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(spoilers)

- everyone in the swarm was walking around like zombies in a zombie movie bc Taylor couldn't into human nervous systems so good and at certain points Taylor was being physically held up by other people

- nobody after the first leg really SAW Taylor because she was COVERED in bugs. Her safety blanket. Something in the back of her mind remembered that she needed her bugs as her tool, her backup, her support, and for most of the humans around her, she was less a human presence and more a destination for all of the insects she could reach on every parallel Earth dipping in and out of portals like clouds headed to the center of a hurricane

- you wouldn't have been able to see her but you'd be able to FEEL her - the bugs and the people couldn't literally feel her emotions, but the way you set your shoulders when you're stressed, every single person in the swarm felt her jaw set and her muscles tense and her brow furrow and their stances attempt to solidify in stress and anticipation as she put everything into the fight and felt herself s l i p p i n g

- Taylor notes a few times that out of the same reflex that led her to use her bugs to gather information her human swarm members were turning their heads to help take in information and there's a really good chance that it meant that as the event went on, the undersiders were at the center of thousands of turned heads even as the bodies move and ready for attacks, are pushed in and out of portals, because even more important than the fight itself is keeping track of her anchors

literal first paragraph of the wikipedia article for learned helplessness. this is a depression symptom. it is frequently caused by lifelong abuse from controlling authority figures. it is the exact OPPOSITE of an abuse tactic and would most likely be displayed by the WOMEN in that kind of scenario!!

Now, somehow, their entire mental health is based on the continued life and happiness of this fairground goldfish that they picked up.

Neither of you know the first thing about how to care for even a healthy fish. This fish has been poorly cared for, has multiple diseases and the person who handed it over explicitly didn't expect it to live nearly as long as it already has.

You're frantically googling how to set up a fish tank, where to buy fish food, can you even take a fish to the vet? Your partner wants you to know that they're happy they made it home and survived their horrific ordeal, but also that if anything happens to the fish then they're going to kill everyone on this planet and then themself.

You're honestly wondering if you're even helping the fish, or just prolonging its suffering, but your partner will only accept medical help for their many injuries or engage in basic self-care once they're confident that the fish is being looked after.

So you get a tank. You set up a filter and all that stuff. You learn way more than you ever wanted to know about water temperature and ph and nitrate levels. The fish is safe. You start to develop some affection for the little guy. Your partner begins to recover. The fish begins to recover.

Which is when you learn that in its 'healthy' state, the fish regularly refuses to sleep when tired, keeps begging for food that is obviously unhealthy for it (and struggling to eat the food that you do provide because “it tastes gross”), and continually tries to persuade your partner to take it out of its nice safe tank so it can go explore the wonderful world of Outside, where the slightest mishap will kill it instantly.

I have made my first stream badges! I hope that you like them ࿔*:･ 🍰❣️