#he's an enabler and he sucks

[dragonwysper]

So since I did my last essay for my media class on Mouthwashing, and my research introduced me to some really interesting canon lore that I've not seen get considered by like. Anyone yet. I'd like to talk about it.

Spoilers below for How Fish Is Made, its DLC The Last One and Then Another, and Mouthwashing.

So Mouthwashing is Wrong Organ's second ever game, with their first being a surreal little horror game called How Fish Is Made. Jacob Geller did a great video essay where he talked about it, which is actually how I was introduced to it a couple years ago. It's free to play on Steam as well, so I recommend just playing through it and coming to your own conclusions. It's not as long or as complex as Mouthwashing, and is well worth it. If you'd rather not, then the video essay works just fine (though I suggest watching it anyway. Jacob Geller makes great video essays).

This DLC was released as a teaser for Mouthwashing, and as such, it features some relevant details. You see post-crash Curly three times as you play through, and he speaks to you each time you meet. The details are always vague, but you can infer what he means with Mouthwashing's context.

But I'm not here to talk about How Fish Is Made. I'm here to talk about the 2023 DLC for it, titled The Last One and Then Another. Here's a no-commentary playthrough for those who don't want to play it (though it is also free on Steam).

The first 'conversation' you have (3:55 in the linked playthrough) is about his job as a pilot of long-haul shipping vessels.

It's easy to get on this boat when you have to. You say to yourself, this is just temporary. Just until I get what I need. Got bigger things planned! Then suddenly you're one year in, five years. Ten. First I couldn't stand the constant, constant noise. Now I can't sleep without it. A lot of things can't follow you out here. But it also means the outside world moves on without you. Won't even notice until it's too late.

...Easy to get on, hard to leave.

He talks upon this during his conversation with Jimmy in Mouthwashing, after Jimmy's psych eval, though this shows a different perspective of his feeling trapped in a dead end job. The line about nothing being able to follow you out there [in space] also makes for some interesting foreshadowing surrounding Jimmy's actions. Remember that the reason he crashed the Tulpar was because Anya's pregnancy revealed that he would not be able to hide or dismiss or cover up what he did once they landed. It would be a big, glaring, visible symbol of his assault. And so to get rid of it, he elected first to kill her, and then when that proved impossible, to kill everyone. It's easier to get away with it out in space, where nothing and nobody can follow you.

The second conversation (8:39) features a joke, except it's really about optimism and trying to make light of a sudden new disability.

Do you want to hear a joke?

Three men are in the hospital. The first man cries, "I lost both my hands. They told me I'll never work again!"

The second man wails, "I lost both my legs. They told me I'll never work again!"

The third man? He rejoices, "I lost my hearing, they'll never be able to tell me I'm fired again!"

Hahaha! Good one, huh?

This has to be right after the crash, right when he first realizes the extent of his injuries. He's likely still in shock, and is focusing on trying to cope with his new disability.

The third and final conversation (13:26) delves deeper into his feelings after the crash.

Next comes spite. First it stares back at you in the mirror. Then it's those around you. They're wearing your face, and you theirs.

...You know. He joined because of me. What were the words I used? Ah, right.

"It's a great opportunity. Easy money, just a trip or two."

Someone else's words in my mouth. Hey, worked on me as well, right? Change hurts, but worse things fester for a long time. I told him as much.

I tried, I really did. We're defined by our past, but we're not slaves to it. We said tomorrow will be different. Today would be the last day. The last one. The last one and then another. And another, and another, and another...

This is after the shock has worn off, and he becomes aware of the truth. He sees Jimmy for what he did, and who he is, at least to some extent. He expresses some amount of remorse, though it's veiled behind "I tried." He tried through the wrong avenue. He focused on trying to help Jimmy, instead of helping Anya. I think this line, as well as the reminiscing over how Jimmy joined because of him, shows a feeling of failure on his part. Though this failure is partially for inviting him on board while being unaware of what he'd do, as well as for then not being good enough to help Jimmy.

He surprisingly doesn't hint towards Anya. Even still, after all he's gone through, he still doesn't take her trauma quite as seriously.

After this you get a trailer of Mouthwashing, complete with a scene of Jimmy giving Curly painkillers. Jimmy speaks to him.

Hurts going down, huh? You know what they say...

Pain is how we know we're still living.

This is an interesting line. Lots of potential implications here, lots of ways to interpret it. But I see it as an extension of his malice for Curly. Jimmy thinks Curly deserves to suffer, for surviving. For knowing. It's a backhanded remark, not meant to be optimistic, but rather saying, "this is what you get for living. Suck it up and be grateful you at least have that."

So with the DLC, we get a missing piece to Mouthwashing: Curly's perspective, after the crash. He's silent for most of it, outside of Judgement-type stuff. But this completes his perspective, reveals his slow realization, and demonstrates his character growth. Which is frustratingly minor. I'd hoped he would be more aware. As much as I despise Curly for enabling Jimmy's abuse, I'd hoped he'd at least become aware of it in the face of his own pain.

What the DLC also does though, is recontextualize Mouthwashing to fit Curly's perspective. We get a lot of Jimmy, especially post-crash. Here we see a bit of how Curly perceives it all. It's an interesting point of view, and adds to Mouthwashing's themes.

This was a long post and I apologize. I also have no idea if anyone will like. Read this. But I wanted to talk about it.

[mintaikk]

Part 2 of the "I analyze Tumblr sexymen so people understand what people see in them" shitpost collection, with Lucifer Morningstar from Hazbin Hotel!

Prev, Next

[noperopesaredope]

Being a Curly fan (especially pre-crash) is so complicated because I want to give him a hug and pat him on the head and ogle his chest and tell him he deserves a better friend than Jambiree but I also want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him back and forth while screaming at him for being a USELESS FUCKING DUMBASS-

[mutalieju]

while i'm at it, jon also says this

[serpentface]

Hibrides and Brakul having the world’s saddest booze-fueled girl’s night, probably a few months before the start of the story.

Anyway here's an extensive rundown of their shared history.

Hibrides Uryashta was the eldest daughter of a chancellor of the imperial city-state of Erubinnos (his lordship Erub Uryashta). She was brought up with great privilege and security, but (like most daughters of noblemen) was destined to be used as a bargaining chip in a political marriage arrangement. She was taken from her friends and family and moved to the city of Wardin at the age of 16 to complete her pledged marriage with Janeys Haidamane, the failson of the trade magnate Haidamane family. Janeys spent about a week poorly attempting to behave like a husband, and then took the first excuse to flee and engage in a petty military campaign against raiders on the Yellowtail trade route. She found herself left alone in his villa for three years with only hired servants for company. She made a few attempts to break into the city's elite social scene, but was quite shy and failed to make any headway.

Brakul had just spent a year and a half in a bit of a whirlwind. He was brought into a skirmish at the behest of an allied clan, who had been raiding the Yellowtail route and now was under attack by combined forces of an enemy clan and Imperial Wardi mercenaries. He killed one of the mercenary commanders and was captured as a prisoner of war, but was spared at Janeys' behest (who fucking hated that guy thought it was awesome that he got killed with a rock) and was ultimately recruited into the group. He had a chance to go back home, but actively chose to deadbeat dad out on his wife and child to be with his newfound lovequest, Janeys. He spent a year and a half as a mercenary, bonded closely with Janeys and swore brotherhood with him, and was eventually brought home to the city of Wardin with him. He found himself in the odd position of being simultaneously scorned as a foreigner and 'heathen', and the legal kin of one of the richest families in the city (and effectively the secret male concubine of their only male heir).

It was in this context that the two of them met, with Hibrides now being 19 and Brakul turning 27.

The two were initially wary of each other (Hibrides was particularly put off by his 'heathen' status) but bonded very quickly, partly due to their mutual states of being unmoored from their old lives, but in large part being just a natural chemistry. They had a lot of common interests and enjoyed learning from each other. Hibrides introduced him to traditional verse poetry (of which she was very fond). Brakul taught her how to ride khait, and even gave her a gelding from his own collection as a gift. They became very close friends over the next couple of years and spent much of their free time together.

A big part of the dynamic was that both of them are gay in a cultural context where there is no concept of Being gay, marriages are usually arranged and always between a man and a woman, and having children is a societal expectation. Each of them began to see the other as an ideal husband/wife, ie "if I had to marry why couldn't it have been him/her?". For Hibrides' part, Brakul had all the traits she would want in a husband: he was a pretty good friend and easy to get along with, he seemed like he'd do an excellent job of fulfilling expected roles as a husband and father (she didn't know about the wife and kid for a while), he treated her as an equal, and, most of all, had no interest whatsoever in fucking her. They were both in a sort of platonic emotional affair, and grew to love each other deeply.

Hibrides was pretty quick to catch on that something was going on between Brakul and Janeys, and found it strange and offputting but ultimately none of her concern. Her husband only being interested in his sworn brother and leaving her to her own devices suited Hibrides just fine, and Brakul always just kinda being There meant she was living with what had become her closest friend.

The stable state of this Feelings Triangle began to change in the wake of the brilliant plan to get Janeys (gay) (probably infertile) children he could pass off as legitimate via a Brakul/Hibrides pregnancy. It was something all three agreed to as a necessity; it was already drawing scrutiny that Janeys and Hibrides had been married for several years without a pregnancy, and producing heirs is a societal expectation and a central point of an arranged marriage between wealthy elites.

It was especially critical in this case, given Janeys was his family's only male child and only hope of continuing the family line, given both his golden-child sister Faiza and black sheep half sister Couya were Odonii, and thus sworn virgins and would never marry. (There's also a level to this that Janeys was regarded as a complete disappointment by his parents, and his mother made damn sure he knew that his only value at this point was to produce a better male heir to inherit the business. So this was a big fucking deal to him, and to Brakul by extension).

This was also not a route any of them wanted to take on any personal level, least of all Hibrides. She consented to the pregnancy and everything it entailed, but it was inevitably a painful and distressing experience all around. She had never wanted to be a mother to begin with (though had long accepted it as an inevitability), and now found herself with an infant daughter, which only meant it would have to happen again (they needed a male heir after all). And it would be utter social suicide and a profound shame upon her if the child's illegitimacy was discovered, which only added to the stress.

To make things worse, her first pregnancy shifted the entire dynamic with her husband and brother-in-law/best friend. Janeys changed from completely indifferent to actively spiteful and hostile towards her, and things had become extremely uncomfortable between Hibrides and Brakul. It only got worse with Brakul (the only one of them who actually WANTS kids) (kind of haunted by skipping out on his first child) finding it unbearable to be so close to HIS daughter and having to keep up an act that she was not his own, having no direct role in the kids life. He desperately wanted to be a father.

Hibrides, who was going through a fucking lot, started to become vindictive towards him for his role in things. She resented him more than Janeys, because Brakul insisted he cared about her and would desperately try to pretend things were normal, while consistently siding with Janeys against her wishes, including in preventing her from getting a divorce. (His excuse is that the children's legitimacy would be interrogated in a legal setting, which Is likely and Would be absolute social suicide with very real consequences. But the real reason on his part is that if she got out of the marriage, he might never see her or the children again). Hibrides began to do everything in her power to prevent him from having any relationship with his bastard children, even in secret or under the guise of a relative. Sort of an “if I have to suffer to keep up this facade so should you” thing.

They had two children in a span of three years, two girls (ruh roh!) named Erubi and Livya. By this point, Hibrides and Brakul were both experiencing what we would now call Clinical Depression and Alcohol Use Disorder (especially in the latter's case). Hibrides started to have affairs with both men and women, which she was sure to be very obvious about to insult Janeys and Brakul, but was mostly out of loneliness. Brakul turned his complete focus to Janeys and started avoiding Hibrides entirely, in hopes that she would become desperate enough to be willing to make amends (shockingly, this did not happen, and the rift only deepened).

In the present, their relationship status is: fucked. Both of them do still love each other on some level, but this is probably beyond repair. What little time they've spent with each other in the past year is sitting around being miserable and getting plastered. And now Hibrides, Janeys, and Brakul are all forced into the public eye on the pilgrimage together, and with a third child on the way. So that's probably going to be everyone's problem.

[tinybro]

jasico server was chatting about the cupid scene and jason getting nico's memories blasted straight into his brain and how jason being shot with one of cupid's arrows while with nico and this was just never brought up in canon again and now i'm thinking like...what if that's just how cupid's arrows work? not by magically manifesting love for someone out of nothing, but by giving someone the perspective that'd make them fall in love naturally? jason gets a front row seat to nico's memories and instantly understands him intimately and can trust him completely without any doubt or suspicion

so what if jason, after slowly realizing he's totally in love with nico, just thought back to the arrow incident and it made him second-guess everything? because maybe he's only feeling this way because cupid hit him with an arrow with only nico was around and it's no different than any other god messing with his love life

[pianojoy-blog]

In the back of my mind it’s always there 🥲💥💥💥💥

Pulling out my white pen from 6th grade for curly because this game has me in a chokehold

[sethdomain]

Dawg i hate mouthwashinhg fandom so much now, the analysis now is just so reductive ☹️☹️☹️☹️

[rintinningvt]

Started watching the Bayverse movies with my besties and... Are we just too gay for these movies??? Admittedly we only finished the first two and got through a quarter of the third, but the second one was such a drag to sit through at times and it probably doesn't help that we do NOT care about Sam that much. I hope that there is a character arc for him in the rest of the third movie. Because so far he has not been fun to watch in that one. He just comes off as a slight manchild to me, like... I can see why he would be frustrated with where he is in life but the way he acts with others and lashes out does not help him in the slightest. I do have to admit though that seeing him go to Cybertronian Heaven in the second movie was the funniest part for me and my besties lol.

I'll just hope that the other guy in the next movies will be at least a bit more interesting. Doesn't even have to be a good guy, just an interesting guy for me lol

[respectthepetty]

But what if Sand rejects Ray?!! I am gonna be devastated.

Anon,

SAND SHOULD REJECT RAY IF HE KNOWS WHAT IS GOOD FOR HIM!

Everyone is screaming at Nick to run far away from Boston, but this entire friend group is terrifying! I'm even yelling at cocky Top to back away from Mew before his entire life gets turned inside out. So if I'm praying Top comes to his slutty senses, know that I've already lit six candles for Sand to save himself from what Ray is about to do to him (I'm Catholic; we light candles and pray to saints. It's like speaking to a department manager for an issue instead of going directly to the supervisor).

Mew is a virginal slut (uses sex as a prize). Boston is a predatory slut (uses sex to feel superior). But Sand is dealing with a top level Slut for Christ, and we are the worst kind of slut.

We have that Christian Trauma™, so we invent new ways of sinning, then cope with it in the worst ways. The OG Slut for Christ, Cruel Intentions' Kathryn Merteuil, had a rosary with cocaine in the crucifix. We are NOT part of the problem. WE ARE THE WHOLE FUCKING PROBLEM!

We know we are messes, but we are too busy being attention whores to deal with those pesky feelings constantly gnawing at the inside of our brains telling us we are bad people.

Remember, Ray thought Sand had sex with him WHEN HE WAS DRUNK, and Ray was fine with that because when he evaluated the situation, at least Sand was attractive.

Ray thinks he deserves bad things to happen to him because he thinks he is a bad person, so being sexually assaulted by someone when he couldn't consent isn't that bad considering the guy was hot, right?

Ray doesn't think he deserves kindness. He doesn't think he deserves respect, and his friends don't give it to him. They make jokes at his expense, and call him a burden (because he is!). Which is why he hasn't gone after Mew. Mew is good. Mew is kind. Mew would never be with someone bad like Ray.

Which is why he will soak up all the love Sand is willing to give him,

just to throw it all back in Sand's face like the toxic bitch he is.

Because when you don't think you deserve good things, you will do everything to prove just how bad you are.

Ray has childhood trauma. He has Christian Trauma™. And he has money.

He is lethal.

So if y'all are upset at Dangerous Romance's Kanghan for being the biggest bully and the littlest bitch, know that Kanghan and Ray are BOTH Sluts for Christ. They have trauma, and they have money, and they will BOTH use that money to control people.

Because why else would someone hang out with a proven bad boy who has nothing going for him but his money if money wasn't involved? Ray followed Sand THREE TIMES, and each time, Sand was persuaded by money.

I haven't seen him take any money from Ray, but Sand has already set it up for Ray to believe that he can be bought, and Misery loves company, even if he has to pay for it.

And Ray will make Sand miserable.

It's the one thing we are good at.

[themidwintermuse]

Ahem.

May I present

Sockutagawa

[zukkacore]

Kipperlilly views the jaceporter dynamic as fun parent (Porter) vs responsible parent (Jace) whereas the other ratgrinders view the jaceporter dynamic as clothmother (Jace) vs. wiremother (Porter)

[suckinitup]

friend has reported that magnus may have encouraged arthur to eat other vampires in the past. i will become so much less normal if thats true and tbh even if it isnt. have you ever tried to convince your work wife to eat someone and would it be hot if they did . have you ever wanted to see your monster literally eat other monsters- simultaneously increasing his power and his social dependance on you at the same time? have you ever been a 40 yo gay man in 2012 with a super fuckijg hot coworker and wanted to hunt with them- paralyze your prey before offering up its unbeating heart like a gift to the man who could kill you (who is more and more capable of it with every gift you give), but under his own power never would? because magnus fox could have done all that and tbh i think he should have

[littleaipoms-rebagel-carpentry]

GETTING MY COWORKER FIRED 2025 (HOPEFULLY)

[ambiguousfiction]

Don't have enough Linkin Park content on my feed so I'm following nearly everyone who has like. A single good take abt them

[fleetsonourgecentral]

what kinds of pranks do Sonic and Scourge do?

Pretends to be good at coming up with pranks for the sake of this ask

Honestly just think of every time Sonic has pretended to be dead or that a situation is hopeless, only to turn around and be like "lol bitch u thought". And then make it worse. Because those are their absolute favourite kind of pranks. Scourge's presence just makes everything worse because he'll think of ways to make it look more realistic. Poor Tails has a very vivid memory of Scourge coming home one day after a battle, ears flat against his skull, carrying a bruised and bloodied and lifeless Sonic in his arms, growling a choked-out explanation about how Robotnik... Sonic couldn't - that bastard is going to pay for what he...

And he lays Sonic on the sofa, disappearing elsewhere into the base, making small noises like he's about to start crying. And Tails is distraught and starts shaking Sonic, begging him to wake up, tearing up when he receives no response, and he's just taking a breath to start wailing-

And then Sonic screams "RAH!" and grabs him and Tails shrieks so loud it rattles the windows, and from the next room he can hear Scourge laughing his ass off. Fucker left the room in the first place not because he was crying, but because he was laughing

Tails sulked for a week straight about falling for that trick again and Sonic and Scourge were told to clean the damn fake blood off the sofa and off the floor (which they didn't do)

Those are the kind of shitty pranks they pull. Not the only kind of pranks they'll pull, they'll also steal Tekno's stuff while she's working to confuse her, she's sure she put that screwdriver around here somewhere, or they'll place important things in difficult to reach places and replace them with taunting notes, or (like you mentioned in your previous ask) will drop paint on someone. They especially like dropping paint on people. But occasionally pretending to fail a mission, or pretending that one of them is dead, is their favourite type of prank, although they don't do it often in order to keep it at maximum effect