really, genuinely NEVER felt real love and affection before.

her parents conditioned her to be clingy to the one source of love that she could possibly scrape up. and even then, andy only loved her initially out of a familial obligation that he was groomed into upholding by his own mother, it's only with time (as stated in-game) that andrew grew to love ashley.

shes like a feral cat with no direction, she can't even trust the small crumbs of affection she DOES get from others, because theres ALWAYS a caviot, surely! so she pre-emptively lets the other know through aggression that she SEES through their "facade of love", "whens the carpet being pulled!! wheres the cameras!! because surely it must be a joke!!"

shes so neglected that even when she DOES receive love she doesn't know HOW to take it, so she just... responds in the only way she know how to. its so indecipherable in her brain to receive this affection that she just defaults to anger or discomfort because of its unfamiliarity. shes so lonely that shes convinced herself that Other People aren't worth it, because when have they ever been for her?

its why it makes me so upset to see people demean ashley to a one-note abuser with a shitty mom. shes so fucking scared and lonely you don't even KNOW. shes a cat that hisses and scratches at getting pet. shes scared.

[purseownervolatile]

Seeing good parenting after playing the murder/cannibalism/incest game for a full day is like drinking water after surviving on monster for 3 years straight

okay so i work in the deli of a grocery store, yeah? and today i got this guy who came up with his two twin children, around five years old. he walks up to the counter, carrying one kid in each arm, and loudly goes "oh, no, i forgot what i wanted!" and turns to the boy in his left arm and, in a perfect blues clues style voice, goes "caleb, do you remember what i wanted?" and the boy goes "half pound of yellow cheese!"

i, obviously, say "you've got it little sir!" and slice up half a pound of yellow american cheese, handing it to the little boy, who looks it over, nods, and tucks it in his lap.

then the man goes "well, we can't just have cheese on our sandwiches. but what else can we put on there?" and the little gurl in his other arm goes "half pound of ham!" so i nod and say "yes ma'am! what kind?" and she points at a random cut of turkey, so her father nods and says "like she said, honey ham!" i cut half a pound of honey ham, hand it to the little lady, she looks it over, nods and puts it in her lap.

then the man goes "now, what should we have for the side?" and the kids both simultaneously start cheering "macking cheese!!!" and the man spins on his heel and marches off, presumably to find the macking cheese.

later, the little boy comes wandering back to the counter while his father looks on and loudly and proudly proclaims that he wants to know where the mustard is. i point him to the correct aisle, he nods, says "thank you mister deli woman" and walks away.

[undeadkitty]

Really interesting what Andrew says at the end of decaying along, that his feelings for ashley are just psychological and that he wouldn’t have them if their parents weren’t abusive. certainly their relationship would’ve been different, but overall I call bullshit on what he says, and I don’t think it makes sense to take Mr. Unreliable Narrator’s words at face value. Decaying along is about Andrew refusing to take any responsibility for his own feelings, actions, or anything really. He lets ashley take the lead, then uses her as a scapegoat for things he does willingly. he wants to be normal so bad. he has this idea in his head that he must do what authority and society tell him to, otherwise there’ll be consequences, which scare Andrew more than anything else. He’s seen it in high school, what happens if he gets too close to ashley. It’s so much easier to convince himself that he’s actually just a normal guy if he blames his attraction to his sister on external factors. “it’s all because of how ashley acts” or “it’s all because of our upbringing”. sure andrew, it’s never because you peek at her in the shower. clearly that’s her fault as well. or when he imagines his girlfriend as ashley. or when he pretends to have nightmares so she’ll let him into her bed at night. Andrew feeds into his own attraction but then refuses to acknowledge it.

[sinningminning]

Worlds best worst boyfriend

[mamaito]

[c4rrion-0phan1m-3]

I fuckin luv tcoaal guys <3

[ashleys-coffin]

What does it all mean…

[kawacy]

Andy and Leyley

based on official devlog art

[purseownervolatile]

[leygraves]

you and me you and me you and me.

source .

[mimimimin]

[kaedesjournal]

[authorssd]

I do find it interesting that after the initial, collective "incest game" drama the internet went through after the game's original release, there are still a lot of folks who appreciate that the story is just about toxic families at the end of the day (and really the incest was a culmination of just how toxic the siblings in the vanilla game are). And as a result of that, you have these modders and fic writers who keep exploring the themes of toxic families in different ways, with nice art to boot (add TCOAAL to the mountain of fandoms where fan artists are really great at replicating the original art style)!

There are actually a couple TCOAAL mods floating around out there that I'd like to stream for analysis purposes (because again, the themes and just how psychological the game is and HAS gotten since "Cry About It"/Decay Route update are just interesting to talk about), but I also have no idea how to get them...

Loving the Renee mod, it has some nice moments, even if both Andrew and Renee have to act out of character for it to work.

Also little Andrew being pushed within the chest of his mom was cute and shotacon coded

[vee-dmsr]

[kinkmom]

You can never leave me Will you please complete me? ♥ Please - Nine Inch Nails

I'm hard as fucking steel and I've got the power I'm every inch a man and I'll show you somehow ♥ Big Man With a Gun - Nine Inch Nails

Here we are a year later, Decay playlist panels 3 and 4! I got a little stuck on the gunjob and just gave up until we got the actual Decay chapter! I think this set still tracks after what we've seen in the new chapter. 😏

Part 1 & 2 Part 3 & 4