#riphimopen

OUGH YEAH that episode drives me so crazy (and not just bc of the music video bit :( )

everything going on with dave in that episode is just. a gut punch to me even though it doesn't seem like a big deal on its surface. i wonder whether he volunteered to chaperone or if they made him; ik he said he was doing so under protest but i could see 2 different angles based on the situation. did he volunteer to discourage these kids from signing away their lives or did he dig in his knockoff birkenstock-clad heels when he was forced to go...

and narratively i'm sure the reason was because van d chaperoning is much funnier and easier to write than buzzcut chaperoning, even though the latter would make more sense

and like. i think he's trying so hard not to show how livid he is. he keeps pushing "nonviolent" military careers (an oxymoron) but i think he's just doing it to appease the school or maybe just to make himself feel better, he doesn't really want any of this. like if you work for them you're still complicit in the killing even if you're not the one with a gun in your hand.

they want him to tell children that they should go kill their fellow man. they want him to tell children to be part of the reason tom came home in a thousand pieces and had a closed casket funeral; to be part of the reason his husband wakes up screaming in the middle of the night.

also, on a somewhat related note, there's a bit in the game virtual stupidity where david plays his guitar outside the local veterans hall. he says something about appreciating their sacrifice but i don't buy it; i think he does it because it somehow makes him feel closer to tom. sometimes it's the closest he can get.

@riphimopen

YASSIFIED⁉

I think its more because I picked a bad picture.

oh my GODDDD THANK YOU 🥹😭 THIS IS SO LOVELY

ohhh man okay um. it depends on how they're feelin, if it's a lazy day they cuddle on the couch and watch mash or pbs. they loooove going on museum dates, whether it's art or science or natural history; they just eat that shit up

and yessss they'd absolutely take each other on picnics and they'd go hiking. dave is soooo slow on hikes though bc he's constantly stopping to look at plants and animals and appreciate the beauty of the natural world <3 also the asthma i've projected onto him (it is always good and right to give your chronic illnesses to your favorite characters). it annoys brad at first but he learns to tolerate and eventually enjoy it; he's grown to love hearing david prattle on about bluebonnets or prairie chickens or what have you

if it's a longer break, buzzcut will rent a little cabin or somethin in the middle of nowhere and take van driessen there so they can do edibles and stargaze and fuck <3