#rowan replies

[cursed-critters]

I know this would be extremely out of character but what if Salvatore instead of beating franco and casting him out when he finds out about Angelina, he casts her out for taking advantage of his son. He's still a piece of shit and a bad dad but it would be very interesting to see that duality of him especially in the context of how abusive family relationships can have "good moments" and just how much of a mind fuck it would be for poor franco.

It would be so confusing for Franco, but I’ve said before that Salvatore wasn’t abusive constantly, he showed little moments of kindness to Franco on the rare occasion because he was grooming him. Realistically, Salvatore would kill Angelina. The only reason he cast Franco out instead of killing him was because he was family. Franco’s used to seeing Salvatore kill his stepmothers, but this time it would be so much more personal, because this one took advantage of him and sexually abused him. His feelings about Angelina are so complicated, he’s repulsed by her, scared of her, but he also has a bad habit of romanticizing his trauma. He knows it’s for the best that she’s dead, but he never expected Salvatore to be the one to realize that for him.

Franco wouldn’t get sent away, he’d never end up involved with the CIA, he wouldn’t end up in Cuba, and he wouldn’t end up with Murkoff. He’d be stuck with his father, because now he feels like he owes him. Salvatore, on some level, saved him from Angelina. He has to stay by his side, he has to do whatever sick things he wants, and I don’t think Salvatore would let him leave. If anything, this just shows Salvatore that other people are able to get their claws under Franco’s skin, and he doesn’t like that. He’s supposed to be the only one with control over Franco, the only one who can get to him like that, and Angelina stole that power away, even if it was only for a moment.

This might honestly be worse for Franco than if he’d ended up at Murkoff. Now, he’s stuck with his terrible dad forever, but any abuse he shows him now will be overshadowed by what he did to Angelina. Franco’s stuck ignoring all the cruelty and painting his father as his savior, placing him up on some pedestal, and if he even tried to call his father out on his cruelty, he’d remind him that he saved him from Angelina, make Franco feel helpless, and let him know that he’s the only reason Franco even gets to be involved with the mafia.

[birdadjacent]

good luck with the move the coming days 💪

thank you!! Not going to lie, I probably need it 🥳🥳😭😭

[cursed-critters]

Hello! Maybe this is a bit of an odd question, but I remembered another ask I sent in about Amelia, with how some of the characters would feel about her and the chance of escaping, so now I want to ask something sort of related. You mentioned she could feel some level of sympathy towards them (Gooseberry, etc.) because while they're terrible people, they're also trapped by Murkoff, but how would she feel about them individually? I have my own opinions (obviously she wouldn't like them much, but I feel like her opinions would be a different depending on who it is, I feel like she'd really hate Coyle in particular, for example) but I'd love to hear yours, too, if that's alright :)

She feels a semblance of sympathy towards all of them, but the amount of sympathy varies and she still isn’t a fan of any of them. Most of her sympathy is towards Gooseberry and Franco. She’s just a good person, and she can empathize with most people. Messy, overview of my thoughts.

Anyone can tell that Gooseberry isn’t aware of her own surroundings and environment, that she needed help instead of what she got, so she’s able to extend the most sympathy towards her. That doesn’t change the fact that she isn’t a fan of Gooseberry, that she knows she’s a killer, but she still is able to empathize with her situation.

I think it’s pretty easy to tell that Franco is not only disabled, but that he’s also really scared and paranoid about his father. He’s just doing what he’s told and what he thinks will keep him safe, he’s in a different situation than she is, but he’s ultimately also just trying to survive; albeit, he’s much more violent than she is, but she can still empathize with what he’s going through.

She hates Coyle and that feeling is mutual. Yeah, he’s paranoid, he’s been through plenty of his own trauma, he’s following orders, but he doesn’t portray himself as sympathetic in anyway; partially because of the wall he’s built around himself. She doesn’t think he should escape, nor would he want to in her mind. While she doesn’t think anyone deserves to be in this place specifically, she still doesn’t think he deserves to be free by any means.

[cursed-critters]

Hello :) I wanted to share some more silly things with you :) Sorta similar to the diner idea, I like imagining them doing like pretty normal things (shopping, for example) while trying to blend in to avoid Murkoff or anything else that might be after them. They’re all so strange that the mental image of them going shopping or something is so fucking funny to me. Everyone is arguing over what to buy, Franco is shoplifting, Coyle keeps searching him to make sure he doesn’t have anything hidden, the twins want to go to a more expensive store, Gooseberry is happily dragging them all to the weirdest stores she can find, etc. I love the idea of no matter where they go, people just end up assuming they’re a family. I had a lot of fun talking about the diner thing last time, so I thought I’d share some more with you :)

I also had fun talking about the diner idea! Them going shopping together as a weird family is honestly so cute! Franco is just shoving things into his pockets, Coyle pats him down before they leave every store, and he has to scold him like a child and make him put everything back. He definitely pouts about it, so Coyle has to end up letting him buy at least something so he doesn’t whine the whole time; Franco gets to go back home with way too many toys. The twins get to go into their fancy stores, and everyone else feels so out of place; Coyle can’t even comprehend the prices of everything. The twins definitely don’t get to waste their collective money on anything expensive and pointless, but they still like looking. Gooseberry ends up buying a bunch of random knickknacks and oddities, she also gets some stuff for sewing.

[cursed-critters]

Hey :) I forgot to mention this when we were talking about Franco recovering from the injuries from his dad's beating. I briefly mentioned he might not be able to cook (at least for a bit) while he's injured, but I meant to mention that the person who ends up cooking for him (not sure who) will find out he eats like a toddler (in terms of being picky and eating very messy, I imagine he tends to eat with his hands) and I feel like he usually eats alone, so that's something no one else (not even Salvatore) knew about. He didn't have anything to feel embarrassed over before because he didn't ever eat with anyone else, he didn't really know how different it was. Not sure how Salvatore would feel about it, but he definitely wouldn't be nice about it given how he responds to most "baby" behaviors he has. Sorry this is a bit messy! Also praying you got some rest :)

I did get to rest some! Still feeling a bit tired, but I’m doing better.

I imagine Salvatore would probably hire someone to come cook for Franco, especially since Salvatore can’t be trusted to bring food home for Franco after he goes out to eat with the rest of the mafia; Franco feels pretty useless not being able to make himself food. Whoever he hires probably doesn’t say anything to Franco directly about him being a messy eater or him being picky, mostly since Franco’s injured, but they definitely report back to Salvatore. He’s not surprised, but he’s still not pleased. It’s not Franco’s fault, really, he wasn’t taught appropriate table behavior or how to feed himself without making a mess, but of course Salvatore still blames him for it. He probably brings it up to Franco, not gently, and it upsets him a lot. Even now, something as simple as eating, is angering his father; he just feels like he can’t do anything right.

[cursed-critters]

Hello :) I'm glad you've enjoyed my more silly ideas I've sent in so far! I love sharing stuff with you and it's nice to have a bit of variety (I tend to lean towards angst often) so thanks :) I had some more smaller ideas within that post-Murkoff concept, and some questions for stuff I'm not totally sure about! I imagine their backyard being mostly impersonal like the rest of the exterior of the house, but I considered maybe Gooseberry has a couple plants or silly lawn decorations, she argues they can't really be seen anyway (they can, but let her have fun) I also thought of Franco having a kiddie pool back there in the summer (he cannot swim, they are not going to a public pool with him he'd cause trouble as soon as a kid splashed him or something) so maybe that's there, too. The small number of neighbors they have definitely get a weird feeling from their house (and from them if they see them) but they're mostly too nervous to actually investigate. Sort of related to that, do you feel like would get questions from people that sort of mess up their lie? Like at least one person had to ask why their "kid" isn't enrolled in school, etc. And do you feel like they'd ever end up seeing people from their past? I haven't figured out like, where they'd end up settling, so I wasn't sure what to do with that idea.

Gooseberry gets to have a few plants, a little garden of sorts, and a handful of small lawn decorations. Plenty of people have things like that, so it’s not like it’ll draw too much attention. They absolutely put a little kiddie pool out for Franco in the summer, I imagine Coyle likes grilling when it’s warm outside, so he’s able to keep an eye on Franco. They live pretty out of the way, so they don’t have many people around them, but their few neighbors tend not to bother them, mostly because they make them a bit nervous, also the natural prejudice of the time period. I feel like they made sure to set up stay somewhere that none of them lived before, because they didn’t want to chance running into anyone from their past. Franco still stays constantly paranoid about Salvatore or someone from the mafia finding them, but it’s unlikely that ever happens; I’m sure they’d take care of it if it did.

If anyone asks about Franco not being in school, since they pass him off as their child, they usually just say that he’s homeschooled on account of his disabilities. The Kress twins are both very smart, so they say that they teach him. They’ve basically committed to the twins being the grandparents (on Coyle’s side of the family) and Franco being Coyle’s son, with Gooseberry being Coyle’s new wife and Franco’s stepmother; she can’t really pass as Franco’s biological mother. Gooseberry likes getting to play family, and the twins enjoy being perceived as grandparents. Coyle has some… mixed feelings about it, Franco knows that, and he likes to be a little pest and really play into the family dynamic out in public. Coyle hates playing husband to Gooseberry, so they definitely don’t come across like they have a happy marriage, and Coyle’s relationship with his “son” is questionable at best.

[cursed-critters]

I genuinely cannot take Easterman’s scream of horror in the new trailer seriously, WHY is he doing allat😂😂

Coyle’s new environment looks so freaking cool, not sure how I feel abt the pig head thing tho ngl. Still looks cool! I knew he was gonna get a prison environment. I’m not really a Coyle person but he looks so happy in his new outfits

Anywa ur thoughts??

The new victim is clearly supposed to be some type of animal, so I think that actually goes well with the pig head objective. That trailer had very… sexual overtones to me, just between everyone, and I’d expect nothing less from a Coyle environment. Then again, I am very much a Coyle person, have been since day one, so I’m super excited for the new trial. I’m really interested in where the new Amelia escape plot line goes also, very interesting to see Easterman fail his one job.

[cursed-critters]

Red Barrels is gonna confirm Coyle being gay as this rate. The poses? The fucking shot of him with the ex-pop? What is this Red Barrels hello

He’s never been straight (name one straight leather daddy) but I think he gets gayer every time he gets new content. I’ve always been an advocate for gay Coyle, so it warms my heart to see how faggoty he gets every new update and trailer.

Based on the trailer I’m assuming we’re continuing the theme of Coyle having weird sexual tension with his victims (it’s the Snitch all over again) but I’m not complaining about that.