#severance pebbles

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I’m gonna redo this but I’ll post the failed WIP anyways

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“You carry the hurt with you. You feel it down there too. You just don’t know what it is.”

For @binomech :]

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THIS MEANS NOTHING THIS MEANS NOTHING

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In this Severance LinkedIn video, Natalie mentions some activities/hobbies that severed workers do outside of their jobs. The second part is obviously in reference to Irving. Aerobics could be associated with him (walking Radar), but it could also easily be Helena (swimming.)

However, "pottery" is the thing that sticks out the most to me. This could also fit with Irving given these could be ceramic:

But it could also be Petey. "Kilmer" means "someone who runs/is in charge of a kiln". Nearly every characters' name meaning is significant to them in some way, so I don't know how else Kilmer would be significant. (Unless it's just meant to reference Lemmy Kilmister or Peter's Kill. Then again, some character names reference/mean multiple things, so who knows.)

Petey also had a ceramic mug:

(There's a lot of mugs in Severance. So much so it seems like a motif. I find it interesting that the only ones that appear personally handmade are Petey and Irving's. Very contrasting to the 3D-printed funeral mugs.)

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As much as I love Pebbles, I can't help but think that the most realistic outcome for them is that they tried hooking up, but Irving stated he wasn't ready to be in a relationship

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Hoping this doesn't sound rude. But I'm curious about the whole petey ajd irving thing? I just dont really get it. Like it is just a headcanon or genuine? And like is it just cause you don't ship irving with burt?? And why. Again not trying to sound rude I just dont get it. Can you give some evidence if there's evidence? Sorry i dont feel like scroling through all your posts .

(I apologize in advance for the long response. You’ll just have to bear with me here)

Thank you so much for asking! I figured some people would be confused. Although I can't help but think that I don't see much people reacting to similar ships in the same way (re: ships where one or both/all people are/were involved with another relationship.) Your response does hurt me a tad I won't lie, but I see where you're coming from :')

And I do very much ship Irving and Burt ;-; I was obsessed with them when the show first came out. I guess here's my Burving fanart I drew 3 years ago. (I only finish a handful of the projects I start. My ADHD is terrible.)

However I moreso ship their Innies. I was really anticipating for their Outies to fall in love as well, but I hated the way it played out. In the beginning of season 2, I was anticipating that Irving was calling Burt, and they had some past together. (I wasn't working off evidence, this was just what I wanted.) When it turned out that wasn't the case, I was extremely disappointed, and immediately sought to find the answer to Irving's unknown caller.

My best answer was Reghabi. The more I looked into it, the more evidence I found. Then I realized that if Irving was working with Reghabi, he'd know Petey. I looked into their similarities and realized it was a lot. They both like metal/rock and roll, both associated with playing cards, both are visual artists, both used burner phones... I could go on. (There's a lot of cinematic parallels too. The "two weeks" facts are very interesting. Also, Irving first had paint under his nails the work day after Petey ran away. Funny timing...)

There's even all the evidence that Irving was reintegrating. I won't go deep into it, but these are the biggest pieces of evidence: Irving hallucinated twice, Irving only swore once in Defiant Jazz and four times in Woe's Hollow, he was starving in Woe's Hollow, and Reghabi said she's better at reintegration now and that waiting a day (to reintegrate) is usually best.

At first I figured they were simply good friends. I didn't consider romance until I remembered Irving's "kissing and lovemaking" fact. But being skilled at kissing and lovemaking doesn't necessarily mean he's been in relationship, right? I mean, he did say he's "never been loved before". Except, if he's talking about all kinds of love, then this is blatantly false. In the season 1 Severance vinyl, there are character sheets of MDR that state facts about their Outie. This is Irving's:

This also goes to prove that the facts Lumon provided are true. I mean, the "won a game two weeks ago" fact is too oddly specific to make up, especially considering how Petey was reintegrated for two weeks. Lumon most likely gained these facts from spying on him (recently.) I doubt every fact is that recent though (like the newspaper one).

Irving also said to Burt that he's "never had this". If he's talking about everything encompassing what he wants in a relationship (ie. romance and sex), then that's also not true.

But why would Irving lie about this? Well, I mean... he has pretty much no one in his life anymore other than Radar, he can't contact the person on the phone, and the only person he has left is about to send him away. Of course he'd make up something heartbreaking to get Burt to stay with him. After all, it's in character for him to bullshit his way through everything.

Take the first scene in which he exchanges dialogue, for instance. This is right after he returns home from Innie Irving finding Burt. So lying to Mr. Milchick about what really happened makes sense. Anyone in his position would. However, he adds little things that felt unnecessary to add. For example, he says, "They're showing Barber of Seville on TV." He could've easily went home and turned on the TV in case Mr. Milchick would come in, but there's nothing to prove this. In fact, we don't even know if he has a TV. Or an upstairs. Or extra cash. It's like he's going out of his way to lie about this instead of being more subtle or saying nothing. (But it'd be strange if he didn't have these, so I'll move on to a more obvious example.)

The dinner scene also has many moments that are hard to determine if Irving's reaction is genuine. When Burt mentions he was guided to Lumon's door by Jesus, Irving responds with, "Oh. Jesus... Christ?" as if he's shocked or disappointed they're religious (because he's not). He follows up with, "As one does at breakfast." when Burt said Fields asked him if he's going to heaven. It's the kind of response someone would say almost mockingly because they find that behavior strange. Afterwards, Irving says the dinner was fun, and that he wants to do it again (with Fields). Now, I don't about you, but I wouldn't call a dinner where two men preach their religion and awkwardly talk about sex at work to be fun. I also doubt that Irving wanted anything to do with Fields.

So I bring these up to prove that Irving's willing to lie about anything to get Burt to stay with him. Irving previously being in a relationship would also fit thematically, and parallel with Mark. Both tried forgetting about their past relationship and tried to move on but failed. (And like half the characters are cheaters anyways. Who's to say Irving isn't? I mean, Severance is inspired by the Black Mirror episode White Christmas, after all.)

On the topic of love interests, there's another interesting thing. So, you may know that nearly every character's name is incredibly intentional. Everything from Helena being a variation of Leonora, to Irving meaning "fresh water" or "green river", to MDR's names abbreviating to HDMI and RGBs. Given this, I find it interesting how the only two characters whose names mean "stone" are Gemma and Petey. Helena's and Burt's names also mean "bright". You can make a lot of comparisons between these characters as well. Gemma and Petey were people Mark lost. He also destroyed their pictures but regret it and attempted to put it back together. Both Marks also ran away from these characters when they needed him most (both scenes being framed in red). Gemma and Petey are also strongly anti Lumon (I wouldn't imagine Gemma isn't.) Helena and Burt both investigated Irving on the outside, and have a deep history with Lumon. Their Innies also often wore blue. And their appearances match with the meaning of their names (Gemma and Petey have darker hair and darker eyes. Hellyna and Burt have lighter hair and lighter eyes. It's like they're the sun and moon. Two sides of the same coin. As above, so below. You get it.)

Physical similarities. And possibly unintentional, but the men on the ideographic cards look most like Burt and Petey. (Mark thought they were two different men, while Gemma thought they were the same.)

So Petey and Burt contrast each other similarly to how Hellyna and Gemma do. Similar hair, opposing color schemes, opposing goals. Petey and Burt were also department chief for the longest time, and have a profound but contrasting understanding of art. Burt's view of art is elegant and traditional, whereas Petey's is messy and modern. (He even says "cubist form" in In Perpetuity.) This is also tied to how they are spiritually/religiously. Burt is a modest Christian and Petey is (likely) involved with the occult. (I say this because Yul Vazquez confirmed in the recent Severance podcast that some symbols and phrases on Petey's map reference the kybalion.) Another thing: Burt's a Lutheran and Petey's funeral was at a Lutheran church. In fact, the church can be spotted in the background of the park Irving went to.

The rest of my thoughts from here veer into into looser interpretations, but I will say that I wouldn't be surprised if Outie Irving's view of art and life in general was heavily influenced by Petey. It's the possibilities and tragedy of these two that compels me more than anything, regardless if they had anything romantic or sexual going on. And while the concepts Irving/Burt and Irving/Petey work against each other, I still love them both. I enjoy ships based on the exploration of the characters rather than pining for their romance.

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Why I call Petey and Irving Pebbles:

When water interacts with rocks it creates pebbles

Petey and Irving like rock music

Pebbles in Wellness :]