They Should Let Arthur Hug His Disembodied Voice In His Head

Sometimes I think about Chip and Jay meeting Gillion for the first time. How was it for them exactly?

Gillion, lying on his back on the surface of the water, staring at the sun. Lost, in the middle of an ocean in a place he doesn't know. He should be afraid, but he just feels empty. The bright light is blinding him but he does not care to see. The events of the past few days play endlessly in his mind. His breaking point, his frenzy, the trial, the verdict. The sinking feeling that he's lost every single small bit of what was him and what was his, what he was desperately clinging to. So he doesn't need to see, and there is nothing inside his eyes, cause there is nothing left of Gill.

Did Chip, I wonder see those empty eyes? Did he notice the pain they hold? Before they were masked by excited greeting and a bright smile of a Triton he's grown to know and love, before they shifted into focus, did he look at them and saw his own eyes staring back at him? Did he see the same emptiness he felt when the water swallowed everything he had known and washed him ashore with no direction, the same eyes that reflected the fire of a burning warehouse as he left his life behind once more? Did Jay see it too? Did she see the same loss and grief she expreienced, staring at her sister's grave? Did she understand the same feeling of being isolated, of not feeling like yourself, like you don't belong amongst those who are supposed to be your own?

Is this why they took his hand that day? Was it simple pity or a connection weaved through compassion and a desire to share suffering with another? To help each other feel whole again?

The empty gazes looked at the lost Triton, and his empty eyes stared back. And then, they were together. And with love, care and understanding they share, they see a little clearer now.

shooting star 🌟

hes so silly i hope he never dies

i like to think that as the show goes on, johns design becomes more and more human

anyone here fw malevolent the podcast?

No you cannot fix your entire life at 2am. Go to bed.

See No Evil

I tend to care about taking a more realistic approach to Riptide in terms of resource management ect, so here's some random thoughts about clothes.

(minor spoilers up to episode #87)

Space management is important on a ship, so pirates tend to stick the essential clothing pieces, and change and wash them less than the average land-dweller.

Pirates don't smell great. This is just something you have to accept.

(except Gillion. Gillion smells of fish and salt and seaweed and the ocean, and never smells sweaty because he doesn't sweat in the human sense, he's just always moist)

Pre episode #87:

Chip has one shirt and one pair of trousers. When he needs to wash them, he will just walk around shirtless or in his underpants depending on what item is being washed. even for a pirate, this is a bit excessive.

he has like three pairs of underpants and he washes them concerningly infrequently

Jay has a change of clothes - she has a spare shirt and trousers, 2 bras that she alternates between, and several pairs of underpants. This is closer to the regular amount of clothes you would expect a pirate to have

After Chip lost his shirt in Allport, he borrowed Jay's spare one since I refuse to imagine him shirtless for the entire Feywild arc. My boy would be cold! :(

Jay is overall the most well-groomed due to her Navy upbringing. However, this isn't something she enjoys - more like something that she feels obligated to do. She finds washing her clothes a pain, and doesn't mind not smelling great or being dirty. As a kid she always hated washing and wearing uncomfortable clothes. As she spends more time on the pirate ship, she becomes less well-put-together and starts to drift more towards a Chip-level of cleanliness - though she promises herself she will never stoop quite as low as him. It's a matter of pride.

She does pick up his habit of walking around shirtless or in her underpants when she can't be bothered to get dressed / it's too hot / whatever. It's a pirate ship, social norms don't matter. Everyone on the ship is family and no-one cares.

She stops wearing bras when they are not on land for the same reason. However, when they come to land, she does make a concerted effort to make herself look socially acceptable and conform to standard norms regarding dress, since she knows this will get them a better reception with the land-dwellers they interact with.

Gillion's was raised to be well-groomed, but didn't have a chance to pack a change of clothes when he was kicked out of the Undersea. His clothes are stiff and encrusted with salt from all the time he spends in the water. There isn't as much of a need to wash items of clothing in the Undersea, as they are in water the whole time, and stains don't show up in the underwater gloom unless they're extremely obvious. Chip and Jay teach him how laundry works easily enough, and Gillion employs a similar strategy to Chip. However, he washes his clothes less frequently than they do as they are always being resubmerged in water anyway.

Post episode #87:

They finally get Gillion a change of clothes. He has an alternate shirt and trousers.

Since they have a bigger ship by this point, the crew has space for a few more fun/luxury items of clothing that aren't for everyday wear. Only a few - ie one special shirt - but it's still nice to have.

(Gillion has an emo band T-shirt) (yes they have emo bands in the fantasy world of Mana) (come on we all know at this point that the world doesn't conform to a consistent time period)

Jay realises she hates her current clothes because the starched sleeveless shirts she has been wearing, though they have become far less starched after a year of heavy use and improper wear, are very scratchy on her skin. She buys two softer wooden sleeveless shirts instead (ie the ribbed design a lot of the fanart of her features). She gives the old shirts to Chip

Chip buys the coat, which keeps his shoulders warm, and so he often prefers to go shirtless to show off his tattoos. However, he will wear Jay's old shirts when his tits get too cold.