#also i do not know ifthis indented format is accessible so if anyone uses a screenreader. or knows how to access theirs and can check and-

[majorshatterandhare]

Okay, so I’m gonna add the tags so if others see this it will be easier for them to follow along and contribute if they want!

In my (majorshatterandhare) last contribution to this post, where I added the bit right above this, I included the following tags (edited for readability; IE removal of hashtags symbols, addition of punction and uppercase letters, removal of categorization tags, etc):

I very much view Tsuru as Brian. I know there's nothing supporting it but AFAIK there’s nothing saying that’s not the case either, and I enjoy it that way. One more awful thing to add to Brians life ☺️ [closed-eyes, blushing smiling emoji].

THE TRAGIC THING IS [all caps: The tragic thing is] in my interpretation here that the secret spread like wildfire, I think the Spouse could’ve gotten over it; that, had he time and ideally the right support, he would've come to realize that Tsuru is the same person he always was; that he had good reason for keeping this secret; that he, the Spouse, not knowing wasn’t actually a problem, or betrayal, or hurting him, and that his husband doesn't need to tell him absolutely everything. That he is the agent of his own life and only needs to share what he himself wants to (and that the same, of course, applies to the Spouse, himself, as well). BUT HE DIDN’T HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY [all caps: But he didn’t have the opportunity]! Him being upset in the moment is understandable, that doesnt means its Right, just that I understand why he was upset. BUT HE DIDN’T GET THE CHANCE TO PROCESS IT AND COME TO TERMS WITH IT AND SETTLE BACK INTO HIS LOVE FOR TSURU [all caps: But he didn’t get the chance to process it and come to terms with is and settle back into his love for Tsuru]!

I actually think he *started* to, but didn’t get to completion before the mob took over and I also think that, as much as they are mad at Tsuru for being the catalyst for something Taboo, that they see him [the Spouse] as at fault [as well]. I don’t think that after Tsuru is punished/taken away/flees/whatever that the Spouse, in this community he's probably always lived in, was ever free of that 'sin' either. Sure he didn’t know, but he still did something atrocious, and even “how could he have *not* known, really?” etc etc. I think he was never free of the residual taboo that rubbed off on him with Tsuru not there anymore to take that fall. Such a stuck up (?) community still [needs] someone to [throw] their vitriol at, someone to gossip about, someone at the bottom of the pecking order and that becomes the Spouse.

And I think he probably does regret his reaction later. He probably does get to that point with time after the whole shebang that he just wants his husband back.

Fuck fuck FUCK! This is straight off the dome, my friend. One thought leads to another.

He made a mistake! He was shocked and upset and he just needed to process it but some ASSHOLE [all caps: asshole] eavesdropped on his conversation with a trusted friend and the town went insane and now he doesn't have the LOVE OF HIS LIFE [all caps: love of his life] and also is treated terribly [by] *his* community.

The vibes you can get from one 4.5 minute song that is *mostly* the same words repeated. Very rough count; I’m saying 56 total individual words in the song. (For reference Green Eggs and Ham has 50 different words in it)

I am sorry if i didnt respond enough to your idea I think it hurts A LOT [all caps: a lot] but then my brain when off on a tangent! it is a Good Idea!

Then @sun-shadowscast reblogged (the reblog I am reblogging this from) and added these tags (edited for readability, similar to the previous ones):

Had to run laps around my house to [calm] down after reading because MY GOD [all caps: my god] that is a heartbreaking interpretation. Also your good DW!! I get what you mean the brain needs to release because Spouse keeps referring to Tsuru as “my love” throughout the whole song I saw it as they still loved each other, just hurt from the lies and secrets, which is an understandable reaction as you said

Thinking of how similar the town in stranger sounds to the v. religious Brian backstory town. Which if Brian is Tsuru, its a hundred times worse (and by worse I mean better for the angst) maybe Brian was trying to make it right for himself: prove to himself that it was That One Place that was awful; an outlier not an example, but then it all went to shit. Word spread and it was just the same. Cast away for being Wrong; heretical; a demon. And Spouse, most likely being raised among these people, having to choose between his husband and his community. Even when he chooses community how they all see him as been changed

I wonder if they hurt Tsuru/Brian; tore him apart. I am going off on a tangent Words are hard. Because the song is so vague the amount of possibilities are insane.

Now, my response:

The Spouse continuing to refer to Tsuru as “my love” throughout is a *really* good point. He does still love him, he’s just upset!

You are also absolutely correct about this being Particularly Bad for Brian Because of His Past. Can you imagine when he finally rejoins the crew? Who’s gonna put the Drumbot back together (literally with your idea of him being torn apart!). Brian needs more hurt/comfort fic!

I actually like the idea of them trying to destroy him. As always it comes down to personal preference regarding exactly how the mechanisms (lowercase M) heal, but just- I can image maybe they think he’s just a robot; they don’t realize that there’s a human in there (not that this would be an okay thing to do to Frankenstein’s AI, either, but its harder to deny that a human is a Person), and so they are tearing him apart, planning to use him for scraps because that’s all he’s good for or whatever. But then they find his heart. And I think the Spouse isn’t there for this. This is the town mob being feral. And they realize that this *was* organic life, to some degree. But they can’t stop now! They’ve already destroyed him. So the push forward and continue. Maybe they end up putting him parts in a junkyard instead of actually using them as part of that guilt niggling at the backs of their minds, and that’s how he can be saved, because I do need to factor that in.

—Insane idea: if you believe in the mechanical parts as being self healing, they very very slowly are able to move to each other and reassemble!—

But these townspeople, they realize they did something wrong, but they can’t admit it, and they sure as Hell can’t let the Spouse find out. I think that the heart would probably be put somewhere Safe. Maybe a doctor takes it? (Doctor has, in their possession, the heart of a doctor who was revivified and doomed to immortality by a doctor for the crime of revivification. IDK there’s something there)

—Getting him back after this would be very hard but I like the idea a lot so I am barreling forward!—

So some of the townspeople, like they are the kind of people who are able to realize they did something wrong and want to make it right or ensure it never happens again, etc, but they are out numbered by the people who ignore it, potentially even denying the organic nature of Brian and the people who double down that what they did was Right actually (to clarify, these people Know that what the did was Wrong but they cannot accept that so they lie to themselve and make up reasons why they were in the right actually, etc).

In Stranger, I think Brian’s voice getting harder to hear with the other voices is meaningful.

I interpret those voices to be other people finding out and disparaging him. I think where Brian (Tsuru) is from robots are lower class and the idea that a robot would marry a human is absurd, but marrying one while lying about your identity is dastardly. But now he is on a different planet and here they do not have sentient robots. Keeping it a secret is to protect his husband so he can be as innocent as possible should they be found out and prosecuted (he’s still thinking in terms of where he used to live). A monster is semi-literal because the husband has not seen an android before and he is astonished. But people fear what they don’t know, and he becomes angry at Brian (Tsuru) for lying.

As more voices are added more people are finding out about what he did, yet failing to actually listen to him. His husband doesn’t even listen.

I don’t think the husband went and told everyone, but that he was mad and either someone found out by spying or he told one person and that person spread it and those people spread it, etc.