#This Phoenix Roast was brought to you by Unhealthy Bonds of Consciousness.

[meteorstricken]

Not going to tag this because I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, but XVI's Joshua is starting to piss me off.

First it was smacking Clive one over accepting Shiva from Jill, as if he'd coerced or pressured her, when in fact she was the one to bring the idea up at all and *offered it freely*. Then, he also calls Jill’s motives into question and dismisses them as invalid, as if her consent didn't count somehow. Seriously, bro? Who the flying fuckety fuck do you think you are? Their chaperone? You couldn't even be bothered to try having a civilized conversation about your concerns first, could you? You just had to come out swinging and deciding what's in everyone's heads for them rather than hearing them out and treating them like...oh, I don't know...the actual fucking adults they are.

Then, we have The Rising Tide, where Joshua feels the need to preach at Clive about Ultima still being the bad guy with fundamentally wicked designs in spite of there being an ironic intersection in their interests with Leviathan. I mean, he straight up *shuts down* any sort of momentary idle curiosity Clive has about that.

You think you could maybe let Clive make his own big boy decisions and discern good from evil for himself, Josh? Maybe respect that he has a functioning brain in his head, can in fact be trusted to manage his own complicated feelings, and that he doesn't need you to remind him that water is wet? Because that's what this is about: RESPECT. What about that whole "on our own terms" thing, eh? Or do Clive's guilt-fueled weak boundaries with you read as permission to make an exception out of the one person who needs to experience that sense of freedom deep down in his soul the most?

I mean, JFC and holy mother hen--er, Phoenix-- of codependency and allll the sanctimonious control freakishness in the name of "protection" that goes with it...