Wanted to reply to this earlier but couldn't organise my thoughts properly at the time...so as I enjoy doing in this thread (much to DeviantFun's chagrain) I'ma play devil's advocate....again...
And here I thought I could go to sleep peacefully....
Ok. So, let's move forwward in time to the JD. Now yes, the MC misunderstands Lacey's plea...but that in itself is not really important here. She pleads with him, says please...because she wants the MC to stop it right there...because she knows, she can not stop herself when she is horny and turned on. That's what she is actually saying....and she wasn't even drunk on the JD.
Ok so, the whole JD is is a shitty thing overall, first of all it is portrayed as a trade, and what Mc gets is utter crap compared to the extent the JD could go on for (and lacey even gets super jealous ruining what was salvageable, but overall everyone except Anna has a shitty behaviour during KW anyway).
She pleads him to take her away because she is turned on and wants to fuck MC, she wants to be satisfied, the Mc goes full cuck for narrative reasons and makes her kiss the Morty.
If you are arguing that she was barely in control, or that kissing the guy even if MC told her to was wrong, you would be right on both accounts, gllad that the author recognized that the kiss was pretty bad.
So, now, let's go back in time to the Three Weeks of Jarad.
My man what is it with you and the names??
We will end up calling him Jafar next!
Three weeks...staying late...odd behaviour, out of character...slutty dresses...one night comes home gone midnight smelling of alcohol. We know she is also a recovering alcoholic...and we know from even before this three weeks, she drinks...a lot. Seems she drank a hell of a lot during those three weeks too. She also pretty much tried to completely avoid the MC in the last week....avoid.
She avoids him because she feels guilty as fuck for lying to him, it is not a strong clue imo.
Probably she fears getting caught too.
I think the alcoholic part has been...sidelined by the author, we know she drank since morning in college but then she seems in total control when they have nights out, let's chalk it up as a full recovery or whatever.
I mean in the end it is inconsequential for the story, she is allready fighting an addiction anyway and that can be used for the narrative.
Personally, I would have kept Lacey sober (as ex alcoholics have to be), so that when she needs to drink in the bastion event it does actually mean something.
We also know, from later in the story, with her oral fixation, when turned on....she...cannot....stop....herself....this is proven, in the game, it cannot be denied. Now, more importantly, we do not know who was at these parties. Sure, we're told the marketing team...but they do not know Jarad's plans (he stupid...but not that stupid). We do not who who these people are, if there friends there too...other associates...anyone (and there must have been a few peeps...strippers...othyerwise even Lacey's idiot self would recognise red flags and something not right if it was just a handful of people). We do not even know if Evan was present (He shouldn't be, being in a completely different dept, he gets arrested 2 days later btw after the final week ending on the Sunday). He is the only person aware of Jarad's plan btw.
You are missing a crucial part in your turned on part, MC was not there nor was involved in her head.
In both JD and Bastion, Lacey needs and wants MC interaction, and it is underlined in the slut path (you know the material and it is late so please don't make me go quote hunt).
Imo, because I don't have proof in the material, quite the opposite, she started to actually doubt the job existed while the whole thing was going on but didn't want to admit it to herself.
Evan should not have been there as you said.
I'm also sure Jarad, as is natural for these type of things, to be talking with associates, dancing/drinking himself/snorting coke etc etc. I think the odds of him being 100% of the time with Lacey are honestly, pretty slim (and would also be highly suspicious). So, given no one else knows his plans, knows who her husband is (remember he has not met anyone from Brimley, other than people he already knows), who is to say, honestly, with a bit of drink...bit of groping...a turned on lacey would not have done something...with someone...out of sight of Jarad? Really not beyond the realms of possibility is it? Alcohol...dancing...drugs....bit of a thigh stroke...neck kiss....get Lacey going....
The turned on Lacey wasn't there, you are considering the jealousy turn on, which was not there, she wants to be seen by MC.
If MC doesn't know he cannot be jealous, hence she cannot
drip get turned on at that level.
Although, and we don't have clear proof in the material, I will die on the hill of Lacey being groped here and there by Jared, probably not the others as they didn't bring a benefit to her.
Lacey denies it however.
MC "Were you ever intimate with him?"
L "(sigh)"
L "He brushed his hand on the side of my breast in the supply closet just as you said he did."
L "He touched my thigh in the hot tub, just as you said he did."
L "Then last night he.... he grabbed my breasts when I went into the women's restroom."
L "I did not invite him in nor give him any sign that what he did was okay."
L "He was very forceful and I was scared."
L "He told me that he would tell you that he and I had sex if I didn't 'loosen up'."
L "He grabbed them and started rubbing them."
L "For just a moment I was so stunned that I couldn't move."
L "Then he started lowering one hand to..."
L "I turned around and slapped him as hard as I possibly could."
BUT the hot tub scene was too natural, she didn't complain, she didn't move, she didn't look uncomfortable.
Again if this is a "maximum shock value" attempt, fine, but as usual it does put a lot of shade on her words.
I will reiterate, how the fuck is she shocked? She has been used forcefully for years, even when sober, why the fuck is she portrayed as a innocent virgin? (maybe it is too much, but as a normal person?)
Where is this "I have done it all" Lacey? The one we see completely unfazed in the locker room with Evan? (I know she wasn't unfazed completely, but she was more collected than many would).
As a side note, do you see how she omits that every time Jafar helped her on the ladder he was holding her by the butt?
Now again, I'll happily, more than happily hold up my hands and admit I have a love/hate relationship with her....and I am biased against her given all the shit she has done, does do (at this period) and later does.
So, brass tacks, black and white, cards on the table:
Which do you think is the most likely and logical scenario (knowing everything we do up to that point)? Lacey behaved or Lacey did 'something'. Be honest....
And I've not even mentioned Lacey's drunken, slutty dress, home at 2 in the morning 'work party' with Muttley....
I rest my case....
With Will I kind of believe the groping didn't happen, Erika is too lax about it.
ER "You danced with that married girl a couple times, but you didn't bother to dance with me even once."
I know it doesn't mean much since they might be used to it, but at that point in time Lacey was already on the redemption path, which kinda starts at the bathroom scene where she gets angry with MC (first real sign).
So to summarize, I would concede that probably Jafar touched Lacey more than once, as he was used to hold her by the butt, the hot tub scene was too natural etc.
For fucking? nah.
Fucking other dudes from which she has nothing to gain? naaaaah.
I want something to have happened, however it is justified, drunk, high or this "other side", should we ever find out what that is about.
Maybe she was too drunk and having fun and had the need to satisfy her oral fixation, maybe she got coerced into some lewd acts e.g. 'let's all get in the pool', 'but i don't have a swimsuit', 'none of us do, come on Lacey, be a team player', or maybe all the late nights, booze and who knows what else, she passed out or just doesn't remember because of it, and got taken advantage of
Jared might have even become so obsessed with Lacey after receiving her GLUCK GLUCK 9000 and then wanting the whole experience
I tried to understand what the other side was, going back and forth in the story, I don't think we have enough elements.
We can almost safely exclude that it is sexual, she was without Mc for 2 years before getting hired by the pimp and she didn't have any sexual contact, not only that, but the pimp had to almost force her in her first steps.
It will be probably related to self hate and self destruction? or something related to being mean like her parents were? (I think this is AL.d theory)
Hmmmm, knowing how Lacey lies: "I never had a single boyfriend in college" your "gluck gluck" theory (wtf is that name Crysus?
) could hold water since she denies it like this:
L "I swear to you on my unending love that I have never been with another man during our marriage."
And never been with another man could mean intercourse, but it is a stretch, also because:
L "He brushed his hand on the side of my breast in the supply closet just as you said he did."
L "He touched my thigh in the hot tub, just as you said he did."
L "Then last night he.... he grabbed my breasts when I went into the women's restroom."
Even then, I still believe she got more than one inappropriate touch she was too drunk to remember or conveniently missed in her recap.
I mean she tries to hide stuff up until the Isaac event in act 1, so as much as I would like to defend what she says as the truth, sometimes I do not have a leg to stand on.[/QUOTE]
