#and made the first option the obvious choice 🤣🤣

[ase-trollplays]

So recently I made this poll, and in typical fashion, I didn't quite think it through. As a result, I made it way too easy to choose. 😅💦 That's my B. So in an attempt to make something a little bit less unbalanced, I'm redoing the poll with some changes.

Same scenario: Two job offers, can't have a second job or a side hustle.

The first offer is still your dream job, but this time you make enough to support yourself. And nothing else. Your bills are paid, and there's food on your table and gas in your car, but there is no room in your budget for anything beyond that. You are only making just enough money to keep your head above water. God help you if you have an emergency.

The second job is essentially the same as last time: Naked in an empty room for eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, with a lunch break, and you're allowed to bring your own entertainment. Whatever you bring in the room with you has to leave with you at the end of the day, you can't bring other people with you, and you are being recorded and livestreamed for the whole eight hours barring your lunch break. You're not allowed to cover yourself. The job pays six million a year.

I'm curious how much the answers will change compared to the first time around. And if you voted in the last poll, tell me if your answer changed and why. 😃

[masschase]

16, 28, and 38 for the ask meme

Character building questions

16. How did your character react to the way their enemies (like Kia and Zinyak) reminded them of their past failures? Did their accusations bother them?

She's fucking Catholic 🤣

OK not "she's", more "she was raised" but it was funnier phrasing it that way. Point is, she gets extremely guilty when certain things are brought up. Having said that, I think it does depend what they decide to pick at because she has a skewed morality that never truly leaves her.

I feel like there are so many layers to Casey where it's like... it seems like she cares about very little on the surface, and under that is a layer of guilt that can be triggered with the slightest accusation, then under that is a layer that only really cares about the deaths of her friends and any innocent bystanders, and then deep, deep down... I think at first there wasn't anything beneath that. But eventually this deeper level of introspection kicks in that makes her... not so fond of killing anymore and thinks she deserves to be punished for all of it by that point.

I've not really talked about this before but I do think she had a slight breakdown when presented with the kill yourself/rescue Matt options. Not so much because of the choice itself but because of the screens everywhere. Like with the whole not in touch with her emotions thing she'd just kind of held it all together through the earth blowing up and you know how she kind of loses her composure at relatable movies/TV shows? I think that managed to awaken that, but ten times worse because this was the real deal. Another thing that deserves its own post some time, really.

I don't think she paused with the actual decision too long though. She didn't remotely trust Zinyak saying he'd free everyone if she killed herself. If she did... I think whatever part of her chose to climb aboard the fucking nuke 5 years previously might have activated. But she trusts her own dedication to her friends more than anyone else's. Besides, Casey isn't really ever truly suicidal. She doesn't really believe she deserves death. She believes she deserves pain, both emotional and physical.

I do think it was a good job that the choice was between death and Matt. Not for shippy reasons (although... *silenced with duct tape*) or even because she'd made that promise to protect him, because that wasn't the case in the original timeline. But because he was one of the first areas where she felt she'd made a good choice, a step away from the instinct to follow her anger. Then that led into saving Shaundi and Viola rather than go after Killbane, acting selflessly when it came to the nuke, showing some mercy against the Washington gangs, and a general restraint from killing during her Presidency. Like obviously that was by far from the first good decision she made so I don't want to overplay it, but it played out that chain of memories in her head and reminded her that whatever Zinyak was saying, she had changed and grown as a person.

28. What does being a Saint mean to your character? Does that definition ever change for them during the series?

I always try and think about the fact that Casey was so young when she joined the Saints and how that shaped her view of the world. For Casey, being a Saint and friendship are just inexorably linked. Everything she practices across one spreads to the other; loyalty, protection, self-sacrifice.

I don't feel like that stuff ever truly changes, even as the nature of the Saints does as they find fame and so on. At times she does prioritise her own money and power and so on, but she sees that as something the Saints are doing rather than the nature of what they are. I think if she were to truly lose or alienate all her friends, she wouldn't feel like a Saint anymore. Luckily it doesn't ever get to that point.

38. Which restaurants in Stilwater did your character visit a lot? What did they usually order? I mean Freckle Bitch's is too obvious, right? But her favourite burger, her favourite lunch in fact, is honestly The Fist, only with bacon(it's colloquially known and ordered as "The Greased Up Fist"). She's also very partial to a boston creme donut and an iced caramel latte from Apollos too though(she usually grabs some donut holes to take with her too)! Cup'o Java has  better coffee objectively speaking if she's in the mood to chill somewhere for a while but Apollos is quicker and everywhere so she's more likely to grab something there.

Biscuits & Buns is usually her favourite for a proper sit down breakfast, but once a year, when Stacked has all you can eat she's there the entire month.

For dinner, she is rather partial to That Pasta Place, especially their chicken alfredo, but more than anything she frequents The Steakout, which is that restaurant she worked at in the few months between dropping out of high school and joining the Saints. That one manager who was really nice to her and got her moved from waiting tables to dishes (when she realised Casey's struggle with the former and speed with the latter) became the owner, so she tries to support the place whenever possible. They do her off-menu order which is a medium-rare ribeye with fries, broccoli and a TON of macaroni and cheese.

She insists on paying no matter how big the Saints get but after the bill is paid, there's always a little white polystyrene box brought out for the boss to take home, with "For *****" written on the box, since you know the owner is one of those people who knew her so long ago she actually knows her name. Inside, just like there every time that manager handed her an identical box at the end of every shift they worked together, is a piece of lemon meringue pie.