#for the second one: both curly and swansea were told by anya what happened to her with jimmy and both of them brushed her off

[rosesoma]

the signs are tapping themselves

[kerink]

i want to talk about this idea the fandom has that curly didn't do anything to help anya. the fact of the matter is, curly didn't do anything to help anya on screen.

when we first join the conversation, anya's already told curly about the assault and is just updating him on her pregnancy status. we're never privy to what that first conversation looked like, what anya said or how curly responded or what decisions were made about it. but given that anya confided in him twice more about the situation (that she was pregnant and later that she had told jimmy), i have to assume his response to the initial assault disclosure was sufficient enough in her eyes that she knew she could continue confiding in him.

this exchange reads to me like "what to do about the assault" has been an on-going conversation between them, but curly has limited options to help her. but if he could figure out something to do, he'd do it.

let's look at the options available:

report it to HR. i don't think this option is very viable for a few reasons:

first, pony express doesn't seem to care about its employees. there aren't locks on their bedroom doors, there's only enough food and oxygen to get them from port to port with no emergency allotment, there are more crew than cryopods, they're not allowed to sleep for more than 5 hours a night, etc. i don't think they would have done anything to support her even if they had reported it.

HR may even blame anya for the assault, they may say that it happened because of something she did or did not do. it's her responsibility to take, not theirs.

second:

(thank you to @mudstoneabyss for pointing this one out to me)

curly needs this money because he's considering changing careers, which is likely to result in a pay cut or some amount of time job-hunting without income. swansea has a family back home he needs to provide for. it's daisuke's first year on the job and what a piss-poor welcome a pay cut would be, and he's an intern so the pay cut may be all or most of his salary. jimmy is living in poverty. anya has no savings.

it's entirely possible anya asked curly not to file an HR complaint not only because it would make her financial situation worse, but because she doesn't want to ask him, swansea, and daisuke to literally pay for jimmy's actions.

third:

even if curly did file an HR report he may have been told to do nothing. it's a long trip and they need all hands on deck to make the delivery on time! productivity over employee welfare. it's his job to keep the peace but keep jimmy working.

given how much stress curly's shown to be under, it can be assumed being captain is an extremely taxing job with a lot of both assigned duties and off-book duties. it may not actually be feasible to run the ship without a co-pilot.

maybe all he could do was talk to him.

2. go to the police. are there even police in space? i have to assume so because the alternative poses way too many questions. so there's space police. curly and anya call them and they come to the tulpar and dock on the ship and do an investigation and what happens to that limited food and air supply? the late delivery fee?

i'm a psychologist and my first psychology job was working as a crisis counselor for my county. my primary job was to sit with rape survivors as they had their rape kits done and support them as they made their reports to the police. this may not be true everywhere or across the board or in this dystopia but in my experience the police won't take a rape case seriously, or will have limited options to prosecute, or maybe won't even take the case at all without a rape kit.

so curly and anya call the police. they're going to have to file with HR too, to let the company know what's going on. and now anya has to pay for an HR complaint, a late delivery, and a rape kit.

is she going to get this paycheck at all?

3. curly acts on his own accord. this is the one that makes the least amount of sense to me, personally.

if curly just beats the shit out of jimmy then what? now jimmy's mad and embarrassed and takes it out on anya. we're going to confront him and risk making her suffering worse?

curly can't lock jimmy in his quarters for the duration of the trip not only because, as i said, maybe having a co-pilot is necessary for the ship to operate, but there are not locks on the doors.

curly can't lock him in the cargo hold because a) pony express would probably be beyond pissed off about that and who knows if the crew's pay would get docked or curly would get fired or if dragonbreath would sue them all for property damage and contamination. b) how do we get food and water to him? let him go to the bathroom? we open the doors and he busts out and who knows how violent he'll be then.

curly isn't going to kill him because a) that's one of his oldest friends, and i don't care what he's done or how angry curly is or how badly he wants to help anya, i really don't think it's realistic to think he'd be able to separate the anger from the love enough to end his life. b) it's cold-blooded, premeditated murder. it'd be one thing if curly caught jimmy in the act and killed him in defense of anya, he could maybe get away with that. but after the event is over? curly's going to jail for that, possibly for the rest of his life. if you worked at the post office and a coworker told you your best friend since childhood raped her are you clocking out and going to his house and killing him? it's not reasonable. i'm also just really floored how often i've seen this option brought up on the "prison reform abolish the police no matter how bad you are you still deserve human rights" website.

i also don't think it's reasonable, realistic, or kind to ask curly to act on his own accord without consulting anya. for curly to go against her wishes or act without her consent, that's further taking agency away from her. that's another man deciding what happens in her life. even if curly wanted to beat jimmy up or lock him away or kill him, maybe anya asked him not to.

so i ask, what was curly supposed to do? what did he and anya explore as options? what did anya ask him to do? we don't know and we'll never know. and that was intentional on wrong organ's part.

i don't say any of this to discount or discredit conversations or explorations or analyses about the role The Boys Club, toxic masculinity, and bro culture play into the plot, themes, narrative, or personal take-away players have. i fully 100% agree with, support, and endorse those narrative because despite everything i just said above, it's also true that curly is partially responsible.

it's true that he was irresponsible and an enabler for helping jimmy cheat on his psych exam, but there's no evidence at all that he's a conspirator to sexual assault and abuse, that he was going to cover for jimmy in a court of law. all he said was they would figure it out, and that could mean a whole lot of things.

i think curly has some percentage of the blame for what happened on the tulpar, i just don't think that percentage is as large of a number as a lot of people seem to believe. i'm not asking that we forgive or apologize or absolve curly, what i am asking is that we try to look at the situation with more nuance and empathy and good faith.

i don't think curly was a bad man or a bro who was ignoring anya and covering for jimmy's actions. but i also don't think he did enough to help her. he was never good at seeing the small details amongst the larger picture. he couldn't see jimmy for the dead pixel he was.

i think curly was sleep deprived, possibly under-fed, definitely overworked, and juggling too many balls with not enough options. i think he made the wrong choice, but i think he thought it was the lesser of the evils.

[citruslullabies]

OMG. I SAW UR CURLY HEADCANONS AND I TOUGHT THEY WERE AMAZING!! COULD U MAYBE DO THE SAME THING BUT WITH DAISUKE?? :O

Coming right up hon!

Daisuke Mouthwashing headcannons

Romantic

Pre-crash Daisuke:

He's a silly guy

Constantly cracking jokes, trying to make you laugh

People wouldn't know if you two were dating or just best friends if it weren't for the fact he's a puppy dog with you

Following you around whenever he can, looking at you for praise whenever he can

It's kind of like the meme "no, I'm not calling you good boy. That mission was shit."

..other than he is a good boy so call him such

And boy does he love PDA

Well, not really

He just loves affection, public or private

I like to think he's just a bit more silly in public

Kisses your cheek and makes an over exaggerated pop whenever he pulls away

Daisuke was hanging out with Swansea, goofing off as usual. But he saw you in the corner of his eye and without a second thought, ran to you and practically pounced. Before you could get anything but a giggle in, he pressed his lips to your cheek and kissed you with a loud pop!

He's not really a petname sort of person either

It's mostly funny nicknames for him

He will call you his grumpasaur when you're grumpy first thing in the morning. I don't make the rules.

Post-crash Daisuke:

For awhile, he still acts the same. But his personality is a little watered down, y'know?

He's stressed and scared after what happened

But he tries not to let that get him down!

Although he is more clingy, more scared of letting go of you. One accident already happened and almost wiped their captain out, what if you were next?

He didn't want to think about that

It made him nauseated to think about

And eventually well.. he crawled through that vent to get to Anya

And he got severely injured. You couldn't bear to see him like that

You most likely died soon before, trying to keep Swansea from killing Daisuke

Begging and pleading that there had to be some other way

But it didn't work out in anyone's favor

Platonic

Pre-crash Daisuke:

You guys are super duper close!!

Lots of jokes and pranks on the other crew members

Constantly goofing off whenever you can

Not too affectionate.. the occasional hug here and there. But besides that it's all fun and games

He has definitely drawn on your face before while you slept

I'm sorry. I don't make the rules. He would definitely make an attempt at drawing a flower on your cheek and it look like a penis

He'd still giggle about it though.. maybe it wasn't an accident

He has definitely (jokingly and lovingly) made fun of Swansea

Just standing up and trying to mimic his mannerisms while you're laughing

..yeah, too bad Swansea was in at that very moment

"look at me, I'm Swansea! I'm a big smelly engineer!" Daisuke said in a forcefully deeper voice, making you laugh as he held his arms out in front of him as if to mimic toting a stomach around. Swansea in question could only look unamused as he cleared his throat, making you both stop in your tracks. Oh if looks could kill.

But yeah you guys have a purely goofy relationship

Post-crash Daisuke:

It's the exact same as the romantic, but the difference is, he tries to convince you to go into the vent with him. He wants to get Anya and doesn't want to be alone

But you of course refused, stating it wasn't safe but did he listen?

No

In fact he continued on to the vent and got himself injured

You gave him the 'i told you so' look but.. you felt really bad when looking at your friend. He was in bad shape.

And so you died a similar way

The only big difference is, you died after discovering him

Thanks for requesting!

[holyhadesimweird]

photo from @yancant

captain curly x reader

summary : the one in which you're the co-pilot instead of jimmy, who is just a janitor who doesn't go crazy and is actually just an okay dude who's friends with curly. oh and curly has a big fat crush on you and anya and daisuke try to make you guys get together. little do they know, you're already secretly married.

notes : female reader btw

anya and daisuke both know something is up between you and the captain. they're not blind, but they do think you two are. they can see the lingering gazes, the way you two giggle to each other quietly when talking over dinner, the little things that make it obvious to them.

anya decides to try and take matters into her own hands by making you confess to her how you feel, in hopes that she could talk you into confessing to curly.

one day when you two are working together on preparing for the crew's monthly checkups, anya decides to ask you about your feelings for the captain.

"(y/n), i have a question for you." anya said, looking up to make eye contact with you.

"for sure, what's wrong?" you ask, stopping what you're doing to give her your full attention.

"what do you think of the captain?" she asks, looking at you to gauge your reaction. she sees you smile, look towards your hands and back up to her.

"well, if i'm being honest with you-" you were cut off by the man himself entering the medical room.

"(y/n) can you help me?" curly asks. "it's not urgent, but it does need to be done sooner rather than later and i'd prefer if you helped me."

"of course captain. i'll meet you at the cockpit, i'll just finish this up really quickly." you say with a smile.

"perfect, thank you." curly says with a smile, his eyes lingering on you before exiting.

"what do you think he needs help with?" anya asks, not forgetting how the captain looked at you when he entered the room.

"he swears he doesn't need them and his eyesight is fine, but i think the dumb oaf needs reading glasses. he probably needs my help reading the gauges again, or he's trying to mess with me again somehow." you laugh as you exit the room.

anya knows the captain doesn't need glasses and isn't quite sure what's going on between you two, but she quickly heads to the utility room to talk to the rest of the crew about what just happened.

after anya told daisuke and swansea about what happened between you and curly in the medical room the other day, both him and anya have been trying to figure out what's happening. swansea being the old man that he is, said he doesn't want to be involved because he already knows what's happening and was going to leave it to the other two to figure out what was happening between you two.

daisuke decided he was going to talk to the captain, to see if he will admit his feelings. he's a guy, guys can talk about their feelings... right?

a couple of days after he and anya talked, daisuke found himself spending time with the crew while they all laughed and joked. turns out curly's friend and the janitor of the ship, jimmy, snuck a bunch of alcohol onto the ship and was saving it for when the crew needed a boost.

the crew all sat on the couches next to the giant screen that currently displayed the moon. you and curly sat next to each other, almost cuddling. your legs were thrown over his and he was playing with your hands as everyone laughed and talked.

"i'll go get us more drinks, but after these we should cut back and head to bed." curly announced, gently moving you so he could stand up.

this was the perfect moment to ask curly about his feelings, daisuke thought. once the others were distracted by talking to each other, daisuke got up to follow the captain and ask.

"captain! can i talk to you for a second?" daisuke yelled at the captain, who was all the way down the hall.

"of course bud, what can i help you with?" curly said when daisuke caught up to him.

"how do you feel about (y/n)? you know beyond them being your co-pilot." daisuke asked.

"i like her. i've known her for a long time now and she's great. why? is there something wrong with her?"

"no no! i'm just curious since you guys seem really close."

"yeah you could say that." curly smiled.

"do you have a crush on her or something? you two are always giggling and flirting."

"yeah, i guess you could say that i have a crush on her. she's brilliant and the best person i know."

"shoot your shot man, she definitely likes you back."

"thanks daisuke, i will. now lets get back to everyone with this booze, yeah?"

a week later, at dinner while everyone sat together, anya couldn't stop trying to figure out how to push you and curly to confess your feelings for each other. this week was a little stressful and thinking about it helped her get her mind off of things.

"anya?" she heard you ask.

"are you and the captain secretly dating?" she blurted.

everyone went still and looked at her.

"oh my god, i am so sorr-" she was cut off by swansea and jimmy who burst out laughing.

"why are you guys laughing?" daisuke asked, just as confused as anya was.

"you guys don't know?" jimmy asked.

"the captain and i are married." you revealed. "i thought you guys knew."

"i asked the captain how he felt about you and he didn't say you were married!!" daisuke exclaimed. "he just said he has a crush on you!"

"curly you have a crush on me?!" you laughed.

"sorry guys, we thought you knew, i guess it never came up." curly chuckled.

"not to be nosey, but you don't have rings?" anya asked.

"pony express doesn't like it if employees are involved with each other so we're hiding the fact that we're married." curly said.

"oh my god i can't believe we didn't know and were trying to get you two to confess your feelings!" daisuke pouted.

"well i appreciate you trying to be my wingman dai, i would've definitely shot my shot if we weren't already married." curly thanked.

jimmy snickered at curly, who only gave him a look.

"well now you have to show the wedding photos! there's no way you don't have some here on the ship." daisuke demanded.

"okay okay, i'll go get them. are they in my room or yours?" curly asked you while standing up.

"they're in yours." you replied, smiling up at him.

"wait you guys don't slee-" daisuke was cut off by jimmy.

"i think that one is none of our business daisuke. do you really wanna know which room your captain is piping his-"

"okay! okay! i'll stop asking questions!" daisuke jokingly covered his ears.

the tulpar's 'living room' exploded with laughter and not too long after, captain curly came back with the wedding album.

[medicshope]

Alright, I am gonna say this, while curly isn’t a good person, he isn’t a bad person either. He is morally gray, and did what was best for the whole of the group; not for one person. You have to take in consideration.

One, jimmy is the co-pilot. He can’t separate jimmy from everyone or kill him or whatever, curly needs jimmy to fly the ship. That control panel is massive, too big for one person. The ship is big too, you gotta think. So no, curly couldn’t have killed or separated him from the crew.

Even if you were to do that, and have someone else be co-pilot, you wouldn’t. Anya is..well, not suited for controls like that, she wouldn’t be able to memorize it. Daisuke would be overwhelmed by it all and let’s be honest, both of them are too incompetent to fly a ship. Swansea is a mechanic, not an engineer. No one would be able to fly it aside from jimmy and curly.

Also putting in a complaint is a pain in the ass and nearly impossible too. Pony express was kicking the bucket way before Anya told curly. He wouldn’t be able to put in a complaint or a notification because I wouldn’t be surprised if pony express already shut down and had no contact with the ship after that transaction. To the words of the official wrong organ post, and a teaser to put in a complaint is quote “ANY COMPLAINTS MUST BE MADE IN WRITING, SIGNED, AND STAMPED BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OFFICER OF A DESIGNATED PONY EXPRESS COURIER POINT NO LATER THAN THE END OF THE FIRST WEEKDAY OF SECOND WEEK IN ODD MONTHS AND NO LATER THAN THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRD WEEKDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK ON EVEN MONTHS. HOLIDAY EXEMPTION RULES APPLIED.”

Even if he was able to put a complaint in somehow, even if pony express didn’t kick the bucket, what would most likely happen, is one…NOTHING! They are in space, there is no jail, no backup co-pilot, no abortion protocol on board, neither is there other ships because pony express was one of the last manned freighters. At most, he could be arrested after landing. But if curly would report it, jimmy would still crash the ship.

Even if the murder thing came into play, curly couldn’t and wouldn’t do it, again, stench, dead body, and the murder of a crew-mate could cause pony express to dock all of their pay. Daisuke wouldn’t be able to stomach it, and swansea didn’t really care what jimmy did. He only went after jimmy after daisuke was put to rest, not when he first heard about it. Anya was the only one with a valid reason to kill him, but her entire thing is that their worst actions don’t make them monsters.

Again back with curly, he is morally gray and thinks for the ship, not for people. Doing any action against jimmy would most likely dock pay from members above, so he tried to keep everything off records to keep everyone’s resumes, reports and backgrounds as clean as possible. He did try to fix things, but there’s only so much you can do.

(I’m drunk rn so this is probably bullshit.)