>>149739504
>>149742065
You know, the problem with the whole "Mike is gone, the table falls apart b/c he's not around to play lightning rod" plot is that the group keeps finding ways to piss each other off even when he's right there. Sure, Mike's something of a stress ball, but he doesn't catch all of their bullshit. He's more of a pressure valve that sees semi-frequent use. Personally, I blame Taeshi's incompetence, because even if she never meant for this to become a plot point she frankly deserves nothing better.

Now, contrasting that, consider Lucy returning to the table as she currently is: Bitchy, judgemental, condescending, paranoid, and utterly fucking insane. She was mostly fine during the sperg era because Mike was ever on-hand to stomp for fun. But he's not going to be at the table, ergo Lucy has no easy outlet for her aggression. Augustus can't run interference because there is no more distance between her and anyone else. It's just Lucy, and the people she secretly cannot stand, and nigh zero buffer. And the table can't throw Mike under the bus for Lucy's sake, nor side with her against him, because he's already gone. So the plot ends up working great after all.

Too bad it'll never happen because Taeshi's a boring hack only interested in jerking off by white cat proxy.