#about Molly's whole shtick being five lies in a gaudy coat held together by one or two intense convictions

[mollywauk]

I remember the entire fandom exploding about this fight and let me just say Fjord is the only one who comes out clean. Everyone else is an asshole and I love it.

Beau is being belligerent on purpose, she has good points that normally would appeal to Caleb and Nott, "don't do something that will fuck me over when we've agreed to throw our lot in together". But also she has major trust issues and she's been clashing with Caleb for days now so the vitriol which is fueling her argument seems disproportionate out of context. Molly is actually being way worse than Beau but since he isn't played by Marisha (public enemy number one for no reason that I know of other than she's a woman who doest censor herself?) he got a pass.

But Molly's coming down hard on this situation because it violates his carny moral code and the carnival is quite literal his brief but entire life. When you work in a group, you protect the interests of the group first and then your own a close second. But that distinction matters. And he's tried to get this across to them before, so this is strike 2 in his mind. Also he can't help but throw in that little "you're not nearly as smart as you think you are" barb after Nott's speech which is funny because Nott actually has really high intelligence and I'm pretty sure her impassioned defense of Caleb rankled him because of his own feeling of being the odd one out in the group now that Yasha is gone again.

Jester is staying relatively quiet, I feel like she doesn't want to upset anyone so she isn't speaking up, but also I feel like Laura isn't speaking up because she's registered that this situation has pinged some of the other characters personalities and she knows that Jester isn't one of them. Also she keeps trying to remind Nott that she has helped her and Caleb, I think Nott disregarding her because the comment was aimed at Beau and Molly more than anyone else may have hurt her feelings but also Jester would definitely be the most cut up about potentially dropping Nott and Caleb because at this point she's the only one who has made any sort of attempt to befriend them.

Fjord is doing the most here. His is the only argument that is coming from a place of calm. Which isn't to say that Beau and Molly aren't valid but they're lashing out to get a reaction and have a fight not to sort an issue out. When he pulled that sword on Caleb it wasn't because he was snapping in the moment, it was a calculated ploy to bring Caleb back in line because he has noticed that Caleb's personal goals can put the rest of them at risk. He was checking him back into the task at hand. And now, that it's time to talk about it, that's what he wants to do; talk. Both Beau and Molly want to get their point across too but Fjord's the only one who listens in return.

Nott is par for par for righteous fury but I like her more in this moment so I want to take her side. Simple bias on my part.

And Liam is sitting there grinning the whole time because he started the fire and now he gets to sit back and watch it burn without having to be tempered by Caleb's own agenda.