Decay Part 1 was hitting bullseyes the whole time but one of the most overlooked lines that stuck with me like a sleeper agent is the one at the end of Andrew's mental dissection where he point-blank admits to Lord Unknown that by this point his educated guess/rationalization about his attraction to Ashley is more than not purely, keyword, pathological.
I take this to mean he recognizes it like a self-defense mechanism which was ingrained in him as effectively a trauma response of never being able to gain independence from her. Thus, if can't have independence, develop co-dependence as the next best thing, says the brain.
But since Andrew seems to genuinely have some kind of personality disorder I'm unqualified to diagnose,(which I'll quickly try to justify saying, referencing Andrew, me paraphrasing this, mentioning at least once his seeming inability to emotionally connect with others, whereas Ashley isn't an exception to this rule, but she is still unique) his flavor of co-dependence manifested closer to physical attraction/obsession, objectifying Ashley as a (physical) idol of worship, unlike Ashley's objectification of him as an emotional pillar.
Of course there is still the emotional connection of Ashley being the only other living soul who knows his crimes, and the only person to regularly hold him through the night terrors. But this is TCOAAL Tumblr, too much character nuance is scary /s
But anyways... No shit, right? The toxic co-dependence is one of the things the game is marketed on. Yet if it's so in your face, why does it feel like barely anyone talking about the game recognizes this part of Andrew?
I feel like people have maybe twisted the order of operations here. Or they're just so irrationally repulsed by sex they refuse to recognize it as an effective storytelling tool when used correctly. (which TCOAAL DOES) Andrew isn't "toxic-ly co-dependent" on Ashley because he finds her attractive. He's attracted to her because of his co-dependence with her.
