#guys istg if im wrong

[a-shade-of-green]

am i delusional? yes.

am i too hopeful for my own good? yes.

do i still think that the byler first kiss, if not confirming flickergate, will at least happen in the Upside Down to Bowie's Heroes because "the shame is on the other side"?

...yes

[djevelbl]

So. 341, IM!Cup & Holly...

I read one (1) comment on Inky Mystery's Cup & Holly's dynamic and now feel the need to go on a vague-posting rant about them--

TLDR: if we're critiquing Holly's reaction to Cup's rejection & her actions in the aftermath of the gala in regards to him, we gotta talk about his as well; it's a symbiotic conversation - you can't talk of one's fuckups without at least giving an honorable mention to the other's mistakes either, aknowledging they happened and all that.

I have thoughts, and all of them stem from a convo I saw in my fyp about Holly's most recent interactions with Cup in 341 - rant ahead y'all, the TLDR is there for a reason. Good readin'.

Sure, Holly outright ignoring Cuphead and making excuses to not talk to him about what happened is not okay - especially when he's making an effort to talk to her (shit he doesn't do with anyone unless they're Mugs) and I'm like. the first person to scream at the screen for them to talk, but I typically go about it in the sense of "this motherfucker really let her go on a trip without so much as a SORRY or even trying to rectify the situation, thus letting her form all the wrong conclusions, huh." And sure, he's trying, I'll give him that - I'm sure that's fucking hard for him considering all his love-related endeavors ended in him jaded & hurt, but she doesn't know that - to her, this is just a man who's deeply hurt her with a straight face that only fell and let her see his real emotions & feelings about the whole thing when the "find out" part of "fuck around and find out" came to slap him in the face, shaped like a tree-charmed bracelet. He lied to her face, saying to her such wonderfully nice and beautiful and forgivable quotes like: "... you are in way over your head. What you wanna tell me amounts ta bunk 'cause the truth is you don't. Cussin'. Know me.", or "Because you’re a pretty little princess. You have no idea what the real world is like. Hell, half the time you’re out there causin’ the rest of us more work gettin’ these cussin’ parts. Coulda spared us the hell of Nightmare Night if you’d just kept your damn hands to yourself. Couldn’t keep outta the way even when it should have been easy. Not since the moment I met ya. Not even one damn time. Ya think I could ever like someone like you? You’ve been a thorn in my side ever since that first starfallen night I stuck ya in a tree."

He demeaned her, humiliated her by leaving her waiting at the gala to get a taxi of her own when he'd gone there with her (I'm sure no fucking blood-in-the-water-sniffing newsie noticed that and talked about it on a tacky tabloid, huh), insulted her for literally no reason as he rejected her, played with and preyed upon her insecurities of feeling like she's in the way of the quest (and of everyone in her life tbh) to emotionally hurt her - all for what? To send the message across that he didn't wanna date her? He could've just said "not right now, we're busy with the quest" and I'm sure she would've understood! And that's also a lie! All she wanted was an answer: did he or did he not like her back. A yes or no question, a simple thing to respond to. And instead of answering like a normal fucking person, Cuphead dropped a nuke on her: "... And that’s if you really thought we were friends ta begin with. So I think it’s best for you to go."

She asked if there was reciprocity in her feelings. He told her that they weren't even friends to begin with. And sure, Cuphead is the least normal man ever - the least socially adept, the worst at romance we've ever seen (bar Bendy maybe), I'm not necessarily expecting him to be a Don Juan, to be the perfect man who's perfect at relationships and can do no wrong, but there's a limit; and when his interactions with Holly go from 0 to 100 - from good, supportive friend who's developing feelings to immediate self-hating nuking of a friendship - I'm sorry, but that's crossing the fucking line. He's fucked up, he knows he's fucked up and in an ideal world he'd throw himself at his knees and beg for forgiveness, making it up to Holly every day. And in that same perfect world she'd forgive him, because he's not perfect, he's gone through deep, deep shit, shit neither you nor I could fully comprehend, things that funamentally break and change a man, especially one as young as Cup (can y'all really believe he's barely in his early 20s?? Crazy shit, that is.) I'm not saying he's completely reprehensible, that there's absolutely no redeeming quality about him - he's loyal to a fault, he'd go to bat for you the moment you asked, he'd help you with anything and everything you ask for. He's only mortal, after all - he's not perfect, that's what being alive fundamentally is: imperfect, rough edges and some of which are sanded down, some of which will never be. Growing beyond what you once were, and Cup is doing that - slowly, but getting there. Yet we're the readers. We know this. Holly doesn't.

In any critique towards any two characters in a relationship, especially if we're discussing how they treat each other and how they react to each other's presence and actions, one must consider things from their point of view and whatever information they got access to - it's only in chapter 341 that Holly realizes that the more she waits, the less ready she'll be to talk to Cup. It's only now that she's processed her emotions, feelings and the situation enough that she can notice that Oh shit yea, maybe she should talk to his dumb ass. She wasn't ready for that conversation with Cuphead before, and maybe she's not ready yet - has that stopped her at any other point, though? She jumped in basically head first to study on Toon Town, even when her mother wasn't completely sold on the idea. She joined the Questers on a whim, believing she had to see things first hand before she could go ahead and judge them (unlike the news at the time). She's battled creatures ten times her size and strength with her wits and runes, barely any training, and lived to tell the tale. God-fucking-damnit, she started confessing before she could question herself any further! She's strong, resilient and determined - yet she doesn't read minds! Cup's never talked about his struggles on any area of his life, let alone his love-life, how is she supposed to know she should give him a second chance right off the bat bc he's just inexperienced?! Do you think she knows what she's doing? NO! Of course not! I don't think she's had any significant romantic relationships over the course of her life - she was basically babied as she lived in her hometown, being a human in a zany residence! Everyone was afraid of hurting her beyond repair - d'you think she knows what she's doing? That she's got any experience to draw from? That romance books would tell her what to do?? NO! Of course they wouldn't! They're fiction! She's in her early twenties, just like Cup. She's inexperienced when it comes to romance, just like Cup (debatable on his side, but I won't go there) - why are we letting him off the hook, but we're dogpiling on her?

She's barely keeping it together as is - she got called naive, dumb, a thorn in Cup's (her crush!) side, she got called a little girl in one of the worst ways a woman can be called that: demeaningly, with full intent to insult, because women's value is typically regarded in how young they look, in how pretty they are (both things depicted in the mind when we call women "girls") yet is twisted when right after Cup says that he "like(s) a woman that knows what reality looks like."

Uh oh, he talked about knowing reality - they just got out of the fucking Labyrinth! Low blow Cup, low blow. Even for you.

And what has she done? Putting distance between them because she's been emotionally beat down mercilessly just a month (maybe) ago? Desperately try and piece herself back together after being so thoroughly dissected apart by cold, calloused words that weren't even true? Be a tiny bit of a dickhead to the man who brought a metaphorical loaded gun to a conversation? Not let the person who's hurt her the most up until today (bar her mom) have any more opportunities to damage her? Would you have done it any differently? 'Cuz I would've - I would've done it worse. Holly has handled herself with a surprising amount of grace considering what Cup did - I would've been depressed all fucking day in my room had that happened to me. I would've starved not feeling the need to get up from the bed, I would've let it fucking show how much it actually hurt what he said. She didn't. She gave herself the time to process and understand the situation and grieve their friendship - because in her eyes, that shit's well and truly dead, buried in the backyard of her memory. Her talent is memory y'all - that conversation is recorded into her psyche for the rest of her life most likely. She probably has to do a conscious effort to repress such an awful night. She went there expecting it to be a wonderful night - she'd rectified her lie, explained why and asked Cup herself if she could accompany him to the gala as his plus one - only to come out of there with emotional scars that won't heal just bc he says sorry, or explains the situation. That conversation will open the wounds that have tentatively - tentatively - started to heal, he's gonna have to rip them bloody and gory open again for his own healing to happen, and she's willing to let it. Because it's for her own healing too. What he did is unforgivable, unhorthy of hearing him out - yet the ending of 341 whispers implications of a conversation happening between them at Holly's decree. Can we, instead of raging about Holly being rude to him one fucking time, direct our anger and sorrow and grievances towards Cuphead? He's our favorite character, sure, the he can do no wrong and if he does I still love him one, but he's still flawed. I don't know about y'all, but my favorite thing about my blorbos is when they're broken and imperfect, when I can criticize them and see them build themselves back up - bc wholly morally good or wholly morally bad characters are just boring, and sometimes you want someone you can love and yet hate. Can we, instead of fixating on the one instance of Holly being unable to handle what's been thrown at her, and throw it back at her face, commend and celebrate every instance she's been able to keep it together? Can we talk about and appreciate how calm and collected she's been over all of this? How nice she's been playing it? Can we cherish and revel in how she hasn't broken his nose and gone for the throat even though I find it a worthy escalation to make?? Can we not demean the one female lead who's been given this much screentime within a high-stakes, emotionally-charged conflict like this one, and has managed to keep it together??

[steakout-05]

how i feel about TBYS causing a shockwave effect of everyone dogpiling on and harassing Illymation and spreading extremely easily disprovable and malicious misinformation about her and putting her in a lot of danger for literally no legitimate reason

[virginstoner666]

the way demoman is so line-cook coded....

[themyscirah]

Suffering more than Jesus atm (being a fan of 80s/90s Suicide squad in 2024)

[kiwibirdlafayette]

i feel like im going insane im lookin for references and. I seem to have forgotten where i saw things help

[pierogipete]

[kicks down your door] hello I would like you to know I'm INCREDIBLY obsessed with KimPorsche, and I just binge-read all of in another life in like 3 days. (would have made it in 1 but! Exams!!) Anyway. Friend???

yes please!!! i am so consumed with kimporsche ahhh im so happy :D yes lets be friends 🥰🥰 i hope exams went well ❤️

[yamikawaii]

SHUT UPPPPPP SHUT UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SHUT THE HELL UP

[honeyviscera]

in the shinsou tag like NO!!!!! YOU ARE ALL SO WRONG ABOUT HIM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[faaun]

ok so heres what happened

[chisungie]

.

[viscerasmoothie]

its that anon- sorry for the confusion 😭 i also have audhd so i get it. its fine its not really private. my user is/was FazbearFright_Lover if that makes any difference? but yeah i hope you’re doing good

WAIT HUH

I don't even know what to say LMAO my brain is exploding

I expected someone whos username I never heard of but no it's you but in a good way wHAT

/lh for literally everything above this cus I'm insecure and irrationally afraid of upsetting people

[the-acid-pear]

I hate this concept of "expectations" we need to do something about that

[themyscirah]

Wait omg..... Jessica Cruz probably did rifle... my specialized sports knowledge coming in CLUTCH

Okay so I barely practiced and made it to regionals like once so im NOT the expert here but uh headcanoning that Jess did air rifle when she was a teen. Like idk if it would be as part of a team like with a high school (what I'm familiar with) vs like an individual thing vs like a travel/competitive team (it depends on the sitch in her area growing up) but she definitely went to some national matches (probably including JOs/JO quals like i think she was GOOD). I think she probably would have quit competitively following a bad shot at nationals (relatable) along with anxiety about competition (ALSO relatable) but still kept up with shooting casually for fun and relaxation and to hang out with friends etc.

She definitely would have shot smallbore competitively too but I never did that bc I was lazy so idk to much abt it competitively

[unluckyxse7en]

Few days late, but happy pride from your local doofus who, despite intellectually grasping that nonbinary can be anything outside the binary and is not stuck on some invisible slider, only JUST really had the realization that he can identify as "a guy, And More" literally a couple of days ago and therefore still id as nonbinary

All bc his brain is slow and was subconsciously placing genders on an invisible slider that went against his technical understanding of gender theory

Happy pride, you can do whatever and be whatever, don't let your brain play mean tricks on you this June kids!

[celticwoman]

lollll wasted sooo much time bc i didn't know what classroom i was supposed to go to and was too afraid to ask i hate myself