#tyrell

Yeah, I'm splitting it into parts mostly because the pages are too long, and I don't want to smack y'all's dashboards like that.

The way I envisioned it, Dishy is very protective of anything that he considers to be a part of either himself or his "domain." So when the homeowner hung the towel off of his handle, Dishy "officially" claimed it as his own, and thus puts a bit of effort into taking good care of it.

In his own words, "I keep my insides and outsides as clean as a whistle!" And that is easier to maintain with a clean dishtowel on standby.

So he basically becomes Tyrell's bodyguard.

Since the other kitchen dateables would rather not deal with Dishy to get to Tyrell, that means that he's relatively safe from getting stained or greased despite the location. While Tyrell would rather not be in the kitchen at all, I don't think he's necessarily offended by this arrangement because his fear of becoming a rag outweighs his discomfort about Dishy. So as long as Dishy keeps him safe and clean, Tyrell would tolerate Dishy's eccentricities.

But Tyrell being the friendly guy that he is would try to be friendly towards Dishy. I mean, if they're going to hang out 24/7, then they'd might as well try to get along.

At first, Dishy might ignore him because he has no real interest in talking to the other objects unless it pertains to dishwashing, but if Tyrell remains persistent, then he would eventually erode some of Dishy's emotional defenses and start getting some real conversation out of him. They might relate to how they both want to be "more" than their jobs, or their grief over their losses in life. Tyrell his friends, and Dishy his freedom. They're both a little lonely, but at least they can be lonely together.

However, while I do see their friendship progressing naturally, I think the biggest hurdle to them becoming more than "work buddies" is Dishy himself.

Dishy would start opening up to Tyrell, but he forces himself to maintain an "acceptable distance" from him. Dishy's purpose is to wash dishes, not make friends with the other objects. What benefit would it be to Tyrell to be "friends" with someone like him?

I think Tyrell would notice that Dishy is holding himself back from being friendlier, but determines that Dishy needs to set his own boundaries. So, he doesn't push for defining their relationship, but he would secretly be a little hurt that Dishy still won't call them more than acquaintances.

Once Dishy accepts his own desire for emotional intimacy and his capacity for harm (which allows him to keep his impulses in check), then I think he would be able to form more genuine bonds with the other objects, and Tyrell would be among the first that he'd consider a "real" friend, and maybe something more~

Other random thoughts that didn't flow into each other:

For what it's worth, Tyrell remains with Dishy even in the latter's boss form, for both phases.

This could be read as the towel being inanimate at this time, much like how River and Daisuke also don't react to Dishy using their respective objects in this form. Or that Tyrell is being held against his will since he can't physically remove himself from Dishy.

But I choose to believe that Tyrell is willingly hanging on. It's not like the towel is physically tied to Dishy, nor is it magnetic, so it should have just flown off during the heat of battle. So, given that it doesn't, there must be some effort from either one of them to keep the towel in place. Maybe Tyrell is trying to calm Dishy down, but just can't get through to him because he's too focused on the homeowner at this time. Maybe Dishy is holding onto Tyrell because he thinks that's the safest place for him right now. Could be either or.

Actually, I think it'd be really funny if Tyrell is actually "encouraging" Dishy's rampage because he hates being in the kitchen THAT much. I'm not saying he's "secretly evil" but more that he "absorbed" some of Dishy's power high, so he's just letting the intrusive thoughts win, and his intrusive thoughts want the kitchen destroyed.

I mean, the towel is much longer in the boss sprites than it normally is, so I guess Tyrell got an upgrade too...

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I only recently noticed this, but they have very similar default poses, Dishy is just more tense and mirrored. Makes me wonder who might be imitating who.

Is Dishy mirroring Tyrell because he sees him as the "model" of approachability? Or is Tyrell mirroring Dishy because he's a towel and he "absorbs" the mannerisms of those around him?

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The towel is also so important to Dishy that it literally becomes a part of him when he gets realized. So he might have some canonical fondness for it (and thus Tyrell), since he takes it with him into his new life.

But, I suppose by a similar token, it could represent fondness for the homeowner since they would've been the one to actually give it to him. Either way, my point is that he didn't come into the house with the towel, but he leaves with it, presumably because he likes it.

I mentioned this briefly, but I think there are a couple of similarities between their respective insecurities that they would sympathize with. They're both genuinely dedicated to their jobs, but they both also want to be "more" than those jobs, and their routes revolve around the ways you help/don't help them cope with that problem.